Can Of Worms

'Thermal Gauge!'

Anasthasia's eyes gleamed bright red. She scanned his body and saw the different colors jagged, which moved like ocean tides swirled around whirlpools found on his body—notably correlated to mana fluctuations. She squinted, and there were a couple of them in his body.

'Although with this, I can see the temperature gradient inside. What could be these pulsating changes?'

She then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and snapped wide open. This time her eyes beamed violet—turning nigh invisible to their sight. It startled the two princes, wanting to advance, but Blake moved forth as he blocked them with his arms.

'What in the—My, to hell with all these! Those swirls were actually like these tumors, but the worst kind of it all?!'

Her mouth agape from the sight. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she trembled from the revelation.

"Regeneration won't be the answer for this..." she spoke aghast, which forebode slight chills to their body.

"Tasha, what do you mean—"

Her hand turned aglow as it laid on the King's chest. One could discern that it took her several minutes to accomplish what she ought to do. Once finished, she panted hard as she wiped the sweat on her forehead.

They noticed no significant changes in his body other than how his face relaxed, albeit not too evident at first glance. Her power ended with no other boons, which only raised their suspicions and anxiety.

Daniel brisked towards her, with every step that made loud thuds and grabbed her by the shoulder. "That was it?"

Anasthasia arched her neck and gave the nod, looking at him with skepticism. However, Daniel took it the wrong way as his eyebrows furrowed. "What the heck…"

He grabbed a handful of his hair and clenched his jaw from screaming out of frustration.

Michael also watched her with deep concern and mused, "May you please elucidate what were your attempts to do so, Tasha?"

"Considering his grave condition, I only tried to tweak and get his body working from the inside. Most especially the immune system—"

"What for?!"

Michael reprimanded, "Lower your voice, Daniel."

"Brother!"

"And give her time to explain... Don't make me repeat things twice."

"I—" His fist trembled and harrumphed. "...Do carry on."

"Hear me out. This miasma is no different from other types of poison. We know that a large dose of it resides on the body; it'll have a detrimental effect on the body. However, the case, this isn't just a simple miasma. Now that I get to check on him further, I could point out two things."

She shoved her arm in front of them, raising her two fingers.

"Tasha, go ahead."

"The first issue is the miasma— a special poison at that. Five years is pretty long, and it has reached this extent."

"Why is it special, Ana?"

Anasthasia nibbled her lips while she shut her eyes. "It is a radioactive effect."

She opened her eyes, and she was more than astonished from all of these as their faces clouded with confusion. Their faces never knew what it was, and it was as if the world mocked her.

'If they don't know what it is, then the books I have read thus far, in terms of health and how it lagged compared to other advancements notably by humans, essentially spoke truth.'

Gulping audibly, she pressed her lips before she uttered once more, "...cancer…"

All of them tensed their bodies from her word. Judging by their faces, they could grasp her intention more or less, but this also fueled their incongruency of said knowledge.

"How is that possible?! Miss Ana, there is no way His Majesty would acquire such—"

"Not even the high and mighty figures are immune to this disease. There are many causes, but the main culprit would be the radioactive effect; it could accelerate and compromise the body with adequate exposure."

She raked her hair with her fingers, clearly irritated at how things got more and more complicated. "Before I show different methods I thought of and made a decisive action, I'd like to ask about that flower from the vanity days ago."

Anasthasia creased her brows as she thought of possibilities, but nothing would confirm if she would do this all on her own. She needed help.

"Blake, this flower, Purpledream Hibiscus, came from Perpetual Evergarden, right?"

He nodded.

"Then, why is the place coined as one of the natural wonders?"

"Because it's a plain field with nothing but all those kinds of flowers."

Dread washed off her spine, which her voice trembled slightly, "But the place—a lot of people visit there...Right?"

"Indeed, it's quite an attraction that no one could easily resist."

Anasthasia shifted her gaze to the royal siblings. "Do your chambers have these kinds of flowers as well?!"

"No." they chorused.

"Have you all gone to that place?"

As Anasthasia saw how they shook their heads again, a fraction of weight uplifted on her heart, so she heaved a sigh.

"Blake, this will be a great mission I asked of you. I hope you don't mind."

Blake gestured the same when they first met, the gesture that held so meaningfully to Anasthasia: a stance to commemorate her fallen empire. Michael had his eyes flared with surprise after seeing it the second time, and Daniel jerked away.

"No! Don't do that—Please! Treat me ... Despite it's hard for me to admit, as though my past life has gone by the wind."

He then stood upright and nodded. "If it's anything in my power, Miss Ana. I'd gladly do it."

"Please keep track of the people that come and go with that place." His eyes widened as she realized what she wanted. "Yes, Blake, I suspect that people suffer the same thing, but the degree would vary depending on the exposure. Nevertheless, it is a slow death hidden naturally like a person died by age."

"Tasha, allow me to help him with that matter."

"More hands are welcome, but I'd rather want people who have their lips sealed and hands tied for the matter."

Michael curtly nodded. "Consider that done."

Anasthasia shifted back to the King, who laid down on the bed peacefully. "Didn't you say the royal abjurers prolonged his life force, a similar way of how I use the 'Regeneration' spell?" With how his head bobbed, she continued, "I did the same thing although in a discrete approach."

She prattled about how the abjurers held unto the idea and used their mana to sustain the King's health without compromising it further. But to prolong doesn't equate to recover; needless to say, it chipped his life.

"I never injected any ounce of my power, for I only guided his mana to increase his immune system and let his body take over magical tumors that proliferate on his body. I have not completely removed them, or it would arouse suspicions."

Michael crossed his arms as he hummed deep. "Tasha, does this also mean some of the miasmas remained inside his body?"

Without a doubt, Daniel's face flushed deep red as his veins popped out in his neck. "What is the meaning of this, Ana? Do you plan to kill my Father slowly?!" A heavy pressure weighed the room; all of them felt his sheer power but remained calm.

"Which brings me to my second point: Who exactly brought the flowers?" She stood up, facing him head-on.

Her muse turned his anger upend with a struck of horror to Daniel's face. "I—"

This time, she didn't mince her words. A bomb has dropped.

"Don't play so innocent, Daniel. Who was that old man?!" She then turned left, facing Michael. "That old man we saw was the same that I killed—turned out as a puppet in that forest!"

It bore a thunderclap in their minds as it was a harsh revelation. Most importantly, to Daniel… Anasthasia could see how his eyes rattled.

She scrunched her face as she pointed at him. "Don't forget your priorities, Daniel. He is the main suspect for all of this. Problems start to arise one after another as soon as your Father has recovered, and none of them are simple. Think about more consequences if we don't uproot the main cause."

Daniel gnashed his teeth as he ran his fingers through his hair. He shook his head, mumbling a hoarse voice, "I can't…" She was about to speak when he started to remove his cloak, unbuttoned his uniform—near his chest and dragged down—and revealed the symbol that turned her curious.

"You!"

She was shocked with a similar interpretation—He made a deal with a devil.

Michael stepped forth. "Don't be so hard on him, Tasha. Our relationship strained because of different ideologies. We did our way, of different methods, for our Father to recover."

Anger flared in her eyes. "Still, that old man had ill intentions!"

"Daniel never knew what happened then. He moved his accord."

Michael sighed deep.

"If it's him, then we know."