I Became The Male Lead’s Female Friend – Chapter 133

Author: Nikss

I’ve heard that when people get too flustered, their heads start to spin. That’s exactly what I look like right now. I stared ahead in disbelief.

The party’s host was beyond words.

He had been wreaking havoc even before I found him, with tons of glass shards on the floor and all those pretty flowers trampled underfoot.

He was picking up another bottle, as if he didn’t want to leave any vases at this party.

Finally coming to my senses, I rushed over to him in a panic.

“What are you doing!”

But whether I yelled or not, he just turned and looked at me, still holding the vase, and said only one word.

“Get out of the way, if you don’t want to get hurt.”

I clung to his arm, freaking out as his hand shot upward once again.

“No!”

“What the hell, get out of the way now?”

“Get out of the way? Is that what this is supposed to look like?!”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Hearing the nonchalance in his voice made me angry, and I raised my voice.

“What problem? Do you have a problem? If you have a conscience, think about it, you’re the one who’s ruining everything that other people have worked so hard to build!”

“What?”

“Just because I teased you a little, that’s not something a person should do. How could you do this, did you hate the sound of the button so much?”

“Miss, don’t even say that word!”

“Honestly, you started the fight, and I was acting in self-defense! And if you have a grudge against me, you can take it out on me, but you can’t just barge in like this, and you’re a knight? What an idiot!”

“Idiot? Do you want to die?!”

“Try it, that’s what you always say.”

“Oh, really!”

His face contorted into a scowl, but I wasn’t about to back down from that.

Instead, I stood in front of him with my chin up and my eyes as wide as his, and when I showed no sign of backing down, he sighed heavily and ruffled his hair.

“…No.”

“What?”

“No. Why would I go to all this trouble just for revenge?”

“I think you will.”

“Please shut up!”

“Okay, then why are you doing this?”

He clicked his tongue slightly as I stared at him still suspiciously, then squinted at me as if he was thinking about something, and his eyes darted around as if searching for something.

I was the one who was puzzled by his strange behavior. I wondered what he was really up to, while I stood there watching him.

Out of nowhere, he plucked a flower from the jar and held it out to me.

“A flower?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you think this method of courtship is so old-fashioned?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, it’s a poisonous flower, it’s poisonous!”

“…What?”

My eyes widened like I’d misheard him.

He snorted, as if he’d expected that reaction, and said in a nonchalant tone.

“Now you see, I don’t care about you or anything. It’s not like you’re some overly self-conscious prick who thinks everyone cares about you or anything…”

“Poisonous flowers? What do you mean, poisonous flowers?”

“What?”

“Why is that here?”

He gave me a dumbfounded stare at my question.

“How would I know that?”

That’s… right. He’d been too busy avoiding me to help organize the party in the first place, which meant that he’d stumbled upon the poisonous flowers by accident…

“Then how did you know about it?”

The question was how did he discover the ‘poisonous flowers’ that no one else had noticed before?

The vase had been there for several days.

At high society parties, each of these flowers symbolizes the power of the family, and although I must have chosen them carefully with Mrs. Fedwick, I was never told that they were mixed in.

Moreover, we were not the only ones who saw these flowers; the maids who arranged them and other users must have seen them countless times.

And none of them noticed that they were mixed with poisonous flowers?

“What I want to ask is, how did this poisonous flower get here?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s not a common variety in the first place. You wouldn’t expect to see one.”

“It’s that rare?”

“Yes. It only grows in the Dark Forest.”

My mouth dropped open at the unexpected answer.

“Why is that here?”

“Are you going to make me keep saying the same thing?”

“Ah, okay. So… how did Lord Kassar recognize the poisonous flower…?”

At my cautious question, he shook his head proudly and said.

“Because there were once bandits near the Dark Forest.”

“Eh? No, didn’t you say that it was a dangerous area and most people couldn’t live there?”

“Well, I’m not a normal person, and as dangerous as it is, the demons often come out, making it a fun place to fight.”

“What do you mean, ‘fun’?”

“Well, they’re worth more than the average beast.”

In other words, like a common hunter, he would go into the limbs to hunt and sell the beasts.

As I stared at him with bored eyes, he muttered to himself, as if lost in thought.

“But it’s strange… most people don’t know about that poisonous flower, and it’s hard to get.”

“Is it very dangerous?”

“Not if it’s poisonous enough to kill you instantly. If you eat the leaves or roots, that’s a different story… but a single plant won’t do much damage.”

“Well, that’s good to know…”

“But a large quantity of flowers in an enclosed space would be a problem.”

He gestured around the room.

“A quick look around tells me that most of the tables have one or two mixed in with the rest. How much do you think we’ll need if we collect these poisonous flowers?”

“…”

“On the day of the party, the scent will get stronger and thicker unless you open the windows wide and keep ventilating, which usually causes hallucinations or paralysis within an hour.”

“Then…!”

“That’s not the end of it. If the flowers catch fire, it’s worse. If the poison candles burn, and you inhale the toxic fumes, you could end up in a coma if you mess up.”

I bit my lip. The symptoms were too far beyond my imagination for a simple mistake, and that could only mean one thing.

“It’s intentional.”

Someone had mixed the poisonous candles on purpose, to ruin the party.

‘Who the hell?’

When I was lost in thought, he turned to me, as if he thought he’d said his piece, and picked up the vase again.

Then, just as he was about to throw it down, I hastily stopped him.

“Wait a minute!”

“Why, haven’t you got it yet, I’m sorry, but I’m not in the habit of explaining things twice, so I blame you for being stupid…”

“No, it’s not that, I don’t mind if you break it, I just need to ask you something.”

“What?”

Noticing his bewildered expression at my abruptness, I asked something else instead.

“By any chance, have you ever told anyone about this?”

“No, I just found out about it myself.”

“Aha, so you were breaking it right away?”

“You’re a sick bastard to leave it alone once you find it. Don’t you think?”

“Well, you’re not wrong, but even so…”

I lowered my voice, my eyes gleaming.

“This isn’t just about breaking a vase, is it?”

“What?” He frowned as if to say something.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed, my Lord, that someone is trying to sabotage the party right now.”

“…”

“Honestly, I thought it would be you?”

“Did you think I was crazy?!”

“I know you are, so shut up. I’m just saying, it would be nice if this was just a ploy to keep us from having a party, but I don’t think it is, because if there’s an accident with the poisoned flowers, Bouser will have to clean up the mess.”

“Well…”

“Then he’ll just try to do something else, even if we get rid of the flowers, and that won’t solve the problem.”

“So, what do you want me to do?”

I shrugged at his directness.

“We’ll just wait and see.”

“You’re not looking for the culprit right away?”

“We need to move cautiously, and my guesses could be wrong, so… I’d like to suggest that you don’t tell anyone about what happened today.”

“Why?”

“Because we don’t know who did it, and everyone in the ducal residence right now is a prime suspect.”

“Then it could be you?”

“In that case, wouldn’t your knowledge of poisonous plants make you a more likely suspect?”

A brief, breathless spark flew between us, but it was Kassar who raised his hand first.

He was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath, as if this was the last thing he wanted to say, but he had no choice.

“… I guess we should.”

I smiled broadly at his response.

“Okay. Now let’s break it down together, shall we?”

“What?”

“Why, weren’t you supposed to break it?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

I just smirked at him as he sent me a glare, which caught him off guard, and he blurted out.

“Oh, but let’s pretend this was all Lord Kassar’s doing.”

His mouth dropped open, “What, what…!”

“Your notoriety comes in handy in times like this. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Rudrick gets the message.”

“Wait, wait!”

But it wasn’t me who would listen to him. I ignored him, picked up the vase across from me, and threw it with all the force I could muster toward the floor, just as he had embarrassed me earlier.

Bam—!

As I stared at the shards of glass flying everywhere, he exclaimed.

“You crazy woman!”

🌸

The next day, the ducal residence was in an uproar.

Someone had trashed the party in the middle of the night. All the vases that had been in perfect condition yesterday were shattered.

The culprit was quickly identified.

“Ka, Lord Kassar…!”

I sank back in my seat in shock, while the others looked at me with pity, and Cecil, my chamberlain, rushed to my side and called out in a wistful voice.

“Princess, are you all right, how in the world did this happen…”

“…”

“That knight, even if he doesn’t like the Princess, this is too much…!”

“…”

“Cecil, I’m fine, don’t blame Sir Kassar too much. It’s only natural that he hates me…”

“…”

“Lord Kassar.”

Another tear rolled down my cheek as I gazed at her.

“Did he hate me that much…?”

Slowly, I shuddered and exclaimed, “I hate you the most in the world!”

Then I stormed out of the room. Looking wistfully after our gossiping companions, I offered my sympathies to him.

At the same time, I had to hide the laughter that threatened to escape.