The Moonbond Elixir
1349 Words
I had sneaked into the vault last night.
But I had only taken a bottle of laxatives.
Surely my father wouldn’t launch an investigation into the vault just because I stole a bottle of laxatives.
Besides, the guard had just said—
Something was stolen.
Something else had to be missing.
But somehow, I was the only person who had entered the vault.
Oh, no.
Was I really about to get blamed for this?
I didn’t have time to think.
I immediately turned around and ran back.
I had to find that bottle.
As long as I showed them what I had taken, I could prove exactly what I had stolen.
I raced back to my room and pulled the box I had hidden beneath my bed the night before.
I opened it.
The bottle was still there.
I let out a sigh of relief.
As long as I took this to my father, he would believe me.
I quickly picked up the box and hurried back toward his study.
But just as I turned the corner—
“Eira!”
A sharp voice suddenly rang out.
I looked up.
Maribel was standing there.
She was the daughter of Elder Morcant and one of the people I had gotten along with the least since childhood.
But today, she looked extremely strange.
Her face was frighteningly pale.
Her hair was a mess, and her steps were unsteady, as if she could barely stand.
I frowned.
“What happened to you?”
But she looked at me as if she had just seen her mortal enemy.
“You’re asking me what happened?”
“…”
I stared at her in confusion.
The next second, she suddenly rushed toward me.
“Was it you?”
“What?”
“Did you secretly put laxatives in my food?”
I froze.
“Laxatives?”
Maribel glared at me through clenched teeth.
“I’ve had diarrhea nonstop since early this morning!”
“I can’t keep anything down, and I barely have the strength to stand!”
“Who else could have done this if not you?”
I stood there completely stunned.
It felt as if a bolt of lightning had exploded inside my head.
I lowered my gaze to the box in my arms.
Then I looked back at Maribel’s deathly pale face.
An utterly ridiculous thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
Could it be the woman had delivered it to the wrong person?
I swallowed hard and tried to explain.
“I really didn’t drug you!”
“I admit I took a bottle of laxatives from my father’s vault yesterday. I was going to…”
I hesitated.
There was no way I could tell her that I had planned to put the laxatives in Caedmon’s food.
That was way too embarrassing.
But at this point, there was no point hiding it.
“I was going to use it on Caedmon.”
Maribel’s eyes widened.
“You admitted it!”
“I admitted that I took the laxatives. I never said I gave them to you!”
“You took laxatives, and you’re still saying it wasn’t you?”
She refused to listen and tightened her grip on me.
I felt a headache coming on.
But in the end, I stopped struggling.
For one thing, I trusted my father.
Although he was the Alpha of the Valenreth Pack, he had always been fair when handling matters within the clan. He had never favored me simply because I was his daughter.
If I really was responsible for this, he would make me take responsibility.
But if I wasn’t, he would never force the blame onto me just because Elder Morcant’s daughter had been wronged.
Besides…
There was something about this whole situation that was far too strange.
Why was Caedmon completely fine?
Yet Maribel had been the one who got sick.
And around the same time, that strange disturbance had occurred in the forest behind the mountain.
The wolves had started howling for no reason.
Even my wolf and Caedmon’s wolf had reacted in ways I had never experienced before.
Could all of this really be a coincidence?
I didn’t know.
But I wanted to find out the truth.
So I simply followed Maribel to my father’s study.
When we arrived, my father was talking to someone.
I recognized him immediately.
Elder Morcant.
He was Maribel’s father.
The moment he saw us enter, his expression darkened.
And as soon as Maribel saw her father, she rushed over as if she had finally found someone to protect her.
“Father!”
Her eyes immediately turned red.
“It was Eira!”
“She bullied me and secretly drugged me with laxatives!”
I stood at the doorway and frowned.
“Maribel, can you tell the whole story?”
“I already explained it to you. I didn’t drug you!”
“Then why did you admit you took the laxatives?”
“Because I did!”
I admitted it outright.
They had already traced the bottle back to me. There was no point trying to hide it.
I walked over to my father and took out the small box I had brought from my room.
I placed it on the desk.
“This is what I took from the vault yesterday.”
I opened the box and took out the bottle inside.
“I did take a bottle of medicine.”
The moment I said that, Maribel immediately interrupted.
“Alpha! Father! See? She admitted it herself!”
I ignored her and continued looking at my father.
“I had a duel with Caedmon today, so last night I took this because I planned to put it in Caedmon’s food.”
Even I felt a little guilty admitting it.
It certainly wasn’t something I was proud of.
“But I absolutely did not give it to Maribel.”
I pointed to the bottle on the desk.
“If I did this, I’ll take responsibility.”
“What’s done is done.”
“But before we decide anything, I want to find out what actually happened.”
My father didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he picked up the bottle and examined it carefully.
Then he brought it closer and smelled it.
His expression changed slightly.
He looked up.
“Go get Dr. Silas Morton.”
Dr. Silas Morton arrived soon after.
He was one of the most experienced doctors in the clan.
My father handed him the bottle.
Silas examined the bottle first, then opened the cap and smelled the contents.
His brows slowly drew together.
He took a small amount of the powder and examined it more closely.
A few minutes later, Silas finally looked up.
“This isn’t a laxative.”
Even though I had already started to suspect something was wrong, I still froze.
“Then what is it?”
“More precisely, this is a very old type of bonding elixir.”
Silas examined the bottle again.
He hesitated, then glanced at my father.
“This is extremely rare.”
My father frowned. “Tell it.”
Silas looked back at him.
“Moonbond Elixir.”
“It’s completely different from a laxative.”
My mind went completely blank.
I looked at the bottle on the table.
Then I looked at Maribel.
Suspicion filled my mind.
Who had put it there?
My father was silent for a moment before looking at me again.
“Eira, when did you enter the vault last night?”
I paused.
“At night.”
“More specifically.”
I thought for a moment.
“Before I went to bed. Around ten.”
“How long were you inside?”
“Probably… less than ten minutes.”
My father continued questioning me.
“What did you do after you entered?”
“I found the shelf where the medicine was kept. Then I took that bottle…”
The bottle I thought was a laxative.
“And then?”
“Then I left.”
My father frowned.
“Think carefully. Was there anything else unusual?”
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD