Chapter 31

Disgusting. Do you think I don’t know your tricks?

Princess Anais Carlisle, the Third Imperial Princess, disdainfully looked at Alan seated in front of her.

Alan Medoff, CEO of Medoff Pharmaceuticals and a bodyguard of the Imperial Court.

His origin was from a declined noble family, not particularly better off than a well-off farmer. At the age of seventeen, he entered the Academy, maintained consistently excellent grades, and led an uneventful personal life. He didn’t even have a minor disciplinary record.

Then, right after graduation, when he became Siena’s bodyguard, he started to fall into corruption.

‘He’s just a tool-like existence.’

If he had served a proper master, he could have built a normal career as an elite. His bad luck was choosing someone like Siena.

The only surprising thing about him might be his knowledge of pharmacology?

No one knows where he learned it, but that wasn’t important. He probably studied it to gain Siena’s favor.

Judging from how Siena, who normally torments everyone, especially favored and treated him as a business partner, he must have had something.

When Alan suddenly showed up, Anais couldn’t guess his intention.

Pointing out the dangers of health syrup, a man whose specialty was killing people, was concerned about the lives of unknown commoners, and even cared for Anais’s own safety—a supposed rival. This was completely irrational behavior.

At first, she thought this kid might have gone crazy for some reason, honestly.

‘But now I understand.’

Alan was undoubtedly worried that health syrup might take over the market.

He probably planned to build credibility through military contracts and then enter the civilian market to make a fortune. But the sudden appearance of health syrup must have disrupted that, so he rushed here in distress.

To be honest, health syrup had a completely different level of price competitiveness.

Morphine costs 1,000 talers per gram, while health syrup is 79 talers for 0.3 liters.

Though the dosage and efficacy differ, the latter would naturally appeal more to most people. Unlike morphine, which is only for severe patients, syrup could also be useful for minor colds.

‘My restoration of power through health syrup must have scared him too.’

Some were already approaching her, spotting the potential of health syrup.

The most representative example was Professor Bobby Duncan, head of the Magic Department of the Academy.

He might invite ridicule for frequently borrowing money, but he’s still a notable figure. Therefore, Anais sold him a small portion of shares and made him an ally.

It made sense to keep them in check from their perspective.

Of course, Anais had no intention of stopping. What was the point of starting this business in the first place?

Since Siena and Alan were feeling threatened by the syrup, she should push even harder. That way, she could provoke reckless moves from the other side.

“Is that all you have to say?”

Anais smirked while crossing her arms, wanting to hear what this man had to say after failing to achieve his purpose.

“That’s all, Your Highness, the Third Imperial Princess.”

“…You’re surprisingly quick to retreat.”

“Should I rudely stop you when your determination to the business is so unwavering? Besides, I’ve realized that nothing I say will reach you, Your Highness. You’ve already decided not to believe me.”

“Sounds like sarcasm?”

“Not at all. May I ask one thing? If you don’t trust my goodwill, why do you so easily accept my warnings about the poisonous herbs?”

It was a simple question. Anais was ready to give an answer.

“I already told you. I trust your abilities. If you only lied, I thought you’d know I wouldn’t trust you. So, you mixed truths, didn’t you?”

Alan Medoff sighed, seemingly frustrated with this answer.

Though it was extremely rude behavior for addressing royalty, Anais didn’t intend to point it out. At this point, nitpicking over etiquette would be childish.

She couldn’t help but think again how great Alan’s acting skills were. At a glance, it seemed like he was genuinely disappointed about the failed negotiation. She’d noticed this when they dealt with psilocybin; his talent surpasses most theater actors.

‘Certainly a crafty person. And unfortunately, in a bad way.’

Fortunately, she found it useful to extract information without entangling in his schemes this time, but she needed to be more careful moving forward.

“I want you to leave now.”

“Yes, Your Highness. However, Third Princess, if you ever find yourself in trouble, I hope you remember my words today. And that there was an opportunity to end this well… which you’ve now chosen to discard.”

With that, Alan left the Audience Chamber. He was a truly inhumane person.

…

However, after the negotiation ended, Anais felt an odd bitterness.

‘”You’ve discarded the opportunity?”‘

Was he deliberately trying to unsettle her?

Otherwise, it could’ve been a declaration of impending regret—since he wouldn’t simply let health syrup’s success continue.

From now on, he would likely use all sorts of stratagems, incitement, and plots to eliminate health syrup.

‘There’s nothing stopping me from secretly mixing poison into health syrup and circulating it…’

Given the nature of the opponent, she must establish at least some basic safety measures.

Anais thought for a moment, then remembered Mrs. Chandler.

A person who led the success of health syrup with her gentle smile and engaging conversation.

Currently, she was preparing a poster with her face, designed by a skilled craftsman. She even intended to mass-produce it with woodblock printing. If the business was doing well, Mrs. Chandler was clearly excited too.

She should honor this effort.

Anais immediately called for the butler.

“I heard Mrs. Chandler’s husband was in the military?”

“Yes. He used to be a corporal in the military police, but he’s retired now.”

“That’s good. Hire him as the security manager at our factory. Pay him well too. It’ll be better for him than just staying idle at home.”

“Security manager, Your Highness? But he is old and uneducated…?”

“Do as I say. And if possible, hire his children too.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Thus, Anais provided re-employment for Mrs. Chandler’s husband.

She also decided to assign an official position to Mrs. Chandler herself, who managed sales as head of distribution.

She would offer her an executive position at the “Gordon Renox Stock Company” factory, which was officially registered under her name.

“That should be enough.”

Anais sighed and picked up the health syrup bottle.

Health syrup contained ingredients like opium, poisonous herbs root extract, ephedra, and alcohol.

Though she planned to remove the poisonous herb component from now on, she didn’t expect this to change what consumers would personally feel. Adding a bit more opium and ephedra would suffice, making her feel accomplished for using Alan to address its weaknesses.

‘Now the real game begins.’

Anais’s revenge plan was successfully moving forward, at least in her eyes.

***

Negotiation failed. If there was anything I achieved, it was one thing.

Removing the poisonous herb component from health syrup.

At least, the number of people who die meaninglessly without knowing why will meaningfully decrease, right? The number of pitiful people enduring excruciating eye pain and hallucinations until they become blind will also go down.

Certainly, opium and ephedra alone can still make one crazy. It’s just that fewer people will die suddenly.

One might see my contribution as helping to debug health syrup, but I didn’t care.

Even if I left it untouched, it could still be sold for the next 50 or 100 years, but I had no intention of allowing that.

Not because I was worried about the Empire’s future, but because if left alone, Anais might grow into a real monster potentially threatening even me.

It was better to stop her now.

‘There is no need to drag it out. It’s probably selling already.’

The next morning, as soon as I finished mulling it over, I headed to Siena.

“Alan? As expected, talking wouldn’t work, huh?”

Her purple eyes stared at me. She must’ve already guessed the negotiation failed by looking at my face.

She even smirked, as if confirming what she suspected all along.

“As much as I negotiated, I thought the same too. I’ve got a good idea—would you care to hear?”

“Speak, Your Highness.”

“It’s simple. Let’s fight fire with fire.”

Siena said this while giving me a look as if to ask, “You know what I mean, right?”

Her small face was filled with mischief, and her silver eyebrows slightly quivered. I understood what she was hinting at.

She probably plans to create an original calming syrup, targeting civilians just like Anais. Since the two sisters influence each other, this move was predictable.

At least it was comforting that she wasn’t genuinely pushing for it. She understands it would raise my objections.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. If Your Highness were to do such a thing, you’d fall alongside your younger sibling.”

“Aw, too bad.”

Contrary to her words, there was no trace of disappointment in Siena’s expression. She was likely intrigued by the word “downfall.”

“Something like… a forfeiture of inheritance rights and house arrest could be possible?”

Judging from her muttering, it seemed Siena imagined disqualification of inheritance rights and house arrest.

Just that, huh? The kid was more innocent than I thought. Compared to the surgical estimate I had suggested, disqualification of inheritance rights was nothing.

“Unfortunately, this situation can’t end with just that. To stop the Third Princess, we need harsher measures.”

“Sounds good, but will it work? Is it possible because of something this trivial?”

“I’ll make it possible.”

“Your Highness and I, together.”

Upon hearing these words, the smile disappeared from Siena’s face. She seemed to realize this wasn’t a situation for giggling, though she wasn’t exactly tense.

I thought it was a good sign and continued speaking.

To explain how we would deal with Anais.

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