It has been one day since I left the clock tower where Adin was imprisoned. Strange rumors are already circulating in the Elias family. The strange rumor is that ‘Amila Elias,’ the eldest daughter of the Elias family, has subdued the ‘thing’ trapped in the clock tower. An added bonus to this story is that even though she didn’t seem to use much power, the thing trapped in the clock tower was submissive to Amila Elias.
While the content itself is meaningless, the fact that such a rumor is circulating is a good thing for me. The rumor caused the Count to entrust me with Adin’s ‘education’ for the time being. The Count wants to use Adin as a mage for the Elias family, and to use her, he needs to tame her well, so he seems to have chosen me as a temporary measure.
Of course, the Count’s actions aside, I still dislike him. Not only does he see me as a tool, but he also locks up a child who just turned 10.
“When I get out of the Count’s family, I’m going to report the Count for child abuse.”
I was so frustrated that I revealed my plan to Adin, and she looked at me with disgust.
“You’re going to get yourself locked up for real if you keep saying things like that, sister.”
“Everyone thinks about sending at least one person to jail.”
“That’s just you, sister.”
Adin, who was constantly talking back to me, chewed on the weeds in between her words. Whenever I brought her weeds during our ‘education’ sessions, she would grumble, but she ate them all.
Ever since Adin started eating the weeds, new skin began to grow over the wounds all over her body. Fearing that the Elias family would notice her wounds healing, I also fed her an herb that would make her skin look bruised. The herbs came from near the clock tower. Even though they looked like weeds, it was a gold mine for herbs. I knew this thanks to the traces of Adin’s struggle to survive in the novel, as she was neglected by the Elias family.
Anyway, if it helped the current Adin, then it was a good thing, wasn’t it?
I bent my knees halfway and rested my chin on them. While I was looking at Adin with a contented expression, Adin coughed harshly. In fact, the weeds I gave my favorite character shouldn’t have any side effects, but Adin did a good job of pretending to be sick.
Thanks to her, the guards who were watching us now shook their heads and started to avoid us. As the guards retreated, Adin stopped coughing and finally stretched out her legs.
“But you managed to get through the entrance. The second door blocks mages, you know.”
“Hmm, it seems you’ve touched that door before?”
“Don’t make that weird face. So how did you get through the second door?”
I was accused of making a weird face for the expression I made when I was proud of my younger sister. When I pouted for a moment, Adin ruffled her hair.
“Ah, really! What is it about me that you like so much, sister?”
“Well, the dimples you get when you’re secretly happy are cute, and the way you hold your ground even in this prison is admirable. Oh, and your eyes shine when you get angry at me, so you look pretty-”
“Stop, stop.”
This time, Adin repeatedly ran her hands over her face.
“If you keep doing that, I’m going to get spoiled…”
My favorite character is embarrassed. Her ears are red, too. Why is there no camera in this world? When I get out of the Count’s family, I’ll have to invent a camera with a magical artifact. Just as my old producer habits were kicking in, I suddenly remembered a question my favorite character had asked me. No matter how busy I am, I have to answer what my favorite character is curious about. But before that, there was something else I had to confirm.
“How did you know I was a mage?”
“Well, I’m a mage, too. I can notice when the flow of magic changes. When you got hurt-”
So you realized when I got hurt and awakened my ability. As I was admiring Adin’s keen observation skills, Adin stopped talking. I wondered if she was in pain, but thankfully, she spoke again soon after.
“…Is your wound okay?”
Is she worried about my wound? Actually, it was more of a scratch, and I deliberately waited for Adin to inflict it on me, so I felt a little guilty for complaining. Anyway, my wound heals faster than a normal person’s because I’m a person with a unique ability.
So I was about to say I was okay, but a metallic taste rose in my throat.
“Ugh!”
I quickly covered my mouth with my hand. Thankfully, the blood didn’t get on Adin. However, a little blood did leak out of my hand.
My body was getting tired from being near the prison for a few minutes. But I already had a plan to treat my terminal illness. What bothered me more was that I hadn’t explained how to get through the second door, which Adin was curious about.
“The trick to getting through the second door of the clock tower is simple. First, the flow of magic-”
“Stop.”
But Adin cut me off with a cold tone. Her fists clenched, and the veins on her hands stood out. A moment of silence passed in the prison.
“Adin?”
When I called her name, Adin relaxed her hand. Instead, she grabbed my finger that was close to the iron bars. Adin kept rubbing my bloody finger. Just as I was thinking it was ticklish, Adin whispered.
“When… did you get sick?”
“Oh, um. Since I was little? It wasn’t because of the wound you gave me, so you don’t have to worry.”
She must have been surprised by the blood. Only a little blood came out, and no part of my body hurt. I felt like I had unnecessarily worried Adin. So I deliberately pretended to be even more okay, which only made Adin angry.
“How can you- No, do you have any medicine to treat it?”
“I’ll have to find it from now on, right?”
Of course, as a reader of the novel, I knew how to cure Amila’s illness. There was an excellent potion hidden in the Count’s family. The phrase ‘I’ll have to find it from now on’ came from that context.
However, Adin hesitated and moved her lips several times, as if something was bothering her. Then she suddenly grabbed my wrist. She held my wrist and then drew a straight line from the end of my palm to the middle of my arm with her thumb. A red line briefly remained on my arm and then disappeared. As soon as Adin pulled her arm away, I exclaimed in admiration.
“Did you cast a notification spell on me? It’s the kind that glows when the flow of magic is cut off, probably when I collapse. That’s amazing. That’s an intermediate-level spell.”
“I don’t know about grades. More importantly…”
Adin hesitated to answer again, then finally mumbled, “…Don’t die. If you die, I’ll hate you for the rest of my life.”
“Wow, my younger sister is scary. I’ll have to try not to die so I don’t get hated.”
The atmosphere had gotten heavy, so I tried to lighten it with a joke, but I was almost killed by her glare.
Meanwhile, the guards started walking toward us, so I quickly wiped my mouth. Even though I was here under the pretense of educating Adin, if I stayed with her for too long, the Elias family members might suspect I had other intentions.
I stood up before the guards arrived and waved at Adin. I also didn’t forget to give her a farewell that only she could hear.
“Goodbye, Adin. I’ll be back.”
It was a short farewell.
After the ‘education’ session, I went back to my room. Just as I was about to lie down on the bed to rest my uneconomical body, someone knocked on the door.
“Lady, may I come in?”
This voice belonged to the first maid I met right after I transmigrated. It just so happens that I need a maid for my next plan. I stretched, sat upright at the end of the bed, and said, “Come in.”
Creak-
Rumble-
The maid came in, pushing a tray. On the tray were a chocolate cake and a newspaper.
Amila was weak and had a hard time going outside. One could assume that she regularly ordered newspapers because it was her connection to the outside world, but…
“Did I order cake?”
“This is a gift from Lady Liselotte to Lady Amila. She said you must be tired of only having bitter medicine.”
“Liselotte?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I stared at the maid who brought the tray for a while. A gift prepared by Liselotte, who had been openly hostile toward me at the dinner table. The intention was so obvious that it made me lose my appetite.
My life wouldn’t be in immediate danger if I ate the cake Liselotte gave me. Even if Liselotte was the most favored in the Elias family, she would need a mental evaluation if she tried to kill me, who still had value to Count Elias. At most, it would be something like causing diarrhea or making me sick for a few days.
But who would willingly eat something like a laxative?
I would.
But before that, I need to prepare. If I do this right, I might be able to get a lot from just one cake. For example, a person to help me get the healing potion I need.
“I’m sorry, I’m not feeling well right now. Could you tell Liselotte that I ate it?”
“Oh… I’m sorry. Lady Liselotte asked me to confirm that you ate the cake.”
“Liselotte asked you to confirm that I ate the cake… Is there a reason why I have to eat this cake?”
I spoke gently and watched the maid’s reaction. I wanted to see if the maid was on Liselotte’s side. The Countess was gone, and the mother who gave birth to Adin had not shown her face in the Count’s family. The Count had not remarried, and Amila, the eldest daughter, was weak. In many ways, it was an environment where Liselotte could easily take control as the lady of the house.
Meanwhile, the maid chose to remain silent rather than show any agitation. Then I would have to make her react.
There was a fork on the table, so I picked it up. I briefly scratched the surface of the cake with the fork and then hit the edge of the plate. The plate overturned, and the fallen cake was smashed like mud. As the maid flinched, I covered my mouth with my hand. The corners of my eyes drooped sadly.
“Oh no. I spilled the dessert you so kindly brought.”
My transparent lie made the maid blink. As the maid’s gaze darted around restlessly, I interjected.
“Still, it’s a good thing I got to eat some, right?”
The maid still didn’t answer. If she had been an innocent servant, she would have cleaned up the cake by now. So what was making her hesitate?
I smiled faintly and pulled a box that was on the side table closer. I took out a ruby bracelet from the box. And I held out the bracelet to the maid.
“I don’t like it when people have a bad impression of me. Could you please tell Liselotte that everything went well?”
“That, that’s… I can’t lie to Lady Liselotte.”
A lie. But I could see the maid’s Adam’s apple moving. Thanks to that, I realized that money was the way to get to this maid. Then what I had to do was simple. I picked up a knife that was on the table. And then I raised the knife.
Shh-aack-
The knife slipped between the rubies of the bracelet.
