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Chapter: 10
Hardin led him to a safe house prepared not far from the imperial palace.
The citizens of the capital were completely absorbed in celebrating the New Year festival, and thanks to that, the area around the safe house was as quiet as a graveyard.
Creeeak.
The empty house was clean and desolate.
It felt so solid that even if one or two people were to die inside, no one would ever notice.
And in the middle of the barren living room, a man with a gag in his mouth and ropes binding his body was kneeling on the floor.
“Mm! Mmmph!”
The young man who had been tied up shouted something in alarm when several sword-bearing men suddenly appeared.
But the gag muffled his voice.
“This is the one named Donovan. He’s the man who went looking for the young lady.”
Lennox Carlisle looked down at the man kneeling on the floor and, for some reason, felt slightly disappointed.
Contrary to his expectations, he was an ordinary-looking young man—someone you could find anywhere.
With a complicated feeling, Lennox gave an order.
“Untie him.”
The moment the gag was removed, the man named Donovan cried out in terror.
“P-please spare me, my lord! I’ll repay the money right away!”
Lennox frowned.
“Money?”
Hardin replied with a somewhat awkward expression.
“It’s true. He has some debts. He only recently opened his clinic.”
Listening desperately to their conversation, Donovan cautiously cut in.
“Um… did you bring me here because of my debts?”
“……”
For a brief moment, a look of confusion crossed both their faces.
Lennox knelt down on one knee to meet Donovan’s eye level and went straight to the point.
“You know Juliet Monard.”
“M-Monard… are you referring to the Count’s daughter?”
“What is your relationship with Juliet?”
“T-that’s—no, wait! A relationship?! I’ve never even met her!”
Donovan jumped in panic. He seemed to have realized the seriousness of his situation.
“Then why did you go looking for Juliet?”
“Th-that is… patient confidentiality is an extremely sensitive matter…”
Donovan glanced nervously at Lennox, his face troubled.
But the moment the knight standing behind him placed a hand on his sword hilt, Donovan immediately shouted,
“It’s because of my mother!”
Terrified, Donovan quickly confessed everything he knew.
Though his explanation was disjointed, Lennox and the duke’s knights were able to piece it together.
“My mother is a pharmacist. No—she was a pharmacist.”
Donovan’s mother had worked for many years as a pharmacist in the Eighth District. She was highly skilled and had many regular customers.
“Even high-ranking noble ladies frequently sent in requests for medicine.”
He said this with a hint of pride.
Most noble families had personal physicians, but there were certain medicines that were quicker to obtain discreetly from a pharmacist rather than through a doctor.
“But some time ago, my mother fell ill and had to stop working.”
As a result, Donovan, who had been working far away as a medical trainee, had to return home.
After placing his mother in a sanatorium, he整理ed her pharmacy.
However, recalling that her illness was dementia, Donovan became worried.
Afraid that she might have made mistakes while preparing prescriptions, he reviewed her records—and discovered something alarming.
“By chance, I found the prescription records for the Monard Count’s daughter. But because of her illness, my mother couldn’t remember anything about it.”
“Juliet ordered medicine?” Lennox asked.
“Yes. The late Countess Monard was a long-time client of my mother’s… they had traded medicines regularly.”
Donovan glanced cautiously at Duke Carlisle’s expression, making Lennox feel uneasy.
“What did Juliet order?”
“Well… silphium.”
“Silphium?”
“I-it’s not a harmful medicine! As you know, many noble ladies take it.”
Lennox frowned.
He was well acquainted with the drug.
Silphium was a rare herb that grew only in the southernmost region of the Empire. When its root was brewed lightly into tea, it had contraceptive effects.
Aside from its high price, it had no side effects and was easy to take, which made it widely used.
Only then did Lennox understand why this man had been lingering around the count’s estate.
Even as a fallen noble house, the Monard family was still an old and prestigious lineage.
And Juliet Monard was an unmarried young lady.
If something were to happen because of a wrongly prescribed medicine, he would never escape responsibility—no wonder he had been frightened.
Yet asking someone else to pass along the message risked spreading rumors, which would have been just as disastrous.
Still, one question remained.
Was it really such an urgent matter that he had to seek Juliet out repeatedly?
“So?” Lennox prompted.
“But when I checked the records, a few months ago the young lady requested mistletoe and silphium flowers. My mother sent the ingredients as ordered, and that was the last entry in Miss Monard’s prescription records.”
Even then, Donovan hesitated, carefully watching Lennox’s reaction.
If that had been all, he wouldn’t have been this cautious.
Sensing something ominous, Lennox asked immediately,
“What is mistletoe used for?”
“Mistletoe itself isn’t a problem. On the contrary, it’s a good medicinal herb that prevents miscarriage and protects the child in the womb. The problem is that the young lady ordered it together with silphium flowers.”
Lennox felt as though something inside his head had slipped out of place.
…A child?
“The effects of silphium flowers are completely different from those of the root. The silphium commonly used as a contraceptive is the root, but the flower is far more toxic than the root and is used to… terminate a pregnancy.”
The air in the room froze instantly.
But Donovan’s earnest explanation didn’t end there.
“Taken separately, there wouldn’t be an issue. But if silphium and mistletoe are taken together, there’s a risk of miscarriage. S-so if the young lady truly is with child, I wanted to tell her not to use the medicine and to undergo proper examination instead…”
Donovan couldn’t finish his sentence.
Bang.
Before his words ended, Lennox Carlisle kicked the door open and stormed out.
“My lord!”
The duke’s knights hurried after him.
But Lennox didn’t wait for them. He mounted the black horse tied in the courtyard and spurred it forward at once.
Because of the fireworks scheduled for midnight, the streets were completely empty.
As he rode like a madman toward the ducal residence, Lennox Carlisle could think of only one thing.
Juliet.
It could be explained.
It had to be explained.
“Mistletoe itself isn’t a problem. On the contrary, it prevents miscarriage and protects the child in the womb.”
“Silphium flowers are far more toxic than the root and are used to terminate a pregnancy.”
Contraceptives.
Silphium.
And Juliet.
When those ominous, chaotic words came together, a memory flashed through his mind in an instant.
