Chapter 10

The Duke, accompanied by his elite knights, arrived at the conspiracy house, located quite far from the imperial palace.

Most aristocrats and ordinary residents enjoyed the New Year's celebrations in the city center, so there was dead silence around this place.

It was an empty house that looked no different from other houses on the same street, but inside it was still clean and tidy, as if it were constantly being watched.

In addition, even if they were now tortured by one or two people in him, no one would have heard their exhausting screams, because there was not a single living soul nearby.

And so, in the middle of the living room, this secluded house, there was a man on the floor with a gag in his mouth and tightly tied, without the slightest chance of escape.

- Uuupp! Euuuup!

A fully connected young man tried to scream something, either from surprise or from fear when people he did not know suddenly entered the room.

However, because of the gag, they couldn't figure out what he was trying to tell them.

- This young man's name is Donovan. I'm sure he was the one who came to see the young lady.

Lennox, looking at a man wriggling on the floor, was a little disappointed with his appearance.

He was an ordinary guy with an ordinary appearance that wasn't remembered at all.

For a moment, Lennox even thought his people had caught the wrong one, but still after a while, he ordered:

- Take out the gag.

As soon as one of his men pulled out the gag, a man named Donovan exclaimed in horror:

- Oh, my God! Please spare me! I'll pay you soon, just don't kill me!

Lennox frowned.

- What money is he talking about?

Hardin answered with an uncertain expression.

- One of our sources reported that he recently opened his clinic by taking out a loan. Maybe he thought we came to pick him up.

Donovan, whose face reflected the full depth of his despair, sat quietly and listened to the conversation of two people, but after a while he still intervened carefully.

- Aren't you... hmm... you didn't bring me here to demand money?

- ....

In an instant, both men turned around and looked at him coldly.

Lennox then slowly approached Donovan, kneeled next to him and stared him intently into his eyes when they were on the same level.

After that, he immediately asked him a question he was interested in.

- Do you know Juliet Montagu?

- M-Montegü... do you mean the daughter of the late Earl of Montagu?

- What relationship does you have with Juliet?

- What are you... No, wait. Are you saying that she and I are lovers?! Yeah, I've never even met her!

Donovan desperately denied his connection with Juliet.

Looks like he finally figured out what's going on.

- Then why did you come to Juliet's?

- Well, emm... it concerns the patient's personal information, besides, it's a very delicate question...

Donovan looked at Lennox embarrassedly.

But as soon as the knight standing next to him touched the handle of the sword, Donovan hurriedly exclaimed:

- It's because of my mother!

****

The frightened Donovan quickly told everything he knew.

He was so frightened that at first he spoke confusingly and stuttered through the word, but Lennox and his knights somehow managed to catch the essence in general terms.

- So, my mother is a pharmacist. No, I mean, I wanted to say she was a pharmacist.

Donovan's mother was a pharmacist who worked for a long time in the eighth district and during this period managed to get a large number of regular customers, thanks to her hard work and talent.

- Noble aristocrats very often sent her orders to make some medicine!

Donovan talked about her with great pride.

Any noble family usually has a family doctor, but there are cases when one of the aristocrats needs to secretly order some types of medicines, so they order it from a pharmacist, not a doctor.

- But not so long ago, my mother stopped practicing because of illness.

So Donovan, then a doctor trainee, had to go home.

Upon his return, he placed his mother in an institution for the elderly because she needed specialized care and started cleaning up her pharmacy.

But then Donovan suddenly realized that since his mother was suffering from dementia, she could make a mistake in making recipes.

This guess kept him busy, so he decided to check all her papers.

And that's when he found something unusual when he studied his mother's prescriptions in case she made a mistake in prescribing medicines to her clients.

- I accidentally found something strange in Miss Montagu's recipes and asked my mother about him, but she couldn't say anything to me because of progressive dementia.

- Did Juliet order medicine from her?

- Yes, the late Countess Montagu was my mother's client for a long time... and took some of the medicines she prescribed her. - Donovan said carefully and looked at Lennox, hearing his tense voice.

- What kind of medicine did Juliet order from her?

- It's called "silfium".

- "Silfium"?

- Em, it's a rare medicine for the female body! You may not be aware of it, but "silfium" is a very popular medicine and it is taken by many women in higher circles.

Lennox's face has darkened.

He knew what kind of medicine it was.

Silphia is a rare grass growing in the southern part of the empire. If you brew tea from the roots of this herb and take some time, you could get a contraceptive effect.

It was a widely used contraceptive that had no harmful side symptoms and had a great aroma.

The only drawback to this medicine was the price, because of the rarity of the grass from which it was made, it was very expensive.

At that point Lennox realized why this man was so persistently trying to meet her.

Despite the fact that Juliet is the daughter of a ruined aristocrat, the Montagu family was very old and famous.

In addition, Juliet is an unmarried young woman of marriageable age.

If something had happened to her after taking an incorrect prescription of medicine, Donovan wouldn't have escape responsibility for the incident, so he was most likely scared and looked for meetings with her.

No. There must be something else.

He could just ask the maid to tell Juliet about it, and she would have given him a message, then everything would be fine.

Therefore, the issue was still open.

How urgent and serious was all this if he wanted to meet Juliet so hard?

- I don't think that's all?

- A few months ago, Miss Montague ordered delivery of mistletoe and sylphium flowers. My mother sent her herb as she asked, and that was the last time she wrote prescriptions for her.

However, Donovan definitely knew something else, but he didn't seem dare to tell. Instead, he looked at Lennox with concern.

If that was the only thing Juliet ordered, then why does he look so excited now?

Obeying some sinister feeling, Lennox immediately asked:

- What's the mistletoe used for?

- The problem in this case is not the omelt at all. Rather, it is a good medicine that prevents miscarriage and helps the child to develop better in the mother's womb, protecting him from various threats. The problem is that Miss Montagu ordered them with sylphia flowers.

...Child?

- The effect of flowers on the body is completely different from that of the root. The part of the sylphia plant, which is usually used as a contraceptive, is root, but flowers are usually used to eliminate unwanted pregnancy, as they are much more poisonous than the roots.

After these words, the air in the room instantly froze.

However, Donovan's explanations did not end there.

- Usually there are no problems when you take mistletoe and sylphia separately, but if you take them together, there is a risk of miscarriage. That's why I tried to meet Miss and warn her that if she wants a child, she should be examined immediately and stop taking any medication. I wanted to...

Donovan's subsequent words were no longer heard.

Even before he was done, Lennox opened the door with a deafening rumble and jumped out onto the street.

- Mr.!

The Duke's knights hurriedly followed him.

But Lennox, without waiting for them, immediately jumped on his crow horse standing in the yard and let him go into the gallop.

The streets of the city were empty at that time, as everyone gathered in the square in anticipation of midnight fireworks, and thanks to this there was not a single obstacle in its way.

Lennox, drawing his head, rushed towards his mansion, unable to get rid of a whirlwind of thoughts and a storm of contradictory feelings that took possession of his mind and threatened to deprive him of the ability to think at all.

Juliet.

You could just explain everything to me.

No.

You had to explain everything to me.

"The problem in this case is not about the omel. It's rather a good medicine that prevents miscarriage and helps the child to develop better in the mother's womb, protecting him from various threats.

"Flowers are usually used to eliminate unwanted pregnancy, as they are much more poisonous than roots."

Contraceptive.

Why Juliet?

When all these sinister and chaotic words merged, a memory surfaced in his mind.