Chapter 16
The physician of House Aiola was highly skilled, but even he couldn’t determine the cause of Elaine’s sudden illness.
Elaine had been moved to a bed and had lain there, unmoving, with her eyes tightly shut for over thirty minutes. Her face was so pale it resembled that of the dead, and Turner was seized with dread.
“How can you not know the cause?!”
“I-I beg your pardon, sire. It appears to be poison, but I cannot identify what kind… We’ve given her a sedative for now. We’ll need to observe her condition and then examine her again…”
“Where is Fernando? Fernando—someone get him right now! Elaine is in danger—!”
“No… don’t.”
As young Turner shouted in panic, tears in his eyes, a pale hand weakly tugged at his sleeve.
“Elaine…! You’re conscious…?!”
“No, Turner. Don’t… trouble Brother Fernando…”
It seemed the medicine had some effect after all—Elaine had stopped coughing up blood and had recovered enough strength to sit up in bed.
“That’s an order. If anyone dares to call Brother Fernando without my permission… I’ll have them thrown out. No, not just that—before that happens, I’ll give them a good lashing with the horsehide whip Father gave me last summer. And when you’re writhing in pain from the wounds, don’t expect me to call a doctor. Even if the wounds fester and rot, even if you suffer a burning fever!”
Little Elaine snapped at the servants gathered in the room, her small lips pressed tightly together.
“B-but Miss Elaine…”
“I’m perfectly fine. Look. I can even walk.”
Elaine, barely able to stand, walked a full circle around the room in front of Turner and the servants. Everyone was stunned, but she drove the noisy doctor out of the room and sat upright with an air of command.
“So don’t spout nonsense and go bothering Brother Fernando. Instead, bring me a change of clothes. These are completely ruined.”
After changing into a clean outfit, Elaine ordered her blood-stained white dress to be burned. And for the rest of the afternoon, she acted as if nothing had happened—so much so that everyone began to believe she truly was fine. Even Turner, who had witnessed her coughing up blood with his own eyes, began to question what he had seen.
“It was definitely that cookie. There was something terrible in that cookie.”
Terrified at the thought that he might have been the one to cause Elaine’s illness, Turner stayed by her side all day, nervous and restless.
“Elaine, please… Let the doctor examine you again. He didn’t get a chance to finish earlier.”
“What are you talking about, Turner? When did you become such a coward? Look at me—I’m perfectly fine!”
Elaine dismissed his concern with a bright, almost playful smile, pretending as if nothing were wrong.
“Instead, worry about your own eyes. They’re all swollen up like a fish. You look awful, Turner.”
“But… but…”
Turner desperately wanted to persuade her, but matching Elaine in an argument was never easy. In the end, as he lingered anxiously around the estate, the physician who had examined Elaine earlier approached him cautiously.
“Your Highness, please… You must persuade the young lady. She may appear fine now, but if left untreated, her condition could become critical.”
The physician confessed that every time he tried to approach Elaine, she would scream and throw things at him. He was certain her body was still far from well, but he couldn’t get close enough to examine her.
“But what can I do? She won’t listen to a word I say.”
“The medicine I gave her was only to calm her symptoms temporarily. Without an antidote, the poison remains in her system… In the worst case, it could take her life…”
“W-what?! Her life?!”
Panic-stricken, Turner secretly sent someone to bring Fernando to the estate. But the knight returned alone, having failed. Fernando was in a secret meeting with Crown Prince Edmund, and the underground chamber of the Crown Prince’s palace was inaccessible.
In the end, Turner left the estate himself and went in search of Fernando. He had to threaten and beg the guards at the palace gates before they finally let him through. There, he met a young man with platinum-blond hair—so strikingly similar to Elaine that Turner instantly lost all composure and fell to his knees, clinging to Fernando’s trousers, sobbing.
“Please… please save Elaine…!”
“Prince Turner…?”
Startled, Fernando blinked his brilliant green eyes—so identical to Elaine’s—and Turner’s wailing only grew louder.
“Elaine, Elaine… because of me… she’s going to d-die… waaaaah!”
“Turner, if you speak so incoherently, you’ll only confuse Fernando. Don’t cry—take a deep breath and explain slowly.”
Even Edmund frowned and interjected, seeing how Turner was too distraught to form proper sentences.
After a while, Fernando finally managed to piece together Turner’s desperate words.
So, Elaine had eaten a cookie Turner brought. That cookie had been poisoned. She had collapsed after vomiting blood, and yet, she now insisted she was fine—refusing to listen to the servants’ pleas or allow a doctor near.
With that, Fernando excused himself from the Crown Prince Edmund and rode at full speed back to the estate.
“Brother Fernando…!”
Until that very moment, Elaine had been calmly seated at the table, her back straight, eating with all the grace and elegance expected of a noble. Upon seeing Fernando return, she smiled brightly and stood up, appearing as composed as ever. But Fernando caught the looks exchanged between the servants—silent glances that clearly said they had much to say.
It was never the kind of problem a mere six-year-old child could conceal from the master of the estate.
“You’re back early, Brother. Will you be staying the night at the estate…?”
“Elaine…!”
Fernando’s face twisted as he strode quickly toward her.
He grabbed her small shoulders firmly and bent down to her eye level.
“B-Brother…?”
Startled by his stern expression, Elaine flinched and tried to step back, but Fernando’s grip kept her in place.
His eyes scanned her face, searching for any sign of illness she might be hiding—slightly reddened eyes, chapped lips, a faint medicinal scent.
“Where is the doctor?”
“Brother? The doctor? Why would—”
“Don’t even try to lie, Elaine. I’ve heard everything.”
“B-but I’m really okay… Did Turner say something strange? I was just a little unwell earlier today and lay down for a while, that’s all… It wasn’t serious enough to bother you… You’re busy, and I didn’t want to trouble you by calling you back to the estate…”
Elaine mumbled, fidgeting with her hands, but Fernando’s handsome face only grew darker.
“Bring the doctor—now. Re-examine her immediately!”
Fernando’s sudden outburst startled everyone. Never before had he raised his voice at his younger sister. He had always been gentle, soft-spoken. To see him shout in fury was utterly shocking.
Elaine, startled, burst into tears. But she didn’t wail. She simply covered her mouth with both hands and quietly let the tears fall. Seeing her like that, Fernando immediately realized he’d gone too far. But he didn’t back down. He couldn’t—not this time.
Without another word, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her upstairs to her bed. The doctor followed shortly after and began the examination.
Earlier, Elaine had cursed and thrown everything within reach at the doctor, but now she lay meekly in bed, sniffling as she let him check her condition.
“…Thankfully, the medicine has calmed her body significantly. However, the poison has not yet been neutralized. We must quickly find the antidote. I’ve never encountered a poison like this before… Perhaps we should ask Her Majesty to send a royal physician.”
Silence fell.
Royal physicians treated only members of the royal family and could not be summoned lightly. But Fernando went to the queen and, after making several concessions, managed to bring the royal physician to the estate.
Unfortunately, even he could not identify the poison.
Meanwhile, though Elaine initially seemed stable, her condition began to deteriorate. She no longer coughed up blood, but from a certain night onward, she began suffering from high fevers that struck after dark, and red rashes began to bloom across her body.
“…Mother… Father…”
Until then, Elaine had endured with composure, but now, each night, she scratched at her stomach and whimpered in pain. Fernando remained at her side every night, tending to her without rest.
“It hurts… Brother… It really hurts…”
Watching her struggle to breathe, writhing in agony, broke Fernando’s heart. But what hurt even more was discovering the reason she hadn’t told him sooner.
“Brother is always busy… What if I troubled him, and he left me, too?”
He overheard Elaine whisper this to Turner, who had come to visit her and asked why she hadn’t spoken up sooner.
“You thought I’d find you bothersome…”
It was a truth he wished he’d never learned. And yet, he had no choice but to admit that he had behaved in a way that could make her believe it.
Ever since their parents died, Fernando had avoided the empty, quiet Aiola estate, spending more and more time away under the excuse of being busy. He had, in effect, left Elaine behind.
And even though he’d seen how brightly she smiled every time he returned—how she subtly watched his face, trying to read his mood—he had turned a blind eye.
“I’m sorry, Elaine. I’m so sorry. I didn’t even realize you were sick… I’m sorry for leaving you alone.”
Elaine continued to weaken. Each night, the fevers returned with greater intensity.
At first, no one even knew what kind of poison she had been exposed to. But after contacting every physician they could, the truth finally came to light.
Two full months had passed since Elaine first collapsed.
It was the poison of Carlotta—a cursed extract made from the crimson petals of the death flower known as Carlotta.
A deadly substance from a southern country that no longer even appeared on maps.
