The day the Count lost consciousness and collapsed, Lea’s plea of injustice went unheard by Bayern.

‘After all, they planned to frame me from the start.’

Everything went as expected. The housekeeper confirmed the Count’s unconscious state after receiving Jane’s report, completely unaware it had been set up in advance.

[Go report to the housekeeper that the Count is in a coma after consuming food with medicinal herbs. There’s no chance he’ll wake up.] […….] [Also, the Count will provide a cure for your younger brother.] [A cure?]

As if unable to believe her ears, Jane questioned Lea. The Count is going to provide a cure for her brother, who rightly deserved punishment?

[There is a price for all these considerations, Jane. What happened today is…] [I’ll act as if I know nothing! I haven’t heard or seen anything! If it means saving my brother, I’ll do anything!]

Jane, clinging to the hem of Lea’s robe, sobbed desperately. Jane was quite clever. She had thoroughly deceived that cunning Bayern.

Afterwards, Bayern assumed Lea, who had left the mansion, had fled in fear. Lea was hiding in an inn arranged by the Count.

Waiting for the news that would soon arrive. And it didn’t take long for that news to reach Lea.

[Return when the royal physician arrives at the mansion, Lea.]

On exactly the second day since the Count lost consciousness, she received word that people from the palace had arrived.

.

.

.

[Dash] Trudge, trudge.

Footsteps piercing the silence. Lea, who had been hiding in the darkness, walked out into the open.

And as she lifted the hood of her robe that had been hiding her face, all eyes focused on her.

“……You.”

Lord Rodrigo hesitated at the sight of Lea’s revealed face. The woman he first met seemed to be just over twenty.

He scanned Lea, as if trying to discern her identity.

“I am Lea, the herbalist and the personal physician of the Count.”

“Are you the herbalist who fled?”

A smirk passed through Lea’s lips at the word ‘fled’ coming from Rodrigo.

‘It wasn’t a flight, but a strategic retreat.’

“Me, I’m that woman! The herbalist is behind all this!”

Bayern glared at Lea, his eyes flaring.

“The tea made from Sanchuin that the herbalist gave to the Count has caused all this!”

“Sanchuin? What sort of tea is that?”

Rodrigo turned his questioning gaze from Bayern to Lea.

“Sanchuin is a tea the Count always drinks. It helps with insomnia.”

“Then it seems there shouldn’t be an issue.”

Most of the toxicity in Sanchuin disappears during the drying process. Rodrigo’s stern gaze shifted to Bayern at Lea’s straightforward explanation.

“Yes! That’s correct! There shouldn’t be an issue with Sanchuin alone. But it becomes a problem when you mix it with incompatible herbs!”

“…….”

“When we had the herb storage checked, two herbs were missing!”

Bayern continued with fierce determination.

“Heteria and Kiana. These two herbs conflict with Sanchuin tea! The storage is usually locked, and the keys are with me and that herbalist Lea. Only the two of us.”

“If there are two keys, couldn’t the housekeeper be the culprit?”

At Rodrigo’s arrow targeting him, Bayern took a sharp breath and quickly waved his hands.

“No! I lost the key while on vacation. We usually take the keys with us on vacation because of thieving servants!”

“So the only key that could open the storage would be the herbalist’s.”

“Yes. Exactly!”

Bayern’s face regained its color as if he had found a ray of hope. It seemed he felt the situation was turning in his favor.

In reality, he hadn’t lost the key; Jane had taken it. After the incident, he had instructed Jane to keep the key as a precaution.

‘Who knew it would come in handy like this.’
Moreover, as promised, Jane had left the palace as soon as people arrived. She would have been killed by robbers on her way back to her hometown.

Baiern was elated, knowing that with Jane’s death, all evidence would be lost forever.

“Really? You lost the key?”

Normally, Lea, who was pushed to the edge, should show confusion. Yet an enigmatic smile spread across Lea’s lips, one that felt eerie.

“Come in.”

Upon Lea’s call, the door to the bedroom opened.

And when Baiern saw who entered, he let out a silent scream inwardly.

“……!”

It made sense, as Jane, who should have been a cold corpse by now, walked in.

“I am Jane, the maid in charge of Count Heidern.”

Jane, who had been glancing back and forth between Baiern and Lea, approached the Count and handed him a key.

“This is the storage key that the butler gave me. As you can see, Count, the butler’s name is engraved on the key.”

The Count examined the key from all angles and eventually found the butler’s name engraved on it.

Suddenly, the Count’s fierce gaze was directed at Baiern.

“Didn’t the butler say he lost this key at the vacation home?”

“Co, Count. That, that is……!”

“One more thing. Jane is a witness to this incident. Jane stole medicines from the medicine storage on the butler’s orders. And she actually intended to feed Count Heidern food containing the medicine but gave up.”