Chapter 179.

A few days later.

While Emily’s to drama was carefully nursed to be able to act alone, the Duke called. Following the butler into the Duke’s office, everyone but me had already gathered. Not only with the duke’s two sons, but even Iben was sitting side by side on the couch.

”…But after the Bar Mitzvah, is such a scene in hardcore mode?”

While heading that way, suddenly that kind of thought flashed through his mind. Originally, in the game, when Winter brought Iben, there might have been a scene like that.

I quickly got rid of the suddenly raised sense of crisis. Anything, anything at all. Everything got twisted as I took the poison.

Dutifully, I sat in my seat, and after a while the maid brought the steaming car. No one wanted to put their hands on the teacups, just static flowing in.

“…… Penelope.” The Duke, sitting in the upper seat, spoke heavily.

“I’m so sorry to make such a seat in a state of just waking up.”

“But I hope to hear the details of the fainting at the Bar Mitzvah before further postponement. For it is important that it happen again.” In a careful voice, the Duke then asked.

“I would like to know an understanding of you and Ibn, regarding what happened then. Would you be willing?”

“Yes, please.” I nodded briskly. Going through it once anyway.

“First of all …… remember drinking sherry on the day of the Bar Mitzvah?”

“Yes, drank it and threw up blood.” A refreshing backhanded comment, and the office went silent for a moment.

“…… collected the glass you drank from for investigation and found it to be poisoned.”

“I see.”

“Did you know that the cup wasn’t yours, but Iben’s?”

“I didn’t know.”

I muttered, cocking my head.” As if you know, as if you don’t ……”

“Penelope.” The kind of me that looks as if it’s strange, the Duke digs deep between his eyebrows.” This is a very important question. Then …… to figure out what caused that, think carefully.”

“The cup is about the same, it seems to be confused.” Responding calmly, I suddenly turned my head forward.

“Iben, what about you?”

“Uh, uh?” The heroine who was staring blankly at the teacup in front of me was startled.

“How was your memory then.”

“You, scared me so much that I can’t remember what happened then. Drinking, drinking wine, suddenly Penelope vomited blood …….”

Iben blurred the end of her words and her blue eyes suddenly filled with tears. She looked at me and said in a trembling voice.

“Why, why did you do that kind of terrible thing, Penelope …… please must cherish your body.” “Huh.”

I let out a short fake laugh at her behavior. Sure, I was right to use my hand to poison, but her words sounded like she was pretty sure I’d committed a crime. I squirmed and scoffed, and the eyes of the Derrick guy sitting next to her turned menacing. A sobbing Iben caused a temporary halt to the conversation and was interrupted.

“…… As His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said, the possibility that Iben was stopped by Penelope-sama for acting out her own play cannot be ruled out.” I looked at him in surprise. Still brainwashing?

It’s amazing that he, who met with the heroine beforehand, remains neutral with sober rationality.

“Me, me?”

Iben said eagerly “I, I didn’t. Really!”

Like a glass filled with water, tears finally welled up in the cloudy Iben’s large eyes.” I never thought I could go to that place. The first, no, and you would know it, little Duke. I …… said I would not go.”

“That’s true.” Derrick made short work of her words.

It should be true.” Because you’re a dumbass who doesn’t even know you’ve been brainwashed.” I laughed once more as I felt empty inside. Derrick, who found me like this, his eyes widened again.

Probably aggravated by the sight of attraction, Iben blurted out like a succession of words.

“Other than that, I spend more time with the head maid than Becky. And then ……”

“Becky meets with Emily a lot. Penelope’s exclusive maid …….”

“So …… I know Becky is Penelope’s man. I know you’re spying on me ……”

As if she couldn’t say the words anymore, Iben covered her face with her hands and cried.

I bit my tongue without realizing it.” Tsk, scary girl.”

Worrying about such things, maximum restraint was exercised in asking Emily. At best, I asked once or twice about the recent situation, and got creeped out when I saw a ghost. Set like an angel! He was a son of a bitch.

While annoyingly casting a spell on the game, luckily the Duke came out first instead of me.

“Your temporary maid was appointed by the butler, Iben.”

“But Penelope is very close to the butler. Even if that’s not the case …….”

“Penelope wouldn’t be drinking if I were really the prisoner of a self-directed play, as the Marquis says.”

“Black, would he have just poured the wine and pointed it at me on the spot?” Iben, who had raised the question, slowly closed his mouth. With that, the incident was once again at square one. I silently gazed at a certain place on the table in the silence. Due to my choice at that moment, I expected the situation to unfold like this. How I got it at first turned out to be annoying.

“Didn’t I poison it like a game?” It was still fresh in my mind.

How Penelope, who had wanted to poison Iben, died. Thinking of such things, I unintentionally diverted my eyes and placed them on the teacup in front of Iben. The color of the steaming clear tea must have blossomed like the sherry I was drinking. Are you worried about it being strong? Then use ……

The thoughts that were floating calmly suddenly stopped. I raised my weakly shaking vision and tried to look at Iben. She was weeping silently, not knowing what the complaint was. I once again looked down at her teacup. Then the teacups placed in front of the others as well.

“…No…” a creepy aura swept up the spine at that moment. There was nothing in Iben’s teacup. A residual image of her that didn’t shine on the water.

“…… Knowing it’s poison, why do you drink it.” At that moment, someone chimed in. I raised my head with trembling shoulders. It seemed to be watching me, face to face with Derrick’s guy.

“…… Why did you do that?” He looked at me, scared enough as if it was odd, and glanced at the table I’d just been looking at.

“No, nothing ……” I shook my head hastily.

“What did you …… you say?” Hidari’s face became unpleasant at my rhetorical question.

“The magic necklace you hung.” Instead of repeating the same words to me, he said something different.

“I heard that the color changes if there are toxic substances around. The Marquis of Belldandy testified that there’s no way you didn’t see it.” “Ah.”

I squinted and peeked. He was no less than Derrick, staring at me since a moment ago. When his eyes touched, his dark blue pupils wavered. I hadn’t expected to say anything like that.

It was a surprise that the last time I looked at it at the Bar Mitzvah, it had to be like a death knell. Without being noticed by the crown prince with good eyesight, I may have sweated a bit in order to find out the performance of the necklace. But it didn’t feel too appreciated.

“You know, I heard that a maid named Becky designated you as the prisoner before she died.” While I was looking at Iben and indulging in novel sentiments, Derrick conducted the interrogation alone.

“The maid had the antidote to the poison you took in her room…”

“Derrick, stop. This is no place for an interrogation.” The Duke stopped him with a stern voice.

“That’s not telling you not to get caught again!”

“Why did you eat it knowing it was poison?” But Derrick ignored the Duke’s words and asked stubbornly, unlike the guy who usually held up his father’s name like a knife.

“Answer me. Why did you do that kind of thing. What do you want to do …….”

“Isn’t that a question to ask after you’ve already settled on an answer?”

“…… What?”

“Whether I acted the farce, if you want to ask.” I nodded briskly.

“Yeah, right.” Then the wanted answer, just look at him, there’s nothing he can’t do.

“I made Becky do it.”

“Penelope!”

“Hey!” Probably startled, Leonard jerked to his feet. The atmosphere in the office became chaotic for a moment. I turned Derrick’s head and stared at Ebon. Hadn’t this situation been expected. The large blue eyes were colored by panic. I stared clear into that eye and opened my mouth.

“I’ll say anything but poison, that stupid maid told me to feed Iben as if it was a random mistake.”

“That, that …… what the hell does that mean!”

Pen- The Duke, with a startled look on his face, dropped the armrest violently.

“You… is it really the kind that you do on your own? You really are …….”

“Ha, but there’s no reason for a lady to do that when she has an exclusive maid.” He calmly pointed out that in the case of the bomb I spit out speech confusion, is not the only to maintain sanity. I argue wildly.

“I’m not so sure Emily, caught Becky’s weakness. Because whenever there’s a weakness, you don’t just blurt it out.” “Weaknesses ……?”

“I overheard her going into the mansion, not an official bond. With this threat.”

“You…!” The Duke’s bloodshot eyes widened at my torrent of words.

Leonard shouted as if he’d run right at me.” …Why? You, what’s really wrong with you!”

“Try to turn your attention from Iben to me.” I looked back at the group, chanting without any highs or lows wasn’t my job.

“I don’t want to be robbed of my position as a male daughter.”

“Penelope! You ……!”

“Is that the end of …… reason?” The Duke bit Derrick while talking about me.

“It’s just that I’m going to focus on the unidentified civilians.”

“…… might die doing that?”

From the moment I opened my eyes, it must have been guys who went for the selfie. But, as expected, answering my words truthfully, he acted like someone who heard something unexpected. Derrick’s out-of-focus eyes stare at me blankly. For a split second blood colored his face abnormally. But it wasn’t me.

“I thought dying would be better.”

“What ……?”

Slowly topping off his question, he stammered.” Why…why?”

“What are you doing?”

“Why favor poison. To get attention, other methods are also …… available.”

“Do you need a grand reason to drink poison?” I cocked my head, the only truth in my mouth.

“Just drink it. I wanted to make sure.”

“…… The situation is not right.” , the other voice accepted my words immediately. Averting his eyes and twisting his expression, he desperately tried to defend me.

“If it’s true that the lady’s words are true, then why did the dead maid put the poison on Iben-sama’s cup?”

“Well …… this.” I pretended to exaggerate the action to think carefully, as if I immediately remembered” clapping my hands and said.

“I forgot to apply it on my cup, later to beat the spirit, perhaps I want to as much as confused the cup.” “That, that’s saying something!”

Again the Duke “Bang!” Slapping the armrest in a fit of rage. It was an angry sound, no matter who heard it.

But again, what mattered. All that matters is that I in this damn game survived.

“Anyway, I’m sorry for causing a debate. I committed too big of a sin and take a lot of responsibility for this.

. Dad, and little Duke.” Looking back at the chaos biting me, I chose.

“What has happened cannot be reversed, and I think there is only one way to fix it.”

“And …… what is that.”

“Please let me recuperate. Get out of here.”