I stupidly blinked and pointed at myself.

“You’re asking if I’m not close with you?”

It was something I never expected to hear from Dietrich.

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

He retorted gruffly and stared at me intently as if waiting for an answer.

No, was he glaring?

Judging by his narrowed eyes, it seemed he intended to stare until I answered.

Though I didn’t know the intention behind Dietrich’s question, I reluctantly nodded.

“I’m close with you too.”

A love-hate relationship, perhaps.

Though our relationship was bound by contract, we cared for each other to the point of worrying when the other wasn’t around?

I decided not to say that.

Seeing Dietrich’s forehead brighten upon hearing we were close, I felt I shouldn’t say more.

Dietrich lightly flicked his fingers and said.

“Good. Now we’re speaking the same language. So you’re saying you’re closest to me.”

“Well, yeah. You’re close to me too.”

“That’s the important issue. That you’re the person in this mansion who has a close relationship with me.”

Hearing Dietrich’s words, my eyes suddenly opened wide as if I’d been hit on the head.

“Then could it be that the Duchess…?”

“If not that woman, do you think there’s anyone in this mansion who would dare try to frame me?”

Leriana Duchess was certainly someone capable of doing that and more.

She’d do anything if it meant preventing Dietrich from becoming the head of the Delgado ducal family.

But…

“Still, this seems strange. Would she set a trap knowing her own son could be in danger?”

“You’re too naive, Harpe.”

He mocked my words and stood up from his seat.

On the table, the food he hadn’t touched a bite of was getting cold.

He approached the desk in the office and rummaged through the messily piled documents.

Then he came back to me and flipped over a fluttering piece of paper.

“Evidence.”

The paper he handed over was a receipt. A receipt-type paper showing what kind of transaction was made.

When I gave him a look as if to ask what this was, he added a brief explanation.

“It’s our family’s trading company that woman frequently uses. I’ve been watching since my pathetic father handed it over to the Duchess.”

At the top of the paper seemed to be written the name of the trading company.

“Yurian collapsed last evening, causing an uproar in the mansion, so I went to the trading company at dawn today and just got back.”

“Ah, so that’s why you were at the entrance since morning.”

I had wondered why he was at the entrance so early.

I nodded and stared intently at the paper.

How nice it would be if I could read the writing on the paper carefully.

But contrary to my wishes, with trembling hands and a complicated mind, none of the writing registered in my eyes.

After staring at the paper for a while, I handed it back to him with an awkward smile.

“Sorry. I can’t read it.”

“Ah.”

Contrary to my expectation that he would tease me, he silently took the paper. Then he slowly read out the name of the trading company.

“The trading company’s name is Atsunai Trading Company. It’s been a company mainly dealing in medicinal herbs for a long time.”

“Medicinal herbs?”

“It’s a company that takes on a lot of suspicious requests. It’s located in the center of the capital, and though it looks normal on the outside, it seems to be doing all sorts of shady things since the Duchess took over the company. Though there’s no proper evidence yet.”

So Dietrich is saying that the Duchess got the poison from this trading company?

But soon a question arose.

How does Dietrich know that the Duchess got the poison herb from this trading company?

Moreover, if this paper is indeed a receipt, the Duchess didn’t erase the transaction details of the suspicious deal.

I got up from my seat and sat down a little to the side. Then I tapped the sofa, indicating for Dietrich to sit beside me.

He was momentarily bewildered but soon plopped down beside me.

“Then why did she just leave the transaction details?”

“Because the Duchess didn’t make the transaction directly. Her underling ran the errand, so the transaction details are meaningless.”

“Then this receipt can’t prove that the Duchess bought the poison herb, right?”

“That’s right. But I’m certain that’s the receipt for the transaction the Duchess made.”

It was a tone full of conviction.

He spoke in a calm voice.

“Because the poison herb I ate could only be obtained from this trading company.”

For a moment, I was dumbfounded with my mouth open.

Dietrich was as nonchalant as if talking about someone else.

“Well, I couldn’t prove anything at that time. I went around all sorts of trading companies with the suspicion that that woman tried to kill me, and found a trading company that sold a poison herb that caused the same symptoms that appeared in me. I didn’t know it was our Atsunai, which had become our trading company. By then, the matter had already ended as the servants’ mistake, so I couldn’t reveal it was that woman’s scheme.”

“You’ve been watching this trading company since then?”

Dietrich slowly nodded.

“It’s not difficult to tell just by seeing how interested Leriana Duchess is in this trading company. The problem is that she’s meticulously covering her tracks.”

Now I understood the whole situation.

At the same time, I felt sorry for Dietrich who had uncovered Leriana’s scheme alone.

“Didn’t it hurt?”

“What?”

He frowned and asked back as if it was out of the blue.

I asked again, enunciating each word.

“The poison. It must have hurt terribly after eating it.”

“…It was bearable. Because I couldn’t die.”

He turned his head abruptly. Then he continued speaking.

I had no choice but to focus on Dietrich’s words again.

“What’s peculiar is that the poison herb obtained this time wasn’t very powerful. They got a poison herb that would only cause one to lose consciousness, as planned. I heard that if you collapse and receive treatment quickly, you can live perfectly fine. According to the head of the trading company, it’s a popular type of drug these days.”

At the word ‘planned’, I fell into deep thought.

Yurian didn’t die from this incident.

In fact, that was strange from the beginning.

Would the Duchess, who terribly cherishes Yurian, really have tried to kill Dietrich while threatening her son’s life?

But with Dietrich’s words just now, everything started to make sense.

“She never intended to kill from the start.”

“Right. She probably prepared a poison herb that would make one sick enough to just lie down for a while. As long as one doesn’t eat too much of it, that is.”

“Then why did the tutor die?”

“Even medicine can be poison to someone. The Duchess probably didn’t expect things to go wrong like this.”

I almost jumped up from my seat in horror.

Thinking of Leriana who must have pretended to be shocked, goosebumps rose all over my arms.

Was this why she spread the rumors from the beginning?

To think she tried to put Dietrich in a difficult position even while endangering her own son’s life.

She was truly a remarkable and frightening woman.

“So she used our closeness to make it look like you were trying to have me poison Yurian.”

Dietrich nodded.

Now what should we do?

If Dietrich gets in trouble because of me, what can I do?

Quickly perceiving my anguish, he calmly said as if telling me not to worry.

“That’s enough, so stop thinking with that small brain of yours. For now, why don’t you eat the food in front of you?”

“How can I eat at a time like this?”

“You need to eat though? Is the work hard? You’ve become so gaunt.”

At Dietrich’s words, I rubbed my cheeks. Though my cheek that was hit yesterday hurt a bit, it didn’t seem to have become thin.

“If you eat all that, I’ll tell you how things are going in the mansion.”

However, I couldn’t refuse Dietrich’s offer.

There weren’t many ways for me, who doesn’t come to the main building often, to get information.

I was hungry too.

I could still taste the tomato ravioli Dietrich had put in my mouth earlier.

It was hard to eat breakfast properly while working in the kitchen because it was so busy.

A delicious aroma lingered at the tip of my nose. In the end, I pretended to give in and picked up the fork.

The ravioli, deeply stabbed with the fork and covered in plenty of sauce, tasted literally fantastic.

After that, I eagerly inhaled the ravioli. As I was eating silently, Dietrich clicked his tongue softly.

“Does the kitchen make you work without feeding you?”

“They do feed me. I just can’t eat such delicious food!”

“I won’t take it away, so eat it all. I didn’t have an appetite anyway.”

Whether he really had no appetite or not, Dietrich didn’t even look at where the food was. He got up and approached the bookshelf.

After briefly scanning the bookshelf, he pulled out a thick book with an unknown title and naturally sat down next to me.

When I stole a glance at the book title, it was a book that looked very boring at first sight.

《Military Science》

With my interest plummeting, I turned my head back to the ravioli plate.

I thought I heard a small laugh from beside me, so I turned my head again, but it seemed to have been my imagination.

Dietrich was reading the book with his usual expressionless face.

Me, savoring the taste to the best of my ability while munching, and Dietrich, quietly reading the book intently.

It might look somewhat strange considering the relationship between master and servant.

But strangely, I felt the frightening and scary emotions from just moments ago crumbling like dust.

‘Peaceful.’

Is it okay to feel this way in a precarious situation where I might be framed as a poisoner?

He, who had been silently focusing on the text, said in a low voice.

“Anyway, don’t worry. You won’t get into trouble.”

My heart warmed at the gruff but kind voice filled with warmth.

I found it amazing how Dietrich could simultaneously convey emotions that seemed impossible to coexist.

Though he seems cold and heartless in everything, he actually can’t ignore people in difficult and hard situations.

To the point where it’s frustrating that everyone misunderstands this Dietrich.

He gives up his food for me who couldn’t eat breakfast, and comforts me so I won’t be anxious – this kind side is his true self, yet Dietrich was busy hiding it.

Probably because he thinks it’s a weak and fragile side.

So for his sake, who is clumsy at expressing himself, I decided to show all my sincerity.

“Alright. I’ll only trust you, Dietrich.”

Since I’ve encountered the warmth he couldn’t hide despite his cold facade, I can’t help but truly be on his side.

When I looked at him with a bright smile that creased the corners of my eyes, he dropped the book he was holding onto his lap.

Dietrich’s mysterious blue-green pupils dilated slightly.

“So will you protect me?”

Just like how you became a kind comfort to me today.