I’m Not Doing This With A Friend – Chapter 157

Author: Nikss

The entire banquet hall erupted in laughter at Sera’s outrageous claim.

“That crazy wench…”

Carson’s eyes flashed, and he tried to storm out. I grabbed his arm to stop him.

Since she’d accused me of spreading Monstera, it was only a matter of time before the others would suspect me.

It would only make matters worse if Carson stepped in and turned her into a halberd.

“Your Majesty, isn’t there something wrong?”

Sera blurted out as the knights began to drag her away.

“Mana can’t be handled by anyone but a mage or a skilled swordsman, so how can she, a herbalist, handle it?”

“Shut up, what kind of maid raises her voice in front of His Majesty!”

“That’s because she’s actually an alchemist, not a herbalist! Concocting such a terrible disease as Monstera, that’s something that only a high-level alchemist can do!”

A clever mix of truth and falsehood, making the false appear to be the truth.

Not a bad strategy. Besides, since time immemorial, people involved in alchemy were often involved in crime.

So there were quite a few people who looked at the word ‘alchemist’ with dark eyes.

‘…You’re very determined to frame me for the crime.’

Her words sounded plausible, and the Emperor raised his hand to stop the knights.

“Wait a moment. Let us hear the woman’s argument.”

The penalty for artificially creating a demon was at least death.

It was too much to dismiss lightly as the words of a mere maid.

For a moment, amusement flashed in Sera’s eyes. It seemed her plan had worked.

The Emperor remained unfazed and unmoved by this, looking back and forth between me and Sera.

He was not in the mood to believe her just yet.

When the knights released Sera’s arm, she brushed off her dress as if she had touched something unclean. Then she jerked her head up and spoke up.

“You all need to take a closer look at this. Think about it. How do you make a mosquito repellent knowing that an infectious disease is going to spread through mosquitoes?”

She pauses to catch her breath before speaking.

“Wasn’t it Lysianthus who discovered and publicized that Monstera was not a plague, but an infectious disease spread by demonic mosquitoes?”

“Hmm…”

“And the timing of the discovery that mosquitoes could be killed with mana relaxants was also very coincidental, not long after Lysianthus revealed that fact.”

Sera’s eyes flashed in the banquet hall lights.

“It’s as if they had a plan B in place.”

It was a plausible argument. In fact, I’d wondered if I’d ever suspected it myself.

I just didn’t expect it to come from Sera, who had just been expelled from the country while I was being honored for my achievements.

“That’s not all, all of her drugs are being sold on top of her best friend’s.”

Sera’s gaze flicks to me for a moment, then drops.

“What is she being called in Lagras now?”

A saint.

It was a title given because of the statues of the goddesses in Lagras…

No one here would believe me if I claimed I didn’t want the title.

I glanced around.

And behold. The way they’re looking at me has already changed.

Sera’s mouth twitched up.

“Yes, a saint, as you all know.”

This time, her gaze was blatantly directed at me.

“So, who do you think has benefited the most from this whole Monstera affair?”

Kun, who had been listening to her sophistry, couldn’t take it anymore, so he countered her argument.

“I know that all the medications distributed by Lagras are sold at a fair price.”

It was strange to hear Kun speak as a prince after his deferential behavior at the academy.

All the more so because of the anger in his voice. Kun turned to the other nobles and asked them to think about it.

“She wouldn’t have set the price of the medicine so high if she was trying to make a profit in the first place.”

He was right. If it was for financial gain, the price would have been at least three times higher than it was.

Also, Hans wouldn’t be ramping up production now.

But Sera’s rebuttal came quickly, “They say it’s fine now, but you never know when they’ll suddenly raise the price.”

She glanced at the nobles here, not at Kun.

“And if they show their true colors later and offer outrageous prices, who’s to stop them then?”

I, who had been silent the entire time, watched the situation unfold.

“I’ve never taken extortion, but I’m about to, so I should give up my legitimate rights?”

Tilting my head in confusion, I asked, “I’m curious where you got that logic from.”

“Well, if you really cared about people, you wouldn’t have released the recipe to the world in the first place and made it exclusive.”

That was ridiculous.

It was my right to release the recipe I’d developed.

In the past, during epidemics, if a cure or related products were developed, they belonged to the developer.

Developing a drug was a huge investment of money and time.

So it was more common for nobles and imperial families to sponsor researchers, rather than individuals.

If Sera’s argument holds true, why would anyone desperately try to develop a medicine?

The rights would be taken away anyway.

And while I don’t know about the mosquito repellent, the mana relaxant had been sold exclusively by Hans’s for years.

Sera’s claim was clearly unreasonable and a violation of my legitimate rights.

I glowered at her in disbelief.

“Don’t you think that if I release the recipe, the price of the ingredients will skyrocket? If the ingredients were made public, there would be hoarding everywhere.”

If anything, they would be more expensive than they are now, not cheaper.

“Well, if you really thought about people’s lives…!”

“Also!”

I interrupted, cutting her off firmly.

“Who’s responsible for the side effects if you release the recipe?”

Sera narrowed her eyes as if to ask me why I would ask such a question.

“You, of course, Leen, the one who developed the medicine!”

Aha. I barely held back the laughter that threatened to escape.

“That is what’s not right.”

She was a very one-dimensional thinker.

I mean, I’m sure she’d have wielded a knife in the academy without realizing it.

“What if someone makes a drug without following the recipe? What if someone distributes fakes? Am I still responsible?”

If a person buys a medicine from Hans’s Top, as long as the purchase history has been verified, it’s up to me and the top to compensate for any side effects.

But if we make the recipe publicly available, people who buy it from unknown sources might also hold us responsible.

But, “Why should I take that risk?”

My eyes narrowed as I looked at her.

“Sera. When did I ever say I wanted to save people, or be a saint, so why are you asking me to make sacrifices?”

She chewed her lip for a long moment, unable to think of anything to retort.

“You’ve ruined a banquet hosted by the imperial court, and this is all you want to claim?”

At Kun’s rebuke, Sera’s complexion turned white.

She looked flustered, as if she hadn’t seen this coming.

“You’re all being fooled by that woman’s sneaky tongue teasing. She’s like the devil incarnate, just by looking at her appearance. Doesn’t that black hair and black eyes give you all the creeps?”

Stupid.

I realize she was rushing, but that was the worst thing she could have said.

No wonder…

After all, the Grand Duke had black hair and black eyes, like me.

“So, what you’re saying is that this child and I are the devil incarnate?”

The Grand Duke patted me on the back and slowly walked forward.

“…Reminds me of old times. I used to hear that from the Lagras during the Imperial War.”

A step, two steps.

The distance between Sera and the Grand Duke closed.

“Do you know what happened to those who said that?”

The Grand Duke gripped the sword at his waist.

No noble was permitted to carry a sword in the palace.

But the Grand Duke was the only exception to that restriction.

When he set his mind to kill, he would accomplish his purpose with or without a sword.

“They all went back to the ground.”

The Grand Duke glares at Sera with a tremendous sense of menace.

Under his gaze, Sera’s legs went limp.

It was then. Several of the nobles who had been observing the situation spoke up in anger.

“This is ridiculous! How can you compare the Grand Duke to a demon!”

“That’s right, the Imperial Army of Lagras called him that because they were powerless to resist him, but the Grand Duke is a hero of Abascanthus!”

Needless to say, it was a very different reaction than when Sera had crossed me.

The Emperor clicked his tongue as if he didn’t need to hear it.

“Take her.”

He throws up his hands in a frustrated gesture.

“My imperial authority has fallen so far, that a maid can run amok like this in front of our guests.”

“It’s not over yet! I have conclusive proof that she is a witch…!”

The Emperor glared at Sera and thought for a moment.

“Let’s hear it.”

“Your Majesty!”

Kun and the Grand Duke called to the Emperor at the same time, but he didn’t flinch.

“But if your argument is as unseemly as the color of one’s hair this time, I will not end your punishment with a flogging.”

At that, Sera swallowed hard.

“I actually saw her raise a demon when she was a student at the Academy.”

Something taut inside me snapped as soon as I realized the demon she was referring to was Dobby.

Sera.

After messing with Dobby like that, are you going to screw with him again?

The Emperor asked Sera, his eyes narrowing.

“Are you sure what you saw was a demon?”

“Yes. It had the body of a wolf, huge wings, and was black all over.”

“How do you know that?”

“Several people have claimed to have seen her in the Lysianthus domain with a demon, and if you get someone to investigate, you’ll quickly find out if it’s true or not.”

The banquet hall stirs once more.

To the people, demons were evil, and it must be shocking to think that a woman would raise such a creature.

It was testimony that lent credence to the idea that I had spread Monstera by mutating mosquitoes into demons.

I could feel the stinging stares on my skin.

It meant the tide had turned back in Sera’s favor.

She looked around as if she’d gained confidence, and spoke up.

“Don’t you think it’s a little far-fetched to say that this was all a coincidence?”

The last place Sera’s gaze fell was on me.

As I looked into her maddened eyes, I could almost hear her voice.

‘I’m going to ruin you, just like you dragged me down.’

Me, and you.

I swept my beautifully set black hair back roughly.