CHAPTER 254: THE POISON EXPERT WHO MISSED A CLUE

Primrose wanted to ask about his past, but the words just wouldn’t come out.

After all, he hadn’t told her anything directly, and she couldn’t just bring up what might’ve been the most painful part of his life out of nowhere.

The air between them turned awkward for a moment. Thankfully, Raven, who had been quietly watching the whole time, finally spoke. "I’m really glad you’re alright, Your Majesty," she said gently.

She walked over and stood behind Salem, reaching out to pat his shoulder in a quiet, comforting gesture.

At that moment, Primrose was certain that Raven knew everything about Salem.

"Alright then!" Salem suddenly clapped his hands, snapping the mood back to something lighter. He was probably trying to shake off the awkwardness in the room or maybe push away all the dark thoughts swirling in his head.

"Since I’ve apologized and you’ve forgiven me, I think our little issue is settled, right? You didn’t throw away all my stuff, did you? I can still stay here and get free meals from the palace, right?"

Primrose took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a brief moment. If she didn’t have the ability to read minds, she might’ve thought all that sincerity and his kind words earlier had just been an act.

"You’re still working here, Sir Vesper," Primrose replied calmly. "No one touched your things."

"That’s a relief!" Salem grinned. "And uh, one more thing, we should probably rewrite our contract. I’d like to be paid in actual money now."

Primrose tilted her head. "Really? I thought my hair and blood were enough payment for you."

"People change, Your Majesty," Salem said with a straight face. "Back then, I thought I’d only be doing a few small things for you. But turns out ... you ask for a lot."

Primrose narrowed her eyes at him. He always looked way too happy every time she asked him to brew some deadly poison, so she had always assumed he must’ve had a huge savings stash, and that he only made poisons purely for fun and experimentation, not for money.

Well, he had once considered making a universal antidote and selling it to humans at a ridiculously high price, but that was a different story.

"You’ve run out of money, haven’t you?" Primrose asked bluntly.

Salem let out a dramatic sigh. "I’m not completely broke ... but I’m dangerously close to hitting rock bottom."

[It’s not even my fault! Everything’s expensive nowadays,] Salem grumbled in his mind. [Well, alright, maybe it’s partly my fault for not checking my balance at the Treasury for, I don’t know ... almost twenty years, maybe?]

Only people with money as high as a mountain would never bother checking their balance at the Treasury.

However, if their spending is also as high as a mountain, then it’s no surprise if that money eventually disappears.

"I hope you understand, Your Majesty," Salem said with a sheepish smile.

Primrose sighed. "I’ll tell my husband. You can go speak with him about your salary later."

Salem’s eyes lit up like a kid who just got permission to eat cake before dinner. "You’re truly the kindest person I’ve ever met, Your Majesty."

Funny, considering that when they first met, Salem didn’t even like her. He thought she was boring, uptight, and probably a dozen other unflattering things.

But look at him now. Honestly, she was a little surprised by how well they got along.

"Ahhh! What are you doing?!" All her thoughts scattered the moment Salem’s hand suddenly pressed against her foot. "Don’t touch me like that out of nowhere!"

Salem frowned. "I barely touched you." Then, with the same casual tone, he added, "Besides, how am I supposed to know your symptoms if I don’t examine you?"

"It still hurts!" Primrose said, wincing. "T-the poison ... it left me paralyzed, and even a light touch still hurts. It’ll pass in three days. I didn’t ask you to come here to heal the paralysis."

Salem raised one eyebrow. "Oh? You seem to know a lot about this poison." He paused, then lowered his voice just a little. "Your Majesty ... you really need to be more careful with what you eat."

[So, His Majesty really can’t feel the effects of the poison,] Salem thought to himself. [Just as I expected, I’m the only poison expert who can truly be trusted. I should ask for a higher fee from His Majesty later... maybe I’ll throw in a dramatic story about how much his wife trusts me..]

Primrose was starting to notice a pattern. The more she showed how much Edmund loved her, the more people seemed to use it to their advantage.

The tiger tribe wanted her dead to hurt Edmund, Silas kept finding new ways to make her suffer, and now Salem ... was planning to charge her husband a fortune, all because of her.

She couldn’t help but wonder, would it be better if people thought the Lycan King hated his wife? That if she dropped dead tomorrow, he wouldn’t even flinch?

But ... no. That was impossible.

Edmund’s love for her was far too loud and too obvious, especially now that she had finally accepted it. There was no way to contain that much love.

"This poison didn’t come from food. My husband did nothing wrong," Primrose said. "The poison was in the bathtub."

With a reluctant sigh, she told Salem the truth that Silas had done this to her. She admitted it quietly, because she didn’t want Hazelle to be punished.

"What is it, Your Majesty? Do you have some kind of hero complex or something?" Salem snapped. "You’re telling me you willingly stepped into a poisoned bath just to protect a slave? What’s next? Someone tells you to jump off a cliff to save a stranger, and you’ll do that too?"

Primrose was taken aback because she hadn’t expected Salem to scold her so harshly. She fidgeted with her fingers and looked away.

After a moment, she replied in a soft voice, "I wouldn’t jump off a cliff just because someone asked me to." She paused. "I just ... wanted to help Hazelle because she reminded me of someone I used to know. That’s all."

If Hazelle hadn’t shared the same fate or the same appearance as her old friend, Primrose probably wouldn’t have cared as much.

So no, she wouldn’t have jumped into danger just to save someone she didn’t know.

"You already have enough proof," Salem growled, "so why haven’t you thrown that fucking doctor out?!"

"Salem," Raven warned calmly, "watch your words."

To Primrose’s surprise, he actually listened. He cleared his throat, then rephrased in a more respectful tone. "Your Majesty, from the very beginning, you knew Dr. Silas had bad intentions toward you."

He continued, "That’s why I’m confused. Why are you still letting him stay in the palace? Why haven’t you just kicked him out?"

[Even before she found out Silas had a slave, Her Majesty still didn’t want to expel him,] Salem thought.

[At first, I thought she was giving him a second chance to prove he wasn’t all bad. But now ... I don’t think she’s that naive. So what’s the real reason she’s keeping a snake like him so close?]

Primrose didn’t answer him right away. Instead, she turned to Raven. "Do you know who killed me ... in my last life?"

"What? What last life?" Salem asked, clearly confused.

It seemed Raven hadn’t told him anything about it. Maybe she’d kept it quiet to respect Primrose’s privacy, and now, by bringing it up in front of Salem, Raven would know Primrose trusted him, too.

"Like I said before, Your Majesty, my vision of your past life is limited because of two overlapping destinies," Raven explained. "I haven’t looked into your past again since that time because I needed you close to me."

"But ... I do know you died from a serious illness." She paused. "Did Dr. Silas poison you in your previous life?"

Primrose smiled bitterly. "You could say that," she replied softly. "Honestly, back then, I didn’t know I had been poisoned. I thought I died from a sudden illness."

"But now, in this life, I’ve come to realize that Silas poisoned me back then." She turned her gaze toward Salem. "It was a poison you once called ’Virgin’s Poison’... if I’m not mistaken."

Salem’s eyes widened, clearly shocked. "I’m sorry, I’m a little lost here," he said. "So ... you’re telling me that bastard actually fucking poisoned you in your past life? Then you died ... and came back?"

"Salem," Raven reminded him again, more firmly this time.

"No, no, no. This is not the time to be polite, Raven," Salem said, suddenly standing and pacing around the room. "If you really drank Virgin’s Poison ... how could I have missed it? Did I not do my job properly back then?!"

[Was I really that stupid in her past life?!] Salem thought. [Wait ... or worse, did I let her get poisoned on purpose? Just so I could study that rare poison firsthand?]

[That doesn’t sound impossible ... Shit. No! I’m not that awful... Am I?]

Primrose blinked, finally realizing what was going through his mind. He thought he had existed in her previous life too.

"Sir Vesper," she said gently, before his thoughts spiraled any further, "you weren’t with me back then."