CTTT11

Episode 11

“N-no, what do you mean by relationship? Th-there’s nothing between us at all!”

As expected, his reaction speed was far too slow.

When his face had already given everything away, who on earth would believe such a flimsy excuse afterward?

“The ring,” she said.

“Gasp!”

“……”

Now it was she who felt embarrassed just for having brought it up.

Ceres could hardly believe it—one single word, ring, and the director was already flustered to the point of panic.

So you’re that easy a man?

On his left hand gleamed a ring. Something about it had seemed familiar, and the more she looked, the more certain she became.

‘Aunt Agnès.’

It was identical to the ring her aunt had always worn.

Of course, suspecting an affair simply because of a matching design would be absurd.

But wasn’t it Agnès herself who had introduced this nursing home to the family?

And now the director, whom she had recommended, was wearing the very same ring?

‘Just as I thought.’

Indeed—her hunch had been right again. She had merely tossed out a baited line, and he had bitten so eagerly that even she felt secondhand embarrassment.

“I-I think you’ve misunderstood….”

“Uncle already suspects your little affair, you know.”

“Wh-what?”

It was a blatant lie. She hadn’t even seen the man’s face.

“There’s a rumor he’s been in close contact with an assassin. Says the moment he finds the other man, he’ll slit his throat without hesitation.”

“A-an… assassin?”

Again, Director Arnold swallowed the bait whole, his face blanching to a ghastly white. Ceres couldn’t help but let out a short, incredulous laugh.

How could a man with such a timid personality ever get involved in something like this?

Bang!

“Ahh!”

The table rattled under her fist, and Arnold all but collapsed onto the floor, crouching as though to hide.

“Well then…”

Ceres smiled sweetly at him.

“Shall we have ourselves a proper talk?”

Her lips curved, but her eyes did not. Arnold could only gulp down another dry swallow.

“Let’s go.”

“……”

The child, newly awakened, blinked up at her with strikingly clear green eyes.

For a long moment she simply stared at Ceres, then slowly sat up in bed.

“We’re going home?”

“Yes.”

She’s been here since she was four, hasn’t she?

Three years had passed, yet she recognized her older sister immediately. Not even a single “Who are you?”

“Why?”

“Because we can’t stay here any longer.”

“Why not?”

“Because this place is bad.”

“Why is it bad?”

“They never gave you proper treatment.”

“Why?”

“……”

For a fleeting moment, Ceres felt the urge to smack her.

Those wide, sparkling eyes just kept asking why, why, why… until Ceres could only sigh.

“Come on.”

She held out her hand. The child’s eyes grew even rounder, but then her small fingers softly clasped her sister’s.

Ceres looked down at the fragile hand for a moment before drawing out a teleportation charm.

It—it wasn’t my idea to poison her!

Then whose?

Agnès! It was her! She said if we kept the child sick and tied here, we’d make a fortune…!

So you fed poison to a seven-year-old girl? Watch what you say—just because your mouth is open doesn’t mean any nonsense should come out of it.

I-I was told it was only a tonic to weaken her body! I had no idea it was a deadly toxin! I swear!

Then repeat that story to the guards. Tell them you knew nothing.

The guards? No! If they find out, this entire place will be ruined—I’ll be ruined!

Whether you collapse or not isn’t my concern… oh wait, perhaps it is. I’ll make sure you fall as ruinously as possible.

“Aaah! I’ll return every coin I took for her treatment!”

That goes without saying. But listen to you—you’re still trying to bargain with me?

So it really was Agnès who devised all of this?

The recollection of their conversation curved Ceres’s lips into a darker smile.

As she had suspected, Arnold and her aunt were lovers. The mastermind was Agnès; Arnold merely carried out her scheme.

Pretending concern for her orphaned nieces and nephews, Agnès had settled into Baron Drow’s estate—then secretly dosed little Yulia with poison.

How did she even get hold of that plant?

Ceres knew that toxin well.

It was the very same poison once favored by the imperial court for discreetly eliminating enemies: slow-working, rotting the body from within so no healer could ever find the cause.

Long ago, Emperor Grayce had banned its cultivation and distribution entirely. Since then, it had supposedly vanished from the world.

“Yulia, do you remember that awful medicine they made you drink?”

“Yes.”

“When did you start taking it?”

“From the first day I came here.”

So it’s being circulated again?

The child had collapsed as Agnès planned. They confined her in the nursing home and wrung every coin they could in the name of “treatment.”

The profits were neatly divided between Arnold and Agnès.

So all the debts—even the loan sharks—were just money funneled straight into her pockets.

Whether her nieces and nephews choked under the crushing interest didn’t matter to her in the slightest.

No wonder every lender they approached had charged such extortionate rates.

As long as she could bleed us dry, the terms meant nothing. After all, she wasn’t the one who’d be paying it back.

Ceres’s smile deepened, steeped in the certainty of truth.

“Are you angry, Sister?”

“…No.”

A sudden flash of light.

And as Ceres met her little sister’s wide, luminous eyes, the two of them vanished from the room.