CH 33

(Eve’s POV)

Behind her, a familiar voice called out urgently.

“Lady Diane, are you okay?”

“… Princess?”

Diane looked at the two of us with a puzzled look on her face.

Terrence put the medicine bowl down on the table and pulled the bell used to summon a servant or maid.

Then, he explained the situation in a calm voice.

“This maid put something in your medicine.”

“….. What?”

The maid who stood back to one side and watched the situation turned pale.

“No, I did not!”

The vision feels like a hazy dream, so I didn’t have time to take a closer look at her appearance.

Now that I’m seeing her in person, she was a middle-aged maid with a mean look.

The maid complained of injustice with a pale face.

“It’s nonsense, why would I do that?”

“I just saw it myself.”

I brought out the explanation I had prepared in advance.

“We were about to come in here, but then I saw through the crack of the door. That this woman put something into Lady Diane’s medicine bowl.

“Is that true?”

“Yes, I opened the door a bit and this woman didn’t even notice it because she was so busy putting an unusual powder into the bowl.”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

It was a made up excuse of course, but the maid could not refute it.

When she was adding powder to the medicine, she must have been so nervous and didn’t have time to look around.

Even if she was sure the door didn’t open, there’s no way to prove it.

It didn’t really matter if the door was open or not anyway.

Right now, there must be a vial of the suspicious powder in that woman’s sleeve.

At that moment, the sound of mending footsteps was heard outside the door, and the young men opened the door and entered.

“Your Grace, have you called?”

They were Knights in uniforms that the Grand Duke’s symbol had been engraved at.

It looked like they were his Knights, Terrence had them waiting downstairs.

As soon as they entered, I pointed to the maid and ordered.

“I saw her put a vial of powder inside her sleeve. Check out this maid’s sleeve.”

The knights turned to the Grand Duke at my sudden command.

“Do what the Princess tells you.”

When Terrence’s order was given, the Knights immediately grabbed the maid’s arm.

Then they searched the maid’s sleeve and pulled out a small glass bottle from it.

“We found it.”

It was a small vial the size of two fingers.

There was about half of the white powder inside.

‘I was very curious about what that was.’

Terrence opened the vial and sniffed it.

There was a slight wrinkle on his forehead.

“This……”

Just as I was about to ask what it was, a young woman who appeared to be a maid came in from outside the door.

“What is happening, My Lady?”

The maid was surprised to see the situation in the room and stuttered.

Before Diane could answer, Terrence gave the order first.

“Go out now and quietly tell my aunt that Diane almost had an accident and bring her here.”

When the word ‘accident’ was heard, the maid immediately turned around and went outside, whether she recognized the seriousness of the situation or not.

Moments later, the Duchess arrived with an old man who appeared to be the butler.

It was not time for the ball to end yet, so it seemed that she had heard the news in the middle and left.

“My Diane almost got into an accident?”

The Duchess looked confused.

It seemed that she was terrified after hearing that there was an accident.

“Is Diane okay?”

“Don’t worry, Lady Diane wasn’t hurt.”

The Duchess, who heard me, immediately looked towards Terrence and I, and the Knights and maids on the other side.

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

“Princess, what happened?”

“About that…. We were about to say hello to Lady Diane.”

I repeated the explanation I gave earlier.

That came to see Diane and saw the maid in the closet putting something into the medicine bowl.

Terrence took my words and briefly explained what happened after that.

“At first, I thought it was a drug Diane was taking. But the maid’s behavior was so strange that I became suspicious.”

“Did she put something in Diane’s medicine?”

The Duchess was astonished to learn that the maid had something at Diane’s medicine bowl.

“Here it is.”

Terrence handed the Duchess a vial of powder.

The Duchess quickly opened the vial and sniffed it.

Her eyes fluttered in shock.

“Do you know what it is?”

“Of course I know what it is.”

The Duchess’s face, clutching the glass bottle, became as cold as ice.

“This powder…… Is a medicine used as a fever reducer.” 

What?

Confused at the unexpected identity, the Duchess continued to explain.

“It’s just a cure for the normal people, but it’s a poison for Diane. Diane is sensitive to these herbs, so eating even a little bit will make her sick. That’s why I never brought it into the mansion.”

Oh, I see.

Even if it is a good drug, side effects may appear depending on the person’s constitution.

This is especially true for patients with long-standing medical conditions.

If the condition worsens without causing other symptoms, no one will suspect it.

It’s because they think that the condition of the disease just got worse naturally.

‘I can’t believe that she deliberately mixes it with the medicine for that purpose.’

It was such a grave thing.

The Duchess grabbed the vial and turned to the maid.

“You wouldn’t have thought of doing this on your own. Who ordered you to do it?”

The Duchess had always seemed kind and docile, but at that moment, the dignity of the hostess of a large family was revealed.

The maid, who had been trembling, fell flat on the floor.

“I’m sorry, Madam! I was wrong!”

The maid soon confessed in tears.

“Baron Mosel said that if I don’t do what he tells me, he’ll kill me… I couldn’t help it either!”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

‘Baron wha-? Who was that?’

As I made a puzzled expression, Diane, who was next to me, whispered in a low voice.

“It’s my relative.”

“Is it one of the people we met earlier?”

“Yes.”

Diane added in a quiet voice that seemed to permeate inside of me.

“If I die, he will be the one to take over the Duchy.”

“……”

So he ordered for this to happen so Diane wouldn’t get better.

These days, Diane’s health has improved a lot, that might be why she can roam around the mansion and attend weddings.

It seems he was desperate and was trying to make the symptoms worse.

“Madam.”

Before the Duchess’s orders were issued, the butler already went out and called in the Duchess’ servants.

The Duchess, who was staring at the maid, gave them an order.

“Tie her up so that she can’t harm herself and lock her up in the basement.”

“Madam! Please….!”

The servants who received the order dragged the maid outside the room.

The Duchess gave the butler a second order.

“Tell the relatives who came with the Baron that I have something to discuss with them. Take the Baron to the prayer room and keep him quiet.”

“We understand, Madam.”

Because the Ball is still ongoing downstairs, It seems that she was trying to keep things secret so that the guests wouldn’t know.

After sending out the butler, the Duchess sat down in the chair next to the table.

“I can feel their unfavorable gaze, but I didn’t expect for this to happen….”

Painful emotions were evident in her tone of voice.

Anyone would be upset about this. She must have already been upset knowing that her daughter is sick and can only stay inside their house. Now, there are even people who threaten her life…..

The Duchess, who had been clutching the vial, raised her head again.

“Your Highness and Terrence. Thanks to the both of you, I was able to avoid this disaster. Thank you so much.”

“I just happened to see it. I’m glad we could be of help.”

I said those words and nodded, but Terrence gazed at the Duchess with concern.

“I knew that this kind of question is a bit strange, but….. Are you by any chance testing Diane’s food before intake?”

Hearing those words, the Duchess’s complexion hardened.

That’s true. Because there’s no law that this can only be put on medicine.

It’s possible that they can apply this drug into Diane’s food as well.

“It was just a test to check whether there’s any poison or not. So far, nothing like this has happened, so I haven’t paid much attention to it.”

Terrence pulled out a small brooch from his coat.

It was a monotonous men’s accessory with white crystals on a white silver base.

“This is a  crystal of Arcania. It’s a rare metal that’s rarely found in the Martel mines at the northern end.”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

He handed it to the Duchess.

“The magic stone on the market can only distinguish poison, but this one is more sensitive than that, it can detect almost any drug. You may need it, so keep it.”

It’s amazing that something like that exists.

Such a rare gem did not appear in the original story.

You can’t tell the difference if you take a drug and another drug like now, but if the food is mixed with the drug, it can definitely tell the difference.

“I can tell that this is hard to find, are you really giving it to us?”

“I have a lot of that, so it’s okay. Think of it as a return gift for your invitation today.”

It seemed to be a gift to warn the Duchess to be careful because they knew that there were people who were after Diane.

“Thank you so much. Diane, please say thank you to Terrence…… Diane?”

The Duchess looked at Diane and widened her eyes in surprise.

Diane was shivering thinly and she was pale.

Those beautiful blue eyes were full of tears.