Filed To Story: Queen of the Battlefield Her Return to Glory Novel Online Free
The mention of death turned everyone’s faces pale.
The color drained from Penny’s face as she murmured, “Impossible… That can’t be true.”
Her reaction caused Garrick and the others to look at her curiously.
“Penny, you keep saying it’s impossible. Why are you so certain?” he asked.
set
“I…” Penny’s eyes lingered on Lisandra, whose face was still flushed with unnatural redness. A wave of uncertainty swept through her. “I just feel… It sounds so far-fetched. A poisonous worm? I’ve never even heard of such a thing.”
“The world is vast. There are plenty of things you’ve never heard of. If lighting this can cure Her Highness, why not try it?” Garrick replied.
Penny hesitated, still conflicted. “We can’t be sure if what he’s saying is true. What if lighting this thing is the real poison?”
Leroy furrowed his brows. This matter had nothing to do with him. He had recognized Penny’s strange behavior, but it didn’t matter what she had done. As long as Lisandra couldn’t participate in the negotiations, the power to make decisions rested in his hands. However, there was one condition-Lisandra’s life couldn’t be harmed. After all, she was his niece. Arthur was gone. Even though Lisandra didn’t share Leroy’s stance on the war, he simply couldn’t take her life.
He found it odd that Penny, who had always been Lisandra’s trusted confidant, would betray her. Was Penny in favor of the war? She had opposed it previously. And clearly, she didn’t want Lisandra to die, nor was she willing to give up just like that. Penny couldn’t be acting alone-someone must be pulling the strings behind her betrayal.
Who was it? Edmund?
Questions swirled in Leroy’s mind, but he had no answers.
His suspicions about Penny stemmed from his ties to Harvey, but the others wouldn’t have noticed anything, as she had always been one of Lisandra’s most loyal subordinates.
While Leroy was lost in thought, Winona turned to Penny and said, “We’re all here. If that’s poison, we’ll all be poisoned together.”
“If you’re using poison, I’m sure you all have the antidote,” Penny retorted.
Winona leaned back and said calmly, “Why would we do that? What good would it do us if we poisoned all of you here in Starhaven?”
The Westhaven envoys understood that the people of Starhaven would never do such a thing. They turned to Javier, hoping for reassurance. If he agreed, they would feel more comfortable about the incense.
However, Javier remained silent. Though he was familiar with parasitic toxins, he had never seen them used in practice, nor did he know the antidote. He couldn’t be certain whether Lisandra had been poisoned by Soulgrip Threadworms, nor was he sure if this small object would awaken her.
Sebastian noticed that no one was speaking, and grew impatient. He raised his voice and said, “Her Highness has been ill for several hours now. If the poison isn’t neutralized within 12 hours, even a god would have a hard time saving her. Every hour we delay only worsens the damage.”
With that, he turned to leave with his medicine box in hand.
Garrick and Javier quickly stepped forward to stop him.
“No, you can’t leave!”
Sebastian was no patient man. He gave them a cold look. “Since you don’t believe me, I’ll only watch her die if I stay here. I’m too fragile to bear such sights. It’s best if I leave.”
Yasmine looked at Penny for a moment, then glanced at the rest of the room. “Why don’t we just listen to Mr. Dalton and light the incense? If it’s poison, they’ll all be affected. If it’s harmless or doesn’t wake Her Highness, we’ll be no worse off, and we can think of another r way.”
This was also the consensus of the Westhaven envoys. But aside from Garrick, who had spoken earlier, none dared to take responsibility Now, Yasmine, the eldest daughter of the Stein family and Lisandra’s trusted ally, had spoken. If anything happened, she would take the blame.
Naturally, no one else objected. Even Penny remained silent as she clutched her sleeve, her expression complicated. In the end, everyone nodded in agreement.
Under their watchful eyes, Sebastian lit the incense and placed it near Lisandra’s pillow. When it was first lit, it emitted a delicate fragrance, but after a while the scent became strangely off. The familiar fragrance remained, but now carried a strong, bloodlike odor. As the bloody scent spread, it was tainted with a rotten stench that overpowered the earlier pleasant scent completely.
Everyone quickly covered their noses, their hearts pounding as they anxiously watched Lisandra. Before long, something that shocked everyone present happened.
Lisandra’s ears and nostrils began to expel tiny, almost transparent threadworms about the size of a thread. After crawling out, they all entered the incense burner through its hollow openings. Yuna gasped in horror. “Oh my god, what is that? It’s terrifying!”
“Is that the Soulgrip Threadworms?” Javier asked, utterly stunned as he had never seen such a thing before.
The poison was alive!
There were four threadworms in total. The last two were a different color-their first half was red while their second half was a faint pink, perhaps from having absorbed blood. “If all four threadworms had their fill of blood, Grand Princess Lisandra would have been beyond saving,” Sebastian said calmly.
He placed the incense burner aside, and everyone instinctively took a step back. They had never seen anything so horrifying, and couldn’t help but feel a chill run through them. Sophie and Violet exchanged a look, both feeling a wave of disgust, their skin crawling.
Penny was so frightened, she could hardly stand. She braced herself against the table, her lips trembling and her eyes wide with disbelief.
Sebastian remained calm. “Her Highness will wake soon. Mr. Glover, check on her and see if you can detect any stagnation in her blood now.”
Leroy nudged the stunned Javier. “Go.”
It took a moment for Javier to snap out of his daze. He moved to the bed, checking on Lisandra for a long while before shaking his head and taking a deep breath.
“How is this possible? Her vital signs are completely different!”
“After expelling so many poisonous worms, of course they have changed.”
Yuna, who sat by the bed, began instructing Aria to prepare water so they could feed Lisandra once she woke.
“Prepare some water with salt and sugar for her as well,” Sebastian added.
His medicine box contained many remedies, some of which would be ideal for Lisandra’s condition. However, he wouldn’t administer any of them until she was conscious. Only once she woke and allowed him to treat her would he begin prescribing the proper medicines. Aria hurried off to prepare the sugar-salt water. In her haste, her steps faltered and she nearly fell over. Sophie caught her just in time.
“Thank you, Your Grace,” Aria murmured, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.
At first, Aria regretted telling the Hell Monarch’s wife about Lisandra’s condition. She feared they would use the information to stir up trouble. Now, seeing them burst in to help, she felt nothing but gratitude. She was relieved she had made the right choice.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes,
Lisandra stirred awake. As her gaze swept over the group gathered at her bedside, her expression was filled with confusion. She tried to speak, but was overwhelmed by the metallic taste of blood in her mouth.
“Her Highness is awake!” Yuna exclaimed, her voice filled with excitement.
A collective sigh of relief filled the room as everyone looked gratefully at Sebastian and Sophie.
The group approached to offer their thanks.
Even Leroy, who was usually arrogant and proud, bowed respectfully to Sebastian. “Thank you for saving the grand princess, Mr. Dalton.”
“It was nothing,” Sebastian replied.
Seeing how happy everyone was, he added, “But the danger isn’t over yet. Whoever was able to introduce the first threadworm could easily do it You need to find that person again as soon as possible. The threadworm was introduced through food.”