I Became The Male Lead’s Female Friend – Chapter 134

Author: Nikss

After Kassar crashed the party.

Only a few days later, I was able to find another clue.

This time, it was Cecil who found it.

“Princess, there’s something I need to tell you…”

“Huh?”

I was still deep in thought, pretending to read, when I suddenly heard a voice and turned around to see Cecil standing there.

Cecil looked strangely different from her usual self, the woman I’d gotten to know so well and who used to laugh easily in front of me. But now she was completely stiff and fidgety, just like the first time we met.

And before I could ask her what was wrong, she spoke up.

“I… I think you should come with me.”

“Where?”

“To the party…”

Then she mumbled something to herself, ‘Something a little strange happened,’ and my eyes widened as I heard every word.

A premonition had flashed through my mind. To be more precise, it was related to what happened a few days ago.

And I wasn’t wrong.

“This is…”

As soon as I heard Cecil’s words, I followed her down to the party.

Now was the time to be suspicious of anyone in the Duchy, but she was one of the least suspicious people I could think of, since she spent most of her day by my side.

As Cecil and I entered the party, I stared at something she pointed to, and my eyes widened.

“…Candlesticks?”

She pointed to a silver candlestick.

It was the kind of candlestick you’d expect to find in a nobleman’s mansion, but it looked a bit more antique than normal.

But I still couldn’t figure out the meaning. I couldn’t understand what was wrong with such a common candlestick, and more importantly, it didn’t look any different from the one I had seen yesterday.

Just a little different, maybe a little more tarnished…huh?

When my eyes widened, Cecil, who had been observing me, tilted her head. Then she told me in a distant voice what I had suspected.

“The candlestick has changed.”

“It’s changed?”

“Yes. Apparently, when the princess and I came here during the day, everything was fine, but after dinner, you asked me to help you clean up, so I helped you, and I noticed that it looked like it had switched.”

“Switched to what?”

“Well, it’s…”

Cecil stammered for a long time before finally saying, “They were replaced with rejects from the warehouse.”

“Rejects?”

Cecil narrowed her eyes at the rising pitch in my voice. Then, with a look of determination on her face, she spoke up.

“Yeah, well, it’s… everything that is damaged in use, or defective to begin with, is sent to the warehouse, like…”

On a whim, she picked up a candlestick hanging on the wall, blew out the flame, then grabbed one of the sticks and shook it.

Then something amazing happened. The stem, which should have been firmly attached, rattled.

As if it would snap off at the slightest pressure. My mouth dropped open.

“That’s…!”

“Most of the time, things are sent to the warehouse that are too flawed to be used in this way, but when I looked at them, I saw some candlesticks with cracks in them.”

“Cracked?”

“Yes… So it’s dangerous to leave it as it is, so I’ll have to change it, but I think I should let the princess know first…”

And with that, she came running right up to me.

‘Oh my gosh.’

I stared at the candlestick. If my guess was right, I thought, if there really was a culprit trying to wreck the party, they wouldn’t give up so easily and would strike one more time.

But it was faster than I expected.

After the mess Kassar had made, I thought that maybe the culprit would stay quiet for a while.

But the culprit seemed rather nervous.

As if he didn’t expect to be caught, as if it was urgent to find another way to destroy the party.

To the point of being so sloppy.

‘Why? I thought he wasn’t supposed to get caught.’

Still, the initial planting of the poisonous flowers seemed sophisticated enough, as most people would have gotten a poisonous plant from some unknown dark forest and sneaked in a plant or two.

If it weren’t for Kassar, I might not have realized it until the party.

But the candlesticks are different. They’re obviously in the crowd, and at first glance, you might not notice them, but if you look closely, you’ll notice that they’re a little strange.

Cecil, in particular, who had been working here for a long time, noticed it right away.

‘Is he in a hurry, or does he not care if he gets caught?’

When I’m deep in thought. Cecil, who kept glancing at me from the side, called out to me.

“Princess, is something wrong…?”

I snapped out of my reverie and looked back at her.

“Oh, no. It’s nothing, Cecil.”

“What?”

“Good thing. If we left it like this, there could have been a real accident. Thanks for telling me that far away.”

“Well, it’s not that big of a deal…”

She blushed instantly as I put my hand on her shoulder and gave her a pat on the back.

She waved her hand away as if it was no big deal, that she was doing what she was supposed to do.

Likewise, she looked adorable unable to hide the corner of her mouth that twitched up, and then I spoke softly.

“So, there are a few more things I’d like to ask you…”

“Yes, yes, tell me anything, I can roll in a field of puddles!”

“No, that would be too much for me. First…”

I pointed to the candlestick she was holding.

“Can you change the candlestick back, without anyone knowing?”

“Yes, I can, I’m sure I have a spare candlestick that I’ve set aside, so I’ll just have to get it and…”

“Let me know if it’s too hard, and I’ll just break them like last time.”

“What?”

“Anyway, after you change the candlesticks… I need you to call some people.”

As I rattled off the names of the people I needed to call, her face lit up in surprise at the familiarity of the names.

But like a professional, she quickly confirmed and nodded.

“I’ll just go get the candlesticks to replace them first.”

Then, as I watched Cecil’s back as she hurried out of the room, I returned the gentle smile I’d been wearing the entire time.

I honestly hoped I was wrong, even if only out of annoyance, but it was clear that there was indeed a culprit intent on ruining the party, and they weren’t going to stop until they got their way.

Well, then, I’m not going to go down without a fight, I thought to myself, one corner of my mouth curling up in a sneer.

‘Very well, I’ll give you what you want.’

🌸

As Cecil said, it wasn’t difficult to change the candlesticks. It just took a little time.

Even if it wasn’t the Great Hall, it was the largest of the reception rooms, and I had to check every single candlestick in it.

It was a struggle to find them, especially when it was just the two of us sneaking around. Thank goodness Cecil had good eyesight.

But it was time-consuming, and after wasting a day just changing the candlesticks, I was finally able to gather everyone together the next day.

Once we were all gathered, I slowly looked around.

Cecil standing next to me, Hestia sitting across from me, and finally…

“What are you looking at?”

Kassar, leaning against the door, arms crossed.

He was glaring at me like a devil, wondering how I’d noticed his gaze, and Cecil’s shoulders hunched in fear. Then she spoke in a voice so low that only I could hear it.

“Why did you call the knight? I don’t think he can be of much help…”

But Kassar, with his five senses more developed than the average person’s, heard the whole thing and made a face, and I quickly replied before anything else could happen.

“Don’t do that. He’s one of the few people who knows about this.”

And as I said that, I looked around again and continued, “I’m sure you’re wondering why I called you here.”

“Isn’t it about the case?”

“Yes, exactly, because something similar happened ‘again’.”

“Again?”

When he frowned at my implication, Hestia, who until then had been sitting there with a puzzled expression on her face, burst into the room.

“What can I do for you, Miss?”

“Yes, Hestia has no idea. The others only know bits and pieces, and this is what happened…”

I began my story slowly, meeting each of the three pairs of eyes focused on me in turn.

From how I had accidentally witnessed Kassar breaking the vase, to how the poisoned flowers had been mixed in with the flowers, to how Kassar had faked it on purpose to keep an eye on things.

To how the candlesticks had been changed ever since.

At the same time, I finished by saying that there was a culprit who was clearly hell-bent on ruining the party.

And the reaction of each person who heard me was this.

“You’re telling me the knight didn’t do it to get back at the princess?”

“Why should I go to all that trouble for something like that, don’t be ridiculous!”

“But it’s very plausible…”

“See? I made up a pretty good reason.”

“Oh, really!”

“Miss, so…”

Hestia, who had been sitting still and watching the situation, spoke up, “Why did you call us alone?”

Hestia’s words were clear: She was not so much wondering why I had called them here as why I had chosen them.

And my reason for selecting them was simple.