Chapter 341: An Unreasonable Way to Make Trouble
After Rachel discovered that Evelia had that kind of catalyst on her, she went straight to their old dorm room without hesitation.
At first, Rachel still had some doubts. How did Evelia come into contact with that kind of substance… It was probably by “accident,” because judging from Evelia’s behavior, she had no idea she was carrying something that could affect the poison inside Armand’s body.
It was even possible that Evelia didn’t know Armand was being affected by poison at all. She might’ve just thought he had caught some strange illness...
So Rachel came to the conclusion that Evelia must’ve accidentally picked up that substance somewhere. And after getting close to Armand during this time, the harmful material somehow affected the poison in his body.
Thinking about all this, Rachel arrived at the dorm they had once shared.
If Evelia had been around that substance for a long time, then it probably wasn’t someone applying it to her every day. It was more likely that she got it on herself without realizing it.
...Could it be something on her clothes?
Since the reagent had reacted to Evelia’s clothes, Rachel instinctively began checking through the clothes in Evelia’s closet one by one. She even checked the fabric softener used to wash them, but found nothing.
Just as she was feeling stuck, she noticed Evelia’s dressing table.
Evelia rarely dressed herself up. First, because she was originally a man and had lived outside of normal society as an assassin, so she never cared much about her appearance. Second, even without makeup, Evelia was beautiful in a way that made people feel distant. As her creator, Rachel was very confident about this.
Even though Evelia didn’t usually wear makeup, there was still a bottle of perfume on her table.
Evelia had already gotten into the habit of using perfume before Rachel came. The reason was simple, she wanted to leave her scent on Armand, like a kitten marking its territory.
At first, Evelia resisted the idea of leaving a scent on herself. But later, she got used to the light fragrance. After all, it smelled way better than blood.
Sometimes, after the Second Prince sent Evelia out to do certain tasks, she would spray on perfume after returning. Just so Armand, who had a very sensitive nose, wouldn’t smell the blood on her.
As for recently... it seemed Evelia had changed her perfume.
Even though Rachel wasn’t as sensitive to smells as assassins like Armand and Evelia, she had been around Evelia long enough to notice that her scent had changed.
And when Rachel first smelled the new perfume, she clearly picked up a certain alchemical ingredient in it.
Damn it... Why didn’t she keep paying attention to that back then?
Back when Evelia first started using the perfume, Rachel had already noticed something odd about the scent. But at the time, her mind was completely focused on her little lab and planning where she would escape to next. She didn’t have time to care about some perfume that had alchemical materials in it.
Besides, it’s not uncommon for perfumes to contain certain special ingredients. Just like how some cakes need special flavor enhancers, as long as it’s not harmful to people, no one cares.
But... this situation was obviously different.
Clearly, this perfume was meant to target Armand.
Even though it didn’t affect Evelia or the others around her, for Armand, whose body was very different, even a common alchemical material could become deadly poison.
“……”
Rachel nervously picked up Evelia’s half-used bottle of perfume and sprayed a little onto the reagent she had on her hand.
Just as she expected, the liquid on her hand instantly turned black when it touched the perfume.
“—Damn it, it really is this stuff.”
The thought that she had once let the “real culprit” slip by made Rachel so angry that she clenched her teeth.
She had called herself a genius alchemist, and yet she had let this kind of thing exist right under her nose for so long.
If her guess was right, then just like she originally suspected, this was made by “White Dove.” And the purpose of making it…
...was to use Evelia to kill Armand?
Unlike “Grey Dove,” who acted like she was missing a few brain cells, “White Dove” had clearly noticed where things were heading.
While Grey Dove was still acting like some crazed fan of Red Crow, waiting for their so-called god to kill Armand, White Dove had already seen through the relationship between Evelia and Armand.
He already knew that the current Evelia couldn’t kill Armand at all. In fact, White Dove might’ve even predicted that she would eventually switch sides.
But even if no one expected this to happen, so what? White Dove is part of the Second Prince’s camp, which makes him Armand’s enemy. As an enemy, and as someone from the always-secretive "House of Nightingales," it’s not surprising if he chooses to assassinate Armand in his own way.
No matter if Evelia’s stance has changed or not, the Second Prince’s side always needed to get rid of Armand, the “guard dog.” That fact hasn’t changed. No matter how it’s done, the ending must be Armand’s death. Only then can the Second Prince prevent the Crown Prince’s faction from completely dominating the Knights.
And if you think about it more pessimistically... maybe the "House of Nightingales" has already secretly infiltrated the Knight Order.
Of course, Armand and Carle are both doing their best to guard the gates. But no matter how careful they are, something could still slip through. There are too many people in the Knight Order. In some hidden corner, if someone gets replaced, it might not be noticed right away.
Maybe... what’s happening to Armand now is actually a warning sign.
White Dove will try to poison Armand, and at the same time, the "House of Nightingales" will try to sneak into the Knight Order. These two moves will definitely happen together.
Now that the Commander of the Knight Order has already been “badly poisoned,” then Carle, the Vice Commander, might be the next target—no, maybe he already is a target. He probably won’t escape either.
“……”
Damn it...
Just thinking that Carle’s family might get dragged into this, and that even little Salana, one of the few younger people she knew, might be taken out by the Second Prince’s side, makes Rachel’s heart race in panic.
She became an alchemist to save people. And now… so many people around her need help. She couldn’t just do nothing.
But for now, the main problem is still the perfume.
Should she tell Evelia that there’s a special catalyst hidden in the perfume?
‘...Damn it, how can I do that?’
That would basically be telling her, Armand’s condition right now is all because of her. If she hadn’t been carrying that catalyst and staying so close to Armand every day, he wouldn’t have ended up like this.
If one day Armand really dies, then she would be considered part of the cause…!
“—There’s no way I can say that out loud…!”
That truth is just too cruel. Rachel’s young face twisted into a painful expression.
If Evelia didn’t stick so closely to Armand every single day.
If Evelia weren’t his wife and didn’t stay by his side all the time.
If Evelia weren’t always by his side, taking care of him as he lay sick, guiding him while he was confused and helping him even when he could faint at any moment—
—Then maybe Armand wouldn’t be in such a serious condition right now.
“…No.”
Holding the perfume tightly, Rachel felt like her heart was being cut with a knife just imagining how Evelia would react when she found out the truth.
Even if Evelia deserved to know the truth… she could only be told after Armand got a little better.
In Armand’s current “half-dead” state, how could Rachel just tell Evelia so bluntly that she had a hand in this?
“Haa…”
Looking at the bottle of perfume, Rachel bit her lip in frustration.
To analyze its ingredients, she poured most of the perfume into a small bottle she had prepared. Then she looked at the tiny bit left at the bottom, and made up her mind. She was going to act like a brat again.
“—Gulp.”
She suddenly tilted her head back and drank the remaining perfume, the same one that would poison Armand if left unchecked.
“Blegh, disgusting!”
Rachel’s expression looked even worse than before. She stuck out her tongue; the taste was both bitter and spicy.
If Armand had seen her just then, he probably would’ve joked that he once chugged half a bottle of perfume too.
What she had to do next was simple, because now she was just being a bratty kid.
She was going to run to Evelia and Armand, throw a little tantrum, and tell Evelia that she hated this stuff. She didn’t like the taste, didn’t like the smell, and then she would pull out a bottle of Evelia’s old, harmless perfume and complain that she and Armand both preferred the way that one smelled.
That was what she planned, and that’s what she did.
For their sake, Rachel really went and made a scene.
“…Hah…”
It might’ve seemed unreasonable, but for Evelia, this kind of childish fuss was just right.