240: Close Yet So Far

Close Yet So Far

Drayce accepted her greetings with a light nod and instructed, "Have a seat."0

She was used to Drayce asking her to sit, but that was in his own mansion because she was officially his guest. However, her identity in the guest mansion of Griven was different. Here, she was a mere servant. 

She hesitantly looked at her master, who said as if reading her thoughts, "Do not expect the chair to come towards you."

Again, sarcastic words from him. Could he not simply permit her to sit? 

She walked towards the empty seat where Drayce and Yorian were sitting. She felt somewhat relieved that Arlan was sitting behind his desk, and unless she deliberately tilted her head in his direction, she could avoid looking at him. 

Oriana had no idea that Arlan deliberately changed seats to distance himself from her.

Drayce and Yorian could only sigh at the way these two treated each other.

"What did you find out, Orian?" Drayce asked, directing the conversation straight to the most important matter.

"I realized it is indeed a scheme, as what Your Majesty guessed," she replied. 

There was no need for them to ask a question, as she explained further. 

"Lily, the servant I am treating, I still could not find the cause of her stomach pain. Though I may be lacking the proper knowledge and experience to cure her, I can at least investigate the possible reason. I was suspicious about the meals given to her. Although the kitchen servant said her porridge had nothing added to it, I found this in their kitchen." 

Back when Olivia was busy talking to another servant about the washed cooking pot, Oriana noticed something by the stove and quietly hid it in her uniform. 

She pulled out a small orange item from her pocket, no larger than a fingernail and handed it over to Yorian. The elf realized it was a broken flower petal. Though he was knowledgeable about plants, he could not easily determine its identity from a piece of petal. 

"This is…?"

Oriana explained, "That came from a buttercup flower."

"Buttercup?" It appeared that Yorian knew that flower. "Aren't buttercups yellow?"

Oriana nodded. "The yellow variety is a flower that is most common in the wild regions with temperate climate. From what I read back when His Highness ordered me to research banned herbs, there are rare blossoms that give white, orange, red and lavender colors. Also, they should not be a native plant of Othinia." 

Arlan glanced at her. 'Quite a sharp memory she got.'

Yorian passed it to Drayce who observed it and he said, "I can't identify it from a single glance. You are quite a good observer."

Oriana said nothing. Drayce glanced at his friend who stared back at him with a frown. 

Drayce gave him a nonchalant look, his expression seemingly saying, 'I praised her in your stead because you don't have the guts to say it to her face.'

The displeasure in Arlan's eyes grew. 'That doesn't mean you can go praising her like this.'

'One needs to be acknowledged when they deserve it.'

Yorian rolled his eyes at the antics of the two men. He returned his attention back to Oriana. "Orian, are you saying they deliberately fed her poison?"

She nodded, before continuing, "I prepared a new set of medicine, claiming it is a stronger version, but in fact I didn't change the ingredients of the concoction. I already know no matter what I give, it would not work on her since this poisonous herb is the reason. But I made them believe that it was a different stomach infection medicine I prepared this time. 

"Surprisingly, when I gave the concoction to Lily, she turned better. The pain she was feeling disappeared not even an hour later. I realized it was not the medicine but something else had relieved her of the pain. Whenever Lady Rosetta patted her head, she would turn calm as if her pain was lessening. I noticed it yesterday but thought it was nothing more than her being comforted as a sick person, but today I found it suspicious."

"You did well," Drayce praised her again. "You also successfully carried out the second plan and had that woman appear before Arlan."

"Thank you, your Majesty."

Yorian nodded. "I had enchanted that brooch by adding a special scent to it that could make humans dizzy the moment they smelled it. 

"She didn't show any reaction," Oriana remarked. 

"As expected, she is not human."

"She told me today she is special and gifted with some kind of ability." Oriana vaguely said as she could not explain in detail with Arlan accompanying them. She could not let him know she was a black witch.

"There is no thing called special humans. If you have powers, either you are a supernatural being, a halfling or a human who gave up their humanity—wizards who practiced black magic."

Oriana understood and heard Yorian ask the Crown Prince, "What do you think? As you two are the only ones who saw her, so I can only ask you."

Arlan as well could not let Oriana know about his supernatural abilities and had to divert vaguely, "As she didn't react to that scent, then she is one of three categories you said. About only two of us seeing her, I will not let you have the regret of not seeing that vile woman."

The prince then got a clean sheet of paper from his desk. With a quill in hand, he started to draw a rough image on its surface. Oriana could not help but glance at his serious face. She had always known his impressive art skills from back when he drew plants in life-like images. She wondered if his skills were equally as good when doing a person's portrait. 

Minutes passed by quietly, and only the sounds of pen strokes on parchment could be heard inside the study. The three of them had left their seats and made their way to the desk. 

It was as if a spell had been casted on the audience. 

Yorian and Drayce eyed the image of a beautiful woman slowly being formed on the sheet of paper, while Oriana was observing the unwavering concentration on the prince's face. 

No matter how much his actions upset and enrage her, she found herself unable to hate him. She could not deny there was something about him which always amazed her, gravitating her towards him, but at the same time, he was so maddening at times she found him repulsive. 

He was like something that was so close but yet so far.

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