Chapter 57
She had been careless.
She could say it a hundred times and it still wouldn’t be enough—she had truly been careless.
Elicia had long known that her food was being poisoned, but she had chosen not to dig deeper and had simply let it slide.
Why? Because until now, no one else but her had ever been poisoned.
No matter how many times she said the food tasted strange, others were perfectly fine, and she was treated as if she were the odd one.
Besides, since each person’s meal was served separately, no one ever touched her plate anyway.
And honestly—who would even covet her food? The duke? Howell?
It would be laughable for nobles to covet each other’s portions, and it made no sense for servants to eat the food served to their young lady.
Elicia, having high innate stats, usually chose to either ignore the poison and eat it or toss it into her inventory to get rid of it neatly. She thought there was no way anyone else would accidentally eat it.
But still—she could only call it careless.
What if, by some chance, someone innocent had taken even a single bite of her food?
…This is my fault.
But now wasn’t the time to assign blame. Elicia quickly reached for the fallen snow leopard.
“Use skill ticket! Effect Extortion!”
You have used the Skill Viewing Ticket obtained as a quest reward!
Skill selected: ‘Effect Extortion (Status Transfer)’.
Proceed?
“Proceed! And execute immediately! Target is this snow leopard!”
At her reply, more notification windows popped up in front of her.
Skill ‘Effect Extortion’ activated.
Steal another’s effect and transfer it to yourself.
Current status of target: ‘Poison Curse’.
Do you wish to transfer the curse to yourself?
“Yes! Hurry!”
Executing.
Ding.
With a bright chime, her vision flared red.
Whoosh—!
Warning! You have been poisoned with a deadly toxin!
“Ugh…”
In an instant, heat surged through her body and her strength drained away. The poison symptoms that had been afflicting the snow leopard were now hers.
…Ah, this feels awful.
She swayed, bracing herself on the sofa.
Mrrrow? Mrowrr?! (Wh-What? What happened?)
The snow leopard, now awake, looked bewildered. Luckily, she had timed it well—he hadn’t died, and with the poison transferred to Elicia, he was safe.
Clutching her throbbing head, she managed to speak.
“There’s poison in the food here. You can’t eat it.”
MRROW?! (What do you mean?!) Mrrow, mrrrow! (And what about you?!)
The snow leopard yowled, but—
Bang!
“Young lady! We heard a loud noise just now—ah! My lady?!”
The maids rushed in, startled by the snow leopard’s cries. Seeing Elicia’s pale face, they gasped.
“Your complexion…!”
“Young lady, you look terrible…!”
The half-eaten pastries lay scattered on the floor, and Elicia looked as if she might collapse at any moment. The maids panicked, but Elicia gave a faint smile.
Perfect timing.
Otherwise, she would have called them herself.
With the last of her strength, she raised a trembling hand and pointed to the three-tier tray that had held the pastries, speaking in a weak voice.
“Be careful… there’s poison in there…”
Thud.
“Kyaa! My lady!”
“What do we do?!”
“Quick, fetch the physician!”
Hearing their voices fade, Elicia closed her eyes.
“…This can’t be.”
The room fell silent. Elicia lay quietly in bed, eyes closed, breathing heavily. The physician examined her and gave his grim verdict.
“It appears to be a classic case of poisoning.”
“What?”
Mrrow… mrroooow! (This is terrible… It’s all my fault!)
The snow leopard wailed in despair. The duke, who had been listening silently, frowned.
“The cat is noisy. Get it out.”
“It was because of this cat’s cries that the maids came so quickly.”
“…Even a useless cat can have its uses.”
He nodded once.
“Still, take it out.”
MRROW?!
Dragged out of the room, the snow leopard disappeared. The duke then asked the physician,
“There’s a cure, isn’t there?”
“…Well—”
“There is. Right?”
“….”
As the atmosphere grew heavier, the physician spoke in a trembling voice.
“…First, we must analyze the poison, but I’m not sure the young lady can last until then. And… if she’s been poisoned over a long period, her body may already be damaged.”
“…”
“If so… I may not be able to heal her. I’m truly sorry.”
The physician bowed repeatedly in dismay. The maids held back shocked gasps.
…And Elicia thought to herself—
Wow, why is the mood so heavy? I can’t get up now.
In truth, she had regained consciousness a while ago. She had only stayed in bed because she felt dizzy and tired—and had even dozed off for a bit. But she was never in danger of dying.
Because I have plenty of stamina and mana.
At this level, it would take seventy million years to kill her, rookie.
She smirked inwardly, thinking of the failed would-be poisoner. In fact, if she had eaten the poison directly, she wouldn’t even have shown symptoms—her poison resistance was absurdly high. That’s why she’d been fine all this time.
The only reason she was showing symptoms now was because of the skill Effect Extortion.
It transferred effects from others to herself.
Originally a rare tanker skill.
It allowed one to take all deadly curses from teammates onto oneself, concentrating the damage so a cure could be found more quickly—a fairly efficient skill.
Of course, Elicia had played other roles, including crafting professions. She could have chosen a skill to make antidotes, but—
That would take time.
Gathering materials and brewing medicine would take too long, and the snow leopard might die before she finished. This was the only instant option she had.
Now… how long should I stay “poisoned”?
Half-opening her eyes, she saw another window appear.
Skill ‘Effect Extortion’ in use.
Current Status: Poison Curse (EX).
Based on your poison resistance, stamina, and mana, you may cancel this status at any time. Cancel now?
(Yes / No)
Right.
Even though she’d taken the snow leopard’s poison, her stats meant she wouldn’t have been poisoned in the first place.
The skill recognized that and gave her the choice to keep or cancel the effect at will.
That’s why it was a cheat skill—when equipped by a strong player, it could carry the entire team.
I might as well keep showing symptoms.
If she collapsed from poison at least once, people might finally be cautious. It might even prove her innocence. And perhaps the assassins would panic and reveal themselves.
Maybe she should have done this sooner—before an innocent snow leopard was harmed. But on the first day, when she’d said the food tasted strange, no one had believed her… so she had given up.
While she lay there thinking, she heard a sob nearby.
“Please save her! It’s all my fault! I swear on my life… I’ll definitely…!”
…?
She cracked an eye open to find the physician kneeling beside her bed, weeping.
Wait, no. There was no need for that level of drama. She hadn’t meant for the old man to stake his life on this.
At this point, she’d better say something herself.
Suppressing a sigh, she slowly opened her eyes.
“…I’m fine. Please… don’t do this.”
“…!”
“…Eli?”
At her weak voice, everyone in the room turned to stare. She continued in a strained tone,
“I’m really fine… so you don’t need to worry too much. And please… don’t blame the physician.”
“M-My lady…”
The physician faltered, the servants sniffled—and then—
“Elicia Semperion. Be quiet.”
A cold voice cut through the air.
She slowly turned her eyes toward it. The duke was glaring down at her, his expression icy. Above his head, a notification window blinked ominously.
Disappointment: 497%
What the—? When did it get that high?
He was about to blow.
Before she could react, he spoke again, his low, suppressed voice hitting her like sharp blows.
“How many times have I told you to see the physician? And now I hear you never once visited him? Why would you do such a thing?”
“…”
“If you’ve been poisoned for a long time, it could have been discovered earlier—but you let it worsen by not coming in time!”
“…I told you.”
Her voice was calm. Even with the hoarse rasp from the poison, she looked him in the eyes and repeated firmly,
“I already told you. The food tasted strange.”
On the very first day she came to this world, she had warned them. She had told her family.
And yet—
“…It was you who didn’t listen, Father.”
“…!”
