“I’ve come to inform you about the results of the reinvestigation.”

Upon Ron’s visit, Karina tried to rise to move to the sofa with a table.

Jeremiah and Mikhail came to support her from both sides.

Thanks to them, Karina’s eyebrows twitched as one arm was held by Jeremiah and the other by Mikhail.

“It’s my neck that’s injured, not my legs.”

She tried to protest, but it was useless.

“Didn’t you suddenly collapse last time even though you seemed fine?”

“What if you fall while walking?”

“…”

Since it wasn’t far to the sofa anyway, she just let it be.

Seeing this situation, Ron’s face turned blank as if dumbfounded.

Even without saying it, she could guess what he was thinking.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Karina pretended not to notice and looked away.

Once everyone was seated, Ron composed himself and began his report.

“First, to get to the conclusion, the results were the same. If there’s anything noteworthy, it’s the testimony of that maid ‘Jen’ who was taken hostage, but you might want to hear it directly.”

Ron went to the door and opened it, and Jen, who had been waiting outside, entered.

“I greet you, Grand Duchess.”

Jen entered the room, bowing politely.

“Welcome.”

Karina greeted Jen.

“Come over here and sit down.”

Karina offered her a seat first.

Jen sat down opposite Karina as directed.

Then she bowed her head deeply and said,

“Grand Duchess. I’m truly grateful for that time. I thought I was going to die helplessly as a hostage, but thanks to you, I was able to escape safely. I sincerely thank you.”

Receiving Jen’s thanks, Karina smiled softly.

“I’m the one who should be grateful. I never thought anyone would stand up for me in that situation.”

This was sincere.

Jen looked at Karina with surprised eyes at these unexpected words.

Karina immediately changed the subject to what she wanted to ask about.

“By the way, I heard you were close to that maid who died?”

Jen didn’t seem too surprised by this question, as if she had been briefed beforehand.

However.

“Well…”

Jen glanced at Jeremiah and Ron beside Karina.

“It’s alright. I just want to hear the story.”

After moving her lips several times, Jen finally opened her mouth with a solemn expression, as if she had made a firm decision.

“My friend was definitely not the type to commit suicide. Actually…”

The story went like this.

Jen and the deceased maid had been childhood friends since they were young.

Being so close, they often shared secrets with each other.

But unlike usual, the deceased maid had been acting strangely lately as if she was terrified, and on the dawn of the day before she died, she cried, saying she might die soon.

When Jen pressed her about what was going on, she said that she had gone on an errand and was served a drink, but she thought there might have been poison in it.

After crying for a long time, the maid eventually pulled herself together, saying that she could live if she just did as they said.

And she made Jen promise several times not to tell anyone about what she had said that day, saying it was an absolute secret.

The next day, that maid was found dead.

“That’s all.”

“So you’re saying there are no witnesses or evidence for what you just said.”

Jeremiah, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.

“Yes…”

Jen’s expression turned gloomy.

“That’s why I was going to go to my hometown this time to check the farewell letter my friend supposedly wrote to her family. Originally, we were from the same hometown, so we always sent letters together. I couldn’t go because I suddenly got caught up in the hostage situation, but…”

Jen mumbled the last part quietly.

“But you’re saying that maid said ‘she thought she had been poisoned’? If she had been poisoned, she should have known for sure, so what does ‘thought’ mean?”

Mikhail, who was standing next to Karina, asked with a puzzled expression.

Hearing his words, Karina also became curious.

“If she had been poisoned, there should have been symptoms like paralysis or something.”

Jeremiah added.

Ron shook his head in response to the questioning looks about whether there had been such symptoms.

“No traces of poison were detected in the deceased maid’s body. There were no reports suggesting poisoning either.”

Then Jen calmly replied again.

“I’m not entirely sure, but she said she had to take the antidote within three days of consuming the poison.”

“A poison that requires the antidote within three days?”

‘Ah, could it be.’

Karina’s eyes widened.

Karina knew about this poison.

A poison that shows no symptoms immediately after ingestion, but paralyzes the nerves in the lungs from the third day, making it impossible to breathe on one’s own.

‘Croana poison!’

This was information she had learned while researching poisons to assassinate Lucia in the past.

Croana was a poison often used in the capital to assassinate political opponents.

Croana, in the form of a white powder, could be effective with just a small amount, about a teaspoon.

When mixed with water or liquid, it became colorless and odorless.

So it was easy to carry or hide secretly, and being colorless and odorless, it was easy to feed to the target covertly.

Moreover, using the poison left almost no traces in the body, making it an unparalleled perfect substance for assassinations.

Even if assassination wasn’t the goal, it was often misused to feed it to specific people and use it as leverage, using the antidote as a bargaining chip to exploit people.

‘I never thought I’d see this poison in the North.’

Moreover, at this time, not many people even knew about the substance called Croana.

Originally, it was accidentally discovered by a physician in the capital while researching to create a new anesthetic for medical use.

When the toxicity was removed and mixed with other medicinal ingredients, it could be used as an effective anesthetic with fewer side effects like addiction or hallucinations.

However, when it became known that using it without removing the toxicity would cause death by respiratory failure after a few days, it ended up being used for completely different purposes than originally intended.

‘There shouldn’t be many people misusing Croana like this at this point in time.’

Karina’s worries deepened.

“The day my friend said she had gone on an errand, I think she went to the southern village. I found a southern pass in her outer coat pocket. That was the only day she was away from her post long enough to go to the South.”

Jen took out the pass she had brought and placed it on the table.

‘The southern village is where the Lambarda family holds sway.’

Naturally, Revals, Caroline’s lover, came to mind.

Karina was obviously suspicious that Revals might be the culprit in this case.

‘Seeing that he’s not doing anything even though his lover Caroline has been framed for murder, it might have been intentionally planned.’

And while Genan Young-sik’s death alone could be seen as simply silencing him, the maid’s death using Croana was different.

At this time, Croana wasn’t a poison that could be bought simply by offering money.

Besides money, one needed to have political connections with high-ranking nobles in the capital to obtain this poison.

‘This means that Revals Lambarda has some connection with the high-ranking nobles in the capital. But how is that possible?’

The word ‘hostile’ was more fitting to describe the relationship between the capital’s nobility and the North.

And the Lambarda family was just one of many noble families in the North.

They weren’t even influential enough to exert great influence in the capital.

“Sigh.”

Karina’s sigh deepened.

It felt like things were getting more tangled rather than unraveling.

‘I’ve also asked Selena to investigate this case separately. Let’s not jump to conclusions and wait until we receive the results.’

Karina steeled herself.

But.

“So you’re saying it’s a poison that kills three days after ingestion, with no symptoms until then?”

Jeremiah asked again.

“That’s something I’m not sure about…”

Jen’s voice, lacking confidence, grew smaller and smaller.

“I’ve never heard of such a poison.”

Ron shook his head as he answered.

Mikhail also seemed to have no knowledge, just sitting there blankly.

It was to be expected, but no one here except Karina knew about the Croana poison.

‘We can’t let the investigation end like this!’

Karina was anxious that the reinvestigation might end like this.

So without realizing it, her unorganized thoughts came out as they were.

“Please investigate separately if there’s a poison similar to what Jen just described. It could be a newly developed poison. Since it might be a poison not well-known in the North, please extend the investigation to the capital if possible.”

“A newly developed poison?”

“The capital?”

Jeremiah and Mikhail each questioned.

“…”

Jeremiah and Mikhail stared at Karina with meaningful looks.

Karina realized her mistake for a moment.

She broke out in a cold sweat, thinking she might have said too much.

But she put on a poker face and pretended not to know.

“Yes. And if there’s a similar poison, please continue the reinvestigation.”

“…”

After a brief pause, Jeremiah ordered Ron.

“Ron. Look into whether there’s a poison similar to what we just heard about.”

“Yes, understood.”

And so, the meeting with Jen ended.

Until she left the room, Jen bowed her head deeply to Karina with tears in her eyes, saying she was truly grateful.

After returning from the flower shop, Aiden prayed every day with his siblings for Karina’s safe recovery.

And yesterday, he heard the news that Karina had woken up.

Only after hearing that news did he feel relieved.

‘They say she still needs to rest.’

He was waiting for Karina to fully recover and come to see them.

With a lighter heart, Aiden, who had stopped by the flower shop and finished work, tended to the children first.

“I’m back.”

Aiden took off his outer coat and hung it on the chair.

“Oh, brother. Welcome back. You’re early today?”

Naina came out of the room and confirmed Aiden’s arrival.

“How’s Michel’s condition?”

After the orphanage moved, Michel’s condition improved a lot as the environment got better.

But he would still suddenly get worse like this from time to time.

“He got better after taking medicine.”

Michel had suddenly started running a fever since last night and was groaning in pain.

Aiden had told the flower shop about Michel’s condition and was on his way back with fever medicine.

“I brought some fever medicine just in case. Let’s give it to him later if needed.”

“Alright.”

Naina took care of the fever medicine.

“By the way, don’t you need to go to Uncle Robeto’s?”

Uncle Robeto was the owner of a pottery workshop.

This was also one of the places where they helped out, connected through the flower shop.

After trying it out, the work wasn’t difficult, so other children besides Aiden regularly went there to run errands and earn pocket money.

“Today, only Dino and Philip went.”

“You sent just the two of them?”

Aiden wore a worried expression.

“All the other kids are out, and I couldn’t leave Michel alone since he’s sick.”

Naina said with a shrug.

“Don’t worry too much. They’ve already done errands a few times, so they know how to do it, and Philip will take good care of Dino.”

Aiden nodded at Naina’s words.

“It’s about time they should be back soon anyway.”

Naina mumbled softly.

“Then I’ll go out and see if the kids are coming.”

“Okay.”

Aiden put on his outer coat again and went out.

Looking again, there was quite a bit of snow piled up around.

‘I should clear the snow.’

He was concerned that the children might slip and get hurt because of the snow.

Aiden picked up the snow shovel that was left in the corner.