1.25 the truth (1)

A woman with long dark blue hair rushed through the mansion halls until she reached a certain door. Without hesitation, she pushed the door open, revealing the pale faces of the Acker family. She glanced at the bed and saw the little girl, her green hair sprawled on the bed as her face was pale and her lips were nearly purple.

"Wheres the blood sample?" She asked as she turned to the physician. The physician pulled out a glass vile containing deep crimson liquid, Flora's blood. She held it up high as she examined the liquid, twirling the liquid around in the vile before she stepped towards Flora, examining her the same way the old physician did.

"Your conclusion?" Aliyah asked, turning to the old physician.

"Poison," he replied.

"Then my guess is correct... it was that..." Aliyah mumbled.

Blake shot his head towards his biological mother as he gripped her coat tightly. Aliyah snapped out of her trance as she looked down at Blake and flashed a weary smile. "Mother... what do you mean?"

Tears pooled in Blake's eyes as he stared up at his mother. His watery eyes shook Aliyah's heart as she crouched down and caressed his head. "I'm sure you've heard from the palace physician that little flora has been poisoned, yes?"

Blake nodded as Aliyah continued, "well, I have concluded that little Flora might have been poisoned with... vanenium,"

....

"What... did you say?" The duchess asked, shooting her head towards Aliyah with a look of grievance and shock displayed on her face.

"...she has been consuming small amounts of it for a prolonged time. Something of this case... she might have not known... I see that she has at least consumed it for a year," Aliyah paused, looking at both the duke and duchess's faces before continuing, "your grace, you must've known how rare how it is to get a hold of vanenium,"

"...who would this?!" The duke shouted, gritting his teeth.

"..Mmmm..." a small weak groan escaped Flora's lips as the grip on the duke's hand tightened. Her eyebrows furrowed, groaning weakly as if she were in pain.

Blake has heard of this poison before. Well, Sugawara Kazuha had. He had seen slight mentions of it in the book. Sure, the book was mostly about Flora and the prince doing the dirty, but that didn't mean that there weren't any malicious schemes going around. In the book, the original Blake was poisoned with the same poison. However, Blake was poisoned in his early teens, making his body more resilient to poison as he recovered. Flora was only 5 this year, shes was not meant to go through this so early, she was not meant to go through this at all.

The poison made one's body weak over time if taken in small doses. It spreads through a person's body quickly, taking effect almost immediately. Although not deadly, the poison makes a person experience extreme pain as it slowly chips away at one's immunity. To recover, one could only hope there was an experienced physician or mage to cure them. If the poison were to be taken in large quantities, the person will experience extreme intolerable pain.

"From what we can see here," Aliyah held up Flora's hand gently, showing her veins bulging blue and purple before she continued, "it seems that lady Flora had consumed a large amount a few hours ago,"

"Estimated to be around 3 hours ago," the old physician said, his head hanging low as he bit his lip in regret.

"Who was with Flora 3 hours ago?" The duke asked, he looked towards Flora's nanny.

The nanny looked down, hiding her expression as she mumbled, "The young miss was having tea with young master Blake."