Judith was on her way back from work.
“Oh, Ma’am! Are you on your way in?”
“Is Sir Henry on his way to the Count’s residence?”
“Yes, I decided to meet Erne.”
Henry spoke to her gently, carrying Judith's basket for her. Up until this point, everything was normal.
“You will feel empty after Erne leaves.”
But Judith tilted her head when Henry stopped in the middle of the road and began to talk at length about something unimportant.
“Can’t we talk while we walk?”
“Yes, yes. But, ma’am, I bought a hat yesterday. Would you like to take a look at it? Hats like this are the most popular these days...”
Even though he was told to do so, Henry didn't move at all as if his feet were glued to him.
Strange, strange. As Judith's eyes began to dim with suspicion, Erne came walking from the direction of the mansion.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was on my way to our house.”
“That’s great, I was on my way home too.”
Henry and Erne exchanged glances.
“Weren’t you just coming from the mansion, Sir?”
“No, that’s not it.”
It seemed right. Judith couldn't shake the feeling that Erne and Henry's behavior was strangely awkward. It was strange, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly what was strange about it.
However, when Erne joined, Henry no longer kept Judith in her place. A strange, indefinable tension hovered between Erne, Henry, and Judith.
“Why is the door open?”
As soon as she approached the mansion, Judith frowned at the wide-open front door. She had been more thorough in locking the door since Leon came and caused a ruckus last time.
“Didn’t you forget it when you came out earlier?”
“Even if I forgot, there’s no way I would have left it open like that.”
If only the lock hadn't been locked, it wouldn't have been left wide open like that. It looks like someone went out in a hurry...
“Are you a thief?”
Judith rushed into the mansion with a sense of foreboding. As if she were trying to catch someone, Judith's room was wide open like a gate, and the inside was a mess.
Judith stared blankly at the room that had been ransacked by someone for a moment, then came to her senses and searched around the room.
“My money!”
A bundle containing one gold coin and fifty silver coins, which had been saved to pay interest, disappeared without a trace.
“My, my bug!”
And Judith's pet bug also disappeared along with the gold coins.
Meanwhile, Leon, who was leisurely leaving the Rhineland mansion, couldn't hold back the corners of his lips from rising.
“What a windfall.”
They say that everyone has their own time, and it seemed that his time had come. When he went to the Rhineland mansion, the handsome guy left the mansion on his own, and Judith left the room empty.
In addition to gold coins, he also found a bag containing gold nuggets.
“Oh my, look at the color.”
It's definitely pure gold. Leon chuckled and hid the silk pouch inside his jacket as he headed to the gambling house with light steps.
And that day, he hit the biggest jackpot of his life.
Meanwhile, at the Rhineland mansion, Judith, who heard the whole story, could not control her anger and reached for Erne's bottle of wine.
“I didn't realize Sir Henry was in on it.”
“Oh, Ma’am! Are you on your way in?”
“Is Sir Henry on his way to the Count’s residence?”
“Yes, I decided to meet Erne.”
Henry spoke to her gently, carrying Judith's basket for her. Up until this point, everything was normal.
“You will feel empty after Erne leaves.”
But Judith tilted her head when Henry stopped in the middle of the road and began to talk at length about something unimportant.
“Can’t we talk while we walk?”
“Yes, yes. But, ma’am, I bought a hat yesterday. Would you like to take a look at it? Hats like this are the most popular these days...”
Even though he was told to do so, Henry didn't move at all as if his feet were glued to him.
Strange, strange. As Judith's eyes began to dim with suspicion, Erne came walking from the direction of the mansion.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was on my way to our house.”
“That’s great, I was on my way home too.”
Henry and Erne exchanged glances.
“Weren’t you just coming from the mansion, Sir?”
“No, that’s not it.”
It seemed right. Judith couldn't shake the feeling that Erne and Henry's behavior was strangely awkward. It was strange, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly what was strange about it.
However, when Erne joined, Henry no longer kept Judith in her place. A strange, indefinable tension hovered between Erne, Henry, and Judith.
“Why is the door open?”
As soon as she approached the mansion, Judith frowned at the wide-open front door. She had been more thorough in locking the door since Leon came and caused a ruckus last time.
“Didn’t you forget it when you came out earlier?”
“Even if I forgot, there’s no way I would have left it open like that.”
If only the lock hadn't been locked, it wouldn't have been left wide open like that. It looks like someone went out in a hurry...
“Are you a thief?”
Judith rushed into the mansion with a sense of foreboding. As if she were trying to catch someone, Judith's room was wide open like a gate, and the inside was a mess.
Judith stared blankly at the room that had been ransacked by someone for a moment, then came to her senses and searched around the room.
“My money!”
A bundle containing one gold coin and fifty silver coins, which had been saved to pay interest, disappeared without a trace.
“My, my bug!”
And Judith's pet bug also disappeared along with the gold coins.
Meanwhile, Leon, who was leisurely leaving the Rhineland mansion, couldn't hold back the corners of his lips from rising.
“What a windfall.”
They say that everyone has their own time, and it seemed that his time had come. When he went to the Rhineland mansion, the handsome guy left the mansion on his own, and Judith left the room empty.
In addition to gold coins, he also found a bag containing gold nuggets.
“Oh my, look at the color.”
It's definitely pure gold. Leon chuckled and hid the silk pouch inside his jacket as he headed to the gambling house with light steps.
And that day, he hit the biggest jackpot of his life.
Meanwhile, at the Rhineland mansion, Judith, who heard the whole story, could not control her anger and reached for Erne's bottle of wine.
“I didn't realize Sir Henry was in on it.”
She had a feeling that Henry was holding her back and was wasting time, but it turned out that he was holding her back while Leon comfortably stole and left.
Erne even watched over Leon while he was stealing and getting away, although Leon didn't know it.
Judith gulped down her wine.
“It’s not all for your sake, it’s for Miss Judith Harrington’s sake.”
Erne snatched the bottle from Judith's hands.
“You don't even thank me for saving your life, you just get drunk.”
However, Erne took the initiative himself because the execution was being postponed and postponed again.
“I was going to take care of everything when the time came.”
“When, right before we all die? Money is useless once we’re dead.”
“I’m going to take it all with me when I die.”
Judith pouted.
“I was going to send it to him after I saved up as much money as possible to pay off my debt.”
She tried her best to pay off her debt while she had the bug, but now that there is no more bug, what am she going to do?
In the meantime, she also felt sorry for the bug that suddenly attacked Leon without any sense of duty.
“If that’s the case, don’t worry about it.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“I’ll get you compensation from Cliff. The compensation for the damages you didn’t receive back then.”
Oh, that's the way? Judith's face lit up.
“Honey, you had it all planned out.”
“If you keep calling me that, I’ll only give you half?”
“Is there any possibility, Sir Erne?”
There seemed to be no more trouble at the Rhineland Manor, and everything seemed to be going smoothly.
***
“That’s ridiculous.”
Orders suddenly stopped. Sales plummeted.
“It’s exactly like what I made!”
A large store was selling candles that were exactly like the colored candles I had made. They were even cheaper and the packaging was neater.
How could my candle, which I carried around in a basket, sell? I expected that there would be copies since it was a simple technique that only required mixing dyes.
But I didn't know the impact would be this big.
Of course, as I had anticipated the replica, I made another plan: to make incense. However, incense is harder to obtain and handle than dye.
I am still in the process of testing it, but it is still too early to put it on the market. If this continues, interest will be delayed starting next month.
“Smith won’t stay still.”
Now, the only hope was the compensation Erne would receive.
“I hope you receive it well?”
The feeling wasn't very good. On the very day that Erne was about to leave to find Cliff, Cliff contacted me. He said he was on his way back to the capital and asked me to meet him there.
'I'll tell you everything honestly, but if you don't believe me, you can buy me a truth potion.'
When he asked me to buy him the truth potion, I became even more suspicious of his intentions. Erne was the same.
***
A few days later, in Cliff's mansion, in the living room. Erne was quite surprised at Cliff's appearance, which had changed beyond recognition.
“Don’t laugh. It’s good that the guy who tried to kill you ended up like this.”
Cliff had a face with prominent cheekbones and darkened eyes, but he couldn't move on his own.
He could barely take a few steps, relying on the butler and a cane.
“You got to this point with just the truth potion?”
“It seems that the chronic illness I had and the truth potion were in conflict with each other.”
A bottle and a glass were placed between Erne and Cliff. A bone-thin hand picked up the bottle and filled the glass.
“Come on, it’s not poisonous, so don’t worry.”
Drinking from the daytime. The Cliff that Erne knew was a person who took good care of himself. But drinking liquor instead of wine in the daytime.
Instead of picking up his glass, Erne took out the truth potion from his bosom and threw it on the table.
“You’ve come to this point, and yet you still insist on taking that medicine.”
“Then you will believe me. I don’t want to be dragged off to the police in this condition.”
Cliff, who had swallowed the truth potion, drank it repeatedly and said, “I will fulfill the promise I made to Judith at the salon last time, so please just avoid going to prison.”
“Are you going to tell everything?”
“Yes. What are you curious about? No, I’ll tell you everything from the beginning.”
He began the story with the death of Cedric, the last surviving member of House Rhineland.
“When I came to see you for the funeral, you were in prison.”
Ern's colleagues were beheaded one by one. When he was acquitted and released from prison, few people could be said to be close to Erne.
Erne was a drunkard and rarely met anyone other than the innkeeper and the bar owner.
“At that time, I thought I could kill you and take the earldom away from you.”
“So you put poison in the drink I was drinking?”
“Yes. I was the one who poisoned your drink. I was the last person you met.”
Cliff poured the alcohol down like water.
“I was worried. I thought you would come to kill me after waiting for the right time. That’s why I sent an assassin. I struck first before you came to kill me.”
“The bar owner died in a carriage accident. Was that your doing too?”
“He saw me put poison in your glass, so I took care of it.”
It was an explanation that had nothing to nitpick about.
Yes, if you are greedy for power, you can poison your own cup. You can want to kill someone. Erne understood that much.
“This time, I will ask. What did you do to my body?”
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment