"At a time when the Emperor's representatives, as well as the His Highness the Crown Prince are all here, you dare to make things like that!"

The duke couldn't control his anger and shouted.

Derrick, he had been very mature since he was a child. If he knew one thing, he would wake up his son from his dumb state, and he finished his own work without having to do it. Therefore, unlike Renald, the Duke pointed out that he had never risen his hand at first son.

A single bloodstain flowed through his mouth. Derrick felt the tingling sensation in his mouth. To face such an angry father.

He slowly returned his head back to its original state. And opened his mouth.

"It would not have happened if we had revealed it right away without hiding her in the first place. If only we hadn't put off the announcement that Yvonne had come back to fulfill Penelope's whims..."

"You son of a bitch is still out of your mind!"

The Duke raised his hand once more. However, the hand did not fall and trembled in the air. "It is my will to postpone the announcement and hide Yvonne, not Penelope!"

The family, a little out of place, was now in a state of catastrophe that cannot be attached again. The Duke shouted with a voice full of despair.

"Isn't it only a once-in-a-lifetime coming-of-age ceremony, a moment to be noticed more than anything else!"

".........."

"I ordered it myself on order to stop to rumors about my soon-to-be-defeated stepdaughter from the frivolous bastards!"

"........"

"And yet, this morning, she told me to cancel the coming-of-age ceremony because Yvonne's back!"

The Duke, who spit it out randomly, shut his mouth out of a rough breath.

Derrick's blue eyes fluttered. However, due to the blindness of his eyes, the subtle changes were not visible to the Duke.

His first son, who was reliable and proud of himself, lost his younger sister, and his number of words dropped sharply. But he had a time, so the Duke thought he had accepted Penelope as a family to some extent.

It was an illusion. Derrick wasn't accepting Penelope at all.

He just valued his public position over his personal feelings and acted accordingly.

The Duke regretted snout his past of neglecting his children under the pretext of being busy. And he rubbed his face with his hands and muttered like lamentation.

"I didn't know that you hated Penelope so much."

".........."

"I, I did something terrible. To all of you"

Derrick's expression changed subtly. His father's words didn't make any sense. "It is not because I hate her."

He had never, ever thought he hated Penelope. It was just that.

"If rumors spread wrong, Eckart's prestige would be harmed because we delayed the announcement that we had found your own daughter due the coming-of-age ceremony, this matter is not so childish..."

"Let's stop talking about it."

At that time, the Duke raised one hand and stopped him.

He flopped down on the chair, perhaps a little less excited. And said rather in cold voice.

"Now it's not just a issue of the Penelope's Coming-of-Age ceremony, it's a poisoning case aimed at Lady Eckart."

"Poisoning...?

Derrick's blue eyes shook at that moment.

The girl who smiled brightly and brought the gold cup up, suddenly burst into blood and fell down. He didn't remember all the things that had happened a while ago.

It was a small memory blackout at that time, as if his memory had been divided and cut up.

Only the dark pink hair that collapses like a flower in his lost memory sometimes came to his mind. As if the Duke's words had been a hit in the face, the pulse suddenly began to throb frantically. 'What's wrong with me?'

His hands, which were clinging together behind his back, were sweating as he stood still. Derrick tried to regain his coolness like his father.

He retorted from an objective point of view. Immediately after drinking, she vomited with the blood and collapsed, so there was no doubt it was the poison.

However, no one except the Marquis of Verdandi was convinced. This is because Duke and Renald who drank the same wine were fine.

What's more, who dares to confront Eckart, committing such an inhumane act? Derrick looked at the face of a serious Duke and licked his lips.

So what's wrong with him, what did it happen with his mind, what kind of poison it was? He would like to ask him something that's going around the tip of his tongue.

"Are you sure... she has been poisoned?"

However, the words that came out were completely different. The Duke answered such a son shortly rather than just looking at him.

"The doctor just confirmed it."

At that moment, Derrick felt that his palms had become so wet that they were slippery. "Who dared against Eckart..."

He gripped his hands together even harder to hide them.

"And I put a maid named Becky in a dungeon, and also put Yvonne under home arrest in her room." The Duke gave a short reply. Derrick raised his head and asked back.

"Why is Yvonne"

"Because it was Yvonnne's temporary maid that brought the cup." "Father."

"The maid in charge of Penelope testifies. Not long ago, Yvonne's temporary maid secretly asked her how to get to the upper street."

Derrick was inwardly surprised at the words of the Duke. It was not clear whether the investigation had progressed that much. So he wanted to ask him what happened then and right after that.

"But Yvonne... It can't be Yvonne, Father."

But it was time to look back on what happened rather than to pay attention at such personal feelings. That was what the Duke of Eckart's job was to do.

Derrick put the confused thoughts aside and pointed out the questionable issues at the Duke's words.

"I'm not defending Yvonne, I don't really have the right to do that. But what's the benefit of poisoning Penelope?"

"............"

"I don't understand why the target has been Penelope. It should be my father or me." ""

"Or maybe she got a poison from the maid, or someone else. The Marquis of Ellen is the most suspected one. I've been receiving reports about his quietness lately, but there's still a possibility that he has been doing it secretly on order to take revenge over the hunting competition"

Derrick, who had gibberish thoughts with a serious face, suddenly raised his head.

"I'll go underground right now and interrogate the maid myself. Longer hours will only give her time to get out of here"

"Derrick."

The Duke called Derrick when he was about to leave the office right away. And he gave notice. "Stay aside from this case."

"Huh?"

Derrick stammered unbecomingly. "Father, I maybe mishear you just now"

"I told you to stay still because I know you will."

He didn't mishear it. The Duke gave orders to the Young Duke in a clear voice. To stay out of this case. Derrick, who understood him, asked his father again with clenched teeth.

"Did I become a suspected one because I brought Yvonne?"

"It's not like that."

"If not, then what's the problem?"

He asked with a little unconvinced face.

"Not only we have to check the bottles and glasses, but we should also keep a close eye on everyone invited today. Don't you know that it's hard for Renald and the butler to take over all that?"

"I'm going to let Marquis of Verdandi to take part in this case." Derrick laughed at word of the Duke.

"He is the head of another family. But what do you believe in leaving the family's innermost affairs to him?"

"......."

"Besides, he is the most influential suspect. No one immediately knew that Penelope had poisoned on the spot, but only the Marquis"

"If it wasn't for Marquis of Verdandi!" Gwang-!

The Duke, who was listening to his son in silence, hit the desk with his fist.

"If it wasn't for the first aid of the Marquis, we would have been preparing for the funeral by now!"

"........"

"Why did she vomit blood, why did she collapse! You still don't even know if she's poisoned or something else...!"

The angry Duke couldn't speak anymore and shut up.

It was the same for himself that he couldn't doubt that it was the poison. Far from being suspicious, he saw his falling daughter and did nothing. Nothing but to stand frozen.

The ceremony ended in the worst possible way.

The Duke swept down the desk with his fist, which he struck hard at the corner of his bloodshot eyes. Deep tiredness sat down on his face, which was covered by his hands.

"...It's not the poison that kills at once, but it's a rare poison that causes the bleeding to stop and makes the person suffer if you don't take the antidote in time."

"......."

"After all, the Marquis of Verdandi saved Penelope, who was slowly dying." "Dying?"

It was then.

At the trembling voice that came from side, the Duke blinked his eyes and lifted his head Derrick stood there with an unfamiliar look on his face.

A blue pupils that shook uncontrollably without focus, and his pale face. It was the first time the Duke saw his son in such state.

"It can'tbe true."

"Derrick, dear."

The Duke, looked at him with eyes of wonder and called him.

But, like a man who can't hear the call, he stretched out his hands forward, which had been held back until then.

He slowly lowered his head and looked at his sweaty hands. "She wouldn't die"

At that moment, something that he had forgotten flashed through his mind. It was a scene of his dream last night. Yvonne, who was dying vomiting with red blood in his arms.

"Derrick?"

It was strange. The dream have changed.

His memory was mixed up as if someone had cut part of his mind. But even if it wasn't for such an ominous, unlucky dream...

'Shouldn't Yvonne take the poison?'

Penelope would have prepared a poison herself, but she's not the one who's going to die from the poison.

He didn't feel his hands, and his back was filled with cold sweat. Derrick shook his head again and murmured incoherently.

"... She can't die. She's, uh, poison herself"

"Derrick, you"

The duke stared at Derrick with astonished eyes and urged him in a subdued voice. "You should go to your room and get some rest."

"But , the interrogation " "This is an order."

Derrick finally got his mouth shut. "Okay"

After a while, he ended the short answer and left the Duke's office.