It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

At this point, everything settled down, and two streams of blood began to slowly flow from Charles II's nose.

Chapter 145 Panic

Two streams of bright red blood flowed slowly from his nostrils, following the direction of gravity downwards, past his lips, and finally dripped onto the lining of his luxurious robe, forming red spots.

This obvious anomaly was quickly noticed by the crowd, and someone cried out in alarm, "Your Majesty!" while the others also exclaimed in surprise.

"Doctor! Quick, emergency!"

"What happened? Why is His Majesty's nose bleeding? Why does His Majesty look so pale? Why did the tooth extraction turn out like this?"

"I know, there must be something wrong with that medicine!"

The riot initially started with shouting from a few people, but it quickly spread as those who were unaware of the situation desperately tried to understand. Soon, footsteps, shouts, and the scraping of armor by guards echoed through the hall, and the scene became increasingly chaotic and disorderly.

The hall was in complete chaos when a powerful voice silenced the commotion.

"Quiet!"

Duke Scott's voice rang out in Whitehall, not loud, but firm and powerful.

The Duke of Scott, a middle-aged man with graying hair, was the highest-ranking person present and the only duke invited by Charles II, so he stepped forward at this moment.

Unlike the riotous crowd around him, Scott remained calm, seemingly unfazed by the unexpected turn of events. Perhaps influenced by his composure, the crowd gradually calmed down.

After scanning the crowd and waiting for the disturbance to subside, Duke Scott stepped forward and asked, "How is His Majesty now?"

By this time, Veronica had been observing Charles II closely for a long time. She suppressed her anxiety and tried to keep her tone calm: "Father looks very bad, and he is still unconscious and cannot be woken up. We have no way of knowing what happened."

Duke Scott frowned, then pointed at Charles II, whose face was pale and lips were white, and questioned Arnold, "Why has His Majesty become like this? What have you done? Is there any way to help him?"

Dr. Arnold was trying to wipe away Charles II's nosebleed with a cloth when Scott asked him. He shook his head vigorously, his voice trembling slightly, "No, I don't know, it shouldn't be like that. This tooth extraction shouldn't have any problems..."

“All I want to know now is whether you have any way to restore His Majesty,” Duke Scott interrupted.

Dr. Arnold was somewhat hesitant to meet Duke Scott's gaze. The tall and imposing doctor displayed utter weakness in the Duke's presence: "I, I, I'll be right there, but there's not much here. It's best to move to the medical room quickly."

"Then hurry up!"

"Duke Scott commanded."

So Dr. Arnold and his assistant quickly got to work, preparing to find things to carry Charles II to the medical room.

At this moment, Prince Edward, who had remained silent, stepped forward. The prince's face was paler than usual, as if he had just recovered from the shock of Charles II's misfortune.

He asked anxiously, "What's wrong with Father?"

Seeing her brother approach, Veronica, despite usually disliking him, explained her findings due to the urgency of the situation: "Father is in some trouble, and the doctor is preparing to take him to the medical room for treatment."

Will something happen?

Edward swallowed hard.

"No, Father will be fine."

Veronica disliked her brother a little. Although she was worried about her father, she would never act so badly and weakly.

“We’ll talk about the rest later,” Duke Scotton interrupted the two. “The most important thing right now is to stabilize His Majesty’s condition as soon as possible. Also, we need to get these people in Whitehall back home immediately and not let them stay here any longer.”

.......

at the same time.

Faced with this sudden and unexpected event, Li Cheng, who was standing at the front of the crowd, was completely stunned.

I've joked before that killing emperors is all the rage, but what's the big deal about getting into trouble while getting a tooth pulled? Is it really that easy? Or am I just a jinx, everything I say turns out to be bad?

"..."

After a brief moment of shock, Li Cheng began to seriously consider Charles II's unusual behavior.

A pale complexion, pale lips, and sudden nosebleeds are the three symptoms that appear to be present at the moment.

However, nosebleeds are not a side effect of ether, and given that Charles II's condition is clearly very poor, it is absolutely impossible for it to be a side effect of ether.

Could something else have been mixed in with the ether? But I told Arnold to do a small-scale test beforehand, so he shouldn't have an allergic reaction...

Li Cheng turned his gaze to the table in the center of the White Hall. Because they had prepared well, there was still half a liquid left in it. If they could test it, they could determine the problem.

However, what is more urgent than these is to restore Charles II to normal. His current abnormality is not just a nosebleed, but also a noticeably poor complexion.

Under Scott's command, Charles II was rushed to the medical room as quickly as possible, and the crowd that had been invited to watch the tooth extraction was politely asked to leave by the guards.

Li Cheng was originally one of those who were asked to leave by the guards, but he was stopped by Veronica.

"You staying might be helpful."

So Li Cheng could only wait quietly. After the crowd had mostly dispersed, Veronica asked him, "Didn't you say that ether wouldn't cause any problems as long as it wasn't inhaled in large doses? Why is Father like this now?"

As she said this, Veronica's brows furrowed tightly, her face revealing undisguised worry and anxiety.

Although Charles II's accident shocked her, she knew that panic would not solve the problem, so she did not choose to go to the medical room with Arnold, but instead prepared to ask Li Cheng, the inventor of ether.

Looking at the anxious princess before him, Li Cheng shook his head and replied, "As far as I know, ether doesn't work like that. Besides, Arnold should have tested it in small quantities beforehand. Even if there were allergies, they should have been detected by now."

Veronica wasn't in a position to think things through in detail, so she asked directly, "So what are your thoughts?"

"I think we should be more rigorous and do an experiment first."

As Li Cheng spoke, he walked towards the center of the White Hall, to the table and chairs that had been used for tooth extractions.

Then he said to the servant beside him, "Excuse me, could you please bring me a cat or a dog? I need to conduct a small experiment."

While the servant was still in a daze, Veronica urged, "Do as he says, and hurry up!"

"Yes!" The servant finally realized what was happening, hurriedly answered, and rushed outside.

Soon enough, a medium-sized, unidentified dog with smooth fur was brought over by a servant. As the next target for his use, Li Cheng used the remaining half bottle of ether to anesthetize it.

The test went smoothly; the medium-sized dog fell into a normal coma without any other abnormal behavior, indicating that the ether itself was not the problem.

Ether is fine...

Li Cheng reached this conclusion by crouching down and carefully observing the unconscious medium-sized dog.

Then he turned to Veronica, who was waiting for the results, and said, "The dog is fine. The problem shouldn't be with the ether. His Majesty's unusual condition has another reason—by the way, is it really okay for you to stay here and watch me do the tests?"

Veronica shook her head, her face looking rather pale: "There's no point in me going over there. I might as well stay here and see where the problem lies, but it seems that's not going to help."

"At least one incorrect option has been ruled out."

Li Cheng stood up and shrugged: "So, did Your Majesty show any unusual behavior before the tooth extraction?"

Veronica recalled for a moment and shook her head, saying, "Nothing unusual, it's pretty much the same as usual."

She didn't notice anything, but Li Cheng, while listening, suddenly remembered that when Charles II patted his shoulder earlier, the exposed fingers were somewhat black.

It was such a trivial matter that he wouldn't have remembered it at all if a potentially major problem hadn't arisen.

However, although it is a small matter, it becomes quite terrifying when it is spread out.

My fingers are turning black... black... black... and ulcerated.

Li Cheng repeated these keywords to himself.

When these two seemingly unrelated things were connected, a terrifying conjecture surfaced in his mind—was it possible that Veronica was actually responsible for all of this? After all, those guys who died unexpectedly had started long before Charles II returned, and so had ether.

This conjecture is so ridiculous and absurd that it can only be suspected to be the ramblings of someone in a dream.

Soon, Li Cheng himself dismissed the possibility: if it really was Veronica, there was no need to go back and ask him again, and to go through all this trouble.

"I don't recall it."

After some thought, recalling her recent meeting with Charles II, Veronica gave a perfectly reasonable answer: "What exactly are you thinking about?"

"......nothing."

Li Cheng closed his eyes, then opened them: "At first I wondered if someone might have poisoned me? But then I thought it was really unnecessary. It would be much easier to poison someone secretly than to do it in full view of everyone. This is just a thankless task... Unless someone's purpose is to create a terrifying effect, but I think that's unlikely."

Li Cheng temporarily concealed the clue about the blackened fingers and instead began to analyze the motive for the incident. However, he could only conclude that no one had such a motive—mainly because there were simply too few clues.

Seeing that she wouldn't get any useful answers from Li Cheng, Veroni decided to go to the medical room.

Just then, Prince Edward, who had gone to the medical room with him earlier, returned to Whitehall.

When Veronica saw Edward, her first reaction was to be nervous, fearing that she would hear some ominous news from her brother.

Fortunately, Edward seemed to sense her thoughts, nodded to her, and smiled, "Father's condition has improved somewhat, but he hasn't woken up yet. Would you like to go and see him?"

"call........"

Veronique then showed a much more relaxed expression, no longer feeling the heavy, inexplicable fear that had been weighing on her heart—although she had remained very calm, the unexpected incident that had just happened to Charles II still weighed heavily on her mind.

Seeing this, Li Cheng felt he was no longer of any use, so he simply bowed politely and took his leave: "In that case, Your Highness, I shall take my leave."

He didn't really want to see Charles II, not only because there were some urgent matters that needed verification, but also because he was worried that if he stayed any longer, he might cause some trouble—look, Charles II was just holding a tooth extraction demonstration, and he almost turned it into a scene of the king's death. He didn't know where to complain.

Veronica nodded nonchalantly, "Then you can go." Judging from her attitude, she seemed to intend to treat this as an accident.

So Li Cheng turned and walked toward the entrance to Whitehall, but Edward called out to him, "Wait a minute."

?

Li Cheng stopped and looked at Prince Edward with a puzzled expression—he didn't seem to have met him before.

Veronica was also somewhat surprised and asked, "What do you want with him? I've already confirmed that it's not an ether problem, so there's no point in you looking for him again."

Edward smiled and said, "I'm just curious about this gentleman. If you don't agree, then forget it."

Veronie no longer had any questions, and as for Li Cheng himself, he certainly did not refuse a prince's request to ask a few questions.

After saying goodbye, Veronica hurriedly headed to the medical room in a manner quite unusual. Unfortunately, the cake-like skirt supported by several hems severely hampered her movement; if she had been wearing jeans, she probably would have been running at full speed.

Watching Veronica's departing figure, Edward glanced at the open surroundings and said to Li Cheng, "This isn't the place to talk. Come with me."

Although he was a little curious about what was so mysterious, Li Cheng followed Edward to a small room. The room was rather cluttered and was probably a storage room.

"This should be about right."

Prince Edward muttered something under his breath, then turned to Li Cheng and said, "This should be considered our first meeting. You can call me Edward."

Li Cheng nodded in return, saying, "It is an honor to meet you, Your Highness Edward."

Only then did he have the chance to take a good look at Prince Edward in front of him. He saw that the man had curly blond hair, a rather pale face, and a gentle smile that even carried a hint of cowardice.

Edward smiled apologetically and said, "I'd like to trouble you to come this way, but as I said before, there are a few things I'd like to ask you."

Li Cheng waved his hand and said, "No trouble at all, Your Highness, please ask whatever you wish to ask."