The scream came later than I had expected.
Eloise Berhardt dropped her teacup.
Tea spread across the white tablecloth.
Her pale face called Seria’s name.
And then.
One young lady seated at the edge of the garden covered her mouth with her hand.
"Aaaah!"
Only then did everyone try to move.
The maids rushed over.
Derin sprang forward.
The other young ladies shoved back their chairs and rose.
Eveline Rosette was halfway out of her seat as well.
I spoke.
"Sit down."
My voice was low.
Lower than even I had expected.
Eveline’s red eyes turned toward me.
Anger.
Confusion.
And restrained impulse.
All of it was mixed together at once.
The old Eveline would have immediately reached for a sword here.
If there had been no sword, she might have picked up a chair and thrown it.
But now, she held a handkerchief.
A handkerchief that was not crumpled.
No.
A handkerchief with one corner slightly folded.
She gritted her teeth.
Then she sat down.
A single beat too late, but she sat down.
That one beat saved someone’s neck.
[Eveline Rosette: Berserk reaction suppressed]
[Condition 4: Excessive reaction from berserk candidate — remains unmet]
[Poisoner-Making Event success rate: 42% → 39%]
Still high.
But it had dropped.
Three percent, simply because she sat down before the scream.
This world truly killed and saved people in ridiculous ways.
I looked at Seria.
"Lady Seria."
Seria Blanc was not smiling.
That made her even more dangerous.
When the smiling poison-tongued woman stopped smiling, people thought this.
She got hit.
She’s flustered.
She must know something after all.
In this world’s social circles, even an expression could be laced with poison.
I spoke quietly.
"Smile."
Seria’s eyes turned to me.
"Now?"
"Yes. Not too much. Just enough to calm the guests as the hostess."
The corners of Seria’s lips lifted ever so slightly.
It was not her usual blade-sharp smile.
But at least it was not the face of someone falling apart.
She drew a breath.
Then she said,
"Everyone, please remain where you are. I will summon the Ducal House of Blanc’s physician."
Good.
A doctor.
Treatment first.
Then evidence.
No, more precisely, both at once.
The words I had just said—"Not the doctor; the white plate and water first"—would be disastrous if misunderstood.
It did not mean not to summon a doctor when someone had collapsed.
It meant separating the maid who summoned the doctor from the maid who preserved the evidence.
If treatment was delayed, a person died.
If evidence was delayed, the truth died.
Today, I had to save both.
Seria issued her orders quickly.
"Marien, summon the physician. You may run. Chloe, bring a white plate, clean water, and fresh gloves. The rest of you, stand beside the guests, but do not touch anyone’s cup."
The maids moved.
Precisely.
Quickly.
Quietly.
The maids of the Ducal House of Blanc were well trained.
The problem was that such training could also be used to frame someone.
Derin rushed toward Eloise.
"My lady!"
Eveline’s voice flew across the table.
"Don’t touch her."
Again, it was brief.
But she did not stand.
She said it while seated.
Still gripping her handkerchief.
That difference was enormous.
Shouting while standing was a berserk outburst.
Demanding evidence preservation while seated was procedure.
Beatrice Morgan immediately translated.
"The Berhardt attendant should step back. Etiquette dictates that the hostess’s physician attend to the collapsed young lady. If you touch her now, you may compromise both her condition and the evidence."
Derin’s face hardened.
He stepped back.
But his eyes remained fixed on Eloise’s left hand.
I wrote that down too.
Derin: Watching Eloise’s left hand.
Eveline: Prevented contact while seated.
Beatrice: Settled the matter with procedural restraint.
Eloise had slipped halfway off her chair.
She was not fully unconscious.
Her eyelids trembled, and her lips had turned blue.
Her breathing was ragged.
But it had not stopped.
[Trace amount of White Needle Herb derivative]
[Lethality: Low]
[Expected symptoms: Tingling fingertips, pallor, reactions resembling shortness of breath, temporary fainting]
According to the system, she would not die.
But I could not say that aloud.
It’s fine. Low lethality.
If a commoner teacher said something like that, there were only two possibilities.
A lunatic.
Or an accomplice.
I did not want to be either.
So I recorded it.
Eloise: Immediately after drinking tea, pallor, stiffness in fingertips, unstable breathing.
Statement before drinking: "Only now?"
Statement immediately afterward: "Ser... ia..."
Words were slower than poison, but they lasted longer.
So they had to be written precisely.
"Teacher."
I heard Liana Bell’s voice.
She was pale.
But she remained seated.
Her hands trembled, but she kept them folded on her knees.
Good.
She had not run away.
She had not become a victim, either.
She remained a witness.
"What should I do?"
I looked at her.
Liana was not asking for help.
She was asking for her role.
It was a good question.
"Fix what you saw in words."
"Right now?"
"Yes. Now, before the screams bury the record."
Liana drew a breath.
Then she spoke slowly.
"I first asked Lady Eloise to check the ring. After that, Lady Eloise picked up the teacup herself."
Every gaze at the table fixed on Liana.
Those gazes were heavy.
A Saint Candidate.
A commoner scholarship student.
A girl who, until moments ago, had been a potential victim.
And now that girl had seized the testimony first.
I wrote.
Liana: Prior testimony that she requested the ring check.
Beatrice continued.
"I heard it as well. Miss Liana Bell first asked Lady Eloise to inspect the ring."
Eveline spoke briefly.
"I saw it too. Then she drank."
Her tone was rough.
But the content was accurate.
Seria spoke last.
"I told her to discard that cup. Lady Eloise drank immediately afterward."
Good.
Four testimonies.
Liana.
Beatrice.
Eveline.
Seria.
Different statuses, different positions, different interests.
If all four accounts converged in one direction, Eloise’s first words weakened.
Lady Seria.
Those two words.
Words that fell before the poison did.
I could not invalidate them.
But I could surround them with other sentences.
I drew a line across the record sheet.
Common testimony: After being asked to check the ring, Eloise drank the tea herself.
A system window appeared.
[Testimony preemption successful]
[Fixation rate on frame-up candidate reduced]
[Poisoner-Making Event success rate: 39% → 31%]
Still high.
But the board had tilted back down.
The problem began now.
Before people believed records, they believed what they saw before them.
And what they saw was this.
A tea party hosted by the Ducal House of Blanc.
Tea prepared by Seria.
Eloise Berhardt collapsing.
A shattered teacup.
Screams.
The picture was unfavorable to Seria.
To defeat the picture, I needed objects.
The ring.
The white plate.
The water.
And tangible evidence.
The white plate and water arrived first.
Before the physician.
A maid from the nearby garden preparation room must have brought them.
Seria did not take the plate.
A good judgment.
The moment the hostess touched the evidence herself, another story would emerge.
She looked at Beatrice.
"Lady Morgan."
Beatrice folded her fan.
"I am an observer. I will not touch it myself. However, I can state the procedure."
Thorough as ever.
If she touched it herself, she would no longer be a witness, but a participant.
Beatrice told the maid,
"Place the plate beneath Lady Eloise’s left hand. Do not remove the ring until the physician arrives. But secure her fingers so that they cannot be shaken or wiped."
Derin tried to move again.
"We must remove my lady’s glove."
"No."
This time, Liana spoke.
Her voice was small, but clear.
Derin stopped moving.
Liana steadied her breath and said,
"Until the physician arrives, I think no one should touch the glove or the ring."
Derin’s eyes turned cold.
"I do not believe Miss Liana is in a position to make such a judgment."
A nasty thing to say.
And expected.
He was attacking Liana’s status.
A commoner scholarship student.
A girl who was still only a candidate, even if she was a Saint Candidate.
Among nobles, her words could easily be made to seem insignificant.
Then Eveline spoke.
"Then I’ll say it from my position."
Derin looked at Eveline.
Eveline remained seated.
Still seated.
But her eyes were like swords.
"Don’t touch it."
Brief.
This time, Beatrice did not immediately add anything.
There was no need.
Eveline’s words were already clear enough.
Derin gritted his teeth and stepped back.
I recorded it.
Derin: Statement attempting glove removal.
Liana: Opposed contact before physician’s arrival.
Eveline: Reaffirmed the same demand with noble authority.
A system window appeared.
[Cooperative action between Liana Bell and Eveline Rosette has occurred]
[Possibility of evidence tampering reduced]
[Poisoner-Making Event success rate: 31% → 27%]
Good.
But the moment Derin stepped back, another problem arose.
Eloise weakly opened her eyes.
Gasping for breath, she said,
"Lady... Seria..."
Again.
Seria’s name again.
Repeated words grew stronger.
Once was a groan.
Twice became testimony.
I raised my pen.
But this time, Seria acted before I could speak.
No, she did not act.
She spoke from her seat.
"Lady Eloise. You may call my name. But be precise. What did I do?"
The entire garden fell silent.
It was a dangerous question.
Seria had opened herself to direct suspicion.
But it was also a good question.
A question that turned vague name-calling into specific testimony.
Eloise’s lips trembled.
"The tea..."
"What was wrong with the tea?"
"After drinking... suddenly..."
"Before you drank the tea, I told you to discard that cup. Do you remember?"
Eloise’s eyes wavered.
She did not answer.
She could not answer.
Seria did not smile.
Without smiling, she said,
"I do not mind being suspected all day today. But it would be troublesome if a guest who collapsed at my tea party collapsed while hanging her own words around someone else’s neck."
It was a barbed remark.
But this time, it was not meant to stab someone.
It was meant to cut the noose around her own neck.
Eveline muttered very quietly,
"What an unpleasant thing to say, but she’s right."
I wrote.
Seria: Attempted to turn accusation by name into specific testimony.
Eloise: Failed to answer regarding a specific act.
Then the physician arrived.
She was an older female physician.
Short gray hair.
A brown bag.
Her wrists smelled of medicinal herbs.
She had run here, yet her breathing was steady.
Good.
She looked capable.
She first checked Eloise’s throat and wrist.
Pulse.
Breathing.
Pupils.
Then she placed a small piece of herb beneath Eloise’s tongue.
"It is not a lethal poison."
At those words, the garden breathed for a moment.
But the physician soon added,
"However, it belongs to a class that induces fainting. It can make the victim appear to be suffering from shortness of breath."
The garden froze again.
Fainting induction.
Staging a victim.
It matched the system.
I recorded it.
Physician’s initial assessment: Not lethal poison. Possible fainting-inducing derivative.
Seria asked,
"Is it White Needle Herb?"
She said it too quickly.
I looked at Seria.
Eloise looked at Seria too.
The other young ladies all looked at Seria.
In that moment, the atmosphere tilted against Seria again.
Knowing.
In noble society, knowing itself could become a crime.
Especially where poison was concerned.
Seria realized that too.
Her eyes wavered just slightly.
I immediately spoke.
"I will record that question as well."
Seria looked at me.
I moved my pen.
Seria: Asked whether it was White Needle Herb after hearing the symptom description.
Then I added,
Timing of question: After the physician first mentioned the possibility of a fainting-inducing derivative.
Seria’s gaze changed.
She understood what I had done.
To prevent her knowledge from becoming a crime, I had fixed the order of the question.
The physician first said it was fainting-inducing.
Then Seria asked about White Needle Herb.
The order mattered.
In noble society, sequence was evidence.
The physician nodded.
"We must test it. It may be White Needle Herb. The white plate."
The maid offered the plate.
The physician put on fresh gloves and lifted Eloise’s left hand.
The ring was still on her finger.
A small pearl ring.
A pink ornament.
Something cute and harmless-looking.
The things that most easily deceive people are the ones that look harmless.
The physician did not remove the ring.
Instead, she tilted the finger so the inside of the ring faced the plate.
Then she lightly scraped the inside of the ring with a fresh silver needle.
White powder fell.
Only a tiny amount.
But it showed against the white plate.
Liana swallowed a breath.
Eveline’s handkerchief folded.
Seria pressed her lips together.
Eloise closed her eyes.
The physician dropped a single drop of water onto it.
The white powder did not immediately dissolve.
If it had been sugar, it would have dissolved.
The powder clumped briefly on the water, then its edges spread into a faint gray.
The physician’s expression hardened.
"It is not sugar."
Silence fell over the garden again.
"What is it?"
Seria asked.
This time, not too quickly.
There was an order.
The physician observed first.
Then the hostess asked.
The physician took a small glass rod from her bag.
A pale yellow reagent clung to its tip.
When she touched the reagent to the edge of the powder, the gray spread briefly turned blue.
"It is a White Needle Herb derivative."
Another scream nearly erupted.
Beatrice snapped her fan shut.
At that single sound, the young ladies closed their mouths.
Beatrice Morgan, as expected.
If I ever made an enemy of this woman, I would die.
The physician continued.
"It is only a trace amount. Not enough to take a life. But sufficient to induce fainting and respiratory distress."
I wrote.
Powder inside ring: Not sugar.
Physician’s confirmation: White Needle Herb derivative.
Amount: Trace. Intended to induce fainting rather than kill.
A system window appeared.
[Core evidence secured]
[Eloise’s ring: White Needle Herb derivative powder detected]
[Owner of the second cup: Eloise Berhardt]
[Poisoner-Making Event success rate: 27% → 18%]
Eighteen percent.
It had dropped significantly.
But it was not zero.
The reason appeared immediately.
Eloise smiled weakly.
She smiled even while collapsed.
Impressive determination.
"That ring... I... received it today..."
The atmosphere changed again.
Received it today.
From whom?
Seria’s face hardened.
Gasping, Eloise continued.
"A maid of the Ducal House of Blanc... prepared it for me..."
A lie.
Probably.
But I had to prove it was a lie.
People died from lies and survived through proof.
Seria tried to refute her immediately.
I spoke before she could.
"We need to check the records."
Seria’s mouth stopped.
Good.
A rebuttal was emotion.
Verification was procedure.
I looked at the physician.
"Before removing the ring, may we inspect the ring itself? To see whether there is an inscription or ornament on its inner side."
The physician looked at me.
A commoner teacher had no authority to make such a request.
But this was no longer an ordinary tea party.
Beatrice said,
"It is an inspection for the record. Do not touch it directly."
The physician nodded.
She rotated the ring slightly.
Beneath the pearl.
The setting that had faced the inside of her palm.
There was a tiny groove there.
A groove meant to hide powder.
And something clung to the edge of the groove.
A minuscule blue fragment.
The moment I saw it, my eyes narrowed.
Blue sealing wax.
The same color as the wax stamped on the Ducal House of Blanc’s letters.
That blue used for the lily-and-serpent crest.
It was too helpful.
Too easy to see.
Too easily pointed at Seria.
And evidence that was too easy to see was usually a trap.
A system window appeared.
[New evidence candidate found]
[Inner groove of ring: Blue sealing wax fragment]
[Caution: The evidence is excessively helpful.]
Of course.
I cursed inwardly.
There was White Needle Herb powder in Eloise’s ring.
That was a fact.
But we still did not know where the ring had come from.
And someone had even planted a fragment of blue sealing wax inside that ring, pointing toward the Ducal House of Blanc.
Poisoner-Making.
The name fit perfectly.
A poisoner was not made with poison.
They were made from fragments that looked like evidence.
Eloise whispered weakly.
"Lady... Seria..."
This was the third time.
The third calling of her name.
At that moment, the garden’s attention converged on Seria once more.
Seria did not smile.
If she smiled, she would look cruel. If she cried, she would look guilty.
If she stayed silent, it would look like an admission.
A position where everything worked against her.
That was Seria Blanc’s ruin route.
I held my pen upright over the record sheet.
Then I said,
"Lady Seria."
"Go ahead."
Her voice was just slightly lower.
I asked,
"Was there any maid of the Ducal House of Blanc who prepared Lady Eloise’s jewelry today?"
Seria did not answer immediately.
A good silence.
A thinking silence.
She looked at the head maid.
"No. Guests prepare their own jewelry. The Ducal House of Blanc provided only seating, tea, refreshments, and water."
"Is there a record of that?"
"There is."
"Bring it."
Eloise smiled faintly.
"A commoner teacher... ordering a ducal house..."
I did not look at her.
Seria answered instead.
"No."
Her voice turned cold.
"He is requesting records that I need."
At last, Seria Blanc was taking her own side.
Not to stab another person, but to undo the noose around her own neck.
A system window appeared.
[Seria Blanc: Defensive statement initiated]
[Fixation rate on frame-up candidate slightly reduced]
[Poisoner-Making Event success rate: 18% → 16%]
Sixteen percent.
Not yet.
It was not over yet.
A maid ran off to retrieve the Ducal House of Blanc’s preparation record.
The physician gave Eloise more herbs.
Beatrice kept the guests from rising with nothing more than her gaze.
Liana did not grasp the water glass with her trembling hands.
Eveline remained seated.
Seated until the end.
Her handkerchief was slightly folded, but not crumpled.
Seeing that, I let out a tiny breath.
Today, Eveline had not drawn her sword.
She had not screamed, either.
She had not become the culprit.
That alone was one victory.
But Seria was not safe yet.
A fragment of blue sealing wax still hung around the smiling poison-tongued woman’s neck.
The maid returned.
She held a thin ledger.
The Ducal House of Blanc’s tea-party preparation record.
As Seria reached for the ledger, I said,
"Do not touch it."
Seria’s hand stopped.
"If I touch it, I will be suspected again."
"Yes."
"This is truly an unpleasant day."
"I hear that often."
For just a moment, Seria nearly smiled.
But she did not.
The maid set the ledger before Beatrice.
Beatrice opened it with her gloved hand.
"Preparation list. Seating chart. Tea leaves. Spices. Sugar. Lemons. Water. Refreshments. Spare teacups. Record seats. Observer seats."
She read each line.
"There is no item for providing jewelry."
Good.
But insufficient.
The lack of an entry in the ledger could be attacked as meaning not that it had not been provided, but simply that it had not been recorded.
Then Liana cautiously spoke.
"Was Lady Eloise wearing that ring when she arrived?"
Everyone looked at Liana.
Once more, Liana paused for a beat.
"I believe I saw the pink pearl ring when I greeted her at the entrance. I am not certain. So I would like to know whether anyone else saw it too."
Good.
A precise question.
Not asserting.
Confirming.
Liana asked, not me.
That made it stronger.
Seria looked at the head maid.
"Which maid received the guests at the entrance?"
One maid stepped forward.
"I did."
"Did you see it?"
The maid answered with a tense face.
"Yes. When Lady Berhardt arrived, she was already wearing a pink pearl ring on her left hand. She wore it over her glove."
I wrote it down immediately.
Entrance maid’s testimony: Eloise was already wearing the ring upon arrival.
A system window appeared.
[The direction of the blue sealing-wax evidence is weakening.]
[Direct provision route by Seria Blanc: Weakened]
[Poisoner-Making Event success rate: 16% → 12%]
Twelve percent.
Almost there.
But almost there meant failure was still possible.
Then Derin spoke quietly.
"Can the maid’s testimony be trusted? Is she not a servant of the Ducal House of Blanc?"
A blade entered the garden again.
A good attack.
He attacked the witness’s affiliation.
A Blanc maid’s words could be made to appear as words meant to protect the Ducal House of Blanc.
That was how it could be framed.
I looked at Derin.
He was not looking at the maid, but at me.
No.
He was looking at my record sheet.
This man knew what the record was doing.
Then Eveline spoke.
"Then we cannot trust anything said by a Berhardt servant either."
Derin’s face stiffened.
Eveline was still seated.
As she unfolded her handkerchief, she said,
"You were the one who delivered the message to Miss Liana, and you were the one who brought out the water glass."
It was direct.
But this time, it had grounds.
There was a record.
Derin closed his mouth.
Beatrice quietly added,
"If the testimonies of both houses have interests involved, then we must begin with the facts recorded first. We have testimony that the ring was already being worn upon arrival, and during the tea party, Lady Eloise herself used that ring."
Seria looked at me.
I nodded.
That was right.
There was only one key point today.
The owner of the ring.
The owner of the cup.
The owner of the action.
Who did what with their own hands.
If I preserved that, making a poisoner would not be easy.
I wrote one final line on the record sheet.
The ring was worn by Eloise when she arrived.
The second cup belonged to Eloise.
Eloise herself drank the tea.
A system window appeared.
[Core Condition 3: Social conviction toward culprit candidate — collapsing]
[Core Condition 4: Excessive reaction from berserk candidate — failed]
[Poisoner-Making Event success rate: 12% → 8%]
Eight percent.
Finally, a single digit.
At that moment, Eloise opened her eyes.
The herbs seemed to be taking effect.
She was still pale, but she no longer looked like she was dying.
She slowly looked at me.
Then she smiled very slightly.
It was not the smile of someone who had failed.
It was the smile of someone who had another move.
"Teacher Leon Cart."
I did not answer.
Eloise moved her lips.
"You like records, don’t you?"
Her voice was weak.
But clear enough for the entire garden to hear.
"Then record this too."
She laboriously raised a hand.
Not her left hand.
Her right.
A small scrap of paper was caught in that hand.
I did not know how long it had been there.
Paper she had hidden inside her palm.
Paper that could only have fallen when the physician grasped her wrist.
A very short sentence was written on the white paper.
Seria Blanc intends to kill me today.
The garden froze again.
Seeing that sentence, I nearly laughed sincerely for the first time.
Because it was absurd.
Because it was too blatant.
And because it came too late.
A system window appeared.
[Prewritten testimony statement discovered]
[Caution: Time of writing must be verified]
[Poisoner-Making Event success rate: 8% → 21%]
Yes.
Of course it was not over.
Poisoner-Making.
This event did not end with poison.
It tried to kill someone with words until the very end.
I raised my pen.
Looking at the scrap of paper, I said,
"Very well."
Everyone looked at me.
I made a new line on the record sheet.
New evidence: A prewritten accusation found in Eloise’s right hand.
Then I added beneath it.
Question: Was it written before she collapsed, or was it brought with her so that she could collapse?
The last remaining trace of a smile vanished from Seria Blanc’s face.
I looked in turn at the broken teacup, the ring, the blue sealing wax, and the newly revealed paper.
Good.
Not good at all.
But at least now I knew.
The most poisonous thing at this table today was not White Needle Herb.
It was one sentence written in advance.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register