11 Betraying His Majesty

[Statistics have been updated.]

[MP: 0, HP: 35]

[Quest time remaining: 20 minutes]

Nesrin's heart was hammering in her chest, it would be hard to survive the upcoming scene with this little health and there were still few things she needed to do in order to pass the quest.

The weakness that spread over her body was already bothering her, now her head started to feel heavy as well.

Myrtle on the other side couldn't believe her eyes, she stomped towards Eugene. He looked as pale as dead, but how can a weak princess like Johann do this?

"Th-this is impossible!" she blurted,

"I agree with her highness," Elric added, "No offence to princess Johanna but the magic of yours barely held any strength, how can it kill a warlock like Eugene?"

"Yes you can't just kill him like that!" Myrtle knelt and placed a finger on his neck, it was as cold as a corpse.

"You can, if you know how to do it," Nesrin explained, "I simply extracted poison from the wolf's bane, wrapped it in my mana and aimed at his heart."

Nesrin had actually deliberately missed her mark.

Myrtle hesitantly placed her ears on Eugene's chest and there were no signs of heartbeats. Anger, frustrations and fear flooded inside her all at once.

However, there was one question in her mind.

"What do you mean by wolf's bane?"

"It's a poisonous flower," Nesrin replied,

Myrtle fisted her hands and said nothing.

Wolf's bane was not completely unheard of in her actual world, but in this place, the author has created a variety of fictional fancy poisonous plants and so an actual non-fictional plant like wolf's bane seemed to be rare for them.

Since Eugene was a supreme warlock, she couldn't defeat him with wolfs bane alone, but the fight with Izekiel had caused him many injuries and that was the only reason why her plan worked.

Nesrin bit her lips and started to plan her next move.

'That' was about to happen soon.

Jeremiah walked towards Eugene. One question has been bothering him since morning.

"How did he become this strong?"

"Through someone's help." Izekiel replied,

"Your majesty," The queen of Iyanora, Fatimah walked towards Nesrin, "Princess Johann's health does not seem well, kindly allow us to head back first."

Nesrin was grateful for the concern, but she couldn't leave. Since she used mana while hitting Eugene, the time he had was very limited.

[Quest time remaining: 10 minutes.]

Before she could say anything, a sudden strong stench filled the air. The smoke that erupted from the sertinas was black, unlike the grey smoke Nesrin had read about.

It caused everyone's vision to become hazy.

She held her breath and quickly gestured to Fatimah to do the same. The queen wanted to say something, someone else shouted.

"H-He disappeared! Eugene is gone!"

Fatimah was actually relieved and she turned back to her daughter to ask her to quickly leave this place, but she was not in front of her anymore.

Nesrin slipped inside the priest's room, and entered the secret staircase. She threw occasional glances behind herself to make sure no one was following, but eventually she gave up on that and kept running.

Time was running out, she had to cure Eugene soon and return back to avoid any suspicions.

In the novel, Eugene has used a simple smoke spell, that makes people dizzy, to escape from the temple. But when Nesrin's feet staggered and a metallic taste of blood entered her mouth, she was sure that the spell Eugene had used this time was nothing simple.

His actions puzzled her.

Eugene has never harmed anyone innocent, then why did he use such a strange spell over everyone inside the temple.

What made him so reckless this time?

The penalty and goal of the quest started to make sense, Eugene must have come up with preparations. In case he dies, he had already planned to poison everyone else. He was also the one who somehow sneaked sertinas inside her bouquet.

Behind the temple was a vast orchid which led to thick woods, her feet started to hurt but she couldn't find Eugene anywhere. According to the novel, he should be here somewhere.

Nesrin panted and sank on the ground. The strength was leaving her too quickly. A red screen appeared in front of her.

[Warning: Health points have fallen below 10.]

[Warning: Quest time is running out.]

[00:59]

Her mind was too dizzy to do anything or think anymore.It was getting harder to breath, haziness started to cover her vision when all of sudden a cold dagger was pressed against her throat.

A raspy voice spoke next to her ears.

"Why are you here?"

"...to help." Nesrin whispered,

"It was her highness that made me like this" she could feel him smile, and hear the sadness in his voice.

[00:25]

Nesrin pressed her lips together and pushed him on the ground. His body tensed up but he has no strength to resist.

"He can't be… left alive… his majesty is not who he seems." Eugene immediately said, his voice was barely audible.

Something about his words made her nerves go chill but she couldn't afford to be afraid now. Nesrin's hands fumbled through his robes as she gave him quick urgent instructions,

"Don't move, or speak and definitely don't use any magic. When I have finished treating you, you must use your invisibility ring and find a safe place to rest. The next twenty four hours are very crucial."

She pulled out a herbal pouch from his pocket, it was a mere combination of herbs that are said to ward off evil. It was the only thing Eugene had from his mother.

Nesrin then pulled out a vial of lion's blood from his other pocket, and mixed the things in her hand.

The magical world of 'Damsel of Death' was pretty detailed, but such small things were mentioned only a few times.

Nesrin hoped that she remembered the details correctly.

White fog arose from the potion that was made, she placed it against his lips. As soon as the first drop entered his mouth, Eugene made a disgusting face and was ready to throw up.

[00:05]

Nesrin closed his nose, and force fed him the potion.

[00:03]

[00:02]

Nesrin's heart raced along with the ticking timer. It took a while for the potion to work but eventually some of the colors returned back to his face.

Instead of seeing the quest completed notification, what appeared in front of Nesrin was another red screen of warning.

[Warning: Health points are decreasing. Current HP: 5]

"Don't worry…" Eugene pushed himself off the ground, "I have the antidote."

He handed a small piece of candy to Nesrin. She blinked her eyes in confusion but ate it nevertheless. Her eyes remained on Eugene as she waited for him to explain.

"It's one of the forbidden drugs."

Nesrin choked to the point tears came from her eyes, Eugene quickly patted her back and immediately added,

"But it's not really harmful! I discovered a way to use it healthily recently, the world has yet to know about it. But I can't carry it in its original state or I could be arrested."

Nesrin wasn't relieved until a notification appeared in front of her.

[The health points have been increased; HP: 45]

[Emergency quest completed.]

[125 EXP+]

[50 MP+]

[5000 coins +]

[Level 2 unlocked]

[The privileges of a new level have been granted. <<know more>>]

[The quest reward shall be delivered at midnight.]

[Initial quests have been unlocked.]

There was a tired smile over Nesrin as she watched these notifications, when the cerulean screen disappeared, Eugene was watching her with tense but worried expressions.

"Johanna," Eugene placed his hands on her shoulder, "Run away with me."

"Wh-what?! Where did that come from?"

"This place is not safe… you don't know how merciless his majesty is. I don't want anything to happen to you."

Nesrin didn't knew how to reply to this.

"I met a man, Johanna." Eugene continued, "He can change everything. He has knowledge we could never think of, he knows how to defeat his majesty."

"Whom did you met…?"

"It is a man with ancient lost magic."

Nesrin felt something strange inside her heart, this mysterious man was not in the novel...or was he? But there has been no one besides Ophelia that managed to defeat Izekiel.

And no one is supposed to be powerful enough to defeat him... not yet.

Many tragedies happened only because they underestimated the emperor.

But this mysterious man...who could it be?

Nesrin bit her lips, thousands of questions were invading her mind and heart but right now she did not have much time. She stood up and turned around,

"I must leave now. Get somewhere safe and remember to take lots of rest."

With that she left.

Eugene watched her shadow disappear with conflicting emotions in his eyes, then he absent mindedly rubbed the ring on his thumb and his body became invisible.

A lady who was covered in the shadows of trees smiled, the hazel eyes of hers carried a golden glow that dissipated.

"I came here because I was worried," Myrtle said, her voice directed to someone far away, "But I never thought I would see her highness betraying his majesty."

There was no response from the other side, as the telepathic link was disconnected.

Jeremiah watched the golden glow fade away from Izekiel's eyes with curiosity. Izekiel answered with cold indifferent words,

"The princess needs to be taught a lesson."