Chapter 10
The wolves escorted him to a safe house that was not too far away from the palace. The citizens of the country were all busy enjoying the New Year’s festivities, due to that, the area around the safe house was deadly quiet.
Creak
The empty house was clean and desolate, yet the structure was incredibly sturdy. If someone were to get murdered in here, no one would hear their final cry.
In the middle of the uninhabited living room, a man tied with a rope and a muzzle on his mouth was kneeling on the floor.
“mmm! mmmm!”
With the sudden appearance of people, the young man who had been tied, tried to say something but it came out muffled and unclear.
“This is the man called Donnaven. We’re sure that he’s the man who was looking for the young lady.”
Looking at the man kneeling in front of him, Lennox Karlyle was a little disappointed and confused. The man had an ordinary build and a common face, there was nothing special about him.
“Release him.”
The moment the muzzle came off, the young man covered in fear, screamed.
“My Lord! Please spare my life, I’ll return all the money soon!”
Lennox frowned
“What money?”
With an uncertain expression, Hardin replied instead.
“It’s true. This man had just opened up his own clinic and has accumulated some debt.”
Donnaven, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, cautiously interrupted.
“I…..Am I not here because of my debt?”
“…………….”
A puzzled look momentarily flashed on both Donnaven and Lennox’s face.
Lennox kneeled on one leg, coming face to face with Donnaven and asked.
“Do you know Juliet Monad?”
“M-Monad….Are you referring to that Count’s daughter?”
“What’s your relationship with Juliet?”
“Of course it’s….No, wait a minute. What do you mean by relationship! I’ve never even met that person!”
Donnaven desperately denied it. He seemed to have roughly understood what the situation was.
“Then why did you go look for her?”
“T-That’s…it’s the patient’s personal information, and it’s also a very sensitive topic, so I cannot say…..”
Donnaven spoke hesitantly, trying not to aggravate the person in front of him, but as soon as he saw the knight behind Lennox place his hand on the sword handle, he screamed again.
“It’s because of my mother!”
***
The fear stricken Donnaven to confess everything he knew. He rambled quite a bit, but Lennox and the Wolves were able to roughly understand what he was trying to say.
“So, my mother is a pharmacist, no, I should say she was a pharmacist.”
His mother was a skilled pharmacist who worked in the 8th District a long time ago.
“Many high-ranking noble ladies would send requests often asking her to make medicine.”
Donnaven spoke proudly. Usually, the aristocrats have professional doctors. However, instead of those doctors, pharmacists were preferred because of anonymity and varying types of medicine that they could get at a faster pace.
“However, some time ago, due to a sickness, my mother stopped working.”
And the Donnaven, who had been training, was forced to return to look after his mother. After taking her to a nursing home, he cleaned up the pharmacy, and he also went through his mother’s diary to see if she had made any kind of mistake with the customers orders due to her dementia.
“Coincidently, I found a prescription record for the young lady of the Monad household.”
“You’re saying that Juliet ordered medicine?”
“That’s right. Count Monad’s wife……used to be one of my mother’s regular customers before she died.”
Donnaven spoke carefully.
“What did Juliet order?”
“……Silphium.”
“Silphium?”
“It’s not a medicine that is harmful to the body! As you know a lot of aristocrats use it.”
Lennox frowned.
He knew well about that medicine. It was a precious herb that grew in the South. Taking the roots of the silphium plant and drinking as tea had a contraceptive effect. Except for the disadvantage of being expensive, it was a widely used contraceptive medicine that smelled good and had no side effects on the body.
Lennox now knew why this man had been frequenting the Monad household. Though the Monad family had fallen, they left behind a rich and deep testament. In addition to that, Juliet, who is the only daughter of that household, was still a single lady. Donnaven was terrified that if something was wrong with the medicine, he won’t be able to avoid the blame, and if rumors about it spread, it would bring his business to the ground.
However, the question still stands. What was so urgent that made him go and look for Juliet several times?
“So?”
“A-A couple of months ago, the young lady sent a request asking for a mistletoe and silphium, and my mother had them delivered to her. That was the last entry recorded.”
Donnaven was still hesitant and anxious while speaking.
Lennox felt that the man was holding back information, so he asked.
“What is the mistletoe medicine used for?”
“Mistletoe is not harmful. It’s a rather helpful medicine that helps prevent miscarriage and protect the unborn child. The problem is the young lady ordered the silphium flower with it as well.”
……child?
“The effects of the silphium flower are completely different from the silphium roots. Usually, the part used to help with birth control is the silphium roots; however, the flower part is more poisonous, it is used to erase an unborn child.”
The atmosphere in the house turned cold.
Yet, Donnaven was still not done with his explanation.
“It won’t be a problem if both the plants were used separately. However, if the mistletoe and silphium flower were used together, there will be a risk of miscarriage. S-So I wanted to tell her if she was pregnant to go to a doctor first….”
Before he was done with his sentence,
Bang
Lennox slammed the door and headed outside.
“Sire!”
The Wolves hurried out following him, however, Lennox paid them no attention and rode one of the horses that had been tied to a tree.
Heading for the estate, Lennox could only think of one thing.
‘Juliet.’
She can explain.
She had to explain.
“The effects of the silphium flower are completely different from the silphium roots. Usually, the part used to help with birth control is the silphium roots; however, the flower part is more poisonous, it is used to erase an unborn child.”
“It won’t be a problem if both the plants were used separately. However, if the mistletoe and silphium flower were used together, there will be a risk of miscarriage.”
Contraceptive medicine.
Silphium.
And Juliet.
When those three ominous and confusing words were combined together, a memory flashed through his mind.