The notification told me what I’d already figured out from the sudden violent pain in my throat.

  Someone called for help while Bastian poured a [Health Potion] down my throat. Unfortunately, my throat was swollen from the poison and most of the potion spilled down my chin. Luckily, it still worked, and returned 100 hit points.

  I still couldn’t breath, but at this point I wondered if a simple death wouldn’t be more convenient. Peldeep, as I recalled, didn’t care about resurrection and inheritance laws like Sumbria did.

  “Tip her head back and hold her shoulders down.” A commanding voice cut through the sound of my own chocking.

  Bastian’s hands cradled my head, keeping it in place as my body continued to thrash against the poison. My fingers felt like they were on fire.

  And then it was over as suddenly as it began.

  Air filled my lungs and I sputtered out white foam. My hands came up to grab Bastian’s arm, and I noticed with detached interest that my fingernails were as green as my skin… greener, actually, since my hand now had a faint purple sheen from the poison.

  “She’ll be fine.” Said the voice from earlier. It was the Dark Lord, looking unhappy. “I–”

  He was cut off as Hermie and Charlie stepped forward to thank him.

  “That was brilliant, Your Viciousness.” Hermie said with a relieved smile, “What was the poison? I’ve never seen that before?”

  “Not now love, we should be thanking King Keith for rescuing our friend– Countess Peregrine comes from Sumbria, you know. Not good for a [Resurrection].” Charlie’s hedgehog nose twitched.

  The merchant from Servalt was nowhere to be seen.

  “How do you feel?” Bastian asked gently. I tried to speak but my throat wasn't healed enough and so I only managed a breathy wheeze before coughing again. Bastian frowned, and pulled out another health potion.

  I took it with shaking hands, and he had to help open it for me.

  “Oh, thank you Dark Magician King. We were so scared!” Princess Geraldine Peridot, a human princess from the Empire of Sands, was suddenly on King Keith, pressing up against him. She was already married, as far as I knew, but made a show of trying to seduce the demi with her fluttering lashes. “How did you know what to do?”

  That was too much for the Dark Lord, it seemed, and he unleashed his aura in full force. Even at full capacity I wouldn’t have been able to last under a Level 80 Arcane Sage aura - now I was near shivering uncontrollably and barely held back tears. I ignored the notification even as it hit me.

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  Rude.

  “Move.” King Keith’s order hit harder, and the princess fainted.

  Bastian gathered me in his arms and stood, backing up with the crowd. If only I wasn’t recovering from poison, I might have been more excited to be pressed up against my fiancé's muscular armour-free chest.

  All right, I'd admit I still enjoyed it.

  The only one who held their ground while King Keith stormed off was Necromancer Chloe. The short blond haired woman stood straight and waved a hand in my direction, explaining, “Her fingernails were turning green and she had pale spots on her neck, with white foam on her lips… and it didn’t kill her outright. That’s waurg poison.”

  I lifted one hand to my throat. I couldn’t see if there were still spots, but my fingernails were not as green anymore, so that was a good sign.

  “Keith gave her the antidote,” Chloe continued talking about me to the crowd. “so she’ll recover. Worst case, she would have died after all of her organs failed, and then I’d have [Revived] her. It’s not a nice way to go though, so I don’t recommend it.”

  Well, I guess I could forgive the Dark Lord his aura attack after saving me from such a gruesome fate.

  “I’m fine.” I croaked out, finally managing to speak. “How are the spots?”

  Bastian’s eyes lowered to my neck, “Mostly gone. And your colouring is almost back to normal… how do you feel?”

  He repeated his earlier question, the one I’d just answered. I opened my mouth to speak, but then I stopped.

  Was I fine? Did I really want to reiterate that I was, in fact, fine... What if Bastian put me down when I said I was fine?

  Instead of answering his question, I asked my own. “Is there somewhere I could rest?”

  “Of course,” He turned, heading towards the balcony door. “How about some fresh air?”

  I turned my cheek to press against his chest, enjoying every minute of this. Even Crown Prince Deryl sneering at me as he watched us leave for the outside patio didn’t ruin my mood.

  I was being princess carried at a ball by the most handsome creature on two legs. All it took was getting poisoned…

  Bastian didn’t stop at the patio, but continued down a short staircase and into the garden.

  “Excuse me.” His voice was a little bit gruff as he sat down on the ledge of a water fountain, placing me in his lap. “This is just until you're recovered…”

  I didn’t say anything. Maybe I should have. I was recovered enough that I felt almost like myself again, just with a few missing health points.

  Instead, we sat in silence, enjoying a cool spring breeze in the air.

  After a while, I said, “I think it was Servalt.”

  “Alright.” He sounded pretty threatening for a man who was simply agreeing with me.

  “What should I do?” I asked, staring up at the starry sky. The night wasn’t as quiet, as members of the palace guard hurried somewhere nearby.

  “That depends.” He replied.

  “On what?”

  “On what level you are.” Bastian leaned forward and pressed his face into my hair.

  “Ah.” The rules around assassination attempts for elites meant that I was technically fair game… but right now I was hiding my real power.

  Mostly everyone who attended Grand Duchess Callisto’s events was elite. So people could assume anyone in attendance was an easy target. They might have made a mistake… or seen through my skills entirely.

  Were they targeting me because I was Sumbrian? Or did someone not want the alliance with Peldeep to go through?

  “Perfect timing.” Bastian said, cutting into my thoughts.

  Sir Rebecca appeared in front of us, her face a hard mask.

  “The marquess used you as a distraction,” She informed us, looking unhappy. “Princess Henrietta has been kidnapped.”