Page 34 of I Ran Away to Evil 3
“See!” the waiter declared, triumphant.
In all honesty, I’d actually thought about poisoning the teamyselfto stop lunch, but I didn’t want to frame the poor waiter if Mr. Prail wasactuallyinnocent. There were so many other ways Julian could’ve gotten poisoned; one ofthe guards could be a traitor carrying a poisoned dagger, someone could throw a poison smoke bomb into the room, or a ninja could suddenly appear from the ceiling and shoot him with a poisoned dart.
Though with John here, the last one seemed unlikely.
Thinking I should have John check the rest of the food,just in case,I countered, “Did Isaythat you’d poisoned myteacup?”
Mr. Prail stiffened almost imperceptibly. The way his eyebrow tightened and his hand clenched ever so slightly alerted me even before my [Sense Danger], and I acted on pure instinct, whipping my hand out and grabbing his wrist.
He cried out in exaggerated pain. “Ow, stop! Help!”
At my sudden movement, John positioned himself between the duke and I, but Julian didn’t even flinch. “Miss Gerda,” he stated. “Kindly unhand my staff.”
Iknewmy instincts were correct. “I won’t hurt him; I’m just going to prove my point.” Equipping one of my treasures, a pair of oversized black leather gloves appeared on my hands. I used my free hand to sweep a circular motion in front of Mr. Prail’s chest.
[You have attempted to useArcane Catspaw Glovesto steal the target’s most valuable item:Storage Ring. 98% chance of success. You have succeeded.]
I reopened my fingers with a toe ring in my hand.
Gross.
Letting go of the waiter, I tossed the ring at John, who caught it with ease. Honestly, there was a chance that my accusations wouldn’t be grounds to search Mr. Prail’s ring, but Mr. Prail sealed his own fate when he turned on his heel and tried to run for the door. With the duke on one side and two guards on the other, he’d taken his chances with the guards and was promptly subdued.
“Empty it,” Julian ordered.
The ring’s magically sealed contents appeared in front of us. John caught a half-empty bottle of a Paralysis potion, a low-grade antidote, and a piece of parchment on his palm. The rest of the ring’s contents, including thirty gold coins, a change of clothes, a rope, and a sleeping roll tumbled to the floor.
He handed the parchment to Julian, who nodded. The rogue then stepped forward to take the waiter into custody, and the pair of them sank into a pool of shadows. Meanwhile, I unequipped my legendary gloves, wiping my hands together in a job well done.
I’d survived an official meeting with my favorite character and managed to prevent him from getting poisoned.
Good job, me.
“Miss Gerda.” Duke Julian regarded me calmly.
“Your Grace,” I replied, standing amidst the mess. The room was in chaos, with the trolley still knocked over and the ring’s contents haphazardly lying about.
The duke’s lips twitched, and a genuine smile pulled at the corners ever so slightly. My Perception wouldn’t lie to me about something like this, and I’ll admit it left me rattled.
He wassmiling?
Then, the half elf had to go and act out of character even more. Julian walked forward until he wasmuchtoo close for comfort. My chair was right behind me, so I fell into it to add a bit of distance between us. How had I thought I was going to be okay? I gripped my skirts to stop the tremors.
Before I could figure out another escape, Julian held up Mr. Prail’s scroll. It was a signed and approved assassination order from Servalt’s Assassin’s Guild.
Targetingme.
“We took this one from the archer.” A second page appeared in his hand, and it was from the Peldeep Assassin Assembly.
The duke backed off and took the seat across from me, finally giving me space to breathe. If I was Mr. Prail’s target, how did Julian get poisoned?
The object of my thoughts leaned forward in his chair. “So, why don’t we have that talk?”
CHAPTER 18
Interesting
Julian
