Chapter 325: A Misstep!

Chapter 325

A Misstep!

"Watch out!" Grace’s shout rang out, causing panic among the crowd.

The two guards reacted quicker than anyone else, with Ryker being one of them. He grabbed one of the guardian knights and threw him forcefully. The screams of the crowd echoed continuously. Ellie narrowed her eyes, not fully understanding the situation. She had intended to deal with the poisoned individual from this event and save the prince herself. However, the information she had received did not match what was unfolding before her.

Ellie looked again at the blue dagger, the true symbol of the poisoned individual. Her gaze shifted to the man Ryker had thrown aside. And yes! They were not the same person.

"What is happening?" The Emperor was greatly displeased. He hadn’t anticipated such a dire event during his banquet. This situation was a major embarrassment for him. Behind the Emperor, the head of the Setter family, Steven, approached with concern. Fortunately, nothing had happened to his people; otherwise, he would have certainly caused an uproar.

Seeing that the incident involved Prince Jason, Steven raised his eyebrows in surprise. Who would believe that in such a situation, the two brothers could still end up quarreling?

The man who had been thrown stood up again. Seizing the opportunity, Grace rushed forward, intending to use her dimensional technique. But as soon as her power manifested, Professor Lucien cast a spell at Grace’s wrist.

"Ah!!" The young woman was shocked. She turned to see who had attacked her and was stunned to find it was Professor Lucien, standing there with a grim expression. She couldn’t believe he would do this to her.

“Professor, how could you...?”

“It’s you. What are you planning to do?!! Isn’t that technique of yours meant to devour others’ souls?” Lucien was furious, but Grace was even angrier. She had been eagerly awaiting the chance to stake her claim and participate in this event, so why was Professor Lucien interfering? The novel never mentioned him preventing the handling of the human who had demonic toxin like this!

“Professor, this person is poisoned. He should be eliminated, so...”

Slap!!!

Before Grace could finish speaking, Ellie stepped forward and slapped her hard across the face. Grace was utterly surprised. When she turned to see that it was Ellie, her supposed best friend and a significant golden leg, she couldn’t believe it. Who would have thought that this best friend would slap her so fiercely?

Ellie had been worried all along that something would happen at the event, so she focused solely on the poisoned individual. Fortunately, her quick thinking helped her realize something was off. Ellie then recalled a few lines about the first “poisoned person,” who wasn’t actually poisoned by the demonic toxin.

The individual had been suddenly poisoned, with few details provided in the novel. His poisoning caused chaos at the banquet, leading people—the prince and others—to approach the first poisoned person and thus creating an opportunity for the person who had demonic toxin to get close to the prince. At that moment, Grace had been the closest and had heroically rushed in to save the prince.

In other words...the first poisoned individual was just a prelude to reveal the true demonic toxin’s victim. The story focused too much on the person who had demonic toxin, neglecting the details. Ellie used her medical knowledge, taught by Professor Medik, to check the individual and realized he had a common poison that could be expelled with proper treatment. Thus, Grace, who knew nothing and wanted to rip out the person’s soul, was acting excessively.

Ellie wasn’t sure if Grace had done this in the novel, casually ripping out others’ souls. It seemed more problematic than beneficial!!

“Your Highness...why did you slap me?” Grace was bewildered. She hadn’t done anything wrong, so why was she receiving such looks from everyone? Didn’t the novel say that she would gain everyone’s attention and be highly praised for doing this?

“Why did I slap you? How can you not understand? There is a patient being poisoned, and not only did you not think to treat him, but you also intended to use some evil technique to rip his soul out. Were you planning to kill him just because he was poisoned!?” Ellie shouted angrily. The Setter family members acted swiftly. As soon as their young lady intervened, the person’s fate was sealed for survival. They quickly gave the poisoned man an antidote, and soon enough...the guard regained consciousness.

Grace watched the rescue with fear. Why was the information she knew from the novel incorrect!? It wasn’t surprising that Grace didn’t know, because even Ellie, who had read the novel thoroughly, almost missed this small detail. Luckily, Ellie realized it quickly, unlike this heroine. However, Grace’s actions made Ellie start to believe that this Grace was different from the novel but very much like someone she knew.

Someone who didn’t check things thoroughly and acted hastily to gain credit, someone who liked to summarize details based on their own understanding without reading everything carefully...It seemed that this “Grace” was indeed the person she knew. Because of this suspicion...Ellie had waited silently, expecting Grace to rush at the poisoned individual.

“Cough, cough.” The knight coughed violently. The poison had completely left his body, but he still needed time to recover. Prince Jason ordered his men to carry the knight out for further treatment immediately.

“Princess Ellie, I must thank you for saving my man. He has been with me since I was a child. I will investigate who poisoned him, and whoever did this...will be punished,” Prince Jason declared. He couldn’t believe someone dared to poison his guard at such a banquet.

However, the most important person who attempted to take his man’s life without questioning deserved the harshest punishment. Even common people ask the owner before hitting a dog. This was a person’s life, and as a prince...how could anyone have the right to do such a thing?!!

"As for you...you thought to kill my man. It seems you don’t want to live anymore."

"Y-Your Highness, I deserve to die. I was wrong. But my intentions were not malicious. If you just wait a moment, you will understand what I was afraid of, which led me to..."

Grace was still as clever as ever. In this situation, if she denied that she did not intend to do it, saying it was not her intentions, no one would believe her. She had leaped forward and used her powers in front of everyone. If it weren’t for Professor Lucien stopping her, that guard would surely be dead by now. The intent to kill was undeniably clear. Therefore, Grace didn’t deny her intentions.

She used her words to introduce a new topic. The novel wasn’t a lie. If a demonic toxin’s victim truly appeared and she could help, the merit of her aid would surely remove any suspicion.

Even Ellie had to admire Grace’s tactic. Grace cleverly hinted that she suspected the existence of a demonic toxin, which soon proved true. While Grace was under scrutiny, another one of the prince’s guards began showing unusual symptoms. But this time, Grace didn’t rush in. She simply shouted, “Watch out,” again.

“D-De-Demonic toxin’s victim!”

“Ahhh!!! What is this? Why is there a demonic toxin’s victim here?”

“Run quickly!! Everyone must flee.”

“Guards, protect the Emperor!! Protect the Prince!” The crowd screamed, but no one dared to attack the demonic toxin’s victim. Even the Emperor retreated, leaving Jason close to the poisoned individual.

This time, Grace wasn’t in a hurry. The novel said she would be the one to eliminate the demonic toxin, and the only one who could. Because of this, she received an engagement contract with Prince Jason. So, she let the poisoned person caused chaos to his heart’s content, planning to step in and save the day when the situation had significantly escalated.

The girl’s plan was quite good, but that was when the Setter family wanted to hide their skills as in the novel...Unfortunately for Grace, Ellie had already received permission to act.

“S-Stay back!! How could this happen? Who dared to do this?!!” Prince Jason was terrified, realizing that a poisoned individual was near him. Vida tried to push her guard away to protect the prince, but the Jarlon family’s people couldn’t let their young lady face danger. After all, the prince would have plenty of protectors.

“Let me go!!” Vida cried, tears streaming down her face. Her deep concern was evident to Prince Jason. At what seemed like his last moments before being poisoned by demonic toxin, he quickly realized who truly cared for him. Even his father had abandoned him, but Vida was the only one crying for him!

However, the moment of life and death was fleeting. Just as Grace saw that the situation was ripe for capturing the villain, a knife was thrown swiftly, grazing her face and leaving a cut before embedding itself in the heart of the demonic toxin’s victim.

“Princess Ellie!!”

“Ellie!!”

“Student Ellie!!” No one expected the kingdom’s important girl to throw a knife at the person who had demonic toxin.

Everyone knew the consequences of killing a poisoned individual, so they all stayed back; no one dared to confront the person who had demonic toxin. Despite the poisoned person’s lack of skill, they didn’t dare approach.

But now...Princess Ellie, an extremely important figure in the Ares Kingdom, had naively sought to become a heroine by killing the poisoned individual!

“............” The most shocked person wasn’t Prince Jason, Duchess Vida, or anyone else. It was Grace, who was about to end the disaster herself. She turned sharply to look at Ellie, the supposed best friend of the heroine, in disbelief. Why did this best friend steal her spotlight? The one who should have killed the poisoned person should have been her. And another thing...if this best friend became poisoned with demonic toxin, could she still survive as the heroine’s best friend?

“Princess Ellie, do you realize what you have done?”

“By killing the demonic toxin’s victim like this, what will happen next?...Will the Setter family lose another important member?”

“This event happened so quickly. Even I didn’t think it would turn out like this,” everyone commented on this seemingly unreasonable action. But the person most saddened by this was none other than her professor, Medik.

“Ellie, sob, sob, how could you do this? You’re truly a stubborn child. Didn’t I tell you not to cause trouble so often? How could you do this right now!!” Professor Medik lamented, while Lucien sighed helplessly.

“Get up. Don’t you see that your student is fine?”

“Sob, sob. Even if she’s fine now, what about the future? She’s been poisoned by the demonic toxin. Her future will be bleak. Going forward...”

“That’s enough. The demonic toxin didn’t enter her body,” Lucien revealed the truth to Medik, which also reached the ears of the shocked onlookers.

“What do you mean?”

“Just what I said. The demonic toxin didn’t enter her body. If you don’t believe me, use your botanic power to check.”

“Hmm? That’s true...Ellie, how, how did you do it?” Medik was astonished but relieved after verifying that she indeed hadn’t been poisoned. He almost jumped for joy.

The Emperor, hearing this conversation, looked at the palace’s light magic user. Understanding each other’s silent question, the light magic user checked and finally shook his head. As a result, Ellie hadn’t been poisoned by the demonic toxin.But...how was that possible?!!