“Nia, I think I need to go fetch the laundry first. Can you carry this by yourself?”

At her friend’s words, the maid Nia nodded vigorously.

“Of course!”

“Be careful not to break it!”

“Oh, don’t worry!”

Nia confidently lifted the flower pot containing the plant.

Now all she had to do was take this upstairs, come back down, and gather the laundry, and her work for the day would be done.

‘It looks like I’ll finish work early today!’

It was while Nia was diligently climbing the stairs.

“Ahhh!”

In that moment, she lost her footing and her body tilted forward. Sensing the impending accident, Nia tightly closed her eyes.

However, her tilting body stopped abruptly in mid-air before hitting the floor.

Nia slowly opened her eyes. The one who had caught her was an unfamiliar man.

“Uh…?”

“Are you alright?”

Nia flustered and fumbled. Having barely regained her balance, Nia bowed her head repeatedly.

“Thank you, thank you so much!”

“It’s nothing. I’m glad you’re alright.”

The man flashed a gentle smile. Nia’s gaze openly scanned the man.

As the situation settled, a question arose. This was an unfamiliar face?

“But who are you? I haven’t seen you before…”

“Ah, I work for the Count’s household. My master is from the Ripe family, one of the vassal houses of the Duke.”

Indeed, today’s busy schedule was due to that meeting.

So today, of all days, there would be quite a few unfamiliar faces to see.

Nia lightly nodded her head.

“Oh! I see. Has the meeting already started?”

“Yes, it’s been going on for a while now.”

The man smiled and took the flower pot Nia had been carrying.

“I’m heading that way anyway, so I’ll carry it for you.”

“Oh my!”

Nia’s face flushed red.

Having immediately let her guard down with the stranger, Nia chattered away as they walked.

Nia’s chatter didn’t end even as they passed through the corridor.

It was only when they arrived back at the stairs that Nia realized she had left her burden with a stranger for too long.

“Oh, please give me the flower pot! I’ll carry it now.”

“I’m on an errand anyway. This is the right way to the corridor with the study, isn’t it?”

“Ah, that’s right!”

“I’ll continue carrying it. It’s on my way anyway.”

Thanks to him, Nia completed her errand comfortably. As the flower pot was heavier than she expected, she felt nothing but gratitude.

“You’re going back down now, right? I’d like to repay you for your kindness somehow…”

“I’d like that too, but I haven’t finished my errand yet.”

“Ah, right! You mentioned you had an errand.”

“Yes.”

The man replied with a light smile.

It seemed like she had met a good match for once. Nia pushed aside her feelings of regret and started to descend the stairs alone.

But before going down the stairs, Nia suddenly stopped in her tracks as a thought occurred to her.

‘What kind of errand would bring a servant from another household all the way up here?’

The question suddenly arose, but Nia didn’t think too deeply about it. She remembered that she still had quite a few tasks left to do.

That was truly a stroke of luck for Nia.

If Nia had turned back, she would have witnessed the man standing in front of the Duke’s study. And this man believed that killing witnesses was better than threatening them to avoid complications.

‘How stupid.’

The man dusted off his hands. It had been troublesome, but thanks to that, he had made it up here without arousing suspicion.

After confirming that Nia had completely left, he entered the room.

Closing the door silently, he headed for the teapot on the desk.

Then he took out a small pouch from his breast and shook its contents into the pot.

The white powder mixed into the tea in the blink of an eye.

Just as he finished his task and turned around,

A tiny sound, like wind leaking, was heard from beside the display cabinet.

It was such a faint sound that one might easily miss it. Thinking nothing of it, the man walked towards the door without looking back.

Before opening the door, he suddenly felt uneasy.

The man who turned back on impulse strode towards where the sound had come from.

“You…!”

His eyes met those of a small child hiding in the dark shadows.

Our eyes met.

‘I’m done for.’

It was the servant I had seen earlier in the meeting hall. I wasn’t just surprised to see him.

I had expected him to be the culprit who poisoned the Duke’s tea.

Actually, I hadn’t planned to hide in the Duke’s room. I had just stepped in briefly to check if the culprit had already been here.

But when the door opened, I hurriedly hid in the wardrobe.

‘What should I do, what should I do.’

I should have been more careful; I was too careless.

After a moment of silence, the man spoke to me casually.

“Young master, why are you in a place like this? Come here.”

The man bent down and gave me a kind smile.

“Be a good boy, come here. I’ll escort you back to your room.”

“Okay.”

I pretended to reach out my hand, then rolled onto the floor to dodge him and ran away.

I heard the man exhale an irritated sigh behind me as his attitude changed.

“Like a little rat.”

Using the sofa as a shield to avoid his hand, I immediately ran towards the door.

‘Just a little more, just a little more!’

I thought I could reach the door faster than the man if I ran as fast as I could.

But it seems my short legs weren’t up to the task.

“Young master, where do you think you’re going?”

Without even hearing his footsteps, the man who had walked leisurely arrived at the door before me.

I frantically looked around.

There was a decorative sword hanging on the wall, but not only was it out of my reach, I wouldn’t be able to lift it either.

‘The window?’

I turned my gaze towards the window. The window seemed like it might offer a chance…

“How pitiful. You’ve just found your real father, only to die so soon.”

The man clicked his tongue and slowly approached me.

For every step he took towards me, I took a step back. As I retreated, I quickly reached for the window.

‘It’s locked!’

“Were you planning to jump out the window? Haha! Your thinking is quite pathetic.”

The man sneered. I glared at him, my back against the wall.

‘I can’t die like this.’

“Don’t worry, fortunately, I don’t have much time either, so I need to finish this quickly.”

“Oh, Duke!”

“Young master, that stupid trick-”

He laughed without even turning his head, and that’s when it happened.

I immediately grabbed his right hand and bit his wrist hard.

“Aaargh!”

Screaming in pain, he violently shook off his right hand.

My body flew through the air and crashed into the glass display cabinet.

“Ouch, it hurts…”

It felt like my shoulder was bruised. That’s when I heard a sharp voice in my head.

Lying face down on the floor, I instinctively rolled to the side.

At the same time, the display cabinet toppled over, shattering the glass with a loud crash.

“Huh.”

The noise was so loud it made my whole body tingle.

It was loud enough that all the servants in the main building should have heard it.

‘This is really bad!’

At this point, people rushing in wouldn’t help at all.

The fact that people would soon burst in meant that the assassin would have to flee quickly too.

In other words, he would now kill me without wasting any more time.

“You little rat!”

Sure enough, the assassin immediately approached me.

He raised his uninjured left hand high.

‘I’m going to get hit.’

I quickly covered my head with both hands and curled up into a ball. This was the position I always took when Rebecca hit me.

This way, even if I got hit, it would hurt less and leave fewer injuries.

But at that moment, the man stopped his hand in mid-air, unable to hit me.

“Aaargh!”

Suddenly, the man screamed. Startled, I looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

The man was clutching one of his legs, his face contorted in pain.

A long, silver line was hanging from his ankle.

No, it wasn’t a line. That was…

‘A snake?’

I stared at it blankly with a confused face, then suddenly came to my senses and got up.

I don’t know where this snake came from, but it seems to be trying to help me!

As I quickly got up and ran towards the door, the man’s eyes widened.

The snake that had been biting the man’s ankle suddenly disappeared like a mirage.

“Damn brat!”

‘Gasp!’

He seemed to be thoroughly enraged. The man chose to chase after me rather than escape before people arrived.

In other words, it was even worse for me.

I hurriedly ran down the stairs.

‘Should I look for Sophia or Delma? No. What if they get in danger because of me? Then Yan? But Yan said he’d be late today!’

To get to the meeting hall where the Duke was, I needed to go to the annex.

However, it was obvious that I would be caught by that assassin on the way from the main building to the annex.

Why weren’t there any other people around today of all days? Had everyone gone to the annex because of the meeting?

As my heart raced, I had already arrived at the front entrance.

As I opened the front door, a strong hand grabbed the back of my collar.

“Hahaha! I called you a little rat, and you really do run like one, young master.”

“Let go!”

My feet dangled in the air. I flailed my arms, but it was impossible to escape from his grip.

The man grinned, baring his teeth. Then he pulled up his right sleeve with his teeth, as if to show me.

“Huh!”

I involuntarily covered my nose with one hand at the sudden spread of a foul odor.

From his wrist to his elbow, bandages were tightly wrapped.

Red-black blood and pus had seeped through the bandages.

The poisoned wound was rotting.

“Back in the meeting hall, I see now. You knew everything, didn’t you, young master?”

His bloodshot eyes flickered with rage.

“No wonder you grabbed exactly where I was injured. It hurt quite a bit. I had to pretend nothing was wrong in front of everyone.”

The man’s gaze was filled with murderous intent.

Should I scream now? Would someone come if I screamed?

I entertained this hopeful thought for a moment, but kept my mouth shut, thinking it would be useless.

“Why? Are you just giving up?”

The man sneered.

“That’s right, you’re going to die anyway, so it’s easier if you give up. Don’t you think?”

The man pulled out a sharp needle that he had hidden in his clothes with his rotting right arm.

“It’s coated with a paralyzing poison, so it won’t hurt.”

The man who had been laughing lowly suddenly raised his right hand.

I tightly closed my eyes.

“Urk!”

At that moment, the man inhaled sharply. His whole body trembling, he dropped me, whom he had been holding in mid-air.

‘I’m falling!’

I expected to hit the floor with a thud, but something snatched me up.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself dangling in someone’s arms.

“Duke!”

Goodness! I had never been so glad to see the Duke.

“Urk, urk, s-save…”

Had he accidentally pricked himself with the needle he was holding? The man seemed unable to breathe properly.

Knights who had rushed in behind the Duke restrained the man and dragged him away.

Only after the man had completely disappeared from sight did words burst out of me like a flood.

“Duke, how did you get here? How did you know I was here? Is the meeting already over?”

I chattered away, playfully swinging my legs.

The Duke lowered his head.

My eyes met his cold, piercing gaze.

“Diane.”

“Yes?”

“Do you find my words amusing?”