"That is regrettable."
"After my mother passed away, I noticed certain signs, and before much time had passed, my father married my stepmother. That was when I realized my mother's death was unnatural."
Rose pointed at something on the table with her hand.
"This is the first Magical Device I developed back then."
It looked like a small rectangular glass plate that could hold a magic stone. Several symbols were drawn at the edge of the glass plate.
"It's a reactive tool. When you drop blood on it, it changes to a unique color only if certain components are present."
"Hoh."
"That was when I realized it."
Rose fiddled with the glass plate and gazed at me.
"No matter how healthy someone looks, the inside could be different. Whether it's the heart or the body."
"By that, do you mean that's the case for me?"
When I asked in a lowered voice, tension appeared on Rose's face.
"There could be something wrong with my body?"
The moment had finally come to address the possibility that I might have been poisoned. Would Rose be able to say what she couldn't when she examined the wine bottle?
"It's not certain."
Rose took a short breath and began speaking in a calm voice.
"Your Excellency, you are a very strong and outstanding knight. I know this better than anyone, for I have seen it myself."
It was an obvious fact, but hearing it from Rose felt quite pleasant. If someone else had said it, I would have taken it as flattery.
"If you were an ordinary nobleman rather than Your Excellency, I wouldn't have harbored such suspicions. But Your Excellency, you find yourself in a very exceptional situation."
She gathered her trembling hands together slightly, but her two eyes gazing at me showed not a single tremor.
"Less than a month remains until Your Excellency's birthday. The enemy will be anxious to settle matters quickly. They will resort to any means and method."
It was not an emotional appeal, but a persuasion armed with reason that followed.
"That is why you must suspect and suspect again. That is why I am telling you this."
Rose declared heavily without averting her gaze from mine.
"Now is precisely the time to thoroughly inspect Your Excellency's body."
"...Your words almost sound as if,"
I probed Rose deliberately, as if interrogating her.
"You suspect the people of Schmaichel Estate. That someone among them has harbored treacherous intentions?"
"What Your Excellency and the people of the estate have taken for granted in their daily lives, I can view from a different perspective. Because I am an outsider."
Despite the rather sharp tone, Rose did not waver.
"Fabri always tastes all the ingredients himself, and just in case, he tries the prepared food beforehand as well. All the tableware is made of silver. So suspicion toward the kitchen is meaningless."
"How do you know that?"
"He always serves by my side and tells me stories. Even minor anecdotes from his cooking."
I wondered when she had gotten so close with Fabri. No wonder the two were always talking with smiles.
"Head maid Selma has to always seek my permission because I hold the key to the storage. Her bookkeeping was also perfect. Naturally, there were no double books."
"Thorough."
"She verified with me whether the merchant guild properly delivered the ingredients, and what their condition was like. That merchant guild is also cleared of suspicion."
Rose answered without hesitation, as if she had known I would ask such questions. It seemed she had diligently investigated and analyzed the people of the estate in a short period of time.
"And... the physician Joel."
Rose's eyes darkened as she mentioned him.
"He examines Your Excellency and conducts poison response tests. If he lies about Your Excellency's condition, no one would be able to suspect anything."
Rose looked at me as if seeking agreement.
"I have recently discovered a few suspicious circumstances. And Your Excellency also commissioned an investigation into them."
"That alone is too early to suspect him."
"That's right. That's why I said it wasn't certain."
Rose moved her steps toward the chair beside the table. It was the experimental chair that had caught my eye earlier.
"That's why I brought Your Excellency here. Because I need to verify with certainty."
Rose's slender fingers slowly swept along the armrest of the chair.
"It's a Magical Device that analyzes the body of the person seated and detects whether specific components are present."
"Mm."
"I modified the circuit from the glass plate and installed it. I was able to build this thanks to Your Excellency's full support."
Rose swallowed once and spoke as if pleading with me.
"Please allow me to examine Your Excellency's body with this."
"……."
Right now, Rose was requesting an enormous authority from me.
A lord's body could not be touched carelessly by anyone other than a vetted physician. Harming a lord's body constituted a grave crime.
That was why she was pleading so earnestly with such a tense face.
"An examination, huh..."
Instead of answering, I approached the chair.
I examined the tubes connected to the chair, the gauges and intricate instruments around it with sharp eyes. As if these things were not entirely trustworthy.
'Finally, it has come to this.'
But inwardly, I was cheering.
In the original work, Rose used this Magical Device to find out what kind of poison I had been poisoned with. It would also serve the purpose of showing her research results.
And after analyzing my body, Rose's investigation would enter a new phase. She would discover the decisive clue threatening my life.
"On the outside, it looks like some kind of torture chair."
I pointed at the chair, feigning displeasure.
"And what's this on the armrest?"
"It's a misunderstanding, Your Excellency. The idea of me torturing Your Excellency—how could that ever be acceptable?"
Rose answered with a nonchalant face.
"It's simply for securing the examinee's body during the examination."
A scholarly desire and a bizarre madness passed over Rose's eyes as she answered.
'...Did I see that wrong?'
Rose and madness—truly an ill-matching combination, wasn't it?
I tried hard to erase from my mind the fact that Rose's gaze resembled that of Andersen, who had stayed up for three days and nights and looked haggard.
"Let's give it a try. There's no harm in being thorough."
When I readily answered, Rose's cheeks flushed with joy.
"By the way, Joel mentioned something interesting earlier."
But she stiffened at my next words.
"What story?"
"He said there was a poisonous herb among the items you recently purchased."
Rose merely raised one eyebrow slightly.
"A poisonous herb."
"He said it was hidden among the medicinal herbs, if I recall. Some can become toxic when properly combined."
There was no surprise at being exposed. As if she had known this would happen, Rose answered calmly.
"I naturally assumed that what I purchased would reach Your Excellency's ears. The butler serves Your Excellency faithfully, after all. So..."
Rose lowered her head slightly. After lightly wetting her lips, which had gone dry from tension,
"...Did you come to interrogate me?"
She looked at me again. Rose's eyes held a faint tremor.
"Well."
I took one step closer to Rose. As if not wanting to miss any subtle change in her expression.
"What do you think?"
"……."
Our probing gazes intertwined deeply and intensely. Rose and I stared at each other for a moment without revealing any emotion.
'So she can make that kind of face too.'
It was newly surprising that Rose could also hide herself with an expressionless face. Not a brightly smiling face, nor a sorrowfully crying one, nor one flushed with embarrassment.
"...If I may venture an excuse,"
Eventually, a faint smile graced Rose's face. She seemed to have already guessed the answer from my question.
"If I had truly intended to buy poisonous herbs, I wouldn't have used such a conspicuous route."
"……."
"And I would have hidden them where Your Excellency couldn't see. Where do you think those poisonous herbs are right now?"
I also drew my lips up at an angle. Then I gestured with my chin toward the space beside Rose.
"It seems they're right in front of my eyes."
Several medicinal herbs were spread out on the table as if on display. What Rose had been cutting with the experimental knife earlier was exactly those herbs.
"That's right."
Rose readily affirmed.
"To put them into that examination Magical Device, I need to break down the herbs into small pieces."
Rose's large green eyes were neither frightened nor fearful. They were simply serene.
'She's not trembling.'
If that were an act, Rose's talent was extraordinary. So that was closer to confidence that only an innocent person could display.
"The fact that you came here despite hearing Joel's words tells me I can guess Your Excellency's intentions."
Rose spoke with a tone of conviction, as if she knew me very well.
"If you truly suspected me, you wouldn't have engaged in these tedious exchanges."
That was true.
Questioning someone who had already committed a wrong would only give them time to make excuses. Disposal was the only remaining option.
So this time was merely close to confirming Rose's thoughts.
Shwk.
Rose grasped the experimental knife that had been placed beside the herbs. Then she held it out to me.
"Are you going to stab me, Your Excellency?"
Her whispering voice brushed my ear.
Feeling the sweet resonance seep into my heart, I hid a bitter smile.
This was too bitter to be called honey, and too sweet to be called poison.
'No wonder they told me to be on guard.'
Bill and Joel's warning was half right and half wrong. Because there was no way I would suspect Rose.
But at this very moment, I felt that Rose's very existence was becoming poison to me.
I had always been wary of having something precious to protect, or of pouring affection into something. Yet a little squirrel had already nestled itself in a corner of my heart.
"……."
Wordlessly, I took the knife Rose held out. Then I looked at Rose's neck.
Because her red hair had been tied up carelessly, a few strands had spilled down onto her nape. The red threads draped over her white skin stood out.
Instead of driving the knife into that neck, I felt the urge within myself to press my lips there.