Baby Princess Through the Status Window - Chapter 138
Translator and Editor: Nana and Tea
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Chapter 138
It seemed that perhaps the notification magic could have pierced through the raging storm and reached the Duke of Pacour. However, if the storm were to aid them, they could easily catch the Duke off guard.
“Stay vigilant,” her father’s voice rang out, bearing a tone akin to a declaration of war.
With this, they opened the box.
“This is the first time I’ve seen such a seed.”
“Me, too…”
There was a distinct lack of tension inside the box, only a handful of adult fingernail-sized seeds lying atop luxurious velvet cloth. And throughout and from the seeds, the flow of mana spread out widely.
“Siervy, now!” As they had agreed upon beforehand, the three mages simultaneously cast a barrier to disrupt the flow of mana. And yet, the mana from the notification magic continued to expand outward, resembling a fish swimming freely in water.
“…We must leave it to the storm now.”
“Yes.”
Her father’s advice was blunt as he watched Siervian stare wistfully into space. Even as she nodded in agreement, Siervian couldn’t shake off her worries.
‘If those assassins had those beads, could they have used them in a situation like this?’
Such thoughts flowed through her mind. The nature of mana was always so free-spirited, and those beads they used were such a strange object.
“Is that a reagent?”
“Yes, it is.”
A small table was placed between them. Damian took it from one side as their father pulled out the things he had prepared. Apparently it had been a favorite table of the Seventh Emperor, but the symbolism wasn’t important right now.
“A reagent? To determine the components?” Siervian looked at the tools her father had taken out with curious eyes.
There were four vials, each one distinguishable by its color.
“To determine the concentration of mana?”
“That’s right.”
This was a rare opportunity. Only four seeds were available. Therefore, the Emperor had a lot to consider when selecting the vials. In the end, he came to one conclusion. He had to see if the basic truth of the widely-known Harmin tea was indeed true.
If this basic truth was found to be even slightly different, there was enough reason to attack the Duke.
“How does it work?”
“First, we must sprout it.”
Placing a single seed on his palm, her father focused on the mana. Siervian had become more attuned to the nature of mana after her awakening and could sense the immense vitality emanating from the mana that flowed into her father’s palm. And then, with a cracking sound, the hard, black seed sprouted.
“Wow.”
Her father’s actions did not stop there. His continuous infusion of mana caused the Harmin seed to sway, as if time were passing at an accelerated pace. With each passing moment, the stem split into multiple branches, growing taller and taller until it reached the height of Siervian’s head. The plant shyly peeked out, adorned with just a handful of leaves.
“This is the Harmin plant,” her father said, carefully plucking one of the leaves and placing it on the table. He then piped a drop of reagent on it.
“This reagent measures the mana concentration. If the Harmin plant possesses its known ability to gather mana, it will shine white.”
Siervian watched cautiously as the reagent landed on the leaf. And soon, she couldn’t help but ask in a grim voice, “What if it shines black?”
“….”
“….”
[Alderuan Elverdotte]
Thoughts: Oh my God.
[Damian Elverdotte]
Mood: Horrified.
Realizing the implications, her father and brother were momentarily at a loss for words. They had brought four different reagents because they thought it would be difficult to figure out what it was. But their first attempt yielded strange results.
“Let’s try again.”
Her father’s voice was grave as he plucked another leaf. But once again, the result was the same, a dark color that seemed to absorb all the light around it.
Siervian’s mouth hung open, waiting for an explanation.
“If it shines white, it means the plant has the ability to gather mana. But if it shines black…”
“What…?”
Siervian could only imagine the worst, that the Harmin tea had no effect at all. But it was far worse than that. It had the opposite effect, severely disrupting the balance of mana in the human body.
“It is a substance that should not be consumed by humans.”
[Alderuan Elverdotte]
Mood: Very angry.
After that, her father tried the remaining reagents, each with the same result. He even examined another seed that had sprouted, but the outcome was unchanged.
Instead of protecting the people of the empire, the Harmin tea had properties that caused harm to the body’s delicate mana balance.
“Sigh…”
For the first time in a long time, Emperor Alderuan felt a powerful emotion. He hadn’t realized that he had such evidence right under his nose. Suddenly, a memory from the past flashed through his mind.
[Alderuan Erveldotte]
Thoughts: I remember this ingredient in the tea that the Duke’s physician gave Siervy.
‘So that ingredient wasn’t even medicine, it was just harmin tea!’
There was a saying that a great secret should be kept right under one’s nose. That way, one would always be suspicious of the truth behind the revealed secret.
The clues had been there all along, scattered in various places. It was just too unbelievable to be recognized. All three of them gazed at the Harmin plant on the table in disappointment.
The artificially grown plant, brought to life with magic, was now withering rapidly as a price for defying the laws of nature.
“When he gave me the seeds, the duke was more focused on preparing for a possible situation. He even made it a condition that he must cast the spell with his own mana.”
At the time, Emperor Alderuan had thought that the duke wanted to gain control over Harmin with his power and rebel against the empire. Being a great mage, he feared that the Emperor could neutralize the magic of the box and grow Harmin on his own. So he made it a condition for him to cast the spell with his own mana.
‘But there was another devious reason from the very beginning.’
Anger flared in her father’s eyes as he looked at the already wilted Harmin plant. Noting his fury, Siervian was slowly coming to a realization. Goosebumps crawled up her back like a sticky swamp snake.
‘So that’s why he killed all the people who were allergic to it.’
Her heart was racing, and she couldn’t stop shaking.
If people with harmin allergies survived into adulthood without drinking harmin tea, everyone would know the truth. Now she understood why the Empress was so horrified that she was allergic. And why she’d been so careful to make sure she always had her own bottle of medicine that she’d been drinking in her previous life, instead of the Harmin tea.
As the Princess, she would not have been as easy to kill as other allergic people.
This revelation made her wonder if her death sentence in her previous life was due to her allergies, rather than her alleged use of black magic.
It seemed too hasty for the execution of a member of the imperial family, but what if there was a hidden reason for her death?
Siervian couldn’t help but feel a chill run through her body as she remembered this fact.
“Siervy, are you okay?”
Because of the chills that spread throughout her body, it seemed like her body would freeze.
“It’s cold…”
Without even realizing it, her father quickly moved as she spoke. He took off his usual mage robe without hesitation and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Are you alright?”
Her father immediately moved the mana. To grow the plants was already a very difficult spell, however, the surrounding air was quickly wrapped in warmth. Only then did Siervian come to her senses.
The coldness that had frozen her from time to time from the past could no longer grip her ankles. Her family was so warm, and they were always by her side.
“It’s okay, I’m just a little shaken.”
“How could no one have known about this?”
“They used the first emperor’s name.”
The legendary man himself had left a note in a place where none but royalty were allowed to enter. Hence, even those who were puzzled must have refrained from suspicion.
[Alderuan Erveldotte]
Thoughts: Now that I think about it, there are more than a few things that were suspicious in the first place.
…Was the chamberlain killed because he found out about this?
The previous emperor’s chamberlain was killed in a carriage accident almost immediately. Alderuan, who returned to the empire at the sudden death of the chamberlain, was not sure about what happened.
Alderuan and the previous emperor didn’t have the best of relationships, after all.
‘My father didn’t get along with my grandfather…….’
Siervian tried not to look at her father’s status window, which was silent and thoughtful. She wanted to hear this story later, when he wanted to tell her himself.
‘It’s probably something to do with my mom.’
The three of them were silent for a moment, each recovering from their own shock, and then they organized their stack of Harmin seeds. Known for their deadly effects, harmin seeds were no longer a rare commodity.
“How is the search for the servant going?”
He referred to the servant who had been with the former chamberlain until the end. The previous chamberlain had been found dead with grass on his chest, perhaps because of this discovery.
Suspicious, the emperor asked her brother about the progress of the servant’s search.
“He’s been hiding strangely, but I’ve found some clues, so I’ve sent someone out.”
“This is important, you should go and see for yourself.”
“Yes, Father.”
The three people calmly discussed the coming days. The most pressing item to begin was tomorrow.
The storm season was coming to an end, so a cabinet meeting would be held.
“Assuming the notification magic has reached the duchy, we must move quickly.”
Surely the storm season was over, but the storm had not passed.
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