Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Poisoned Champagne
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68
8
“Does ‘giving candy’ really mean feeding me actual candy?”
Leon’s out-of-nowhere question left me momentarily dazed.
When I shot him a what-are-you-talking-about look, he glanced around before adding,
“If not, then why’d you come to the kitchen?”
“Ah, you wouldn’t know the circumstances.”
Right now, Leon and I were in the Hilpenberg Ducal Family’s kitchen.
We’d come here for a specific reason, but...
No need to explain it right away.
“There’s a situation. More importantly, you okay with me messing him up like this?”
“You’re the one who was insulted. Unless you cross the line, it’s not my place to step in. Just please make sure it doesn’t harm the family.”
“Yes, yes. Such a dutiful guy. For your sake, I’ll keep it light.”
Whether there’s such a thing as light or heavy when it comes to messing someone up is debatable.
I rolled my eyes, scanning for what I needed.
“But why do you keep bringing up failing?”
“No idea. I didn’t think rumors of me being a failure would spread all the way here...”
Apparently, Kuhn had told Leon that I was a failure, a disgrace to the nobility, and so on.
Honestly, I was so unfairly pissed I could die.
I didn’t even fail.
Subtle rumors were circulating in the Academy too, stressing me out.
If everyone’s going to gossip about my grades, they could at least pay my tuition first.
“Ah, you there. Hold on a sec.”
I called out to the butler transferring champagne-filled glasses onto a cart.
He started to protest my order but swallowed hard when he spotted Leon beside me.
Having a ducal family member with me made him wary.
I approached the cart casually and examined the glasses carefully.
At a glance, they all looked identical.
But there had to be a mark somewhere to distinguish one.
I focused my mana, even using dimensional magic.
With full concentration, I spotted one glass with a faint pattern on the bottom.
Under the chandelier’s light, the pattern would stand out even more clearly.
“This one.”
I picked up the problematic champagne glass.
The butler’s face stiffened instantly.
“Care to try it?”
“...Drinking on the job is forbidden.”
“I’ll take responsibility. Drink.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
The butler paled and backed away.
Sensing something off, Leon’s hand went to the holy sword at his waist.
At that moment, the blood drained completely from the butler’s face as he turned to flee.
But Leon was faster—his hand quicker than his eyes.
Using footwork to block the butler’s path, Leon drew his holy sword.
The butler let out a shrill scream and tripped over his own feet, falling backward.
I knelt beside the now-trapped butler.
Then, right in front of his eyes, I tilted the champagne glass.
Golden champagne dripped onto the floor.
Sizzle...
The spot where it landed began to corrode.
The butler curled up, swallowing a groan at the sight, like it was laced with hydrochloric acid.
Leon’s eyes widened in tandem.
During the vacation in Hilpenberg territory, two major incidents occur.
This failed poisoning via champagne is one of them.
The scenario is straightforward.
While enjoying the banquet, Kuhn drinks champagne and collapses vomiting blood.
With the party’s host suddenly down, the banquet descends into chaos.
Investigation reveals some poison in the champagne, but the culprit is never caught.
The only suspicion raised is that Leon, jealous of the eldest son’s position, did it.
With no culprit apprehended—let alone evidence to confirm anyone—it can’t even be refuted.
Just circumstantial finger-pointing without proof.
Well, I know who the culprit is.
“Who were you planning to give this champagne to?”
Leon growled in a low voice.
The butler fell silent for a moment, but as the holy sword pressed toward his face, his teeth chattered and lips trembled.
“T-To Young Master Kuhn...”
“Why... No, who put you up to it?”
“P-Please spare me...! I don’t know anything...!!”
In that instant, the holy sword slashed the kitchen floor.
Its sharpness dug deep into the marble—enough to easily cleave a person.
With that intuitive threat, Leon glared with red eyes and lowered his voice again.
“I’ll ask once more. Who put you up to it?”
Killing intent seeped thickly into the air.
Only then did the butler gulp dryly and respond.
“Young Master Kuhn......”
9
The Hilpenberg Ducal Family’s banquet was in full swing.
Kuhn Hilpenberg, the man of the hour, exchanged pleasant smiles and greetings with the distinguished guests.
‘Pathetic.’
Not a single person here could match the ducal family’s power.
That’s why most approached, peddling their flimsy pride to build connections.
Utterly pathetic, but that made looking down on them all the more satisfying.
It was minor entertainment, but he was starting to tire of it.
Just then, the pre-planted butler was serving champagne.
The butler, catching Kuhn’s eye, approached naturally.
The champagne glasses sparkled under the chandelier.
While everyone was mesmerized by the golden liquid, he selected the one with the different base pattern.
“To cheers.”
Lightly toasting the air, Kuhn downed the champagne in one refreshing gulp.
Effects would show in five minutes.
Imagining the chaos to follow, he smirked inwardly.
......Ten minutes passed.
Yet no reaction.
Just in case, he checked if the antidote hidden between his molars had burst.
The antidote was still intact.
‘Something’s wrong.’
Kuhn quietly slipped out of the banquet hall.
He hurried to the kitchen to find the butler.
But Theo Agrit had already subdued him.
“What brings you here, Young Master Kuhn?”
“You’re... Theo Agrit, right? What are you doing here?”
“Don’t answer a question with another question. Didn’t they teach you that?”
This was provocation.
A blatant attack dismissing him.
Knowing it, Kuhn suppressed his odd irritation.
“Came to tell the head chef we’re short on food for the banquet.”
“Ah, as expected of a noble exemplar. So attentive. Me? I got lost and wandered here.”
‘What nonsense...’
Too half-hearted for an excuse.
But more than that, Kuhn focused on his planted butler being in Theo Agrit’s grasp.
“You got lost, yet you’ve caught our precious servant? I’d appreciate it if you let him go.”
“That’s a problem. I happened to see this fellow spiking the champagne with poison. If I hadn’t stopped him, who knows who would’ve drunk it and collapsed... Chilling to think about. So we must punish this wicked criminal severely. That’s the law of the kingdom.”
“Well... Impressive work from our guest. Thanks to you, we averted a major incident. We’ll investigate.”
“No big deal. It’s my friend’s home, so of course I’d help. Unlikely he acted alone, so check the mastermind carefully.”
Theo Agrit smiled brightly and handed the butler over to Kuhn.
Then he left the kitchen with light steps.
‘...I got played.’
Once Theo was out of sight, Kuhn schooled his expression.
The relaxed face, the teasing tone—Theo clearly knew everything.
‘Yet he hands over the butler? What’s his game?’
No answer would come to that.
Kuhn Hilpenberg just ground his teeth.
10
“Investigation shows the poison was raw troll blood.”
“Is that why you summoned me after the banquet’s over?”
I replied with obvious annoyance.
The Hilpenberg banquet ended yesterday.
Yet today, I’d been called by Kuhn for a private meeting.
Taking in the ducal parlor rivaling the palace was enjoyable, but the guy in front of me soured it.
“We owe you disclosure. Thanks to you, we prevented it. Refined troll blood is a tonic, but raw it reverses through veins, causing fatal internal damage. Without your intervention, someone at the banquet would’ve been gravely hurt.”
Wow, shameless.
He’d deliberately mixed refined troll blood to minimize lethality and prepared an antidote.
The scary thing about Kuhn Hilpenberg was how he showed no sign of it.
“Just did what needed doing. Found the mastermind?”
“Not yet. Likely a lone act.”
“Hah, what are the odds a butler procures troll blood just to ruin a banquet? That’s throwing his life away. Unless someone paid big or promised a future.”
“Sometimes the world defies understanding. That unpredictability makes it fun, no?”
“Well, true.”
Especially when someone suddenly possesses a body.
I shrugged, and Kuhn chuckled lightly.
His acting was so refined even I couldn’t see through it.
Not just masking emotions like a facade.
It was like swapping faces entirely, insisting the current one was genuine.
A born actor.
Debut and he’d rake in ten million viewers, snag Best Actor at international film fests.
We both knew the full story.
I’d made it obvious yesterday, so Kuhn knew I’d figured it out.
Now we were just probing each other’s intentions.
Impressive acting for a psychological war.
What he overlooked: I wasn’t just defending.
He was probing me, so I’d probe back.
“There are rumors of warlocks or secret societies with illicit groups. Name’s... ah, the Precursors?”
Beyond bait—a fastball.
My involvement wasn’t just personal grudge.
I was pissed, sure... but more importantly, something to verify.
In Broken World, the failed poisoning kicks off a chain of events.
Weakened by poison, Kuhn gets kidnapped by timely-arriving Precursors.
While all eyes are on his disappearance, the Precursors raid the ducal family.
Broken World never links Kuhn to Precursors.
But the timing’s too perfect.
My intervention changed things—unclear how—but worth checking separately.
“Hmm, first I’ve heard. Conspiracy theories aren’t healthy.”
Kuhn tilted his head curiously.
No hint of fluster, as far as I could tell.
Well, it’s Kuhn Hilpenberg.
Never leaks a sliver of emotion; impossible to read his thoughts.
He looks down on everything, playing with all rules for thrills.
In a way, the worst opponent for mind games.
If Q&A could crack him, how easy life would be.
For now, just watch.
“Fun, that’s all. Good to hear the gossip. If that’s all, I’ll head out.”
Kuhn didn’t stop me.
I rose from my seat.
Put Kuhn on hold for now.
Next: how the timeline-disrupted Precursors move.