Chapter 9.1
‘No! Thoughts like this would only exhaust me in these situations. I must focus on the present; it is the most important.’ Emma shook her head hard as if to shake off her thoughts.
She recalled how to fight the bad luck that her father had taught her during his lifetime. It was assuming the worst situation and thinking about how to break through it.
‘The worst situation that can happen right now…’
Emma’s eyes fixed towards the front door. If the man who went outside teamed up with them, it would be the worst imaginable scenario to happen.
‘…But there is no way he would…’
He even refused the offer to accept half of Emma’s inheritance. The sour expression of rejection on his face seemed completely sincere.
No, the worst situation would be: the man teaming up with Otto and while Otto talked gibberish about Emma being mentally ill, the man would also sneak into Otto’s side and attack Emma.
If he had wanted to take over the deposit certificate and key he could have easily gotten it from Emma. But the man didn’t try anything. He just asked Emma for an explanation and listened quietly to the story.
‘Moreover,’ Since this was a cabin provided for noble families, Emma had a feeling that it would also have some sort of an underground exit somewhere.
The man was the cabin keeper so he would definitely know all the secret passages. If he wanted, he could have easily killed Emma, take the key and deposit certificate, then escape safely. But he didn’t, and he didn’t even try.
He even said he didn’t need money. Emma looked around and realized that there were no signs of luxury except for the abundant groceries scattered on the table. The additives in the food and the drinking water were a little suspicious, but since he didn’t predict Emma’s visit in advance, the man must not have had any problems consuming it before.
In any case, to Emma, it seemed that the man would never turn against her. This time, she was lucky. She had no choice but to believe in the stranger… but he seemed to be the right person to believe in.
Now the matter at hand… ‘Why did he go outside?’
He had no weapon, and even his hand seemed to be injured. Emma recalled his unusual fingers, the blood-stained bandages seemed like it would hurt just to move. It would definitely become disadvantageous if he had to fight against enemies.
As her thoughts reached there, Emma began to worry about the man in earnest. ‘Did he only believe in his strength? Why in the world would he leave with a wounded hand?’
Emma, who was pacing around while nibbling her thumbnail, stopped in front of the table. When she became conscious of a smell, her nose unknowingly flared. Her appetite had long run away due to nervousness and anxiety, but her senses were sharpened. Among them, Emma felt that her sight and sense of scent were strangely the sharpest.
Emma held the piece of bread that she was eating earlier and smelled it.
‘Now that I am smelling it again, it’s completely different from the smell of the drinking water. It is cleverly hidden in the butter scent, but the unique sweet smell sticks to it. And it’s a single ingredient.’
She tried to think about exactly what the ingredient was, but she soon reached her limit. She still couldn’t remember.
It was difficult to distinguish accurately mixed with the smell of food despite it being a unique scent. The only thing certain was that the origin of the smell was not poison or something poisonous.
Since Emma ate merely a small piece of bread, and it didn’t have effects right away, whatever was in the bread was not particularly harmful to the body.
‘What effect would there be with adding this small amount to food? Wait, small amounts…?’
At that moment, Emma had a flash of realization. No matter how small a portion something was, adding multiple small amounts would become a considerable amount.
‘By any chance… did he put it in other food as well?’
Emma reached out and smelled the mushy cheese and rich butter, respectively. Then, she moved on to the wine and distilled liquor by putting her nose and analyzing the scent. As expected, the subtle, sweet smell was present in the complex scent of liquor.
‘He drank more than half of it.’
The man did not touch the food very much, but the wine and distilled liquor bottles were almost empty. Even though he drank to that amount, Emma was surprised that he was not drunk.
‘The real question is what was added to the drinks and food.’