The Possession-Spoon Chef Feeds the Empire - Chapter 16
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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 16
Aila drew a deep breath before finally speaking.
“Well, I have good news and bad news.”
“Tell me.”
“The good news is, from what I can tell, Bael doesn’t appear to be dying.”
Bael merely nodded in response, but Lucielle shuddered inwardly with elation.
He was saved.
I’ve saved him.
Bael, whom countless players had tried desperately to save only to fail—I’d brought him back.
It pained her that Mother wasn’t here. She would have showered Lucielle with praise all week long.
“And the bad news?”
“The bad news is, I haven’t found a complete way to heal Bael’s lower body yet.”
……
“The poison has seeped deeply into his body, and the medicinal herbs I have can only go so far in detoxification. I can prevent it from spreading to his upper body, and with the help of Mana I could achieve some movement, but complete healing……”
“Does the cure not exist at all?”
Cain couldn’t help but ask Aila.
“I won’t say definitively. Ancient texts sometimes contain medicines I haven’t encountered. But realistically……”
She frowned, clearly frustrated with herself.
“Please give me some time to research.”
After a moment of thought, she spoke.
“As I research, sometimes paths appear where none existed before. Until then……”
Her gaze fixed on Lucielle.
“Until then, the best we can do is restore his strength. For that, he needs to eat well.”
“……Fine, I’ll do that.”
Bael gave a reluctant shrug in response.
His eyes, like frozen lakes, also turned toward Lucielle, following Aila’s gaze.
“I don’t particularly want anything, but since you did identify the toxin, if I’m to be given something……”
“Ah, I see.”
Lucielle answered with an expression of disbelief.
His appetite had been so good these past few days.
“So you don’t feel like eating.”
She opened her Status Window and checked its contents.
[Target: Bael Bellion – Abnormal Status Detected]
Current Status: [Critical] Severe Glucose Deficiency! (Rationality on the verge of being consumed by instinct)
Desired Menu: 『Explosive Dark Chocolate Melting Brownie』
Consumption Urgency: MAX (100%)
Expected Effect: Upon consumption, predicted to gain omniscient happiness as if enlightened to all truths of the world and capable of conquering the Duke’s House (a complete delusion).
……This is absurd.
A man obsessed with food.
* * *
“……You can purify the blade?”
Bael spoke as he placed the brownie Lucielle had made into his mouth.
“Mmm.”
The cocoa flavor overwhelmed his tongue first, followed by caramel infused with vanilla, melting and flowing.
At the center of the palm-sized brownie sat a thick chunk of sea salt caramel, and with each bite, sweet and savory crossed paths in unpredictable harmony.
The vanilla ice cream perched on top, still unmelted, held a cool chill, and where it met the hot, sticky brownie, it created an explosive temperature contrast.
A smile bloomed at the corners of Bael’s mouth.
For someone who’d just learned a close relative had tried to kill him, he looked remarkably unshaken.
In truth, the psychological shock from this incident hadn’t been great.
Not because poison to his parents or an attempt on his own life was a small matter, but because he’d long harbored suspicions that it might all have been the work of someone within the family.
“Yes. The Mana Stone in the hilt was replaced long ago, and after several experiments, Aila identified the exact nature of the poison flowing through the blade.”
Cain answered while taking a large bite of his own brownie.
“Blue Eagle Poison……I’ve heard it’s an ancient toxin occasionally used in the Southern Continent. It can flow into objects through a Mana Stone and then return to the human body through Mana without leaving a trace.”
Aila spoke.
Even as she answered seriously, traces of the brownie she’d eaten remained at the corners of her mouth.
“The blue eagle became extinct even in the Southern Continent, so the thought that such a poison might still exist, much less flow through your father’s heirloom……”
“A mage belonging to the Beardon Trading Company specializes in toxin purification, so I’ve entrusted the rest of the work to them. The poison in the Mana Stone seems to have spread throughout the entire blade over the years. Once purification is complete, your father’s keepsake will be usable without issue.”
Cain resumed speaking.
“A special poison found in the Southern Continent that spreads through Mana——huh, so hard to identify that neither physicians nor Mana-wielding inspectors could recognize it, I’ve heard it’s used for assassination.”
Even as he spoke, he didn’t stop eating, finishing the brownie and ice cream in just three bites.
“What about you? How is your body?”
At Cain’s question, Bael looked toward Aila, and she nodded, encouraging him to try.
……
Bael moved his legs slightly while tensing his arms.
Unlike days before when he’d had to clench his teeth just to manage the tiniest movement, his knee joint now moved naturally.
Aila smiled with emotion in her expression.
“Recovery started the moment he separated from the blade. The Detoxification Herb that wasn’t working began to take effect, the blocked Mana in his body began to flow, and his muscle strength……is returning faster than expected.”
She added carefully, her eyes alternating between Bael and Cain.
“Perhaps, with time, he may gradually be able to walk.”
“……Gradually?”
Bael raised an eyebrow as he asked.
“Yes. Gradually. And that alone is remarkable.”
……
Bael fell silent, his lips firmly closed as if lost in thought.
What he was thinking was clear to everyone.
Whether he could walk, run, and use his body freely without limitations.
Even before learning the poison’s identity, he’d never abandoned that hope.
“Is there truly no way for complete recovery?”
Lucielle asked quietly.
Aila set down her spoon for a moment.
“There might be.”
She spoke slowly.
“At least, in my thinking.”
“Tell me.”
Cain spoke, crossing his arms.
Aila brought her fingertips together and rested them on the table.
“Detoxifying the poison flowing in one’s body with herbal medicine is theoretically impossible. The Blue Eagle Poison already seeping into the body circulates in combination with Mana. To root it out completely, another method is needed.”
“Another method?”
“Using poison to counter poison.”
A brief silence fell.
“That sounds like a cure that invites death,” Cain said firmly.
“By common sense, yes.”
Aila conceded.
“But among rare poisons, there is one that is lethal yet doesn’t inflict real harm on the human body until a day has passed within it. In theory, if detoxification is completed within that day, the poisons would counteract each other and the residual toxins in the body would vanish.”
“……In theory.”
“No one has actually tried it.”
Aila added calmly.
“Because I came up with the method myself.”
Lucielle once again realized just how extraordinary a physician Aila was.
She was not only deeply knowledgeable in theory but capable of devising bold solutions that others couldn’t imagine.
Perhaps that was precisely why Bael had managed to survive until now.
“I have absolute faith in you.”
Cain spoke again.
“Should we obtain that poison, then?”
Aila exhaled in a sigh.
“The poison I just mentioned is even rarer than Blue Eagle Poison. I’ve never seen it directly—all I have is a handful of illustrations in a plant compendium and almost no records of its natural habitat. It grows only in very specific climates……”
She continued.
“If we’re to find it at all, it would likely only exist on the Northern Continent. In uninhabited polar regions.”
“What’s it called?”
Lucielle asked softly.
“Samyo Herb.”
……
“Blue stems bearing gold, silver, and crimson fruit all at once on a single stalk. All three colors simultaneously. That’s the one distinguishing feature that could never be confused with any other plant.”
……Wait.
Suddenly, something flashed through Lucielle’s mind like lightning.
Something dragged up from a very old corner of memory.
An afterimage of gold, silver, crimson, and blue mixed together—she was certain she’d seen it before, in the past.
“……Wait! I’ll be right back!”
At her sudden outburst, Cain, Aila, and Bael all turned to stare at her.
But she was already quick—Lucielle had already left the room.
Creak—
Back in her room, she nearly turned the drawer inside out opening it.
Her hand moved with practiced familiarity deep inside, pulling out a worn notebook.
It was Mother’s Diary.
Lucielle flipped through the pages rapidly.
Among the jumble of various recipes, dates, countless notes, and mathematical formulas, her eyes fixed on one spot.
“……Found it.”
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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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