Henrietta huffed, saying that it was certain though Edith expressed her doubts.

“Still, couldn’t there have been other reasons? There were no signs of anything different?”

“No! No, rather the opposite? I told you, he recently started dating a maid he’s been obsessed with all along.”

“Oh, that Irene.”

“Yes, you remember. I’m pretty sure Otis has feelings for her.”

As she said so, Henrietta sneered, saying that the maid was a child all the brothers couldn’t have.

“I thought there would be things going on around her at some point, so I thought I’d add a little bit of her love to the relationship.”

Arranging a marriage with Ahibalt, sending Otis into the social circle—as those who lived a life far from passion got closer to it, they would gradually look back on their own hearts. Henrietta’s plan was there from the start.

The bond between the Lavrenti brothers was breaking down due to a love affair over a woman.

“Even if it doesn’t go well, it was fine. Still, it would’ve been great if Ahibalt and Otis could marry the young ladies in the palm of my hands and who were my connections.”

…However, if there was a quarrel between them over Irene and they couldn’t overcome it without killing each other, that was fine as it was.

It wouldn’t be that difficult to encourage Rodion to go berserk after defeating Ahibalt using Veronica. In addition, Otis had no reason to help the half-brothers who had fallen out, and it wasn’t too difficult to defeat the scattered brothers individually.

“I knew that because Ahibalt was clever. They are really difficult to deal with when they’re together, but when they’re separated, they’re nothing…”

Of course, this plan was not entirely safe.

If she wasn’t careful, she could have lost even Otis, and she also had the option of being abandoned by Veronica.

Nevertheless, it was more ridiculous to want things to be safer now that she had entered Knox. So, Henrietta invested her life unreservedly in entertainment so that she would not regret it. Not only that, but she was deliberately cruel to her only son so as not to become attached to her.

Everything went smoothly…

…If only Edith’s drug hadn’t ruined all of her blueprints!

“If it wasn’t for your stupid drug, why would Otis go to Lowens with anyone other than Irene?”

“Looks like it’s true. Even though he had a crush on her, he chose Charlotte.”

“It’s obvious. She enticed Otis into saving her because she was about to be captured and killed.”

Henrietta grunted, biting at her red rouge-painted lips.

“It’s also a problem that Otis’ attention is focused on someone other than Irene, so he can’t drive a wedge. Besides, the other person is Charlotte… Even if it’s a joke, this is too much.”

“Interesting.”

Edith replied with her eyes shining.

Thanks to her kind explanation, Edith also grasped the situation. The reason why Henrietta, who regarded her nobleness as if it were her outer skin, was in so much frenzy like this wasn’t just because the plan went wrong.

“Otis is my son. I know best how fiery he is. Nonetheless, how do I know if Charlotte will use him to retaliate against me?”

Charlotte was foolish, but perhaps because she grew up in an environment called Eunice, her ability to read the mood was excellent. With that ability, she was quite good at amusing herself with Veronica. Because of that, she must have quickly realized after being locked up that there were no signs of anything…

…The fact that she was abandoned.

Worrying that Charlotte would survive, Henrietta used her connections to see how urgent the current situation would be without having to do anything yet.

Obviously, that was Henrietta’s situation.

Meanwhile, Edith was only interested in the story she had told her.

“It’s more than I expected that the medicine could affect someone who already liked someone.”

“Are you saying that now? After ruining all my plans?”

“Who was going to throw away Charlotte at will? If you’d just asked me about the medicine first, things wouldn’t have turned out this way.”

“That, that’s—”

“It’s ridiculous to put the blame for what you’ve done on me, but now I can’t even speak?”

When Edith shot back cynically, Henrietta’s face flushed red, perhaps realizing that she had been overly angry.

Still, there was no sign of retaliation like earlier. It was thanks to the fact that she barely realized who was in the disappointing position in this situation. The next moment, she clung to Edith again with a much calmer, lithe voice than before.

“Bu-but, you’re also responsible. You gave her the drug on your own. You didn’t tell me either.”

“I didn’t know since when do I start asking for permission from the Madam?”

Nonetheless, Edith’s answer was cold. It was only sarcastic when she called Henrietta by the title of ‘Madam.’

Edith, however, wasn’t very cold-hearted.

“Though I won’t deny that I’m responsible. I don’t really want to see you so embarrassed like this.”

Edith’s unique husky voice flowed out.

After she said that, she moved her steps to the place where she kept her medicines and picked up a small clear bottle before returning to Henrietta.

“Take it.”

“…What is this?”

“It’s an antidote. Technically speaking, what I used wasn’t poison, so the term antidote wouldn’t be appropriate.”

‘Anyway.’

“A medicine that eliminates the effect of the potion immediately after taking it.”

“I knew it there’s one!”

Henrietta’s face, which had been parched with anxiety, became lively again. She took the medicine bottle from her hand as if snatching it away, embraced Edith, and then let go.

“Thank you, Edith! I’ll be sure to pay you back when I get back.”

“I think it should be enough for you to stop disturbing me and coming to my lab. By the way, where are you even going?”

“Lowens. I need to take the medicine there as soon as possible. I had been to the Marquis Millight’s birthday party since I’m close with the Marquis’ daughter-in-law.”

Feeding it to Otis wouldn’t be that difficult. As she thought so, Henrietta thanked Edith once more and stormed out of her lab like the wind.

‘Did she say Otis has a fiery personality?’

Since Edith was not interested in other people, she hadn’t known the personality of the other Lavrenti brothers except for Rodion.

‘Now that I see it, I can see where that personality came from.’

Edith thought as she brushed off her gown, which seemed to have the scent of Henrietta’s perfume left on it. The laboratory, which had been swept away by the fiery Henrietta, was somehow unable to shake off the bustling energy.

‘It’s such a complicated feeling.’

Tired, she took another sip of the contents of the cup in her hand, then began to organize the records of experiments related to pesticides that were lined up on the table. At the same time, she felt somewhat uncomfortable, but at times like this, it was time to immerse herself in research.

゚・ : * ✧ * :・ ゚

“Did I run out of coffee again?”

Edith straightened her back only at night.

In front of her, the records of pesticide-related experiments that she had organized during the day were doubled. In the first place, she always put her research first though this time, but she had no choice but to handle Veronica’s request ahead of time.

‘She said that the pesticides she used didn’t work…’

Veronica’s vineyards in the south of the Kingdom were one of her main sources of income. In the meantime, it was the two major mountain ranges that were responsible for her income, along with the speculative territory in District 7.

‘Though District 7 has now moved to Lavrenti.’

Thanks to this, it was no exaggeration to say that the liquor business through the grape farm was the most significant determining factor in her income. The problem was that in the grape farm in the spring, an insect called Phylloxera, which relentlessly gnaws at only the vines, had been infested.

‘In this case, it’d be quicker to create a new variety of vines that wouldn’t be eaten by insects…’

Unfortunately, that wasn’t her major.

Besides, while researching, there was a strange part… that was, the time when Phylloxera was active wasn’t right now.

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