The Price of Saving A Wicked Beast
Translator: Rae
Click here to read the previous chapters (Chapter 1-50)
***
‘Such a cunning man.’
The poison he used on the Emperor was a newly refined kind, having been undergoing improvement only recently. He didn’t want a lethal toxin that k*lled in an instant, but a poison that would wither its victim slowly to d*ath.
[How can you be sure of the poison’s effect?]
[I confirmed it again and again on imperial citizens along the western border. If you don’t believe me, you can verify it yourself.]
After receiving the poison, he lay low for a long time, waiting for the right moment. And at last, the moment he had been waiting for arrived—the moment Killian Nachtman began making a commotion, obsessing over nothing more than a single woman.
The Crown Prince d*es from the ambush, and the Emperor falls in and passes. With no choices left, the Emperor’s people and the nobles would undoubtedly accept him as the next Emperor.
He had believed them when they said it was a poison with no antidote. The mud splashed into what should have been a perfect plan began with the unexpected connection between Killian and Count Romeo.
‘No. I removed every remaining herb. Even if they went to the border to obtain more now, it’s already too late.’
No. Everyone would consider it poisonous in the first place, so you wouldn't even think to fetch more from the border. Steadying himself for a moment, Fabian opened the door.
"Your Majesty, the Grand Duke’s son has arrived.”
The chief attendant at the Emperor’s side announced Fabian’s visit. The Emperor, who had been lying limp on the bed, was helped upright and raised his upper body. Meeting those deeply sunken eyes, Fabian felt a surge of exhilaration. He could sense that there was not much life left in him now.
"Fabian.”
"Your Majesty, are you feeling all right?”
“I’m not sure. The physician says I’ll recover soon. I’ve made you come all this way over something trivial.”
Fabian swallowed his sneer. Unaware that the very physician closest to him had betrayed him, the Emperor was putting on a lie that trusted no one in this room.
“I see. That is truly a relief, Your Majesty.”
If the Emperor wished to put on a play, then he had no choice but join in. Wearing an expression of profound distress, Fabian clasped the Emperor’s hand.
“Your Majesty must recover quickly. Seeing Your Majesty so weakened pains my heart beyond measure.”
He had only just finished speaking when.
“Father will surely throw off this illness and rise again, so there is no need to worry, young Grand Duke.”
Behind Killian, who entered through the opened door, the Crown Prince’s palace physician followed, holding a tray in his hands.
"What is it, Your Highness?”
“Chief attendant, present this medicine to Father.”
Killian offered no further explanation. Yet everyone present knew what it was that he had brought.
The first to step forward was the chief attendant.
"Your Highness,. That cannot be allowed.”
After taking the herb brought by the Crown Prince, the Emperor's physical condition had deteriorated rapidly. Even though he immediately vomited everything he had drunk, the coughing of blood and seizures had continued for a long time.
The chief attendant swallowed the rest of his words while watching Fabian’s reaction, yet his face said he couldn’t understand Killian at all.
“Forgive my presumption, Your Highness, but isn’t that the very medicine His Majesty took earlier? I heard that after taking it, His Majesty’s condition worsened. And yet you have brought the same medicine again.”
Fabian stepped forward, raising his voice in agitation.
However, Killian ignored both Fabian and the chief attendant, took the prepared medicine himself, and headed toward the Emperor.
“Please take it, Your Majesty. It is a tribute offered by Count Romeo, who guards the western front.”
Fabian blocked his path. Using his whole body to prevent Killian from coming closer, he raised his voice, genuinely upset.
"No, Your Majesty! Viscount Romeo has harbored resentment toward the imperial family ever since he left the capital long ago. This is surely a ploy to ruin Your Majesty’s health.”
As he spoke, Fabian mentally gritted his teeth. He had been told everything was disposed of, so where had this herb come from now?
Either way, what mattered now was preventing the Emperor from taking this medicine. If what Killian brought was truly an antidote, then the plan he had worked on for so long would collapse into nothing.
"Get out of the way.”
“How foolish. Why can’t you see that you’ve been deceived by such a petty man, Your Highness!”
“I told you to get out of my way. I don’t have time to argue with you.”
Fabian shot a look at the chief attendant beside him, urging him to help. The chief attendant seemed confused as he stepped forward as well to stop Killian.
“The young Grand Duke has a good point. Your Highness, should we not at least take time to properly verify the medicine?”
He understood well enough a son’s heart that wished to protect his father. But in politics, intention has never mattered. What mattered was always the outcome. If the Emperor’s condition worsened after taking the Crown Prince’s medicine, it would surely cause a major problem in the struggle for succession.
The chief attendant was on Killian’s side, but this time he could not agree with him. He had to stop the Crown Prince from tightening the noose around his own neck.
That was when a voice came from behind the chief attendant and Fabian.
"Bring it here.”
Leaning back against the headboard, the Emperor held a handkerchief to his mouth. Red clots of blood already speckled the cloth. His condition looked grave at a glance, yet the Emperor forced a leisurely smile and beckoned toward his son.
“If it is something Viscount Romeo delivered, there will be no issue. And even if there is, it won’t become more serious than it already is.”
It was the emperor's own will. Fabian couldn’t insist any further. Left with no choice, he stepped back. Killian helped his father hold the bowl and held a handkerchief beneath his mouth.
Gulp, the sound of liquid sliding down the throat was clear. The chief attendant, watching with a tense face, soon widened his eyes as if he could not believe it when he saw the Emperor’s complexion ease.
“How can this be, Your Highness? Just a moment ago, surely…”
It was a sight he could not comprehend. It had been only moments since the Emperor drank the same medicine and convulsed, but now his condition has improved.
"In the case of this herb, it seems it can also be used as a poison. That’s why, they say, the dosage must be followed precisely each time it is used.”
“Does that mean…?”
“Yes. It means someone tampered with the medicine Father had been taking.”
At Killian’s words, the chief attendant’s eyes became fierce.
***
A scream rang out, mingled with the acrid stench of burning flesh.
“Spare me! Why are you doing this to me?!”
The physician, drenched in blood, wailed. However, the answer to his tearful pleas was torture so violent it could make him lose consciousness.
“Speak. Who ordered you to do this?”
“Y-Your Highness, I have no idea what you mean. Please spare me. I am guilty of nothing!”
“I told you to prepare it using the exact dosage. Why did you make the medicine as you pleased? Who put you up to it?”
“What do you mean by that? I prepared it precisely as you commanded!”
“Is that so? Then why did you burn all the herb? Should you not have kept it for an investigation?”
“N-Normally, of course, I would have. But this time, didn’t His Majesty suffer a seizure?! I intended to prevent any chance of poisonous herbs being mixed in elsewhere.”
“Is that so? Then how will you explain this?”
A bundle of herbs was thrown down in front of him. It was Maukaro, the very herb he was certain he had burned to ashes. The physician’s face turned pale.
“After taking the newly prepared medicine made according to the proper method, His Majesty’s condition stabilized. And you will still claim you know nothing?”
“Spare me! I truly know nothing!”
However, contrary to his words, cold sweat was already soaking his back. He turned it over in his mind—should he confess now? But the Crown Prince he had watched for so long was not a man who often granted forgiveness.
Even if he confessed, merely for having stood with the Grand Duke’s son, the person the Crown Prince loathed most, he would likely be unable to keep his life. Reaching that judgment, the physician brazenly insisted on his innocence.
“With all due respect, Your Highness, there is no proof anywhere that this is the same herb you provided at the beginning.”
"What?”
“I have truly been wronged. I merely prepared the medicine faithfully as instructed. Please believe me, Your Highness.”
He did not let go of his last shred of hope. The Grand Duke’s son would surely not disregard the loyalty he had shown, the loyalty that had even driven him to harm the Emperor for his sake.
A man with only one rope left to cling to is bound to be desperate.
It was not easy to pry open the mouth of a physician who endured torture stubbornly and kept his mouth shut. In the end, time passed deep into the night with little gained
“Throw him into prison. Keep a strict watch so that he can’t meet anyone.”
Even as the soldiers dragged him away, the physician smiled faintly. He believed that he had undoubtedly weathered one crisis and that the young Grand Duke would soon move for his sake, never even imagining the wretched end that would come to find him in only a few hours.
***
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