“Remember, Sable, there are several different kinds of poisons, some are fast-acting and painless, while others are slow and, arguably, cause a fate worse than death.” 

 

Avinya held up two vials. One contained a clear liquid, while the other contained a murky, blue liquid. 

 

“Whatever the poison you are using, the fact remains that they are all used to achieve a certain goal or purpose.” 

 

“One. You wish to kill someone without getting your hands dirty. Whether it be a rival, a political enemy, or a loose end, just feed them a poison and step back and enjoy the show.” 

 

“Two. You wish to incapacitate a target in order to achieve your other goals. Whether that is drawing someone else out or removing someone troublesome that you can’t kill out of the equation. A person’s life is also very good leverage if you are on the opposing side.” 

 

“Now, that being said, achieving said goals is the hard part. Your victim, or victims, are not going to willingly ingest poison, unless you’ve cornered them and there is no other way out. So, you are left with the difficult task of poisoning them while avoiding detection. Proper poisons should be strong enough to kill or disable, but remain subtle enough that you can maintain your facade of innocence. Ideally, it’s the other party that has to clean up after your handiwork, but if you are caught, well… you know.” 

 

Avinya drew her finger across her throat. 

 

Sable thought for a moment, before asking a question. 

 

“Master, what if someone is trying to poison you? How would you defend against that?” 

 

Avinya smirked at Sable. 

 

“Clever girl, already thinking ahead, eh?” 

 

She rested her hand on her chin. 

 

“Firstly, I would make as many preparations as I could. Take any preventative measures, make sure there’s a way to properly test for poisons, and search any individuals acting suspiciously. If those are not possible, then the next best thing would be to avoid anything that could come into contact with poison, such as food or drinks, and, in the worst case, prepare antidotes and hope for the best.” 

 

She paused then narrowed her eyes at Sable. 

 

“But a word of warning, Sable. It is much easier to poison someone than it is to react to being poisoned. By the time you realize that you have been poisoned, then it’s probably already too late. The perpetrator may be long gone, and it will be a race against time to save your life, or the lives of your allies.” 

 

“Never ever let your guard down, Sable, because the moment that you do, the enemy will use that opportunity to their advantage. And in my experience, they will not waste that opportunity, and they will strike when you least expect it.” 

 

“That’s why, rather than sitting and waiting, it’s better to strike first.” 

 

~~~

 

A few months passed, and the first signs of Winter were beginning to show. 

 

Sable, suffering from the backlash of absorbing the mana from the orb, spent most of her days bedridden, but occasionally, there were times where she felt okay enough to walk around the castle. Due to the increasingly cold weather, Sable could no longer go outside as she was too sensitive to the cold. 

 

Fortunately, Isadora and Grand Duchess Adelaide, when she wasn’t too busy, often came to accompany her. When she was feeling too sick to get up from bed, Isadora would come and bring her books to read. 

 

Sable was slowly amassing a pile of books in her room. 

 

Now that the existence of the corruption orbs had been discovered, Grand Duke Lione and his knights went out on subjugations in order to destroy or recover the orbs in the unexplored region. Isaac was occasionally called in to join the subjugation, leaving Sable alone with Bel. 

 

There were incidents of missing persons and knights getting injured, but with their efforts, the risk of the outbreak happening was lowering. Sable was relieved that this time she hadn’t failed, but she couldn’t help but feel worried about Isaac whenever she heard that some knights were injured during the subjugation. 

 

Although she could not go outside, Sable still enjoyed looking out at the scenery of the North. There was something peaceful about staring out the window and watching the snow falling. 

 

“What do we do now, Bel?” Sable asked quietly. 

 

Though Bel’s existence remained a secret to everyone, and they could communicate telepathically, there were a few incidents where Sable was caught talking out loud to her. 

 

Thankfully, she could always use the excuse that she was talking to herself. 

 

“Do you want to try testing out your ability again?” Bel responded, tilting her head to the side. 

 

After a moment of thought, Sable shook her head. 

 

“No, Isaac got angry at me last time we tried it.” 

 

While Sable was recovering, she and Bel tried to test out the limits of her ability. As long as Sable didn’t run out of mana, Bel could remain manifested beside her. Bel could also move around freely, but the farther she got, the more drained Sable felt. 

 

During their last attempt, Isaac, who had yet to leave for a subjugation, detected Sable using her ability and scolded her. The quiet knight said very little, but it was enough for Sable to lower her head guiltily. 

 

After what happened in the forest, she was told to rest and recover before she could do anything with her ability. 

 

Sable laid her head back and closed her eyes. 

 

“...How do you think the subjugations are going?” 

 

Bel floated over and sat on the windowsill. 

 

“From what I’ve been able to gather, they’re going well. The villagers and the knights know what to look for, and they’ve managed to find a few more orbs. They’ve yet to find the people behind it though.” 

 

Sable furrowed her brows. 

 

“What about Lord Auberon? Have they contacted him at all?” 

 

Bel shrugged. 

 

“I’ve not heard the knights report about seeing any dire wolves since that day.” 

 

“Hopefully, he hasn’t been corrupted.” Sable said, with a hint of worry. 

 

“Hm.” Bel hummed in agreement. “In either case, we’ve certainly managed to ruin the Marquis’s plan. He’ll likely try to salvage what he can.” 

 

“Do you think that the outbreak could still happen?” 

 

“It’s highly unlikely at this rate.” Bel answered. “Getting their hands on illegal magical devices is both difficult and expensive, and with the Grand Duke hunting them down, they would be better off cutting their losses. Not to mention that they probably have other plans in motion.” 

 

Sable was about to respond to her when she heard a knock on the door. 

 

“Come in.” She called out. 

 

“Hi, Sable.” Isadora poked her head in and smiled at the younger girl. “How are you feeling?” 

 

“Better.” Sable replied. 

 

“I brought you the book I mentioned last time.” Isadora held it up for Sable to see. 

 

“Thank you.” Sable accepted the book from Isadora and placed it beside her. 

 

Isadora dragged a chair to the bed and sat down. 

 

“How has your training been, Isadora?” Sable asked. 

 

At her question, Isadora crossed her arms with a huff. 

 

“There’s no one to fight.” She wrinkled her nose. “I understand that the subjugation is important, but repeating the same practice drills over and over again is boring.” 

 

Sable gave her a sympathetic nod. 

 

“I don’t know how you can stay sane from staying in the same room the whole day, Sable.” 

 

“It’s nothing I’m not used to already.” Sable commented offhandedly. 

 

“Ah, I’m sorry.” Isadora suddenly apologized. “That was insensitive of me.” 

 

“Really, it’s fine, Isadora.” Sable waved her hands around in a panic. “You don’t need to apologize.” 

 

“Really?” Isadora looked at her hesitantly. 

 

Sable nodded, and the pair fell silent. 

 

After a while, Isadora spoke with a frown. 

 

“Sable, are you really okay with all of this?” 

 

Sable furrowed her brows at the question, not knowing what she was referring to. Seeing Sable’s reaction, Isadora rephrased the question. 

 

“About… About going against your father? I mean, it can’t be easy to go against him like this.” 

 

Sable looked away and said nothing. Isadora looked worriedly at her. 

 

“What about your mother? Or the rest of your family? Can’t we try contacting them for help?” 

 

“...We can’t.” Sable shook her head. “They can’t do anything while he is around.” 

 

“She will die soon.” Bel suddenly voiced from the side, and Sable’s body flinched in response. 

 

Her mother, who was even more sickly than Sable, would certainly not live long enough to see the Spring. Her health had been steadily deteriorating for quite some time so it didn’t come as a surprise, but in this life, Sable had a chance to save her. 

 

But…

 

“Do you want to save her?” Bel asked. 

 

Sable clenched her hands. 

 

There were mixed feelings about her mother. A part of Sable felt obligated to save her, as she was also a victim of her father’s reign, but the other part of her didn’t want to do anything. She was estranged from her mother whom she rarely saw. 

 

“Sable?” Isadora called out, snapping her out of her daze. 

 

“I… sorry.” Sable bowed her head. 

 

Isadora placed a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed. 

 

“I’ve made you uncomfortable again.” Isadora chuckled sadly. 

 

“No, you…” Sable started to say, but Isadora stood up to leave. 

 

“I should go study.” She excused herself. “I’ll give you some time to think, Sable.” 

 

Sable wordlessly watched as Isadora left the room. 

 

“That could have gone better.” Bel commented sarcastically. Sable glared at her. 

 

“As much as I’d like to see you getting along with your little girlfriend, what is it that you really want, Sable?” Bel questioned, crossing her arms. 

 

“She’s not- We’re not-” Sable blushed, then sighed. “I don’t know, Bel.” 

 

“They’re already involved in this, you can’t just push them away now that we’ve dealt with the outbreak.” Bel spoke the truth that she was trying to hide. “You and I both know that we can’t do this alone, Sable. We need all the help we can get.” 

 

“Then what do you suggest we do? Do we help our mother?” Sable deflected. 

 

Bel nodded. 

 

“How?” Sable frowned. “The Marquis won’t let us go easily if he catches us again.” 

 

“Like I said, we can’t do this alone.” Bel answered. “We won’t be contacting her. They will.” 

 

“Won’t the Marquis find out about our plan?” 

 

“Oh, that part’s easy.” Bel smiled darkly. “We’ll just use ourselves as bait.”