Chapter 404: Who dared to poison an empress?
It took an hour for everyone to be gathered in the empty ballroom. They assumed that the venue had been chosen because the new empress had a party to plan. It was expected of her to throw a ball that would be a celebration of her crowning.
Some maids asked Mauve and Christie what Sigrid was planning, but she shrugged. They had no clue about what was going on as well.
Sigrid entered the ballroom with Brolin at her back, sword drawn and facial expression menacing. She took a sit in a chair and faced the crowd. The expression on her face was unreadable as her eyes roamed over the sea of knights, maids, cooks and advisors.
Mauve and Christie moved to their usual positions and stood behind Sigrid. Another knight placed a small table before Sigrid and Lanai placed the cup of tea and crystal jar of facial cream down.
"Lock the doors." Brolin commanded.
That command had everyone nervous. Locked doors and unpredictable body language was very dangerous.
"This," Sigrid gestured to the tea and cream "is the work of one or some of you. Someone here wants to poison me."
Gasps, a ripple of panic, fear and other emotions swept through the hall.
"It seems that some of you forget that I am a mage and a healer at the same time. Or maybe you have not forgotten as you cleverly hid the poison in two mechanisms. Alone, each ingredient is harmless but together, they combine to form a poison called Brottongue. First it inflames the skin and causes it to turn a little red.
Then comes the small rash and a fever which is assumed to be natural illness or an allergy. And then comes the itching as the body rots from within. In a weeks time, the unlucky victim has maggots dropping from flesh wounds. It seems like someone is out to harm my beautiful face."