Paulo took the bottle and glanced at the n.o.bleman in front of him. "You are Your Excellency Marquis Anais." He bowed deeply in front of the Marquis, who looked much like the late d.u.c.h.ess of Kiellini.

"Do you know me?"

Paulo shook his head at his puzzled question. "No, I treated the d.u.c.h.ess of Kiellini for a while before. You look a lot like the d.u.c.h.ess, so I pretended to know you. I'm sorry."

"That's fine. Your keen eyes would have been a threat to me a while ago, but I don't care now."

Not long after their secret meeting, Prince Killian had overpowered the Duke of Kiellini. Later, he thought his greatest enemy, the Duke, was powerless to use his strength, so he did not need to investigate the ingredients of the poison, but Maribel had a different opinion. The letter which arrived yesterday with an invitation from the Eileen Theater urged an investigation of the ingredients of the poison.

Marquis Anais silently watched the doctor without a word, who looked at and smelled the contents at the bottom of the finger-sized bottle. The letter which Maribel sent said that he should go meet Paulo, and contained a story about a young lady named Phoebe Julietta had saved.

"Did Katarina, my sister, get poisoned, too?" With the compressed content in the letter alone, he simply related the current matter to the old one and asked.

"Yes. If I a.n.a.lyze this poison, I'll be sure it's the same one."

"There's a common characteristic in that her hair turned white. Isn't it the same poison?"

Paulo accepted the words of the Marquis. "It smells like the same poison, but I'll still have to investigate. The only reason you brought me this poison isn't to ask me to reveal what the poison is, correct?"

"That's right. I've heard it's a poison with no symptoms, other than white hair. She said they couldn't find any symptoms of poisoning in the dead."

"Yes, that's right."

"Can you make an antidote?"

"It's not going to be easy. I've been working on it for decades, but I haven't succeeded. In fact, it's better to say that I couldn't make the poison and so I couldn't make the antidote."

He experimented with the mix of laya and bltia leaves in the same amounts the maid of the Kiellini mansion used, but the results were not significant. It had no symptoms except the headache and dullness of mind, even if he brewed it in one way or another. Dr. Paulo was frustrated that he could not find anything at all, except for a slight hallucination.

There must have been something else besides blending the laya and bltia leaves together. Thinking he should see the girl who had survived the poison again, Dr. Paulo told the waiting Marquis, "I can't say anything about the poison because I can't guarantee it. But if I find out something, where should I contact you?"

After a moment's hesitation, the Marquis of Anais answered, "Speak directly with the troupe leader of the Eileen Theater," and then left the doctor's plain clinic.

After the Marquis departed, Dr. Paulo closed the door immediately and went to the Chartreu Dressing Shop to find the lady. But the girl had followed Princess Kiellini to the Kiellini mansion and he couldn't meet her. Finally, he left a message that they should contact him when the lady came to the dressing shop.

------

In the next few days, Dr. Paulo was still studying the poison, and received a letter from Princess Kiellini, asking him to visit the Kiellini mansion. He quietly went to meet Phoebe.

Jane became the new Julietta's maid, taking a close look at the people who visited the princess and sitting around the table as she served the tea. It was strange to bring in a doctor from outside, as there was a family doctor in the mansion. She wanted to listen, so she waited served the tea slowly, but they kept their mouths shut.

"Now that you're done, go out." As she waited in the corner without leaving, she was ordered to exit the room.

Jane felt even more suspicious when she thought they were more wary of her than necessary, even though a doctor just visited. At this point, she clearly thought there was something going on.

Jane remembered that Lady Anais, whom she met not long ago, asked her if she had found out anything. She regretted having put her foot in this matter because of the good pay, but it was too late. The moment she said that she would quit, she would be found dead on the outskirts of the capital.

She left the room and looked around the hall with the door slightly less closed. There was no one in the hallway on the third floor where the princess lived. When she confirmed it, she listened to the conversation beyond the unclosed door.

"How's your leg? Are you still sick?"

She heard a woman, the princess' companion, answering the doctor's questions.

"Yes, it's okay. It's all right now. I've been taking fewer painkillers lately," Phoebe answered with a smile.

"It's a relief. I was worried that taking dureng roots in the long term could seriously hurt your digestive system."

"Oh, that's why I felt sick and nauseous after taking the painkillers they gave me. I think Sophie's painkillers work better for me."