A merchant spy may pretend to be in love with a maidservant of the queen, then abandon her. Another spy may then give that maidservant a drug, claiming it to be a love potion to regain her lover.
On her attaining success, that maidservant may inform the queen that the same drug may be applied to the king to secure his love. The drug will then be swapped for poison, and the king murdered.
—Kautilya, in the Arthaśāstra, 12.2:15-17
