Dke Damon the Lionhearted,seven feet tall and a body like that of a male Greek god.On paper he was Prince Alexanders uncle but in reality he was the Kings Great Great Great Great Uncle who was several hundred years old,love to slay a mere dragon
The Hunchback Prince Brendan who seemed in cahoots with immortal and unkillabble.
The problem for Prince Alexander was that centuries earlier Duke Damon the Lionhearted had been in one of his mild mannered innocent man-child phases and had hoodwinked a foolish wizard into to making a potion that the Duke had drunk one dark and stormy night granting Duke Damon a lions thirty three lives and a hydras invulnerability to death,much like the unkillable Lemurian Hydro that Hercules,Duke Damons role model had fought and failed to kill in her swampy lair.
Unlike Hercules when Duke Damon was NOT trying to stage a Coup with the help of giggling Royal Bastard hunchback Prince Brendan the deadly Duke was taking notes on the monsters he planned to fight and slay sometime or another.The human public wept with joy everytime the Duke and his three hundred Praetorian Guard lion-men tromped through to slay another mere dragon,minotaur,cyclops and the odd wyrm mother.
So if Prince Alexander was going to 'accidentally' poison this rival to the throne Alexander craved he needed to be careful on how he chose as his monstrous accomplice to give him some non human attributes to do the deed.