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Chapter 13
The Little Daughter-in-law Takes Care of Everything!
“An item?”
“Yes. If we don’t completely eliminate the cause, even if we treat the duchess, the same thing will keep happening. We also need to find and destroy the object causing it.”
“A new item, huh…”
Uncle Ricardo fell into thought, searching his memory.
“Back then it was winter, so many things were coming in and out of the mansion.”
“Try narrowing it down. It’s probably something the duchess uses closely. For example—clothes or cosmetics…”
At that moment, Ricardo’s sharp gaze landed on me.
“Come to think of it, Diana said she once gave her old cosmetics to that kid. She even said it was cute how seriously she was investigating it.”
“Cosmetics?”
Angela turned to look at me.
“Iris, could you show us that cosmetic item?”
“Of course!”
This was perfect timing. I had been wanting to tell Uncle Ricardo that “Silver Lake’s Ripple” was the problem.
“It’s over here—”
“I’ll get it. Just tell me where.”
Ricardo stopped me as I tried to get out of bed, and instead went to the drawer himself and brought out the bottle according to my instructions.
‘Good thing I kept the paper where I wrote my analysis.’
I felt relieved and accepted the cosmetic water he handed me.
“Why did you ask for this, kid?”
“Duke, don’t scare her like that. You’ll frighten Iris.”
“Well, no matter what I say, that kid doesn’t even listen properly anyway.”
“You shouldn’t say things like that. We’re not scolding her—we’re asking her opinion, right?”
Ricardo seemed to find the idea of “asking a child’s opinion” absurd, but he stayed silent.
Angela gently asked in his place.
“Iris, why were you interested in this cosmetic water? The duchess’s dressing table must have had many more interesting and beautiful items.”
“Well, you see…”
I confidently gave the excuse I had just come up with.
“I sensed an evil presence from this cosmetic water!”
“An evil presence?”
“Yes!”
Since I had already decided to go with the “genius” image, I pushed it further shamelessly.
“When I was examining the duchess, I kept feeling something ominous coming from the dressing table. So I investigated it—and guess what! I found a strange feeling coming from one bottle of cosmetics!”
Ricardo gestured for me to continue.
Like an actress on stage, I exaggerated my movements.
“At that moment, I knew it! That cosmetic was definitely the thing making the duchess sick! If we get rid of it, she’ll get better!”
“So you brought the cosmetic water and investigated it?” Ricardo cut in again.
“Yes!”
“How did you investigate it?”
“Uh, well…”
I had actually analyzed it based on herbal medicine I learned at the academy. I even figured out its main components.
But I couldn’t say that directly.
So I smiled brightly as if I knew nothing.
“Well… I stared at it really hard?”
Angela, who had been listening seriously, burst out laughing.
Ricardo sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead.
Kilian clicked his tongue lightly. He looked uninterested, but seemed to be paying attention anyway.
Seeing their reactions, I bit my lip to hold back laughter.
‘Well, that part was a joke.’
Fortunately, I didn’t actually need to mention the academy to explain myself.
“I analyzed the ingredients in the cosmetic water,” I said.
At that, Ricardo frowned deeply in disbelief.
“Analyzed? You? How?”
He pressed me sharply, and Angela whispered to him.
“Duke, try to relax your expression.”
“My expression is always like this.”
“No, it isn’t…”
I clearly remembered Ricardo’s softened expression earlier.
My quiet muttering made his eyebrows twitch, but he soon eased up slightly and asked again.
“I’m not blaming you. I’m just surprised how you analyzed it.”
“That just means you don’t believe me,” I shrugged.
“Well, I do know a little about herbal medicine. I can recognize basic herbs used in cosmetics, so I tried to check whether anything strange was mixed in.”
“Herbal medicine? Where did you learn that?”
“From my dad.”
I casually shrugged.
Of course, I had only started studying it properly after entering the Royal Academy.
The reason I could analyze the cosmetic ingredients was thanks to academy lessons.
But it was also true that I had learned the basics from my father much earlier.
—“Do you know, Lisi? This herb grows everywhere in fields, but it actually helps with coughs. If you boil it down and add sugar, you can make syrup that lasts a long time. People here rarely catch colds, so they don’t know it.”
It wasn’t formal teaching. My father just told me stories like that.
‘But there’s no way Uncle Ricardo knows how much my father taught me.’
So I could just insist on it.
‘My father taught me many things besides herbal medicine.’
He was far more knowledgeable than I had realized—telling me old legends, how to find direction using stars, and even basic first aid.
Back then, I just liked spending time with him.
But now that I think about it, he had been teaching me how to stand on my own.
As if he were someone who would eventually leave me behind.
And he did.
‘No, stop thinking about Dad.’
I smacked my cheeks lightly with both hands.
“…What are you doing?”
Ignoring Ricardo’s confused stare, I got out of bed.
Angela and Ricardo called after me, worried about my health, but I ignored them and searched the drawer, pulling out the papers I needed.
“I did a rough analysis of the ingredients. It’s not perfect, but it should help.”
Before Ricardo could take it, Angela grabbed the paper first.
“So you really did study herbal medicine. This analysis is more detailed than I expected. How did a clever little girl like you get mixed up with Windritche?”
She muttered in admiration.
“Iris, would you like to become my apprentice? I may not look it, but I’ve got quite a name and authority in the Magic Association.”
“Let’s talk about that later. It’s not important right now.”
“Fair enough. Duke, I’ll begin analyzing this immediately. I’ll visit the duchess’s room once she wakes.”
Angela quickly bowed and left the room, taking the cosmetic water and my notes with her.
‘Hey… I did all the work though.’
Feeling slightly wronged, I spoke to Ricardo.
“I want to help more too. Can I work with her? I think I could learn a lot.”
But Ricardo stopped me firmly.
“You should focus on recovering. If you keep running around and get worse, people will start gossiping.”
“Like ‘Duke Windritche is overworking a child’?”
“You know it well.”
“Since when do you care about what people say?”
Unable to argue, he pressed my forehead and pushed me back onto the bed.
“Just stay still.”
“If that’s the case—!” I quickly shouted after him as he turned away.
“I’ll get bored. Can I read some books?”
“Books?”
“Yes. I really like reading! I just didn’t bring any with me.”
After a moment of thought, Ricardo surprisingly nodded.
“That should be fine. Use the library on the third floor.”
“Third floor?”
The third floor was reserved for the Windritche family only. That meant a library full of books outsiders normally couldn’t access.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“I’m just really happy!”
“How frivolous.”
Ricardo clicked his tongue, watching me grin widely, then left the room without hesitation.
Still lying in bed, I peeked up toward the bedside.
Kilian was standing there with his arms crossed.
