"Miss...?"
Charlotte called out in a fluster, as if trying to dissuade herself.
But Navia just set down the ruined juice on the side table.
She regretted wasting more than half of the juice left. Yet, it had allowed her a fleeting moment of blissful dreaming.
Such luxury was extraordinary for her.
Charlotte, with eyes full of confusion, alternated her gaze between the juice and Navia.
Could it be that Navia had a bizarre taste for drugged juice? The taste of that juice must have been awful.
Wouldn’t it have been more effective to take the medicine separately, if it were bitter to taste…?
Bang!
The door burst open without a knock.
Charlotte looked at the uninvited guests with a face mixed with astonishment and anger.
The ones who entered were Butler Lyndon and Maki.
Charlotte asked them with an unpleasant expression, "What is it?"
Lyndon, looking displeased, silently scanned the room.
His gaze quickly fell on the cup on the side table.
"What's that?" Lyndon pointed at the cup and asked Charlotte. She hesitated to speak.
Maki said with a calm yet assertive tone, "It's the same cup we used. One had gone missing, and here it is."
Charlotte retorted coldly, "That's strange. You had personally placed it on the tray earlier, asking me to bring it to the lady. Why change your story now?"
Maki shook her head vigorously. "Look at her trying to frame me, sir. It's despicable, accusing me after stealing."
Lyndon, with an annoyed expression, pressed Charlotte. "Charlotte, even if it was for the lady, don't you realize this violates the master's wishes?"
"It's not like that, sir..."
Before Charlotte could counter, Maki interrupted. "Not only that, she even mixed diarrhetic into our juice! I mentioned it to Laura earlier, didn't I?"
She shifted all her wrongdoings onto Charlotte as part of her scheme.
Maki muttered with a devastated look, "If it had been Miss Vivian instead of Laura who drank it..."
The mere hypothetical was enough to turn one's stomach.
Had Vivian ingested the tainted juice, not only the personal maids but also the kitchen staff might have faced severe consequences.
Lyndon, too, wouldn't have been able to escape the fallout.
"How dare you commit such vile and cruel acts within Agnes!"
Yet, thankfully, it had not come to pass.
'Tch, because of Maki, it's hard to let this slide. I'll have to demote Charlotte to a laundry maid.'
Lyndon intended to cover this up himself, knowing even the mere occurrence of such an event might bring rebuke from Nikan.
"Your disobedience alone is enough to show your disloyalty. You are now a laundry maid..."
"Ugh..."
Just then, a faint moan was heard.
Everyone's eyes turned downwards.
Navia, already small, was curled up even smaller, her forehead resting on her knees.
"Miss!"
Charlotte, startled, rushed to Navia's side.
"Why is she acting like this?" she wondered, just as she felt puzzled.
"Ouch, my stomach..."
Navia raised her head, which had been deeply bowed, with a distorted expression on her face.
Her face and neck were flushed red from blood rush, and her eyes were swollen from staying up all night, making her look obviously sick.
Charlotte, seeing Navia really in pain, glanced at the juice with anxious eyes.
'There should be nothing wrong with this juice, why...?'
Then, she remembered seeing Navia putting medicine in the juice.
'Ah.'
A smile crossed Charlotte's lips and then disappeared.
She glared fiercely at Maki with an extremely angry expression.
"Maki! You gave me this juice on purpose!"
"What, what...?"
Maki was flustered.
The juice with the stomach medicine was definitely drunk by Laura, so why was it affecting Navia?
The medicine was only in the one glass she handed to Charlotte, so it shouldn't have caused stomach issues for both of them.
'How dare you try to deceive me!'
Maki regained her composure and said to Lyndon.
"She's just acting because she's cornered. There's nothing wrong with this juice. The fact that there's stomach medicine in only one glass of juice clearly shows that Miss Vivian was the target!"
Maki began to blatantly slander Charlotte as if she had planned to kill Vivian.
Charlotte burst into laughter inside.
'Maki seems quite flustered by Miss Navia's behavior.'
She made a fatal verbal mistake.
Charlotte asked with an incredulous expression.
"Why is there stomach medicine in only one glass of juice? You don't even know what this juice is like."
Maki's face hardened.
Lyndon also stopped pressing Charlotte based on her words.
The atmosphere suddenly became ambiguous.
Maki rebutted as if in desperation.
"Well, it's the juice you took, so of course, it should be fine, right?"
Charlotte, looking like she had no words to say, supported the groaning Navia and said.
"Ah... Butler, it's important to discern right from wrong, but if we don't act quickly, the lady might be in serious trouble."
"Oh, hmm. That's true."
Maki became anxious as Lyndon suddenly switched to a neutral stance.
"What sickness, then I'll drink it and see for myself! Whether it's real or fake!"
Maki, worried that Charlotte or Navia might spill the juice, hurriedly intercepted the juice placed on the side table.
"Maki!"
As Charlotte scolded him with a very displeased expression, Maki gave a thin smile.
'Ha, look at that. She must be scared of being caught in a lie.'
Maki gulped down the juice.
"Ugh!"
Then he spat out the juice, which had an unbearably disgusting taste, nothing like apple juice.
'What is this...?'
Maki, completely unprepared for this situation, stood dumbfounded, looking at the juice without any thought or reaction.
What? Could it really be that there's stomach medicine in here?
Then why hasn't Laura come out of the bathroom? Charlotte said to Maki with a cold expression.
"Our lady has never tasted apple juice before, so she wouldn't know what it tastes like."
"Oh, no... Charlotte...."
"But judging by your reaction, it seems certain that it wasn't apple juice."
Lyndon had been silent since he felt something was off, but now he changed his demeanor.
"It seems we need an explanation for this, Maki."
"Ha, but Mr. Butler, Laura is still suffering because of the juice with stomach medicine..."
Then Charlotte pressed on fiercely.
"Where is that juice? You must have pinned the blame on me since there's solid evidence, right?"
Maki broke out in a cold sweat.
This way, she had fallen into his own trap.
If she hadn't escalated the situation to this extent, there would have been enough room to escape.
She should have made it awkward just by the fact that Navia drank the juice without permission!
"It seems like the juice might have been mixed with spoiled fruit. I might have overthought things."
Maki mumbled, trying to pass off the juice itself as the problem.
She didn’t stop there but redirected Lyndon's attention to Navia.
"Miss Navia seems to have not drunk much, but it would be best to show her condition to the doctor quickly."
Navia was still curled up, clutching her stomach.
Lyndon, about to reprimand Maki for almost causing him unnecessary trouble, decided to settle the matter.
"Tsk, Maki, you take responsibility and bring Dr. Hans. If you cause trouble again, it won't end like this!"
Maki gritted his teeth inwardly and bowed his head.
"…Yes, I'm sorry."
Lyndon, trying to justify his earlier actions of questioning Navia and Charlotte, reprimanded Charlotte this time.
"Charlotte, I'll overlook this defiance of the master's will this time, but make sure it doesn't happen again."
"I'll bear it in mind, Mr. Butler."
"Cough, report immediately if the lady's condition worsens."
With those words, Lyndon left the room as if he had nothing to do with the matter.
Maki was about to leave with his fists clenched when Charlotte mocked him with a worried expression.
"You're going to call Dr. Hans, right? You'd better run and come back quickly... If our lady's treatment is delayed and her condition worsens, you'll have to report to Mr. Lyndon, won't you?"
Maki's face and even the rims of his eyes turned red with anger, but he forced a smile and replied.
"That's... right. I understand."
A twitching spasm appeared at the corner of his mouth that he couldn't hide.
Thud.
As March closed the door and left, Charlotte picked up the apple juice that was placed back on the side table.
Navia straightened her curled body and slipped into bed, then said.
"Just throw it in the flowerpot."
Charlotte shrugged her shoulders and replied.
"Yes. I was actually wondering which flowerpot to throw it in."
That was a pretty good rhythm.
The two of them faced each other and smiled faintly.
