TLDH~43

Chapter 43

“Ouch, it hurts! Let me go!”

At the sound of my cries, Arina seemed momentarily startled. She carefully placed the glass on the side table and urgently tried to cover my mouth. Her grip, however, was far rougher than when she handled the glass, and I shook my head, struggling against her.

“Miss!”

She released the hand that had been gripping my wrist and, with her large hands, pinned my head to block my mouth from both sides. My nose was pressed, making it difficult to breathe properly.

This girl’s completely insane.

Once the initial fear faded, I could see the extent of her madness clearly.

It seemed she was completely consumed by whatever was in front of her—she couldn’t see or hear anything else.

But she had overlooked one crucial detail: this wasn’t the isolated eastern annex.

In the annex, even if I struggled like this, no one would come except Lindsey or Hale. But here, that wasn’t the case.

Servants came and went by the dozens, and if I went all the way to the far end of the upper floor, my grandfather was right there.

The windows weren’t open, so he wouldn’t hear me directly, but it was only a matter of time before he knew. Anyone could come into the room at any moment because of my cries.

Yet Arina didn’t seem to be thinking about any of that.

Her hands pressed harder against my face, and she violently shook me while glaring down, her anger overflowing.

“Be quiet!”

Yes, those dull eyes…

I had thought it was a joke, but they were exactly like the strange look she had given me a few days ago.

Then the uneasy feeling I’d had back then made sense.

“Miss, here’s your juice.”

I remembered Arina rushing down to the porch earlier that morning to hand me juice. Looking back now, my condition had gone downhill right after drinking it.

Immediately after drinking it, I had been dizzy to the point of staggering, and the ride in the carriage made me feel even worse. When we left the Count’s estate, I looked so weak that Hale had suggested we go another time.

That juice definitely had something in it.

And now, Arina seemed capable of doing anything to achieve her goal.

Sensing immediate danger, I kicked my feet harder, twisted my whole body, and screamed even louder than before.

“Let me go! Let me go!”

“Miss, miss!”

“Let go of me!”

Seeing my extreme cries, Arina seemed at a loss. She bit her lip, but realizing that if she left me to freak out everyone in the mansion would come rushing in, she finally released her hands and stepped back.

“Alright, alright. Miss, I’ll move away.”

Even as she raised her hands as if to calm me, I didn’t stop crying.

After a while, as I expected, servants, startled by my cries, came into the room.

“Miss!”

“What happened?”

“Why are you crying?!”

They were middle-aged servants, all in charge of my grandfather’s floor, with no connection to Bellia.

Seeing their faces, I finally stopped crying aloud and bit my lip.

“P-please… call Hale. Hale.”

The moment I spoke his name, a wave of relief washed over me, and I couldn’t help but cry again.

“Daddy…”

I missed my dad at that moment.

“The only one who can protect me from these terrible people… Daddy.”

When Hale entered, I clung to his sleeve, finally calming my sobs.

“I’m sorry, Miss. I shouldn’t have left your side.”

Hale wiped the tears from my cheeks with a firm expression and bit his lips.

“……”

I wanted to tell him it was okay, but whether from exhaustion or genuine fear, my grief, rooted in the innocence of a child rather than adult reason, wouldn’t subside.

Sob after sob, I trembled as I tried to swallow my cries.

Though I shook my head outwardly to signal I was okay, my eyes filled with tears that wouldn’t stop.

Tears continued to fall from my chin, and the servants, still alarmed, glanced at each other and then at Arina.

In that tense atmosphere—

“Arina.”

The eldest of the three middle-aged maids took a deep breath and turned to look at Arina.

“Why is Miss crying like this? And what’s this about her being afraid of you, her personal maid?”

The three maids who had entered the room all turned to Arina at once.

“I-I don’t know. She suddenly started crying.”

But Arina, without a change in expression, shook her head.

“I don’t know what displeased her. It’s all my fault.”

Her faithful demeanor seemed to say that this whole situation was due to my moodiness. And in her words, there was no concern about telling the truth—or even believing that people would believe me if I did.

Yes, that’s what I was in this household.

Even if Bennett or Hale occasionally took my side, it wasn’t enough to overturn my reputation.

What good is having supernatural powers?

I was, after all, just the illegitimate daughter of Sharie, a neglected child.

Even coming to the main mansion’s annex was just the whim of the head of the family. Once he retired and returned to his estate, many expected things to go back to how they were.

If it were the old days, yes.

But now, the situation was different.

I had no intention of leaving here.

“Miss, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

Arina turned toward me with a fake expression and slightly bowed her head, covering the grape juice on the side table with her body.

She seemed worried that if I saw it, I might start crying again.

Will she just pour it out?

I thought it would be the cleanest solution and turned my head.

But Arina, instead of removing it, merely shielded it from my eyes.

At that moment,

What’s going on?

Rational thought returned as I sniffled. I clearly saw her adding something to the drink, and even though confronting her could be problematic, she left the evidence there.

Why?

She wasn’t stupid… so why act like this? Then I remembered she had just come back from leave.

She must have bought something new.

And it seemed very expensive.

So she couldn’t bring herself to break it. If I made a fuss, she could just claim it was only juice.

No reason to destroy it. She could serve it later.

What could it be?

What had she added?

Arina looked at me with a mix of apology and embarrassment, biting and releasing her lips. I narrowed my eyes.

It’s a liquid. Mixed in the juice, but not poison.

As I organized my thoughts and stared at her, a scene from a novel and a fragment of a past life came to mind.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Alchemy using magical stones to make a “love potion” for sale.

Drinking it made the target believe whatever the giver said and focus only on them.

Temporary side effects were mild—like a hangover or slight nausea—but once stopped, the person returned to normal. People called it A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

They usually mixed it in strongly sour drinks to mask the flavor.

So…

I finally understood why Arina had given me grape juice with pulp and a dull color.

She had tried to brainwash me.

She needed me to make money. She had to make me spill secrets no one else knew and manipulate me however she wanted.

Sigh.

I thought back to the times I had drunk her juice, biting my lip.

That day, the insane things she had done to me were likely tests of this potion.

But it hadn’t affected me.

I had tasted bitterness behind the juice, but I hadn’t been brainwashed.

I hadn’t said a word she could use.

That must be why Arina was so distressed.

No matter how many times she had given me the potion, it hadn’t worked.

I had never experienced memory loss.

But did Arina know why the creators of that potion, who claimed only minor side effects, were eventually caught and sentenced to death?