The sun hadn't even burned off the morning mist in Ehrenwald, but Hellene Von Meier's stomach felt like it had been hit by a hurricane. Since midnight, she'd been making frantic trips to the lavatory, a miserable ritual that was hardly the way a noblewoman should start her day, especially one scheming to drive her sister out of the house for the sake of profit and ambition.
"Erna! Why does my stomach still feel like hell?" Hellene hissed, clutching her cramping belly, her face ghostly pale in the mirror.
Erna, her loyal maid, looked just as panicked. "My lady, you've had diarrhea since last night. But… you didn't eat anything that should've caused it. I swear, I only laced Lady Greta's plate with the laxative. The egg I spiked was meant for Duke Matthias, he's the one who ate it. So why are you the one suffering like this?" Erna was flustered, fumbling for a solution, but every remedy she tried seemed useless.
