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Before long, even the sense that something was odd had dulled away.
As if her body had adapted on its own, Jennifer's head naturally lowered, and she withdrew from her ladyship's quarters.
But once back in her own room, Jennifer forced herself to refocus.
'No, still… I have to keep Aidelica in check if I want to uphold my dignity as the real power behind the grand duchy.'
If she remained nothing more than a maid who served faithfully, her mother would surely rain down wrath upon her.
In that case… wouldn't it be better to just use the medicine right away?
Biting her lip, Jennifer rose from her seat.
She could brew some tea, slip the drug in, and then…
But the moment she formed the plan, a violent sense of aversion rose up within her.
It was the instinctive fear etched into her, an ingrained command to obey Railey Elestine, that once again bound her thoughts.
"…No. I guess… there's no real need to go that far."
Feeling a strange dissonance at her own inconsistent thinking, she finally set the teapot down.
She concluded that there was no need to use the drug right now.
She never realized that this decision was, in fact, the result of a subtle compulsion.
***
"Welcome home, Lady Railey!"
As soon as Railey returned, Serge came running to greet her, looking as though he'd been waiting all along.
He was like a large hound that had been standing guard at the door, now bounding forward to welcome its master.
In truth, it was an exaggerated greeting meant to perfect his "alibi," but that was something Railey could never know.
"Oh, Young Master Serge. Did you wait long?"
"Not too long…! And you're back far earlier than I expected."
Though Serge waved his hand, his cheeks flushed, Railey still felt a pang of guilt.
It was true, because of her schedule, she often ended up putting her husband second.
Yet at the same time, she felt a quiet warmth. Serge had always been reserved with strangers, but now it seemed he regarded her with genuine familiarity.
'Still… what I saw at the ducal estate earlier definitely wasn't Young Master Serge. Maybe a black cat crossed my path or something.'
As they walked toward their quarters, Railey asked him.
"Is Father-in-law out at the moment?"
At the mention of his father, Serge, who had been trotting alongside his wife, pouted slightly before answering.
"Yes. I think he's trying to finish all his urgent work before the Core Ruby Mine auction."
"I see. I hope he's not pushing himself too hard."
"…."
Serge's face grew even sulkier.
It was no wonder, she was chatting about the father he didn't get along with, all while ignoring the husband right in front of her.
"As I mentioned before, tomorrow I plan to stop by the antique shop to pick up the item I requested."
"Yes…"
Railey could tell Serge was in a faintly sulky mood.
He'd already shown signs of having waited for her while she went out alone today, so hearing that she would be going out again tomorrow couldn't have sounded pleasant.
She made him a casual suggestion.
"How about, on my way back, we have lunch together somewhere outside?"
"I'd like that!"
The answer came instantly. Railey couldn't help but smile inwardly at her husband's easy-to-read reaction.
"Then… should I come along with you to the antique shop?"
"Hmm… it's just picking something up, really."
The truth was, she wasn't going there for antiques at all, her real purpose was to meet with the guildmaster of the information brokers, so she felt a twinge of guilt.
So Railey came up with a light excuse.
"Wouldn't it be more refreshing and fun to meet up outside rather than leave the townhouse together? We could each go separately, and then meet at the restaurant."
"That sounds like… a date…"
"Pardon?"
"Oh, no! Let's do it that way!"
When Railey turned to look, Serge quickly waved his hands in flustered denial, worried she might have heard his mutter.
That silly, awkward gesture was so endearing that Railey let out a small laugh.
Her mind was tangled with all the information she'd picked up at the grand ducal estate earlier today, but at least for this moment, her heart felt at ease.
***
All the while, the fairy trailing after Railey had been chattering nonstop. Now, like a child sulking, it gave a droning whine.
[Railey, do you not like me? You told me to follow, but… Railey, aren't you going to answer?]
After changing clothes with a maid's help, Railey finally found herself alone and able to respond.
"Sorry, it must have seemed like I was ignoring you. But you understand, right? When I talk to you, people look at me strangely…"
[Will you play with me? Will you play with me?]
"Of course! What should we do?"
Feeling it would be rude to dive straight into her questions, Railey spent plenty of time humoring the fairy until it was satisfied, answering its meaningless questions, circling around the bed together, and so on.
After a long while, the fairy finally seemed content and spoke up first.
[What are you curious about? What are you curious about?]
Railey clasped her hands together, her expression turning serious.
"…Do you know if someone is trying to poison Lady Aidelica Colluima?"
It was a suspicion she had pieced together by combining today's events with the original novel's storyline.
The key piece of information she was working from was this: in the original story, Aidelica had ended up marrying Duke Thosses with no way out.
She had been swayed by both the Kingdom of Donovan and the Grand Duchess, repeating political blunders until she became a foolish ruler.
But the grand duke's daughter I met in person wasn't a foolish woman. She had both the will and the means to escape that marriage.
Which meant that, somewhere along the way, something must have happened that left her with no choice but to end up like that.
Her thoughts then turned to the fact that her intended political marriage partner was the Duke of Donovan, Wilhelm Thosses.
Wilhelm was a villain who would later oppose the male lead in the original story. He had once poisoned Donovan's princess with a drug that left her mentally impaired, turning her into an imbecile.
In that state, he set her up as Donovan's queen, while making himself the consort of the grand duchy's heir, thus aiming to control both realms.
In the long run, he even harbored ambitions to use the grand duchy as leverage to swallow the entire empire.
If they smuggled that same mind-destroying drug into the empire and fed it to Aidelica over a long period…
That would explain why Aidelica ended up as a powerless puppet grand duchess.
Furthermore, even though the Magic Tower claimed to maintain neutrality, in the original story there had been a strangely small number of references to them.
At one point, it was even mentioned that the male lead had tried and failed to gain their cooperation.
It may be a stretch, but…
Perhaps Aidelica's childhood friend, Paulton, had been so crushed by his inability to protect her that he withdrew entirely from political disputes.
Of course, this was nothing more than a forced theory, cobbled together from the gaps between the facts of the original story.
That was why she had asked the question, to confirm it.
[That's right, poison! Jennifer's mother, the Countess of Laom!]
The fairy's bright, cheerful tone delivered a horrifying answer.
"…Don't tell me the countess is colluding with the Kingdom of Donovan?"
[Yup! They're going to swallow the grand duchy whole! She's going to become the ruler!]
Piecing together the fairy's rambling replies, Railey managed to grasp the situation.
The Countess of Laom, longtime lady-in-waiting to the grand duchess, had all along been a spy for Donovan.
Now, with the grand duke incapacitated, she saw her chance and was revealing her ambitions in full.
The problem was far larger and more dangerous than Railey had expected.
'First of all, I have to make sure that poison never gets to Aidelica.'
That was the top priority. Next was finding a safe way to drive out the forces threatening her.
'Should I track the route the poison's coming in from… or investigate the countess's movements?'
But the authorities wouldn't act on the word of a mere child when it came to something this serious.
And even if she wanted to warn Aidelica about the poison, how could she explain where the information had come from? She couldn't exactly say a fairy had told her.
In that case… the only move she had left was...
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1 Comments
Sometimes, I wish the isekaiers would reveal themselves 😮💨
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