Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

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Chapter 123: Poisoning 3

“Chao, wait here with Older Sister Seol. Your mom and dad have to step out for a bit, okay? Someone is sick, so your mom went to check on them.”

“Okay, I’ll stay with Aunt. We’ve had so much fun together these past few days, right? Dad, take care.”

– Swish!

After telling Chao to wait, I dashed after the military officer Zhuge Hu to the guest house where general guests of the Martial Forest Alliance stayed.

We had been granted a private room behind the main hall due to the presence of our esteemed elder Shin Tu, guest Older Sister Seol, and myself. However, it seemed that Zhuge Hu’s nephew, Earth Dragon, was assigned to regular accommodations for typical visitors.

‘What a fuss over nothing.’

Surrounding the guest house were numerous martial artists from the Martial Forest Alliance, who had already surrounded the area, and there were commotions around the entrance of the alliance, giving a sense that entry was entirely restricted.

This incident concerning the poisoning of Zhuge Hu’s nephew appeared to be rather serious.

As I maneuvered past the alert martial artists and along the long corridor lined with room-like spaces, I arrived in front of a particular room.

In front of me were the worried faces of Kwon Ryong, Geom Ryong, and Gong Bong pacing back and forth.

“Military Officer!”

“Did anything happen while I was gone?”

“Uh, Earth Dragon is inside; Eun-bong and the physicians from the Zhuge Clan are taking care of him.”

As I opened the door and stepped inside the small room, it was already packed with over ten people, and beside the bed where Earth Dragon lay, Eun-bong, with swollen eyes, was blankly staring at the ceiling while clutching Earth Dragon’s collar.

As our group entered, it felt as though a sea parted in the crowd.

In that opening, Eun-bong spotted us and suddenly stood up, shouting.

“Poison Flower! Please, save him! Please save Cheon-rang!”

“Cheon-rang” is an affectionate term used between lovers.

It seemed that Eun-bong and Earth Dragon were indeed in a romantic relationship.

While she looked utterly pitiable and heartbroken now, earlier, when we parted, I had heard from Hua Eun that this woman could unleash a deadly sound technique that could burst a person’s eardrums or blood vessels.

Eun-bong rushed out, seemingly without noticing Zhuge Hu and grabbed Hua Eun’s hand.

“Got it. Calm down.”

Her face was just a bit paler, and her lips more crimson than before; it must have been makeup.

As Hua Eun pulled her wrist out of Eun-bong’s grasp, she headed towards Zhuge Yong-cheon’s bedside.

She was asking me to follow her.

“Wei So-ryong, come closer.”

“Me too?”

“Yes, Wei So-ryong knows a lot about poisons.”

I wondered why she’d called for me, but hearing her reasoning made sense.

While I specialized in biological poisons, that part was true.

Nodding, I stood at the bedside of Zhuge Yong-cheon.

‘Now, what’s going on with this sudden poisoning?’

I gazed at Zhuge Yong-cheon lying there.

He looked rather pale the first time we met, but otherwise appeared normal despite being poisoned.

Hua Eun looked at a man standing near the bed with some instruments spread out and asked, “It seems that the blood flow and vessels have been restrained to slow the poison’s effect, right? Is it indeed poisoning? Are you certain?”

Hua Eun seemed to be skeptical as he looked too fine on the outside.

If poisoned, there should be accompanying physical symptoms like rapid breathing, fever, bleeding, or abnormalities, but it appeared that Earth Dragon showed none of these signs at all.

Then the man bowed his head and replied, “Yes, at first, we thought it was some disease, but it seemed not to be, and since we had a physician knowledgeable about poisons, we asked him to examine it, and he suspected poison…”

As the man looked aside, another man stepped forward and addressed Hua Eun.

“Um, Won-kyu, do you remember me, Miss?”

“Won-kyu? Oh, you’re one of the physicians we had sent a few years ago at the request of the Martial Forest Alliance?”

“Yes, that’s correct, Miss.”

The man bowed at Hua Eun’s words.

He must belong to our Four Heavenly Houses and was dispatched at the request of the Martial Forest Alliance.

Given that there are quite a few poisoning incidents in the martial world, he must have been stationed here for some time.

Hua Eun nodded and asked the man named Won-kyu, “What were the symptoms?”

There was a sense of trust now that they were family, and I felt he wouldn’t mistake this.

“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be a life-threatening amount, but while the blood flow is restrained, there have been severe convulsions and slurred speech.”

“Slurred speech and convulsions… Have you identified what poison it is?”

“I’m sorry. My proficiency in venomous arts isn’t very high…”

If one had a high mastery of venom, they could identify the poison they had absorbed instantly, but a lower proficiency meant they couldn’t identify it.

“Then we’ll need to check the symptoms again. I’ll start with a pulse check.”

Hua Eun reached out toward the wrist of Earth Dragon, who was lying in a daze, and after a moment, she confirmed and nodded seriously.

“It’s definitely poison.”

Then came the sharp outcry filled with killing intent and rage.

“See! I told you! Could it be the Blood Cult!?”

“How dare anyone poison our Yong-cheon!”

“How dare they poison a young master of the Zhuge Clan!”

Amidst the fearful atmosphere, Hua Eun added, “I’d like to view the symptoms, but can you release the restrained blood vessels?”

Then Zhuge Hu, the military officer, exclaimed in shock.

“Wouldn’t that let the poison spread and lead to death!?”

It was a question of whether unblocking the vessels would cause the poison to spread and result in death.

Hua Eun shook her head in response.

“If my assumption is correct, the poison won’t spread.”

“It won’t spread?”

Hua Eun nodded at his question, and after a moment of contemplation, Zhuge Hu stepped forward and said, “Then let’s proceed.”

“Yes, understood.”

As Zhuge Hu nodded, some of the other men nearby stepped up.

Strong men surrounded Earth Dragon.

Then one of them touched several areas on Earth Dragon’s body, revealing something astonishing.

Earth Dragon’s dazed eyes began to regain their vitality.

“Wha- what is happening? My body…”

Unlike the confident voice I had first encountered, Earth Dragon now spoke with a tone filled with fear, clearly unable to articulate properly.

What was even more astonishing was that not only was his speech impaired, but the corners of his eyes and mouth began to twitch, and he eventually started shaking uncontrollably.

Like a beast struck by an arrow, he trembled helplessly.

The men surrounding him seemed prepared to capture him as he shook.

As Earth Dragon’s trembling intensified, the robust men held onto his limbs.

“Ghh… Wh- what…”

“Ch-Chun-rang! Huh…”

Seeing Earth Dragon’s distress, Eun-bong buried her face in his chest, bursting into tears.

When her immense sobs burst forth, Hua Eun directed the others.

“Now that you’ve seen enough, let’s take his pulse again. Make sure to check the vitals too.”

“Understood!”

Soon, they resumed monitoring his vitals, and Earth Dragon fell back into unconsciousness.

Hua Eun stared thoughtfully at Earth Dragon and asked, “Has Earth Dragon been experiencing frequent headaches, memory lapses, or sudden outbursts recently?”

Zhuge Hu, scratching his chin, appeared deep in thought. “Well…”

Being the uncle, he wouldn’t know such trivial things, after all; it’s not like a lunatic would get angry with his uncle!

Thinking the question might be misplaced, I glanced at Eun-bong. Upon meeting her gaze, she flinched.

After hesitating, Eun-bong spoke cautiously, “I-I was close by, so I know. There were times when he had headaches and forgot things. He made promises to me and forgot, which left me upset a few times recently…”

Hua Eun nodded thoughtfully at her response, then addressed Zhuge Hu.

“It’s confirmed. Then, this poisoning didn’t occur today.”

“Didn’t occur today!? What do you mean?”

“Yes, it appears he has been poisoned over a long period, gradually and very slowly.”

“What!? ”

At Hua Eun’s words, the atmosphere chilled more than before.

Military officer Zhuge Hu asked in a chilling voice, “Then, how long has it been?”

“At least six months.”

“…”

With the mention of six months, Zhuge Hu’s intent killing aura emanated.

This signifies a very calculated and deliberate poisoning, and much like Young Young’s case, only someone close would dare to commit such an act.

And Hyang, sensing the tension, peeked out from my arms toward Zhuge Hu.

– Drip.

The look on Hyang’s face said, “What’s up with Dad? Should I ask? Should I?”

While giving Hyang’s head a reassuring stroke to calm him down, Hua Eun seemingly tried to soothe Zhuge Hu on my behalf.

“Calm down. Sir, it may not have been intended by someone.”

“What do you mean? Not intended?”

“Yes, sir. The poison Earth Dragon was subjected to is mercury.”

“Mercury?”

The term ‘cinnabar’ (朱砂) learned during our studies of poisons suddenly hit me.

‘If it’s mercury, then it must have been long-term mercury poisoning! Ah! That portion makes sense!’

With the mention of mercury, I could understand Earth Dragon’s symptoms and why Hua Eun claimed it wasn’t intentional.

Earth Dragon’s condition likely resembled chronic mercury poisoning, akin to Minamata disease.

Though I specialized in biological toxins, I retained knowledge from our studies of common household poisons, especially mercury poisoning.

One of the recognized symptoms of Minamata disease includes tremors, speech difficulties, and neurological symptoms—exactly mirroring Earth Dragon’s condition.

Furthermore, I could also comprehend that Hua Eun’s belief of it not being intended made sense, considering such times still utilize mercury in medicine.

After all, the elixir of immortality Emperor Qin Shi Huang took contained high mercury levels.

Furthermore, it was known that liquid mercury was consumed for medicinal purposes as well.

However, liquid mercury is poorly absorbed and doesn’t lead to poisoning unless ingested over long periods—this is a characteristic of mercury.

Mercury is pretty commonly used in daily life, particularly in thermometers.

There are instances of children biting thermometer ends and swallowing mercury, leading to visits to hospitals; yet such things typically don’t cause poisoning.

Thus, if Earth Dragon was indeed poisoned, it was likely he had been taking mercury medicinally for an extended time.

“Have you perhaps been taking any medications mixed with mercury or been consuming any particulates like cinnabar regularly?”

Both Zhuge Hu and Eun-bong shook their heads in response.

“No, to my knowledge, there is not.”

“Not to my knowledge either.”

“This is strange. It feels like he’s been poisoned for quite some time…”

It felt like we were headed into a conundrum.

I racked my brains, recalling what I gleaned from our studies on toxicology at the Tang Clan.

‘Certainly, cinnabar is created by burning mercury, right? Toxic fumes derive from that, and great care must be taken! Inhalation could lead to acute poisoning, so he couldn’t have been poisoned that way, right?

Wait, I think I’ve heard that term before… where?’

As I mulled over the material, the term ‘cinnabar’ resurfaced in my mind.

I recalled an occurrence from within the Nangong Clan.

“The Su-gongsha is a mark given to a woman to prove her purity. If she keeps a lizard in a jar and has it consume cinnabar, her body becomes stained red, you know? That’s what they use to mark the woman’s body.”

That was the sustenance being cruelly given to a lizard!

‘It turns red? Could it be!?’

Upon hearing it turns red, my mind flashed back to the image of Eun-bong’s lips.

With a startled expression, I turned to Hua Eun and asked, “Hua Eun, um, according to what I learned at the Tang Clan, is the ingredient for mercury cinnabar? Can one become poisoned by consuming cinnabar?”

Eagerly, Hua Eun grinned at me, clearly delighted.

“Oh, Wei So-ryong. That’s right! You’ve caught on where I didn’t even teach you anything yet! You’re always one step ahead!”

Cinnabar is indeed an ingredient for mercury, so consuming it would lead to similar mercury poisoning.

I glanced at the unconscious Earth Dragon laying there.

A chuckle escaped my lips.

“Ahh…”

‘Oh, youth…’

And this is precisely why lipsticks must be non-toxic!

How on earth do I explain this? What a pickle I’m in!