The Poisoned Syringe
Emma's face hardened.
'Why Yustea?'
How had this child, who hadn't even come near the mansion, suddenly appeared at the Andres residence?
As Emma was thinking, she flinched.
'Could it be that he found out about the poison?'
After meeting the stepmother's wife, she was gripped by anxiety.
If the stepmother's wife were to bring Yustea back into the family...
Even if Dia were resurrected...
While Dia was absent, it was herself who had protected the Andres family.
She couldn't let it be taken away.
Even if distant Yustea didn't know, Dia in her own territory could be dealt with.
So, she made a syringe with the poison and gave it to the woman taking care of Dia.
'If she figured it out and came chasing after me...'
Her heart sank.
If the stepmother's wife knew about it, she would issue a formal complaint right away.
She might not even introduce her at today's lunch.
"Um, um, if the family members find out that Yustea has come, it will cause a commotion. Perhaps we should send him back..."
Just as she was stammering.
The stepmother's wife appeared.
"Seeing the master worry about the servants' feelings is absurd."
Emma hurriedly ran to the stepmother's wife.
"H, but welcoming an uninvited ruffian..."
"If you came to see me, you are my guest. The one who judges rudeness is me. Take her to the reception room."
"..."
Emma looked at the stepmother in panic.
The stepmother, whom she thought would side with her, was silent.
Emma's face turned deathly pale.
* * *
In front of the Andres gate.
I was standing in front of the barred gate, waiting for the Andres' response.
Suddenly.
Clang!
The sound of something falling was heard.
The servants were staring at me with expressions as if they had seen a ghost.
"Ah, who is that?"
"Incredible. Where do you think this is...!"
They approached me as if to attack.
"What kind of mischief are you trying to pull by coming to the mansion? Do you think you can just come here?"
They berated me sharply.
The sharp tone was familiar.
Every time we met, it was like this.
I had endured it many times.
"Stop showing that ugly face."
'I don't want to see it either.'
But there was no choice.
The place where my mother's medicine was handled was only here.
So, I had endured the harassment.
When I stayed quiet, a spark flew in the maid's eyes.
"Answer me!"
Just as the maid was about to raise her hand to me.
I grabbed her wrist and pulled it to the right.
The maid, who hadn't expected me to resist, fell over.
The ground was muddy because it had snowed yesterday.
The maid, whose appearance was a mess, looked up at me with eyes the size of a teacup.
"You... you..."
"Not you, the young lady."
"What?"
"If you don't address me properly, it won't end with just falling down."
"You crazy girl...! What are you doing!"
The maid, who was furious, shouted.
The servants rushed at me in a group.
At that moment, the Andres' massive barred gate opened.
The steward had come out.
The servants shouted with happy faces.
"Steward, this girl dares to cause a ruckus in front of the mansion...!"
"Shut up!"
"..."
Contrary to their expectations, the steward glared at them.
The startled servants froze, and the steward said in a fierce voice.
"You are a guest of the young mistress. Show proper manners."
It wasn't particularly surprising.
The steward always took the side of the strong.
Because of that, I knew that even though I was being harassed by the servants before being driven out, I stayed silent.
I had shielded her, lest she be out of the eyes of the powerful who favored Stella.
The stepmother's wife had probably sided with me, thinking there was something in letting Yustea into the mansion.
But the other servants still didn't understand the situation.
"Wh, why would the young mistress do such a thing..."
One servant muttered.
So, I...
Slap!
I slapped her cheek.
"..."
"!!"
"?!"
Even the steward looked at me in surprise.
I looked at the servants and said.
"I told you. It won't end with just falling down."
Then, I turned my gaze to the steward.
"I am Yustea, daughter of Earl Cualon of the Esgarot domain. I formally protest this misconduct."
"E, Esgarot... what?"
The servants were in a state of great panic.
The steward stared at me, frozen.
I said while facing the steward.
"If you remain silent again, I will file a formal complaint."
"...I will open a disciplinary hearing and severely punish you."
"You should. If you don't want to create a blemish on your career that you've built over your lifetime by neglecting your duties."
The steward gestured to the guards.
The servants were dragged away by them.
"S, Steward...!"
They shouted desperately, but the steward didn't turn to them.
The steward bowed to me.
"I will escort you."
Following the steward, I entered the Andres residence.
It had been several years since I entered the Andres residence.
Excluding the several years of hardship on the road, it was the place I had lived my whole life, yet I didn't feel a sense of homecoming.
This place was not my home, but a test field where I had to prove my worth.
The place I arrived at was the reception room.
The servants were crowded by the walls.
On one of the two long sofas placed facing each other, the stepmother's wife was sitting.
Behind her was that woman.
The reason I had come here.
Emma.
* * *
The stepmother's wife said.
"You've come."
Yustea spread her skirt and lightly bent her knees.
If Stella had been taught that way, it would have been a poor posture, but Yustea's posture was truly ideal.
"I greet you. Yustea of Cualon."
The stepmother's wife said.
"Sit down."
Yustea lightly bowed her head and sat.
Emma said with a tense face.
"Lunch is soon. You should prepare, so the conversation will be..."
"Do you think you can receive my guest?"
The stepmother's wife glared sharply at Emma, and Emma flinched.
The stepmother's wife turned her gaze to Yustea.
"Cualon. I heard that the Esgarot's Valboa has merged with the mountain village region. The village girl who was lucky enough to take that place."
"My father is not a village girl, but the lord of Cualon."
The hand of the stepmother's wife, who was holding the teacup, paused.
"...Father?"
"Yes."
"Calling that a father? My granddaughter!"
The stepmother's wife's voice rose, and the atmosphere froze instantly.
However, Yustea's expression was calm.
"It was several years ago that I was the granddaughter of the stepmother's wife."
"You, how...!"
The stepmother's wife's breath trembled slightly.
Yustea was called a small iron-blooded outside, but in front of her, she was always a gentle granddaughter.
She didn't respond to unfair things.
Even when misunderstandings occurred, she just lowered her head saying it was her fault.
Occasionally, when someone talked to her about things other than work or studies, she was so happy she didn't know what to do.
That child had become...
That Yustea...
"Do you think that all relationships were settled because of adoption?"
"It wasn't all. This remained."
Yustea placed something on the table.
Emma, seeing it, froze.
'Syringe...!'
It was a bottle containing the syringe.
The stepmother's wife's eyebrows twitched.
"It seems to be the Andres medical center's syringe. What medicine is it that you brought it all the way here?"
Emma hurriedly sat next to the stepmother's wife and said.
"This is how it is. So, this is... this is..."
The stepmother's wife felt something strange and frowned.
"What is all this commotion?"
Yustea answered.
"My mother-in-law put Sasa Poison in my mother's medicine."
"...What?"
"Um, Mother, I'll take care of it. I can do it!"
Emma quickly looked at Yustea.
"Money. I'll give you money. How much? How much to leave?"
Yustea smiled faintly.
"How much can I give?"
Emma's expression brightened.
"Yes, if it was money, it could be resolved."
"No matter how much I knew about my mother's situation, reality came first."
"The child who had suffered to death for money."
"She must have known the power of money well."
"How much do you need? 50,000 gold? 100,000 gold? If I tell her, she will... even today!"
"With such a small amount of money, you want to save the Andres medical center?"
"W, what...?"
"This is evidence that poison came out from the Andres medical center. The imperial medical department will audit it. For now, the medical center that sent out this poison will close its doors."
"Ah...?"
"A medical center that costs astronomical amounts of money will disappear with just this."
"What... what does that mean..."
"Is that all? Why do you think the stepmother's wife allowed you to manage such a huge place like a medical center?"
"Because I am Stella's mother... so..."
"No. If something happens at the medical center, the person in charge will be severely punished. Poison? Then flogging. At least half paralysis."
"..."
"Such things were on the line, but 100,000 gold? Impossible."
"Such... such..."
She didn't know it was such a huge matter.
Emma's face turned deathly pale.
Her whole body trembled so much that it made a clacking sound as it hit.
"W, what to do. What am I going to do..."
Just as she was muttering helplessly.
Slap!
The stepmother's wife slapped her cheek.
How hard she hit, Emma fell from the sofa.
Emma, who had been slapped in front of the servants, trembled.
"Um, Mother..."
"You stupid thing. You caused an accident!"
"I, I..."
Emma, clutching her cheek, whimpered.
The stepmother's wife, forgetting her manners, beat the Emma under the sofa wildly.
"Kya! Kyaaak!"
Emma screamed and wailed.
The servants watched the harsh scene with surprised faces.
The stepmother's wife's wrath was so fierce that no one thought to approach.
At that moment.
"Stop it."
A low voice echoed.
It was the Andres stepfather.
He had opened his mouth after seeing the commotion while moving with the servants.
The stepmother's wife, who had discovered the servants, gritted her teeth and turned her head.
Emma, who had been beaten until her body was sore, reached out to the stepfather.
"Husband..."
"I, husband...!"
The servants looked dumbfounded.
"What the..."
The Andres stepfather glanced at the syringe.
Then, he looked at everyone in the reception room in turn.
The stepmother's wife, excited enough to beat Emma to that state.
Emma, who was screaming without seeking help.
Yustea, watching the scene with a cold face.
Just that was enough to guess the situation at a glance.
"Escort the servants to the dining hall."
As he said that, the servants who were taking cues guided the servants.
After they disappeared, the stepfather opened his mouth.
"I commend you for coming to my residence instead of going straight to the palace."
"If you had gone to the palace, you would have blocked it with money."
"Yes. What do you want?"
"The Nita Mine. And the oath document."
"...Oath document?"
"Oath document that I will mobilize my clan to help my father once."
The stepmother's wife frowned again.
"Calling another person father in front of your real father. Where is such an absurd thing."
"There was an absurd thing where a father abandoned his real daughter, what of it."
"H..."
The stepfather looked at Yustea quietly.
"You were an child who could look at me straight."
"I could always look at you. I just didn't look."
"Why?"
"Because I was shy."
"...What?"
The stepfather flinched.
Yustea, without hesitation, stood up.
"The mine gift will be difficult to make documents right away, so give me the oath document first. I'll go as you give."
"Why are you shy?"
"Because the stepfather was so good."
The stepmother's wife or the stepfather had expressions as if they were asking a natural question.
Yustea sighed and said.
"Will you give it soon? My father is waiting outside?"
"...Wait."
The stepfather stared at Yustea and turned his back.
The stepmother's wife and Emma followed him to the study.
As soon as the door to the study closed, the stepmother's wife shouted.
"Drive this girl out! She can't stay in Andres even one more day!"
Then, the stepfather, while writing the oath document, said.
"She is Stella's real mother. If she is left outside, Stella will be anxious. It won't help her holy training, which is important for controlling herself."
"If I leave this girl in the mansion...!"
"Mother."
The stepfather looked at the stepmother's wife.
"Inviting Emma as the Andres' mistress will never happen."
"H, husband...!"
Emma, in shock, approached the desk.
"W, what... what are you saying?"
"Why do you think I put you as the person in charge of the medical center when you have no ability to operate it?"
"What?"
"It was to recognize your charitable contributions to the medical center and make you a noble."
"..."
Emma's status as a commoner was so well known that she couldn't keep it.
She had no choice but to be formally appointed.
Interracial marriage (between commoners and nobles) is prohibited by national law.
If Emma didn't become a noble, it would be impossible for her to become the mistress for the rest of her life.
"Ah, no! Husband... no...!"
Emma wailed and clung, but the stepfather didn't look back at her.
* * *
I left the Andres residence holding the oath document in both hands and got on the carriage.
"Dad, I brought it."
"..."
Dad still had a frown on his face.
It had been like this since I told him I would bring the syringe and get the mine and the oath document.
"I told you not to give up revenge because of me."
"I did the revenge, though."
It was more than enough.
'Emma can no longer become the stepmother.'
The Andres stepfather was not a person who gave second chances.
But the mistress was not necessary.
If someone becomes the stepmother, Emma will live in hell.
"Dying is too light."
I know that living can be more painful than death.
The carriage started moving.
It wasn't far from the Esgarot second residence from the Andres residence, so after riding for about 30 minutes, the carriage stopped.
As soon as I arrived at the residence, I said hesitantly.
"Dad, can you put some mana in this?"
I handed over the Botella.
Dad didn't ask what the Botella was and readily filled it with mana.
The filling speed was amazing.
"Is this enough?"
"Yes."
With this, I decided to purify my mother.
After greeting Dad, I quickly headed to the second-floor room where my mother was.
With Dad providing a professional nurse, my mother's complexion was much better.
After sending the nurse away, I closed the door tightly.
Then, I kissed my mother's forehead and said.
"I will make it so you won't suffer anymore."
Using the trick I learned from Uis, I blew mana into my mother.
But it was strange.
'What's wrong?'
The traces of Sasa Poison in my mother's body didn't disappear.
Not even a bit.
'Was there not enough mana?'
It couldn't be.
I had purified Ingu and Sasa Poison, so how could I not purify Sasa Poison?
'For now, let's try filling more mana.'
As I was thinking that, just as I removed my hand from my mother's body.
My head felt dizzy.
I couldn't stop the mana from leaving!
"How...!"
The mana depletion symptoms instantly covered my body.
My heart was beating madly, my head spinning, and I was out of breath.
"Stop... stop...!"
At that moment.
In an instant, the sky darkened, and a bolt of lightning crossed the sky where darkness had arrived.
Boom—!
The heavens shook.
'What is this?'
* * *
Boom—!
On the anniversary of the coronation, the Pope and the Emperor looked up at the sky at the same time at the imperial altar.
"What's going on."
"What happened!"
The Pope and the Emperor shouted, and the priests and officials hurriedly shouted.
"The holy waters are gathering towards the domain!"
"The domain barrier has collapsed!"
The Emperor frowned and looked at the Pope.
"What is this?"
"The Saintess has manifested her divinity!"
What?
No, that saintess has an incredible ability to break barriers and eat them, why isn't she appearing!
Is she hiding to live?
'That can't be.'
'I have to bring the Saintess.'
The Emperor and the Pope looked at each other at the same time.
"First, let's join forces in finding her."
"I will lend my strength in finding her."
The two power peaks, who used to bite each other's heads when they met, clasped hands.