Entering the maiden home

Allergy-inducing potion. It was the potion that she had just consumed. The same potion that she had taken when she was in the General's mansion after she had that nightmare. 

It was a potion that was formulated to create rashes on her body, which formula was written in a book that was left by her mother.

Joanna felt fortunate to have a good memory, which made her able to memorize almost all the recorded information that was written in the book. However, if it was thought about deeply, she would admit that it was not solely because of her good memorizing skills. It was also caused by the repeated reading that she had done since her mother left her forever, as she felt that the handwriting of her mother on the book could represent her presence.

Taking the herbal extracts, which she had extracted with her own hands and kept in bottles when she left for Archess, was the precautionary measure that she had taken.

Originally, it was intended to be brought as medicine that she could take if she happened to fall sick when she was far away from her homeland. It had never been her plan to use the potion to hurt herself instead of healing her from illnesses. And she wouldn't have done that if she had never experienced the dream that had been haunting her since then.

Most of the single herbal extracts could play a role as a medicine that could heal illnesses, but the mixture of a few extracts from certain herbal plants could be poison for the body. 

The allergy-inducing potion was one of those kinds of poison that was created by mixing four types of plants, which the single plant was not dangerous.

One important thing to keep in mind was that the concentration of each extract mixed with others should be carefully calculated. It was the same as medicine. Taking the proper amount would be healing, but taking more than the suggested amount would be killing.

Alenna Mitchelsen was the name of Joanna's mother. It was unknown by others that her mother, who was the daughter of an imperial doctor, was a talented herbalist. Having accompanied Joanna's grandfather to cure numerous patients since she was a kid, she had cultivated skills and knowledge in dealing with herbs.

To heal or to poison, she had recorded all the potions related to it. Not only the information did she learn from her ancestors but also from her own experiments.

As women in Terra were considered to be inferior at that time, Alenna's skills were hidden. It was the opposite of Alenna's brother, Joanna's uncle, whose skills were widely known to be equal to Joanna's grandfather, for which he had been appointed to be the imperial doctor, taking the position of Joanna's late grandfather.

But fortunately, Joanna's mother was a diligent person, tending to fill her spare time with activities, like reading and writing, apart from conducting some experiments.

She did not want to make this useful knowledge become useless by only keeping it with her to her grave as it would only end up being buried without being known by others. Although she did not know if this would be useful in the future or not, she just wrote it down.

Therefore, Joanna was grateful to have Alenna Mitchelsen as her mother although she only had a very short period of time to indulge in her arms. The warmth of her mother was only able to be felt for six years before she left her for eternity.

Wrapping her body under the blanket, Joanna stared at the ceiling on top of her. It needed at least an hour for the potion to react, from the growing fever to the reddish swollen skin. 

It was very uncomfortable and painful, but as long as it could smooth her way to get rid of the General from her life, she would endure it no matter how painful it was.

Sweat started to form on Joanna's forehead and the body under the blanket. Her body was getting more uncomfortable at the moment. 

In the quiet room, where she could only hear the sound of her breath that was getting harsher due to the effect of the reacting potion on her body, she could hear a faint noise outside her room.

He had come inside her house. Joanna took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly while her trembling hands grasped the edge of the blanket that was laid on her chest. 

She did not know the exact reason why he suddenly came here, coming far away and crossing the border of the kingdom to be here without prior notice. 

She also did not dare to be overconfident to think that he was here to see her as he was not that kind of caring husband based on the dream that she had seen.

After hearing the share of her father about the audience with the King, she planned to write the General a letter to let him know about her intention for their marriage in detail, as she was sure that he would not sacrifice his precious time just to discuss that matter by coming to Terra. 

She was also certain that he would not object to the idea she was brought for their marriage. He might immediately agree once he read the letter, as he might think that the sooner, the better, especially after finding out that she had left his mansion without leaving any trace behind.

And she had a reason for this confident forethought. She had lived peacefully in Terra for almost three weeks now, thinking that he didn't have any problem with her sudden return to Terra, as she hadn't received any letters or signs regarding his reaction to her disappearance. 

He should have known about her disappearance as the Battle of Delsh had ended with his victory more than a month ago and news about the greatness of General von Rodega had soared in Terra since then.

Hence, it was a sufficient hint to tell her that he didn't care whether she would get back to Archess or not.

However, knowing that he was surprisingly here now, she could not just sit still and do nothing for whatever reasons that took him here at the moment. No matter what the reason was, she would just take precautionary measures so that everything would go as she planned and prepared when one day he came to Barasca.

It would be a relief if he was here because he felt offended by her decision to leave his mansion for good and decided to dissolve their marriage. But if he was here to take her back to Archess although it sounded impossible, she, at least, had done something to make him change his mind and leave her here, in Terra.

That dream, that nightmare. She really wanted to prevent it from repeating in this lifetime if that was really the experience of her past life. She wanted to change her future, making it different from the Joanna in the dream who could not experience peacefulness and freedom before her death. And it was Joanna's wish.

---

Canillas entered the de Lara grand mansion when the blazing sun shone relentlessly on the land of Barasca. It was obvious that the mansion belonged to a noble family with a long history and rich tradition.

Looking around while climbing up the stairs towards the front door of the grand mansion, he wondered if his marriage to a noble lady could be regarded as a fortune or the opposite. He had never thought of it before. But if he wanted to find the answer, of course, only time would tell, thought Canillas in his mind.

At the entrance of the de Lara mansion, Canillas saw a middle-aged man with grey hair and a lean stature, in a uniform with the crest of the Duchy of Barasca embedded on the right chest. It should be the Duchy's butler. Canillas guessed about the man who seemed to have waited for his arrival.

"Welcome to the de Lara mansion, General Canillas von Rodega," greeted the butler, with a polite bow. "His Grace is waiting for you inside. This way, please, Sir." With that being said, Canillas followed the butler, stepping inside the de Lara mansion, the maiden home of his wife, for the first time.

He walked across the hallway towards the drawing room, where the Duke of Barasca had seated with his daughter a few moments ago. 

Every step he took was filled with surging anticipation as he would finally be able to meet his wife for the first time. 

The long waiting moment that had robbed his peacefulness would soon end.