9 Poisoned!?

"Poisoned!?" Rein's voice cracked a little as she repeated the doctor's diagnosis about her condition.

'I fainted because I saw that woman's body evaporating!' She rejected the old man's words, as the very thought of it being true terrified her.

The doctor, who had discerned the young man's fear thanks to his widened eyes and trembling fingers as he clutched his sheets, decided to strengthen his claims with facts.

"Look at your nails. The area around your cuticles turned blue. Did you think it was because you were too cold?" He shook his head and went straight to the next point.

The old doctor pulled out a wooden stick that looked like a popsicle stick, which Reina had often seen being used by doctors during a checkup.

Not wanting to touch the young man with his bare hands, he used this medical tool, usually called a tongue depressor.

She watched as his hand went straight to the side of her throat.

"Hiss!" She grimaced when he jabbed her with the stick.

A shooting pain arose in her throat, in the area just under the end of her jaw.

The doctor did not stop there but used the same wooden stick to check her tongue, which she heavily disliked but could not voice out her complaints as her tongue was stretched out of her mouth.

"The inside of your throat is severely inflamed, just like the lining of your stomach would be." He revealed before tossing the stick aside.

However, it looked like he wasn't done with his examination as he held a scalpel next and pointed it straight towards her stomach.

"I could show you proof of that as well." He declared and moved his hand closer, which resulted in the young man scooting farther away from him.

During this entire process, Treegan Molt had been biting down on his lip in a vain attempt to keep the chortle in which was dying to burst out.

'This bastard is so stupid!' He looked away, but his trembling shoulders were a dead giveaway.

Reina had been frightened that the mad doctor would tear open her stomach to prove his diagnosis of poisoning, but now she was seething in anger after noticing the other man enjoying the show from the sidelines.

"Why are you still here!?" She growled at him, which halted his silent snickers.

Treegan's aura shifted in an instant, and the gloating look on his face morphed into seriousness.

"Master's commands to look out for you until you recover." He disclosed the only reason he would even enter this room.

Ever since Rein Melk had entered the Palace to serve the King, the one with the biggest problem with him was none other than Treegan Molt.

Treegan had been serving the King for many years so he could never understand why this young fool was added to the men who would serve his Majesty.

Not only were his doubts about Rein disregarded by the King as him being paranoid, but his repeated requests of sending him away were also ignored.

Thus, Treegan had no choice but to stand by and watch how Rein Melk, who first started as a low-ranked servant eight years ago, made his way to the King's side, becoming his chamberlain.

Over the years, Rein did nothing but earnestly serve the King, yet Treegan could never let go of the prejudice he held against the man.

"Like I would stay here if it weren't for Master's instructions." He muttered, which earned him a glare from both the doctor and Rein.

'This boy has a big mouth.' The doctor shook his head for behaving rudely with the patient while Rein just glowered at him.

'I do not like you as well!' She scoffed as she was now aware that there was clear hostility between the two.

The doctor, deciding to play the buffer between the two scowling children, diverted their attention elsewhere.

"Can you recall anything out of the ordinary that took place yesterday? Anything to help us understand where and how you might have been poisoned?" He questioned, as answers to these would help him treat the young man better.

His earlier statements were enough to prove that she had truly been poisoned, so this time, Reina did not refuse his theory, but tried to recall the memories of yesterday.

'I was still back in my world yesterday so I would have to look into the real Rein's memories.' She surmised, and closed her eyes.

Clearing her mind of every thought, Reina took a deep breath in, something that she often did to calm herself.

Like a movie, the events of yesterday which were experienced by the real Rein began flashing before her eyes.

'Woke up... made the King's bed… took a walk in the back garden… ate lunch alone…'

The more Reina watched, the more she felt pity for Rein, who seemed to be lonely even when she lived in a Palace surrounded by so many people.

She saw how the servants ostracized poor Rein and even talked down to her because she was an outsider whom the King had picked up, unlike them who were working in the Palace for a very long time.

'Xenophobia.' Reina speculated that the people living here disliked outsiders or newcomers.

These people all treated Rein like the villain and never spoke a kind word to her.

'Not that her personality was helping her in any way.' Reina sighed as the one whose body she had taken over was immensely shy and had a tough time mingling with people.

The only one who showed an ounce of kindness to the real Rein was the man whom she had been fearing from the moment she had regained consciousness.

'That King was the only one who treated Rein like a living being.' She scoffed at the others, who only mocked and demeaned her at every turn.

As Reina continued looking through her memories, she noticed how Rein had spent the entire afternoon reading a book while staying cooped up in her room.

The King had gone out yesterday so the chamberlain's work was cut short, which allowed her to do as she pleased.

Rein's guilty pleasure was the romance books that she kept hidden somewhere in her room and touched only when she was free for the entire day.

After watching the last memory of Rein before she went to bed, Reina had found the answer she was looking for.

"Lady Marin's maid…" She whispered as her eyes fluttered open.

Those icy blue eyes of hers took a moment to adjust to the light pouring into the room, after which she noticed that two pairs of eyes were watching her, waiting for her to explain further.

"She offered me a cup of pudding she had prepared." She revealed what she had seen in Rein's memories.

Rein had stepped outside in the night to fetch herself some water.

Out of nowhere, the maid blocked her path and confessed her long-concealed and deep-rooted feelings to Rein.

Not wanting to reject her hard work put into preparing the pudding and this act of kindness, the poor cross-dressing woman could only accept the dessert which was said to be made specifically for her.

'And that was how that evil woman succeeded in feeding the poisoned pudding to Rein who had been starved for just a kind word from someone.' She bit her lip, feeling aggrieved for the one whose body she now possessed.

Reina too had a history of being ostracized in the past, which led her to become a recluse.

Fortunately, she had people who loved her and looked out for her, unlike Rein who was all alone in this place.

'Or that's what I thought…' A gloomy aura set over her, which dropped the temperature of the room.

Treegan and the doctor both noticed how the young man's feelings were affecting the temperature in the room.

Though the sun was still bright outside, a chilling breeze had begun to circulate around them.

'Isn't he supposed to be a weakling?' Treegan wondered whether his information about Rein Melk had some discrepancies.

Only those in the Vampire clan who were strong enough could unlock the powers residing in their bodies.

Right now, the temperature fluctuations taking place in the room were a common occurrence when vampires lose control of their emotions, which begin overpowering their minds.

But how was this possible for Rein, a useless and weak chamberlain, to achieve?

According to what he had learned about Rein over the past few years, he had never once felt that the young servant had anything that could set him apart from the rest of the lower-ranked servants in the Palace.

'He seemed weaker than those servants too.' Treegan scoffed as this was what he had often observed.

Rein wasn't powerful enough, nor did he belong to any influential family which might explain why he suddenly had powers.

This thought made Treegan gain interest in the 'rat' whom everyone, including himself, despised.

The doctor was ignorant of the thoughts in Treegan's mind, but his weren't so different.

'No wonder our King kept this young man by his side. He must have seen potential in him.' He nodded in praise of their King for having the foresight and discovering this diamond in the rough.

Reina had no clue that she had garnered attention from these two men as she was still lost in her own thoughts.