The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 20.

The Herb Shop seemed to tremble around me.
In an instant, the man seated beside me drew his sword reflexively and bolted toward the second-floor stairwell entrance.
“What—what is that sound?!”
I asked urgently. But the man stood with his blade lowered, its tip trailing against the floor, his cold eyes fixed upward on the landing above.
“Stay quiet.”
He seemed to be restraining an almost primal urge to leap up the stairs then and there.
His gaze probed carefully at the upper floor, and then he called out.
“Are you all right?”
A young man’s voice came down, strangled with suppressed pain.
“Don’t come up. ……It’s poison.”
It was the voice of the man who had gone upstairs first.
‘Poison……?!’
Why would poison suddenly appear here?!
Well, in an Herb Shop it’s not entirely impossible, but…….
While I was still reeling, the report continued to drift down from upstairs.
“There was a double mechanism hidden in the bottom of the box containing the Osnis Claw. The moment I pried open the base, something detonated—.”
Cough, cough! The man’s words were swallowed by a fit of coughing. At the same time, I heard the sound of him retching violently.
It seemed the poisoning was severe enough that he was vomiting blood.
When the young man’s voice cut off, an old man’s terrified voice cracked from somewhere nearby.
“Oh, it appears to be smoke made from Osnis Poison……!”
Osnis Poison…….
Osnis—that name kept appearing.
‘That Magical Beast said to roam the Northern Region.’
The moment I heard the name, my mind went cold and clear.
In one sense, I was fortunate.
I knew that poison. I had experienced it firsthand once, and I had synthesized an antidote just to survive.
Moreover, even when inhaled through the respiratory system, this particular poison took its time spreading through the body before it began to dissolve the blood vessels—it granted a respectable grace period.
The problem was, I had nearly died back then too.
‘Time isn’t generous now either.’
The moment clarity struck, I threw myself toward the stairwell entrance.
But as though he’d anticipated my movement, the man extended a massive arm and planted it firmly across my path.
“You cannot go up.”
True enough—through the narrow gap of the tightly sealed second-floor door, a pungent, blue-green poisonous mist was seeping steadily into view.
I pushed against the man’s solid forearm with both hands, channeling all my determination, and shouted upward.
“Grandfather! Is the Osnis Claw still up there?”
“Y-yes…… It’s here.”
“Crack the door open just a little and throw it down the stairs. Don’t touch it with bare hands—wrap it in cloth first!”
“What?”
“Hurry! And where’s the Kalukksia and Lonaria?”
“Wh-why do you——.”
I gritted my teeth.
“If you don’t want to die, start answering!”
My shout made the old man gasp out a reply from above.
“The Kalukksia is in the red drawer, three o’clock position, second shelf……, the Lonaria is gone right now…….”
“Then where’s the Silvrin?”
“Seven o’clock……, glass bottle on the lower blue shelf…….”
“All right. Now throw the claw down! Quickly!”
A moment later, the second-floor door cracked open just a palm’s width. In the same instant, a wave of blue-green smoke came rushing out.
The man tried to block my path, but I ducked faster than he could react, reaching for the object tumbling down the stairs. It was a piece of the Osnis Claw, wrapped thickly in cloth.
I seized it, cloth and all.
“Keep both your minds sharp! Lose consciousness and you’re done for!”
Only the sound of coughing came back in answer.
Without hesitation, I raced to the drawer the old man had described and gathered up the herbs.
The man who followed at my heels then asked:
“What are you trying to do?”
Clutching the herbs against my chest, I bolted toward the Preparation Room deeper inside the shop, having already noted its location beforehand, and replied as I ran.
“I didn’t want to tell you even this much.”
Bang! I kicked open the Preparation Room door and grinned at the man who had followed me inside.
“I’m a genius herbalist, after all.”
…….
“And I happen to make antidotes just as brilliantly. Crazy, right? Even I think I’m absolutely mad sometimes.”
A stifled laugh escaped me.
It wasn’t that the situation struck me as funny. I had a terrible habit that surfaced whenever I was gripped by extreme tension or my mind turned chaotic—my lips would dry, laughter would bubble up unbidden, and I’d talk too much.
The man, oblivious to what was really going on inside me, shook his head grimly as he watched me scatter herbs across the preparation table.
“I understand that Osnis Poison has no known antidote. Even the imperial physicians have given up on this deadly toxin.”
“What?”
My eyes flew open in shock.
No antidote?
‘But I made one years ago.’
Of course, I’d only made what I needed, and I’d never shared the formula with anyone. Since then, I’d had no reason to make another Osnis antidote, so I had no surplus stock.
But still—the entire empire, all these years later, still had no proper antidote to show for it?
‘It’s not as though I’m the only apothecary in the empire capable of making one. How is it possible that not a single usable antidote is in circulation, even now, years later?’
I tilted my head briefly at this world’s pitiful state of medical advancement before answering the man.
“Well, I don’t know about all that. But I can make one, in any case.”
…….
The man then looked directly into my eyes and spoke.
“He is a subordinate I hold dear. The shopkeeper likewise fell victim while helping me.”
The man’s dark eyes fixed on me with intensity.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
I looked up at him while turning the Kalukksia leaf over in my hands.
“Do you believe in me?”
“I do.”
“Why?”
Without a moment’s hesitation, the man answered calmly to my question.
“Because if I don’t believe in you now, there will be no way to save those two people upstairs. Ever.”
The gaze above the mask was unflinchingly resolute.
I nodded.
“All right. Since you’re a knight, I’ll ask you to do some heavy work.”
“Anything at all.”
I pushed the Iron Mortar toward him and poured Silvrin into it.
“You need to extract as much juice as possible. Pound it until the silver-colored liquid becomes thick and viscous. Don’t stop, and don’t hold back. Please.”
“Of course.”
The man rolled up his dark sleeves lightly.
As his grip tightened on the rough iron pestle, the veins in his forearms bulged as if about to burst.
Thud, thud, thud.
Heavy, rhythmic impacts rang out, making the Preparation Room floor tremble with each strike.
The sharp, piercing energy radiating from the man’s entire body made it clear he viewed this place as another battlefield, one fought to save his subordinate.
I stood close beside him, grinding the thin, dried Kalukksia leaves into a fine powder.
At the same time, I extracted the poison from the Osnis Claw.
In the oppressive silence, only the sound of herbs grinding and the mortar being struck filled the space.
I had no idea how much time had passed. I did my best, and the man threw everything he had into it as well.
If, after all this, the two people upstairs still died, then there would be nothing left to say except that it simply couldn’t be helped.
I combined the Silvrin juice that the man had prepared, the Kalukksia powder I had ground, and the Osnis Poison in proportions only I knew.
Soon enough, a peculiar-smelling Antidote Potion was complete. Exactly enough for two people.
“Wait here.”
As I reached for the Preparation Room door handle, the man blocked my way.
“I’ll go up.”
“No. You want to get poisoned too? I made exactly enough antidote for two people. There’s none for you.”
Even with my firm refusal, the man didn’t easily step aside.
“You’d be just as likely to suffer poisoning yourself.”
At his gaze—whether it was concern or caution, I couldn’t tell—I hesitated for a moment, then looked directly into his masked eyes and smiled faintly.
“I’ll be fine.”
“You won’t be.”
“Come on! I told you I’m a genius, didn’t I? If you believe in me, then believe all the way—don’t ask questions, don’t second-guess, just trust.”
I shut down his protest entirely, grasped the bottle of antidote, slipped out of the Preparation Room, and raced up the stairs to the second floor in one burst of speed.
When I entered the room, thankfully the poison gas had dispersed enough that I could see clearly.
But the amount of poison mixed into the air was enough to poison an ordinary person after just one or two breaths.
“Here, drink this. Now.”
I thrust the vial into the young man’s hands first.
“Swallow it, let it go down. Quickly!”
At my sharp command, the young man drank the medicine without hesitation.
I took hold of the old man’s jaw.
“Grandfather, come to your senses. You need to drink the antidote.”
The old man’s eyes fluttered open and he let out a weak laugh.
“At least I’ve raised one good granddaughter…….”
“I’m not your granddaughter. Drink, now.”
Fortunately, the young man recovered enough to walk down on his own, unsteady though he was, after drinking the antidote, and I carefully guided the shop owner—exhausted—down to the first floor with my shoulder supporting him.

***

Barkan, who had been waiting on the first floor, bounded up the stairs the moment he saw the woman bringing down the shop owner, and he took over supporting the owner as they descended.
After seating the two men against one wall on the first floor, Barkan turned to Roan.
“How are you?”
Roan nodded, breathing heavily.
“I’m all right. A moment ago it felt like my organs were being torn apart, but now I can breathe. However……the explosion destroyed any leads we might have followed to trace the source. I apologize.”
Barkan shook his head.
“We can find evidence again. Consider yourself fortunate that you’re alive.”
“Yes…….”
And Barkan turned his gaze to the shop owner and spoke.
“Owner.”
“Y-yes……!”
“I’ll cover all the losses from closing your shop, so it would be best for you to keep the doors shut for a while and focus on recovering your health. I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”
The shop owner, who had been coughing faintly, spoke with tears glistening in his eyes.
“No……. Rather, you saved our lives. How could I ever repay such a debt?”
Barkan shook his head.
“It wasn’t I who saved your lives, but rather this…….”
Barkan turned toward the mysterious woman, then his words trailed off.
…….
…….
And there was no one there.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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