Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

”Cho, stay here with Seol for a bit. Dad and Mom have somewhere to go for a moment. Someone is sick, so we’re going to check on them, alright?”

”Yeah, Cho can stay with Auntie. We had fun together for the past few days, right? Dad, have a safe trip.”

— Tsrut!

After telling Cho to wait for a bit, I followed Military Strategist Zhuge Hu as we rushed to the guest quarters where regular visitors of the Martial Alliance stayed.

Since I was staying in a secluded annex behind the Lord’s Hall—being one of the Five Venoms, with Seol and Gong as guests—we had been assigned a more private residence. However, Zhuge Hu’s nephew, Ji-ryong, must have been given lodging in the general guest quarters where most visitors to the Martial Alliance stayed.

”The Five Dragons and Three Peaks... Nothing special about them, huh?”

The area around the guest quarters was already surrounded by warriors of the Martial Alliance, sealing off the entire vicinity. Judging by the commotion near the entrance and surrounding area, it seemed like they had placed the whole place on lockdown.

A poisoning incident involving the nephew of a Martial Alliance strategist was bound to trigger an emergency response.

Passing through the heavily guarded warriors, we reached a long corridor lined with rooms resembling small one-room lodgings. We stopped in front of one.

Standing outside were three familiar faces—Kwon-ryong, Geom-ryong, and Gungbong—each looking deeply concerned.

”Strategist!”

”Yes. Did anything happen while I was away?”

”No, sir. Ji-ryong is inside, being looked after by Eunbong, the physicians, and the people from the Zhuge family.”

When we entered the room, it was already crowded with over a dozen people. Ji-ryong lay on the bed, his pale face tilted toward the ceiling.

Beside him, a woman named Eunbong clung to his collar, her eyes swollen from crying. She stared blankly at the ceiling, her grief evident.

As soon as we stepped inside, the crowd parted like the Red Sea.

Eunbong, seeing us, leaped to her feet and cried out.

”D-Dokhwa! Please, I beg you! Tianlang—please, save him...!”

Tianlang—a term used affectionately between lovers.

So, Eunbong and Ji-ryong were in a relationship.

She looked utterly devastated, but from what Hwa-eun had told me earlier, this woman was an expert in Sound Arts—a terrifying ability where she could kill someone by screaming or plucking an instrument to rupture their eardrums or blood vessels.

Eunbong didn’t even acknowledge Zhuge Hu and instead rushed to grab Hwa-eun’s hands.

”I understand. Please, calm down.”

Earlier, her complexion had seemed paler, and her lips were unnaturally red, but it seemed that was just makeup.

Hwa-eun gently pulled her wrist free from Eunbong’s grip and approached Ji-ryong’s bedside, motioning for me to follow.

”So-ryong, come closer.”

”Me as well?”

”Yes. You know a lot about poisons too, don’t you?”

I wasn’t sure why she specifically wanted me to step forward, but her reasoning made sense.

While my expertise lay in biological venoms, it was still relevant.

I nodded and moved closer with her to Ji-ryong’s bedside.

”Alright, let’s see. What kind of poisoning are we dealing with here?”

I examined Ji-ryong.

When I first saw him, he had looked extremely pale, but ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) aside from that, there were no clear outward symptoms of poisoning.

Hwa-eun turned to a man standing near the bed who had set up a few needles nearby.

”You’ve restrained his acupoints and slowed his blood flow. Are you certain it’s poisoning?”

Since Ji-ryong’s appearance was too normal, even Hwa-eun seemed skeptical.

If it was poisoning, there should have been physical symptoms—labored breathing, fever, bleeding, or other bodily abnormalities. However, Ji-ryong displayed none of those.

The man lowered his head.

”At first, we thought it was an illness, but it didn’t match any known disease. One of the physicians trained in toxins examined him and suspected poison.”

He glanced sideways, and another man stepped forward, offering a respectful salute to Hwa-eun.

”I... I’m Won-gyu. I don’t know if you remember me, my lady.”

”Won-gyu? Ah, you’re one of the physicians our family sent to the Martial Alliance a few years ago, right?”

”Yes, my lady.”

Hwa-eun nodded.

So, he was a physician from our Sacheon Tang Clan, dispatched to the Martial Alliance.

Given the high frequency of poisoning incidents in the martial world, it made sense that we had people stationed here.

Hwa-eun folded her arms and asked,

”What were his symptoms?”

Up until now, she had been skeptical, but now that the diagnosis came from one of our own, she seemed to trust it more.

”Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be a lethal dose. His acupoints have been sealed to prevent the poison from spreading, but before that, he exhibited severe convulsions and slurred speech.”

”Slurred speech and convulsions... Were you able to determine the type of poison?”

”I apologize. My proficiency in Poison Arts isn’t high enough to identify it immediately.”

A master of Poison Arts would be able to recognize a toxin once they absorbed it, but his skills weren’t advanced enough.

”Then we’ll have to diagnose it properly. I’ll start by checking his pulse.”

Hwa-eun reached for Ji-ryong’s wrist.

After a moment of careful examination, she nodded gravely.

”It’s definitely poison.”

At that confirmation, the room erupted in outrage.

”As expected! Could it be those Blood Cult bastards?!”

”Who dares poison our Ji-ryong?!”

”They dared to target the Zhuge family?!”

The heated atmosphere thickened with murderous intent, but Hwa-eun cut through the tension.

”I need to see the symptoms. Could you release his sealed acupoints?”

Zhuge Hu’s eyes widened in shock.

”Wouldn’t that cause the poison to spread and kill him?!”

If the acupoints blocking the flow of poison were released, wouldn’t that mean instant death?

Hwa-eun shook her head.

”If my guess is correct, the poison won’t spread.”

”It won’t?”

She nodded again.

Zhuge Hu hesitated for a moment before stepping forward.

”Do it.”

”Understood.”

At his command, a few of the robust men in the room moved.

One of them touched a few points on Ji-ryong’s body—

And then something astonishing happened.

At first, Ji-ryong’s vacant eyes began regaining focus.

”Wha... What is happening...? My... my body...”

His voice was nothing like the confident tone he had before. It was full of fear, slurred and sluggish.

It was as if his tongue had stiffened, preventing him from speaking properly.

But that wasn’t the most shocking part.

His eyelids and the corners of his mouth began to twitch violently.

Then his whole body started trembling uncontrollably.

Ji-ryong’s convulsions escalated, his limbs thrashing like a dying animal struck by an arrow.

The men who had surrounded him quickly grabbed hold of his flailing limbs.

”Khrrk... M-my body...”

”T-Tianlang! Hhkk...”

Tears streamed down Eunbong’s face as she watched him writhe helplessly.

Seeing Ji-ryong’s deteriorating condition, Eunbong buried her face in his chest and broke into sobs.

Her loud cries echoed through the room, and Hwa-eun, watching the scene, gave a calm but firm instruction to those around her.

”We’ve seen enough. Seal his acupoints again and administer blood circulation techniques.”

”Understood!”

Soon, Ji-ryong’s acupoints were blocked once more, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Hwa-eun gazed at him silently before asking,

”Has Ji-ryong been complaining about frequent headaches lately? Or memory lapses? Sudden bursts of anger?”

Zhuge Hu stroked his chin, deep in thought.

”Hmm...”

It was his nephew’s condition, but knowing every small personal detail like that was unlikely. And who in their right mind would dare show anger toward their uncle?

Realizing he wasn’t the best person to ask, Hwa-eun turned to Eunbong instead. When their eyes met, Eunbong flinched, hesitating before she finally spoke in a cautious voice.

”I... I’ve been by his side, so I noticed... Yes, he’s had headaches and memory problems. He even forgot things we planned together, which made me upset several times.”

Hwa-eun nodded in understanding before turning back to Zhuge Hu.

”That confirms it. This poisoning didn’t happen today.”

”It didn’t happen today?!”

”No. The poisoning occurred over a long period, very slowly.”

”What?!”

The air in the room turned ice-cold at her words.

Zhuge Hu, his voice now razor-sharp, asked in a low tone,

”How long are we talking?”

”At least six months.”

”...”

The moment she said six months, Zhuge Hu’s restrained killing intent spread across the room.

This meant someone had meticulously planned to poison Ji-ryong over an extended period. Just like with Yeong-yeong, this wasn’t something an outsider could have done—it had to be someone close.

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Xiang slithered out from my sleeve, turning its head toward Zhuge Hu.

— Tsrurur.

From Xiang’s thoughts, I could tell it was confused. ”Dad, who’s this guy? Should I bite him? Should I?”

I stroked Xiang’s head, trying to calm it down. At the same time, Hwa-eun, perhaps to diffuse Zhuge Hu’s fury, spoke in a composed voice.

”Please, calm yourself. Elder, this might not have been intentional.”

”What? Not intentional?”

”Yes, Elder. Ji-ryong has been poisoned with Hong.”

”Hong?”

That word struck a memory.

When learning about poisons in the Tang Clan, I had come across the term Hong.

”If I remember correctly... Hong means mercury. Ah! And since she said this poisoning happened over a long period, then it must be mercury poisoning!”

Ji-ryong’s symptoms suddenly made sense.

They closely resembled chronic mercury poisoning—also known as Minamata disease.

Even though my main field was biological toxins, I had covered common poisons in broadcast segments before. From what I recalled about mercury poisoning, Minamata disease caused neurological symptoms like lip tremors, speech impairment, and loss of motor control.

Ji-ryong’s symptoms were an exact match.

And now, Hwa-eun’s theory that the poisoning might not have been intentional also made sense.

In this primitive era, mercury was still used as medicine.

Even Emperor Qin Shi Huang had taken mercury-based elixirs in his quest for immortality.

Some people even drank liquid mercury as a supposed health tonic.

However, liquid mercury wasn’t easily absorbed by the body, so poisoning only occurred with long-term exposure.

In my past life, mercury had been widely used in daily life—one of the most common examples being thermometers.

There were surprisingly many cases of children biting into a thermometer, swallowing the mercury, and being rushed to the hospital. But even in those cases, they rarely suffered serious poisoning.

So for Ji-ryong to be affected, he must have either ingested mercury over a long period or consumed something containing it regularly.

”Has Ji-ryong been taking any medicine that might contain Hong? Perhaps a tonic or some form of spiritual elixir?”

At my question, both Zhuge Hu and Eunbong shook their heads.

”No. Not that I know of.”

”Same here.”

”That’s strange... His symptoms suggest prolonged exposure.”

It felt like the case was turning into a dead end.

I tried to recall everything I had learned in the Tang Clan’s toxicology lessons.

”Hong is made by heating Zhusha to extract mercury. The fumes it releases are highly toxic and can cause acute poisoning if inhaled... So Ji-ryong wasn’t poisoned by inhaling mercury vapor.”

But then something clicked.

”Wait... Zhusha... Where have I heard that before?”

Suddenly, I remembered something from my time with the Namgung Clan.

”The Sugungsa ceremony is a tradition where a woman proves her chastity by marking her body with a special pigment. They raise lizards in jars, feeding them Zhusha (朱砂), which turns their bodies red. The lizards are then ground into powder and used for the ritual. If a woman is truly pure, the mark will never wash away, even with water.”

I had been horrified by the practice back then.

”Turns red? Wait... No way...!”

A disturbing thought surfaced in my mind.

My gaze darted toward Eunbong’s lips.

The vivid red color.

I turned to Hwa-eun in alarm.

”Hwa-eun... I, I remember learning that Zhusha is the raw material for Hong. Can someone get mercury poisoning from consuming Zhusha?”

Hwa-eun gave me a proud, knowing smile.

”As expected of you, So-ryong. That’s right. You figured it out even without being taught. Zhusha is indeed a source of Hong, meaning it can cause mercury poisoning the same way.”

I slowly turned to look at the unconscious Ji-ryong.

And let out a long, weary sigh.

”Ha...”

”Ah... Youths...”

This was exactly why lipstick needed to be non-toxic.

Now, how the hell was I supposed to explain this?