“Of course, I’m sure the Sailan Principality won’t immediately believe our claims. After all, anyone can say pretty words, but not everyone can produce reliable results.”
“So, Your Highness, don’t you think Osnabrock should set an example itself?”
Ye Tang smiled, her smile carrying a bewitching power.
To produce results in epidemic prevention and control, they naturally had to prevent and control the epidemic first.
“The large-scale outbreak of the Spanish Flu isn’t limited to Osnabrock or the Sailan Principality. I’m afraid Tartafu’s situation is now a hundred times worse than ours in Osnabrock. If Tartafu fell into unprecedented chaos due to the Spanish Flu while our country remained orderly, Your Highness, what do you think the Sailan Principality’s royals would feel?”
“Even if the Sailan Principality didn’t request aid from us, they would surely show weakness and bow their heads to us, begging our country to point the way for them?”
“What if our country then helped the Sailan Principality successfully control the Spanish Flu?”
“Then Osnabrock would be the savior. The whole world would need our experience! Need our guidance! If we not only controlled the Spanish Flu but also produced a specific cure for it, then Osnabrock would be God—”
“Because we could eliminate the demons that even the Holy See could do nothing about.”
His hair stood on end, and a tingling sensation like an electric shock flashed across his back. Duke Wilson involuntarily imagined the scene Ye Tang described for him, following the sound of her voice.
Behind him, Jack’s back was already soaked with sweat. The smile mask on Adrian’s face also cracked somewhat. These two young nobles understood what Ye Tang’s words truly meant—
With a weapon to restrain invisible demons in hand, Osnabrock would possess the power to negotiate terms with other countries. Not to mention distant ones—take the nearby example. If the Sailan Principality requested aid from Osnabrock, it meant Osnabrock could demand repayment from the Sailan Principality.
In the past, the Sailan Principality served as a relay point between Osnabrock and Tartafu, collecting taxes from both sides. Tartafu merchants had to pay taxes to the Sailan Principality upon arrival, and Osnabrock merchants passing through also had to pay taxes.
But what if Osnabrock used control over the Spanish Flu as an exchange condition and demanded that the Sailan Principality exempt taxes on Osnabrock people?
Costs would drop by twenty or even thirty percent at once, merchants would rapidly grow wealthy, and the nobles behind those merchants would profit immensely.
If they grew a bit greedier and more ruthless, Osnabrock could coerce the Sailan Principality into signing unequal treaties, effectively turning it into a vassal state of Osnabrock. They could even use the Sailan Principality to collect tariffs from other countries including Tartafu, thereby suppressing their trade activities.
From a religious perspective, if a non-religious country eradicated a disease that religious nations couldn’t, that country’s credibility and reputation would surpass the Holy See. The Holy See would either have to win it over or find a way to destroy it.
The problem was, the Holy See, unable to confront the plague head-on, would only retreat step by step under its ravages. To eliminate a country that could defeat the plague, unless someone in the Holy See could make their god perform a great miracle.
Thus, the map of religious influence would also change dramatically because of Osnabrock’s actions.
Duke Wilson’s throat bobbed.
In her words, Ye Tang showed him power—supreme power. Absolute power that even clergy couldn’t shake. This was practically a temptation from the demons of hell—no, from a demon lord.
“…Your words make sense, but I still need to consider it further.”
“Of course, my Your Highness.”
Ye Tang stood and bowed once more.
She didn’t care about the intrigues between nations or who held world hegemony. In fact, Osnabrock couldn’t possibly gain world dominator status just from epidemic control—the great powers had higher productivity and technological levels than Osnabrock. What took Osnabrock five years, others might replicate in one.
The key was that epidemic prevention and control had to become a global trend. Otherwise, until disunited humanity was reaped clean by the plague and abandoned national and regional conflicts to fight it together, the plague—this harbinger of apocalypse—would never be defeated.
“However, Madam, I thank you for your foresight.”
Duke Wilson stood, supporting himself on the table as he gave Ye Tang a slight bow. “At least you’ve given Osnabrock a chance to fight the Spanish Flu. We’re not all waiting ignorantly to be slaughtered.”
Jack’s pupils didn’t just quake— a noble, no, a duke no less, actually bowed to a commoner!? This was unprecedented!
“I will speak to Your Majesty about this later.”
“Your Highness!?”
Duke Wilson’s promise left Jack breathless and shattered Adrian’s smile—the king didn’t trust his brother, and the king’s sons saw the physically frail but highly capable duke as a rival for the throne. If the duke spoke to His Majesty, he might arouse suspicion, seen as trying to create achievements to boost his reputation and public support.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Ye Tang bowed a third time and continued, “Given your trust, there’s one more thing I’d like to inform you of.”
“What?”
“Your frail health is mostly due to poisoning.”
“P-Poisoning!?”
Even Daisy’s face changed this time.
Truth be told, halfway through Ye Tang’s earlier words, Daisy had started to lose track… the kind where she understood every word but blanked out once they formed sentences.
But “poisoning” was different—Daisy clearly understood what Ye Tang meant.
“Your Highness’s meals are tested by dedicated tasters! The silverware didn’t blacken! And the court physicians said Your Highness was merely weak—”
Silverware served as a poison test standard because ancient poisons were mostly arsenic-based. In refining arsenic, the process couldn’t yet remove impurities, so arsenic often contained sulfur and sulfides.
Sulfur and sulfides reacted with silver to form gray-black silver sulfide. The presence of silver sulfide became the basis for silverware poison testing.
But in fact, many toxic substances didn’t contain sulfur or sulfides. Poisonous plants, nitrites, and pufferfish toxin couldn’t be detected by silverware. And if the poison dose was small enough and tasters rotated, the tasters wouldn’t die.
“Forgive my overstep, Your Highness. Your skin, lips, and nails all faintly show a bluish-purple tint—that’s a symptom of poisoning. You should feel dizziness, headaches, fatigue, loss of appetite, drowsiness, rapid heartbeat…”
Ye Tang knew these so clearly because she had crossed into palace intrigue worlds.
It was laughable, really—courts ancient and modern, Eastern and Western, were all similar. Brothers turned on brothers, sisters betrayed sisters. Fathers distrusted sons, sons struck back at fathers. For daughters, unless they reached the pinnacle of power, they were just pawns to be used and manipulated.
The tropes of poisoning and silverware testing were always the same. There was always some frail prince or duke poisoned, and imperial physicians or court doctors might have noticed but either dared not speak or were bribed.
“Madam, do you know how to antidote it?!”
Jack couldn’t help shouting.
Ye Tang shook her head. “Unfortunately, I’m not a doctor and can’t help in this regard.”
After a long while, Duke Wilson recovered from his shock. He examined Ye Tang closely this time.
A question suddenly occurred to him. “—Madam, if I hadn’t promised to speak to His Majesty on your behalf, would you still have warned me about the poisoning?”
Ye Tang didn’t answer, merely smiling faintly.
That smile said more than a thousand words.
Daisy escorted Ye Tang back, and Duke Wilson slumped in his chair. One hand pressed to his head, his mouth beneath the palm emitting a near-groan.
“—What a terrifying woman.”
That said, Duke Wilson didn’t dislike Ye Tang. Even though she had nearly stood by and watched him be poisoned to death.
“I… don’t understand Mrs. Hedelin.”
Jack looked extremely conflicted.
“She risks her life for poor commoners who mean nothing to her. But toward Your Highness… she only informed him after judging that he would listen and it would benefit her—”
Unable to say “he was poisoned,” Jack, blaming himself for failing to protect the duke despite being at his side, clenched his teeth hard.
“I can understand… somewhat.”
Adrian stroked his chin. “Mrs. Hedelin doesn’t care who holds power; she cares about human survival… or perhaps humanity’s future?”
Chewing on Adrian’s words along with Jack, Duke Wilson muttered, “By the way, this madam doesn’t seem like a harsh person, does she? Though her features are indeed rather stern.”
Adrian and Jack exchanged a glance. Earlier, their focus had been on Mrs. Hedelin’s words; as for her appearance… well… they had only vague impressions.
But, maybe, probably, perhaps… Mrs. Hedelin really didn’t seem that harsh?
She actually looked quite nice when she smiled. If Little Treasure smiled—
Adrian smacked his own forehead with his hand.
What was wrong with him lately? Ever since Mrs. Clement said Little Treasure had caught the Spanish Flu, he kept inexplicably thinking of her…
……
Gloria, who had fed Claudia water, went with Cinderella, who carried a tea tray, to the adjacent room to wash their hands and masks.
Having cared for Claudia day and night without solid sleep, both had red veins in their eyes.
Staring at herself in the mirror, Gloria suddenly burst into tears without warning. Cinderella startled and quickly grabbed Gloria, who was pounding the wall with her fists.
“Senior Sister Lia?”
“I’m so useless… I’m too useless…”
Gloria struggled to explain her sense of powerlessness, but Cinderella, who had cared for Claudia alongside her, understood Gloria’s feelings perfectly.
Truthfully, they could have left Claudia’s care entirely to the maids. The reason they didn’t was because both realized: if they weren’t at Claudia’s bedside tending her, they had nothing left to do.
They saw their mother running around gathering materials for masks, making masks. They saw her writing letters late into the night in her study, sending them via maids to scholars far away in other countries. They brought doctors their mother had summoned to see Claudia, only to hear one piece of bad news after another.
If Gloria hadn’t broken down now, Cinderella might have collapsed the next instant.
“I’ve read so many books, I can recite how many ribs a human has, but I can’t think of a way to treat Dia!”
“I know the world’s most advanced antibiotic is penicillin, but I don’t know the name of the medicine that can cure Dia!”
“Cinderella, I don’t know what else I can do, I don’t know what else I can do for Dia besides feeding her water…!! I regret it so much! Regret not reading more medical books! Regret not studying medicine! I wish I were a doctor! I could cure Dia!”
Gloria flailed her limbs wildly as she wailed. If Cinderella had not held her tightly, she might have already bashed her head against the wall.
Claudia was her older sister and also her friend. They had grown up together, each like the other’s other half. Gloria could not even imagine how she would face the world without Claudia, much less accept the fact that Claudia would no longer be by her side.
“I understand, I understand…”
Cinderella murmured softly, her own tears winding down from the corners of her eyes.
Every visit to the doctor was a torment for Claudia. She had to endure being groped by unfamiliar men and having every part of her body scrutinized by strangers.
Claudia’s discomfort had nothing to do with chastity. She understood that the doctors examined her to cure her illness.
But discomfort was still discomfort.
Cinderella had seen Claudia’s discomfort all too clearly. If she could, she truly wanted to bear that discomfort in Claudia’s place.
If she could, she truly wanted Claudia never to have to endure that discomfort.
“Rela, I want to be a doctor… a doctor who can cure Dia.”
Gloria sniffled and said, “Although I’ve never seen a female doctor, nor even heard of one.”
Cinderella smiled. “Senior Sister Lia, I want to be a doctor too. I want to be a doctor who won’t make female patients feel uncomfortable or rejected!”
Gloria broke into a smile through her tears. “Do you think Mother will agree…?”