I Became The Male Lead’s Female Friend – Chapter 137

Author: Nikss

“Beth?”

It wasn’t just her fellow maids who were surprised to learn the identity of the culprit.

I, too, was a little shocked to hear her name.

She wasn’t one of the groups Cecil had warned me about, and she wasn’t even one of the people I’d gotten to know regularly.

So the people around us were still giving her disbelieving stares, and that made her scream out in frustration.

“What are you doing, what have I done wrong…!”

“What have you been doing?”

After hearing the gist of her story, Sir Ruth began to question her.

One by one, Ruth listed the things she had done, from knowing that she had brought poisonous flowers and mixed them secretly, to tampering with the party without anyone’s knowledge.

But she didn’t admit it easily, and even started to deflect, as if she didn’t know what he was talking about.

Finally, Kassar stepped forward.

“Why don’t you stop putting on your pretense?”

“Knight, why would a knight…?”

“I found this under your bed.”

Kassar pulled something out of his arms.

It was the clear evidence he had found when he secretly searched her room. In his hand was a small vial that I had already seen once in Rudrick’s office.

And that wasn’t even the end of it: at his beck and call, a knight was bringing in a bag of luggage.

Before she could stop him, he turned the bag upside down and spilled its contents, sending several vials tumbling to the ground below.

Her face turned bright red.

“That’s enough poison to put a person into a coma if you pour the whole bottle in. Why do you have this?”

“…”

“And to think that you could hide this stuff in bulk and think it wouldn’t be found out, that’s just plain stupid. Either that, or you’ve been pretty much ignoring us. Don’t you think?”

“…”

All eyes turned to her in an instant. The disbelief that had been in their faces a moment ago had turned to suspicion.

Beth stood there, speechless and shaking, her position reversed in an instant.

Then, like someone in a trance, she stared blankly at the vial and began to talk to herself.

“That can’t be, it can’t be…”

“What?”

“She said it would only cause symptoms of poisoning, not life-threatening, but surely she said it wasn’t so, so dangerous…”

“Are you crazy?”

Kassar’s gruff voice didn’t stop the girl’s frantic mumbling.

“Yes. There is no way she would do this. She promised me that she would send me to safety, that I would be safe…”

“…?”

“Call, call her, she promised me, I mean, she promised me, that nothing will happen to me, that if I listen to her, she’ll get me out of here…!”

The rest of her words trailed off.

Her eyes glazed over like a madman’s, and her mouth suddenly opened wide. Then, suddenly, she gulped and gurgled as if she couldn’t breathe properly, and reached out her hands desperately for help.

“Mmph…mph…mph…!”

But no one grabbed her hand, and she collapsed to the ground.

No one moved from their seats at the sight. Only the woman, bleeding black blood from her mouth, lay on the ground, cold and stiff.

Sir Ruth was the first to come to his senses.

He stepped forward, unable to hide his distaste, and took hold of her stiffened body, examining it carefully. His face darkened instantly.

“… She’s dead.”

My eyes widened.

‘Dead?’

I couldn’t understand. A moment ago, she was clearly alive and well.

Even though she was trembling at being accused of the crime, her face was full of anger, and she was screaming at the top of her lungs that it wasn’t her.

But to die so suddenly, like a doll’s thread snapping, does it mean she had some kind of illness? Or was it an unfortunate accident?

The answer came from Rudrick’s mouth, “She was already poisoned.”

That was when the inquest had finished examining Beth’s body.

“Poisoned? With what?”

“Poison. It didn’t happen overnight. She had a buildup of poison in her system that required daily ingestion, and it was always there.”

“…Like today?”

“Yes. Today.”

I trailed off. I swallowed dryly, staring up at his face, which seemed sharper than usual.

“There’s…someone…behind this, isn’t there?”

Rudrick nodded simply, “Right in here.”

“There’s no chance it could be an outsider?”

“There’s no sign of contact with anyone from outside, no sign of an outsider trying to break in, that’s for sure.”

I said in a desperate voice, “It was an inside job.”

With that thought, I felt like I was being proven right.

Why the culprit was only careful with the poisoned flowers and sloppy with the rest? How she was able to move so freely through the palace.

Why did she leave such a trail as if she could never be detected?

‘She did it because she had someone watching her back.’

Come to think of it, she didn’t die calling for that person before she died. Though we never found out who ‘she’ was.

“It was a lost cause. He knew she’d be found out, and he’d already made his move.”

“It’s not going to be easy to figure out…who’s behind this?”

“We don’t know how far they’re involved.”

In the end, Rudrick and I parted ways with nothing to gain.

Too much had happened in a few days, and I staggered back to my room, unable to bear the thought of digging for more information.

I lay down on my bed, which felt strangely cold.

As it turned out, Cecil had fainted when she was told that Beth was dead. She had been a close colleague, and she would be devastated.

‘Later, I’ll visit Cecil and comfort her. And I’ll have Hestia analyze the poison that was used…’

Trying to collect my thoughts, I looked up at the ceiling in a daze.

‘What is the purpose behind this?’

In fact, I was feeling a strange sense of déjà vu about this case.

Just like when Count Giovanni’s case happened. There were eerie parallels: a perpetrator who was paid by someone unknown, and their goal was to destroy the family.

And when I felt such an ominous premonition. I tried to confide in Rudrick about what had happened before.

Maybe it had something to do with us, and I’d be willing to help.

But Rudrick was adamant.

— ‘Don’t get involved in this anymore.’

— ‘What? But I started this…’

— ‘No, this is our business now. It’s none of your business.’

— ‘Rudrick.’

What did he say he was looking for? Find it quickly and get down there, because when winter comes, you won’t be able to leave even if you wanted to.

— ‘…’

I almost cried out in frustration as he drew a line in the sand.

What does he mean by saying that I’m not exactly on good terms with him, that I couldn’t possibly work together with him after all the personal and familial interactions we’ve had?

But it was not easy to convince him, who was more stubborn than when he was younger, and I was exhausted at the time.

In the end, I turned away with a blunt comment.

— ‘When did you ever see me listen to you?’

I stormed out of the room, as angry as I was, and immediately regretted it.

Sir Ruth, who had been fidgeting beside me, a grim expression on his face, spoke softly to me.

— ‘He’s just worried about you.’

— ‘What?’

— ‘The fact is that the poison…’

He paused for a moment, then spilled the beans.

— ‘It turns out that it’s the same kind of poison that was used to frame the Duchess in the past.’

Oh, the looks I got when I heard that.

One thing was for sure, if he was telling the truth, I wasn’t going to be of much help in this case.

If this really goes back in time, I’m not going to be able to help because I don’t know the details of the situation.

I understood, but I couldn’t help but feel bad for him, so I didn’t go back to him after that. I just focused on what I’d been doing, preparing for the party.

The party was only a few days away anyway, so let’s get the urgent things done first.

The time passed quickly, and the more I focused on my work, the more I concentrated on it, and the more my feelings of bitterness faded away.

The day of the party arrives.

🌸

“Well, at least it does manage to open.”

With a bitter smile, I looked ahead.

The party preparations had gone smoothly, despite my worries.

It was as if Beth’s incident was a minor setback. People quickly forgot about it and focused on the task at hand, and before I knew it, the party was set up perfectly.

And as the day drew to a close and the carriages began to arrive at the Duke’s mansion, I said to myself.

“I thought we wouldn’t be able to have a party then…”

The Madame, who had been watching the whole time, replied with a wry smile.

“It’s all thanks to your efforts.”

As she bowed her head in genuine gratitude, I waved my hand dismissively and said.

“It was a lot of work for you, Madame, and I didn’t explain the situation, and I got all giddy…”

“That’s okay, it was understandable… and rather unfortunate, because if you hadn’t stopped it, something unseemly would have happened in the middle of the party.”

“So you understand? Thank you.”

“Of course I do.”

I smiled gently at her modest answer. Then, as if she’d just remembered, she spoke up.

“Oh, and by the way, the last time I ordered flowers…”

But I couldn’t help myself.

For in the distance, I saw a face I recognized but hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Lord River!”

My hand waved in greeting to him.

I hadn’t seen him lately, and he hadn’t even begun the conquest in earnest yet, and he was so busy that he’d even left the manor for a while.

As such, I was secretly wondering if he wouldn’t be able to attend tonight’s party…

But he must have heard about the party, because he was dressed in full party attire as he walked in.

When he heard me calling him, he looked up and saw me.