Chapter 51: Xavier Has Collapsed
by rosalie“His Grace has collapsed!”
“What?!”
The healer and Jude shouted simultaneously. I also asked in surprise.
“What?”
Soon after, Rexton’s brown gaze shifted from the healer to me.
“Duch… no, Madam, please come quickly!”
Rexton, who always called me Duchess, called me Madam for the first time, but there was no time to think about such things.
Xavier collapsed? That’s impossible.
I roughly pushed aside the tent flap and ran outside. Even as I rushed to Xavier, it didn’t feel real.
“Madam! The Duke…!”
Rosetta, looking tense, ran up to me as I emerged from the tent. Seeing her helped me regain some sense, but I hid my trembling hands under my skirt.
“I heard. Rosetta, did you bring that?”
“Yes! There was still some left!”
Rosetta answered while patting her apron pocket. I figured someone as proactive as her would have acted on her own without being told.
“Go quickly to the kitchen area and bring the kitchen staff to the Duke’s tent.”
“Yes! Understood!”
Rosetta answered in a clear voice and ran off to the kitchen area. I had questions I needed to ask them.
“Madam.”
“I understand.”
At Rexton’s urging voice, I hurried my steps.
“Was it an assassin?”
I asked while looking at Rexton’s profile. But even to myself, it seemed like a foolish question. How many people in this world could even scratch a Swordmaster?
“No. He was eating meat earlier, and collapsed shortly after.”
There was anger in Rexton’s reporting voice.
“The skewers?”
“Yes.”
Could it be that he collapsed right after eating mine?
What should I do? My fingers curled up involuntarily.
‘Xavier.’
When I thought of him, I suddenly remembered the taste of coffee we drank sitting side by side on the carriage sofa.
The battlefield incidents, Xavier coming to my home, confessions in the banquet hall and garden, the wedding and wedding night, riding horses together, and more.
All those moments rushed chaotically into my mind like a panoramic photo.
“…Duchess?”
“Ah, sorry.”
I snapped out of my thoughts at Rexton’s voice. We had already arrived at the large luxury tent.
I quickly slipped through the tent flap that Rexton held open. Xavier was lying like a corpse on the cot, his face pale and lips blue.
Wilhelm and Ethan stood solemnly beside the bed. The two generals must have carried Xavier to the tent.
“Xavier!”
I approached Xavier, who lay like an entranced corpse, and grabbed his fingers. They were cold as rubber, without any warmth.
‘Cold as ice.’
For a moment, my chest ached and I felt like crying.
Just then, the healer rushed into the tent carrying his medical bag. I could see Jude carefully following behind him. Her freckled face was ashen.
“Healer, examine him quickly.”
“Yes, Madam.”
The healer hurriedly took Xavier’s pulse. He checked under his eyelids and looked inside his mouth. He took out a silver rod from his medical bag and put it in Xavier’s mouth, then removed it. The rod had turned black when removed from his mouth.
“It seems he’s been poisoned.”
“Poison?”
“It appears to be a poisonous herb. Sometimes it can get mixed into salads. It happens once in a hundred times.”
“He didn’t touch the salad. He only ate the meat.”
“Lord Rexton, that’s strange. These are definitely symptoms of consuming a poisonous herb. Even a tiny amount can cause a coma, and without an antidote, one may never wake up. If we don’t act quickly, he will remain in this state until his strength is depleted and he dies.”
The healer’s final explanation hit me like a hammer to the head.
“This can’t be.”
This wasn’t in the original story.
In the original, it simply stated that Xavier had easily led the war to victory despite difficulties in military supplies, and returned after successfully negotiating reparations.
‘Did this happen because I twisted the original story? Because I tried not to die?’
Blue veins stood out prominently under his white skin. Though Xavier was fair-skinned, he had never been this pale.
“Poisonous herb? What madman fed Our Grace poisonous herbs! I’ll find them and kill them!”
Wilhelm shouted as if having a fit.
“Be quiet, Wilhelm. I apologize, Madam.”
Ethan apologized politely, but I just nodded in response. I couldn’t take my eyes off Xavier’s pale form.
‘If not the meat…’
“Perhaps.”
“Madam.”
Rexton and I looked at each other simultaneously. We must have been thinking the same thing. Reading Rexton’s eyes, I spoke to the healer.
“He ate the herb seasoning.”
“I see. Is there any left?”
“About that…”
Naturally, everyone’s gaze turned to Jude’s face. Her already ashen complexion turned darker.
“Why, why are you looking at me!”
“Jude, you spilled the seasoning container!”
Wilhelm shouted like thunder and lunged at Jude. It was an incredibly agile movement for his large frame. He swung his muscled arm to grab her collar.
“The evidence disappeared because of your carelessness! While His Grace lies there like this!”
“Wilhelm, Jude didn’t do it on purpose! Calm down!”
Ethan barely managed to separate the agitated Wilhelm from Jude. Jude, who would normally have fought back with fire in her eyes, quietly retreated to a corner of the tent, led by Ethan’s hand.
“Ethan! Wilhelm! Be quiet. What kind of disgraceful behavior is this in front of the Madam?”
Rexton’s loud voice shook the tent. The shout from someone who usually spoke so calmly had a great effect.
Silence fell over the tent in an instant. As a result, everyone quietly watched my reaction.
I was bothered by Jude’s figure hiding in the corner of the tent. Unlike her usual self, her shoulders were hunched and her eyes looked anxious. This wasn’t the bold and confident Jude I knew.
The word ‘perhaps’ emerged through my complicated thoughts.
‘Right after I sprinkled seasoning on the meat, Maya was tripped over by Jude’s feet and spilled the seasoning container. Was that really an accident? What if it wasn’t an accident but intentional?’
…Was I actually the target?
When that thought occurred to me, goosebumps rose on my arms. I quietly observed Jude.
She looked at Xavier but couldn’t maintain her gaze for long. Her pupils kept shaking violently, her shoulders were incredibly narrow. Even her complexion was deathly pale.
Isn’t this too suspicious?
“General Jude, what’s wrong?”
“Yes?”
Her shoulders jerked exaggeratedly at my call.
“Why are you so startled? General Wilhelm only mentioned you spilling the seasoning container, not that you put poison in it.”
“……!”
Jude’s eyes widened at my words. The large purple eyes that met mine were full of fear.
But that was only for a moment, as her face slowly reddened and her expression began to crumple.
“Duchess, you’re being too harsh! I’m, I’m offended!”
The stuttering makes it even more suspicious.
“Is that so? Earlier you asked me if the skewers were delicious, didn’t you? Coincidentally, the Duke collapsed after eating mine. How should I interpret this?”
“Am I not allowed to ask?”
“The truth will come out when we investigate.”
Jude bit her lip and glared at me in response.
“Madam! I’m here!”
Just then, Rosetta’s voice was heard from outside the tent. I turned to the healer and asked.
“Will he be alright for a moment?”
“I’ll try to make a temporary medicine to boost his strength.”
“I’ll return quickly after sorting this out. Viscount Rexton, let’s hurry.”
“Yes, Madam.”
Rexton approached Jude and grabbed her arm.
“General Jude, you come too.”
“……”
We moved to an empty tent. We needed to identify the suspect first and hear more from the healer.
Not long after Rexton and I brought Jude in, Ethan and Wilhelm also entered the tent.
Judging by their sharp expressions, not one person was free from tension.
A heavy atmosphere weighed down everyone’s shoulders in the tent.
“Madam, I’ve brought them.”
Rosetta entered the tent with the chef and maids who had been waiting outside.
The chef was someone I knew well. Chef John, whom I had met at the campaign camp. He was the one who had apologized for misunderstanding me as a little villainess and spoke well of me in front of others.
John blinked rapidly while looking around, and several maids were nervously biting their nails.
“Except for the day we officially greeted each other, I haven’t had reason to visit the kitchen, so we’re only properly meeting now.”
“Ah, Lady Yuria… no, Madam! Please spare us!”
Chef John immediately prostrated himself on the ground when he saw me. The maids who had been watching also sank to their knees following the chef’s lead. Since the Duke had collapsed after eating the skewers, they who prepared the ingredients were also responsible. A responsibility that could cost them their lives.
“Rosetta.”
“Yes, Madam.”
Rosetta took out the seasoning container from her apron pocket and handed it to me.
“You judged well.”
“Thank you.”
Though most of the herb seasoning had been spilled, a small amount remained in the container.
“Is this the seasoning that the chef prepared?”
I held out the container so John could see it. Chef John’s eyes narrowed.
“The container is indeed from the kitchen, but please allow me to look closer, Madam.”
“Go ahead.”
John, who had been kneeling, scrambled to his feet and approached me. After receiving the container, he poured a small amount of seasoning into his palm, smelled it, and examined it carefully.
“This, this is–! Henbane!”
Henbane?
“Do you know what it is?”
“Of course, Madam. This is not mine. As a chef with 25 years of experience, identifying poisonous herbs is fundamental. I learned about poisonous herbs repeatedly while being beaten by my master. This is unjust.”
Poisonous herbs in the Duke’s food? How could this happen?
I was quite shocked. This meant there was a traitor within the Duke’s residence.
I stared blankly at the seasoning container that had returned to my hands, then gripped it tightly.
‘I must find the traitor.’
Without fail.