Cediloy urgently asked, “Where is he?”

Aint’s eyes flickered with a somewhat sinister light. “In his cabin, Your Excellency. Zelso is guarding him.”

Cediloy nodded. “Continue to watch over him. Inform me immediately when he wakes up. However, no torture.”

“Understood.”

Aint turned and left the dining room without a sound, unlike when he entered.

Jemero sent Aint and Zelso to track down Becker, the former forester of the duchy. Their superficial identities were like ordinary employees of the duchy. The only difference was that both of them had spent their childhoods in a harsh environment and survived there like wild beasts.

Cediloy didn’t know exactly how Jemero had taught and nurtured the two boys, who were difficult to tame and roared like fierce beasts. When they first came to this house, Cediloy was still lingering in Wangsong without returning to the duchy. However, Jemero trusted the two very much, and if Jemero trusted them, Cediloy could trust them too.

And they did not betray that trust.

Leaving his uneaten meal in the dining room, Cediloy walked out. He hurriedly ran to the study, took out the letter from Cloph stored in the drawer, and checked the date once again. If no issues arose, he would arrive at the duchy exactly five days later.

And Jocelyn would return around the same time as Cloph.

‘In that case…’

Cediloy’s lips tightly sealed. From the tip of his tongue, then throughout his entire mouth, a taste of bitterness, like breaking iron, spread. His lips trembled as if about to spill blood, and a sharp whistling sound escaped like a sharp wind.

Now it could end, Cediloy thought. The nightmares that pushed him into guilt, the past that remained blurry and hazy even with his eyes open. All of it could be cut off soon. Completely.

“Your Excellency.”

Cediloy turned his body towards the voice from behind.

“I have returned.”

It was Jemero. Cediloy, who had been clenching Cloph’s letter tightly until then, dropped it like an unwrapped package and rushed towards him but abruptly stopped.

“Aint and Zelso have returned.”

At Cediloy’s words, Jemero nodded.

“I’m aware. I saw Aint on the way into the mansion. Becker has lost consciousness. However, do not worry. He will not interfere with Your Excellency’s plans.”

“I know. And you? What happened?”

Jemero, as usual, looked at Cediloy with a cautious gaze. He pulled out a small bundle from his embrace.

Inside the bag, there was a rattling sound as if something was colliding with each other.

When Jemero untied the strings at the entrance, Cediloy, despite the impossibility, thought he could smell something like the smoky and ominous odor seeping out of the bag.

No, that couldn’t be. Cediloy blinked away the illusion. Three flasks came out of the bag. Two were as dark as dead bark, and the other one had a murky, ashen tint.

“Is this all…?”

Jemero nodded. “Yes. When I visited Negrian earlier, I secretly found three herbalists selling poison. I purchased these from the three places. They may appear to be simple tinctures for treating headaches, but with just a drop or two, they can plunge a person into a deep sleep and stop even the heart within moments. It is a very potent poison.”

Cediloy stared at the three flasks standing quietly. His always neat forehead twisted, and the rising anger made even his eyes turn red.

Cediloy spoke quietly.
“Summon Meiana. Even if Ariante and Swan are not at the mansion, it should be fine. However, ask her to come as quietly as possible.”

“I understand, Your Excellency.”

Jemero, upon receiving his command, immediately left. Cediloy, as if exhaling a breath he had been holding, breathed heavily and bent his body. A stifled groan, like boiling steam, escaped from his tightly clenched jaws.

After finding out that Jocelyn had acquired poison to harm Verbo and Liria somewhere in Negrian, he and Jemero meticulously searched and explored almost all the herbalists in Negrian. Although they found three places producing poison, they couldn’t determine who had traded with Jocelyn. Therefore, Jemero personally purchased the poison in a disguised form.

While they could have brought all the herbalists, Negrian was not a village belonging to the duchy, and they couldn’t create a disturbance while Jocelyn was in the mansion. They had to make her feel trapped in a dead-end, unable to find a way out.

And Meiana.

The final answer Cediloy wanted was known to Meiana.

⭐⭐⭐

Countess Alt took Ariante and Sisi to her quiet study.

Her study was the most elegant and comfortable place in the beautiful duchy.

Regardless of the season, warm sunlight lingered the longest, and tastefully restrained tapestries and friezes adorned the room just enough not to be annoying or ostentatious.

Sisi sat on the sofa, still sobbing throughout. Although her tears had stopped, she was forcing out sobs. Countess Alt, aware of this, let Sisi be and instead offered a small chair to Ariante.

“Please, have a seat, Lady.”

“Thank you.”