“Why do you think that?”

Joshua asked probingly. Rosette answered with a somewhat uncertain tone.

“I’m not entirely sure. But think about it, Your Highness. These are people who used an unidentified poison. Would they leave behind something that could lead to their trail?”

“Go on.”

“Especially since Your Highness would have been keeping a close watch. You actually investigated, didn’t you?”

“That’s right. But I couldn’t find any suitable suspects.”

“That’s the problem.”

Rosette sighed.

“I can find the poison that harmed the Empress. But we can’t be at ease unless we find the real spy hiding in the Empress’s palace. Just look at this incident targeting my father. I thought there was only one spy, but there were actually two. I let my guard down and was caught off guard.”

“You’re right.”

“Of course, we’ll find the poison first.”

“You…”

“Yes?”

Joshua shook his head.

“It’s nothing. Let’s check the sleeping fragrance that was the issue first.”

Rosette was curious about what he was going to say, but she didn’t pry and quietly followed him.

Joshua entered the pharmacy. There was a maid inside, but he drove her out with a single “Get out.”

“This is the sleeping fragrance Her Majesty uses.”

Rosette opened the lid of the round, flat tin case he handed her and sniffed it. It had a sweet scent characteristic of herbs. Looking inside, she saw various medicinal ingredients good for sound sleep mixed together.

“Is this the sleeping fragrance the Empress originally used?”

“No, she had been using one from the Evelyn Kingdom. But I heard she changed it because the sleeping fragrance wasn’t working well before the accident. That’s why everyone concluded the sleeping fragrance was the problem.”

“I see.”

Rosette tried to recall today’s date.

“I don’t remember clearly, so when exactly did the Empress pass away?”

“June 14th.”

It was now the end of May. That meant the attempted poisoning was not far off. They had to uncover the true culprit quickly.

“Then we should first check for any poisonous substances.”

Rosette put the tin case down on the table and summoned Pipi.

“Pipi.”

[Pii?]

“You know a lot about plants, right?”

[Pii!]

Of course! When it comes to plants, it’s this Pipi! Pipi perched on Rosette’s shoulder and puffed out its chest.

“That’s right. See if there are any Kish tree leaves in here.”

[Pii!]

Pipi started rummaging through the herbs with its beak. But soon it shook its head.

[Pii.]

“There aren’t any?”

[Pii!]

Rosette declared.

“Then there’s no problem with this sleeping fragrance. We need to check something else. Was there any tea the Empress drank that day?”

“Tea…”

Joshua scanned the contents of the glass display case. Although it was a long time ago, he had read the report so many times that he had memorized it, so he could quickly pick out a few tin cases.

“Her Majesty drank three types of tea that day. In this order.”

He placed the tin cases in order. Rosette opened each lid and asked Pipi.

“Pipi, can you check if there are any Kish tree leaves in these?”

[Pii!]

Pipi, who had gone into the first tin case, moved on to the second without much result.

After a moment, tilting its head, it came out and went into the last tin case, rummaging around inside.

[Pii!]

Soon, Pipi came out with a dark green leaf in its beak and placed it on the table.

The leaf, much smaller compared to other herbs, was even smaller than Rosette’s little fingernail. Yet Pipi skillfully picked it out with its beak.

[Pipi pii!]

In an instant, leaves about the size of a finger joint accumulated on the table.

Rosette bent down to smell the leaves.

A tingling, cool scent like mint. Although she had never directly smelled Kish tree leaves before, it matched the description she had read in books perfectly.

“That’s right, these are Kish tree leaves.”

“What is this?”

“It’s a tree that grows in the Owen Kingdom to the south of the Empire. I’ve heard they use the fruit as a digestive aid in the Owen Kingdom. It doesn’t grow in the Empire.”

“Did they hide it by cutting it this small?”

Joshua carefully touched the dried leaves with his fingertip.

“It probably looks like Evan flower leaves at a glance. They’re both good for sound sleep, and their shapes are similar.”

“Right, Evan flower. Come to think of it, they said there were Evan flowers in the tea mother drank before going to bed.”

Joshua muttered, looking at Pipi. Pipi went back into the pile of herbs and found something.

[Pii!]

“It says these are Evan flower leaves.”

Pipi placed the Evan flower leaves on Joshua’s palm and then put the Kish tree leaves next to them.

Joshua looked at the two alternately.

“They’re indeed almost indistinguishable. How on earth do you tell them apart?”

“By the scent.”

“Scent?”

“If you smell the Kish tree leaves very carefully, they have a mint-like scent.”

Joshua picked up the Kish tree leaves and smelled them, then tilted his head.

“I can’t really tell.”

“The scent isn’t very strong. You’ll smell it when there’s a bit more like this.”

This time, Joshua smelled what Pipi had gathered earlier.

“Ah, now I can smell it a little.”

“On the other hand, Evan flower leaves just smell like ordinary grass. That’s probably why the physician couldn’t distinguish them. They’re not well-known, and the method of distinction isn’t easy.”

“But how did you know?”

“I read a ton of books.”

Rosette, who had been speaking excitedly, soon put on a gloomy expression. She was reminded of the past again.

There was nothing Rosette could do at the Dallas Marquis’s house. The only thing the Marquis of Dallas made Rosette do was study.

He never saw Rosette playing, and if she showed even a slightly lazy appearance by his standards, he would immediately beat her.

To avoid him, Rosette was always in the library except when attending classes. When she was there, the Marquis of Dallas didn’t scold her.

Elisha, who tormented Rosette in various ways, also never came near the library, so she could avoid meeting her.

‘Reading books again made me feel at ease.’

Books were the only window through which Rosette, who was practically confined to the mansion, communicated with the outside world.

She was particularly interested in plants. It was thanks to Pipi.

She studied not only the plants of the Ernhardt Empire but also those of nearby kingdoms such as Evelyn and Owen.

“Moreover, after seeing about the Kish tree in the Marquis of Dallas’s documents, I became even more interested. Anyway, that’s not what’s important right now.”

“That’s right. The fact that this came out means the spy was already moving. The question is who put this in.”

“Who gave this? We should start by suspecting the person who gave it.”

“I don’t know about that. They said they didn’t look into who gave it because they judged this tea wasn’t a problem.”

He smiled self-deprecatingly.

“Can you see how sloppily the work was done?”

“Then we should judge that first.”

Joshua, who had been thinking about various things with an expressionless face, changed the subject.

“So what about these Kish tree leaves?”

“Ah, about that.”

Rosette continued her explanation.

“They say not to eat these Kish tree leaves with honey. Kish tree leaves are rarely consumed as tea, so there’s actually no occasion to eat them with honey.”

“What happens if you eat them together?”

“The heart slowly stops. If it’s a healthy person, it might just make them feel a bit unwell, but for someone with a weak heart like the Empress, it’s poison.”

“…”

“Probably on the day in question, she drank it with honey. Since it’s not a poison that shows symptoms immediately, she collapsed around the time she went to sleep.”

“Wait a minute. What did you just say?”

“Yes?”

“What shouldn’t be mixed with Kish tree leaves?”

“Honey. The honey contains…”

Rosette, who was about to explain in detail, closed her mouth when she saw Joshua’s expression, which had turned deadly serious.

The killing intent he was emitting made her skin tingle. Fortunately, that killing intent wasn’t directed at her, so it wasn’t to the point of choking.

“Why, why are you like this?”

“Can you prove that?”

“Yes. I know there are research materials about it in the Owen Kingdom. It says people with weak hearts should absolutely never eat them together.”

“I see.”

He glared at the Kish tree leaves that Pipi was continually gathering.

[Pii?]

Feeling the fierce gaze, Pipi fluttered away and hid in Rosette’s hair.

“Um, so why…”

“Ha, it wasn’t that they didn’t know.”

“…Pardon?”

Joshua’s eyes flashed.

“They pretended not to know while knowing.”

“They pretended not to know while knowing?”

“Yes.”

“Could you explain a bit more in detail?”

“I’ll tell you after this matter is resolved. For now, you.”

[Pii?]

When Joshua called, Pipi tilted its head.

“Make sure to pick out all of this Kish or whatever it’s called in here.”

[Pii!]

Why should I! Who are you to order me around!

Angry Pipi flapped its wings threateningly. But due to its small body and cute face, it didn’t look threatening at all.

[Pii…]

When Joshua didn’t budge, Pipi chirped sadly. Rosette soothed Pipi and then said,

“You can’t order like that, Your Highness. Pipi is my friend. You should ask politely.”

“Whether it’s a request or whatever, just make it do it.”

Rosette was about to argue, but seeing Joshua’s serious expression, she quietly whispered to Pipi.

“Pipi, I’ll give you lots of biscuit crumbs when we get back to the mansion. Can you pick out the Kish tree leaves?”

[Pii!]

While Pipi excitedly went back into the tin case, Joshua said to Rosette,

“For now, if we throw this away, the spy will be suspicious, so we’ll just filter out the problematic leaves and put it back. That should be fine, right?”

“It should be fine.”

“And when we go back, tell mother you want to drink tea.”

“What? Me?”

“Yes.”

“M-me? How could I dare say such a thing to Her Majesty?”

“Just do as I say. Didn’t you agree to cooperate?”

Rosette bit her lip before answering.

“Alright. What next?”

“Say you want to choose the tea yourself. Then I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Th… Yes.”

There was a lot she wanted to ask, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. Instead, Rosette asked something else.

“Um, was I helpful?”

“Yes. We’ll have to investigate more, but for now, we’ve got a lead thanks to you.”

“Then I…”

“We’ll talk about that after everything is resolved.”

“Yes.”

Rosette dejectedly drooped her shoulders.