Chapter 16: Personal Circumstances (1)
Chapter 16: Personal Circumstances (1)
The exhilarating mansion exploration was supposed to continue but unfortunately, it came to a halt on the third floor. That was where I ran straight into my stepbrother on the staircase leading to the fourth floor.
He’s crossdressing again today. I made sure not to react and greeted him as nonchalantly as possible, feigning complete composure.
“Ah, good morning!”
“…”
But my stepbrother, looking pale as ever, avoided eye contact and passed by me and my fiancé without a word. Was he just extremely shy? I glanced at my fiancé to see if he was flustered, but he merely smiled, unfazed.
“Rose, shall we leave the upper floors for another time? Seeing that Madame Zauer’s daughter is already out and about, it seems others will soon begin their day as well.”
“Sure, sure.”
We didn’t find anything noteworthy, but it had been fun. Especially the second floor around my room with all the extravagant decorations and uniquely styled parlors, it felt like touring a royal palace you had to pay to enter. I decided I’d try exploring the upper floors again tonight or at dawn, and returned to my room.
A little while later, when the attendants came in to help me get ready, I received unexpected news.
“Breakfast?”
“Yes. Lady Geryl said she’d like you to join her for breakfast.”
My stepbrother had invited me to eat breakfast with him. What’s this about? I wondered if he was trying to explain his strange social awkwardness. I had already been planning to grill him with questions, so this was perfect. I eagerly made my way to the dining room, mentally updating my interrogation list.
What happened next was, predictably, utterly absurd. As breakfast was served, neither of us touched our food. An awkward silence hung thick in the air.
“…”
“…”
What the? Why isn’t anyone eating?
He’d dismissed all the staff, so it was just the two of us. In that uncomfortable quiet, we finally began to communicate… verbally.
“Why aren’t you eating? You didn’t yesterday either. Are you watching your figure or something?”
His face turned red, but he just barely managed not to lash out.
“You’re the one who’s been stuffing your face for days. What changed all of a sudden?”
As if it wasn’t already agonizing enough to sit in front of delicious food I couldn’t touch, now the number-one suspect for trying to poison me was provoking me too. That did it. With my fiancé already on board as backup, I decided to come clean.
“Honestly, I nearly got poisoned, and now I’m too scared to eat!”
“What!?”
My stepbrother jumped halfway out of his seat, slapping the table.
“Poisoned!? Why?! When!? Why didn’t you say anything!?”
I mean, I’m telling you now. What’s the problem? I figured saying it was because we weren’t exactly close might only make things worse, so I tried to soften that part.
“It didn’t happen long ago… maybe two days? You know, I’m missing a lot of memories right now. If I accuse someone without proof, people might think I’m paranoid or making it up, and send me to a sanatorium. So I was trying to find evidence first…”
“…”
His outrage deflated. He slumped back into his chair, falling silent, as if deep in thought.
Given how shocked he’d been earlier, and the odd mix of heartbreak I sensed in his demeanor now, I was starting to think he really had nothing to do with the poisoning. Maybe his abrasive behavior aside, our relationship wasn’t quite as bad as that maid Sunset had suggested.
“So, did you find any proof?”
“Nope.”
Nothing at all. That kitchen was spotless, not a speck of dust.
“Then tell me what happened.”
“Okay. So, here’s the thing…”
I explained the events carefully. I had accidentally dropped my medicine into my tea (his eyes narrowed at that point, but though he seemed to realize I’d hidden the medicine, he didn’t question how I’d ended up keeping it without taking it), and when a silver teaspoon was placed in the tea, it became discolored.
As soon as I mentioned the discoloration, he shot to his feet again, as if ready to storm out.
“D**n it. I should’ve interrogated the person who served the tea already! Where’s the discolored spoon? Show me now!”
Oops. That’s no longer in my possession.
“Ah, my fiancé gave it to me as a gift, so I showed it to him first. He took it to have it examined by an expert.”
“…What?”
My stepbrother fRose mid-stance. His reaction whenever I mentioned my fiancé was starting to get a little too suspicious. I waited silently, watching him gulp nervously before he finally spoke with a shaky voice.
“I-I meant to say this earlier. About your fiancé…”
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Seriously? Now of all times?
“Lord Moore has arrived.”
My stepbrother snapped his head toward the door like a broken doll. My fiancé stepped in, neat and composed, and walked up to the dining table with a pleasant smile.
“You mentioned inviting me for a meal the other day, and I thought I’d take you up on it. Am I intruding?”
Ah. So he came to help me save face for not being able to eat. That’s kind of… touching, in a subtle way. But now that I’d already confessed about the poisoning, it didn’t matter anymore. I turned to my stepbrother.
“Well, since it was Sister who invited me, her opinion should matter too, right?”
“That’s true.”
My fiancé turned his attention to my stepbrother and said in an extremely gentle voice:
“I apologize if I’m interrupting your private time. Were you discussing something I shouldn’t be privy to?”
“…”
“No answer? Am I making you uncomfortable?”
“We were talking about the spoon that changed color,” I chimed in, sensing my stepbrother’s rising discomfort.
At first, I thought he was just trying to keep his crossdressing under wraps, but now I suspected he genuinely couldn’t talk to strangers.
“Ah, I see. I did send some of the relevant items for analysis, but now that I think about it, perhaps my response was too passive.”
My fiancé, catching my cue, turned right back to my stepbrother without hesitation. Oh no. He clearly hadn’t noticed that my stepbrother’s social energy was completely drained.
“To start, why don’t we switch all of Lady Rose’s utensils to silver? We should also interrogate and fire all the current staff assigned to her and hire new ones. It’s only a temporary fix, of course.”
“I-I…”
“How strange. With Madame Zauer absent, aren’t you acting as the proxy manager of this estate’s affairs? Why are you reacting like…”
My stepbrother, backing away in panic, ultimately fled the room. My fiancé clicked his tongue.
“That was suspicious. He should’ve shown more initiative under the circumstances.”
No, no, he was plenty proactive before you showed up. From what I saw, it looked more like an introvert couldn’t handle an extrovert’s pressure and ran for his life.
I debated whether I should run after him, but my fiancé’s next question reminded me I had my own crisis to worry about.
“Since we’re back on the topic of the teaspoon, may I ask if you have been taking the medicine I gave you?”
“…Of course I have!”
Oh crap.
I had no idea where it was.
Let me think. I remember taking both the spoon and the medicine out of the envelope. I had put them in my pocket. Then… I only took the spoon out later?
Oh god, I must’ve dropped the medicine somewhere. I wasn’t going to take it anyway, but still, I’d completely forgotten. Cold sweat broke out as I hastily made up an excuse.
“Haha, now that you mention it, I already drank all of it. That’s why I haven’t taken any yesterday or today!”
“That much? …I see.”
His expression went blank. I was so screwed. Ha. Ha…
…He couldn’t have found the dropped bottle somewhere in the mansion, right?
Nooo, I can hear the sound of my affection points crashing!
……
T/N: Rose’s thoughts are all over the place hahahaha
