“I will serve the appetizers first.”
The maid arrived pulling a cart and placed the dishes on the table.
It was a dish of tomatoes cut in half, topped with cream.
I had learned the noble dining etiquette from Emilia, but at this point, I had forgotten everything.
Reluctantly, I picked up the fork and knife, trying not to look too messy, and savored the dish.
The taste was… pretty good.
“Schlus, I want to thank you again for saving my life.”
“It’s nothing, madam. Once is enough.”
“By the way…”
“Yes?”
“I believe you asked through my daughter.”
“That’s correct.”
“If I’m your benefactor, please ask me directly. While it’s a simple request to invite me to dinner this time… I hope you won’t make unreasonable requests of Erica while using me as leverage.”
Madam Lichtenburg’s expression hardened.
She must be worried that I might demand something outrageous from Erica in return for saving her.
To Madam Lichtenburg, Erica was the very definition of her Achilles’ heel.
Her obsession with Erica went beyond caring; she was practically fixated on her.
With the count dead in the war and her second daughter, Julia, suffering from an incurable disease, Erica was the only one left to inherit the family.
So it’s natural for the madam to be sensitive towards anyone approaching Erica.
“Don’t worry. With this, I won’t be making any further requests.”
“That’s a relief.”
“And the invitation to dinner wasn’t because of Erica.”
“Yes?”
“I wanted to see you, madam. We can discuss that a bit later.”
“……”
An uncomfortable *silence* flowed between the madam and me.
Only Erica, seated in the middle, seemed clueless, looking back and forth at us in bewilderment.
“It seems you love your daughter very much.”
“Of course.”
“You would surely want to prevent any lowlife from approaching her.”
“Is that a comment?”
The madam’s tone had turned aggressive.
It was only natural since she was deliberately asking rude questions.
From this point on, how the madam reacts would be a significant source of amusement.
“By the way, this is a different story, but I was actually attacked just before enrollment. Someone poisoned the water source.”
“That must have been quite a problem.”
Erica, who had been called a prodigy since childhood, was practically guaranteed to make it on the elite path.
In such a situation, a commoner like me suddenly rising to the top would not be seen positively in the madam’s eyes.
Taking the top position from Erica and potentially affecting her negatively, I was surely seen as a thorn in her side.
And as far as I knew, Madam Lichtenburg was someone who wouldn’t hesitate to use extreme measures for the sake of her daughter’s future.
“Yes. It was a big deal. We almost all died, me and my attendant.”
Right. I suspected Madam Lichtenburg was behind the poisoning of the well.
I wondered if, thinking I was a dangerous person approaching her beloved daughter, she attempted to eliminate me.
As I spoke, I kept my gaze fixed on the madam’s two eyes.
But she showed no signs of panic or agitation, merely maintaining a displeased expression.
It seemed provoking an iron lady was a futile endeavor.
“So why did you suddenly bring up the well being poisoned?”
“……”
Gotcha.
I had only mentioned the water source; I didn’t say “well” at all.
This terrorism incident must have been thoroughly concealed by the Imperial University Investigation Department, so it shouldn’t have leaked outside.
Thus, the madam mentioning the well was essentially a self-incrimination.
Realizing this, the madam’s mouth firmly shut.
Who would have thought she would stumble upon her own blunder unexpectedly?
Looks like even iron ladies make mistakes sometimes.
Pressing further would be dangerous.
If I completely turned Madam Lichtenburg into an enemy, that would be troublesome.
The fact that the assassination attempt ended with just one shows that the madam is still uncertain about whether to kill me or not.
Today, I managed to find out who was behind the assassination attempt, and that was enough.
I had also conveyed that I knew this to the other party, so it should have served as a warning.
“I had a good meal. I’ll take my leave first.”
“Huh?”
As I pushed the chair back and stood up, Erica panicked and slammed her hands on the table, standing up.
Erica looked at the madam, hoping to stop me, but the madam merely glared at me without saying a word.
“Servant. Take Schlus to the dormitory.”
“That’s fine. I’ll walk back.”
I walked straight out of the restaurant.
Sure enough, I heard hurried footsteps behind me, and the door slammed open again.
It was Erica.
“Hey! What are you doing! The main dish hasn’t even come out yet!”
“I’m full.”
“Does that make sense? Even if that’s true, it’s still rude!”
Rude? You should be asking your mother who poisoned the water I drink.
Those words kept dancing on the tip of my tongue.
“And you said the invitation wasn’t for me but to meet my mother… what does that mean?”
“Enough. It’s already resolved.”
“Resolved? What does that mean?”
“You don’t need to know the details. Thanks for inviting me to dinner today.”
“Hey! Hey! Are you not stopping?”
Leaving the confused and flustered Erica behind, I walked down the corridor.
She tried to stop me several times, but as I ignored her, her voice gradually shrank. There was no physical restraint.
As I opened the door at the end of the corridor, a light rain was softly falling outside.
As I passed through the garden, I felt a gaze from behind.
“……”
The moment I turned around, a curtain was hurriedly drawn across a window.
Was it one of the mansion’s servants?
Or was it Julia?
Who knows. I have no idea.
An unexpected encounter.
And I gained a harvest greater than I expected.
It should have been an evening I could proudly call successful.
Yet strangely, I felt gloomy as ever.
*
“Wow. What an absolute jerk. She was the one who asked to be invited…”
As I walked back to the restaurant, Erica was stomping her feet in frustration.
Thoughts of what I should have said to Schlus earlier kept resurfacing in my mind.
When Schlus was in front of me, I couldn’t say a word, but now that he was gone, thoughts were flooding in.
It was infuriating and frustrating, driving Erica to the brink of madness.
“What were those two talking about…?”
Recalling the short conversation between Madam Lichtenburg and Schlus, Erica tilted her head.
No matter how she thought about it, they seemed to be talking about nothing significant.
The conversation made no sense, but what was clear was that the madam looked quite displeased.
It didn’t appear to be merely because of Schlus’ rude manner of speaking.
There was no concrete evidence, but Erica’s intuition told her as much.
“Uh…!”
As Erica was about to burst into the dining room calling for her mother, she froze.
Through the narrow gap of the door, she caught a glimpse of Madam Lichtenburg.
The main dish, steak, had been served, and the madam was nervously biting her nails in a troubled expression.
It was a side of the iron lady she never showed in front of guests, revealing her human side.
Still, the sheer anxiety the madam displayed was telling.
What exactly did Schlus say…?
“Ugh…”
No matter how I pondered, I couldn’t find an answer alone.
I couldn’t fathom the connection between the love for her daughter and suddenly shifting to discuss the terrorism.
And the reason for asking for the invitation being for my mother rather than for me? What did that mean?
“Oh!”
An epiphany struck Erica as she clapped her hands gently.
Schlus mentioned he knew Julia von Eisburg.
That meant he came not to have dinner, not to meet me, or even my mother, but he came to see Julia.
But since Julia didn’t show up, he left in a bad mood.
“That’s it. That’s right!”
Erica felt a refreshing sensation as if the puzzle pieces fell into place.
Schlus was surely remembering Julia, who lived in a faraway land, overlapping her with his dead sister.
Perhaps with lustful eyes…
As that thought crossed her mind, Erica felt goosebumps all over her body.
‘I must protect Julia…!’
A sense of duty surged within her like never before.
*Thump… thump…*
The quiet restaurant was filled with periodic *thuds*.
*Pop…*
And at some point, the madam’s fingernail broke.
Blood seeped from the cracked edge of her nail.
The madam took the blood from her finger into her mouth, narrowing her brows.
‘How did he find out…?’
Schlus was suspecting me to be the one behind the terrorism.
No, it wasn’t just suspicion; it was a certainty.
Could he have any reason to deduce this fact?
No matter how I thought, the answer was ‘no’.
The one the madam had hired was a man known as the strongest Crow in the institution.
It would be hard to consider that such a trusted individual would betray me and spill everything to Schlus.
So Schlus shouldn’t have had any basis to suspect this at all.
‘Could it be he just had circumstantial evidence…?’
What if Schlus wasn’t truly certain?
What if he was pretending to be certain?
If he had carefully set a trap to provoke my irritation with his rude words and made a slip of the tongue…
In fact, the madam had fallen into checkmate due to the madam’s mistake mentioning the ‘well’ which Schlus hadn’t even brought up.
Up until then, there had only been suspicion, but hearing the madam’s almost confession, he might have become convinced.
If that’s the case, then it means Schlus acted so rudely towards the head of a prominent family, the Lichtenburg family, to turn doubt into certainty.
“Ha…”
He was no ordinary reckless youth.
At this point, it was a provocation in itself.
‘I know you sent an assassin. If you’re angry, send another.’
That was the provocation.
‘Then I should do as you wish.’
Madam Lichtenburg pulled out a note and a pen from her sleeve and began writing something.
A letter, no, an order.
An order to the strongest Crow, Henderson.
‘Kill Schlus Hainkel. By any means necessary. Make it sure.’
It was a short and concise order.
With Henderson’s abilities, it should certainly be achievable.
Being the attacker, no matter how unusual Schlus might be, it was evident he wouldn’t even have time to scream before dying.
“This… tsk.”
Just as she was about to hand the note to the servant, the madam put it back inside her clothing.
Thinking it over, it was proper to give it directly to the man for security reasons.
Given that it was something I absolutely needed to keep from Schlus, I needed to be extra careful.
But the thought of hearing that Crow’s vile, annoying laughter again made my stomach churn.
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