The Mind-Reading Mate: Why Is the Lycan King So Obsessed With Me?!-Chapter 89: Poison Expert (2)

Marielle hesitated. "But ... didn’t you say you wanted to change your clothes and take your medicine first? I’m not sure it’s—"

"Did I ask for your opinion?" Primrose cut in, raising her head and meeting Marielle’s eyes. "That wasn’t a suggestion. It was an order."

She didn’t have the energy to act soft and polite right now. The headache was making her patience run thin. And honestly, it felt oddly freeing not to force a smile just to make people around her feel comfortable.

Besides, she could tell Marielle wasn’t the type to talk back, not when she clearly needed this job more than anything.

"I-I understand, Your Majesty!" Marielle bowed quickly and hurried toward the door, not daring to say another word.

Maybe she had been too harsh.

"Marielle." Primrose saw her stop walking the moment she called her name. "Thank you."

It was a simple phrase, just a small expression of gratitude, something that was often overlooked.

In noble society, it was rare to hear those words spoken to a servant. Most nobles believed that since they paid their servants, gratitude wasn’t necessary. It was, after all, their job to obey.

However, the Duke of Illvaris had once taught Primrose a valuable lesson. He had always reminded her to say thank you to anyone who helped her, whether they were a servant or someone offering their services.

The words might be simple, but a soft "thank you" was enough to reveal a person’s true nature.

[Her Majesty ... thanked me? A lowly servant like me?]

[Maybe she was just a bit cranky because of her headache earlier. Besides, I’ve heard from the other maids that she’s actually really sweet and gentle.]

[Yes, that must be it. Anyone would be a little fussy when they’re sick.]

"It is my honor, Your Majesty," Marielle said with a small smile before stepping out of the room.

As soon as she was alone, Primrose let out a long sigh.

She immediately collapsed backward onto the bed, though her feet were still hanging off the edge, but she was too drained to care.

Maybe the reason her headache was so bad wasn’t just because of studying with Sevrin for hours, but also because of the nonstop voices in her head from all the dramatic people around her.

It must be nice to be surrounded by people whose minds weren’t so loud all the time.

Oh, right, Silas’s assistant had a quiet mind. But even so, something about that silence seemed off.

After all, no one could truly stop thinking ... right?

Unfortunately, she didn’t have the time to think more about it because her head was throbbing too much.

Even if Silas wouldn’t dare to do anything foolish on his first day as her doctor, Primrose still couldn’t fully trust that he hadn’t slipped something into her medicine. Therefore, she needed Salem.

And just as she was thinking about him, the man in question suddenly barged into her room without knocking. Primrose didn’t even need to get up from her bed or look at his face to know he was annoyed.

[It’s past midnight and the Queen suddenly asks to see me?! What does she want? An affair or something?!]

An affair? Please.

Primrose was fairly certain Salem didn’t even like women.

"You called for me, Your Majesty?" Salem stood by the bed, frowning slightly as he looked at her lying down with her feet still hanging off the edge.

"I need you to do something for me," Primrose said, finally sitting up on the edge of the bed so she could face him properly.

"Marielle, you may wait outside," she moved her eyes to the maid, waving her hand. "You can help me change clothes after Sir Vesper leaves. Oh, and please tell the soldier standing outside that this isn’t an affair.

"Sir Vesper only came in to discuss his research, so there’s no need to report anything suspicious to His Majesty." freēwēbηovel.c૦m

Primrose knew there were guards stationed outside her room, and before one of them got the wrong idea and said something ridiculous to Edmund, she had to clear things up.

Marielle looked hesitant. "But ... I don’t think the soldier will believe me."

"Just tell him ... I’m also planning a surprise gift for His Majesty, and I don’t want him to find out."

Marielle’s eyes widened. [The rumors are true! The Queen really is sweet and kind! She even wants to plan a surprise gift for her husband!]

"I understand, Your Majesty!"

As soon as Marielle left the room, Primrose pointed to the leather pouch of herbal powder on the table. "Maybe there’s something you’ve been waiting to find inside that pouch."

Primrose didn’t say the word poison out loud, but Salem understood exactly what she meant.

[The undetectable poison?! Finally! I’ve been waiting for someone to try this on Her Majesty.]

[Wait ... but isn’t this supposed to be medicine? Someone actually put poison in it? Now that’s interesting.]

"You’re suspicious of your own doctor?" Salem asked, raising an eyebrow.

Primrose shrugged. "It’s better to be careful than to end up in a coffin." She looked at Salem seriously. "But if the poison really is undetectable, can you still recognize it?"

The poison had no smell or taste, which made it nearly impossible to detect.

Until now, Primrose hadn’t asked Salem about it since Silas hadn’t been at the palace yet. But now that he was here, she wanted to understand more about Salem’s methods, just to make sure she wouldn’t accidentally drink something deadly.

"There’s no such thing as a truly undetectable poison, Your Majesty," Salem said with a confident smile. "The only thing people can do is make the scent faint enough that ordinary people wouldn’t notice it."

"But for someone like me, an expert, that’s nothing at all." He smirked. "I’ve studied thousands of poisons in my life. My nose is trained to catch even the tiniest trace, even the ones that are barely there."

Salem opened the leather pouch and brought it close to his nose. He was quiet for a while, his brows slowly knitting into a deep frown as he concentrated.

[This is strange ... I can’t smell any poison in here, but my body is telling me something’s not right.]