49 – 49. Target
“I almost gambled with the lives of my soldiers.”
Victoria felt her face grow cold and regulated her breathing.
It wasn’t just her face. Her chest surged as if something was piling up, and her hands involuntarily trembled on her knees.
Although Allen teased her with a counterproposal, it didn’t resonate with her at all.
“Sir, I’ll just go with three pills. Could you please skip the dizziness this time?”
A timid voice echoed from outside the door.
It was the voice of Alan, the genius swordsman expelled from the martial arts department, whom Alan had just chased out of his study.
Whether he thought the deal had gone awry due to his greed, he kept repeating apologies and negotiating conditions. It seemed he had lost all sense of normal reasoning. Alan, perplexed, stopped explaining and just sighed.
“Leon. I’m having an important conversation with Princess 1. If you don’t leave, there will be no mercy.”
Only then did the lingering presence at the door disappear.
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What followed was silence. A very uncomfortable one.
Alan wiped his face with a bewildered expression, and Victoria couldn’t bring herself to look directly at him, only staring at the documents on the desk.
It happened to be a report on the current situation of the Navy Punishment Unit.
“I tried to persuade Alan using this, showing him… but now that I think about it, she wasn’t genuinely trying to verify the side effects. She just needed enough evidence to reassure Alan. So that he could supply the awakening agent to the Imperial Army without worries.
If things had unfolded as planned, there was a possibility of creating battle-hardened warriors who would give up their lives searching for the dru*g.
Their existence would have been a burden to the Empire. Once they were damaged like Leon, they would do anything to get the dru*g. Considering they were all former soldiers, the side effects might have been even more significant.
Thinking of a potential disaster that might have occurred, it felt like everything was fading away.
Amidst all this, a question suddenly came to mind.
“Lord Alan. Did you have something to say? But before that, I have a question if you permit.”
“Yes, please go ahead.”
“Why specifically Leon Roderdale, that friend, was given the dru*g? I’ve heard about the syrup addiction, but wasn’t it unnecessary to give him a more harmful dru*g? I don’t doubt your good intentions; I just hope you understand my inquiry, if you allow.”
Even the masters of the empire, did there really need to be someone with overwhelmingly exceptional talent to be subdued by medicine? It might have been better to just let them drink syrup. Then, they wouldn’t have deteriorated to that extent.
In response to this question, Alan recalled a cold smile.
“It’s simple. That way, I can at least attach a life to it.”
“What…?”
“That man, Leon, didn’t just consume syrup. He smoked op*ium all day long. He even said he skipped meals. We thought it would be better to administer a stronger medicine to pull him out of the op*ium haze a bit.”
“Perhaps, did you lose interest in op*ium and syrup while dealing with the medicine?”
“Exactly. Now, op*ium and syrup are no longer enjoyable. I even laughed at friends who were wallowing in op*ium smoke, saying they looked like idiots.”
“Why laugh… No, forget it. It’s already abnormal.”
Only now did Victoria understand Alan’s intentions.
Unable to obtain it as she pleased, she probably helped to tame it with a stronger medicine to save a life. After all, if it’s Alan, he should be able to adjust the dosage enough to keep from dying.
As a superior knight, could she not bear to see a talented junior go down in vain? She understood the psychology behind it.
‘Without knowing that, I accused Alan of ulterior motives.’
Rather than expressing gratitude to someone who was trying to prevent her from making a wrong choice, she couldn’t help but feel suspicious. Once again, self-doubt crept in. By this point, even sitting across from Alan was becoming painful.
In the end, Victoria lowered her gaze without strength.
“Alan, I already know, but the introduction of Awakening Pills is withdrawn. I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”
“It’s fortunate.”
“I have something to say to you. What business do you have?”
“It’s related to the border near Dasurim. There’s a way to alleviate the security burden.”
“I see. But Alan…? Instead of me, it might be better to directly propose it to the Minister of Military Affairs. I’m just a lieutenant under the Special Staff Department when it comes to rank. If you want, I can arrange a position.”
Honestly, at this point, considering ranks was quite amusing.
She had already decided to introduce morphine as a captain and had once unilaterally notified the general. It was merely a formality. It was because she had influence that could not be judged by rank.
But no matter how strong she appeared, what was the use? She didn’t even have the ability to utilize it.
‘I almost caused an accident again. It’s right to restrain myself for a while.’
Even facial expressions became difficult to control.
Victoria pretended to casually search through documents. She hoped her benefactor, who had prevented her mistake, would leave the office soon.
But Alan, unfortunately, did not let her go.
“Your Highness the First Princess. If you permit, I would like to speak to you.”
“Well, speaking is free, but as I said, I’m busy.”
“I can guess why you’re avoiding conversation… But Your Highness, admitting a mistake also requires courage. Moreover, Your Highness withdrew from the planning stage before making a mistake. No one suffered any harm.”
“Sir Alan.”
Raising her head to say that there was no need to accommodate her mood, Alan faintly smiled and lowered his head.
“I’m not doing this to win your favor, Your Highness. I’m just stubborn because you’re the only one who can help me achieve my goal. It’s an issue that can’t be handled by the power of ministers or bureaucrats, whether they are generals or officials.”
With these words, the sense of defeat that had plagued her began to fade little by little. It hadn’t completely disappeared, but it was bearable.
‘Yes, my mood doesn’t matter.’
Victoria looked straight at Alan Maydoff.
A unique knight who studied pharmacology to wash away the stigma of her lord. And now, a loyal subject of the Britannia Empire who had even prepared a way to ease the tension on the border of Dalsurim.
He was a competent and conscientious resource to the extent that it would be a waste to put him under Sienna.
“Alright, Sir Alan. Speak.”
Listening to his words was more important than such superficialities.
I had no choice but to demonstrate my acting skills. I couldn’t miss the opportunity when Victoria was vulnerable.
Honestly, from my perspective, feeling guilty about such a thing was bizarre in itself.
Victoria hadn’t awakened the Imperial Army as a mobilization measure, nor had she sent them on a relentless rapid march. It was just something she had withdrawn from in the planning stages.
It was a moment for me to reassess what kind of person she was.
“For me, there’s nothing wrong with it.”
By comforting the princess who had been wounded in her self-esteem, I was able to gain her trust.
It was an action I took with the thought of having insurance in case Siena had an accident, but fortunately, it seemed to be well received. After fumbling awkwardly with paper scraps, Victoria was now looking straight at me.
I got straight to the point with her.
“I will sell medicine to the elves.”
Victoria was taken aback, but quickly raised her head. If it came from my mouth, she would consider it worth listening to, no matter what it was.
Thanks to that, I was able to cut to the chase without any hesitation.
“As you can see, the product I’ve made incapacitates people, and not only that, it prioritizes the medicine over their own lives. Morphine, when administered to severe pain patients, has relatively little harm, but if a healthy person takes it, they become bedridden in an instant.”
“If we utilize this characteristic, wouldn’t we be able to incapacitate the elves? There would be no need to engage in combat in their territory, sacrificing our precious troops. If it works out well, we can subdue the elves without a war.”
“Even if it fails, many elven warriors will defect from the ranks. Isn’t that better than feeding it to our soldiers?”
I didn’t explain what kind of medicine I would make or how I would solve the problem.
Once permission was granted, I planned to handle it myself. Victoria had also seen the consequences of Leonnom’s schemes, so she had a rough idea of what situation would unfold.
“I can proceed without Victoria’s permission.”
However, it was true that it would be much easier with the support of the First Princess.
Because then I would have the justification of working for the Empire Army, or more precisely, for the Empire’s benefit.
I would be carrying the country on my back, distributing dru*gs with pride. Even when problems arose that I couldn’t handle with my own strength, the burden would be lighter.
Fortunately, Victoria didn’t dwell on her concerns for long.
“Alright, Alan. If you need my support, feel free to tell me anything. However, I have one request. Can you guess what it is?”
“Are you asking me to be cautious about the infiltration of imperial troops?”
As soon as I asked, Victoria nodded her head. In a soft voice, she timidly added, “That’s right.”
She still couldn’t shake off the shocking image Leon had shown her.
Nevertheless, it seemed that she didn’t care at all about the elves being harmed. It was only natural for a woman who had even considered giving awakening potions to the soldiers because of the elves.
“I understand. I will start working on it right away.”
I immediately left Victoria’s office.
Collaborating with the military leaders was promised, but there were many other tasks to attend to as well.
Daesurim, the land where the elves were practically treated as a nation.
It was not an ordinary task to taint that vast territory with dru*gs. If it weren’t for the conditions that allowed us to manipulate the employees of Maydoph Pharmaceuticals and even the palace servants working under Siena, I wouldn’t have even dared to think about it.
First, I needed to secure an ample supply of the dru*gs.
I headed to the manufacturing room to make the dru*gs.
It wasn’t to produce more morphine.
I had plans to create something even more lethal for the sake of the elves.