“What means do you intend to use to help me?”
You?
I didn’t hear what followed, but it felt as if I had.
I could fully understand why the Duchess had low expectations of me when I recalled myself from just a few days ago.
A few days ago, I was, um… well…
“A bum…”
As if daring me to say something, the Duchess smiled lazily and playfully.
Her thick makeup accentuated her attractive eyes as she covered her lips with a fan.
Her overwhelming presence was almost akin to when Duke Ferdia was around.
I placed the prepared vial of medicine on the table.
“What is this?”
“It’s an antidote.”
“Antidote?”
“Yes. It’s the antidote to the insecticide you developed, ma’am.”
“What are you talking about?”
The Duchess stared at me without a hint of amusement in her eyes.
“I obtained your poison and tried making an antidote.”
“Do you think I’ll believe that now?”
“Of course, I think you won’t believe it.”
“You’re not mocking me, are you?”
Even though she was merely asking a question in a graceful tone, I felt pressured by her demeanor.
All the more reason not to back down. I constantly reminded myself of this fact as I spoke.
“Why not try using it instead of doubting?”
I confidently recommended without backing down.
‘I guarantee at least one effect!’
I spoke boldly, although I had no expectation of a positive response.
If she refuses once, recommend twice, and if she refuses twice, suggest three times.
But then,
“Alright. I have some free time, so I suppose I can indulge you for a while.”
“……!”
I was taken aback by the Duchess’s unexpectedly willing response.
“Of course, if you’re deceiving me with some foolish trick, you’ll have to pay the price.”
Naturally, a warning followed.
Thwack, she snapped her fan shut and rose from her seat. After summoning the manager of the poison garden and exchanging a few words, she glanced at me.
“Follow me.”
I silently followed the Duchess.
She took me to a greenhouse located in the back garden.
A place where rare medicinal and poisonous herbs from all over the continent were gathered, separated by temperaturecontrolled magic tools, was indeed a place where money seemed to leak out just by maintaining it.
It was my first time entering this area meant for cultivating poisons and conducting research. I’d always only observed from afar.
I kept looking around, observing all kinds of rare plants.
‘Wow! Isn’t that flower only grown in the Far East?’
‘That one even failed to cultivate in the Imperial Garden.’
I was once again amazed at the wealth of the Ferdia family and the Duchess.
The money I used to throw around like water when I was dealing with merchants before probably wasn’t even a drop in the bucket.
While admiring a flower, I suddenly realized the surrounding silence.
Startled, I looked up to find the Duchess quietly watching me.
“Elodie.”
“……Yes!”
The Duchess, who had been staring intently at me, shook her head slightly and gestured softly.
“……No, will you come here?”
On the Duchess’s workbench were various rare materials for making poisons.
The dust of Elu forest’s butterfly fairies, fluorescent moss obtainable only from the coastal cliffs of Aiteim, and even Redhorn Madcap mushrooms that couldn’t be stored without magical barriers.
Among them, the Duchess pointed to a transparent glass box. Something wriggled inside it.
“Do you recognize what this is?”
“It looks like a bug. Quite large.”
“Yes. That bug is the Wormkranda, the cause of the recent pestilence.”
It looked rather cute to be the cause of a recent calamity sweeping the continent.
“It’s not an ordinary bug. It’s a magical creature, so it’s very tenacious in its survival and breeding.”
“I see.”
“Then let’s test the antidote you brought.”
I was confident, but now that it was time to test it, I became anxious.
Unlike me, the Duchess’s actions were without superfluity. Without hesitation, she poured the insecticide into a glass box, and the worm’s movements began to slow down.
Its life seemed to hang by a thread, as if it could die at any moment. Over it, my antidote was poured.
One second, two seconds, three seconds…….
Time passed, but the worm did not stir.
‘This can’t be?’
I was looking at the Duchess’s reaction in confusion when it happened.
The worm, which had been lying as if dead, began to crawl around the glass box.
Even more vigorously than before.
“Wow! It’s alive, ma’am!”
“…….”
“Sorry, sorry.”
I stepped back, startled by my overexcitement.
‘She must be uncomfortable because I acted too familiarly?’
Be careful. Relaxing for a moment leads to getting overly excited, that’s the problem.
When I hesitatingly looked up, the Duchess’s face, looking down at me, was visible.
Her face was momentarily hard as she looked at me.
“Elodie.”
“Yes.”
“How did you make this antidote?”
With a serious face, the Duchess asked, and I was certain.
‘I’m caught!’
My plan had succeeded.
The effect of the antidote was clear, as it had revived the dying insect so quickly.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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