Chapter 89: Chapter-89

“They were trying to kill me. I responded appropriately.” She looked at him. “Should I be concerned?”

Dimitri stared at her for a moment, then looked away. “No, Your Highness. I suppose not.”

But his expression suggested otherwise. Elara noted it distantly. Dimitri was uncomfortable with the executions. Understandable—he wasn’t military, hadn’t been trained to view killing as a tool rather than a trauma.

She’d need to be careful about how much direct violence she exposed him to. Useful administrators were harder to replace than she’d initially calculated.

They reached her building. Inside, Lisa was waiting in the entrance hall, face pale.

“Your Highness—I heard—the assassins—”

“Dead,” Elara said simply. “The false information you provided led them directly into an ambush. Well done.”

Lisa looked like she might be sick. “I… they’re really dead?”

“Yes. All six.” Elara walked past her toward the stairs. “Which proves your handlers are still trusting your intelligence. Continue sending reports as we discussed. Next one is due tomorrow.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Elara climbed to her office, sat at her desk, and pulled out fresh paper.

She began writing a report to the Shadow Guild:

*Ambush successful. Six professional assassins eliminated. Interrogation revealed intermediary: “The Broker” – female, mid-40s, noble background, capital-based. Request identification and tracking.*

*Also: accelerate family extraction timeline if possible. Double agent proving valuable. Want to secure her loyalty permanently.*

She sealed it and set it aside for the morning courier.

Six assassins dead. Whoever was funding them—Third Princess Mingzhu Blackwood, First Consort backing First Princess Eleana, or others in the succession battle—would know within days that their professional team had failed. They’d either send another team or reconsider the cost-benefit of killing her.

Either way, she’d just proven she wasn’t an easy target.

The message had been sent.

—

# Merchant Lord Carver’s Countermove

Three days after the eastern docks ambush, Elara received an urgent message while reviewing inventory reports.

The fox knight burst into her office—no knock, face tight with alarm.

“Your Highness. The supermarket. There’s a problem.”

Elara stood immediately. “What kind of problem?”

“People are getting sick. Food poisoning, they think. Started an hour ago. Already eight cases, possibly more.”

Her mind went cold and clinical instantly. “Symptoms?”

“Vomiting, stomach cramps, dizziness. Three people collapsed. The city physician was called—he’s there now examining them.”

Poisoning. Deliberate sabotage.

“Shut down the food court immediately,” Elara said, already moving toward the door. “No more food served until we identify the source. Have Gregor secure all ingredients and kitchen equipment—nothing gets moved or cleaned until I inspect it personally.”

“Already done, Your Highness. But there’s more.”

“What.”

“The sick people? They’re all prominent local merchants and their families. Well-known in the community. And there are already rumors spreading that the Fourth Princess’s establishment is serving poisoned food.”

Elara stopped walking. Processed that.

Not random customers. Targeted victims. People whose illness would be noticed, talked about, impossible to hide.

And the timing—right after her successful assassination defense. Right when she’d just proven herself dangerous.

This wasn’t amateur nobles panicking. This was calculated retaliation.

“Merchant Lord Carver,” she said quietly.

“Your Highness?”

“This is Carver’s response. I destroyed Kessler, I’m moving on Marrs, so he struck first.” She resumed walking, pace faster now. “He poisoned the food, selected visible victims, and is spreading rumors to destroy the supermarket’s reputation before I can destroy his financial base.”

They reached the supermarket within ten minutes. The scene was chaos—customers clustered outside, guards preventing entry, someone shouting about “dangerous food” while others argued back.

Inside was worse.

Eight people sat or lay on the floor, being tended by the city physician and his assistants. All of them looked genuinely ill—pale, sweating, several still vomiting into buckets.

Elara knelt beside the nearest victim—a merchant she recognized from the textile district. “How long ago did you eat?”

“Maybe… maybe ninety minutes?” The man grimaced, clutching his stomach. “Had the burger. And fries. Seemed fine at first, then…”

“What did it taste like? Anything unusual?”

“No. Tasted normal. Good, even.” Another grimace. “Your Highness, I don’t think this was your fault, someone must have—”

He couldn’t finish. Turned and vomited again.

Elara stood and found the city physician. “Diagnosis?”

“Definitely poisoning, Your Highness. Fast-acting but not lethal from what I can see. They’ll recover within a day, maybe two.” He gestured toward the victims. “But the symptoms are severe enough to be frightening. And very visible.”

“Substance?”

“I’d need to examine the food directly, but based on symptoms? Probably something plant-based. Lily root extract, maybe, or concentrated nightshade derivative. Enough to cause severe distress but carefully dosed to avoid deaths.”

Carefully dosed. Precision poisoning.

Professional work.

Elara walked to the kitchen. Gregor stood guard at the entrance, face grim.

“Your Highness. Everything is secured as you ordered. Nothing has been touched since we shut down.”

“Good. Let me through.”

Inside, the kitchen looked normal. Clean prep surfaces, stored ingredients, ovens cooling from morning service. But somewhere in this space, poison had been introduced into the food supply.

She examined each station systematically. Burger preparation area—meat, buns, vegetables, condiments. Fry station—potatoes, oil, salt. Pizza station—dough, sauce, cheese, toppings.

“Who was working this morning?” she asked.

“Same crew as always,” Gregor said. “Georg the head cook, plus four assistants. All of them have been here since opening day. All thoroughly vetted.”

“Where are they now?”

“Separated. Each in a different room. I didn’t want them coordinating stories if one of them is compromised.”

Smart.

Elara continued examining the kitchen. Most of the ingredients were fresh daily deliveries—hard to poison without controlling the supply chain. But the condiments, the oils, the dried spices…

She opened the spice cabinet. Rows of jars, each labeled clearly. Pepper. Salt. Garlic powder. Paprika.

One jar stood out—not because it looked different, but because it was positioned wrong. Elara had memorized the kitchen layout weeks ago. This jar had been moved.

She lifted it carefully, opened it, examined the contents. The color was slightly off. “Nightshade derivative, mixed with regular paprika. Added to the burger seasoning mix. Just enough to sicken but not kill.”

Gregor stared. “How can you tell?”

“The color is slightly off. And it’s been moved recently—there’s no dust on the base like the others.” She set it down carefully. “This is the source. Who had access to this cabinet?”

“The cooking staff. And… the spice supplier delivered fresh inventory two days ago.”

“Supplier name?”

“Carver Trade Goods.”

There it was.

Elara turned to face Gregor. “Merchant Lord Carver owns the supplier?”

“He owns majority stake, yes. Why would he—” Understanding hit. “He poisoned his own inventory to sabotage your kitchen.”

“He poisoned carefully selected inventory with precise dosing to create maximum reputational damage without causing deaths that would trigger imperial investigation.” Elara walked back to the main floor. “This is retaliation. And it’s effective.”

Outside, the crowd had grown. Maybe a hundred people now, shouting questions, demanding answers.

“Is the food safe?”

“My wife ate here this morning—will she get sick?”

“The Fourth Princess is trying to poison us!”

That last one was what Carver wanted. Fear. Suspicion. Reputational destruction.

Elara stepped outside. The crowd quieted slightly when they saw her.

“The supermarket is temporarily closed,” she said, voice carrying across the crowd. “Eight customers became ill from contaminated spices. They will all recover fully—the physician has confirmed the poisoning is not lethal.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep