Once the prince’s condition had stabilized, Father and I were summoned by His Majesty to a separate room. In it waited nothing but a table and chairs.
“You must not tell anyone what I am about to say,” the king warned, causing Father and I to sit up straighter.
What could he have to say to just the two of us?
“Daisy. Is it possible for you to create a truth serum?” the king asked me.
“A truth…serum?” I echoed uncertainly. I’d never heard of such a thing before.
Father explained it in simpler terms for me. “When you have someone drink a truth serum and ask them questions, it makes them tell the truth.”
The king told us they had a good idea of who was poisoning his son, but without proof they couldn’t arrest whoever was behind it. This time, the poison had a delayed effect, allowing the prince’s life to be saved, but if it had been fast-acting, we might not have made it in time. That was why the king wanted to use a truth serum on the suspect and bring the true culprit to justice to protect the prince.
I thought I’d seen something like that in one of my Alchemy books, but it wasn’t called a truth serum. “There was something similar in one of the Alchemy books that you gave me, but I don’t think I can get the ingredients,” I replied honestly, and the king nodded.
“I didn’t expect an answer right away. Once you return home, consult your books and see what you need. Then give me your reply,” he said. “But first, I wanted to express my gratitude for today. Please accept this.”
His Majesty reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch made from a lovely lavender fabric, placing it before me.
“Pardon me,” Father said respectfully before picking it up on my behalf and opening it. He took out the item from inside and placed it in his palm for me to see.
It was a single platinum coin.
Father gasped. I just stared with curiosity, because I’d never seen a platinum coin before. It looked so fancy.
“Your Majesty, surely this is too much for a single potion…” Sweat dripped down my father’s forehead.
But the king shook his head. “This isn’t payment for the potion. It’s a reward from a father for saving his child’s life.”
Well, I couldn’t possibly refuse it now.
“Then we shall gratefully accept.” Father thanked the king and carefully returned the coin to its pouch before slipping it into his breast pocket. Then he turned to me and said, “It’s far too dangerous to let you carry such a valuable coin, Daisy. I’ll keep it until we can secure it safely.”
I still didn’t fully grasp the value of the coin, but I could tell that it was an incredible amount of money, so I nodded obediently.
Something else was bothering me, though. Though Prince William was alive, the culprit hadn’t been found yet; that meant the prince wasn’t truly safe.
“Your Majesty, I am deeply grateful for your generosity,” I said. “Even though the prince is out of immediate danger, I want to give you something just in case. I have another bottle of the powerful antidote potion we used today; please accept it. I hope you’ll never have to use it, though…” I offered the powerful antidote potion to the king.
He lowered his gaze. “Thank you so much for your consideration.”
With that, Father and I excused ourselves and went back to our carriage.
The moment we returned home, I began scouring The Alchemy Handbooks for the truth serum the king had requested.
“A potion that makes people tell the truth…” I was sure I’d seen something like it, but now that I was looking I couldn’t find it. “I know for sure it wasn’t called a truth serum, though…” I let out a sigh of frustration and rested my head on the book as I mumbled to myself.
“Tell the truth, talk… Something that makes you want to talk… Talkative… Oh!”
That was it. I remembered the name!
“Talkative Tonic!” I quickly flipped through the book, searching for the page. It didn’t take me long to find.
Ingredients: Chatter mushroom, roots of the donna herb, water, and a mana stone.
I quickly scribbled that onto a piece of paper and rushed out of the room to find Father. I found him in the sitting room, relaxing on the sofa.
“Father, I found it!” I told him excitedly. “The potion is called talkative tonic! I can make it if I have a chatter mushroom and the roots from a donna herb!”
But he patted his lap instead and said, “Come here.”
I did as he said and climbed onto his lap.
“Daisy, I want you to listen carefully,” Father said gently as he held me in his arms. “If we use this potion to make someone confess to poisoning the prince, what do you think will happen to them?”
“They’ll probably be arrested, right?” The moment those words came from my lips, I gasped in realization.
This potion won’t make anyone happy.
“Father, this potion will protect Prince William, but the person who harmed him will be arrested and punished, won’t they?” I asked, staring into my father’s eyes.
“That’s right,” he said. “They’ll likely be sentenced to death, or in the best-case scenario, life imprisonment.”
I gulped and nodded.
“Are you still willing to make it, knowing that? If not, you don’t have to. I can speak to the king and have him try another way.”
The thought that the king could order someone to be executed because of a potion I made was shocking. But then I remembered Prince William’s innocent smile when he ate the sweet bread I gave him. Someone was trying to harm a young boy my age who had done nothing wrong. And I really don’t like that.
Just because he was the king’s son didn’t mean he deserved to suffer repeatedly. He easily could have died today, despite being innocent. That was too cruel to bear.
“I’ll make the potion, Father,” I said, pressing my lips together. “I want to protect the prince’s smile. Even if it means someone will be punished for their crimes.”
“I see.” Father wrapped his arms around me tightly as he buried his face against my hair.
After that, Father informed the king that I would make talkative tonic, but that I would need chatter mushrooms and donna herb to do so.