I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 44

“There’s still hope, right……?”

I don’t know how far I’ve penetrated Killian’s mind.

His mind is probably still filled with Lizé, and I’m probably just an annoying foreign object.

But that little bit of attention could save my life.

It’s just enough attention and affection for him to think, “She’s annoying, suspicious, and irritating, but I think killing her is too much.” Just give me that much affection!

I don’t want any more attention than that.

Praying for that little hope, I welcomed Anna, and was thrilled to see Sophia’s rotten face as she came in after her.

***

While Edith was looking forward to an evening without beatings, a heated discussion was taking place in the Duke of Ludwig’s office.

“Count Sinclair has been quiet of late, as she says; but that is only conjecture.”

“The idea that Edith might be the culprit is also conjecture. Besides, as she says, it’s too immediate. She’s not stupid enough to do something that would immediately implicate her.”

“But it’s not like anyone else touched that embroidery thread.”

“We just haven’t found the culprit, brother! Did you suddenly become stupid because it concerns Lizé?”

Killian could understand Edith’s feelings a little.

No amount of logic could convince Cliff otherwise.

If Edith is the culprit because we haven’t found anyone else who’s touched the embroidery thread, then why is Edith the culprit when we haven’t even found her applying the poison?

Cliff seemed to have been brainwashed.

“Anyway, I don’t think this is Edith’s doing. There’s no telling who could have gotten in and done this while Lizé’s room was empty.”

“And if so, why did it have to be that embroidery thread?”

“They must have poisoned something that Lizé would touch, and if it was an embroidery thread, they might have thought it would be a good idea because it’s something she’d be touching for a long time!”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit of a leap of conclusions?”

“It’s a big leap to accuse Edith of poisoning the embroidery thread she gave as a gift. And to assume that she procured the poison and applied it under the watchful eyes of the guards we’ve placed around her? Are the guards of the Ludwig family that incompetent?”

Killian was frustrated with his brother, but his arguments were not without merit.

Whatever Cliff might have thought, Duke Ludwig was slowly chipping away at the conviction that had wrapped itself around his thoughts like a hard shell.

“Killian has a point. It’s hard to believe that Edith or her maid could have gotten the poison without being noticed by our guards.”

“That maid, Sophia, could have brought it in.”

“I’ve already gone through that maid’s luggage after the peach pie incident, though she may not realize it.”

Finally, Cliff backed down.

And Lizé, who had been listening, took Edith’s side.

“I don’t think Edith would have done that after all the pain she’s been through, and besides, Killian was in my room when she gave it to me. There’s no way she would have given me something so horrible in front of him.”

Looking at Lizé, whose lips were still pale, Cliff clenched his molars. “That woman, Edith, suspected that the Sinclairs were framing her and trying to harm you. There is no evidence, but I think it’s worth investigating.”

At that, Lizé shook her head helplessly. “I don’t want the Duke’s manpower wasted on me, and thankfully I’m recovering well.”

“Lizé. This is about your life, and I can’t let it slide.”

“Cliff…… I’m in so much pain, can’t we just bury it?”

Cliff’s heart ached like it was splitting in two as tears welled up in Lizé’s blue eyes.

If he could, he wanted to grab Edith and torture her, feeding her just enough of the painful poison to keep her from dying.

But part of him feared that if he kept digging, Lizé would continue to suffer.

“If that’s what you want, then…… okay.”

“Thanks, Cliff.”

“But promise me, if I find any other evidence…… you’ll just hang in there until I find the culprit.”

Lizé couldn’t help but promise to do so for Cliff, who looked distressed at not being able to find the culprit right away.

***

Leila sighed as she read the letter from the spy she had planted in the Ludwig mansion.

– Miss Lizé has fallen ill from poison in her embroidery thread, which was given to her as a gift by Miss Edith.

It is believed that Miss Edith resorted to a second method when her first attempt at self-inflicted wound poisoning by eating a pie given to her by Miss Lizé failed.

The Duke was very angry, as well as Sir Cliff and Sir Killian.

When Leila finished reading the letter, she narrowed her eyes and muttered, “That bitch Lizé has a long life. Why didn’t she just die right away.”

All of Edith’s attempts to manipulate everyone around her into hating Lizé didn’t seem to have paid off.

I thought it was great that she tried to frame Lizé by poisoning the peach pie Lizé sent her, but when that didn’t work, she immediately tried to retaliate, which is very “evil Edith” of her.

Just then, Damien walked into Leila’s room.

“Why did you call me in again today?”

As soon as she read Hanson’s letter, Leila sent a maid to fetch him, and she handed him the letter.

“Edith’s been trying very hard, but she keeps failing.”

“This one was close.”

“Yeah, well, it’s kind of stupid, but it’s a shame, because this was a golden opportunity to get rid of them both.”

“I know.”

Then Leila raised an eyebrow. “Or…… was this something you set up, brother?”

But Damien shook his head. “Not me.”

“Hmm…… I see.”

“But……”

“Huh?”

Damian tapped the corner of the folded letter on the palm of his hand and said, “I do know that our mother bought poison a while back.”

“What? Really?”

“I don’t know what she used it for, or what kind of poison it was. But she seems to want to keep it a secret, so you shouldn’t pry either.”

“Okay, I don’t want to get my mother’s ire either, but why…… would she keep it a secret?”

“I don’t know, and I’m not sure if she’s behind this or not, because there’s a lot of people she’d love to kill.”

Damien and Leila chuckled softly, even though it was nothing to laugh about.

To them, the lives of people they didn’t care about were something to joke about.

“Anyway, one thing’s for sure, Edith is losing ground in the Ludwig household.”

“She never had any standing in the first place.”

“Losing it completely is a different matter. It’s harder now, but when she’s completely discredited, we can attack Lizé ourselves and still blame her for it. Even Duke Ludwig will believe it was Edith.”

Leila nodded happily, thinking of Lizé and Edith.

“Well, Edith is digging her own grave, so I guess I have nothing to worry about. As for Lizé, well, that bitch can’t be so lucky forever.”

The Sinclair siblings put their heads together again for the day when they would use Edith to get rid of Lizé.

***

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, I expected Cliff or the Duke to call me in, but because of whatever Killian said, I was only placed on probation and not hauled off to face further questioning.

In fact, I was curious as to who was behind this, or who was responsible.

‘Who the hell poisoned the embroidery thread, and why the embroidery thread? Was it because Lizé loves to embroider…… or because they know I gave her the thread……?’

I convinced Killian that I suspected Count Sinclair, but in truth, I had no idea.

In the original story, Edith is of course the culprit.

But this time, I didn’t.

My actions were so out of character that the strong flow of this world tried to make me the villain, even if it meant having another character do it, and if you trace back from there…… well, it couldn’t have been Lizé or her maid, so that leaves only Count Sinclair.

‘That’s quite a departure from the original story. Count Sinclair doesn’t appear much in the fourth volume where Edith is.’

I thought about that and shook my head.

‘No, there’s still no evidence that Count Sinclair did it, and if there’s another suspect, this whole thing could continue with me being framed.’

In the end, I had no choice but to wait in my room for someone to tell me the conclusion.

The only good thing was that I no longer had to suffer Sophia’s tyranny.

Since Anna is a higher-ranking maid than Sophia, she has to run errands like fetching meals and preparing bath water.

In other words, I was never left alone with her.

“Sophia, I need you to taste it first.”

“Yes……?”

“You’ve tasted all my food since that peach pie incident. What’s the matter?”

“Oh…… that, that was……”

I couldn’t eat the food Sophia brought me blindly, so I deliberately ordered her to taste it first, and when it was done, I ate it with gusto.

If she could shoot lasers with her eyes, she would have burned me to death again and again.