The Nature of Poison

“Y’know, I think this is the first time I’ve been in a carriage ever since I became a squire.”

Medrauta stared out the window of the carriage, a blissful smile on her face as she watched the passing scenery. While she held no fond memories of their destination given the fact that the Revelo duchy was the very place she spent her nightmarish childhood, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of joy in this brief moment of peace that she shared with her beloved Viviane.

After all, there had been precious little time for the two of them to spend together in light of the recent events that still haunted Avalyne Academy, and despite their current trip being a mission instead of a vacation, Medrauta was determined to make the most of it.

Unfortunately, Viviane had other ideas. Sitting across from Medrauta, she leaned forward and thrust a rather long piece of parchment in the knight’s face. She puffed out her cheeks in a gesture of mock annoyance, waving the parchment to draw Medrauta’s attention.

“C’mon, Medrauta! Pay attention!”

Medrauta grimaced, pushing Viviane’s hand aside gently. “Vivi... It’s been a while since we’ve just been able to sit together like this and enjoy the view, so why don’t we leave that aside for the moment? We’ll have all the time in the world to discuss the letter.”

“...You’re not worried at all, are you?”

“Nope.”

Viviane couldn’t help but laugh at Medrauta’s nonchalance. “That’s just so like you, Medrauta.”

Medrauta just shrugged. “Well, I just think there’s not much point in worrying over things before we’re there. Honestly, I used to plan stuff out meticulously during field training when I was a squire, but nothing ever went according to plan.”

“I... I suppose so,” Viviane replied hesitantly. “I’ve never been on anything fancy like field training exercises, so I don’t have as much experience, but I’m sure it’ll help if we at least review a little bit of the letter, right? Plus, there’s a part that I wanted to ask you about.”

Medrauta sighed. Although she really wanted to dedicate the three-day journey solely to her lady, it was obvious that Viviane wouldn’t truly be able to relax until her desire to create a rough plan for the mission was sated.

The knight fixed her lady with a look of resignation. “Alright, Viviane. But... Can you at least promise me one thing?”

“Hm? What is it?”

“I’ll go over the letter and stuff with you now, but... Let’s just focus on us for the rest of the trip, okay?”

Viviane blushed. “Y-Yes! Of course! It’s not like I don’t want to spend time with you, it’s just... I’m worried that if we go in unprepared, we’ll get caught off-guard and get captured or something...”

Medrauta nodded, realization dawning in her eyes as she heard those final words. She regretted not being present to witness Viviane’s growth, but Medrauta understood that Viviane respected the foreign lady greatly.

She must be worried because even Lady Sakura and Sir Riku were captured... Medrauta pursed her lips thoughtfully. She reached a hand out, placing it on top of Viviane’s. “Don’t worry, alright? We’ll save Lady Sakura and Sir Riku. I won’t let us get captured no matter what.”

Viviane smiled warmly, and though Medrauta had successfully picked up on her lady’s worries and dispelled most of them, there was still a trace of concern on Viviane’s face. “...Thank you, Medrauta.”

Medrauta returned Viviane’s smile, leaning back in her seat after picking up the letter in Viviane’s hands. She’d left most of the reading to her lady since lengthy pieces of text weren’t exactly her favorite thing to go through, but she begrudgingly perused the contents now. “So... What was the question you wanted to ask me earlier?”

“Well, it was about this,” Viviane said as she pushed herself off her seat, squeezing herself next to Medrauta. She leaned on her knight’s shoulder, allowing herself to take comfort in the warmth of her knight’s body for a quick second before focusing her attention to the letter.

Unlike Medrauta, Viviane was an extremely fast reader. Her eyes flickered over the lengthy letter rapidly, arriving at the place she was looking for within seconds. Extending a single slender finger, Viviane drew Medrauta’s attention to a line of text.

“It is my recommendation then, that a pair is sent posthaste to deal with insurrection of the highest order. Please attach a Jezebel type disc to the aforementioned reinforcements.”

“What’s a ‘Jezebel type disc’?” Viviane asked. “I’ve never heard the term before.”

“That’s probably because it’s not covered in the nobles’ curriculum until fourth year. For the knights, it’s not even covered until third year because it’s largely irrelevant.” Medrauta frowned. “But considering the situation, it certainly makes sense to bring one of them. Can I see the medallion Dame Eirlys gave us?”

Viviane nodded, reaching into her clutch bag and placing it into Medrauta’s hand. The knight tested its weight for a second before holding it up to her eyes, inspecting the side of the medallion with great scrutiny. As she expected, it was thicker than normal.

“...Well, I suppose that’s one way to do it.” Medrauta said as she pushed a thumb against the side of the medallion, causing a thin line to form in the center before it split into two halves with a satisfying ‘pop’, revealing a small and thin disc made of a transparent material.

Viviane peered over Medrauta’s shoulder, staring at the disc with great interest. The inside seemed to be filled with a strange multi-colored liquid that was constantly flowing despite being held still, and the center of the disc had a slight dimple as if it were designed to hold something.

“You might’ve seen something similar back at your estate as well,” Medrauta explained. “The rods that you use at your estate have pretty much made these things obsolete because—”

“Um, I’ve never seen anything like this before, Medrauta.”

“...You don’t have Hermaceus discs at home?” Medrauta asked, her tone incredulous. As far as she knew, every noble employed these rods when being attended to by servants.

A quintessential magic tool in every noble household, the main purpose of a Hermaceus disc was to detect and neutralize poison, rendering Jezebel discs obsolete since they did neither.

Instead, Jezebel discs were used after a noble was poisoned. By placing a drop of poisoned blood on the dimpled area of the disc, it would elicit a reaction from the multicolored liquid inside, causing it to gather toward the direction of the one who had administered the poison in the first place.

The effect emulated the abilities of a divination-type Crest, allowing it to find the culprit even if the poison was administered indirectly. While this did nothing to actually alleviate the poison, the disc allowed family members or retainers of a poisoned noble to exact their revenge on the criminal.

Of course, there were ways to avoid this by hiring a third-party individual to purchase and administer the poison, but servants who held a grudge against their lord or lady rarely had the resources to do so.

Viviane shook her head. “I’ve heard about them, but I’ve never actually seen or used one before... Um... I think it was Lady Merlynne who invented them, right? She’s the only one on the continent who can create magic tools.”

Medrauta nodded in answer to Viviane’s question. “Yeah. Still, I’m surprised your household doesn’t use them, especially after hearing about how your childhood went...”

“Well, there wasn’t anyone in the manor who attended to me other than my personal maids Amber and May,” Viviane said. “I trust them with my life and my parents trusted them quite a bit as well. As for my mother and father... Well, my mother is somehow immune to poison and my father is quite resistant to it.”

Medrauta blinked. She could barely believe what she’d just heard. “Sorry, what? What do you mean immune to poison? Is that something that your father’s Crest does or is she just that strong?”

“She, uh...” Viviane paused. “I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but mother is pretty intense... I heard that in her youth, she bought a few jars and filled them up with a lot of poisonous animals and insects. After a few days, she’d open them and mash everything into some sort of disgusting poisonous brew.”

“...What the hell?”

“And then she, uh, drank it.”

Medrauta’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head. “You cannot be serious, Viviane. I don’t think anyone can survive drinking a jar full of poison.”

“W-Well, she told me that she did it in small doses. F-Father too...” Viviane’s gaze slid away from Medrauta, causing the knight to frown. It looked as though Viviane was attempting to avoid bringing up an unsavory memory which only served to pique Medrauta’s interest. “A-Apparently, mother learned the technique during her journeys to Kharadshah!”

Despite Viviane’s attempts to change the topic, Medrauta didn’t relent. “...Seems like it’s a family tradition, huh?”

“A-Ahaha...! Y-Yeah! Maybe...”

“You wouldn’t have... tried it out yourself, would you?” Medrauta asked, lowering her voice as she cupped a hand around Viviane’s chin, preventing the lady from looking away.

“W-Well...”

Without warning, Medrauta leaned forward and stole a kiss from Viviane. “...You needn’t worry, my lady. Even if you had partaken of such a vile drink, there is no sweeter poison than that of your lips.”

“M-M-M-Medrauta!” Viviane’s eyes whirled in circles as she struggled to recover from Medrauta’s sudden attack. “T-The medallion! W-Weren’t you going to explain what that disc does!?”

“...I don’t know, Vivi. Maybe I want to drink a bit more poison,” Medrauta smirked.

“E-Eep!”