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When Cedric, who had been hit by their close relationship, asked Kane for help, Kane deliberately coughed loudly.
Mariabelle came to herself with a start and blushed, but Renato did not seem to mind at all.
"So... do you have a plan on how to help the Marquis of Berkeley?"
Seeing a glimpse of the two of them in their daily lives, Cedric couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"Even though he is being held prisoner, it's a noble prison, so it's not like the security is that strict. After that, let's hide at the ambassador's official residence."
Cedric wondered how Renato, the Crown Prince of the Empire, knew where the Marquis de Berkeley was being held, but there was no point in pursuing the matter.
Cedric gave Kane a wink, hinting that he had to figure out the number of spies from other countries in the royal palace as soon as possible.
And Renato watched the exchange between the two with satisfaction.
"There is no one in the royal palace right now who will try to help Marquis Berkeley even if he is not watched by Duke Danzel."
"It seems like he is a maternal relative."
"Yes. It's too soon."
"But I don't understand."
"Once he broke off his engagement with Mariabelle, he wouldn't be able to break off his engagement with Annette again, and above all, Duke Danzel wouldn't allow it."
"In order to make the Duke of Danzel's daughter the future queen, it is best to keep Annette as a provisional queen. If Annette is inadequate in every way as a queen, it will be easy to get rid of her."
"Whether or not the wedding with Annette will take place before Duke Danzel's daughter grows up depends on Annette's future education, but in any case, it has been decided that Duke Danzel will be the king's relative in the future."
"I don't think this would have happened if His Majesty had been in good health..."
Mariabelle anxiously looked up at the portrait on the wall.
It was decorated with paintings of the young king and his brother.
The king had a kinder expression on his face than his brother.
"I wasn't sure about His Majesty's condition, but I have just received word. It seems that he has contracted the plague that swept through the country ten years ago."
"I have never heard of an epidemic being prevalent, but... if that's the case, shouldn't there be a cure?"
"The plague that raged ten years ago is no longer a deadly disease, thanks to a special medicine. It is now a disease that can be cured quickly if treated in the early stages."
"And I have not heard of another outbreak of the plague since it broke out ten years ago."
"Perhaps it began to spread while Mariabelle was away from the kingdom?"
"But I have never heard of such a thing in either the Berkeley or the Haustad territories."
"The medicine didn't work, as it did for my father and most of the heads of the eight principalities... a decade ago."
"Ced, does that mean that His Majesty's illness is not a plague?"
"Do you not find it strange? Those who contracted the plague certainly had a high probability of dying. But they would have recovered if they used the special medicine invented by the Republic. And the first to use it must be those at the center of the kingdom. In fact, the medicine was administered immediately to the royal family and the eight noble families. And yet, of the eight dukes, only His Majesty the King and the Duke of Danzel were saved."
"Does that mean that the cure was a fake?"
"No. I checked it myself. I also checked and found that the cure was genuine. In fact, my mother and Her Majesty the Queen were saved by it."
"If the medicine was real, then His Royal Highness would have been saved... does this mean that it was poison and not the plague?"
Cedric ordered Kane to bring a small box.
"The symptoms of the plague that raged across the continent ten years ago were high fever and blisters that appeared all over the body. My father's symptoms were blisters and severe pain that spread from his hands and feet to the rest of his body. I learned this from a survivor of my father's men at the time."
Saying this, Cedric opened the box.
Inside was a black seed-like substance.
"This is..."
Renato, who had been listening to the story in silence, raised his voice unintentionally and sat up.
"Yes, it is Black Death Oats."
Mariabelle had heard of it before.
It is a mutation of wheat that grows harder and blacker than normal wheat, and if eaten without knowing, it can cause poisoning, blisters all over the body, and even death.
But it is a variety that has already been eradicated, and its cultivation is supposedly banned.
In fact, a special remedy for the plague was made from this black dead barley. It was the doctor married to Renato's former fiancée who discovered that a small amount of the ingredient could be extracted to make a medicine, and invented a medicine that was safer than the Republic's.
Therefore, Renato knew the form, the efficacy, and the horror of the Black Death Oat.