After consuming a decent breakfast in his room, Bruno proceeded to go to his new laboratory arranged in the castle. The guards escorted him and kept watch over him as he worked, preparing another portion of the medicine, just in case.
He barely finished, beginning to wipe his hands on a piece of cloth as he stood by the window, staring at the blue sky, enjoying the faint sound of the sea waves coming from the distance when his moment of relaxation was interrupted by eager knocking on the door.
Without waiting for any encouragement, yet another soldier barged in. He briefly glanced at his two comrades before his eyes shifted to the young alchemist. "His Majesty called for you," the man stated.
"Is the king feeling sick again?" Bruno asked.
He patiently waited for a whole moment, but the soldier didn't grace him with a response, prompting the young alchemist to sigh deeply. "I just finished preparing medicine, so if you know if the king is sick, tell me, to spare me from telling him that I could bring him the medicine immediately, instead of having to go back for it," he put on a fake smile to emphasize his short speech.
"Yes. The king is feeling sick," the man confirmed, clearly afraid of possibly angering Katyan.
"Now we are talking," the young alchemist sighed again. Then he grabbed the bottle with medicine and poured it into two separate glass vials. With them in his hands, he approached his overseers, who escorted him outside.
On the way to the king’s chamber, he saw guards rushing through several corridors, and sometimes even barging into rooms, as if they were searching for something.
‘Run, search you fools, but you will never find it. What I prepared for you is a web so intricate, you won't see it until it’s too late,’ he thought but otherwise didn’t enjoy the moment.
Upon reaching the room, Bruno entered, immediately noticing Katyan, sitting on the chair by the table. He was pale and sweating heavily. A quick look at the bed told Bruno the ruler was alone.
"I brought you the medicine, your majesty," he said, raising both vials.
Grunting and groaning, Katyan got on his feet, then rushed, partially stumbling, to grab one of them, and immediately poured it down his throat, without even waiting for Bruno to prove it was not poison, by drinking the other vial.
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The guard inside twitched to stop the king, but he hesitated, clearly scared of his superior.
"If I may, your majesty… At this point, I’m starting to believe you are not sick, but somebody is indeed trying to poison you," the young alchemist pointed out.
Katyan’s eyebrows immediately climbed up his forehead.
"The only alchemist in this castle is you," he observed.
"You don’t have to be an alchemist to buy poison, and to my defense, I spent my days here in the dungeon, and now in room arrest, constantly watched by the guards. I'm a terrible suspect. There are better ones," he shrugged his shoulders.
"Like who?" the king asked, showing that in the end, he was interested.
Bruno shrugged again. "First of all, such a poison, which imitates a disease and is slow, won't be cheap, so that person definitely would have to have access to a decent amount of money. The second is the access to your person. That is even more limited. There would also be a certain amount of influence involved, if, for example, they would want to access the kitchen to add something to your food. They would have to clear the space for themselves, and the possibility of giving an order to people, so they would leave to fulfill it, would be an excellent way to get rid of the possible witnesses. I don’t know many such people in this castle, so I won't give you names, but I’m sure you can come up with a few. It would be worth investigating them. Searching their quarters, for example. They have to keep the poison somewhere, don’t they?"
Katyan was slightly nodding to the spoken words, showing that he was listening. It was clearly an involuntary move.
"Anyway… I’m not here to advise you. I’m here to get rid of your problems, so If this is all you need from me, Your Majesty, allow me to return to my room," the young alchemist added.
"Yes, yes," the king confirmed, waving his hand dismissively before he slowly returned to his spot behind the table, consumed by thoughts.
Bruno noticed that detail before he was flanked by the guard, who refrained from grabbing him. He still escorted the young alchemist outside, where he was taken by the two who stayed behind. They accompanied Bruno all the way to his room, where he spent quite a while, simply lying down on the bed and staring at the ceiling.
He was listening carefully, hoping for some noise to soon reach his ears, pouring inside despite the closed door, but there was nothing for a long time. Then he finally caught the sound of footsteps. Those footsteps weren't as rushed as he expected, and soon he found the reason.
Knocking on the door prompted him to say, "Come in," and a guard entered with a plate filled with food accompanied by a wooden goblet full of wine. There was some meat and vegetables, which ended up placed on the table before the man left.
‘So not today,’ the young alchemist thought, before sighing deeply. Then he slowly got up from the bed, to sit by the table.
He glanced at the plate, noticing slices of smoked ham, and boiled potatoes with pieces of carrot and green peas. There was also a big piece of roasted beef. He first sniffed everything before deciding to enjoy the food. He drank the wine before wiping his hands into his pants, as there was nothing else he could use as a napkin.
With his belly mostly filled, he returned to the bed to get more sleep, as it became crystal clear that what he was waiting for was not going to happen. At least not yet.