"Do you want to see a monster? Well then, come with me!"

Hearing Kaileon’s words, Angeline smiled broadly, then followed in the footsteps of her fiancé-to-be.

Wearing a beautiful comfortable dress, her body scented with spring flowers, her hair soft and fragrant, and her stomach full, Angeline felt as though she were in a different world.

Even though she’d only been there one night, the warm and comfortable atmosphere made her feel that this place was far better than the palace.

Everyone was also very kind; no one looked down on her for not knowing something. They taught her patiently.

Kai gently took Angeline’s hand, leading her toward the monster cage that he still tended.

Upon arriving, Angeline was surprised to see the monsters. These were not weak monsters, but powerful ones. Even the strongest man, like Duke Arslan, might not be able to defeat them easily.

But Kaileon had said that he was the one who defeated them all—and that he kept some of them behind the pavilion?

In reality, the monsters looked healthy inside their sturdy iron cages.

A young boy was feeding them all.

"Have you fed them all, Yuya?" Kai asked the boy.

"Yes! And I think they’re comfortable here. It’s really strange—bird monsters like these usually can’t stand being caged," said Yuya.

Kai turned to Angeline, thinking the princess might be frightened by the huge monsters. Even the stone bird and the fire bird were far larger than their own bodies.

But Angeline remained silent, looking up at all the monsters with a serious expression.

"Princess? Why are you—"

Suddenly, Angeline turned to Kaileon, placing her index finger over her lips: "Shh."

"What’s wrong?" Kai whispered afterward.

"I think I heard a sound coming from these monsters," muttered Angeline, still unsure of what she’d heard.

"What kind of sound?" asked Yuya, who had suddenly stepped between the two of them, trying to hear the sound Angeline was referring to.

[Do you want to complete a mission to obtain the Basic Appraiser skill? With this skill, you can gauge how strong someone is and see what skills they possess]

An Appraisal skill?

That’s pretty interesting—with it, he could at least see information about someone before facing them. He could also use the skill to assess a person’s potential.

[To obtain the basic-level Appraisal skill, you must heal your fiancé’s physical condition, Angeline]

Right after the system said that, Kai was startled when Angeline suddenly started coughing violently.

"Princess!"

"Cough! I’m already— cough! It’s nothing, I’m fine— cough, cough!"

Kai noticed that blood was coming out as Angeline coughed.

Without a second thought, he tried to heal Angeline using his healing skill.

After healing Angeline, Kai felt extremely dizzy, so he sat down on a wooden bench nearby. Meanwhile, Angeline, who was already feeling better, suddenly walked a short distance away and vomited a large amount of black fluid.

"What’s going on?" Kaileon muttered.

"I don’t know either... should I go get Jean?" asked Yuya.

Kai nodded, and the boy immediately ran off to find Jean.

After Jean arrived, he checked on Angeline, then examined what she had just vomited.

"The conclusion I can draw right now is that Princess Angeline has expelled the toxins from her body. But I don’t know what kind of poison it is. All I know is that princess Angeline has been ingesting this poison periodically—it seems she even took some this morning. Is that correct, princess Angeline?" said Jean.

Angeline, who felt much lighter though still weak, could only reply, "I don’t know."

"It’s okay, Princess. I’ll take you to your room and continue healing you there," said Kai.

Jean placed her hand on Kai’s shoulder, looking at him with concern.

"Young Master, you haven’t fully recovered yourself, have you?" asked Jean.

Kai smiled to reassure Jean.

"Don’t worry, Jean. I’m not like other beings. My magical energy replenishes quickly. Just prepare the ginger drink like I taught you yesterday for Angeline."

Jean nodded. "All right, young master. Yuya, help the young master escort the young lady back to her room."

The boy nodded and immediately helped Kai carry Angeline back to her room.

Once they reached the room, Angeline was laid down on her bed, and then Kai tried to heal her again.

This time it didn’t take as long as before; it was over in just a moment.

Angeline’s body felt lighter, and her head no longer felt heavy. She felt incredibly healthy—she hadn’t felt

this healthy since she’d been at the palace.

"I feel really run-down, Kaileon! For so long, my body has always felt heavy, and my head has always felt heavy too, to the point where I thought that was normal. But I’ve always been sickly, even though I’ve tried to take care of my health. I’ve also been taking the health pills the doctor has been prescribing me all this time—wait a second—here are the pills."

Angeline held up a glass jar filled with countless small brown pills; when he opened it, there was no smell at all. But after Kai tried sniffing it, he sensed something was wrong.

As a former trained hitman, Kai had learned many things—including how to kill with poison—so he was familiar with various types of poisons on Earth.

However, since things were so different in this new world, Ardhez, Kai wasn’t sure.

"Yuya, do you recognize the scent of a plant like this? It seems poisonous." Kai handed one of the brown pills to Yuya, and the boy immediately wrinkled his nose.

"Ugh! This smells like purple flowers! They’re poisonous—though they can be used for medicinal purposes—but Jean said these purple flowers can make your body go limp and give you a headache. There are plenty of them in the forest; they’re only useful for people who are seriously injured and need treatment. Eating the flowers can help your body relax, so you don’t thrash around while receiving treatment... something like that. He said it’s actually not dangerous if you only eat them once in a while, but if you eat them repeatedly, it’s very dangerous," said Yuya, Jean’s student who was best at memorizing things.

Kai looked at Angeline again, "Tell me where you got this, who that doctor is, and whether that doctor is truly trustworthy."

Angeline immediately realized how foolish she had been all this time. She thought it was a health supplement that was actually good for her, since she was always sick. After taking it, she felt calm. It turned out that the supplement was what caused toxins to build up in her body.

"Young master, may I come in?"

Kai heard Keith’s voice from outside, so he invited Keith in. It turned out it wasn’t just Keith—Jean, who was carrying a health drink, and Duke Arslan were there as well.

Jean handed the drinks to Kai and Angeline. Then, Kai explained Angeline’s problem in detail.

"It’s all right, my lady. Just tell me which doctor you’re referring to..." said the Duke as he sat on the edge of the bed, gazing at Angeline with a gentle look in his eyes.

It was similar to the King’s gaze toward Angeline—like a father who loved his daughter.

Seeing that Duke, whom she had thought was intimidating, was actually very kind, Angeline felt at ease, and she mentioned a name.

"Akelos. The doctor’s name is Akelos. He’s a renowned doctor in the Kingdom," Angeline replied.

Hendry’s brow furrowed at the name. "Akelos? The wizard who’s rich because he possesses healing magic? Does the princess know that he’s close to the Queen?"

Angeline, beginning to realize where the Duke’s conversation was headed, started to regret why she had so readily believed the words of the man named Akelos. But what could she do? After all, Akelos was the only doctor—or rather, the only person with healing magic—in the royal palace of Nagreize.

Kai then showed the Duke the brown pill that Angeline took every day.

Just as Kai had suspected, Jean said something similar to what Yuya had mentioned. The only difference was that Jean knew the name of that purple flower: Viobel. A beautiful yet deadly flower.

"Wait a minute, this scent... it’s just like the candy the Duchess gave me as a gift," the Duke muttered, after realizing that the scent of the brown pill was familiar to him.

"Did you eat that candy, Father?" Kai asked.

The Duke shook his head. "Not yet. It’s in my study; I shared it with Nathan and the others." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

At that moment, Kai fell silent, even as the others were panicking and in a frenzy. Something was clearly wrong here.

"I’m going to talk to the Duchess right now," said Hendry, hurriedly standing up with a look of suppressed anger on his face.

Kai quickly grabbed the man’s arm and shook his head.

"I want to talk to you alone before I go. I think this is important."

Duke calmed down again. He gave his son a faint smile, then nodded.

"All right, let’s talk."