Kissing Hellfire: Marry Me, Evil Lord
Chapter 119: A Hopeless Case

Chapter 119: A Hopeless Case

"Why would the thorns of a rose be poisonous?" One of the councilmen asked.

Fortunately, they found a healer mage in the village. An old man who worked for the town’s infirmary but had retired three years ago. While the healer was checking the girl, the councilmen stayed in the house of the child’s family, curious about what kind of poison was in the rose.

Outside the house, Lauren talked to Alec privately.

"I found this near the rose," she showed him the small stone she took into her pocket.

"I forgot to tell you. Back when you found me strolling in the town with Vivian, I was about to pick up a certain hairpin in a shop when a woman came near me and got the hairpin first. I saw her hand and she had the same ruby and emerald rings Lady Priscilla told us about, but she disappeared before I could see her face. And during your coronation as the crown prince, a mysterious woman bumped into me and left a handkerchief with an embroidered design of a hairpin. The same hairpin that the woman picked up in the shop that day. Now this ruby and emerald stone, do you think it’s just a coincidence?" Lauren shook her head. "I don’t think so."

Alec’s eyes darkened. "All this time she keeps on reaching out to you and you never told me about it?"

She cleared her throat. "Well, a lot of things happened lately and you were too busy. I forgot about it."

"If she keeps on making her presence known to you, it only means she knows that you have your eyes on her. You could have been in danger."

"I know, but that isn’t the point right now. With this stone, it means that the mysterious woman isn’t only corrupting humans but also leading the black mages. Perhaps she is the reason why the black mages have become powerful."

"I want you to tell me everything about it from now on. Do you understand me, Lauren?" His tone was firm and absolute, leaving no room for negotiation.

"Yes, I will." It was a problem of the state. Alec was now the King and it was only right for him to know. Besides, she doubted if someone could help her better than him. "We should get the rose and have it examined by Dr. Bentley."

They went to where the rose was planted. Lauren was about to bend her knees and pluck the rose from its roots but Alec caught her wrist before she could.

"What are you doing?"

"Aren’t we here for the rose?"

"Have you gone insane? You saw how the child was poisoned after her finger got pricked by its thorn and you want to touch it with your bare hands?" He looked at her as if she was a foolish kid who didn’t know what she was doing.

Lauren straightened up. Right. The rose was poisonous and they didn’t know what sorcery it was made of. But what Alec didn’t know, her body was immune to poison. She had tried all kinds of poison she could find but none of it did harm to her body.

She told no one about it because it was an abnormality she still hadn’t deciphered until now. After all, the lesser people know about you, the safer your secrets become.

"You’ve misunderstood. I wasn’t planning to pluck it with my bare hands. I was going to use a spell," she lied. "I’ll go and ask for a sack where we can put it in."

Without waiting for his reply, she walked back to Ericka’s house and told a councilman to find a small sack. It didn’t take him long to find one by asking the other villagers.

She stayed in the house and let the councilman bring the sack to Alec. She wanted to see if the healer was making progress.

Helen, the mother of Ericka, continued to weep in the corner with her husband. The young girl lay unconscious in the wooden bed. It was only less than an hour ago when she got pricked by the rose’s thorn, but the discoloration of her skin had spread so fast.

From her finger, it went to her whole hand, and then to half of her arm. The rest of her body had turned paler, and how her face was contorting even when she was unconscious was an indication that she was in pain.

"Fred, stay here. The rest, follow me. We still need to check the other houses," said Simon and excused himself with his subordinates, leaving one councilman to watch over the situation and accompany Lauren.

A long minute passed and watching the healer mage struggle as he tried to suck out the poison from the girl’s body through a healing spell, Lauren asked, "What kind of poison is it? You barely have any progress, doctor. With how fast the poison is spreading, in less than half an hour it would reach the child’s heart. Tell me, can you do it or not?"

Lauren didn’t mean to be rude but she was worried for Ericka. The girl only wanted to give her a flower but she ended up in a critical condition that might lead to death.

"Your Majesty, I am trying my best," said the old man. "I have devoted all my life to healing people and I have encountered many kinds of deadly drugs but this one seems to be not one of them. My way of removing poison from a person’s body is not working, which means the poison used must be examined first. But..." He trailed off and looked at the child’s parents with pity.

But there was no time for that. The poison would reach the girl’s heart and brain in just a matter of minutes. It was a hopeless case... that was what the physician was trying to say but he could not say it out loud because he felt bad for the young girl’s parents.