STVC 06

Chapter 06

I was deep in thought, trying to deduce what had happened when I heard faint footsteps beyond the wide-open door.

The sound of a woman’s heels grew closer, and I hastily hid behind the curtain.

It was too late to open the wardrobe now. Judging by the footsteps, if I opened it, the sound would give me away.

My deduction had just shifted into thriller mode. To survive in this thriller scenario, I crouched as low as possible and held my breath.

Creepy! I had this horrible feeling that if I peeked out from behind the curtain, the killer, knife in hand, would strike me.

I tried to calm my pounding heart and make sense of the situation.

‘Could this be it? The one where the culprit returns to the crime scene?’

Weren’t all the servants gathered by the Duke?

With trembling hands, I hesitated over whether to peek past the curtain.

I was afraid that if I drew the curtain aside, THE END would unfold right before my eyes.

While I was agonizing over the curtain, a new figure appeared.

“Mrs. Bern, weren’t you going to fetch the maids who went to do the laundry? What are you doing here?”

Unlike the nanny, this person appeared silently. It was Dane.

“Oh, Lord Dane, I just stopped by briefly to tidy up a little, so that the young lady and young master wouldn’t be startled.”

Dane’s timing was perfect!

“I imagine the Duke would have ordered you not to touch anything.”

“I’m aware. I wasn’t trying to break the order; I just meant to cover it with a cloth.”

The nanny’s act was flawless.

If she hadn’t been the culprit, you could really believe she was just looking out for the twins. Her voice was so convincingly casual.

“So it was you, Bern. I’ll give you some time… time to confess.”

“G-G-Duke!”

‘Why is the Duke here?’

A series of events unfolded that made no sense to me.

By now, the Duke should have been interrogating the servants.

The nanny, of course, expected that too, so her confusion at the Duke’s appearance was evident.

“The red liquid soaking the bed. Normally one would assume it’s blood, but the smell was different.”

A beast, perhaps?

At first, I had thought it was the distinctive, fishy smell of animal blood, even if not human.

“It’s the sap of a Reiproof.”

“Ah! I see.”

Dane nodded in agreement with the Duke.

The Duke and Dane had a chemistry reminiscent of Sherlock and Watson.

I knew the Reiproof plant well.

Even just going to the greenhouse at the Duke’s estate, its snow-white flowers displayed their pristine beauty.

“When you cut the stem of a Reiproof, a transparent, sticky sap oozes out.”

“When mixed with water, the sap turns red, commonly used by commoners to dye fabrics.”

“Yes. If it had ended there, I wouldn’t have known who the culprit was. But you made a mistake.”

Oh, so that was the twist.

I listened eagerly to the fragment of trivia.

‘What, what was the nanny’s mistake?’

The Duke paused, leaving the suspense like a program counting down 60 seconds before continuing.

“That is—”

“That is?”

‘That is?’

Dane asked with equal curiosity.

I peeked slightly from behind the curtain to catch the Duke’s next words.

Snap!

The moment I drew my head out, the Duke flung the curtain wide open.

“Why are you here?”

“!”

My heart!

It felt like it had just plummeted 30 floors into an underground chasm.

Just when I thought the scary scene from a horror movie had ended, he ambushed me!

I stammered in shock as the Duke let out a shallow sigh.

“You were supposed to be with the twins, weren’t you?”

“Well, I… I wanted to help in some way…”

I babbled, trying to come up with an explanation.

The Duke, after staring at me for a while, spoke in a softer tone.

“…Am I not trustworthy?”

“What? You… you think I don’t trust you? That’s impossible. You’re known for handling matters more fearsome than a knife, Duke.”

“…”

Was it the aftershock of my heart dropping? My brain went completely blank.

I said out loud what I would normally have kept to myself.

Three seconds later, I realized what I had said and my mind froze.

An awkward silence settled.

Dane didn’t seem to know how to cover for me and shuffled his feet nervously.

“Th-That was… a compliment!”

I must have read somewhere before: if you accidentally say something, adding that you meant it as a compliment will save you 90% of the time. But not this time, apparently.

Technically, I did say he was good at his work, so it should count as a compliment… Right?

A 16-year-old girl might be slightly offended by “more fearsome than a knife,” but why the unnecessary metaphor?

I cursed my mouth for opening. I tried to smile innocently at the Duke, looking as harmless as possible.

“Well, that’s a relief.”

The Duke’s words brought me some comfort.

“Relief” meant he was sparing my life, right? I vowed to watch my words next time. I calmed my still-racing heart while pacing around him.

“So, what exactly was the nanny’s mistake?”

I asked, and Dane’s expression betrayed his curiosity as he awaited the Duke’s answer.

The Duke glanced at both of us, then lifted one corner of his mouth in a sly smirk.

‘There it is! The Duke’s mischievous grin!’

The smile he had first shown during our initial deal—back then I had felt mocked—he now showed often.

At first, it annoyed me, but over time, I understood.

That expression meant he had found something amusing.

‘This is bad.’

Whenever he smiled like that, trouble usually followed me.

“Cernia.”

“Yes.”

“You often read books on magic, don’t you?”

How did he know? Was my reading record being reported to the Duke!?

How much could he possibly know? Hopefully he didn’t know the genres I’ve been obsessed with lately.

I lowered my face in embarrassment and answered quietly.

“…Yes.”

“I wasn’t scolding you.”

Even though he said that, I couldn’t lift my head.

I had once secretly read romance novels confiscated from Ariel to pass the time.

They were unexpectedly fun!

Being a reincarnated romance fan, the romance novels here were like full-blown romantic fantasy.

‘I discovered romance fantasy for the first time here. Everything I read felt fresh, so I couldn’t stop.’

After finishing the confiscated books, I secretly asked the maid Mari—who assisted Ariel in dressing—to get me more books. Despite some reluctance, Mari always managed to get them.

‘We even exchanged impressions, so she must have protected my reading taste.’

Plus, the Duke had mentioned magic books, so perhaps Dane, like with the twins during tea time, had casually mentioned it!

I justified it to myself and nodded at the Duke’s words.

“I heard from Dane. That you often read books on magic in the library.”