AFTER returning to the castle, I stared intently at the poison ring. At first, I hadn’t had any desire whatsoever to put it on, but it was a different story now that I knew Cassandra had been the one to give it to me.
To be honest, if things keep going like this, I will die eventually.
I had somehow managed to avoid getting assassinated so far, but Gamarath was gaining more power every day, and my allies continued to dwindle. Many within the castle expected Gamarath’s grandson—my younger brother—to be the next king. It would have been nice if Gamarath were to make some sort of big political blunder, but his policies were unexpectedly reasonable, so he didn’t have any weaknesses on that front either. Despite how obviously evil-looking he was.
I was gradually being backed into a corner. It wasn’t like I was particularly attached to the crown or anything, but I didn’t think Gamarath would let me live even if I relinquished my spot in the line of succession. He’d kill me either way, if only to get rid of a potential future thorn in his side.
Then, there was Cassandra—the infamous swordmaster, ruiner of at least one country. With her at my back, I imagined I’d at least be able to escape with my life intact, if nothing else. Still, while she didn’t seem to be quite the berserker the rumors made her out to be, she wasn’t someone I could properly communicate with either. She had said she would make me her apprentice, though, and at the very least, that meant I’d made a good impression on her. If I became her apprentice and things went well, and I became valuable to her, that would definitely be helpful.
And, the first barrier to becoming her apprentice was…a poison ring.
Wait, I’m getting the feeling that my life is in even more danger now than it was before. She said I wouldn’t be able to take the ring off until I either died from the poison or overcame it, but now that I think about it, that doesn’t sound like a cursed item at all. Isn’t it a pretty straightforward weapon to use for assassinating someone?
In order to escape assassination, I had to wear something used to assassinate people. It didn’t make any sense. Apparently, a normal person would die instantly if they put on the ring—but I was a normal person. Still, if I could make it past this, I might have a real chance to survive. In other words, if I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity, I’d inevitably die within a few years anyway. When I thought about it that way…
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🍖🍖🍖
WHEN it was time for breakfast, my meal was brought into my quarters. Usually I would say, “I’m not hungry, so I don’t need any breakfast,” and refuse to accept it, but I didn’t say anything today.
Both my servant and the maid carrying the food looked surprised, and my food taster, who had entered the room with them, had a grim expression on his face.
“I don’t need you to taste this,” I said. “I want to eat alone, so can you all leave my room?”
My food taster was clearly relieved, but my servant refused to back down. “I cannot allow that! Your Highness, you mustn’t throw away your life!”
He must think I’m planning on dying. Yeah, I can see why he would.
But I didn’t want anyone to see what I was about to do, so I had to get them out. “Leave my room. That’s an order.”
“But Your Highness…” My servant looked like he was about to cry, but eventually, he bowed silently and left, taking the maid and my food taster with him.
I made sure they were gone before I set everything up. I couldn’t actually eat my meal, so I cut up the food to make it look like I had taken a few bites, and even spilled a bit of soup on the table. Then I steeled myself and put on the ring.
The second I did, my vision turned dark. I felt like throwing up, became delirious with fever, and lost the feeling in my arms and legs.
I’m gonna die. This thing is gonna kill me. Okay, I’ll take the ring off after all. I grabbed at the ring, but it might as well have been part of my body. It refused to come off.
“Ahh, dammit. I knew this thing was a murder weapon…”
As I cursed my misfortune, I thought I should at least lie down, so I gathered up the last of my strength and staggered to bed.
Then, I lost consciousness.
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🍖🍖🍖
I’LL spoil the ending for you: I survived. When I came to, I had been tucked into bed, and two servants were there beside me, nursing me back to health.
Apparently, I had been comatose for three days, deathly pale and with a sky-high temperature. The doctors had very quickly given up on me ever recovering, and had even brought in a wizard to cast an antidote spell, but it hadn’t worked at all.
This poison comes from an item I have equipped, after all, so trying to dispel it is pointless.
I only realized after waking up that there had also been the very real possibility of me being assassinated while I was bedridden. Seeing as no one had tried, they had all probably assumed that someone else had gotten to me first, so they could just stand by and wait for me to die. Still, I shuddered at my own poor planning.
I still felt some lingering numbness, but no major issues, and when I reached for the ring again, I found that it came off easily. This must mean I’ve gained a resistance to the ring’s poison, I thought.
The story of my recovery from the brink of death quickly spread throughout the castle. On the surface, everyone was congratulating me, but on the other hand, nobody seemed to think it was at all strange that I had almost died from being poisoned. I got a few warnings that went, “Yeah, that’s not a surprise,” and “You have to be more careful, okay?” Even my own father, the king, cautioned me mildly, saying something like, “You have to protect yourself.”
That’s hardly what you should be saying to a victim. Though in this case, it was entirely my fault.
There was even a formal investigation, but needless to say, as I was the culprit, they didn’t find anyone. Everyone was thinking, Yeah, it was Gamarath, wasn’t it? But this happened to be the one time those were false charges.
I hadn’t had anything to eat for three days, so this time, I ate what was served to me without complaint. If what Cassandra had said was true, I now had a resistance to poison anyway.
Over the next few days, there didn’t seem to be any poison mixed into the food I tried, so mealtimes passed without incident. Eventually, though, something in the food made my tongue tingle. It wasn’t spice, or anything like that, which meant it was probably poison. I had some mild diarrhea after I ate it, but on the whole, it was no problem. Apparently, I really had developed an immunity to poison.
I let my food taster go. I said, “You shouldn’t throw your life away for me,” and everyone around was deeply moved. They interpreted it as me being kind, but in reality, I just didn’t need him anymore.
Seven days passed, and it was time for my next meeting with Cassandra.