The pharmacy owner unconsciously squeezed his eyes shut.

“…Huh?”

He braced himself for the sound of medicine bottles shattering against the cobblestones, but no sound came. The owner cautiously opened his eyes.

“Oh? You?”

The medicine bottles were safe. An errand boy had thrown himself down to catch them. His skinny knees and elbows were scraped and bleeding.

Without mentioning any pain, the boy held out the medicine bottles to the pharmacy owner.

“These are valuable, right?”

“Y-yes. Good job.”

The owner took the medicine and packed it into the box. The boy couldn’t take his eyes off the scene and followed him closely.

‘Come to think of it, I heard he lives with his sick grandmother.’

The pharmacy owner clicked his tongue as he looked at the boy’s scraped and grazed knees.

“…Want to take one bottle?”

He asked abruptly.

Normally, this would be out of the question, but he felt generous after getting such a good deal.

The boy’s eyes widened.

“R-really?”

“…”

Seeing the boy’s question made him regret the offer a little. But the boy’s face looked too bright to take back his words.

Tsk. The pharmacy owner pursed his lips.

“…Yes.”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

The boy bowed several times. His little heart raced wildly as he ran, clutching the medicine bottle to his chest.

‘With this medicine, I can stop Grandmother’s coughing!’

***

The next morning, the errand boy from the pharmacy felt terribly frightened.

“Grandmother?”

His grandmother wasn’t waking up.

Last night, he had given her the cold medicine he’d received when she was coughing worse than usual, and his heart had swelled with hope.

The boy didn’t expect his grandmother to recover completely with just one dose of cold medicine.

‘But at least she’ll sleep comfortably tonight.’

With that expectation, he had fallen asleep rubbing his stinging, burning knees and elbows.

“Grandmother?”

His grandmother didn’t open her eyes.

The boy grew terrified. He remembered rumors that even his young ears had heard.

‘They say this winter is going to be that cold? One cold going around and all the elderly in this neighborhood will be carried out.’

‘A cold becomes the flu, and flu becomes pneumonia. Old folks usually go with pneumonia in the end.’

His chest tightened. Has his grandmother passed away? Really?

The boy’s small head burned with worry.

‘She took the medicine, so why?’

The boy ran to the pharmacy carrying the empty medicine bottle.

“Help me! My grandmother took the medicine and won’t wake up!”

Wrinkles formed on the pharmacy owner’s forehead.

It was just cold medicine. How could someone not wake up after taking it?

‘Did I buy the wrong thing?’

Feeling uneasy, he burst out, “You little brat! I showed you kindness because you’re young! I gave you free medicine because you looked pitiful, and this is how you act?”

“No! My grandmother, my grandmother!”

The guilty owner shouted even louder and chased the boy away.

“Get lost and don’t hang around here!”

The boy walked away crying, still holding the cold medicine bottle.

“What should I do? What will I do if Grandmother dies?”

The world reflected in his eyes, swollen from constant crying, looked dark and dizzy. Would a world without his grandmother be this color? He felt scared to death.

The boy’s steps wobbled toward the middle of the road. Just then, a carriage coming from the opposite direction quickly reduced its speed.

Neigh!

When the horse’s cry hit his ears, the boy’s body was floating in the air.

The carriage door opened urgently, and a silver-haired man jumped out like a flying tiger and caught him. The man shook the boy and shouted:

“Wake up! Do you want to die?”

“Uh… uh…”

“Helix, stop it. He’s just a child.”

A gentle voice sounded, and a beautiful woman he had never seen before stepped out of the stopped carriage. The boy’s mouth fell open.

“Are you okay? Were you scared?”

When the goddess-like woman spoke kindly to him, tears welled up in the boy’s eyes. He couldn’t help feeling sad and burst into tears.

“Huuung, I’m sorry. Huuuung.”

The boy hugged the medicine bottle he had been clutching even tighter as he cried.

“My grandmother took cold medicine but won’t wake up… huuuung.”

“Don’t cry. Is that the medicine bottle? Can I see it?”

At her soothing yet firm words, the boy held out the bottle, seemingly hypnotized. The beautiful woman’s face froze completely when she examined the medicine bottle.

“This is our cold medicine, isn’t it?”

***

Leah moved quickly.

While Janet comforted the crying child and learned his home address, his grandmother’s condition, and the whole story, she rushed to the research facility to call the court physician and also contacted the Piert mansion.

“This is the same cold medicine we’ve been selling, right?”

The court physician nodded. A senior researcher who had followed him made an exclamation and said, “But this is our red cold medicine that’s currently out of stock!”

“Out of stock?” 

Leah asked sharply. The researcher, intimidated by her intensity, carefully said:

“Yes. We’re currently preparing an improved version of the cold medicine we’ve been making for the Young Lord… but that comes in blue bottles. It hasn’t even been released yet.”

The court physician who was listening added, “It seems that with the recent cold weather and growing distrust of other merchant groups’ products, our existing red cold medicine is running out.”

Leah stared intently at the red cold medicine bottle she had received from the boy. Helix spoke beside her, “Leah, I can sense poison in this medicine bottle.”

“…What damned bastard.”

Leah unconsciously gritted her teeth. Both the court physician and the senior researcher flinched.

“They’re messing with our medicine? And doing this with cold medicine in early winter?”

“W-we’ll check the poison components first.”

The senior researcher said, and Leah nodded.

“It’ll be busy, but please do it. This is an emergency.”

“Yes!”

“Lady Leah!”

A Piert family knight came running breathlessly.

“Janet got the house and pharmacy location from the child earlier.”

“That’s our Janet.”

Leah smiled warmly for a moment before ordering:

“Take several knights and a doctor to that house, and bring the grandmother here.”

The knight hesitated briefly.

‘Is it necessary to go that far for a commoner elderly woman from the slums?’

In Peiren Kingdom’s class-based society, knights were quite high-ranking, so there was some resistance to the idea of multiple knights moving for a poor old woman of much lower status.

However, the person giving the order was Lady Leah Piert. Her position alone as the noble daughter of the ducal family she served made her a person of immense importance.

‘When a superior says jump, a knight asks how high!’

Besides, considering Leah’s recent achievements for the Piert family, hadn’t Commander Ruyan said, ‘Do whatever our Leah tells you without question. She’s much smarter than you muscle-heads!’

‘That’s too harsh for people in the same situation, Commander!’

‘What are you saying? Do you think my head is all muscle like yours? My head contains sword energy!’

The knight, thinking of their cool but annoying superior, bowed his head.

‘Lady Leah must have greater intentions!’

He shouted, “I will carry out your order!”

“Good.”

Leah turned to the court physician.

“Are there still beds available at the research facility?”

“Plenty.”

“Great. Then Helix, let’s go.”

Leah stood up abruptly. Helix rose naturally and draped a cloak over her shoulders.

“It’s cold outside.”

The court physician nearby half-rose from his seat.

“Should I come too?”

“Yes. We need at least one person with a medical license.”

“Um… where are we going?”

Leah said firmly, “To whoever messed with our medicine.”

***

Leah stormed into the pharmacy, bringing Helix and the court physician with her.

When these noble visitors suddenly occupied the pharmacy, the owner lost his wits.

“W-what brings you here?”

Leah, with her hood pulled down, asked back, “I wonder. Why would we be here?”

The pharmacy owner, feeling a chill down his spine, took half a step back.

He already had something to feel guilty about, and now these people who were clearly nobles by their clothes and attitude were acting this way. He swallowed.

‘It’s okay. If I keep my wits about me, I’ll be fine.’

No matter how noble she might be, looking at her jawline and hands, she was just a young girl.

‘Wait. Is that handsome man beside her a noble too?’

His face might be believable as royalty, but the way he attentively cared for the woman beside him was peculiar. As far as he knew, nobles didn’t take care of their women like that.

So that man must be either a handsome servant or lover that the woman kept around. The pharmacy owner found his confidence.

‘If she’s not a knight but a noble lady who brings along a handsome lover, she must be clueless. If I threaten her with the police and family honor, she’ll run away.’

With that thought, he opened his mouth:

“Whatever your business is, coming in like this…”

Cutting off his words, Helix said, “On our way here, I analyzed the components of the red cold medicine.”

Gulp.

The pharmacy owner closed his mouth. Helix continued, “The cold medicine that child had earlier was fake.”

“I see.”

Leah said coldly, “Not only did they add poison, but they also distributed counterfeit medicine?”

“It seems so.”

Helix raised his long arm and pointed to the high shelf in the pharmacy.

“Everything from here to there is fake.”

“…”

Those were exactly the stolen goods he had bought yesterday. The pharmacy owner’s face turned pale.

Helix’s hand pointed out a few more items.

“These contain poison.”

The court physician made a small “Eek” sound.

“My goodness.”

Leah briefly held the back of her neck and took a deep breath. The pharmacy owner hastily spoke up, “That’s nonsense…! What kind of outrage is this in someone else’s shop! If you continue, I’ll call the police. And I’ll also report to the young lady’s family…!”

“Family? Yes, well said.”

She turned sharply and glared at the owner.

“Making counterfeits of our family’s products and even adding poison?”

Bang.

Leah slammed her palm on the counter and said, “I assume you’re prepared for the consequences?”

It was a small, white hand.

But where that hand had touched the counter, there was a clear scorched mark in the shape of her small hand. The pharmacy owner’s face now turned blue.

‘Fire magic!’

He had heard the rumors going around.

‘It’s Lady Leah Piert!’