The Poisonous Princess Who Successfully Infiltrated the Enemy as an Employee - Chapter 47

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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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Chapter 47.

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Shhhhhhhh—.
The moment we stepped into the mouth of the Lacrion Mountain Range, a sickly green mist heavy with clammy, bone-deep cold clung to both my cheeks.
The strange sensation made my fine hairs stand on end.
‘An entire fog made of poison.’
I didn’t know why, how, or who had created it, but whoever had made this had terrible taste.
A bitter, acrid stench—metallic and sour at once—stung the tip of my nose.
In every way, it was a nightmare.
About ten paces into the mist, Barcan stopped.
He drew in a careful breath, then released it slowly.
Then he looked between his own palms and me, his eyes slightly wider than before.
He didn’t say anything in particular, but it was clear he’d been skeptical of my Antidote Potion’s effectiveness—and now that it had actually worked, he seemed a touch surprised.
Of course, I understood his doubt was entirely justified.
I had confidence in the potion I’d made, yes, but I’d been plenty nervous about it too.
I turned to Barcan and spoke.
“Remember: our objective today is to find the mine.”
“I understand.”
“And there’s one more thing.”
I raised my index finger as I spoke.
“If possible, we should also discover what’s causing this Toxic Fog.”
“You’re referring to the source of the Toxic Fog mentioned in the plan?”
“Yes. If this Toxic Fog doesn’t disappear, finding as many mines as we want won’t matter—we’ll never be able to mine them safely. Who would come here? One slip in the timing of taking the potion, and you’re dead.”
Not to mention all those knights, miners, and other workers. I couldn’t possibly produce that many potions continuously.
“Everything has a cause.”
I believed that somewhere in this vast, treacherous mountain range, there had to be a source generating this Toxic Fog.
“I don’t know what that cause is. If it had been that easy to find, this range wouldn’t be called the Graveyard of Gods.”
Since returning from the Imperial Palace and being confined, I’d spent every free moment reading from the library.
Barcan had given me permission to enter the library long ago, but my confinement had kept me from accessing it directly.
Still, during those days of imprisonment, I’d been able to borrow the books I needed—which was a relief.
The books I’d borrowed back then were mostly about other mountain ranges across the continent, so I could search for cases similar to the Lacrion Mountain Range.
While not as severe as the Lacrion, there were mountain ranges where toxic but faint mists had been discovered.
“Some were poisonous vapor from decaying monster corpses, or rare toxic plant colonies had formed. But I can’t promise the Lacrion Mountain Range is the same. There are countless substances capable of releasing toxins, and too many variables to account for.”
Barcan nodded.
“Finding the source will be harder than finding the mine.”
“Yes. I have a rough idea of where the mine might be, but finding the cause of the fog this time will be difficult. The range is too vast, and we’re low on potions.”
Likely we’d need to resupply and make more potions before we could venture back here several more times.
“So today: the mine. If we also find the cause, that’s a bonus.”
“Understood.”
Barcan replied in a measured tone.
“However.”
I glanced around as I spoke.
“The mist is too thick. Without much time, it’ll be hard to move quickly.”
I waved my hand in front of my face, complaining.
Then, without a word, Barcan slowly raised his hand toward the direction we needed to go.
In an instant, Shhhhhhhhh—.
A wisp of deep violet Aura rose delicately from his fingertips.
The wave of Aura gathered momentum as it spread outward in all directions.
At once, the mist that had surrounded us was pushed cleanly away.
In a heartbeat, we’d cleared a field of vision about thirty meters in radius.
‘Wow… so that’s what Aura is.’
It was the first time I’d seen Aura with my own eyes.
“Aura can do that?”
I’d thought it only tore and destroyed things.
Barcan replied matter-of-factly.
“It’s nothing remarkable. Just clearing the immediate view a little. The toxin in the air remains unchanged.”
“Still, this is better than I feared. I nearly couldn’t take a single step forward.”
I chuckled softly and quickly drew the Compass from my pocket to check the needle.
Whirrrr—the spinning needle slowed, then fixed on a single direction.
“That way, Your Highness. Straight toward that reddish-brown earth ahead!”
Barcan nodded.
From then on, we advanced slowly through the fog.
I recalled my days roaming the forest like a familiar room and surveyed the terrain—the patterns in which the Toxic Fog drifted, the color and shape of the soil, the moisture clinging to the ground—committing each detail to memory.
What I saw and felt now would become historical evidence recorded faithfully in my herbal journal.
In truth, my confident progress had nothing to do with knowledge of the original text.
The original barely detailed the Lacrion Mountain Range at all.
The reason I could venture forward without fear lay entirely in information provided by Rathens, the wandering herbalist.
He had once explained to me the dangers of the Lacrion Mountain Range.
At the same time, he described its geographic characteristics and pinpointed with precision where Mana Stone Mines and rare minerals were likely hidden.
What captured my attention most was the existence of rare toxic plants.
“A scholar like you must have heard of it—the toxic plant called Memetoryas.”
Of course. The legendary toxic plant that herb-gatherers die never having seen even once.
Colorless, odorless, tasteless.
The moment one ingests it, death arrives like sleep—without the victim even knowing they’re dying.
No evidence remains after death to prove the poison caused it.
Which is why some have even suspected that emperors and important political figures who died suddenly in the past fell victim to this very plant.
But that wasn’t the true power of Memetoryas.
“It can revive even corpses long dead, with nothing but bones remaining.”
Despite its name as a poison, it was paradoxically a healing herb as well.
That’s what Rathens said.
“I’ve traveled the entire continent, but there’s only one place I’ve never entered—the Lacrion Mountain Range. ……It’s certain. It’s there.”
He spoke with absolute conviction.
Of course, I didn’t entirely trust his judgment.
‘Still, there’s reason to keep an eye out for it while searching for the mine.’
But if fortune doesn’t smile upon me, I won’t find it anyway—so I decided not to hope too hard.
‘Yes, discovering just one Mana Stone Mine will be enough to ease the Grand Duke’s House’s finances immediately.’
Once that happens, Barcan will trust me, and he’ll back my proposal.
‘Then the development work will pick up speed.’
More mines will be found in succession.
‘So finding even one mine comes first.’
Excessive greed is poison to an herb-gatherer.
Let it go. Release the greed.
Breathe in, breathe out. I took a few deep breaths to clear my mind of desire, praying with all my heart for anyone listening to grant my wish.
‘Just give me one mine. Just one. If you let me find it, I’ll return quietly.’
Really, just one mine—no greed beyond that!
That was when it happened.
Instead of a mine, a rare herb appeared in my vision—so precious my fingertips trembled.
‘What—what is that?!’
As we passed a swampy area, I spotted a blue flower blooming at its edge.
‘That’s a Blue Bottle—the one that instantly restores magical power!?’
Not long after, I spotted a crimson vine growing from a rocky crevice.
‘That’s the Carmina Vine—the one that heals even those whose Aura is damaged and can no longer be used!?’
There were many other plants I’d never seen before.
Since this was an unexplored mountain range untouched by human feet, rare herbs lay scattered everywhere—far more remarkable than I’d anticipated.
‘This can’t be real…….’
Not to be able to harvest with these treasures right before my eyes…….
I wanted nothing more than to sprint across the earth, drive my Collecting Knife into the soil where those herbs grew, and dig them up immediately.
But I closed my eyes tight, swallowing my tears of blood inwardly.
With time constraints pressing, I couldn’t afford to stop and had to keep moving.
Finding a single mine mattered far more to us right now than those herbs.
Ah.
‘If I’d come alone, I’d have camped here for days and stripped the place clean…….’
Between my clenched eyelids, hot tears gathered like those of a master herbalist in agony.
“Your Highness, your complexion looks poor. Has the Antidote Potion’s effect already worn off?”
“What? Ah, ……no. It’s nothing like that…….”
As we descended the rocks, Barcan—who had been holding my hand—tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
I buried my lingering regrets and moved forward once more.
The terrain grew increasingly hostile.
Following the Compass’s guidance, boulders larger than Barcan himself blocked the path at every turn.
Each time, Barcan would scale the rock first and haul me up after him.
Being dragged upward like that left me slightly embarrassed.
‘What is he doing, carrying me like a sheet of paper?’
I’d been eating well enough lately and had put on some weight, yet Barcan lifted and set me down as effortlessly as if I weighed nothing at all.
All the while, he maintained a steady flow of Aura without his breathing faltering once.
I’d moved past internal grumbling about him being a monster—now I felt something closer to awe.
Standing atop another boulder, I pouted and muttered under my breath.
“Why don’t you just sling me over your shoulder and be done with it?”
Barcan glanced at me, then answered as though he’d been waiting for the question.
“That would work fine, if you’re comfortable with it. Would you be?”
“What do you mean?”
“The posture would look rather ridiculous.”
…….
Suddenly, I pictured myself draped across his shoulder like a sack of grain. Goosebumps bloomed across my skin.
“Never mind what I just said. Forget it.”
I quickly raised the Compass and adjusted our heading.
“This way. Let’s go.”
“Very well.”
From that point on, I clung to Barcan’s forearm as we moved through the mountains.
Concerned about my stamina, he’d offered his arm without hesitation.
Hanging from him like a weightless bundle, we pressed deeper—yet all I saw were medicinal herbs, no sign of a mine.
‘I suppose I could harvest some of these herbs and head back……’
As time wore on, my anxiety grew.
Another hour passed.
Barcan drank his second Antidote Potion, and I emptied my water bottle alongside him.
‘That leaves him two more Antidote Potions.’
We had four hours, he’d said—but accounting for the time needed to escape the Lacrion Mountain Range, we couldn’t spend all four hours searching for the mine.
‘Even if Barcan is something of a monster, he can’t channel Aura infinitely.’
What if his Aura cut out deep in the mountains and his vision failed……?
I didn’t want to imagine it, but I might yet witness him coughing blood and collapsing before my eyes.
‘Should we turn back……?’
I was biting my lip anxiously, staring down at the Compass, when it happened.
Whirrrrrrrr—!
“Huh……?”
The needle spun wild, rotating so fast my eyes could barely track it.
I froze in place.
“Wh-what’s happening……?!”
Barcan looked down at the Compass, his brow furrowing deeply.
“It appears to be interfered with by something. We should head back for now, prepare ourselves properly, and return another time.”
…….
I gazed resentfully at the Compass.
Barcan was right.
If the Compass itself had failed, pushing forward would be foolish.
And we’d already spent far too much time.
I nodded weakly.
“Yes. Let’s… head back.”
That was the moment.
Boom—.
A massive explosion tore through the air.
Barcan and I turned toward the direction of the blast.
By its location, it seemed to come from near the entrance of the Lacrion Mountain Range where we’d come in.
Boom-boom-boom—. The ground trembled violently in the wake of the explosions.
“What was that?”
“I’m not sure.”
He fixed a sharp gaze on the source of the blast, then stepped in front of me and spoke.
“We should leave this area. Follow me.”
“Yes, of course!”
The Compass was broken, and an ominous explosion rang out on top of it all.
There was no time left for hesitation.
I quickened my pace to stay close behind Barcan.
That’s when the ground lurched—!
I felt the earth writhe beneath me as if it were drawing breath.
‘What is this?’
The moment I lowered my head to look down.
A deep rumbling tore through the air—!
The ground beneath my feet collapsed, and my vision plummeted.
“Aaaahhhhhhh—!”
My scream tore through the darkness as I tumbled downward.

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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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