บท 70: I'm not paranoid, I have experience

"Don't just say that and leave me in suspense?!" Isabelle demanded, scowling.

Archibald flushed slightly and bowed apologetically. "Of course, Your Majesty."

He stepped over to her chair, placing the paper he held in her hands.

It was a list of names.

She didn't recognize any of them, but the locations next to them were different districts of the city, so they must have all been residents of the capital city.

"What's this?" She glanced down at it, scanning the words written on the paper.

He shifted nervously.

"A report from the guard station in town. Many people have gone to the apothecary with the same symptoms: fever, sweating, nausea, headaches, exhaustion, chills and tremors. Some have been hospitalized. These have all started from yesterday."

Her heart dropped to her stomach, a knot of anxiety forming in the pit of her guts.

A plague...?

An epidemic?

Now, of all times?