Chapter 21 - The Poisoning (2)

Iris and her maid arrived at Riya's courtyard by early noon. As they were about to go inside, Iris saw a maid rushing towards them with a bowl in her hands from the corner of her eye. Narrowing her eyes, she smiled coldly and stopped in her tracks.

Upon noticing Iris, the maid was visibly startled. She rushed up to greet her.

"Greetings, F-fourth Young Miss."

"Why are you here?" Iris spoke to her, though her cold eyes lever left the bowl.

"T-this servant was sent here to give 4th Mistress seaweed soup personally made by Madam's chef." She replied nervously, obviously trying to hide something.

"Oh? Let me see."

"Young Miss, this..."

"What? Why aren't you giving it to me? Huh?"

"Uh...that." The maid started to tremble a little. Not paying any head to her, Iris gestured to Zena and she took the bowl from the maid's hands.

Taking the bowl, she examined it with narrow eyes. Then suddenly, she widened her eyes and exclaimed in shock.

"What?! Isn't this...father's liver medicine?!" She looked at the maid angrily. "What did you plan to do with this, giving it to my mother?! Insolence!"

"What? Li-liver medicine? Young Miss, that's..." What liver medicine? This was clearly poison!

"What? You dare deny this? You're saying that I'm lying?!"

"No! No Young Miss! This servant just..." The maid tried to correct fl.u.s.teredly. Then, as if she suddenly thought of something, she exclaimed, "Young Miss is right! This servant accidentally brought Master's medicine instead of the soup! This lowly servant deserves to die! Please let me take the medicine back!"

"Humph, you do deserve to die. Now, instead of wasting time, go deliver this medicine to Father immediately!" Iris spoke, looking at her in contempt.

"I understand, Young Miss." Seeing the chance to escape, she hurriedly nodded her head. Just as she was about to take the bowl, Iris scoffed, "Heh, as if a useless maid can do anything right! How can I trust that you will give this medicine to Father?"

"Th-this servant..."

"So, I'll send Zena with you, to keep an eye on you! Zena, follow her and make sure that she delivers the medicine to Father! Don't let her wander around!"

"Yes, Young Miss."

What?!

The servant started to tremble. She originally planned to give the poison back to Madam, but now that Young Miss's maid would follow her, what was she supposed to do?!

Surely she couldn't possibly go and give this Master, right?!

Just as she was about to protest, Iris hurriedly waved the maid away, as if she couldn't bear to look at her any further.

Thus, the shaking maid went away with Zena following her.

As the two disappeared into the distance, Iris chuckled.

Underestimating her was a grave mistake. And they even dared to call her to witness her mother's death?

Retards!

Though Azer would receive the poison, Iris was sure that he'd identify it in no time.

And if he doesn't, and dies, she doesn't give a sh*t about that. He's lucky if he manages to die that peacefully, lucky to have escaped from her claws.

Satisfied, Iris moved towards her mother's room.

Not far from there, a shadow hidden among the leaves shook his head upon seeing everything.

This girl's shamelessness never changed at all!

The ability to turn black into white was the same as well!

Her acting has improved too huh? Liver medicine?

Wow, she needs to be given an Oscar award for her acting skills!

Seeing her disappearing silhouette, the figure got up and vanished on spot.

Elsewhere, the shaking and trebling maid went inside Azer's study to deliver his 'medicine'.

As soon as he picked up the medicine, as Iris expected, he identified it as poison. Furious, he smashed the bowl at the maid and it shattered. He yelled at her, "Insolence! You dare give me poison?! Tell me, who sent you?!"

The maid trembled harder and knelt down, "M-master, it w-was, it was Fourth Young Miss!"

"What?! How dare she? Call everyone to the main courtyard!"

...

A servant delivered Azer's orders to everyone, including Libera who was about to head out to meet Riya's corpse. Upon hearing of that, she was extremely shocked.

Could the maid have revealed it was her idea to poison Riya? Is that why Azer was calling everyone to the main courtyard?

Brimming with worry, she was planning of bringing forward a scapegoat to protect herself.

But...

"Iris! How dare you have the audacity to poison me?! Kneel this instant!" Azer's voice resonated through the main courtyard, shocking everyone present.

What?

Iris had tried to poison Azer?

Libera was shocked speechless. Wait...how did her plan to poison Riya turn into Iris poisoning Azer? Huh?

"What are you saying, father? When did I try to poison you?" Iris spoke fearfully, deciding to play the tragic heroine card.

"Impudence! Aren't you the one who sent out this maid?" Azer's voice was still seething with anger.

"What?! What maid? I don't know her! Father, I don't know any maid, I didn't tell her to poison you, how could I do that?" Her tone turned softer and more aggrieved, yet her words carried an unfathomable power.

"This maid clearly said that you were the one who sent her!"

"How is that possible? Does she have any evidence to support that heinous claim? Or did she just rashly come to accuse me without any sort of proof?" Iris replied. She seemed to be talking about the maid, but almost everyone could see that she was talking about how Azer just rashly came and accused her of poisoning with no evidence whatsoever.

"This..." Azer momentarily quieted down.

"Azer! What nonsense is this? You came to accuse her without any sort of proof? Just because of a servant's words?" At that moment, The Matriarch that had been quiet for so long spoke up for Iris.

Hearing her words, Iris internally smirked. Ah, seems like days of hard work finally paid off.

After arriving, Iris would often visit her grandmother. Whether it was to just make her tea, or to talk to her, she would spend alot of time with her, making The Matriarch open up to Iris and treat her amicably.

Actually, she was just doing this to get a supporting platform for situations like these. Seems like it all worked out, as she could see.