Tangled By Fate

475 POISONED

Arthur was peacefully sleeping. All of a sudden, Ovior teleported into the bedroom.

“Arthur, get up!” he called out with urgency in his voice.

Arthur surely never heard his friend talking to him like this in his entire life.

His eyes flew open. He instantly got up.

“What is…”

His words stuck in his throat when he noticed the unconscious Veronica in Ovior’s arms.

Her mouth was covered in blood and so was her neck and the upper part of her clothes.

Ovior’s clothes were all bloodied too due to his arms wrapped around Veronica’s bloody body.

Arthur’s heart sank. He jumped out of the bed and snatched Veronica from his friend.

.....

He carried her to the bed and carefully put her down.

“What… what…” while checking her condition, he stammered.

“I don’t know,” Ovior told him. “We were just drinking wine when she suddenly collapsed.

“At first, I thought it was her meal but we were having the same meal. Before coming, I already checked if her meal was poisoned. But it’s not.”

Arthur asked desperately, “What about the wine?!”

Ovior shook his head. “We had the same meal and wine. I’m still alive.”

Arthur brought his index finger in front of her nose. He frowned and then placed his head on her chest.

“She is not breathing, Ovior. She is not breathing.” His voice quivered when he spoke.

“I’ll find whatever I had to take down the poison. But I need a sample.”

“Then take it!”

Ovior vanished for a second and then came back with a syringe. After taking her sample, he gave Arthur a purple stone.

“Here, use this healing stone. I’m not sure if it will work but use it until it turns completely red and shatters. I’ll try to come up with a solution by then.”

Arthur did what he was told. He used the stone to heal Veronica until the stone turned red.

By that time, the sun peeked out of the east window.

Hours had passed but Veronica didn’t breathe.

Arthur’s heart was beating faster. He became more and more nervous.

He didn’t notice a bit of improvement in Veronica’s condition. His face was gradually ashen.

Someone knocked on the door but he didn’t hear.

When no reply came from inside, the door was slowly pushed open. Zinnia came inside.

“Arthur, why are you still… Oh Goddess! Veronica!”

She rushed forward and grabbed Veronica’s hand.

“Arthur, she is as cold as a dead person. What happened?”

However, Arthur didn’t reply. It seemed like he was shocked by Veronica’s zero improvements. He couldn’t believe his eyes that she couldn’t get well.

Zinnia noticed how shocked he was. She grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him hard.

“Arthur! Arthur! Say something!”

After being shaken a few times, Arthur slowly turned his head toward her.

“…Poison…” he muttered in a hardly audible voice.

“How could that happen?! I’ll inform others. You just stay with her!”

Zinnia dashed out of the room.

Soon, Ironin, Felix and Darius gathered around in Arthur and Veronica’s bedroom.

Sebastian came not long after.

He brought a small bowl in front of Arthur. It was a green liquid with the most disgusting odor they ever smelled.

Darius and Felix immediately covered their noses while Ironin instinctively held his breath.

Sebastian told Arthur, “Second Master asked me to bring this to you. This is for Mistress Veronica. She needs to drink this right now.”

Arthur snatched it from his hand and poured the whole medicine into his mouth. After that, he mouth-fed Veronica.

Some of the medicine spilled from her mouth. Some of it forcefully went down to her throat.

Even after drinking the medicine, Veronica didn’t wake up. Arthur’s face turned rigid.

“What should we do?” Darius whispered to Ironin. “We have already gathered everyone on the first floor.

“We have used a magic barrier so that no one can leave. But how long will Arthur take to give us further instruction?”

Ovior was too busy to look for a cure the whole night. He didn’t have a wink of sleep.

Neither he nor Arthur had any condition to notify others about this incident.

When Zinnia came, only then did she find out. She informed others as soon as possible.

With Ironin’s instruction, they gathered everyone and used a magic circle to create a barrier.

No one could break the barrier except for Ironin, Ovior and Arthur.

“Give him some time,” Ironin told impatient Darius.

He turned to Felix and asked, “Did you find Catherine?”

Felix shook his head.

“I saw her going out last night. Today is her holiday. So, I don’t expect her to come before evening.

“I’ve already sent her a messenger bird. Hopefully, she will arrive soon.”

While they were waiting, Ovior teleported to the room.

He looked haggard after staying awake all night. He was still wearing yesterday’s clothes. Veronica’s blood dried on his clothes.

“I’ve figured out the problem,” he declared.

Arthur finally turned around, ready to listen to what his friend had to say.

“Veronica wasn’t poisoned just yesterday. She has been poisoned for a long time. It might have started from the day she arrived at the tower after being missing.

“The amount of poison was so low that she didn’t show any symptoms. Last night she vomited blood because my red wine had a spell on it.

“The spell reacted to her poison which caused her to vomit and lose consciousness. It’s more like her poison was activated.

“She has been taking poison for so long that it spread all over her body. Her blood vessels are poisoned now.

“If you remove the last drop of her blood, the poison will be removed…”

“And she will also die forever,” Ironin said. “There is no way to enter new blood into her body. That’s impossible unless there is magic to handle this.”

“Unfortunately, there is no magic like this,” Ovior said. He didn’t give them false alarms.

“Then, find something that can remove the poison from her blood vessels,” Arthur said.

Ovior told him, “It’s not as simple as you think. This poison is the most ancient unknown poison I’ve ever seen.

“If anyone can come up with the origin of it, that is Merlin. He is an expert in medicine and healing.”

“I’ll notify him right away,” Felix said.

“Wait,” Ovior prevented him from leaving. “Before you go, there is something else you need to know…”