How To Survive As a Villain on the Verge of Death

A familiar voice called out to her from behind.

“Miss Diane, are you okay?”

“…Princess?”

Diane looked back and forth between the two of them with her blank eyes. Terrence set her medicine bowl down on the table and pulled on the bell rope used to address her servant or her maid. He then explained the situation in a calm voice.

“This maid put something in your medicine.”

“…yes?”

The maid who stood to one side of her and watched her situation went blank.

“Oh no!”

The illusion had a hazy feeling like a dream, so I didn’t have time to examine its appearance closely. Seeing it in person, she was a middle-aged maid with a grumpy impression.  The maid complained of her injustice with her pale face.

“You’re talking nonsense, why would I do that?”

“I saw it myself.”

She brought out the explanation she had prepared in advance.

“I was trying to come in here and saw it through the crack in the door. This woman got something in the medicine cabinet.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I opened the door a little bit and this woman didn’t even notice because she was putting powder in her medicine.”

It was her made-up excuse, but the maid couldn’t dispute it. When she put the powder in the medicine, she was so nervous that she didn’t even have time to look around. Even if she’s certain that the door wasn’t open, there’s no way to prove it. It didn’t really matter if the door wasn’t opened anyway. Right now, there would be a vial of that suspicious powder in that woman’s sleeve. Just then, she heard menacing footsteps outside the door, and young men opened the door and entered.

“Your Highness, did you call?”

They were knights wearing uniforms with the Grand Duke’s crest engraved on them.

They seemed to be the knights Terrence had left on standby downstairs. She commanded, pointing to the maid as soon as they entered.

“I saw her putting a vial of powder inside her sleeve. Check this maid’s sleeve.”

The knights turned their attention to the Grand Duke at her sudden order.

“Do as the princess tells you.”

At Terrence’s command, the knights immediately seized the maid’s arm. Then they rummaged through the maid’s sleeve and pulled out a small vial from it.

“I found it.”

It was a small vial the size of two fingers. It contained about half of a white powder.

‘I was very curious about what that was.’

Terrence opened the vial and sniffed it. There was a slight wrinkle between his brows.

“This…”

Just as she was about to ask what it was, a young woman who appeared to be a maid came in from outside the door.

“Um, what’s up, lady?”

The maid stuttered at her in amazement at the situation in the room. Terrence gave instructions before Diane could answer.

“Go out right now and quietly tell my aunt that Diane almost got into an accident and bring her here.”

At the word “accident,” the maid immediately turned around and went outside, as if she recognized the seriousness of her situation. She arrived shortly after the Duchess brought an old man who appeared to be the doctor. It was not yet time for the prom to end, so he must have heard the news in the middle and left.

“My Diane almost had an accident?”

The Duchess had a confused expression. When she heard that there had been an accident, she came running in fright.

“Is Diane okay?”

“Don’t worry, Miss Diane is not hurt.”

The Duchess, hearing her, looked between Terrence and her, and the knights on one side of her, and her maid.

“Princess, how did this happen?”

“That is… We’re here to say hello to Miss Diane.”

She repeated her explanation from earlier. She came in here to see Diane and saw her maid in the dressing room putting something in her pills. Terrence took her words and briefly explained what happened next.

“At first I wondered if that was a drug Diane was taking too. However, the maid’s behavior was so suspicious that I became suspicious.”

“Did you put something in Diane’s pills?”

The Duchess was horrified when she heard that the maid had put something in Diane’s medicine.

“Here it is.”

Terrence handed the Duchess a vial of powder. The Duchess quickly opened the vial and sniffed it, and immediately her eyes twinkled in shock.

“Do you know what it is?”

“Of course I know what it is.”

The Duchess’s face hardened like ice as she clutched at the vial.

“Putting wild ginseng and frankincense… It is a medicine used as an antipyretic.”

What? She was embarrassed by the unexpected identity, but the Duchess continued to explain.

“It’s just a cure for normal people, but it’s poison for Diane. Diane is sensitive to these herbs and if she eats any of them, she gets sick. That’s why they had never been in the mansion.”

‘Oh, I see.’

Even if it was a good medicine, side effects may appear depending on the person’s constitution. This was especially true for patients with long-term illnesses. No one would be suspicious if the condition worsened rather than other symptoms. They would just think that the condition of the disease has not improved naturally.

‘Aiming for that and deliberately mixing it into medicine.’

It was a really bad way. The Duchess grabbed the vial and turned to the maid.

“You wouldn’t have thought of doing this on your own. Who did it?”

She had always been a kind and docile duchess, but at that moment, the dignity of a hostess of one of the powerful families of the country was revealed. The shivering maid finally fell flat on her floor.

“…Wrong, madam! I was wrong!”

The maid burst into tears and quickly confessed.

“Baron Moselle said he would kill me if I didn’t do what he said… I couldn’t help it either!”

Who was it? When she made a puzzled expression, Diane next to her whispered in a low voice.

“It’s a relative.”

“Is he one of the people I saw before?”

“Yes.”

Diane added in a quiet voice as if she were sinking into water.

“When I die, he will be the one who will inherit the duchy.”

“…”

That’s why he didn’t want Diane’s illness to get better. They said that these days Diane was in better health, so he visited her mansion and Diane was going to attend her wedding. He must have become desperate and tried to aggravate her illness.

“Lady.”

Before the Duchess’ orders had even been given, her butler had gone out and she called the Duke’s servants. The Duchess, glaring at her maids, gave them orders.

“Tie them up so they don’t hurt themselves and lock them in an underground storage room.”

“M-Madam…!”

The servants, on her orders, dragged the culprit, the maid, out. Then the Duchess gave her second order to the butler.

“Tell the relatives who came with the Baron that I would like to meet them. And take only the Baron to the prayer room and hold him quietly.”

“I understand, ma’am.”

There’s still a ball going on downstairs. They seemed to be doing it secretly so that the guests wouldn’t know about it. After sending the butler out, the Duchess sat down in a chair beside the table.

“I knew that there were unpleasant eyes, but I never thought this would happen…”

Painful emotions were buried in the way she spoke. 

Not only was her daughter in pain. She was always sick and confined to her house. But even so, there were people who threatened her life… 

The Duchess, who had been clutching the vial, raised her head again.

“The Princess and Terence. Thanks to the two of you, the danger was averted. Thank you.”

“I just happened to see it. I’m glad I could be of help.”

She said that and nodded her head, but Terrence looked at the Duchess with concerned eyes.

“This is a bit of a question, but… Are you testing Diane’s food?”

Hearing his words, the Duchess’ complexion hardened. Yes. There was no way they wouldt only put those herbs on her medicine. Maybe they would put some on her food as well.

“It was just checking for poison. Until now, I haven’t been paying much attention because I haven’t had anything like this happen.”

Terrence pulled a small brooch from his overcoat. It was a simple men’s accessory with a white crystal attached to white silver.

“It is the crystal of Arcania. It is a rare metal that is rarely found in the Martell Mine at the northern end.”

He handed it to the Duchess.

“The magic stone on the market can only distinguish poison, but this one is more sensitive than that, so it can detect pretty much any drug. Keep it in case you need it.”

It’s amazing that something like that existed. Such rare jewels did not appear in the original work.

You won’t be able to tell them apart if you mix medicine with another medicine like you do now, but if you mix medicine with food, you’ll be able to figure it out with that.

“It seems hard to find, but can you give it to me?”

“I have more, so that’s okay. Please consider it as a return for inviting me today.”

Since he knew that there were people targeting Diane, it must have been a gift to be careful.

“Thank you very much. Diane, thanks Terrence… Diane?”

The Duchess looked at Diane and her eyes widened in surprise.

Diane was pale and trembling thinly. Her good-looking blue eyes were full of water.

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