Chapter 16 : Chapter 16
Chapter 16. In Search of the Moonlit Grass (1)
“Bleeegh!”
“Puke it out! You stupid girl!”
It happened in the blink of an eye.
The black-haired boy punched the blonde girl.
Not satisfied with just hitting the frail girl's solar plexus, Blanc even shoved his fingers down her throat to induce vomiting.
Even though the steaks Iselin had just eaten were coming out of her throat maintaining their original form, Blanc did not mind at all and shoved his fingers in, struggling to make her throw up the poison she had already swallowed.
‘Damn it!’
Despite the quick first aid, he could see Iselin’s lips turning blue.
It was a symptom of poisoning.
Although he had made her throw up the contents of her stomach, it seemed there was poison already swallowed and spreading inside her body.
‘It’s that woman!’
Blanc, who instantly turned back into a rough forty-year-old mercenary instead of the fourteen-year-old Baron Blanc Cadmus, quickly grabbed the knife he used to cut the steak.
“Where is she!”
Finding the red-haired woman was a very easy task.
Because she was running away in a panic, pushing people aside.
Crackle.
White lightning briefly lingered in Blanc’s eyes as he spotted her.
At the same time, Blanc approached the red-haired woman with movements swift like lightning.
It really was in the blink of an eye.
Before anyone knew it, Blanc appeared behind the woman, grabbed her by the hair, and slammed her hard onto a nearby table.
“BANG!”
Following the sound of hitting the table, a cracking sound was heard.
As the woman slammed onto the table floundered unable to regain her senses, Blanc grabbed her left arm strongly and stabbed down hard with the knife he was holding.
“Aaargh!”
The steak knife pierced through the back of her left hand and stuck into the table.
“Manager!”
Even the manager responsible for the hall was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
Blanc called out to such a manager strongly.
“Listen clearly! I am Baron Blanc Cadmus! If this knife is pulled out when I return, you die! Understood!”
It was an intimidation a fourteen-year-old boy absolutely could not produce.
Although the manager had risen to this position experiencing all sorts of hardships, overwhelmed by the spirit Blanc exuded right now, he could only nod his head as if possessed.
“Yes? Yes, yes yes! Understood. Baron!”
Blanc, moving even before hearing the manager’s answer fully, carried the pale Iselin on his back and ran towards the Tolome family with all his might.
***
Although it was deep into the night, no one in this mansion was sleeping right now.
“What happened, Billy?”
Blanc, sitting on the desk in his room, was clutching his disheveled hair.
“They say the prognosis doesn’t look very good. Of all things, the poison used was taken from the yellow-striped mushroom…….”
‘Of all things!’
There was a reason Blanc had caught the woman who poisoned Iselin even in that urgent situation.
It was to find out the type of poison from that woman.
If he knew what poison it was, it would be much easier to obtain an antidote.
However, the poison from the yellow-striped mushroom that poisoned Iselin had no antidote.
This was a really troublesome poison because it only caused severe pain to males and did not take their lives, but in the case of females, unlike males, the symptoms of the poison became vicious.
Since the symptoms differed depending on the gender of the person who drank it, an antidote could not be created.
Iselin, who drank the poison, was female and also young with a body not yet fully grown, so it was even more fatal.
The fact that she was holding on until now was thanks to Blanc’s immediate response.
Otherwise, Iselin would have died before even arriving at the Tolome family.
‘Who is it…….’
The 30 years he experienced in his past life were literally a constant struggle for survival.
Was that why?
Because Blanc moved prioritizing only his own preservation, he failed to pay attention to Iselin right next to him.
‘It’s my fault.’
It was his fault. If that wine glass was suspicious, he should have overturned it earlier or at least kept it far away from Iselin’s hands.
“What happened to that woman?”
“They say the soldiers of the Tolome family captured her. Right now, Lord Vitelli is interrogating her himself.”
There might be many who held a grudge against the Tolome family, but there would not be a single person holding a grudge against a ten-year-old girl.
That was why Vitelli stepped up personally.
To find the family’s enemies who tried to kill the youngest Tolome.
The red-haired woman Blanc caught was destined not to die peacefully even if she died.
***
A grayish-white office.
“Did you find out?”
Indeed, Bartomyu deserved to be called the Lion of Felix.
His growling appearance without hiding his anger looked like a lion to anyone who saw him.
However, the appearance of Vitelli standing in front of him was also formidable.
Perhaps because he conducted the interrogation personally, his clothes were splattered with blood here and there, and since he ran up as soon as he received the confession, his always neat hair was disheveled.
“According to the investigation by the people I sent, that woman is not an assassin but just an ordinary prostitute. Not only has she lived in Baltimere for a long time, but she is also quite famous in that industry…….”
“And?”
Even though it was his father, the aura he exuded was formidable, so Vitelli gulped involuntarily.
“……And that prostitute said she just received money and handed over the wine glass.”
“To whom?”
At Bartomyu’s question, Vitelli hesitated to answer, mumbling unlike his usual self.
BANG-!
“I asked you from whom she received the money!”
Bartomyu was in a state where he couldn’t hold back his anger even if the one in front of him was his son.
Vitelli answered with a frown as if he had no choice.
“……She says it is Jonas.”
Bartomyu couldn’t help but be flustered for a moment as a completely unexpected name popped out of Vitelli’s mouth.
“Jonas……? Are you talking about my grandson Jonas?”
“Yes, Father. To be precise, she says she received money from Jonas' servant.”
“Why did that child…….”
Perhaps the shock he received was severe, Bartomyu’s legs gave way for a moment and he sat down on the chair with a thud.
“According to that prostitute, the target originally aimed for was not Iselin but Blanc. She just had to hand the wine glass to Blanc…….”
“Why Jonas! Would hand poison to Blanc!”
Jonas and Blanc were in a relationship where there was absolutely no reason to confront each other to the point of sending poison.
Blanc was someone without succession rights to the Tolome family in the first place.
Therefore, in any case, there was no reason or right to infringe on Jonas' interests.
It would have been different if they had become close as colleagues devoting themselves to swordsmanship together.
“……The poison used this time is the poison of the yellow-striped mushroom, and as Father knows, this poison to males is…….”
“It doesn’t kill, I know that too.”
Vitelli continued speaking while stroking his disheveled hair.
“There was a time when this poison was used before. There was a time when the squires studying under Sir Edwin with Jonas lay sick, and even then this poison was used…….”
“How did you find that out?”
At Bartomyu’s question, Vitelli sighed and made a despondent expression.
“Actually…… I have already called Jonas' servants and finished interrogating them. They confessed the truth. That it was Jonas' doing.”
“So why?”
If Jonas sent poison to Blanc, there must have been a clear reason for it.
“……They say it is jealousy. They say he felt a lot of pressure about Blanc inheriting Sir Edwin’s swordsmanship and even excelling in his achievements.”
Hearing Vitelli’s words, Bartomyu squeezed his eyes shut.
The symbol of the Tolome family is a lion.
The ones who always carried on the name of Tolome were the most outstanding lions within the family.
However, Schumacher, his most cherished son and the one designated as the next head of Tolome, did not bear a lion.
His grandson Jonas, who might become the head of the family after the next generation, was just a shabby cat.
***
The morning after Iselin fell ill from the poison.
A young girl barely holding onto her life while exhaling thin breaths.
There was a man at the bedside constantly praying while holding the girl’s hand tightly.
“If I knew it would be like this, I should have always stayed by your side…… Without a mother, you must have always been lonely…….”
Weird Tolome, Iselin’s father and Bartomyu’s fourth son, had not let go of Iselin’s hand even once after entering this room, as if something terrible would happen if he let go.
Weird was someone who almost never entered the mansion because he took charge of operating the merchant group and handled matters outside the family.
News like a bolt from the blue was delivered to such Weird, news that his daughter was poisoned.
Weird ran in a single breath, throwing away all the work he was doing as soon as he heard those words.
He, who had not taken another woman for over 10 years since his wife died, was a man who loved his dead wife that much and cherished Iselin, who could be called her last trace.
However, now even the last remaining frail trace was about to disappear.
“Where is Blanc Cadmus?”
“They say he left the mansion with his servant from early dawn.”
“Is that so?”
Weird kissed his daughter’s hand where blue veins stood out.
“……I wanted to say thank you. I heard Blanc was still the only one who played with Iselin.”
“……That is correct. For the past few months, the Young Lady only talked about Baron Blanc.”
The nursemaid, who was Iselin’s maid and had taken care of her most closely, told him how close Blanc and Iselin had been during that time.
Actually, she just followed Blanc who found her annoying, but Iselin seemed to have enjoyed even that, chatting about every little detail to the servants.
Weird and the nursemaid sharing stories as if talking about memories of the deceased at a funeral.
“I don’t know where he went, but I hope he returns not too late. Since he is the cousin Iselin liked so much, I wish he would watch over her final moments…….”
The nursemaid wiped away tears at Weird’s words.
The doctor who examined Iselin said she would not last more than 3 days.
***
Ulrich, the head of the Illusion School, was a perfectionist.
He had prepared various methods in case the regression went wrong, and one of them was the assembly points reaching 10 in number.
Some assembly points were famous places one would know just by hearing the name, like Baltimere, some were very far away, and some were places hidden tightly without being known to the world.
Among them, the seventh assembly point, the workshop Ulrich used when he was young, was on a hill near the capital, Baltimere.
The young Ulrich wanted an isolated place to focus on his research, but since he shouldn't be too far from the capital Baltimere to receive supplies for research smoothly, he scoured the hills near Baltimere.
Ulrich, who was looking for an isolated place suitable for a laboratory, discovered a small cave on a cliff, and.
-I made a wonderful discovery there. Have you heard of the Moonlit Grass? The characteristic of this herb is that it dies if it receives sunlight and grows relying only on moonlight.
The Moonlit Grass, a herb appearing only in old history books or orally transmitted legends, was a herb so hard to find that it was questionable if it really existed, but the young Ulrich was able to discover this precious herb by a very coincidental chance.
-I sold that herb to cover research expenses! It sold for quite a high price. Hahaha.
However, Ulrich did not exist in this timeline.
Naturally, the young Ulrich would not exist either. So.
‘The Moonlit Grass will still be there.’
That precious herb, which would have been gathered by young Ulrich, would still be sleeping inside the cave said to be between cliffs.
-The reason the Moonlit Grass is expensive is simple. Because it harbors the energy of the moon intact, it can repel demons and drive away all sorts of evil things.
‘So in other words, it means it is the best antidote capable of detoxifying ten thousand poisons.’
“Giddy up! Giddy up!”
“We must go faster, Rakshar! As fast as possible!”
“U, Understood. Young Master!”
Early dawn before sunrise.
There was a black-haired boy and a grey-maned werewolf quickly leaving Baltimere on horseback.