Black spots.
Four years later, that disease that plunged the empire into shock for a while.
The progression speed varied by person so I didn’t know how it would be, but the established theory was that spots appeared all over the body as one approached death, and turned jet black.
Because the disease looked exactly like the illness where mottled spots spread on horses’ knees, at first countless horses were killed. They thought it was transmitted from horses because the symptoms were similar. But that disease has nothing to do with horses. Sometimes entire families were wiped out, so it was misunderstood as a contagious disease, but that wasn’t the case either.
What was peculiar was that the prelude to tragedy began from the upper class.
The first known fatality is the Regent Duke.
Actually, it might not have been the Regent Duke. Duke Yorick was such a famous person and the shock of his death was so intense that when black spots began to spread, people naturally recalled that the symptoms were similar. Some nameless person might have died before Duke Yorick.
Just before returning to the past, the cause of the disease had been revealed. Though it’s rumor so not accurate, the cause of the black spots was ridiculously poison.
Because the revealed drug manufacturer was a woman, people called the culprit a ‘witch’ throughout the trial period.
She, who was of the noble class, fed poison to people she didn’t like, and began secretly selling the poison to close high society figures. The black spots were an amazing poison that couldn’t even be detected with silver spoons.
The witch’s evil deeds don’t end here. To hide that poison was the cause, she disguised the drug as health supplements and distributed them among commoners, and deployed cruel camouflage tactics such as wiping out entire families.
“Do you have something to say since yesterday?”
But Mikhail wasn’t on the list of fatalities.
“No.”
Even though it was summer, Mikhail was wearing a high-collared shirt. The indoors were cool but that outfit struck me as suddenly noticeable. On the back of the hand holding the scone, pale gray spots had faintly appeared as well.
“Did you see?”
Sensing my gaze, Mikhail just withdrew his hand. He crossed his arms as if covering it and shrugged as if it was nothing.
“Are you alright?”
Yesterday my head had become too distant. I’d escaped from the reception room as if fleeing.
Looking at Mikhail closely, I thought I could tell what this stuffy feeling was.
I’m troubled.
“It started appearing right after arriving in the south. There are no symptoms, it just changes like this. I asked doctors several times but no one knows. I was thinking it might be because of the southern sun.”
The Meyer trading company was operating just fine until right before I returned. Though I never particularly wanted to know in advance, whenever there was an opportunity to learn news of home, I listened.
“It doesn’t hurt at all. Well, it just looks like this.”
Mikhail pulls his sleeve and frowns.
I recalled the news about Mikhail I’d heard 5 years later.
Mikhail wasn’t a duke but was a count,
He still had influence in upper-class society,
After a long wait, he met an opportunity to make huge profits from the mining business,
And he still hadn’t married by then. It was probably because of Jake.
I never heard any talk about my brother getting sick or dying.
There was a time when I really hated Mikhail. But even in those moments, I never once thought I wanted something bad to happen to my brother, or wanted him to be sick.
“……”
Mikhail and I sat without saying anything.
“You were always sick, and I was healthy. Well, this must be what getting old is.”
As if it was nothing, Mikhail broke the silence.
When I was born, Mikhail was already fourteen. By the time I was running around somewhat and began recognizing the existence of siblings, Mikhail was already close to being an adult. I’d never once seen Mikhail truly sick. Even when I, a little kid, caught a cold and coughed, he was a brother who would sneer.
I picked up a scone. I spread herb butter on it and placed it in front of Mikhail. Mikhail still blankly poked it with his fingertips with his sleeves pulled down. Without saying anything particular, I spread apricot jam generously on the second scone.
Sitting across from each other like that, we both just looked at the floor and chewed our scones. It didn’t taste very good, but we both ate them.
It’s because of me. I couldn’t help but think that.
Because of me, Mikhail changed from the mining business to the transportation business. The points he had to pass through in the south changed. I’d heard that the Regent Duke also started getting sick after visiting the south in the past.
Could it be that the ‘witch’ was staying in the south during this time?
Did Mikhail meet the ‘witch’ because his route changed because of me?
Even if that speculation wasn’t true, I thought I was responsible.
If I hadn’t come to the past, the private physician might not have died. If I hadn’t come to the past, Young Lady Lifros wouldn’t have been involved with Baron Moss either.
If I hadn’t come to the past, at least Mikhail wouldn’t have gotten sick.
But there was no time for self-blame. Fortunately, Mikhail’s case also had time to remedy it, like Young Lady Lifros’s case.
“Interested in medicinal materials? You?”
“Yes. I’ll cure your illness.”
After agonizing, I went to find Mikhail again and spoke honestly. That I wanted to treat his illness. Mikhail, who had only moved his eyes, flushed his face fiercely after a moment.
“What means do you have to do that! Are you cra—,”
It would have been “Are you crazy!”
Mikhail barely swallowed his words, then snapped at me to do as I pleased and fled from the reception room as if escaping.
He sent the butler instead. The capable butler faithfully wrote down what I said. And the next day, he immediately attached trustworthy knights as well.
“Did you spend your summer vacation well?”
Sir Lifros was also included.
Seeing him speak, he seemed unaware of what had happened to me. The servants’ lips seemed really well sealed.
“Is Miss Lucia well?”
“That girl is excessively cheerful. She seemed to particularly like this summer’s salon.”
For Young Lady Lifros’s safety, I wanted to warn her about Rilke immediately, but I put it off because there were fellow knights nearby.
Instead, I asked about Baron Moss, who was equally important.
“Thanks to what you told me, I locked the doors thoroughly before leaving. I also hired a resident servant while the house was empty. And I dropped hints. They said he really did lurk around near the house.”
Because Sir Lifros’s face became serious, I became serious too. Baron Moss was a dangerous person.
“I did report it to the capital guard.”
He smiled, telling me not to worry. His violet eyes, like Miss Lucia’s, shone freshly. I tried to smile back but couldn’t dispel my worry. It was clear the capital guard couldn’t impose clear sanctions just for passing by a house. Because that’s how it was for me too.
“How was the southern trip? Did my brother perhaps meet any strangers?”
“He did meet people.”
“……Was it a noblewoman?”
Sir Lifros looked at me as if puzzled.
“You seem to know well. I was surprised too.”
And I couldn’t hide my disappointment at the words that followed.
“He was really popular with the southern noblewomen. He heard praise that he resembled Rolang quite often.”
It was a well-known story that even though numerous southern beauties threw themselves at him, he stayed glued to Jake. Rather, the story of the southern back alleys that Sir Lifros experienced separately was more interesting.
Getting information about the south from Sir Lifros like that, I went around meeting renowned pharmacists in the capital.
—”A medicine that causes skin disease, you say?”
—”There are medicines whose side effects cause boils. What? If the side effects can kill you, is that medicine?”
—”If you want to purchase it, you must fill out a ledger! You need an identification tag too. Bring the patient first.”
At the first ten places I stopped by, I only heard obvious talk like that. The second time, I went around the same places again with the pouch of gold coins I’d hidden under my bed.
When I finally succeeded in entering the back room after pressing plenty of gold coins into hands,
—”I have an agreement with a mage! Even a bare mountain becomes lush, you know? How about it, shall I introduce you?”
—”Snatching her heart! This is a love potion!”
—”You look innocent but you came knowing the true value of our shop. Hehe, this is enough to send three to Iota in one night.”
I only heard such nonsensical talk. Completely unrelated.
“It’s quite thrilling, but are you going to keep doing this?”
Sir Lifros asked.
“Now I’m going to do something more substantial.”
After experiencing similar cases at several other medicine shops, I too lost energy. I asked the other knights to guard the entrance and had only Sir Lifros accompany me inside. He might secretly think I’m pathetic.
“Miss Lucia really has nothing wrong, right? Especially her health.”
Perhaps it was out of the blue, as Sir Lifros tilted his head puzzledly and answered yes.
With spots appearing on Mikhail’s body, I had become newly concerned about Lucia too. A few years later, she was among those who lost their lives to black spots.
“To a tea house?”
When I suddenly changed direction while going around pharmacies, Sir Lifros was bewildered.
“For my brother’s health.”
And also for Miss Lucia’s health, just in case.
