OHNIR – Chapter 49
Chapter 49: Uprooting the Weed
Starangui was the second princess of the Nobili Kingdom. The kingdom's library was unconditionally and fully open to the royal family, which allowed her to master a great deal of knowledge inaccessible to others.
Although others saw her as no different from her brother Satrick—a fool obsessed with power—the truth was that before enrolling in the academy, she had spent one full day nearly every week immersed in a sea of books, frantically absorbing all the knowledge she could.
This indirectly meant she spent far less time on social interactions than her brother, often finding herself outmaneuvered.
Take the recent invitation incident, for example. She had arranged everything from top to bottom, and the task was supposed to be hers for the taking. Yet her damned royal brother, with his spies as numerous as ants, had preempted her and intercepted the invitation.
Fortunately, while the king favored Satrick, he was unwilling to let his second daughter's talents go to waste—especially in the field of potions. Thus, Starangui had long been entrusted with the important duty of managing her father's health, a task she had always performed diligently, never daring to tamper with his treatments.
After all, both she and Satrick knew very well that no matter how fiercely they fought in private for the title of heir, it was all just petty squabbling.
The true power had always been in the king's hands.
Many years ago, the king had caught a cold while touring the northern lands. As Starangui was personally preparing an Antipyretic Potion for her father, she stumbled upon the secret of the Moonlight Vine.
This vine, which only sprouted during a clear full moon, contained a special property in its sap. When a sufficient amount was mixed with Milkweed flowers, it produced an effect completely opposite to that of an Antipyretic Potion—causing the user to develop a low-grade fever.
Because the Moonlight Vine's mucus was highly soluble, it was difficult to detect regardless of the amount used. Starangui hadn't noticed her mistake at the time. It was only after the king consumed the potion that his symptoms changed from a high fever to a low-grade fever and lethargy.
Starangui quickly realized the problem. After successfully brewing a new Antipyretic Potion and curing the king, the astute potioneer began to study her initial mistake day after day. Eventually, she discovered that the combination of Milkweed flowers, an excessive amount of Moonlight Vine, and fig powder was the culprit responsible for inducing a persistent, low-grade fever.
And by adding just a bit of slug mucus... this toxic ingredient would instantly catalyze the original healing potion into a brand-new dark potion, one unrecorded in the annals of pharmacology for a century. Dark potions—a general term for toxic, aggressive, cursed, and non-curative concoctions—would cause the user to suffer a persistent high fever that even large doses of Antipyretic Potion could barely quell.
The royal guard Starangui had used for her experiment suffered brain damage from the relentless high fever. Though large quantities of Antipyretic Potion saved his life, the violent illness left him mentally impaired and dazed, his limbs twitching. He lost his ability to speak and hear, and could no longer serve the princess he had once trusted with all his heart.
Starangui casually gave the guard's family a sizable compensation payment. Gazing at the new homologous potion she had created from the Antipyretic Potion's base, she smiled faintly and gave it a simple name: "Fever-Inducing Potion."
She never reported it to the Potioneers' Council or told anyone else. Instead, she kept this forbidden dark potion a secret, saving it for a rainy day.
And now, the time had finally come for Starangui to use it—to silently eliminate the thorn in her side.
Satrick had beaten her to the medical room to retrieve the invitation. Starangui, having missed her chance, had actually been nearby at the time. Kelusta had even caught a glimpse of her in the bushes, but thankfully, she hadn't been properly identified.
Before that, however, she had overheard Madam Lechena's description of the girl's "innate Drug-Resistant Constitution."
Besides a healer, no one understood better than a potioneer that a Drug-Resistant Constitution could negate the healing and restorative effects of ordinary potions, but it offered no protection against the destructive power of dark potions.
This was... a perfect opportunity to uproot the weed for good.
That day, after following Kelusta to the potions classroom and discovering her presence, Starangui didn't linger. Instead, she secretly instructed some students in her pocket to report to the Student Union that "the potions classroom was being used without authorization." It was the end of the term, and the Student Union was about to hold elections. As the two frontrunners for the presidency, Gloria and she were naturally chosen by the current third-year president to investigate the matter.
Everything was going according to Starangui's plan.
Her original intention was merely to have Gloria discover Kelusta and Wend's secret meeting, thus eroding her trust in them. She never expected them to be so cooperative, practically tap-dancing on every one of Gloria's landmines.
Witnessing the scene, Starangui could barely resist the urge to applaud.
As expected, Gloria turned and walked away. The little commoner, perhaps frantic with panic, chased after her despite her injury. Wend, noticing her limp, hesitated for a moment before following them.
Knowing Starangui as he did, and confident in his own potion-making skills, Wend didn't believe she had the nerve or the ability to openly tamper with his work.
What he failed to anticipate, however, was that Starangui was a potioneer every bit as skilled as he was. Not only did she identify the ingredients and deduce that Wend was creating a homologous potion to the Antipyretic Potion, but she also precisely added a large quantity of Moonlight Vine sap, successfully converting it into her own creation, the "Fever-Inducing Potion."
The differences between homologous potions were minuscule, and combined with the soluble nature of the Moonlight Vine mucus... she was confident that no one in the entire academy could detect her tampering.
Based on the ingredients, she could tell the potion was designed to induce a fever, but the symptoms were likely intended to be extremely mild. Considering the trouble she'd had Kevit stir up for Kelusta earlier, it was obvious... this was a ploy to win Gloria's sympathy.
Therefore, Starangui felt no pressure as she sabotaged it.
While she had never been fond of Wend, daring to harm the future heir of the Silentdis family would bring the full wrath of the duchy down on her. But killing a mere commoner who had caught Gloria's fancy... surely the duke's daughter wouldn't fall out with her over such a trivial matter?
It was a golden opportunity. With Kelusta's Drug-Resistant Constitution, no amount of healing potions could save her.
Unless a Light Mage were present, no one could save her!
An eyesore like her should be disposed of as soon as possible.
After restoring the potions classroom to its original state, Starangui smiled faintly. She turned, lifted the hem of her skirt, and departed with an air of grace, as if she had never been there at all.
Everything was in place... All she had to do was wait for the show to begin.
Even without Kelusta's letter as a reminder, the ever-reliable Wend knew he had to return to the potions classroom to finish up.
He held a small vial of pure blue potion, frowning as he watched Kelusta limp down the stairs into the common room. "Are you drinking this today or tomorrow?" he asked coolly.
"Tomorrow," Kelusta said, sucking in a sharp breath. Having finally made it downstairs, she threw herself onto a soft sofa in the common room and grimaced. "My foot should be better by then, which will make things easier."
Wend gave a noncommittal nod and placed the vial in her palm.
Kelusta took it and studied the vial. The liquid inside was a shade of blue not much lighter than the silver-haired boy's eyes. She blinked, examining it carefully for a moment before asking suspiciously, "Isn't the standard color supposed to be crystal blue?"
Her memory was sharp. When Wend had followed her, she hadn't seen Starangui come along as well. And while Kelusta doubted the princess would be foolish enough to tamper with a potion made by Wend—the academy's resident potions genius—it was better to ask a few questions, just to be safe.
"As you know, Her Highness... well, she's never been particularly fond of me spending time with Senior," Kelusta said humbly. "So, you see... the color of this potion is off. Is it possible that Her Highness might have...?"
She trailed off tactfully, but Wend clearly understood what she was implying.
"I considered that possibility," the silver-haired boy said calmly. "But upon my inspection, the potion's weight, temperature, and scent all match the standards you gave me. The discrepancy in color is most likely due to the ingredients you mismeasured during preparation. Therefore, it's difficult for me to determine if the Second Princess tampered with it."
He paused, gazing at the blue potion with a slight frown. "If you're worried... we could just brew a new one."
"We can't wait that long," Kelusta said, shaking her head. "The winter holiday is almost here. I have to make up with Senior before the end of the term. If we're delayed another two weeks because of the potion, we'll run out of time."
The brown-haired girl swirled the potion in her hand and smiled calmly. "In any case, since you said your inspection didn't turn up any problems... I'll trust you. I'll drink it at seven o'clock tomorrow morning, on the dot. I'll be counting on you to bring Senior to me then!"
Wend hesitated, giving her a long look. He pressed his lips together and gave a slight, hesitant nod, as if he wanted to say more but held back.
His sister's personality—impervious to both gentle persuasion and firm demands, only yielding in the face of a major crisis—was, frankly, exhausting to deal with.
...Just in case, I'd better go prepare some healing potions.
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