Lorendis stopped in his tracks, and Dr. Dennis also looked at Catherine with puzzlement. The two were looking at each other with familiarity.

“Do you know each other?”

Brady also blinked his eyes slowly.

“……You two know each other?”

James sat on the dirt ground, gently rubbing his b*ttocks. He looked a mess after being thrown to the ground and rolling around.

His scruffy appearance didn’t inspire much confidence.

“I apologize; my disciple is lacking in many ways.”

Dennis looked down at his disciple with pity.

“I wonder if we can trust that inadequate fellow.”

“Your evaluation seems harsh. Give him a chance. He’s Dennis’s disciple, after all.”

Catherine chuckled and comforted Dennis, who shook his head in response.

“His skills are good, but his character is not. He was famous in academic circles for his bad personality. Even now, I’m anxious…… I just hope this child doesn’t make mistakes.”

“James was an excellent doctor. The medicine he prescribed was quite effective.”

“I had heard you received prescriptions from outside, but I didn’t know it was from my disciple.”

Dennis was sorry to show his unworthy disciple to the lord and his wife, but couldn’t hide his surprise at their strange connection. Lorendis, as if he had already guessed, asked in a matter-of-fact tone:

“Is this the doctor who prescribed you medicine?”

“I had a chance to be examined by James by chance. There I received a terminal diagnosis and was prescribed medicine. How fortunate that he’s Dennis’s disciple.”

Dr. James opened his eyes wide in exasperation. Who was it that knocked directly on Hanra Clinic’s door and offered a purse of gold coins first! Could anything be more unfair than this! Dr. James gritted his teeth and grabbed the back of his neck.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell Helen directly.”

“Well, you were trying to leave quietly. Go wait in the reception room. Take Dr. James there too.”

Lorendis left. Brady hurriedly followed after Lorendis, and Dennis grabbed his disciple by the nape. Though they had been seen coming with the knights of Helen, both men also looked quite tired.

“You two have gone through a lot because of me.”

Dr. James grumbled as he pushed his master away with his foot. Muttering that nothing good comes from getting entangled with that old fogey, he seemed to confirm their master-disciple relationship. His gestures of dusting off his doctor’s coat were casual yet indifferent.

“My lady, I apologize. This fellow has forgotten all his etiquette training while living in the slums. Usually, when first entering academic circles, one also receives basic education in manners……”

“A doctor only needs to be good at treating patients. I have no intention of criticizing your disciple for such things.”

Damn it all. James grumbled and scratched his head.

“I have something to tell you, customer.”

“……”

“Master, please step aside.”

James cautiously glanced at Catherine.

“I need to speak with James. Could you give us some space?”

“I understand for now. James, watch your tongue with the lady. If you wag it carelessly, you might lose it.”

Dennis glared sharply at his disciple, but when his eyes met Catherine’s, he spoke with a gentle smile.

“My lady, when you finish your conversation, please bring the child to the reception room.”

After Dennis left, James grabbed Catherine and complained. It was beyond complaint—it was lamentation.

“The clinic door was ripped off. The clinic is temporarily closed, and I was dragged from there almost like a kidnapping, and in the midst of it all, your husband tried to tear me to pieces!”

James explained what had happened. Many things had occurred. No wonder he looked dazed. He still shuddered, saying his spine felt chilled.

“I already sensed it when the Hanra Clinic door was ripped off.”

“Yes.”

“Did you get caught?”

“Thoroughly caught.”

After failing to divorce Lorendis, it became difficult to hide the fact of her terminal illness. This was bound to happen eventually.

“How did it happen?”

“I guess my deathly appearance looked like someone who was actually dying. I thought I just needed to leave this place.”

James recalled the face of the Duke of Helen he had briefly seen. That man looked like a demon at first glance, and even more so upon closer inspection.

James frowned deeply. Were you planning to escape such a man and find some retreat somewhere?

If Helen belonged to that man, abandoning Helen was something to give up on. If that man set his mind to it, controlling Helen would be easy. That man was a ruler. He was the embodiment of a sovereign who controlled, dominated, and possessed people.

“Because of you, customer, all my future plans have been ruined.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“High-risk comes with high returns. It’s fine. I’m not so pathetic as to complain to a patient.”

James gestured toward the front, saying they should go. Catherine walked ahead, and James followed.

“Where are we going?”

“Everyone will be waiting in the reception room. We’re going there.”

The path to the room was splendid. James was also stunned by its magnificent scale. He had never heard of carving ancient mythology on the ceiling with pure gold.

This woman was the mistress of the mansion. Considering its enormous size, its owner should match the mansion’s grandeur. However…

‘She seems quite out of place.’

This woman seemed too weak and fragile to be the mistress of the mansion. Her pale, blanched face even evoked pity.

“My lady, have you arrived?”

Dennis was waiting in the hallway. When Catherine smiled brightly, Dennis glared at his disciple and growled.

“James! If you make a verbal mistake here, know that you’ll be punished by the master.”

“Don’t use nicknames. It gives me the creeps.”

James shuddered and pretended to retch. Dennis glanced back, then grabbed James by the collar in shock and pulled him.

“You, follow quietly! My lady, please proceed to the reception room. Perhaps, would you like me to ask a maid for tea or other refreshments?”

Catherine just shook her head a few times to indicate it was fine.

“Before that, I’d like to bring one more person. An important guest is staying in the guest room.”

She had sent someone to the guest room. She hoped Lorendis wouldn’t get too angry about this matter.

* * *

“It’s a poisonous herb called salsa. It grows in the southwestern mountains, and usually poor children in slums eat it and easily get poisoned. This poisonous herb called salsa……”

James continued his explanation, showing the poisonous herb he had shown before. After being scolded by Dennis a few times, he corrected his speech to be more polite. Still, he seemed discontented, glancing at Catherine with an expression that said, ‘Why am I doing this?’

“Is salsa a well-known flower?”

“No. Initially, it was a poisoning reaction first observed in children in the slums and those in the mountain village who had nothing to eat and survived by picking grass. That was some time ago…… Helen is a cold region, so it’s impossible for such poisonous plants to grow naturally there, but in warmer regions, poisonous mushrooms and herbs are surprisingly common.”

James awkwardly laid out his explanation. Usually, Lorendis asked questions and James answered. Catherine just listened to the conversation from the opposite sofa.

“Then can the poison heal on its own?”

“When salsa accumulates for a long time, it becomes more toxic than most poisons. Of course, this is just a formal statement, and there are exceptions.”

James answered sincerely while grumbling. Lorendis nodded as if the answer was sufficient, and Dennis also swallowed dryly.

“I understand for now.”

Catherine waited for their conversation to end from across the room. Nancy had brought warm flower tea for her to drink, but somehow today her mouth tasted bitter. When Catherine pushed away the teacup, Lorendis’s gaze fell on her.

“Why aren’t you drinking more?”

“Because we’re in the middle of a conversation.”

The teacup had grown lukewarm. Nancy took it away, saying she would reheat the tea. James spoke, recalling the subtle floral scent that filled the reception room.

“The young lady still drinks flower tea well despite being poisoned by it.”

It was a whisper. James didn’t mean anything significant by it; it was just a passing remark to himself. And that remark became the topic for what Catherine was about to say.

“Flower tea. Dr. James? How did you know my wife enjoys drinking flower tea?”

“Don’t, don’t misunderstand.”

James hurriedly made excuses, fearing any other misunderstandings.

“Milden, was it? She told me directly that she often drank flower tea at her family home. Salsa contains strong poison, but its fragrance is very pleasant. If you dry the petals and consume them as flower tea, the sweet and bitter aroma is appetizing.”

Dried flower petals contain poison and make people ill, but the fragrance they hold is soft and rich.

“So……”

“She was exposed to it while living with that family.”

Catherine stared intently at her reflection in the mirror.

Her fair, smooth complexion often looked particularly pale when wearing light-colored dresses. That’s why today she chose a dark purple dress and added jewelry and hair ornaments. That look suited her well too.

“Since we have a guest, please listen to her. It’s too tragic a story for me to tell myself.”

“A guest?”

Catherine took a slow, deep breath and answered.

“Emily Milden, my older sister. Now that this name has come up, I’ve really said everything I needed to say.”

Catherine leaned back on the sofa and neatly folded her fingers on her knees.

“Whatever you hear after this, Lorendis, you must not get too angry. You shouldn’t press her, and you shouldn’t threaten her with punishment.”