The Prince's Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 29

Chapter 29: A Cold Is Unfair (2)

“Young lady?”

Sass looked at me as if I were strange.

“Why are you suddenly picking up the pen?”

“Physician, you said all the other physicians have gone out on external visits.”

“What? Ah, yes.”

“Then the only ones left here are you and that apothecary.”

“That’s correct, but why do you ask?”

The physician looked at me as if wondering why I would ask such a thing.

“Because I’m not sure I can handle two men at once in this body.”

As soon as I finished speaking, I shoved the medicine bottle I was holding into his mouth.

The cap had already been opened beforehand.

“Mmph, mmmmmm—! Mmmmmm—!”

The off-guard physician swallowed the medicine as it poured down his throat.

Held by the chin, he thrashed wildly in my grip.

Quite an odd reaction for someone who had just drunk cold medicine he himself had prescribed.

“What’s the matter?”

After confirming he had swallowed all of it, I released my grip.

“It’s just regular cold medicine. Aren’t you overreacting?”

“Cough, cough! Aaaargh—! No, no—!”

Sass collapsed to the floor the moment I let him go.

He tried to shove his fingers down his throat.

‘Where do you think you’re going.’

I grabbed his wrist firmly.

An old man who had spent his life flipping pages couldn’t overpower me.

“What are you doing?!”

Sass twisted his wrist and screamed.

“Let go! Let me go! I said let go—!”

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m simply letting you taste the medicine in advance since it’s for His Highness.”

“W-what did you say?”

“Physician.”

I crouched across from the panicking Sass.

“I don’t know much about medicine, but I do know a bit about poison.”

“W-what are you talking about…”

“Why does a cold medicine contain oleander leaves?”

At the mention of the poisonous plant, the physician’s face turned pale.

“Oleander?! That’s outrageous!”

Sass shook his head violently.

“I-I never used anything like that—!”

Oleander was a poisonous plant imported from the far Eastern continent.

Extremely toxic, it was commonly used by assassins who coated arrows and blades with its poison.

I spun the fountain pen I was still holding in my other hand.

“I’m quite certain oleander is a poisonous plant.”

“How dare you accuse me! There’s no way something like that was in the medicine!”

“Exactly. There shouldn’t be any deadly poison in medicine.”

Ssskt—

I brought the pen nib to Sass’s nape.

The sharp point immediately scratched his frail skin.

Realizing the pen tip was digging into his flesh, his face went even whiter.

“Why are you doing this to me all of a sudden!”

“Your overreaction to the medicine you prescribed yourself naturally raised suspicion.”

I pressed the pen harder.

“Let me ask you. Why did you try to kill His Highness?”

“N-nonsense! Don’t spout nonsense! I never did such a thing!”

“You’re the one spouting nonsense.”

I stood up and, without hesitation, stomped on the physician’s shoulder.

“Aaargh!”

“I clearly saw that apothecary add oleander leaves. And you still deny it?”

“I—I never did that! If it was added, then yes! It must have been that guy! He did it on purpose!”

Sass pointed frantically at the apothecary beyond the counter.

“It was him—!”

But his attempt to drag someone else down with him failed.

Because the apothecary was quicker-witted than he had expected.

“It’s not true! I’m innocent!”

As if he had been waiting, the young apothecary handed me the prescription written by Sass.

“It clearly says to add four oleander leaves right here!”

Just as the apothecary claimed, that’s exactly what the prescription said.

Betrayed by the very apothecary he trusted, Sass shrieked beneath my foot.

“Y-you—you—! Get off me! I said get off! Get offfffff—!”

“Four leaves. A dose that wouldn’t be strange whether it kills or doesn’t.”

I grabbed the physician by the collar and yanked him up.

The moment our eyes met, he spat curses.

“You little wretch! Do you know who I am?! I’ve served His Majesty for ten years! I’m the Imperial Physician! The Imperial Physician, I say! And you dare—!”

Cornered, he resorted to flaunting his title.

“So what?”

“W-what…”

“Don’t you realize that the fact you’re the Imperial Physician makes this even worse?”

At my words, the physician’s faded eyes trembled.

I raised an eyebrow and sneered. “If word gets out that the Imperial Physician attempted to assassinate a prince, it’ll be quite the spectacle.”

“Y-you—you—! Who would listen to the likes of a lowly maid like you!”

“You say no one would listen to me, but even if someone were willing to listen to you, I doubt you’d be able to speak.”

It was about time for the poison to take effect.

Sure enough, the physician clutched at his chest and began gasping.

“See? If you’d just answered from the beginning, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“You, you—!”

“So, why did you try to kill him?”

“Kill who?! I did no such thing! I tell you, I didn’t—!”

He still had plenty to say, so it seemed he could endure a while longer.

But I had no intention of waiting.

“Sorry, but I don’t have much time.”

“Aaaaaaargh—!”

I stabbed the physician’s thigh with the fountain pen.

He collapsed like a sack and trembled violently.

The white cloak he wore was instantly stained with crimson.

“Who ordered you?”

“Huff, huff, huuuhhh…!”

Sass gripped his wounded thigh and wheezed.

He looked up at me with terrified eyes.

“You—no, young lady, why are you doing this to me…?”

The poison spread, the blood kept flowing.

For a frail old body, the pain would be unbearable.

“You have no reason to kill the prince. Someone must have ordered you.”

“Urrgh, urghhh…!”

“Who was it?”

In the end, Sass burst into tears and clung to my leg. “Young lady, I-I was wrong. Please, I beg you, spare my life!”

“You’re the one eating away at your own life,” I answered coldly. “The sooner you speak, the sooner I can administer the antidote. Why keep stalling?”

“I—I…”

Sass hesitated until the very end.

It was clear he had someone in mind, but couldn’t bring himself to say the name.

I already know the answer.

I had more than enough reason to guess.

He had even spoken of that person himself earlier.

“I knew it.”

I quietly opened my mouth.

“Was it Her Highness the Second Empress?”

Sass said nothing.

But I didn’t need him to.

The way his shoulders slumped in resignation told me I was right.

“I—I only did as Her Highness asked… I had no choice…”

“And what exactly did Her Highness ask you to do?”

“She said… if the opportunity arose, to send the Third Prince to… the arms of the angels…”

In any country, the fight for the throne is brutal.

It was as common as sand for heirs to try to kill one another.

“What did I do so wrong—!”

The scream Edwin had shouted at Lloyd in the garden rang in my ears.

What did he do so wrong?

‘Nothing.’

If anything, his only crime was being born a prince.

The crime of having noble blood and yet possessing nothing.

‘You really have such a cruel life.’

I gave a bitter smile.

“Y-young lady, please spare me. I… I have my own circumstances too!”

“You, there.”

Ignoring the clinging Sass, I turned my head.

“Y-yes, me?”

The apothecary flinched and opened his eyes wide at my call.

“You’re an apothecary. Surely you know how to make an antidote?”

“Ah, y-yes. I do.”

“Then do it.”

At my command, the apothecary quickly approached the physician.

He forced Sass to vomit the poison, then made him drink a potion mixed with charcoal powder.

Having barely passed the crisis, Sass looked slightly better than before.

“A warning, from now on.”

I looked down at the subdued Sass and continued, “Don’t ever lay a finger on the Third Prince—or anyone associated with his palace.”

“O-of course! I wouldn’t dare! I swear, I won’t!”

“If you break that promise, I’ll pay a visit to House Zyle.”

I leaned close to Sass’s ear. “I’ll tell your wife about all the disgraceful things you’ve done. Most of House Zyle’s wealth came from the dowry she brought, didn’t it? If she casts you aside, you’ll have to cough up every last coin.”

Sass’s eyes bulged wide open.

“H-how do you know that…?”

“There are ways to know.”

I gave the old physician a bright smile, meeting his gaze.

“So keep your mouth shut. Not a word about what happened today to anyone.”

“H-huff…”

“If you do, I’ll show you something worse than death.”

Shivering at my final words, Sass nodded. “Y-yes. I’ll remember it well.”

“Then that’s all I needed.”

Smack—!

I struck Sass on the back of the neck.

Like a light going out, he lost consciousness immediately.