Chapter 34: Ch 34. Catching Briella 2
Kev sprang into action, lifting it effortlessly—after all, he was a bear. Nothing was too heavy for him.
Once the floor was lifted, Selena smiled faintly at the sight of a fox-like woman hiding her face beneath it.
"Briella, your hiding place has been exposed."
The girl seemed to lower her head even further, while Kev stepped down and caught her.
Jhon and Vylen stood there speechless like fools as Kev lifted the fox-eared girl. Then they both looked at Selena, who appeared calm.
"Take her to the palace. As for the rest, order your men to search this house. Make sure everything is checked—take any items related to poison and anything else that looks suspicious." Selena gave her orders, and they nodded in understanding.
Selena walked away as Kev led the fox-girl named Briella away. However, her steps halted when she sensed an intensely focused gaze coming from the direction of a large tree outside the house’s courtyard.
"Selena, what’s wrong?" John asked as he approached.
As luck would have it, Selena grabbed a small knife tucked into John’s belt, then threw it with precise accuracy toward the source of the gaze, causing a scream of pain to ring out.
Jhon was startled by her actions, as were Vylen, Vee, and everyone else there. Before they could recover from their shock, Selena had already moved as if flying outward, quickly leaping over the fence, and then, following her instincts, she snapped her hand forward.
Before long, a strand of yellow light shot out from her palm and bound the girl, whose body was shrouded in shadows and black lights. This prevented her from disappearing, as the strand Selena had cast immobilized her.
"That was impressive—I almost fell for it," Selena said, brushing her hand as if to shake off dust.
"You... you bastard!"
"Selena!" Jhon and Vylen’s panicked voices echoed from the distance.
Tsk, her two not-so-useful husbands. Selena didn’t answer their calls; instead, she calmly watched Briella thrash and wriggle like a caterpillar.
***
Jhon and Vylen followed Selena as she examined all the items they’d found while searching Briella’s house. There were several small boxes made of wood and glass, containing strange powders with black shadows swirling around them.
"What kind of thing is this? This is the first time I’ve seen something like this in the world of Eldoria," said Vylen with a look of curiosity on his face.
"Don’t touch it!" Selena quickly warned, looking at Vylen, who immediately recoiled. "That thing is poisonous; you could suffer serious consequences if you touch it."
He had almost reached out to touch it out of curiosity, but immediately pulled his hand back upon hearing what Selena said.
"Poisonous?" Jhon, who was also there, looked at Selena. "Does this have anything to do with the poison in the Fox King’s body? Was he poisoned by the Old Fox King, who apparently got the poison from that woman?"
"That’s a possibility. Just wait for the results of the interrogation my men are conducting," she replied, causing Jhon to nod slowly.
Selena stared intently at the glass boxes, observing the different-colored powders that all emitted the same black light. Even though she was enclosed inside the golden box, Selena could feel the effects of that black light, and after being immersed in it for a moment, her instincts kicked in, causing her to widen her eyes.
"Ah, I get it. The powder itself isn’t very toxic, but what’s toxic is the forest light surrounding these particles," Selena muttered, causing Jhon and Vylen to look at her. "It’s the same kind of effect you get after someone smokes a special kind of dangerous cigarette—or it’s comparable to a drug. No wonder—I’m finally starting to understand."
"Drugs?"
Selena straightened up from her leaning position to get a clearer look at the object.
"What are drugs?" asked Vylen, speaking for John, who had been muttering earlier. "And what’s a cigarette?"
Selena waved her hand casually. "You guys don’t know what they are, but basically, they’re dangerous substances that are prohibited from being consumed without a doctor’s permission. They’re great for healing, but most people abuse them," Selena replied, leaving the two Animal Kings even more puzzled.
Of course they were puzzled; as kings, they likely had never even heard the term before. Selena also made this connection because she had once lived in the human world, where drug use was commonplace.
She just hadn’t expected to encounter similar effects, even if the form was different. After all, she now lived in a fantasy world where not everyone believed that a world of human-shaped wild animals like this even existed.
There was a knock at the door. Selena immediately invited the person in and found Kav walking toward her, handing her the interrogation report.
"She admitted that the Old Fox King and Amena are under her control, and that they also obtained the poison from her. I’ve recorded all her confessions in this report," Kav explained, making Selena smile.
It turned out to be true, just as she’d suspected.
"Good work," she replied, then opened the report page by page.
There, Selena read it slowly and discovered the fact that.
"Just as I suspected, Briella admitted that she did use several plants with toxic effects that have severe side effects. A person can experience hallucinations, extreme mental sedation, and even loss of consciousness. The longer someone consumes it, the more addicted they become and the more willing they are to do anything to get it. It turns out even the Old Fox King can be controlled by a low-ranking beastkin with powder like this—that’s quite surprising," Selena remarked.
Vylen’s eyes widened in disbelief at what Selena had said. "You mean my father was taking something he got from Briella that had those side effects?"
Selena nodded, smiling casually until Vylen’s eyes widened again.
"That’s impossible—he’s been poisoning me since I was a child. How could he have been giving me that powder since I was little without me realizing it?"
"You’re the one who didn’t realize it," Selena replied, causing Vylen to furrow her brow.
"What do you mean?"
Selena gave a small smile. "The effects of this powder have been clearly visible to me ever since I first met him. It’s just that ordinary beastkin without special healing abilities wouldn’t be able to see them," Selena explained. "You’re the ones who said that an extinction healer only appears once every few hundred years, right? I’m the first extinction healer in the last few hundred years, so it’s only natural that this is just coming to light now."
Vylen swallowed hard, while Selena went back to reading through Briella’s statements.
"Hmm, it’s very clear why and when your father first asked her for a remedy like this. It happened about 100 years ago, when you were still a child. Your father admitted to suffering from severe depression after your mother’s death; he had to take care of you while you were still young, which left him stressed and overwhelmed. His first encounter with Briella was about two months after your mother’s death; they met by chance in the forest, and she offered him that powder when she saw he wasn’t doing well," Selena said as she read the report.
Vylen swallowed hard; his face went pale, and he was speechless as he began to understand—even though it was hard to believe the truth.
How could his father have been that foolish?