A strange chill crept down his spine. What is this feeling? Even as he reached for the laboratory door, doubt gnawed at him.
Earlier, he’d caught something peculiar in Giselle’s eyes—a glint that made his stomach twist. It was almost like… A madwoman with clear eyes? No… maybe the look of a madwoman who’s just made a discovery?
Whatever. Once he saw the monster inside, she’d surely be intimidated and lose her nerve.
A smirk tugged at his lips as he stepped into the laboratory.
* * *
The moment Agnis entered the lab, I made my way to the servants’ quarters.
“Hello?”
“Uh, Lady? You must have taken a wrong turn. This is the servants’ quarters.”
“Oh, I came alone because my dear isn’t here. Haven’t you heard?”
“Well… I haven’t heard the full story, but…” They exchanged glances—mocking, dismissive looks that made my teeth clench. “Are you the lady courting Count Teren?”
No matter how you look at it, is it really okay for a servant to make such a face at a noble lady? What a messed-up world setting. On the flip side, did that mean I could act however I wanted?
I shrugged with deliberate arrogance at the servant half-blocking my path. “Nope.”
“…In any case, noble lords and ladies should not visit the servants’ quarters. There’s a clear difference in status.”
I smiled sweetly—the kind of smile that promised trouble. To them, my image was probably that of an ‘arrogant and naive noble lady.’ But that wasn’t my concept at all.
“Nope. It’s mine!”
“Pardon?”
“This place—it’s all mine anyway.”
Today’s concept was pure stubborn chaos like Jura from ‘Mama Loves the Poyopoyo-saurus’. I widened my eyes with exaggerated innocence and grinned. “So I like this place. I want to look around!” I plopped down on the floor and stared up at them provocatively.
“What? Why? What?”
They’d probably never seen a noble lady this lacking in dignity. The shocked servants exchanged uncomfortable glances, but I didn’t care.
Recalling the information from the original story, I scrutinized each servant’s chest. They ranged from those as thin as dried twigs to those with bulging muscles, but…
Found it. With a sly smile, I approached the servant with a grimy medal pinned to his chest.
“What are you?”
“Pardon?”
“You were mocking me earlier, weren’t you?”
Perfect—I had enough reason to pick a fight with him. He’d been looking at me with that smirk, mumbling under his breath like I couldn’t hear.
“Come here. Oh? What’s this? A medal?”
“P-Please give it back!”
No matter how insolent he acted, he wouldn’t dare lay a hand on a lady like me.
I easily snatched the medal from him. Just then, I sensed someone approaching from behind.
“Please give it back! That’s not something a lady should have…”
“Why? Everything that belongs to Duke Kalinos’s mansion is mine!” I grinned at the flustered servant, relishing his panic.
“This is really troublesome…!”
“Oh, what’s the matter? Someone might think I’m a thief. I was just curious about the medal.”
I clutched the medal tighter, feeling its weight in my palm. According to the original story, if someone with mana grips it tightly, it gives off a faint electric sensation… As I furrowed my brow and clenched the medal, a tingling sensation began in my palm. Perfect.
Just as I was rolling the medal in my hand, a thunderous roar erupted from behind me. “What on earth is going on here!”
It was Agnis.
I turned around, still clutching the medal, and flashed a ‘crazy’ smile. “Giselle found some~thing really interesting!” I boldly pushed past him and entered the laboratory’s meeting room.
* * *
“Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost, Senator Agnis?”
Hennessy, the head of the Senate, sat at the head of the table and looked at them with a puzzled expression. Agnis appeared pale, while Giselle maintained a serene demeanor.
“T-Those eyes, they were strangely shimmering. I have good intuition…”
“…It seems you’re not in your right mind. Anyway, everyone, please come here. Lady Giselle, Senator Agnis.”
Giselle exuded her usual gentle, elegant, and delicate aura as she approached…
“Hello? Um, I just saw something real~ly amazing earlier!”
…until she opened her mouth.
One of the senators startled at Giselle’s casual tone—apparently, she wasn’t following proper etiquette. Who would’ve thought?
“Would you please introduce yourself, Lady?”
“Oh, absolutely! I’m Giselle Florette, the duke’s absolutely adorable fiancée!”
Adorable. She called herself adorable. Out loud. In front of senators. The prejudice against Giselle’s complete lack of formality was practically crystallizing in the air when she thrust the medal right under their noses, wearing her most innocent expression.
“Wait—isn’t that a servant’s medal?”
“I went to visit the servants’ quarters! Well, no… I went to inspect them!”
Unlike her bubbling excitement, the senators looked like they’d rather be anywhere else. But Giselle wasn’t about to let their boredom stop her. She waved the medal around with a grin that probably looked unhinged.
“This isn’t just any medal! It’s absolutely fascinating!”
“If it’s not just any medal, then what exactly is it?”
“A servant told me that when you touch this medal, your hand tingles. Like sparks flying from your fingertips! Look, look!”
One senator shook his head, clearly done with her antics. “That’s just an ordinary medal. There’s no way you’d feel any sensation.”
“No, it’s not!”
Giselle fiddled with the medal again, and Agnis’s shoulders went rigid. Like, gorilla-rigid.
“Gasp. Look!”
“Yes?”
“That medal, inside that medal… t-there’s Hallones Grass!”
Everyone’s eyes went wide at once. You could practically hear their thoughts screeching to a halt.
Hallones Grass. Agnis had been slaving away on some powerful antidote potion called Goblin’s Phlegm, and Hallones Grass was the holy grail ingredient he needed. The problem? It might as well have been extinct. Nowhere to be found.
“Why is there Hallones Grass inside this medal?”
“How curious indeed. Could it be that the cultivation conditions were finally met?”
But wasn’t there something way more important here? The Senate members—masters of political maneuvering—immediately shifted gears to shower Agnis with praise.
“Finally! You can complete your research. Congratulations, Senator Agnis!”
Just as everyone started celebrating, a voice cut through the excitement like a blade. It was Hennessy. The head of the Senate. Party pooper extraordinaire.
“The time has come to present our Senate’s research achievements to the duke.”
“…”
“Will you be able to complete the sample by then, Senator Agnis?”
Despite the pressure crushing down on him, hope flickered across Agnis’s face. “All the researchers will give everything they have. If we work through the night, we can finish it!”
But problems have this nasty habit of lurking everywhere. One of Agnis’s bald rivals—because of course there had to be a bald rival—started his taunting routine.
“Oh, really? But what’s this? The Hallones Grass in that medal… It’s just one piece, isn’t it? How many potions can you possibly make with that?”
Agnis clenched his fist. No sharp comeback this time. One Hallones Grass wasn’t going to turn the tide, and everyone knew it.
That’s when Giselle smiled. Broad and bright, like a savior stepping into the light.
“Ooh! You there—senator with the big nose and shiny head!”
Or maybe more like someone about to launch a personal attack.
“A-Are you complimenting my beautiful head?”
“…Sure, whatever. Anyway, Giselle knows how to cultivate tons of Hallones Grass!”
Every pair of eyes in the room locked onto me, expressions caught somewhere between hope and disbelief.
