Chapter 10: Not A Rat!
"So the King… Today…?" Reina raised her head after being lost in her thoughts for the past few seconds.
She had no clue that her swaying emotions while thinking about her past had brought about a change in the room's temperature.
Treegan and the Doctor remained silent while observing how the room went back to normal once the young man on the bed had come back to his senses.
They could not deny that they pitied this young lad seated before them.
To have received a love confession and a treat to celebrate it only for it to turn out to be an attempt on his life.
No wonder he seemed so listless and agitated earlier.
They had misunderstood the reason behind Rein's previous behavior which caused the room temperature to drop but this had worked out in her favor.
As for her earlier inquiry, Treegan understood what the servant was trying to investigate hence he gave him a positive nod.
"The King must have noticed that something wasn't right." He disclosed what he knew about this situation.
"He asked me to find out what happened while he was away and that was when I discovered the same information you just revealed." He answered without concealing much from the Doctor and Rein.
This morning, the first task from his Master was one concerning this foolish rat, however, while he was fulfilling his task, he had stumbled upon the scheme made by Lady Marin and her maid.
Reina pondered over what had happened this morning and somehow she could not figure out just when the King had noticed that she had been poisoned when even the victim was also unaware of this fact.
It was precisely when the King had looked at her, he had noticed a paleness in her face and the reddish tint over the rims of her eyes.
There was also another reason which helped him though not many were privileged to know about it.
He had even found the same bluish hue on her nails but he chose to remain silent about it.
When he heard the report from his aide, Treegan, his suspicions had been confirmed which was why he had summoned the two women to have breakfast with him.
"He then asked me to summon Lady Marin and Lady Amaira to meet him in the dining hall." Treegan disclosed and watched as a flash of realization passed through Rein's eyes.
'Lady Amaira!' Reina exclaimed as she finally figured out the role of the tanned beauty in this entire 'attempt on her life' charade.
If Lady Marin was the most favored candidate for the Queen's position by the Elders of Valanthur, the well-wishers of this great Kingdom.
Lady Amaira was the only daughter of the second most powerful clan in the Kingdom.
Unlike Lady Marin who was a vampire just like the King, Lady Amaira was a purebred Werewolf hailing from the Omarun family, one among the powerful werewolf families in Valanthur.
When Reina's memories about the true identities of the two ladies finally triggered, she recalled another important detail about the daughter of the Omarun family.
'Everyone in the Kingdom knows that she dabbles in the art of poisons.' She remembered that Amaira was often referred to as the 'Lethal Beauty' for her skill in producing poisons of different potencies.
"Did Lady Amaira-" Reina did not have to continue her words as Treegan's nod had already given her the answer she was looking for.
"She did." He added before revealing the other information he had obtained during his investigation this morning.
It was Lady Marin who had ordered her maid to visit Lady Amaira in search of a poison.
'The real Rein never went against those two so why would they try to kill her?' Reina's brows furrowed together in contemplation of the events that had taken place last evening.
"Lady Amaira was only told that they needed to take care of a 'rat' so she prepared a poison which would kill the victim in their slumber." Treegan continued while watching the young man who had a troubled look on his face.
'Was that what Amaira meant when she spoke about a 'rat infestation' after being questioned by the King?' She wondered and it seemed that her speculation made sense.
"That would explain why the poison did not work on you, Mister Melk." The Doctor clapped his hands after making this statement.
If Lady Amaira had made a poison to kill a tiny rat then the dose would have been minuscule and it could never affect a young Vampire like Rein Melk.
However, while Treegan and the Doctor were rejoicing over this fact, Reina remained silent.
'But it was more than enough to kill the real Rein.' She stated with confidence as that was how her soul had been able to enter this body in the first place.
The poison that Lady Amaira had prepared was just as effective even if it was in that small dose meant for a rat as the Doctor had said.
It had managed to kill Rein Melk in her sleep which resulted in her soul possessing it with ease.
This was the only valid explanation she could think of for why her soul which should have been wandering about in absolute nothingness was currently sitting on this cozy bed inside this Vampire's body.
'After all, I did die in my previous world.' She gritted her teeth while stating the truth about her life which had ended way too quickly in that world.
Taking a deep breath in, she shook her head to wipe away the tsunami of emotions about to wash over her and then looked up at the two men.
"Can I rest for a while?" She inquired while looking at the Doctor who nodded after observing her for a moment.
"I do not see any effects of the poison on you as of now but we will have to keep you under observation to see if there are any sequelae from Lady Amaira's poison." He patted the young man's shoulder before taking a step away.
"I will come back with the medication that Doctor Bundt has prescribed for you, Rat." Treegan reminded Rein as he began to follow the Doctor out of the room.
Hearing the way he had addressed her, Reina forgot about the discomfort she felt when the Doctor had touched her shoulder.
Instead, she glared at the man who had an arrogant look on his face as he began walking away.
"I am not a Rat!" She declared with fury after remembering how the people in Rein's memories often referred to her with that demeaning name.
She could not understand where that name had originated from but she abhorred it to her core.
Treegan, the one who had given that name to Rein Melk when they had first met, halted in his steps and glanced at those icy blue eyes which were glaring at him.
"What else do I call someone who is as silent as a rat?" He mocked, further infuriating the patient sitting on the bed.
His lips curved into a smirk and a snigger was heard in the room.
He was egging the man on to anger him on purpose to check whether what had happened earlier, where the room's temperature had dropped was a fluke, or there truly were some powers residing in Melk's body.
However, contrary to the outburst of emotion that he was expecting from his opponent, Treegan's eyes beheld the sulking face of the young man.
"What rat!? If anything, I can be compared to a rabbit!" She blurted out, upset that she was called a rat.
Both the Doctor and Treegan felt that this reaction was weird coming from the young man.
After all, which respectable vampire would like to compare themselves to the woodland creatures they often hunted for sport?
Treegan felt pissed that his attempt to gain any useful reaction from Rein was deemed useless so he was also in a sullen mood.
"What's the difference? Both are rodents after all." He shrugged, rat or rabbit, both are tiny creatures he could take down in a second, just like this guy before him.
Reina's mood worsened after hearing his lax words and she decided to give him a piece of her mind.
"Rats are rodents but rabbits aren't. They belong to the Lagomorpha order!" She scoffed at the ignorant man who prided in his lack of knowledge.
"Rabbits have four incisors in their upper jaw while rodents like rats only have two. Get your facts right!" She huffed once she was done lecturing him about the reason why rabbits aren't rodents.
Doctor Bundt nodded his head because what the young servant had said was absolutely right.
He then glanced at Treegan who was left speechless after being proven wrong by the lower servant.
"Why do you even know about this nonsense?" Treegan scoffed as he could not come up with anything else and decided to divert the flow of the conversation.
Reina paused for a second as the reason was not something she could disclose.
"Learning about animals is something I do in my free time." She lied through her teeth as the real Rein's hobby was to read dirty romance novels.
But she could only use this as an excuse to hide both hers and the real Rein's secret.
Treegan then scoffed at her reason while the Doctor nodded before he bid her goodbye and left the room.
Once the room was empty, Reina plopped on the bed and looked up at the ceiling.
'How should I tell them that I know so much about animals because that was my job?' She sighed while recalling the days of her past.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
ObsidianOrbs
ObsidianOrbs Lady Amaira's poison meant for a simple rat had managed to kill Rein. I wonder why?
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