TOM Chapter 10

I had to be even more careful while receiving all this attention.

Since I couldn't let others discover my holy power, the amount I could use was limited.

The pure white force secretly searched through my body.

The poison had attacked ferociously at first, but upon realizing the difference in power, it began to flee.

What had been hiding in the lungs rose upward. Through the bronchi, winding around the spine, climbing ever higher.

Passing through the neck bones, just before burrowing into the brain.

'Got you!'

The poison dissolved without even managing to scream.

Phew, I thought I was going to be too late.

Quietly withdraw the holy power and it's finished!

I carefully removed the pouch and wiped away the sweat.

"Whew."

My eyes met Nina Holmes's.

Her face bore clear tear tracks, and she was staring at me blankly.

Still gripping my hand so tightly it had gone numb.

That stupid expression looked amusing, so I grinned wickedly.

"See? I didn't die."

"...Yes."

"Then could you let go of my hand?"

Please. I hadn't noticed while concentrating, but it feels like the sensation has disappeared.

I shook the hand Nina had released, waving it in the air.

"My goodness, she's really recovered."

"Is there some special property to that pouch?"

"I thought you'd been poisoned... but I suppose not."

Listening to people's admiration made my nose rise with pride.

There was one perceptive person among them who made me flinch, but the only thing that mattered was the result.

Just then, a priest arrived with Minuet.

She hurried over to check Nina Holmes's condition, then with a bewildered expression:

"She's perfectly healthy."

Well, I already knew that without being told.

The party came to an end just like that.

Minuet, sensing something strange, apologized and sent people home.

The poison talk could wait until after Minuet finished seeing everyone off.

I sprawled out on a chair as if lying down.

"I thought I was going to die."

I'd managed it somehow, but Siora's stamina was terrible, making it twice as exhausting.

Even compared to other bodies, this was pretty bad—maybe I should exercise.

"You're still here?"

Gavotte approached.

He too had been running around busily, his pretty clothes soaked with sweat.

I called out cheerfully.

"Comrade!"

"Stop talking nonsense."

He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper and jerked his thumb toward the outside.

Following the direction of his gesture, there at the far end was a servant skulking about with all the subtlety of a guilty child.

Haha, looks like I'll be getting all that exercise today after all.

I bit back a groan of despair and forced my exhausted body to move.

'My heart feels like it's going to burst.'

The servant, Leon, constantly looked around as he headed toward the warehouse.

In his hand, he clutched a lemon-colored brooch tightly.

It's fine.

This brooch supposedly had recognition-prevention magic on it, so his identity shouldn't have been discovered.

Finally reaching his destination, he pulled out a hand mirror.

Instead of Leon's face that should have been reflected in the mirror, another person appeared.

A young man with his hood pulled down low.

Upon seeing him, relief and fury burst forth simultaneously, and Leon shouted:

"You, you clearly said it was just a laxative!"

He'd been thoroughly deceived.

He'd met this person at a gambling den.

Leon had lost all his money and was sitting in despair when this mysterious young man approached him.

"You're the servant who recently entered the Bonetti household, aren't you?"

He claimed to find the suddenly elevated Siora distasteful and asked Leon to ruin her party.

If he put laxatives in the wine, he'd be given a massive sum of money.

Leon, drowning in gambling debts, couldn't think straight at the sight of gold.

He too didn't look kindly upon this suddenly appeared Cinderella, so he felt little guilt.

But it had all been a trap.

Only when Nina Holmes collapsed in agony did Leon realize the truth.

[Enough chatter. So, how many died?]

"...I won't say. Find out for yourself!"

[Fine, whatever. The number isn't important anyway. But you know what?]

The mirror clouded briefly before clearing again.

[You haven't been caught yet?]

"Excuse me? What do you mean...? I brought the brooch properly, didn't I?"

[You thought that was a real magical artifact?]

The young man burst into loud laughter.

Looking at the stunned Leon, he tapped his own head with his index finger.

Tap tap.

[Check your head once. I'm worried there might not be a brain in there.]

Then the vision disappeared.

The mirror once again reflected Leon's stupid face.

"It wasn't... real?"

Then what? There was no recognition-prevention magic or anything like that?

Just then, someone placed a hand on his shoulder.

Leon jumped in shock and fell backward.

"Hueok!"

"Hello."

When he looked up blankly, he saw eyes looking down at him with contempt.

High-saturation violet pupils.

"It seems we have a lot to talk about."

The gaze shadowed by the shape of eyelashes pierced through Leon.

"I really didn't know! I had no idea it was such a serious poison."

Leon—I had to ask his name since I didn't know it—knelt and pleaded.

Let me summarize his story:

1. Due to gambling debts, he accepted a commission from someone he didn't even know to add poison.
2. He also switched out all the party glasses that had poison detection magic on them.
3. Nobody died, so please spare him?

Minuet answered.

"Deal with him."

"Yes, Young Count."

"Spare me!"

Leon was dragged away.

To add, it seemed that the person responsible for sending out the glasses without final inspection, as well as the family that had written Leon a recommendation letter, wouldn't remain unscathed either.

And now it was my turn. Minuet turned toward me.

"I apologize for nearly turning your party into a disaster, Siora. But how did you know?"

"Huh? I don't know what you're talking about."

"You were running around like a mad colt with Gavotte earlier. You knew there was poison in there, didn't you?"

Right, we'd been running around so obviously that there's no way we wouldn't have been noticed.

What should I say? After pondering, I just decided to be shameless.

"I don't know, my body just moved on its own. Maybe I studied something like that before?"

Minuet let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded, but hey, whatever.

I have amnesia—or so I lied. Ah, everything is in my subconscious!

"...Why did you bring the pouch over? Did your body just move on its own for that too?"

"That was just because of hyperventilation."

"What's hyperventilation?"

Ah, right.

Outside, as priests increased and dependence on temples grew, medicine had declined.

It's not that there were no doctors, but medical knowledge wasn't common.

As for me, well, all sorts of books were lying around in our temple.

Hmm.

"Yeah, what could that be?"

So I pretended not to know again.

Gavotte looked at me like I was an idiot.

This guy doesn't even know I have amnesia, so I'll have to endure this much.

"You, right now with me..."

Minuet started to continue but stopped and rubbed the back of her neck.

Did blood rush to her head?

Oh dear, at such a young age.

"Siora, this was a party with you as the protagonist. Who do you think they were targeting with such an incident?"

"Me, right?"

"If we can't find out who's behind this, something will happen again next time, won't it?"

"Probably."

"But if you keep your mouth shut, will that help us find the culprit?"

"It won't."

"You know that!"

Even if Minuet got angry, there was nothing I could do.

I even had a guess about where this was orchestrated.

It must be the Council of Elders at Whitedesert.

They often used monster poison there, as was mentioned in 《Destiny》.

The Grand Elder was an overt bloodline supremacist.

Since they couldn't do anything about the substitution that Kruelo had approved, they probably wanted to create grounds for breaking off the engagement.

I knew they would attack, but what I hadn't anticipated was the speed.

Since there had been many engagement prospects, I thought they'd be more leisurely, but they were unnecessarily quick. Are they serious about Kruelo's marriage talks this time?

Anyway, since the culprit was certain, there was no need to tell Minuet this and that...

"The one who commissioned it was Julian Minerva."

What?

I blinked at Gavotte's words.

"How do you know that? The mirror had recognition-prevention magic all over it."

"He pointed at his head with his finger and said, 'Check if there's a brain in there.'"

Gavotte continued his explanation in a dark voice.

"It's Julian's habit. He seems to have used it unconsciously, but..."

"It's insufficient as evidence."

"I know that too, but it's better than knowing nothing at all."

"Excuse me."

I raised my hand and interjected into the conversation.

"So who is Julian Minerva?"

"...He was my academy classmate."

Gavotte answered, his voice suddenly carrying a sharp edge.

At the same time, the perceived temperature plummeted to what felt like zero degrees.

What's this? Why does the atmosphere turn so dark just from mentioning an academy classmate?

The shift was so palpable it made the air feel thick.

Even I had no choice but to read the room.

Just then.

"Ah, you were all here together."

Betty!

A new person appeared to change the atmosphere.

I looked up with delight.

"His Grace the Duke of Whitedesert has come to visit."

"But the party's already over?"

He said he couldn't come, so why is he showing up late?

Betty smiled awkwardly and added:

"Well... he brought a whole box of monster poison antidotes."

The perceived temperature dropped below freezing.

"The culprit returns to the scene."

I stared blankly at Kruelo.

"You're the one who used the poison, Your Grace?"

"Let's go with that."

The man answered immediately.

What kind of talk is this?

'It's not him, but he wouldn't believe it if he said so.' Something like that?

He smiled and crossed his legs the other way.

"Actually, that's why I brought the antidotes. I knew the party venue would be in chaos."

"So what are you trying to say..."

Wait a minute.

Kruelo knew the Council of Elders would use poison.

If left alone, there would be chaos and grounds for breaking off the engagement would be created.

"You're going to disguise it as your own accident and take the blame?"

Then the Council of Elders and everyone else wouldn't be able to say anything.

Huh.

I was momentarily speechless.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to prevent the accident in the first place?"

"I came as soon as I found out, you know."

Kruelo drooped the corners of his eyes pretending to be sad.

I was about to tell him to stop talking nonsense, but then I saw that his hair was all disheveled.

Fine, I'll give him credit for that.

"I'll leave the antidotes here. You might have use for them somewhere."

"You're leaving? You just got here?"

"I'm busy with work. I understand you're disappointed, but—"

"Have a safe trip."

He smiled and stood up from his seat.

Since I'm someone who knows about courtesy and manners, I saw him off to the door.

"But darling."

Kruelo, who had been about to leave the reception room, suddenly grabbed the door.

His eyes gleamed strangely.

"Aren't you going to ask who did it?"

"It's fine."

"You don't know?"

"...I'd be an idiot if I couldn't even guess."

Hmm, Kruelo narrowed his eyes.

"Our elders have good reputations with most people, you know."

"I suppose a girl whose bloodline is unknown isn't 'most people.'"

"Don't put yourself down."

He removed his hand from the door.

Each finger fell away slowly, like playing piano.

"Congratulations on your adoption. Have a good evening."

The door closed.

As soon as it did, I let out a sigh.

"If you're going to congratulate me, at least bring a bouquet or something."

Feeling parched, I turned to drink the remaining tea.

And there, in that spot, was something that hadn't been there moments before.

"Oh my."

It was a beautiful bouquet of flowers.