The people looked at each other before Gabriel spoke up.

"I believe everyone knows what has happened, but I'll still say it formally for the sake of it. Viscount Drew has been taken ill. This news has been brought to us by the traders but I got it confirmed from my other links." Gabriel announced.

"Can't believe this would happen," Lita said in surprise.

"Indeed… for the man to get sick now. And they even saw it's extremely bad, right?" John asked.

"Yes. I got some more news and apparently, he has a severe stomach ache that has made him faint along with a high fever. He has been shivering as well and is now unresponsive." Gabriel answered.

Hearing this, Lucius smiled. It was all just as he had thought.

'So it took effect.' Lucius thought to himself.

Kiana looked at him and wondered if the thing he had planned was the reason behind this. She had known that Lucius had been wanting to end the Viscount's life, but the exact method behind it was unknown to her. 

At most, she knew that he was intending to use the Humble blaze somehow for it. But she had seen the wine and knew that there was no poison added to it at all. Thus, she didn't know if this was really due to that or something else.

In reality, no person in this room was unhappy about the Viscount's condition, and they were all pleased with it. It was simply the unexpectedness of it and the aftereffect that would be brought about by it that had them a bit concerned.

"I guess we should discuss what to do next." Lucius spoke up.

"Yes, that is exactly what we need to do." Gabriel agreed.

"The nobles of the Viscount's territory will suspect us, won't they?" Donald was the one who spoke this time.

"They will, of course. We have been in opposition with them for a while and the enmity between us is clear. Even the higher ups of the kingdoms from the capital will suspect the same." John replied.

"This is all true. But we need to remember that they cannot do anything unless they have proof. And so far we know that nothing has been done by us." Gabriel spoke.

It was at this moment, that Lucius interfered. He knew that the plan he had initiated needed to be introduced to the rest or they may have conflicting problems with each other later.

"Actually, the condition of the Viscount is our doing." Lucius spoke.

"What? How!?" Gabriel asked, feeling shocked.

"Or rather… it is something I have done." Lucius spoke.

Hearing this, everyone in the room except Kiana were shocked.

"What did you do? You didn't poison him, did you?" Lita asked, feeling concerned.

Gabriel and the rest were the same. They knew that if it really was them poisoning them, then the suspicion would become concrete later on.

"Of course I didn't poison him. Well… not directly, at least. Rather than poisoning him, I gave him a complication." Lucius answered.

"How?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes? How is that possible? The viscount is sick with a stomach ache and I'm sure young Lord Asher never left the city." John was surprised too.

While they knew Lucius was having people observe the viscount and gather information on him, they knew he wouldn't act directly, as that would be counterintuitive.

"Well, I used a combination of things and situations to orchestrate this. But the chief component of this was none other than Humble blaze." Lucius replied.

"The wine? But I'm sure it wasn't poisoned." Alessa said in confusion.

"Well yes, it wasn't poisoned. But we did make a change in it." Lucius replied.

"A change?" Alessa furrowed her brows before she realized it.

"The Slaked Lime! We increased the amount in it." Alessa spoke.

"Indeed." Lucius nodded his head.

This answer was not enough to solve the people's confusion, but rather it just made them even more confused than before.

"But how would that make the man sick? The only way would be to eat a large amount, but we definitely don't put that much amount in the wine." Alessa asked, while the others agreed.

"It wasn't just the wine, but also another item. The bread we eat." Lucius revealed.

"Huh?" This was something completely out of their expectation and they didn't know what to think of it.

Lucius now knew that he needed to properly explain the method or these people would not understand it.

"When I was making the wine's recipe initially, I came across some rather interesting thing. The bread we eat is made from wheat, which is tougher than normal. Since I was testing making alcohol, I used that wheat for it as well.

It was then that I realized that when slaked lime is mixed with the wheat flour or anything that is made from it, for example bread; it starts to expand and after it a bit it will solidify." Lucius explained.

"But… how does this relate to the Viscount's condition?" Gabriel asked.

"Well… I heard that the Viscount has been having troubles in his territory with bandits that have killed a lot of his guards posted there along with some travelers and merchants. This gave him a lot of stress and he had been tense ever since.

Of course, this would cause a man to want to get rid of that stress. And for that, what is the most common thing Nobles do?" Lucius said.

"Drink wine?" Lita was the one who spoke this time.

"Exactly! I knew this and thus modified the next batch of humble blaze we sent to the territory. I knew the nobles would gift some of the humble blaze to the Viscount to curry favor, and that's where the crux of our plan lies.

As long as the Viscount drank the modified wine with a higher concentration of slaked lime and also ate the bread, the reaction I described earlier would happen within his stomach and intestines." Lucius explained.

After this, it finally struck everyone.