Julietta's Dressing Up

Chapter 196. Engagement, Part IX

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

"He'll believe that my father doesn't want to join Killian, with those words. At least if he has a head, he'd think about how he'd use the situation. The only one thing you have to do is to kill that girl at the Dublin mansion."

"I won't even have access to her." Morton shook his head; it would be too hard.

"You idiot. Did I tell you to kill that girl by yourself? Even if I'm stuck in a remote area away from the capital, I have ears. I heard that the Marquis's daughter is hanging on Prince Killian. Why do you want to hunt somewhere else when you have such a good target? Try to coax her. Let's make the half-sisters kill one another."

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As the Duke of Kiellini's former butler from Tilia Territory was recounting his conversation with the host lady, he heard Francis's words. He quickly returned to reality and listened attentively to the Prince's words.

"I understand that Killian hates the Duke of Kiellini, but it's surprising that even the Duke doesn't like Killian."

"I think it's because when he went to Bertino it didn't go well."

Francis snorted at Morton's words. "But he's getting married to his daughter. Killian was also a man vulnerable to a woman's beauty."

"Yes, Your Highness. The Duke is greatly embarrassed by this. He sent me to help Prince Francis. He said Your Highness would find a way."

Francis glanced over Morton as he read a letter stamped with the seal of the Duke of Kiellini. "He sent someone to manufacture poison; the family secret."

Morton cut into Francis's words quickly. "I've been serving His Excellency the Duke for decades. I can manufacture the poison His Excellency said, because I learned it over his shoulders."

"Write down the manufacturing method."

Morton hesitated at Francis' order. "It's not difficult to write down, but it's so difficult to manufacture that even a very small mistake can lead to a failed poison."

"How dare you make me speak to you twice. Shall I kill you?"

Prince Francis's eyes remained unchanged at his expiation, and Morton quickly wrote the recipe on the paper.

Marquis Marius took it and said, "Isn't it a common tea if it is a mixture of laya tea and bltia tea? Is this the recipe for the poison? Are you kidding?"

Morton hesitated for a moment, and then spoke vaguely, thinking it was not good to talk about the family secret in detail. "No. They are common tea leaves, but it's not just the brewing. As I said earlier, the manufacturing process is so complicated that it's hard to express on paper. Moreover, it's a delicate task that takes about fifteen days and requires constant attention."

As Francis glared at the flustered Morton, and Marquis Marius stepped in soothingly. "Your Highness, please let him manufacture the poison for now. It seems that it's really hard to explain in words or in writing. It's manufacturing. We can figure out the method of manufacturing by putting a person next to him."

Francis was about to order him killed immediately, but nodded as if he could not oppose Marius. "Okay. I believe that it's hard to explain. When he sent someone in the first place, it means that he's giving me the poison, the family's secret."

"That's right, Your Highness. You can use him as your own tool." Marquis Marius had an appropriate response.

"Does it take fifteen days to manufacture? The Duke should have sent poison from the beginning, why bother to send a butler?"

Looking at the Prince who frowned as if it was suspicious, Morton answered the expected question politely. "I think His Excellency wanted me to be used more. Also, Prince Killian and His Majesty's surveillance was so intense that he did not allow letters or contacts between you and the Duke. I'm officially fired from the Kiellini family. By sending me this way, His Excellency said Your Highness would take care of everything." The butler remembered Regina's order and spoke with great care.

The fruit of the laya tea was discarded because it was bitter and had no medicinal effect. However, if they planted the laya in a pot and only showed it moonlight without exposing it to sunlight, and grew with the water richly brewed with basa grass for a month until it bore fruit, it would be a deadly poison, like nothing else in the world. If they would mix the poison with bltia tea and differ in thickness, it could cause sudden death or very slow death.

"It's tiresome." If he had sent poison, he could use it as soon as he received it, but the Duke was afraid of the Emperor and Killian's eyes.

The butler added the most important words to Francis' disapproval. "This poison has one side effect."

"One side effect?"

"Any autopsy will find no poisoning by poison. However, the hair of eight out of ten people who have taken the poison turns white."

Francis' brow furrowed at the butler's words. "Then, I can't use it completely. I would have to poison all the intrusive people."

Francis was told by Marius that it was poison with no evidence, and he was planning to kill Killian first. However, if his hair turned white after he died, they would doubt it and try to find the cause, even if there was no evidence that he had taken poison.

Marius stepped in when Francis was making a bad impression because of dissatisfaction. "I've heard that Duchess Kiellini's hair turned white when she died of an illness."

Morton flinched at the words of the Marquis. He never thought Marius would know what had happened in the house of the Duke.

Francis smiled forgivingly as Morton had an unbearable look on his face. "That's right. That's what happened to the Duchess. Well, the Duke's loyalty is directed at me, so I'll cover it up."

As soon as Francis' words were finished, Marius opened his mouth. "Your Highness, I've come up with a good idea. I thought it would be good to be cautious because of the side effect of turning the hair white. Why don't we turn this poison into an epidemic?"

"An epidemic?"

"Yes. The Duchess who died in the past is proof. The disease that we couldn't identify at the time was the beginning of this epidemic. I would like to release this poison in the city and have people die randomly, and then use that for our desired goal."

Francis's eyes flashed at Marius's suggestion. "Good idea, the Marquis. Very good. It's an epidemic. No one will doubt it."

"Yes, Your Highness. There are a number of epidemics that have a similar prognosis, including facial entanglement, rotting, and spotting. The characteristic of the epidemic that's going to spread this time is that their hair turns white."

Morton's face turned pale when he heard the story, but neither cared.

"How are you going to spread the poison to the people?"

When Francis asked, Marius looked back at Morton. "To what extent do we have to feed people to death?"

Morton answered, trembling at the irresistible question. "It depends on age, gender, health, but if you want them to die at once... a little finger-point portion is appropriate."

Marius was lost in thought for a moment at the butler's words and then asked again, "Is the poison formulated only by potions?"

"No, the leaves can be used as tea by brewing or powder by drying."

"What color is the powder?"

Francis smiled satisfactorily when Marius asked, as he was thinking something. Marquis Marius never disappointed him. Something must have come to his mind already.

"It's white."

At the butler's reply, Marius slapped his knee with great satisfaction. "That's very nice. Mix the poison into the grain that people eat. Those who eat a lot die quickly, and those who eat a little die slowly. When the epidemic seems to be quite widespread, we can bring the powder into Prince Killian's palace."

Francis laughed aloud at the words of Marius. "Let's send it here and there as a gift to whoever gets on my nerves. I'm going to get rid of my sick tooth."

"It is not just poison, but a divine card, sending someone who knows how to make it. We can make as much as we need and let it go."

Morton swore to himself, looking at Prince Francis and Marquis Marius smiling at one other. This was the end for the Duke and the princess, but he wouldn't let these two know the secret recipe for the poison.

"Prepare a place for him to stay. Have him start working on it right away."

"Yes, Your Highness."