A few days later.

By the time Emily's most gentle nursing allowed me to move alone, a call came from the Duke. When I followed the butler into the Duke's office, everyone was already there except me.

And sitting side by side was the Duke's two sons, Vinter, and Yvonne as well.

'...But was this scene been in normal mode after the ceremony?' As I was heading there, the question suddenly crossed my mind.

In the original game, Vinter picked up Yvonne, so there might have been at least one scene like this.

I quickly shook off the sudden sense of discomfort. Well, whatever. Everything had already been ruined by the time I had taken the poison.

I sat down and a while later a maid brought out some refreshments. In the midst of the silence, no one thought of touching the teacup. "...Penelope."

The Duke, who was sitting at the head of the table, opened his mouth heavily. "I'm very sorry to have to call on you just after you woke up."

"..."

"But before further delay, we would like to hear the details of your collapse in the coming-of-age ceremony. Because this shouldn't happen again."

The Duke asked, with a very cautious voice.

"So, I'd like to ask you and Yvonne some questions about what happened then. Will you do that for me?" "Yes, ask."

I nodded coolly. It was something I had to go through at least once anyway.

"First of all... on the day of the coming-of-age ceremony, do you remember drinking the wine?" "Yes, it was bitter when I drank it and I remember vomiting blood."

When I replied, the inside of the office became quiet.

"...When I collected the cup you drank from and examined it, the top part was poisoned." "I see."

"Did you know that the glass belonged to Yvonne, not to you?" "Well."

I murmured as I tilted my head to the side.

"I think I maybe know, as well as maybe I didn't know..." "Penelope."

The Duke's eyebrows were dug deep, perhaps because I looked so frivolous.

"This is a very important issue...I need to find out what caused you to do it, so think carefully." "The glasses were similar, so I think there was a bit of a confusion."

I hurriedly replied, and turned my face forward with a retort.

"How about you, Yvonne?" "H-huh?"

The woman, who was staring down at the teacup in front of me, was startled. "How do you remember that time?"

"I was so surprised that I didn't know what was happening at the time. Penelope drank from the cup and then she collapsed."

Yvonne's blue eyes, by the end of her words, were suddenly filled with tears. She looked at me pitifully and said in a trembling voice.

"W-why did you do such a terrible thing, lady PenelopePlease cherise your body."

"Hah."

I let out a short laugh at her behavior. Of course it was true that I took the poison with my own hands, but her words sounded as though she was convinced I had committed a self-created act.

The look in Derrick's eyes sitting next to her became bitter as I laughed at her words. The conversation was delayed due to Yvonne's tears.

"As the Crown Prince said, we cannot rule out the possibility Yvonne was stopped by Penelope while

trying to make a self-made play." I looked back at him in surprise. 'Is he not brainwashed yet?'

It was quite amazing that he met Yvonne in advance and kept neutral in all this. "M-m-me?"

Yvonne was literally out of breath at Vinter's comments. "I, I didn't do it. It's not true!"

Big tears poured down from Yvonne's huge eyes, which looked like a glass full of water.

"I never thought I'd go to the ceremony. My first brother, I mean, he knew that. I told him I wasn't going."

"That's true."

Derrick answered her briefly.

'It's true, cause you're a stupid guy who might have been brainwashed.'

I laughed sarcastically to myself again. Derrick, who found me like that, frowned his eyes again. Whether the eyes were unfair to me, Yvonne poured out her words like a shotgun.

"And I spent more time with the head maid than with Becky. And"

"..."

"Becky sometimes had meetings with Emily. Penelope's maid"

"..."

"So I knew Becky was sent from Penelope. I knew you were watching me, but"

Yvonne cried with her hands covering her face as if she could not continue to speak. I clicked my tongue without anyone knowing.

'Oh, what a scary girl.'

Concerned about this happening, I had refrained from asking Emily as much as I could.

It gave me goosebumps when I thought about how I had asked her how she was doing once or twice at most.

'The setting said she was like an angel! She's a bitch.'

While I was cursing at the annoying game, fortunately, the Duke came forward first instead of me. "Your temporary maid was assigned by the butler, Yvonne..."

"But Penelope is close to the butler. Even if it's not..." "..."

"If I was really the one who did it, like you said, Penelope wouldn't have drank it." "..."

"Well, wouldn't she just pour the wine and point me out on the glass?"

One of the questions slowly closed my mouth. This brought things back to normal. I stared in silence and looked somewhere on the table.

With my choice at that moment, I expected the situation to turn this way. At first, I thought about how to fix it, but soon it all got annoying.

'I'm glad I didn't poison her like in the game.'

I still remember it vividly. How Penelope, who tried to poison Yvonne, died.

Having thought that, I inadvertently turned my eyes to the teacup placed in front of Yvonne. The color of the clear tea that has dried up will make it look like the wine I drank.

'Is it too serious? Then I'll use it'

The thought that came to my mind made me suddenly stop.

I looked up at Yvonne, lifting up a weak, shaky gaze. She was crying her eyes out, not knowing what was so unfair.

I looked down again and looked at her teacup. And then the teacup in front of others. 'Nothing.'

At that moment, an eerie chill went down my spine.

There was nothing in Yvonne's teacup. Her image, not reflected on the water. "Why did you drink it even though you knew it was poisoned?"

Then someone spoke to me. I shook my shoulders and raised my head. As if he were watching me, I made eye contact with Derrick. "What's wrong with you?"

He stared at me with strange look as if he was surprised, and then looked at table I was just looking at. "No, nothing"

I shook my head in a hurry. "Whatdid you say?"

His handsome face was obnoxiously distorted by my question. "The magic necklace you were wearing."

Instead of repeating the same thing to me, he said something else.

"I heard that if there's a toxic substance around it, the color changes. The Marquis of Verdandi testified that you couldn't have missed it."

"Ah."

I glanced sideways at Vinter.

He was staring at me as hard as Derrick. When our eyes met, his blue pupils shook. 'I didn't know you'd say that.'

When I last saw him at the coming-of-age ceremony, it was a surprise for me, as if he would not be a business partner.

It must have been difficult to reveal the purpose of the necklace without being caught by the meticulous Crown Prince.

But I didn't feel very grateful.

"I've heard that a maid named Becky accused you as the culprit before she died."

By the time I was looking at Vinter and was immersed in a new sentiment, Derrick continued the interrogation alone.

"An antidote to the poison you took came out of the maid's room." "Derrick, stop. This isn't a place for interrogation."

The Duke stopped him with a stern voice. "And I told you not to ask her anymore!"

"Why did you drink it when you knew it was poison?"

However, unlike the usual man who used to listen to his father's orders, Derrick ignored the Duke's words and asked persistently.

"Answer. Why did you do such a thing? What did you want..." "Isn't that a question that you already have an answer for?" "...What?"

"If you want to ask me if I've made my very own play." I nodded coolly.

"Yes, that's true."

There was nothing I couldn't help but give him such an answer who was impatient. "I made Becky do it."

"Penelope!" "Hey!"

Renald jumped up astonished. The atmosphere in the Duke's office was reversed in an instant. I turned my head, fixed on Derrick and stared at Yvonne.

It seemed that the situation had not yet been predicted in this way. Large, blue eyes were colored with embarrassment. I opened my mouth clearly staring at her.

"I didn't say anything except to get the poison, but I guess the stupid maid had a wild misconception that I would use it on Yvonne."

"Well, what the hell are you talking about?" Bang!

The Duke hit his armrest hard with a shocked face.

"You, really, did it yourself? You really made your own play..."

"Ha, but there's no reason for the young lady leave a maid in charge."

Vinter calmly pointed out as he was the only one who maintained his reasoning in a chaotic situation with the bomb remarks I spat out.

I made a random excuse.

"I didn't trust Emily very much, and I caught Becky's weak spot. I'm not going to go around talking about her weakness."

"Her weakness...?"

"I accidentally heard that she entered the mansion without a proper warranty. I threatened her with that."

"You...!"

The Duke glared bloodshot eyes at my words, which were flowing like a stream of water. Renald shouted as if he were to come at me.

"...Why? You, what's wrong with you!"

"To turn some attention from Yvonne to me." I looked back at everyone and said casually. "I didn't want to lose my seat as the Lady." "Penelope! You...!"

"Is... that the only reason?"

The Duke asked me back and at the same time calling me out.

I'm just going to focus my attention on the common people, who haven't been identified for sure." "..."

"...Did you do this to die?"

It was definitely him who had wanted me to admit that I made self-play since I opened my eyes. But when I said what I wanted to say, he acted as if he had heard something unexpected.

Derrick stared at me blankly, unable to focus. At a moment the color above his head was strange. But it wasn't my problem.

"I thought it would be better if I died."

"What...?"

When I answered slowly, he stammered back. "Wh...why?"

"What?"

"Why poison? There's other ways to get attention..." "...Do I need a good reason to drink poison?"

I tilted my head to the side and told the truth. "I just drank it. To see if I died or not." "...This situation isn't right."

Then, another voice immediately retorted my words. When I turned my eyes, Vinter had a distorted look on his face and defended me.

"If what Yvonne said was true, why did the dead maid put poison on young lady's glass?" "Well... I don't know."

I pretended to ponder with an exaggerated behavior, and then clapped my hands together as if something suddenly came to my mind.

"I forgot to put it on my glass, and then I woke up late, and I thought maybe I'd get confused with my sister's cup."

"Th-that makes no sense!"

The Duke raged again with another bang on the armrest. It didn't make sense to anyone. But it doesn't matter whether it makes sense or not.

Most importantly, I'm still in this fucking game and I'm still alive.

"I'm sorry to have caused a mess anyway. I've sinned too much, and I feel deeply responsible for this. Father, and Young Duke."

Looking back at the crowd stained with chaos, I said.

"We can't undo what's already happened, so I think there's only one way to solve it." "What...is it?"

"Please let me go."

Let's get out of here.

//akireatom is shooketh//