Chapter 11
“W-what do you mean by that?”
Agne’s hand, which had been bringing the teacup to her lips, dropped back down.
Seeing Ceres with a strange smile made her feel oddly uneasy.
“I found something very interesting this time.”
As if to confirm that feeling, Ceres placed something on the table.
“I filled this up completely.”
Agne’s eyes widened as she looked down with a gaze that seemed to question what trickery was afoot.
A small hexagonal glass vial!
“Th-that’s…!”
Isn’t that the vial of medicine she had given to Director Arnold? The one she instructed him to give Yulia a little at a time!
If she put that in this tea…
“Ugh!”
Agne immediately gagged, unable to stop the urge to vomit as if she wanted to throw up everything she had just drunk.
“You… you!”
A little later, Agne lifted her now pale face and glared at Ceres with eyes filled with anger.
‘How dare!’
How dare she feed her that? Especially from someone as foolish as Ceres!
“Hm, that’s strange.”
But facing Agne’s furious gaze, Ceres remained calm.
“Why are you throwing up?”
“What?”
“Do you even know what you’re throwing up?”
“That’s! That bottle has poison…!”
“……”
Seeing Agne freeze in place, Ceres clicked her tongue lightly.
Both Director Arnold and this woman seem exceptionally talented at digging their own graves.
“I just showed you the bottle. Why are you panicking like that?”
She hadn’t even said it was poison.
“Th-that!”
Realizing her mistake, Agne’s eyes darted around.
She wanted to say something in defense, but Ceres spoke faster.
“Director Arnold has already confessed everything.”
“What?”
“He stated that it was you who told him to give that poison to Yulia.”
“W-what! Don’t lie!”
Is she really asking him to believe that? That Arnold had said everything?
‘That can’t be.’
Instinctively, Agne fiddled with the ring tightly fitted on her left hand.
Didn’t they have plans to tidy everything up and leave together once this was all over?
Now, was he supposed to have betrayed her? There was no way!
“Auntie probably knows well, but this medicine…”
Ceres picked up the vial she had placed on the table and shook it gently.
“If taken in small amounts, it slowly deteriorates the body, but if taken in large doses all at once…”
Trailing off, she mimicked slicing her throat with her hand, and Agne’s face turned even whiter.
“I put all of what was left into the tea.”
“Ugh!”
At that, Agne began to gag again, desperately trying to stick her fingers down her throat to force out the contents she had just swallowed.
“How does it feel to have ingested poison?”
“Ugh!”
“Do you think you can somewhat understand Yulia’s feelings now?”
Standing up, Ceres lightly patted Agne’s back, who was still unable to stop throwing up.
She even gently stroked her head as if to calm her.
But that kind touch only sent chills down Agne’s spine.
Shivering, she took a step back from Ceres.
“Why not stop throwing up? I didn’t put anything in that.”
“…What?”
Not put anything in? There’s no poison in the tea?
Agne’s mouth fell open in shock as if she had received an even greater shock.
“Do I look like a crazy idiot? To become a murderer because of someone like you?”
“You, you…!”
“Is there really any need to get my hands dirty when it’s something that can easily be resolved legally?”
“I-I didn’t do anything!”
Finally regaining her senses, Agne attempted to recover from her fluster.
“I don’t know what the director said, but it’s all a lie!”
“Yes, yes. Be sure to maintain that claim in court.”
Ceres answered casually as she picked up something she had discreetly thrown on the spot where she had been sitting. It was a transparent bead, slightly larger than an adult’s fist.
“…What is that?”
“Recording Orb.”
“What? That clunky thing is a recording orb?”
…Clunky?
Feeling a bit embarrassed, Ceres scratched her cheek.
So, is this not how recording orbs look nowadays?
She had pulled it out from her subspace storage, but to think it looked so outdated that it could be considered clunky. Seems like there’s been a lot of progress since then.
“Well, it’s old, but it captures everything just fine. It even recorded Auntie’s panicked vomiting, assuming everything on her own.”
“……!”
Agne’s expression twisted with rage.
“How dare you!”
Beyond embarrassment, her anger was now boiling over.
Step.
Ceres, who had been watching Agne silently, took a step closer.
Ceres placed her hands on Agne’s shoulders and leaned in close, her lips curling into a smile.
“Right. How dare I.”
“You…!”
“How dare someone like you lay a hand on a child?”
“……!”
The gaze that Ceres met her with was colder and sharper than ever.
At that moment, as the chills spread throughout her body, Ceres leaned in even closer and whispered softly in Agne’s ear.
“Get lost.”
“…What?”
“Leave this house immediately.”
“Argh!”
In that instant, Agne screamed in agony, as a terrible pain shot through her shoulders where Ceres had been gripping.
Then, as if nothing had happened, Ceres smiled sweetly and took a few steps back.
“I’ll give you an hour. Leave by then. No matter how good my temperament is, I can’t live under the same roof as a murderer who tried to kill my sister, can I?”
“Ugh… Ugh….”
Agne, trembling with a mixture of resentment and fear, glared at Ceres with a twisted expression but couldn’t say another word.
“Oh, and there’s no point in going to Director Arnold. He’s already been handed over to the security forces and is being investigated.”
“W-what?”
“You should consider turning yourself in before I report you. At least that way, you might be able to make an emotional appeal in court.”
“……!”
Ceres shook the recording orb and smirked.
Agne’s lips quivered uncontrollably.
“One hour.”
Giving her final warning, Ceres turned around and calmly left the room as if she had no further business there.
“You… you! Aaaagh!”
Unable to contain her anger, Agne began throwing everything she could get her hands on.
‘What do I do now?’
Where do I even start?
Did Arnold really confess to everything? That I’m his accomplice, too?
“L-lady?”
“What…! Ah, ah!”
“Gasp!”
A moment later, the maids, alerted by the noise, rushed into the room.
But the way they looked at Agne was odd. Their expressions were filled with shock, and they couldn’t even form proper sentences.
“Hah… Hah…?”
Still trembling with rage, Agne furrowed her brows as she took in the sight of the maids standing there, frozen.
“L-lady, your hair…!”
…Hair?
“It’s turned completely white….”
…What?
Watching the stammering maids, Agne clicked her tongue.
What nonsense are they spouting?
“What do you mean, my hair?”
Approaching the mirror, Agne’s eyes widened.
She rubbed her eyes, thinking she must be seeing things. But the reflection in the mirror didn’t change at all.
What… what is this?
No way, is that… me?
“Ah… Aaaagh!”
A scream more desperate than any she’d ever let out burst from her lips. Her hair in the mirror had turned completely white.
Her once glossy brown hair was gone, replaced by weak and frail-looking, thin, and pathetic strands.
“H-how could this…!”
Agne couldn’t even form a proper sentence. How had her hair suddenly turned into such a pitiful state?
Staring at her now completely white hair, Agne was at a loss for words.
“L-lady, please calm down…”
“Aaaaagh!”
Agne’s shrill screams echoed throughout the entire Drow manor.
***
A month later.
“Ugh, damn. Maybe I should’ve just taken the settlement money?”
Ceres irritably pushed her hair back.
Over the past month, she’d managed to get back most of the money that had been extorted under the guise of medical expenses from Agne and Director Arnold.
The problem was that the money barely covered the accumulated interest, let alone the principal amount.
“Ugh, this is so annoying.”
Although they’d offered a settlement in exchange for leniency, she had refused.
‘Would you make a deal with people who tried to kill a child? I can’t stand the thought.’
‘Aaargh! Ceres Drow, you devil! I will never forgive you…!’
Blah, blah, whatever.
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