Iftia: Lyx Palace, Elianna's Bedchamber

• Elianna •

Elianna woke up with a splitting headache. She looked around and realised that she was back in her own bedchamber. How did I get back here? 

She rolled off her bed and walked towards the couch, only to see Thunder sleeping soundly. Her hand reached out to pet on its head, gently brushing its short fur with her fingers. Thunder let out a groggy purr but remained asleep. The light was shining through the windows and Elianna formed a barrier of shadows around him, allowing it to sleep more comfortably in the dark. 

On her way to the bath, she was feeling faint and the headache was terribly uncomfortable. Regardless, she still dragged herself to the bath because she needed to get to the dining hall in time to have the morning meal with everyone. Cursing under her breath, she swore to never touch that burning liquid or whatever that was called again. Wait—

A sudden thought struck her and she felt that she had forgotten something really important. What's the drink called again? She raised her hands to her head as she forced her mind to recall the events from yesterday. Fragments of memories came back to her as she remembered hugging an empty crystal bottle and Alec said something. Moonshine. 

Yes, the drink is called Moonshine. What about it? 

Elianna's head hurts but she just could not remember how she made it back to her room. Hunching forward, she ruffled her hair into a ball of mess. Then, a memory of Rowan carrying her flashed through her mind. Oh god. That was all that she could remember. No matter how much she tried zooming into that memory, it was all fuzzy and confusing. Elianna slowly let her knees fall to the ground as she crouched in embarrassment, hoping that she could hide away from the world. 

━━━━━━━━━━

Iftia: Lyx Palace, Dining Hall

• Rowan •

"Rowan!" 

Tristan's voice jarred him out of his dazed state and he looked towards his knight, surprised by his sudden loudness. Right. He hadn't recovered from the shock of the kiss from last night. It kept him wide awake at night by the pleasant surprise and he wondered if the lady knew what she was doing or was it all because she was drunk. If it was the latter, he would murder anyone who dared to offer her alcohol. Composing himself, he responded to Tristan, "What is it?" 

"Are you okay? You feel so off today," Tristan asked, frowning at him. 

Of course, he wouldn't tell them what happened. Looking towards the chair beside him he asked, "Where's Elianna?" 

"We thought you would check on her," Alec replied. 

"I'll check on her later if she didn't come for breakfast. It's getting late, please start," Rowan made his way to his seat and all of them proceeded with breakfast. Over the table, the knights discussed with him about the day's plan and they continued to talk about work since Elianna wasn't here. 

Halfway through breakfast, Elianna entered the dining hall. She apologised, "Sorry, I'm late."

"No worries, have a seat," Rowan mentioned. "How are you feeling?"

When their gaze met, her face flushed bright red and everyone diverted their attention from her to him. Tristan broke the silence, "Did something happened between the both of you?"

Seemingly even more flustered than before, she fumbled with her words, "I-It's nothing!" 

Rowan watched as she stumbled her way towards her seat and settled down. His knights all looked towards her with confusion in their expression and she clumsily pushed a bread into her mouth and munched quietly. An urge to laugh surfaced, but Rowan dared not laugh for the fear that the lady was already feeling very embarrassed. He wondered if her frantic was because of the night before and he didn't realise that he was staring at her until she replied, "I-I'm okay." 

Elianna nodded her head but her hands raised immediately to rub on her temples and he immediately knew that she had a hangover. Rowan reached to fill her glass with water and said, "Have some food and plenty of water. You'll feel better soon." 

The knights excused themselves after they finished their meal, leaving both of them alone in the dining hall. Elianna continued munching on the bread that she was holding onto and he occasionally caught her peeking in his direction. She seemed to be rushing through her meal and he laughed, "You can eat slowly, no one is going to rush you." 

Then, she stopped chewing and in a quiet voice she asked, "Can I ask you something?" 

"Sure, go ahead," he replied. 

"Did I do anything yesterday?" 

"What do you mean by anything?" A corner of his lips lifted into a teasing smirk and the lady ahead of him panicked a little when her eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly at his words. At this point, he wasn't quite sure if she remembered herself getting drunk or if she was simply testing him. Either way, he thought that everything that happened yesterday night wasn't proper because she wasn't in a clear mind. He smiled, "Nothing happened, don't worry about it. Make sure you eat enough and I'll see you again in the evening, love." 

Standing up from his seat, he walked towards her and planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head before leaving the dining hall. She seemed stunned by his suddenness but since she was the one who started the spark, he wouldn't hesitate to ignite the fire between them. A little payback for the shock you gave me yesterday. A mischievous glint lit in his expression as he walked towards the study to meet with the rest. 

━━━━━━━━━━

Iftia: Royal Medical Department, Hallway 

• Elianna •

After breakfast, Elianna made her way to the Royal Medical Department and collected her official badge from the administrator. She also intended to fetch everyone's medical records on the way. Professor Hamley was informed of her visit and had made his way down as he congratulated her, "Lady Elianna, you're officially a royal doctor now." 

"Thank you, Professor Hamley," she bowed politely. "I'm here to look for everyone's medical records too. May I ask where can I obtain them?" 

"U-Um," Professor Hamley seemed slightly taken aback and he pointed towards the end of the hallway where the medical library was supposed to be. He added, "They're in the library, you can borrow them with the badge you have." 

"Thank you, I'll go look for them," Elianna smiled and pivoted towards the direction that Professor Hamley had pointed her to. However, a few steps ahead, Professor Hamley had called her from behind. 

"Lady Elianna," he stopped her. "When you get to His Highness' records, you may want to let him know."

She wasn't sure what Professor Hamley meant but she replied that she would let Rowan know about the records over dinner. Of course, Elianna didn't expect that their medical records would be a heavy stack of records. It took her some effort to bring them all to her medical office in Lyx and she went through each of them meticulously, starting with Alec's. 

Basically, most of the knights' records were of injuries from battles or training and when she finally reached Rowan's records, she realised that his stack was a lot thicker than the rest. Flipping over the pages, she noticed how each case was described carefully, down to the very detail and there were more than just injuries inflicted from battles and training. He had records from way ahead when he was only four years old. 

※

Elianna went back to her medical office in Lyx after getting all of their records. She went through them meticulously, starting from Alec's. Basically, most of his knights' records were of injuries from battles or training. When she finally reached Rowan's records, she realised that his medical record book was a lot thicker. Each case was described carefully, down to the very detail, and there were more than just injuries inflicted from battles and training. There were records from when Rowan was 4 years old. 

---

Subject: First Prince, Rowan Alvarez,
Male, 4 Years Old,
Spring, Day 54

11:00AM: Consumed a dose of aconite.

11:10AM: Showed signs of sweating, weakness, and nausea.

11:30AM: Gave antidote. 

11:50AM: Subject recovered without complications. 

---

Subject: First Prince, Rowan Alvarez,
Male, 4 Years Old,
Spring, Day 55

12:00PM: Subject consumed two doses of aconite on an empty stomach. 

12:05PM: Showed signs of sweating, weakness, nausea, and difficulty in breathing.

12:20PM: Gave antidote.

01:30PM: Subject recovered with recurring symptoms of nausea and hyperventilation. The next testing shall occur only two days later.

---

Subject: First Prince, Rowan Alvarez,
Male, 4 Years Old,
Spring, Day 57

11:32AM: Three doses of aconite.

11:34AM: Showed signs of sweating, weakness, nausea, and difficulty in breathing. Subject also experienced hallucinations

11:36AM: Gave antidote. 

11:50AM: Subject did not recover. Required another dose of the antidote.

---

Elianna flipped through his records hastily and realised that it was more than just being dosed with aconite. There were many other accounts with hemlock, nightshade, curare and so on. The recorded histories of poisoning since Rowan was four was carefully detailed and he was fed dosages higher than what a normal person could handle. It suddenly struck her that when he was shot by the arrow in Thethia, his body seemed to have immunity to it and she wondered if it was because of this poison conditioning. 

She inhaled sharply and tears clogged the back of her throat. An indescribable ache rose in her chest when she imagined him as a 4-year-old boy who had poison fed to him intentionally. They allowed the poison to go through his system, they allowed him to suffer before giving him antidotes. 

The tears quickly turned into sobs. The more she thought about it, the harder she cried.  

※

disclaimer: i'm not a poison expert.