Chapter 220. Infectious Disease, Part XIII

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

"They made the poison they didn't make the antidote?" Julietta tilted her head and wondered aloud.

Dr. Paulo replied, "The people who make poison often make an antidote. Toxifying and detoxification; for people who study poison, the greatest joy is finding a way to decipher their own poisons."

"Not only that, it's human nature to want to gain the upper hand with an antidote that can decipher a poison that no one knows about. Duke Kiellini must have made the antidote..."

Julietta nodded at Killian's words. "Then he must be growing metum somewhere in the land of the Duke. Your Highness, we need to send someone to Tilia to check that out right now."

"Not on Tilia Territory. After taking full control of the Kiellini family, I have checked the type of teas sold, and the imported and stored plants or teas stored every year, but I have never seen metum," Simone replied regretfully

Julietta asked further, "The Kiellini family has land in the north of Austern and in Vicern, right? I'm sure you would know about the widow's lands in the north, what about the land in Vicern? What kind of tea do they grow and sell there?"

"Come to think of it, there was Kiellini land in Vicern. But there was no report from it..." Simone exclaimed thoughtfully.

"I'll have to send someone right away." Oswald was excited and rubbed his hands together, flapping himself as if he would stand up at any moment.

"I'll go there. Your Highness's aides are now subject to the vigilance and surveillance of Prince Francis, so you'd better not move in a hurry." Marquis Anais broke in.

Maribel stepped in before either man could get up. "That's right, but it would also be doubtful that Marquis Anais went all the way to Vicern and asked if they have any metum. I think I'll have to go. The retired head of the Eileen Theater makes a trip to Vicern and accidentally drops by the land of Kiellini. I don't even have to ask if there is metum. I've raised and managed it myself for decades, and I couldn't help but recognize it."

Killian finally smiled at Maribel's answer. "All right, the troupe leader. You prove yourself that my eyes were not wrong. Now everything has been perfectly shared among each of us. I want you all to try hard. I think it's time for Julietta to make a full recovery."

"By the way, Prince Francis will see that the epidemic is being treated and can use other toxins. I'm nervous."

Adam countered when Marquis Anais said as if he was worried about it. "I don't think so. They can't use a normal toxin that has clear symptoms of poisoning. But if we don't figure out how they spread the poison, it's going to be an endless fight. Someday, the antidote will run out."

"Would they have put it in the well?" Oswald brought out what had happened during the continental war a long time ago.

"Then there would have been more victims. That's not how it spreads like this." Dr. Paulo shook his head in denial.

Silence sank in the room. 'What on earth did they use?'

"Why did Marquis Marius visit the Baden Shop in disguise?" Feeling stifled by the heavy silence, Oswald asked a question that he had been curious about all along.

"It may be related to this epidemic," Adam ventured.

"Baden Shop?" When Julietta asked her question, Maribel told her what she had seen. Julietta pondered and asked Dr. Paulo, "How is poison manufactured?"

"An animal poison is usually a potion, and plant poison is commonly dried and powdered."

At Dr. Paulo's reply, Julietta kept asking, "As it is the Kiellini family's poison, there is a higher probability of a plant poison than an animal poison, right?"

"I think so. If I look at the propensity and interests of the Duke, I can see that it is reasonable."

"You said you've seen poisons before, right?"

"Yes, the princess. As before, the poison Phoebe drank this time was a transparent liquid potion. But there was white powder at the bottom."

Julietta's eyes sparkled at Dr. Paulo's answer. "What is the largest percentage of what the Baden Shop deals with? Do you know?"

When Julietta asked as if she found something, Adam answered quickly, "Baden Land is famous for its granaries. It has a high-quality, expensive grain that they supply to the royal family, as well as restaurants and aristocrats.

"I've read a book before. There was a scene where they were mixing poison in the mill. I think the world where people live is the same everywhere. They might have mixed the poison in the grain which the Baden Shop sells."

Kilian's eyes narrowed as if he were thinking about something. "The grain? Maybe. The first place the epidemic broke out was Manol Restaurant in Bertino. There were a series of sick people in the noble family. That's why it started being called 'Blue Blood Disease.'"

"Do you mean they mixed the poison in the grain sold to the restaurant?" Oswald quivered at Francis' cruelty.

"I think so. Until they poison me, someone who has nothing to do with me needs to die at random. Mixing poison with the grain they eat is a sure method!"

Adam clicked his tongue at Killian's words. "The Count of Baden is also involved in this. In the end, his greed drives a nail into his coffin."

"It's a big deal if the poison is mixed with the grain! We can isolate the epidemic and cut off the transmission path, but I can't imagine where and how the poison would have spread."

Killian nodded at the words of the Marquis. "It's in Dudley's blood to do whatever it takes to achieve its purpose. They wouldn't have felt guilty at the deaths of so many people."

"What should we do? Should we ask people not to buy grain from the Baden Shop for a while? How do we handle what's already on the market?" Adam hugged his head and lamented.

"Why don't we arrest Prince Francis first? This is a serious crime. It's a great sin that put our entire nation at risk." Marquis Anais insisted strongly. He could never forgive them for trying to kill Julietta. He wanted to punish them all at once for treason!

"There's no evidence. All we're talking about here is just a strong suspicion. They would make an excuse that Marquis Marius just visited the Baden Shop as he had business on hand. The bigger problem is that, as I said earlier, we can't identify the disease that has spread is the capital as poison. It should never be discovered that the poison is from the Kiellini family."

As they began to inquire into this matter, Prince Francis would escape and the Kiellini family would take all the blame.

"That's a big deal. What if they keep releasing the poison and the antidote runs short? It's an endless fight."

Dr. Paulo's words kept everyone quiet. There was certainly no proper way to end things. It would be like pouring water in a jar without a bottom, and the antidote would be consumed endlessly.

"And when the people ask for the ingredients of the antidote, that will be a problem. It can also be seen as selfish that only we know how to treat it."

Julietta replied to Adam's concern. "Tell them that the carrier of the epidemic is grain from Baden Land. As for the medicinal component of the antidote, we have to say that we can't reveal it because of hoarding and distribution problems, and instead, tell people to be careful by revealing the medium."

"Ah!" Adam's face was bright. "There is such a good solution."

"It's a temporary expedient, but we have to do is prevent it from spreading further. When things calm down to a certain extent, we would say that it's not just a disease, but a poison."

"I can't allow that. The poison could be traced to the Kiellini family."

When Killian objected to the risk, Julietta patted his arm soothingly. "They will suspect Count Baden, even if it is known to be a poison, since it will already be known that the crops in Baden Land are the cause. And Count Baden may reveal who's behind it, or…"

"They'll get cut their tail off," Killian continued the words that Julietta couldn't speak.

"After we inform people that it's poison, we can reveal the ingredients of the antidote. Then please declare that the Kiellini family provided the antidote for them."