Chapter 6: The villainess still didn’t know

The Maid, Astin, was a faithful servant of the Azbel family.

She was proud to be the duke’s maid and she was very satisfied with her life. It was because the maids of the Azbel family received better treatment than expected. It was not just the staggering level of salary for commoners. The Azbel family, who were also famous for magic, provided various magic to their maids.

The most noteworthy of those magics were teleportation magic. Members of the Azbel family used teleportation magic even to go to work. It was the same with the maids.

The mages of the family personally used teleportation magic. It was for the reason of safety. Azbel was a family famous for magic, but it was also a family that had garnered a lot of grudges. There was a chance that someone would take one of the maids family members hostage and cause damage to someone in the Azbel family.

So the maids were under contract magic that made them unable to even reveal that they were the maids of the Azbel family. Even so, they weren’t offended by this. Rather, it gave them a sense of security in being able to guarantee the safety of themselves and their family.

In fact, the Azbel family guaranteed the safety of both the maids and their families in the contract itself. 

The maid, Astin, was also someone like that. She was able to ensure the safety of her only family, her sister, Estill, by the Azbel family. 

One day, after doing her work as usual. It was time to finish her work as Astin, the maid of the Azbel family and become Astin, the only family member of Estill.

“Estill?”

However, the atmosphere, quite different from usual, felt dreary and cold.

Her one and only sister had disappeared.

She immediately went through her room. What caught her eye was a letter.

[Feed Shael Azbel this poison. The green one is poison, and the blue one is the antidote.]

It was a letter telling her to poison her young lady, Shael.

It instructed her to mix the poison in the a dessert with a strong scent and give it to Shael when she and her fiancé, Eran would meet. There was even an antidote in case Eran accidentally ate the poison. It was for this reason she had to be extra vigilant. 

Astin stopped her thoughts. Because she couldn’t make up her mind. But before long, she made up her mind.

From then on, things progressed naturally.

She made the dessert. Then she put poison in Shael’s dessert.

She tried her best to look natural when serving that dessert in front of Shael. And then, she saw something that shocked her. She saw Shael in tears! After seeing that vicious Shael shed tears, Astin had no choice but to come to her senses.

‘Oh, what have I done!?’

Come to think of it, rumors have been spreading lately that Shael and Eran had fallen in love with each other.

It was rumored that the kind and understanding Eran Baslett had captured the wicked woman, Shael Azbel. When Astin looked at Eran with a sad gaze and saw Shael crying, she had a complicated thought.

‘Can I take away their happiness for my own happiness?’

‘Never!’

Even though Shael had been rude to her all the time. That was something different, but taking away their happiness before it even started had a different weight. So she took out the antidote and stood at the door. However, what she saw through the crack in the door was Eran Baslett standing up with the dessert.

‘He noticed the poison.’ 

Rather this was even better! It was because the antidote might not have been effective.

‘I will beg him to rescue my brother.’

Eran opened the door and looked at Astin. However, she couldn’t easily say something like that to Eran.

“You’re the one who did this, right?”

“Sorry, sorry!”

Eran began to walk forward. It meant that she had to follow him. Astin followed Eran.

The hallway, which she would normally walked through in a minute, felt too long for her.

After that, the situation unfolded naturally.

Eran asked, Astin answered. She revealed the details of the incident.

“Please, save my little brother! I’m really sorry!”

That was what she said while lowering her head. She also knelt down. Even then, she felt it wasn’t enough, so she pressed her forehead to the floor.

“Stand up.”

That’s what Eran said in a slightly cold voice. Astin got up right away. Because she was overwhelmed. Then, what she saw was Eran, who looked like he was about to bend over.

‘Ah, you’re trying to draw a sword…’

Astin closed her eyes tightly. ‘Still, I and my brother had been living a good life. However, I wan’t able to save my brother in the end.’

‘Why is he taking so long? Could it be that even the sound of the sword of the one with the blood of a master swordsman was different?’

Of course not.

When Astin opened her eyes. She stiffened for a moment. Because she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Eran Baslett’s knee, which she thought he would use to kill her, was on the ground.

“Why, why do you?”

“I’m sorry.”

Sorry? What the hell are you sorry for?

“The fact that the location of the Azbel family’s maids was exposed… means that there was a spy in the Azbel family.”

“That’s why…”

“The Azbel family’s fault is also my fault. And… you’ve been under the mental confusion spell all this time.”

Astin couldn’t understand. Of course, according to Azbel family’s contract, they guaranteed the safety of Astin’s family. However, the weight of Eran’s knee touching the ground and the life of Astin, a commoner, were different.

He said that she was under a mental confusion spell? Certainly, attempting to poison her lady was not a decision that would normally be so easy. However, a nobleman was not someone that should easily bend their knees. Above all, Astin tried to kill Shael.

The reason didn’t matter. If she tried to kill a noble, she must die no matter the reason. Because that was the principle. So Astin couldn’t believe it at all. 

“Your brother… I’ll save him somehow.”

“…”

She couldn’t help but shed tears. Because she regretted trying to take away the happiness of such a person. In the rush to think only of her own circumstances, she almost made a selfish choice. No matter how strange the magic was, it couldn’t change what she had done.

It was then that Astin’s tears stopped. Because another sound was heard.

Kikiiik…

Light blue hair. And the sky-blue eyes that looked at Eran and turned to her.

Shael Azbel looked at her and walked close. Now, she didn’t even say a word.

Astin lowered her head. It was because she tried to poison Shael. She couldn’t bear to meet those two eyes confidently. Still, she had to lift her head up again. Because a situation similar to that of just now was happening again.

Astin doubted her eyes. It was the same with Eran next to Shael. The wicked woman, Shael, bowed her head toward her.

“I apologize for the Azbel family’s mistakes. I won’t hold you accountable for the poison.”

It was a completely incomprehensible situation.

It was Shael, the only daughter of a duke. Her head should not bow to a commoner. Because she was the woman who would carry everything in the duchy.

So Astin froze while standing still.

***

After following Eran, Shael saw a maid exchanging words with him.

She…

She was the maid who tried to poison her. She was also a maid who she had harassed. Shael listened to what her maid said without missing anything. Of course, she had no sympathy for her maid, Astin.

She tried to poison her. Then only outcome was death. It had been like that so far, and it will be so in the future.

Because your family was taken hostage? You were under a mental confusion spell? Those things were not valid reasons.

What was the important thing was that she tried to kill her.

Then she saw Eran bend his knee.

‘Why on earth?’ Shael couldn’t understand. From start to finish, she couldn’t understand the actions of her own fiancé.

Just because he forgave her, does he think she will forgive her as well?

‘Absolutely not!’

She opened the door. Because it occurred to her that she should punish that maid. And when she stood beside Eran on her knees. She couldn’t speak anything bad at all.

Oddly enough, her head was already down. And she was already apologizing to her maid.

Yes, this was because of her fiancé.

Because she felt defeated by her fiancé, who was on his knees apologizing on her behalf.

When Eran was surprised to see her with her head down, she thought of something. It was the first time she saw Eran be surprised. But she had other doubts as well. 

No matter how much she put her head down because of her dam*n fiance. The one she was bowing her head to was her maid. Normally, she would have been angry and left immediately.

‘But why on earth do I not feel that way?’

Was it because she finally began to accept her dam*n fiancé?

Then, what kind of emotion was she feeling other than resentment? She didn’t know.

The villainess still didn’t know.

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