7 The Neurotoxin

"Boss Solis! Your stepmother has sent you things from her farm," one of the old servants called and entered the room with a large basket of fresh fruits and vegetables. There were even mushrooms and eggs.

Solis frowned at the servant. "Take it to the kitchen as usual. Why did you bring it here?" he asked.

"Young Master Noir said that anything which comes from the outside should be checked by him first…" the servant said apologetically, looking at Noir, who was engrossed in watching TV.

Hearing his name, Noir raised his eyes. He spotted the farm products in the servant's arms.

"I didn't order grocery," he said, raising an eyebrow in surprise. He shot Solis a look. "Did you?"

Solis shook his head. "My stepmother has several farms. She sends in stuff quite often," he said.

Noir frowned. "How often?" he demanded.

"Depends on the produce," the old servant replied. "Sometimes, she sends things every week, and sometimes it's every two months or even more."

"When was the last time you received a delivery?" Noir asked.

"About two months ago. I'll check the calendar in the kitchen and confirm, Young Master Noir," the old servant said.

"Thanks," Noir said politely. "Could you leave the basket on the table, please? I'll take a took and maybe we can make something nice today."

The servant put down the basket and went away.

"You don't mind me looking through it, do you?" Noir asked Solis.

Solis shook his head and made a 'go ahead' gesture, and returned his eyes to the document he was reading and leaving Noir to his own devices.

Noir stood up and stretched like a lazy cat.

Overall, Noir was quite satisfied with his new life. The only thing that worried him was that he hadn't been able to find the neurotoxin yet. Everything Solis ate or used was carefully examined by him…but there was no sign of the poison yet. The poison needed regular administration – at least once every two months. Was it given to Solis outside? Who did Solis meet regularly every two months?

The question had been asked by Noir to everyone – from Solis himself to the newest servant. The answer perplexed him. There was no one on the outside who Solis met regularly. Even his stepmother – the one who had brought him up – saw him only once a year on her birthday.

Solis's family situation was a bit of a mess, too. His father had been the previous head of Chaos Demon, and his mother had died while protecting his father in an assassination attempt when Solis was three. Worried about his only child, Solis's father had promptly married a gentle, virtuous woman. This was Solis's stepmother, and she had raised him with the same amount of love and affection that she showered on her own three children – two sons and one daughter. The daughter was already married to an international business tycoon and lived overseas. Of the two sons, one was a doctor and ran his own hospital, and Solis's stepmother lived with him. Solis's father had died five years ago, leaving Chaos Demon to Solis, much to the dissatisfaction of two of his half-siblings. This dissatisfaction had led the other son to join another gang called Dragon's Breath, and he had just become the second-in-command there.

Solis was almost sure that his accident had been the handiwork of Dragon's Breath, who had been enemies with Chaos Demon for generations now. However, there was no solid evidence, so he couldn't take any action.

Noir had somehow managed to worm all this information out of Solis, much to everyone's surprise, even Solis himself.

After realising that his mind was distracted, Solis gave up on the document he was trying to read and focussed his attention on Noir instead.

Noir sat on the dining table, examining each item in the basket one by one and dividing them into two piles.

When he got to the mushrooms, he frowned deeply. He picked up a mushroom and sniffed at it delicately. A look of alarm appeared in the warm chocolate brown eyes. Noir leaped up from his seat and ran off to the kitchen, returning with some herbs, a pot of water and several knives and bowls.

Solis watched, fascinated, as Noir conducted experiments with the mushrooms with a solemn look on his face. He poured out water in several bowls, sprinkled different herbs on each of them and then cut up a mushroom into thin slices, dipping the slices in different bowls one by one. Thunderclouds appeared on his face as the water in each of the bowls turned dark.

When the last bowl turned dark as well, Noir stood up from the chair and walked towards Solis.

"How long have you been eating these mushrooms?" he demanded.

Solis was startled. "Must have been a few years," he said lightly. "Why?" he asked innocently. Of course, Solis knew from Noir's dark expression that something was wrong with the mushrooms, but he found the usually cheerful and chirpy Noir's serious expression rather interesting.

"Does everyone in your family eat these mushrooms?" Noir demanded.

Solis shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe," he said. "My stepmother is very fond of mushrooms, so we grew up eating plenty of them. After father passed away, the first farm my stepmother bought was actually mushroom farm. She's been sending mushrooms from her farm regularly to me since then."

"These mushrooms are expertly laced with neurotoxins," Noir said gravely. "If you eat them once or twice, it won't make much of a difference. But if you eat them regularly for a long time, your nerves will be greatly weakened. It takes about two to three months to clear out this kind of neurotoxin from your bloodstream…have you ever gone that long without eating mushrooms in the last few years?"

Solis sighed and shook his head. "I've actually eaten them much more often than once every two months," he said.

Noir sighed. "No wonder your nerves are in such a state," he murmured.

Solis looked away. He hadn't imagined that his stepmother and his doctor half-brother, the two who had always been supportive of him, even when his father had left Chaos Demon to him and his half-sister and his gangster brother had protested against it…that these two people he had always trusted…would do such a thing.

But then again, it was only people you trust that betray you…if you didn't trust them, how could they betray you?