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Chapter 39 - Rumors and poison

Tessa cried a lot when her mother explained to her Merlin’s predicament and Tessa’s position in Merlin’s life. She accepted that the only way she could be with him would be befriending him first, but as he was in a coma, she chose to become friends with Lupa, Bastet and Adelle, that way they could put good words for her to Merlin.

Another month passed and the development of the city continued smoothly, to the point they would finish its construction in 2-3 weeks. The three girls received Glenna’s devilish training in etiquette along with Tessa, who started fearing her mother’s company for the first time. The date of Mina’s enrollment into the Hexenwunder Royal Academy was getting closer by the day, and she had gotten better at hand-to-hand combat, even obtaining Shin’s praise, which wasn’t an easy thing to get.

The Pendragon family received a surprise two days ago, and was about to begin celebrating it. The surprise being, they had received the admittance letter from the Hexenwunder Royal Academy for Bly, in the magic department. It really came as a surprise because Bly’s potential as a magus barely qualified for it, and there were far too many applicants and with a better background for him to be admitted.

Everyone celebrated Bly’s godsend opportunity, but they knew it was really strange for him to have received the admittance letter, when he hadn’t even applied for the academy, which showed it was someone else’s work… and that it might very well be related to Merlin.

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Klausna Kingdom. Duke Risme’s mansion.

The genius ideas Mandy had shown the duke and duchess so far had allowed the household to almost double its income and influence in the kingdom, in a question of months. The duke and duchess no longer treated her as their step-daughter, the way they treated her was now so natural, that someone who didn’t know better would think Mandy was their real daughter.

So much so, that rumors had started spreading in the capital, stating that she was the daughter Duke Risme had with a mistress. That after the death of the daughter he had with his legal wife at the hands of the crown Prince, Duke Risme had taken Mandy in and told the truth about the affair to his wife, who had in turn adopted Mandy as her new daughter.

Duke Risme and his wife didn’t mind such rumors spreading, as a matter of fact, they welcomed them. Instead of having to make up a lie which could be investigated later and found out, the rumor would work in their advantage. The populace creating that rumor made of any lie told by the duke about Mandy’s origin, an attempt to cover up his affair with Mandy’s mother, reinforcing that way the believability of the rumor.

There was only one occasion in which the rumor worked against the duke… The first time the duchess heard about the rumor from a maid, he entered his husband’s study and slapped him silly before giving him any chance to give an explanation. It happened 3 weeks ago…

*SLAP* *SLAP* *SLAP*

D. Risme: “Dear, why did you slap me?”

Duchess: “You’ve given me more than enough reason! Say, how many more are there that I don’t know about?”

D. Risme: “Dear, I really don’t know what you are talking about! How many more what?”

Duchess: “Feigning ignorance isn’t going to get you anywhere! Humpf! To think I really believed the act you put together with that dwarf! How could I be so stupid?”

D. Risme: “An act? What act? Why do you think that it was an act? It was true! Everything that went on that night was true! I would have thought that Mandy’s presence here and that bastard’s death were proof enough!”

Duchess: “While it is true that Mandy has greatly helped our household since her arrival, it doesn’t change the fact that she is the result of your infidelity! Did you really think that I wouldn’t eventually find out? Well, I did! Just like the other time!”

D. Risme: “Ok, ok… I think that I have finally understood why you are reacting this way. With the exception of that one time, I have always been faithful to you!”

Duchess: “Yeah, right! Like I am going to believe those words… Everyone in the capital knows about your affair with Mandy’s mother. It seems that I’ve been the last one to learn about it, but it has already reached my ears!”

The duke approached his wife and despite her struggle, he took her into his embrace. Her tears were those of rage and frustration, she tried to contain them, but she was unable to. She still loved her husband, despite his prior infidelity, she thought he had been a good husband to her, however, hearing that rumor from the maid had crumbled her world and everything she believed in.

The duke knew he had been the origin of the rumor, and after seeing how much he had hurt his wife trying to jeep her in the dark, he decided to come clean and explain to her the circumstances in which the rumor had been originated. Seeing that he had somehow managed to pacify her, he started whispering into her ear so that no one else would learn of the truth behind the rumor.

D. Risme: “Dear, the other day, when I was talking with Marquis Stenzma about the spike on commerce in the capital the last few weeks, he asked me about Mandy and I told him she was my daughter. What I really meant to say was that she was my step-daughter, but Marquis Stenzma misunderstood and thought Mandy was my illegitimate daughter. I, of course, noticed his misunderstanding, but I thought that a rumor like that would help legitimate her position as our daughter, and didn’t correct him.”

Duchess: “Why didn’t you tell me? If I had known before, I wouldn’t have reacted like that when I overheard two maids talking about the rumor!”

D. Risme: “Sorry, dear. I know I should have told you, but I didn’t expect my past affair would make you react this way, even before asking me how much of the rumor was true! You know I love you, I would never do that to you. Not again!”

After that, the both of them started making up without paying any attention to their surroundings. Having a consultation to make to his step-father, Mandy went to his studio. She saw her step-parents making an effort to give her a little brother or sister in the future, so she closed the door, and went back to her room after asking a maid to make sure that no one would disturb them.

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Lokiseth’s pseudo-realm.

A few months have passed since Merlin finished his foundation training in survival and the Pendragon Clan martial arts. Merlin originally thought his foundation training was very harsh, and prayed that it would end soon, but when it did, he finally understood the meaning of the saying ‘be careful with what you wish for, lest it might become true’.

As soon as he was done with the foundation training, Lokiseth decided it was time for Merlin to begin his training in compounding and identification of poisons and antidotes. Lokiseth used a very Spartan way to teach him, he gave Merlin a vial and made him smell it. If Merlin was able to identify the poison, its ingredients, and the symptoms it provoked, he passed. If he was unable to do it, then he would suffer a punishment.

Lokiseth: “Well, Merlin. Now is the time to check how much you remember of today’s lesson. Take this vial and identify the poison, its ingredients and the symptoms it provokes when used in a victim.”

Merlin: “Yes, master. This is Lucretia poison, and its ingredients are powder of Lardit flower, root of Azari, and juice of Klader fruit. The symptoms differ in function of the method employed to administrate the poison. When ingested, it causes abdominal pain, nausea, amnesia, muscle breakdown and tremors. When inhaled, it causes hallucinations, confusion, nausea and amnesia. When injected, it causes generalized seizures, nausea, convulsions and cardiac arrest.”

Lokiseth: “Is that all, Merlin?”

Merlin: “I think so. Yes, master.”

Lokiseth: “Ok, then I’ll give you my verdict on your answer.”

Merlin: “Please do so, master.”

Lokiseth: “You identified the poison correctly as ‘Lucretia’. You also identified its ingredients correctly. Well done!”

Seeing that Lokiseth didn’t continue analyzing his answer and had praised that part instead, Merlin started becoming nervous and his heart-rate started soaring. He didn’t want to fail, if his answer or some part of it was wrong, a world of pain was waiting for him… and he wanted to avoid that at any cost!

Merlin: “Then my answer was correct, right? The symptoms too, isn’t it?”

Lokiseth: “You identified the symptoms correctly, in case the poison was inhaled or injected. However, in your answer when the method of administration of the poison is ingestion, you made a mistake!”

Merlin: “Oh, no!”

Lokiseth: “Drink the poison, Merlin.”

Merlin: “Yes, master!”

Merlin didn’t dare to hesitate and gulped down the poison. It didn’t take much time for the poison to take effect. Soon after, Merlin was on the ground, clutching his stomach, and suffering an acute case of abdominal pain and nausea. He had started trembling too. Lokiseth looked at him and smirked.

Lokiseth: “Merlin, could you be so kind to tell me what your symptoms are?”

Merlin: “Y-yes, ma-master.”

Lokiseth: “Go ahead, then. Tell me your symptoms after the ingestion of ‘Lucretia’ poison.”

Merlin: “Y-yes. I-I ha-have abd-dominal p-pain, n-nausea, a-and tr-tremors.”

Lokiseth: “Do you have amnesia, or muscle breakdown?”

Merlin: “N-no, ma-master. I-I w-was wr-wrong.”

Lokiseth: “It’s good that you have realized your mistake. Please, don’t forget next time, or we will have to do this again! Here, have the antidote!”

Merlin: “Th-thank y-you, ma-master!”

Having taken the antidote, Merlin drank a lot of water and went to a side to urinate and finish expulsing the remaining poison from his system. Lokiseth had power over the pseudo-realm, and he had made it so that Merlin wouldn’t actually die inside it, but that aside, he could still feel the pain of being at the death’s door.

Taking advantage of that fact, Lokiseth was drilling into Merlin everything related to poisons and antidotes, by making him experience the poisons first-hand. That “special training regime” would benefit Merlin a lot in the future, but at that precise moment, it was making him wish he could die for real and escape the torture.

Merlin: “Master, I have a question for you…”

Lokiseth: “What is it, Merlin?”

Merlin: “Well, the thing is… I have been studying poisons for months, now. I was wondering how many poisons are left for me to study…”

Lokiseth: “With today’s lesson, you have studied about 40% of the total number of poisons. You have yet to study the remaining 60%!”

Merlin: “I was better off not knowing that… I shouldn’t have asked!”

Lokiseth: “Think about it positively. You have already endured the first 40% of the poisons. It would be worse if, after all you’ve gone through, you still had to experience the 90% of the poisons, instead of the 60%!”

Merlin: “Master, your statement doesn’t carry any falsehood, but it isn’t very reassuring either!”

Lokiseth: “That’s just how it is.”

Merlin: “I could swear that I have been trapped in here for more than a year, now. Why didn’t you release me?”

Lokiseth: “I guess I forgot to tell you… Inside this pseudo-realm time passes five times faster than in the outside world. When I said 1 year, I meant it in the outside world.”

Merlin: “But that means…!”

Lokiseth: “Yes, Merlin. That means in the outside world no more than 4 months have passed.”

Merlin: “…”

Lokiseth: “Oh, don’t make that face! Ok, ok… You win! I can’t let you out before the 1 year is up, your body wouldn’t be able to stand it!”

Merlin: “Why did you say I had won, then?”

Lokiseth: “Well, you seem to be a little down lately… so, I have decided to give you a reward for training so hard! I’ll give it to you after you finish your training in compounding and identification of poisons and antidotes”

Merlin: “What kind of reward?”

Lokiseth: “I won’t spoil it for you, but I think you are going to like it an awful lot!”

Merlin: “Thanks, master. I’ll look forward to it!”

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