When he signaled to his attendant, the attendant quickly called in the guard knight who had been waiting in front of the reception room.

Joshua gave orders to the two guard knights who hurriedly entered.

“Feed her.”

“Understood.”

One held Grita’s body while the other tried to forcefully make her drink the tea.

“No!”

Grita exerted superhuman strength and shook off the knight’s arm. The teacup held by the other knight fell onto the carpet with a dull sound.

In the process, hot tea splashed onto Rosette’s hand.

“Grita!”

Ophelia, who stood up in surprise, asked Rosette.

“Oh my, are you alright?”

“What on earth is this…!”

Isabel also stood up abruptly, looking as if she was about to grab Grita by the collar, then examined Rosette’s hand.

Rosette’s white hand, which had been splashed with hot tea, quickly turned red.

“Rose, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Meanwhile, Grita knelt down on both knees in front of Joshua.

“I’ll do anything else. Please, just not that tea…”

Ophelia, uncharacteristically angry, urged her.

“Grita, what on earth is going on?”

“I will explain.”

Joshua stood up and gestured to the guard knights. The knights quickly subdued Grita.

Despite two strong men twisting her arms behind her back, Grita only shed tears instead of writhing in pain.

“So what exactly is going on here, Joshua?”

“It’s poison.”

At Joshua’s brief explanation, Ophelia was surprised, while Isabel remained calm.

“What?”

“Pardon?”

“Grita, was it? You explain directly. What’s in this tea?”

“Sob, I don’t know…”

“It’s no use trying to back out now. Everything will come out when we investigate anyway.”

Grita tightly shut her mouth and just cried.

Joshua poured out the tea leaves that were in the tin case onto the table.

At his signal, Pipi cleverly flew over and picked out several Evan flower petals.

“These are Evan flower petals. They’re known to be good for sound sleep. That’s probably why Grita gave this tea as a gift to Mother.”

“Yes, that’s right. But what’s the problem with that?”

This time he nodded at Rosette. Rosette took out the small folded envelope from her pocket and showed its contents.

“And these are leaves of the Kish tree that grows naturally in the Owen Kingdom. As you can see, they look almost identical to Evan flower petals, so it’s hard to distinguish them with the naked eye. They can be distinguished by scent, but with this small amount, it’s not easy to compare by scent either.”

“And?”

“But these Kish tree leaves were originally mixed in with those tea leaves. The familiar of the princess picked them out.”

Ophelia raised her hand to temporarily stop Joshua’s words.

“Wait a moment. Let me think for a bit first. So is there a problem with these leaves?”

“If we’re just talking about the leaves themselves, no.”

“Then?”

Rosette quietly interjected.

“Honey. It becomes poison when eaten with honey.”

“Poison?”

“Yes. It can stop the heart.”

“Rose, don’t tell me you knew all this and were still going to drink it?”

Isabel, showing emotion for the first time, tightly grasped Rosette’s cheeks and examined her face color.

“I’m fwine.”

Her pronunciation was off because her cheeks were pressed.

“Pipi removed everything. Nothing would have happened even if I drank it. And I didn’t even drink it, right?”

“You, really…!”

Isabel, who was about to get angry, looked at the atmosphere and lowered her voice.

“I’ll hear the detailed explanation later. Just know I won’t let this slide.”

“Yes…”

Joshua, who glanced at the two sisters, continued to explain.

“There are those who are trying to poison Mother. As you can see, they’re using tea with Kish tree leaves secretly added. If Mother had drunk it with honey, it could have been disastrous.”

“Then Grita preventing honey from being added was also…”

“Yes. It means she’s a spy.”

Grita, thinking that excuses were useless, no longer denied it.

“And recently, hasn’t there been someone who told Mother to eat honey?”

“You mean Lord Largo?”

Largo was the Empress’s personal physician. He was also the person who had served her since she came to the empire.

“Yes. Lord Largo said that honey would be good for Mother and that it would be good to add honey to her tea. Mother said it was fine because she dislikes sweet things.”

“That’s true.”

Ophelia, who had been muttering unconsciously, shook her head.

“That can’t be. Not Lord Largo of all people. It’s probably just a coincidence in timing. It’s not like telling someone to add honey to tea is a strange thing to say.”

“Well, we’ll find out when we investigate.”

Joshua ordered one of the knights subduing Grita.

“Bring Lord Largo. And call the knights.”

“Yes, understood.”

Then he asked Isabel for understanding.

“It would be better for you to leave now. The Empress’s Palace is likely to become noisy.”

“Yes, Your Highness. We’ll be leaving now. Rose, let’s go.”

As Rosette followed Isabel out, she looked back at Joshua.

She saw Joshua mouthing ‘I’ll contact you’ as she finally left the reception room.

As they were leaving the Empress’s Palace, knights in Imperial Knight uniforms began to gather.

Isabel, who had protectively wrapped her arm around Rosette’s shoulder as they left the Empress’s Palace, urged her as soon as they got into the carriage.

“What on earth is going on? What exactly were you doing out with His Highness the Prince?”

“Well…”

Rosette couldn’t answer hastily.

She couldn’t tell the truth, nor could she make up a clumsy lie.

In fact, Rosette was also in a daze about the current situation.

Today, she had only intended to inform Joshua about the method of poisoning, but unexpectedly ended up catching the culprit together.

It was a situation that even she herself could hardly believe. But would Isabel believe a clumsy excuse?

‘She probably won’t believe it anyway.’

In the end, Rosette spoke apologetically to Isabel, who was glaring at her with folded arms.

“I’ll tell you when we get back to the mansion.”

“Alright. By the way, be prepared to be scolded by Father.”

Rosette, who hadn’t thought about her family’s reaction, was startled.

“I’m going to be scolded by Dad?”

“Yes. Not just Father, but Daniel oppa will be angry too.”

“Why…”

“Why? Because you did something dangerous, that’s why! What were you thinking, trying to drink that tea right there? Why did you get involved in such a thing?”

Rosette shrank her neck and made excuses.

“Even if I had drunk it, nothing would have happened. Pipi removed everything that could have been a problem. Really.”

“What if something had remained? Even if nothing remained, what if the components of those leaves had seeped into something else?”

“That wouldn’t happen. Those components don’t leach out until they’re brewed as tea…”

“Ah, really!”

Isabel, uncharacteristically of her usually calm nature, shouted angrily. Her face, moderately tanned by the sun, turned red.

“I was worried, you fool!”

It was a frank confession from Isabel, who rarely revealed her feelings.

“Ah…”

“Why do you keep doing things that make your family worry? I thought you were quiet, but you’re worse than Lucas. How much more are you going to make us worry?”

Rosette finally realized what she should say.

“I’m sorry, unni.”

“Now you realize you’re sorry?”

“Yes.”

“Fine. Father and oppa will scold you in my place anyway, so I don’t need to say anything more.”

“Unni…”

When Rosette looked at her with a dejected puppy-like face, Isabel finally glanced at her. She let out a deep sigh.

“Don’t do this again. I was really surprised.”

“Yes…”

“Still, just in case, let’s have you checked when we get back.”

Isabel’s voice had softened considerably. Realizing that her anger had subsided, Rosette smiled brightly.

“Okay!”

“Don’t smile. What did you do that was so good to smile about?”

Although she said that, Isabel’s expression, looking out the window, had softened much more than before.

‘But if Isabel unni is this angry, Dad will probably be very angry too. I’m scared…’

Rosette hoped that the carriage would arrive at the mansion as late as possible, but the unkind carriage arrived even faster than when they left.

“Rose!”

“Bell! Are you okay?”

And as if they had already been contacted from the Imperial Palace, three men came running as soon as Rosette and Isabel got out of the carriage. Lucas, in particular, made the biggest fuss.

“Squirt, you! I heard you caught a terrifying criminal! That’s amazing!”

“Lucas.”

Lucas, who had been giving a thumbs up, seemed to realize his mistake at Daniel’s stiff voice and whispered quietly.

“Little one, you’re in big trouble. Father and hyung are extremely angry.”

Rosette glanced at Duke Adrian’s expression.

“Um, Dad.”

“Let’s go inside first.”

Duke Adrian picked up Rosette and headed into the mansion. Instead of questioning her right away, he first took her to her room.

“Call for a doctor first. If possible, Celienne too.”

“Yes, master.”

Not long after the head butler Sebastian left, the doctor and Celienne quickly arrived.

As if they had already heard the story, the two quickly examined Rosette.

“Is there any discomfort anywhere, young lady?”

“No, there isn’t. I didn’t eat anything that could have been a problem in the first place.”

“That’s fortunate. There doesn’t seem to be anything particularly wrong with your body either.”

“Her mana is stable too. There’s no need to worry, Duke.”

Only after the two finished their examination did Duke Adrian’s expression soften a little.

“Joanne, she’ll be uncomfortable, so have her change clothes.”

“Yes, master.”

After everyone else left, Joanne bathed Rosette and changed her into indoor clothes.

“I’m glad you’re safe. The whole mansion was turned upside down when we heard the news about you.”

“Yeah.”

“Tell the master you’re sorry. Understand?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Rosette roughly dried her hair and headed to the dining room.

The other family members were already in the dining room, but unlike usual, the atmosphere was heavy.

As Rosette entered, all four pairs of eyes turned to her. Rosette sat down next to Lucas with an awkward smile.

“You must be hungry, so let’s eat first.”

Duke Adrian, with a stern face, instructed the servant to bring out the meal.

Rosette kept glancing at the Duke’s expression as she picked up her spoon. She was so distracted that she couldn’t tell whether the potato soup served as an appetizer was going into her nose or her mouth.

Only after eating the salmon steak served as the main course and the cheesecake for dessert did the Duke open his mouth.

“I’ve heard roughly what happened at the Empress’s Palace, Rose. You helped His Highness the Prince?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell Dad exactly what happened? I’d like to hear it directly from you.”