Chapter 122: Chapter 122 Don’t come to the coronation at noon (3)
“I can grow this plant anywhere, but it’s good to grow it in soil if possible… Is there a place where I can dispose of it? I don’t want to invite suspicion by leaving it where it grows.”
“How about burning it in the fireplace?”
“That sounds good.”
“Then, let’s go to the instrument room. I sometimes make a fire in the summer to control humidity, so it won’t be a problem. ”
The prince walked first to escort her. The instrument room was set up in an annex quite far from his residence. The instrument room had only a few violins. Given that the prince had been collecting violins for a long time, there were so few in the room.
“It was fortunate that these were not damaged when the palace collapsed with the explosion. All the violins that I left in my place were completely destroyed,” he said bitterly when she took her eyes off of a violin.
After a while, a servant came with two small pots, as the prince asked. They were filled with moist soil. The servant set fire to the fireplace and left.
“Don’t expect too much. You may not get the results you want,” she told him for caution’s sake.
The prince nodded with a nervous expression. She breathed a shallow sigh and opened the cigar box and looked into the shape of its leaves. Then she put her index finger on one pot.
She felt the texture of the wet soil.
Shortly after removing her finger, she unfolded another leaf that was padded between the cigar leaves and looked closely at its shape. In no time little buds began to sprout on the pots that she touched earlier.
“Wow, this is unbelievable, though I saw it before!” The prince exclaimed.
He admired, watching her touching her index finger on the rest of the pot.
When she took her hand off, the wet soil crumbs fell off. The second pot also began to show the same results. Pushing out the soil, the buds sprouted and began to stretch their stems.
The plants in two pots stopped growing at nearly the same size. There were stems with no leaves, and some with yellow leaves. Some of the stems were dried, with the leaves drooping. As she didn’t grow them based on a healthy whole plant, they could not bear fruit or grow much larger.
“Yes, this is a tobacco tree,” she said, touching a large oval shaped leaf. The shape of the leaves on the branches was clearly tobacco.
“And this is… ” She looked into another tree for a while, but she was speechless.
At first glance, it looked like a tobacco tree, but unlike the pointed tobacco leaf, its tip was a little round. Looking at the shape of the leaf vein, she could clearly notice the difference.
She, who was looking back and forth over the leaves in front of the mysterious plant, suddenly tore apart several leaves at once. Soon she threw them into the burning fireplace.
“What are you doing?”
She stirred a little smoke from the burning leaves with her hands.
“Would you like to smell it ? Just a little bit.”
Prince Isaac, who narrowed his eyes at her incomprehensible action, reluctantly followed her direction.
“Now, raise your hand like I do.”
While inhaling the smoke, she talked, with her palms on her left chest. The prince reluctantly followed her actions with a curious look. He felt his heartbeat pounding under the palm of my hand.
She lamented suddenly and said, breathing out loudly, “Oh my… this is bentoxique. ”
Then the prince squeezed the shirt on his chest and clenched his fists. His face was blushing.
“My heartbeat was pounding very fast now.”
He felt the heightened heartbeat that he usually felt when his performance with the orchestra reached its climax in just seconds.
“Bentoxique leaves contain substances that excite nerves. When the leaves are dried and lit, the smoke not only clears the mind, but also induces moderate excitement. That’s why its smoke was used in the rituals of the natives of the Jacob region before they hunted.
Of course, they used a very small amount of leaves. For any misuse can cause breathing problems or even a heart attack,” she said, holding the water kettle on the table.
She poured water in a milky cup with a gold rim border and sipped it.
“I’ll have to look it up in the book, but I’m certain that this is a bentoxique leaf.”
“I hear that the emperor collapsed while on duty even before the royal doctor arrived. He died even before the doctor could treat him. The doctor said there was a problem with his heart… Do you think his death is related to that cigar?”
“If the emperor steadily burned the cigar with a small amount of the Bentoxique leaves… he might have felt refreshed right after he smoked, but I have reasonable confidence that his repeated smoking might have harmed his heart. I think you should find out more about this clearly. I can’t give you a definite answer right now.”
For a long time the prince silently watched the flames burning in the fireplace. In his calm eyes was a hidden irresistible anger.
The prince sorted out his thoughts instead of revealing his anger.
His father had been using cigars for decades. He could not figure out when his father began to use the cigars with Bentoxique leaves. Could he find the suspect if he investigated the merchants that supplied the cigars and their masterminds?
“If you don’t mind, I’m going to burn these leaves,” she said, who approached him, pointing to the pots on the floor.
The prince nodded with a dark expression. face. She pulled out a few leaves of the bentoxique stems and threw them into the fireplace without hesitation. The leaves, swallowed by a roaring flame, vanished quickly.
He looked so gloomy while watching the faint smoke disappearing over the fireplace chimney.
While heading for the coronation hall with Wendy, Lard looked gloomy. After hearing about the cigar and its possible connection to the emperor’s death, he was in a gloomy mood.
He was certain that somebody must have included the toxic leaves in the cigars.
The emperor’s meeting with Duke Engre and his sudden death one day before his proclamation of the new legislation were obviously related to each other. Even if the emperor’s heart was weakened because of his addiction to the cigars with bentoxique, his sudden death on the day of his meeting with the duke was certainly related to the toxic substance. Lard believed that the duke instigated the murder of the emperor. Obviously the duke must have done something evil and wicked to the emperor.
“Sir Schroder, I think you’d better brighten your expression. Everyone’s looking at your serious expression,” Wendy whispered to him. Only then did he lighten up.
“Well, it’s not necessarily because of your frown,” she said.
Even after he lightened up, the participants in the coronation were paying attention to him.
As if he and Wendy were still a hot topic in the social circles, many of the participants looked at them while they were heading for Sher Palace, where the coronation was supposed to be held.
“Captain!!”
When they entered the coronation hall, Jean approached them. Behind him was Pascal Dowain, her helping hand at the shop. In her eyes, Pascal looked a bit awkward in his formal uniform because she was used to seeing him in casual clothes.
“I feel strange to see you here, Captain. Of course I’m happy to see Ms. Wendy who is so beautiful, ” Pascal said, smiling at her dress.
Lard asked, looking at him suspiciously, “Sir Dowain, where is General Manager Hoikin? It looks like the security of the western side of the palace doesn’t seem to be tight.”
“I saw him in the Denver Hall. In fact, General Manager Hoikin was looking for you. He said he had something to discuss with you about the security of the outside of Sher Palace. ”
When he said that, Lard hesitated a bit and checked the pocket watch in his hand.
The ceremony time was approaching. When he looked at her face as if to ask for her permission, she smiled and nodded.
“Okay, let’s go and see him. Escort me then.” Lard asked Jean to take care of her and left with Pascal. Although she was nervous that Lard was not with her, she, pretending not to, moved under the guidance of Jean.
Taking a seat far back from the stairs on the platform where the coronation ceremony was to be held, Jean brought a glass of champagne for her. She sipped little by little, holding the champagne glass in her right hand. When she tasted the cool champagne, she felt her nervousness went away a bit.
“Oh, Sir Simuan! ”
“It’s been a long time, Sir Simuan.”
Partly thanks to his title “Deputy Captain” and partly thanks to his good reputation, he was surrounded by many people as time went by. Wendy avoided their attention by distancing herself from them a bit.
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