I Won’t Pick Up The Trash I Threw Away Again

After the uncomfortable dinner, I returned to my room and stared at the spirit stone necklace.

When I saw this necklace in the store before, I thought I had seen it somewhere. It turned out to be what Cecily wore.

Wearing a necklace like Cecily's wasn't very pleasant.

I thought I should take it off right away, but I didn't want to because this necklace had already become like an amulet to me.

But it's better to take it off, right?

Because if Cecily saw it, I was sure she would laugh at me for wearing the same necklace as her.

Although I was sad, I thought it would be better to take it off for now, so I took the necklace off and put it on the dressing table. Then a maid came in.

“Would you like a bath, My Lady?”   

"Yeah. Get it ready.”

"I understand."

I threw off my clothes and went into the bath that had been prepared by the maid.

After soaking in the warm water, the tiredness seemed to disappear a little. My eyelids came down little by little.

I thought I would fall asleep in the bathroom if I stayed like this, so I quickly washed up and came out.

When I sat in front of the dressing table in a bathrobe, the maid approached and dried my wet hair. 

“Oh yeah, Ness.”

I asked the maid, Ness, to confirm the thing I had heard from Philen earlier.

“I heard that there were two vials as evidence, is that true?”

“Oh, really?”

Judging from Ness's reaction, it seemed like she never heard of it. Well, if she had known, she would have told me when I asked earlier.

“Ah, Kenna probably knows about it.”

It was the first time I heard the name. I guessed she was a servant who hadn't been around when I was in the Duke of Williot.

“She’s a newly chosen maid, right?”

"Yes, that's right. When the baby is born, more hands will be needed, so the former chief maid unofficially picked two more maids, and I am one of them.”

I asked just in case, but I was right.

“So, how does that Kenna girl know about that?”

“Master previously ordered to inspect My Lady’s belongings that had been stored in the storage. The servant who was mobilized at that time was Kenna.”

Kenna couldn’t have been mobilized alone. 

There were also other servants, so there must be a reason why Ness only mentioned Kenna's name.

“Why do you think Kenna knows it?”

“About that, Master said he would give a big reward to the one who found something out. And Kenna got that reward!”

Kenna wasn't among the servants I investigated today.

“Call Kenna right now.”

If that's the case, I thought I'd better ask Kenna directly, so I told her to call her right away, but…

“My Lady, what should we do? Kenna took a week off and left the mansion at lunchtime today.”

“…really?"

The child was stillborn and the maid was on vacation. It also was just in time for me to come.

It could be a coincidence, but something felt strange.

I rubbed my chin and pondered.

I wondered if any other servants who were mobilized besides Kenna knew something, so I went to ask them, but they didn't know anything.

Well, if they had known something, they would have gone to Philen right away and been rewarded.

Should I wait for that Kenna girl to come back? 

A week was long, but it wasn't to the point where I couldn't wait. 

There was no other way, so I thought I'd have to wait, but to my surprise, there was another person who knew what Kenna had provided to Philen.

“I know if it's about that.”

“Really, Butler?”

"Yes. I was there at the time.”

What a windfall! I hurriedly asked the butler.

“What did Kenna tell the Duke?”

“As you know, My Lady. She said she found a vial while digging through My Lady's stuff.”

“Anything else? Were there any other stories?”

"Well."

The butler thought carefully and exclaimed, "Ah."

“She also said she saw My Lady holding the vial.”

“The maid saw me holding the vial?”

"Yes. Apparently, when My Lady was packing up her stuff to leave the mansion, she was helping you out and said that she saw it clearly.”

“That can’t be. That maid came in after I left the mansion.”

“…yes?"  

The butler blinked quickly. He seemed unaware of this fact.

Although the butler was in charge of the mansion, the maid's work was entrusted to the chief maid because the butler couldn't manage all of the dozens of servants alone.

So it wasn't unreasonable for the butler to not know exactly when Kenna came in as a maid.

“Plea, please wait. I'll check with Lauren right now."

The butler hurriedly ran, and after a while, he brought Lauren with him. 

“Lauren, is it true that Kenna, the maid, came in after My Lady left the mansion?”

Lauren answered, puzzled.

"Yes, that's true. She's chosen by the former chief maid, but… is there something wrong?”

"Oh my God."

The butler sighed and held his head with his hand. His eyes shook wildly as if he couldn't believe it.

It might be shocking to the butler, but it was a great opportunity for me. Maybe this would be the opportunity to prove my and Misa's innocence.

“Lauren, do you know where Kenna went?”

In case of an emergency, the maids announced their destination when they asked for vacation.

"Yes. She said she was going to her home in the next town.”

It wasn't too far if it was the next town. It could take half a day to make a round trip.

“Send someone to the next town right away and get Kenna.”

"I understand."

After Lauren left, I looked back at the butler.

The butler, who barely escaped from the shock, sighed heavily. 

“Then that could be fake too. ”

That too? 

“What are you talking about?”

“The vial Kenna gave to Master. Isn't there a possibility that the vial is fake too?"

“It could be real.”

Because it was true that I had two vials. But I should check that out too. If Kenna had lied, that could have been a lie too.

“I need to see the Duke right now.”

"If you're reporting on Kenna's case, should I help you?"

"No. I'll take care of it, so please don't do anything."

“I understand, My Lady.”

After parting ways with the butler, I went straight to Philen. 

“What’s the matter?”

Philen asked me with his eyes fixed on the document.

“I came here because I wanted to check something. Should I come back later?”

I wanted to check it as soon as possible, but I took a step back because things would get complicated if I said something wrong and made Philen question me. 

Fortunately, Philen waved his hand saying it was okay. 

“I just have to look at this, so sit down and wait for a while.”

I sat quietly on the sofa. Then the maid brought me tea to drink while waiting.

As I drank my tea, I glanced at Philen and watched him work.

He was looking at the document with a very serious face. 

It was surprising because it was the first time I saw him make such a serious face other than during swordsmanship training. 

If the previous duchess had seen this, she would have been very pleased.

Suddenly I remembered the previous Duchess Williot and it made my mood subside.  

This time, when I leave the Williot estate, I must stop by the graveyard of the previous Duke and Duchess to say hello.

Because I might never be able to say hello again.

By the time I almost finished my tea, Philen put down his quill and stood up.

Philen, who moved to the opposite seat of me, rang the bell and called the maid.

“Bring tea here. Bring light snacks as well.”

“Yes, Master.”

After the maid went out, Philen asked me with a smile.

“What do you want to check?”

“I want to see the vials from Misa’s room and my stuff in person.”

“For what?”

“I just wanted to make sure you had the right one.”

I was worried about what would happen if he didn't want to show it, but Philen meekly brought the vials.

It really was the vials given by Countess Thebesa. But the problem was that the vial containing red liquid was empty, not the vial containing blue liquid, which was the abortion drug.

How could it be? If Cecily took the abortion drug, shouldn’t the vial of blue liquid be empty?

“…is this really the vial from Misa's room?"

"Yeah. The empty vial came out of Misa's room and the blue vial came out of your stuff. Cecily also said she took the red drug.”

Ha. What kind of nonsense is this?

If what Philen said was true, the drug Cecily drank wasn't the one I had.

She might have cleverly added another drug to the red drug, but… would she do something that cumbersome?

She could have just taken the blue drug.

There’s something.

It was clear that there was a secret hidden that I didn’t know. It seemed digging into this could bring me closer to the truth.

“Who revealed the drug taken by Miss Cecily was an abortion drug?”

“Mavel. He’s Cecily's doctor."

Ah, that doctor. I had seen him a few times when I was in the Duke of Williot.

He must have been the doctor Philen had personally picked.

Philen couldn’t have brought an idiot unless he was an idiot. In other words, the skill of the doctor named Mavel was certain, but it would be good to check it out once again, right?

“Can I take these vials?”

Philen's eyebrow went up.

“Are you trying to destroy the evidence?”

Why are you thinking like that?

"No. I’m trying to make sure it's really an abortion drug."

“Are you trying to say that I did a wrong investigation?”

“It’s not that either. It's important, so I just want to make sure.”

“You can’t no matter what. Because it’s important evidence.”

“Then I’ll take a little bit.”

I was worried if he said no to this too, but fortunately, Philen allowed me.

There was a lot for the blue drug, so I could take it comfortably, but the red drug had only a few drops left on the wall, so I took it with a spuit.

This should be enough, right?

I was a little worried and carefully put the bottle of evidence in my pocket.

Then, I left Philen's office and went to Abeldan Pharmacy, the most famous drugstore in the territory.

Abeldan Pharmacy was one of the best in the Empire as well as in the Williot estate, to the extent that there was a saying that there were no medicinal herbs that were not handled here.

As soon as I walked in, I was greeted with a pleasant smell of herbs.

“I want to know the effectiveness of these things.”

I put out what I had brought to the wrinkled old man. Then the old man looked up with a small frown on his face.

“Why? Is it difficult to find out?”

“I can if it’s the blue liquid, but this one is way too little. I don’t think it’s possible to test even multiple times. Do you have any idea what kind of drug it is?”

"I heard it's a good drug for pregnancy."

I was worried if it wasn't enough, but fortunately, the old man asked me to come back in an hour to see if it was possible.

Exactly an hour after that.

I visited the Abeldan Pharmacy again.

“Did you get the result?”

“Yes, I am.”

The old man showed me the result of my request.

On the yellow paper, the result was written in cursive along with the mark of the Abeldan Pharmacy.

The result, as I knew it, was that the blue drug was an abortion drug and the red drug was a pregnancy drug.