Chapter 43

Chapter 43

“Is it because you saw the teacher just now?”

I don’t see her (Franc) as a person who can lie flawlessly.

It’s strange for anyone to see a trembling Franc now since her position is much better. It’s as if the evil lady next door was saying ‘Look at my secret scheme using her!’

“O-of course! I also have some sense, because I came to urgently tell you about what she said!”

“Okay, tell me. What happened to you?”

Franc immediately slumped down and knelt.

“My lady, please save me. I wouldn’t have gotten close to that person if I had known she was really like this.”

“So what’s going on?”

With her hand frantically trembling, she held out a purple vial.

A small, shiny, and pretty purple vial, looking like an ordinary perfume bottle.

I leaned my body back in the chair as she handed me the bottle, sniffing its content. Jeez, I turned away my face instantly. It would’ve been a big deal if it was a dangerous scent to breathe in directly.

‘Uh, this scent….”

The smell lingered on the tip of my nose and slowly faded away.

A very sweet scent. A faint scent that lingered around Teacher Rima’s body.

“She said to hide it on the Young Lady’s dresser table so she’ll be chased and kicked out of the mansion…… Obviously, it’s probably dangerous.”

(E/N: Franc means that Shuelina would be kicked out, not that Rima would be kicked out)

“So you accepted it first? I told you to play along.”

“Yes, yes….”

Apart from what I said right away, Franc seemed to know how terrifying it would be.

She was made my personal maid, and I know enough that if she’d been caught, she would’ve been punished with death.

“She told me that if I don’t do it right, she will tell everyone that I was talking about you. And then I will be kicked out here.”

“But I already know.”

Franc nodded as I said it with a smile.

Franc said she didn’t know that she (Teacher Rima) was a bad person that would take hold of other people’s weaknesses.

Honestly, I don’t know what she believed in before because she has now opened her heart to a child like me.

‘Anyway, the timing was right. Fortunately.’

If Nina hadn’t found Franc, I’d be in big trouble without realizing it.

“Tell the teacher that you hid it well. And if there’s another chance to do something for her, agree to help her and come to tell me.”

“I u-understand.”

“Don’t want to do it?”

Franc shook her head when I looked at her with a displeased gaze.

It looks like she knew that if she didn’t agree with me, I’ll take away her position as my personal maid.

‘Well, that’s ……. I needed her first so I’ll trick her for a while to do something for me.’

To be honest, it was annoying that she had cursed at me just because she’s jealous of me.

It was quite cute to see Franc, who had her own desires, work hard to curry favor with me.

Nina was the one who purely cares and thinks of me, but I also felt that Franc was working hard enough to achieve her ambitions.

Though Nina still doesn’t agree with her being my personal maid, I don’t think it’s bad at all.

I left Franc alone, picked up the purple bottle, and looked at it.

What the hell is this, for Rima to tell her to hide it in my room?

It must be very bad.

‘The vial… .?’

Hiding the vial in my vanity would get me chased out?

I stared at the sparkling purple vial with wide eyes.

‘It’s Ruby Lake’s poison.’

Massive amounts of deaths due to poison during an unconventional time. What if the poison, the primary cause of death, was found in my room?

‘Banishment is the minimum while death penalty is the maximum penalty.’

Because of how much the Empress needs me, she won’t let me be executed.

There’s a high probability that I would be exiled if it was argued that I am the Grand Princess and that I am still young. Then after that, she would try to steal me away.

‘Then…… It’s a bit different from the original, but I would be dragged back to the marquis.’

I don’t know why the Empress didn’t imprison the newborn, Shuelina, in the Marquis estate from the beginning, but it was certain that she was dragged in by the time she was six years old.

I’m sure she released the poison a few years earlier because it’s a hindrance to her that the Grand Duke took me away.

“Okay, you did a good job. I’ll give you this.”

I dragged over a small box from one side of the table with my hand. It was a very elegant box with jewels decorating the outside.

“O-oh my God! Young lady, all of this…….”

Just with this delicate box alone, Franc was extremely impressed, covering her face with her hands.

“I like it!”

I proudly served the pie filled with plenty of chocolate.

It was a very pretty and delicious chocolate pie with sugar pearls on top.

“Oh, yes, the lady is still young….”

Well, it seemed that she thought she would receive a real pearl, not a chocolate pie with lots of sugar pearls.

Franc nodded with a slightly regretful face.

“You are always so calm and such an intelligent lady that I unconsciously thought of something else.”

As I heard an awkward laugh, I glanced at her. Don’t you like giving me food as a gift?

“This is really delicious.”

“Thank you, lady. I’ll stick with you until you’re grown up.”

Franc’s eyes sparkled with her ambitions.

Right now, I’m barely able to give her something valuable as I am still young, so instead, she’s hoping that she can get something shiny when I grow up.

I felt dizzy as I was looking down at the vial, while quietly listening to the ramblings beside me.

Nina came back to the room with a tray of tea just in time.

“What is that, lady?”

Nina was as close to me as Sir Hilohan or Wyndert.

So, there was no such thing as a personal item of mine that Nina didn’t know about.

“Franc brought it to me.”

“What is it? Is it a perfume? Franc, gifting perfume is too early for our lady.”

“This is not perfume….”

It’s actually poison! I barely stopped myself from trying to say that. If I say so, Nina will scream and run to the Grand Duke immediately.

I have to deal with this somehow.

Whether I bring it to Baden to analyze, use it to threaten Teacher Rima to back out of here, or get someone’s help.

‘I can’t say that I know it’s poisonous. Then everyone will ask how I came to know about that.’

I thought about it for a while, then shrugged at Nina.

“Teacher Rima told Franc to hide it in my room.”

“Yes? What is that?”

“I don’t know. I’m afraid I’ll have to go ask her myself.”

“Yourself my lady? Shall I go instead?”

“No. Nina, bring Dad or Windy oraboni to the teacher’s room in about ten minutes.”

In the first place, if this is really poison, then Teacher Rima won’t answer me.

I’ll have to stimulate and work her up as much as possible and have her say the truth.

“Franc, you come out in about five minutes and act like you side with the teacher. I need to know what the teacher is thinking.”

“Okay, lady.”

We left the room with a resolute face. It’s time to dig into Teacher Rima!

The teacher’s room was on the first floor. It was the first time I had ever gone in person like this.

Knock knock. After taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door, and I heard her presence on the other side before the door finally opened.

“Grand Princess? This is not the classroom, and class time is still….”

“Hi, Teacher. I came because I have something to ask.”

I deliberately held the teacher’s hand and smiled with a very friendly expression.

“Aiyah!”

But the teacher slapped off my hands right away and I had to hold onto my bruised hand, crying.

“Ah…… It’s a habit because I don’t like people touching me. Sorry.”

“Can I come in for now?”

At my question, the teacher nodded and opened the door wide.

‘Um, she doesn’t have a lot of luggage.’

The teacher’s room was much simpler than I had expected. Several books were open, and any extra clothes were barely visible.

I asked as I glanced at the luggage bag in the corner.

“Where are you going?”

“Well? What are you talking about?”

“Because your bag is taken out.”

Things like a travel bag were usually kept inside of closets.

I felt my mind cool when I saw that the bag wasn’t too bulky.

‘It’s true that she decided to come and do something like this from the beginning.’

From the beginning, she wasn’t planning on staying at the Grand Duke’s house for long, so she would have brought less luggage. It was obvious that she seemed to think everything is solved now so she should leave soon.

The teacher did not answer my question and smiled. It seemed like it was nothing too concerning to her, but it was a dark smile.

“It’s no big deal. I found something in my room and I was curious what it was.”

“This….”

I raised the vial and asked. The teacher’s smile faltered.

“I don’t know, why did you come to ask me about this?”

“Don’t you know? I thought you knew what it was, of course.”

“I don’t know.”

“This poison smells the same as teacher does.”

I muttered a little and stared at Teacher Rima.

The teacher frowned and was about to open her mouth, when there was a sudden knock on the door, an anxious Franc went inside

“We’re caught… Heok! My lady!”

Franc acted naturally terrified as I had ordered. Then Teacher Rima’s facade became completely distorted.

‘So this is what she really looked like.’

She pretended to be kind and even made up that innocent appearance that tricked me up.

Her face was distorted and red, with a ghostly expression I don’t want to see even in my dreams.

As I saw Teacher Rima’s fierce expression, I tucked the vial into my pocket.

“You couldn’t even hide it in a child’s room properly.”

“I, I… .”

“Well, it can’t be helped. I can’t help it because the plan went wrong……”

Teacher Rima came towards me, step by step. Until she was very close then she tightly gripped my arm.

“What are you doing?”

The burning hot body temperature of her body was making me feel ill, and I tried to shake her off like she did to me earlier, but I couldn’t do it.

My wrist was sore as her grip was too strong. Even after removing her hands, it looked like her handprint will stay as it is.

“How did you know that this was poison?”

Now she was speaking rudely. Teacher Rima seemed to be incredibly angry that her plans didn’t stay under her control.

“Did the empress order it?”

If you will speak rude words, I will too!

I asked, so quietly that Franc couldn’t hear it, while wearing a sweet smile.

Then Teacher Rima, who seemed surprised for a moment, glared at Franc and told her to hold me.

“W-what are you doing?”

Startled, Franc asked her, but she slowly approached me and grabbed me.

Her terrified eyes turned to me. I nodded my head. Whatever it was, I had to elicit a more strong reaction.

Teacher Rima immediately pulled a gag and cloth out of the luggage bag. In the bag, it was filled with one or two sets of clothes.

‘I think I can probably fit in that bag.’

It seemed like she was thinking of putting me in the bag and running away.

“You have planned to abduct me from the beginning, right? You’re also a bad person!”

Teacher Rima immediately came toward me with a cloth.

“Bad person? You’re the bad one. You dared to poison the Grand Duchy, kill people, and then run away.”

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