I was looking at the red liquid on the bed, and I heard faint footsteps beyond the wide-open door.
The woman’s shoes got closer and closer, and I hurriedly hid behind the curtain.
It’s too late to open the closet now. When I heard the sound of footsteps, there was a sound of someone opening and closing the closet door.
The genre has changed once more from mystery to thriller. I crouched down as much as I could to survive the thriller and held my breath.
Creepy! I felt like the killer with a knife was going to kill me as soon as I poked my face out of the curtain.
I tried to calm my pounding heart and figure out what was happening.
‘Is that it? Was the killer coming back to the crime scene?’
Weren’t all the workers gathered by the Duke?
I hesitated whether to look beyond the curtain with my trembling hands.
I was afraid that THE END would unfold as soon as the curtain was pulled back.
While agonizing over the curtain, a new figure appeared.
“Mrs. Verne, didn’t you say you were going to call the maid who went to do the laundry? What are you doing here?”
Unlike the nanny, it was Dane who appeared without a sound.
“Oh, Mr. Dane, I’m just stopping by to sort it out in case you and the young lady are surprised when you see it.”
Nice timing Dane!
“The Duke ordered you not to touch anything.”
“I know. I wasn’t trying to break orders, I was just trying to cover it with a cloth.”
The performance of the nanny was perfect.
If I didn’t know she was the criminal, she had a believable and clever voice that made it seem like she was really worried about the twins.
“It was you, Verne. I’ll give you time. Time to turn yourself in.”
“Dear, Duke!”
‘Why is the Duke coming out of there?’
There were a series of things that I didn’t understand as if the situation was going back except for me.
Shouldn’t the Duke be questioning his servants by now?
The Duke’s voice seemed to show some signs of indifference to the nanny.
“Red liquid soaked in bed. Usually, you would think its blood, but it smelled different.”
Are you an animal?
At first, I smelled the unique fishy smell and thought it would be animal blood, even if it wasn’t human blood.
“It’s the mucus of Leifruf.”
“Oh! I see.” Dane, who was next to him, responded to the Duke’s words.
It was the Duke and Dane that showed off the same chemistry as Sherlock and Watson.
If it was a Leifruf, it was a plant that I knew well.
It was because even at the Duke’s greenhouse, white flowers like snow bloomed showing off their pure appearance.
“Cutting the stem of the Leifruf produces a clear, sticky liquid.”
“When water is poured into the mucus, it turns red and is commonly used by ordinary people to dye their clothes.”
“Yes, If I had been there, I wouldn’t have known who the culprit was. But you made a mistake.”
Oh, this is the climax.
I listened to the logical explanation and waited for the next word with excitement.
‘What’s this? The nanny made a mistake.’
The duke cut her off and after sixty seconds, he made a gesture that said: “continue.”
“That’s.”
“What’s that?”
‘That’s?’ Dane also asked in a voice full of curiosity.
I was curious about the duke’s backstabbing, so I slightly held out my head behind the curtain.
Oh, my god!
As soon as I leaned out, the duke opened the curtain wide.
“Why are you here?”
“!”
My heart! My heart just jumped to the 30th basement floor.
It was like when you think the scary scene in a horror movie must have ended, and the moment you are off guard, you get a surprise!
The Duke gave a shallow sigh as I was so surprised.
“I’m sure I told you to stay with the twins.”
“Well, because it happened to me, so I wanted to help you with anything…….”
I was speaking gibberish but I tried my best to make excuses.
The Duke, who had been staring at me for a long time, spoke in a lower voice.
“…Am I not trustworthy?”
“What? Duke, how could I not trust you?! That can’t be true. I mean, you’re famous for handling things that are scarier than knives.”
“…….”
Maybe it was an after-effect of a heart attack. My liver was out of my stomach, too.
I always thought about what I would say and filter my words.
Three seconds later, when I realized what I said, my brain stopped.
A strained silence fell.
Dane also rolled his feet, not sure how to cover it.
“Chi, that’s a compliment!”
Where did I see him before?
If I make a slip of tongue, 90% of the comments would go well. It’s not going to be the 10% now, would it?
Honestly, isn’t it a compliment since I said you’re a good worker? It could be a little, a little upsetting to hear from a 16-year-old girl. Why did I use that metaphor?
I should have just said that I believe in you, but just saying that is useless.
I smiled brightly at the duke, resenting the words that came out of my mouth. With a face that looks as innocent as possible.
“That’s a relief.”
The Duke’s words relieved me.
Fortunately, it means he’ll save me. I should be careful with what I say next time. With a new lesson in my heart, I calmed my thumping heart and turned around to the Duke.
“So what the hell is the nanny’s mistake?”
Dane also expected the Duke to answer my question with an expression of curiosity.
The Duke looked at me and Dane alternately and lifted one corner of his mouth slightly.
‘Here we go! The Duke’s signature mischievous smile!’
The smile he showed on the day of my first deal with the Duke is now seen often.
I used to feel bad because I felt like you were laughing at me, but I found out over time.
That smile was the expression he made when he found something funny.
‘Oh, I’m excited.’
When he smiles like that, I’m always on fire.
“Sernia.”
“Yes.”
“You often read books about magic.”
“How did you find out? Were my reading habits exposed?”
How much did he hear? “You don’t even know the genre I’m into these days.”
I bowed my face in shame and answered in a small voice.
“……yes.”
“I didn’t mean to scold you.”
I couldn’t raise my head even if he said so.
I used to read romance novels brought by Ariel.
But it was more fun than I thought!
I was a romantic fan in my previous life. A typical romance novel here is romance fantasy itself!
The romance fantasy genre was the first and last, so I couldn’t stop reading all the novels here because they felt fresh.
By the time I opened my eyes to the romance fantasy genre I died.
After I finished the confiscated book, I asked Ariel to secretly get more books. Ariel’s maid, Marie, said she was in trouble, but she always saved books.
I was close enough with her to share my appreciation of books with her. ‘Let’s trust Marie. She would have kept my taste a secret.’
In addition, the Duke said it was a magic book, so like the twins, the butler Dane might have taught him to compliment me during tea time!
I finished rationalizing by myself and nodded at the Duke’s words.
“I heard from Dane. You often read books about magic in my study.”