The hallway leading to the third floor was dimly lit, making it dark and silent.
Still, it shouldn’t be this quiet.
With a growing sense of unease, I turned the corner toward Erich’s room—only to find the third-floor guards slumped on the floor.
‘Are they dead?’
Startled, I rushed over to them, but after a moment of careful observation, I realized they were still faintly breathing. Only then did I exhale in relief.
The two men were completely unconscious, yet something about them felt unnatural.
No matter how much I shook their shoulders or whispered in their ears to wake them up, they didn’t stir—not even the slightest twitch of an eyelash.
‘If they’re this deeply asleep, then it’s definitely not natural.’
As I leaned in closer, I caught a faint scent of alcohol from their bodies.
‘Are they drunk?’
No, that couldn’t be it. The alcohol I had given the household staff earlier today, in celebration of my birthday, was extremely weak.
I even remembered Betty sipping it like it was just a regular beverage.
‘Did someone spike the drinks with a sleeping agent?’
Only one person in this mansion could have done something like that—the family physician.
If he really was behind this… that would mean every single servant in this mansion—except for the nanny, who never touches alcohol—was affected.
‘If I can’t rely on the guards, I’ll have to take care of this myself.’
Clenching my teeth, I headed toward Erich’s room.
The moment I placed my hand on the doorknob to open it, I heard the sharp sound of something shattering inside.
As the piercing noise rang out, I instinctively twisted the doorknob.
“Don’t come in!”
A tense voice shouted from inside, but it was quickly overtaken by the sound of harsh coughing.
The door was locked, yet it felt somewhat loose.
It must have been damaged the last time Dietrich slammed it shut.
‘If that’s the case… then I might have a chance.’
I threw my full weight onto the doorknob. A snapping sound came from inside as something broke, and then the doorknob turned completely.
Without hesitation, I shoved my shoulder against the door and pushed my way in.
“Fairy!”
I barely managed to call out his name before my words were cut off.
A child was kneeling on the floor near the table, surrounded by scattered shards of broken glass. But that wasn’t what made me freeze.
‘Is that… blood?’
Even in the dim candlelight, I could see dark stains.
On the floor.
On the child’s lips.
As I fully grasped the situation, a bitter, metallic scent seemed to fill the air.
“Get out…!”
It seemed like the child was trying to tell me to leave, but before he could finish speaking, he was overcome by another violent cough. Fresh blood dripped from his lips.
What?
Why… why is this happening?
Unlike before, the boy couldn’t summon his usual heat to drive me away—perhaps because he was too weak.
Taking advantage of the moment, I moved closer to him.
The floor was dangerous. Broken shards of a cup were scattered around, and I could feel moisture seeping into the carpet beneath my feet.
I tried to help him up somehow, but he was completely uncooperative. Worse, with our size difference, it wasn’t easy.
“I’ll call the physician—”
I stopped mid-sentence.
No. He was the most suspicious person in this house right now.
Swallowing my frustration, I thought of someone else.
‘The only trustworthy adult who didn’t drink the sleeping agent.’
I didn’t know whether the boy’s condition was due to an illness or something else, but he needed help. I had to find someone I could trust.
But before I could even stand up fully, his small hand clamped onto my arm, gripping me with unexpected strength.
In a voice that sounded as if metal was being scraped together, he rasped.
“No.”
“But Fairy, you’re really sick. You’re coughing up blood.”
Even in the dim light, his red eyes glowed fiercely as he stared at me.
His grip was ice-cold—completely devoid of warmth—yet his gaze burned with intensity.
“This level of poison… is nothing.”
Poison?
I was so taken aback that I blinked in disbelief.
‘Poison, as in the kind that kills people when ingested?’
Why would something like that be in our house? Who in this house would use poison?
Then, it hit me.
‘The prince doesn’t have a chronic illness—he was poisoned by the physician.’
A child’s body was inconvenient. No matter what I said, no one would take me seriously.
Grinding my teeth in frustration, I got to my feet.
There was no point in getting angry. What mattered now was protecting the prince.
Right now, with my dad gone, this was the perfect opportunity to assassinate the First Prince.
‘The physician probably thinks he can relax after poisoning him.’
That meant I had to take advantage of that complacency. I needed to get the prince out of here and hide him somewhere safe. Then, I had to bring my father back as soon as possible.
“Get up. You can’t stay here.”
I grasped his arm, trying to pull him up.
“Don’t pretend to be kind. Your father has already decided to kill me.”
The child tried to shake off my hand, but he seemed even weaker than before and couldn’t pull away.
…His body was so cold.
He said this level of poison was nothing, but was he really okay?
Frowning, I quickly whispered,
“My dad isn’t home. Someone else is behind this.”
The boy, who had been resisting me, suddenly lost all the strength in his body.
Let’s sort this out.
The physician took advantage of my dad’s absence to poison the First Prince.
Judging by the broken cup, the poison must have been mixed into his water…
Had he drunk it because he could no longer collect rainwater? The rain had stopped, after all.
‘If he’s been secretly drinking rainwater ever since he got here, that means he’s used to being targeted like this.’
If someone had been this persistent in trying to kill him, they might return to confirm his death.
With the door lock broken, there was no way to keep an enemy out.
“Let’s go to my room.”
It wasn’t completely safe either, but it was better than staying in Erich’s room.
As I stood up, I pulled his arm along with me.
I meant to support him, but even though he was staggering, he refused to lean on me. Instead, he forced himself to walk on his own.
‘So stubborn!’
As soon as we reached my room, I helped him into the closet, then pulled some clothes over him to hide him.
If he stayed here, it would be difficult for anyone to notice him.
“Stay here and don’t move. Understand?”
I patted his arm a couple of times and turned to leave—only to feel a small hand tugging at my sleeve.
I was in a hurry. What now?
I looked down at his pale fingers peeking out from between the clothes.
After coughing a few times to clear the roughness from his voice, he quietly asked.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to sneak to the nanny and tell her to bring my dad back.”
I couldn’t trust anyone.
The only way to ensure safety was for my dad to return as soon as possible.
‘There are still guards in the house, but I can’t trust all of them.’
Most of them were from the main estate anyway.
Dad had said he was heading to Baron Takiten’s territory.
I hadn’t expected something like this to happen, but at least I knew where he had gone—that was a relief.
The boy parted his lips as if to say something, then quietly closed them again before slowly letting go of my sleeve.
‘Is that… resignation I see on his face?’
Ugh, whatever! I was in a rush—whether he felt resigned or not wasn’t my problem!
Slipping back into the unusually dark hallway, I made my way as quietly as possible toward the one room I knew well—the nanny’s.
‘The only person I can trust in this house right now is the nanny.’
Dad trusted her, too.
“Nanny, are you asleep?”
I carefully opened the door and stepped inside, only to frown at what I saw.
Dietrich was curled up in the nanny’s arms, fast asleep.
That jealous little gremlin.
Was he sulking because today was my birthday and all the attention had been on me?
Hogging the nanny like this…
At least he hadn’t lashed out at me like before, calling me names and throwing tantrums.
Instead, he seemed to be dealing with his jealousy by clinging to her like this. I guess that means he’s grown up a little.
‘Actually, this worked out well.’
Now, I could send Dietrich away with the nanny, too.
Unlike me—who couldn’t even ride a horse—or the poisoned prince, who definitely wasn’t in any condition to ride, Dietrich had recently started learning horseback riding.
With the nanny by his side, he could easily ride even a large horse.
