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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: The Love Potion
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“Your Grace. I've been so looking forward to seeing you.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Nora, Lady Lumina's etiquette tutor.”
Mrs. Klein introduced herself, conveniently omitting her late husband's surname.
But the response she received was nothing short of frigid.
“I see.”
The number of people in the mansion who would dare approach and speak to Lucius first could be counted on one hand.
That was why he had asked who she was.
He wondered if it was one of Brandon's pranks.
But when it seemed that wasn't the case, he lost all interest.
He hadn't paid her close enough attention to even notice what kind of dress she was wearing.
Blatantly ignored, Mrs. Klein didn't press the conversation further.
Instead, she pushed a prepared glass in front of Lucius and poured a drink.
Lucius, who had just been about to take a drink, reached for the glass.
Just then, Lumina shouted.
“I want to try some too!”
“This?”
“Yes! I heard it has almost no alcohol. So it should be fine if I have just a little, right?”
“Hmm.”
Lucius considered it seriously.
Lumina seized the opportunity and snatched the glass away.
It was the sort of thing a child her age might do, so everyone simply watched with a smile.
Except for one person.
“Lady Lumina. You mustn't do that.”
Mrs. Klein sternly scolded Lumina and tried to take the glass from her.
It was then.
A third party snatched the glass from Lumina's hand and gulped it down.
“…!”
It was Huxley.
He had downed the drink faster than Mrs. Klein could intervene.
*Gulp.*
“Young Lady. Even if it won't get you drunk, you're still too young for this. Wait another three years or so before you try it.”
“Since when were you on such familiar terms with the Young Lady to be butting in like that!”
*Booo.*
The other knights jeered at Huxley's actions. It was the kind of playful teasing they engaged in because they were close.
Huxley, too, was reacting with nonchalance when…
“Hah!”
Suddenly, Huxley clutched his chest.
“Huxley, what's wrong?”
“What's the matter? You're trying to pull another prank, aren't you? No one's falling for it, so cut it out.”
Despite the jeers, Huxley gasped for air. Then, he fell to one knee and collapsed.
“Huxley!”
While everyone else believed it was a prank, a single knight rushed urgently to Huxley's side.
A knight with a cold expression and short, black hair. It was Yuri.
“Huxley, can't you breathe?”
“Ghhhk…”
“Can you hear me?”
As Yuri seriously checked Huxley's condition, the others finally realized something was genuinely wrong with him.
“Ghhh…”
Making a strange sound, Huxley glanced at Lumina.
But Lumina was looking at Mrs. Klein.
“No, it can't be…”
From the moment Huxley drank the alcohol, her face had turned deathly pale.
Repeating "it can't be" like someone terrified, she soon lost her composure and screamed.
“No!”
Startled by the woman's scream, Huxley shot to his feet.
It seemed he decided that since the plan had gone completely awry, this was his only chance to reveal it was all an act.
Huxley left Yuri behind and strode toward Ash.
“Ash! Why weren't you worried about me!”
“…?”
Ash, who had been standing by quietly, looked bewildered.
Huxley let out a deep sigh and shoved a hidden object close to Ash's face.
And…
*Pop-.*
A paper popper burst, and colorful paper flowers fluttered down onto Ash's head.
Huxley quickly took out a small party hat and placed it on Ash's head, then pulled out a party horn and blew it.
*Pwooot-.*
The neatly rolled horn unfurled with a bizarre noise.
“The Young Lady and I were going to do this when you came over to me, but you just stood there gawking, so it's all ruined!”
*I acted my heart out, too.*
Huxley felt drained.
“I even boasted to the Young Lady about how close we are. But besides Yuri, no one was worried about me!”
It was a moment that made him ashamed of his past self, who had confidently declared that Ash would come running if he collapsed.
“…Huxley.”
And Yuri, the one who had been most worried about Huxley, called his name in a grim tone.
“You seem to be just fine?”
“Y-Yeah, I am?”
Feeling a pang of guilt, Huxley stuttered, and Yuri looked at him with her usual contemptuous glare.
“Good for you.”
While Huxley was suddenly overcome with the feeling that he had wronged Yuri, Lumina turned to the deathly pale Mrs. Klein.
“By the way, Mrs. Klein.”
“…”
“What was it that you disliked so much?”
“Th-That is…”
“People don't usually say 'No!' when they see someone dying.”
Everyone in the banquet hall had heard Mrs. Klein's cry. It was a situation she couldn't possibly talk her way out of.
“You didn't tamper with the drink my father was about to have, did you?”
It was more than enough to arouse suspicion.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Olivia retrieved the glass.
“This is certainly strange. I will investigate this myself.”
Huxley had only pretended to drink, so the beverage was practically untouched.
“N-No, it's not like that. It's not…”
*‘She wasn't trying to kill Father, so I suppose she can claim it's not like that.’*
Lumina, who knew her ulterior motive, watched her with cold eyes.
The knights, grasping the situation, firmly seized the woman's arms and forced her to her knees. All the while, she kept repeating that it wasn't true.
The banquet had taken on an atmosphere that could no longer be called a banquet.
In any case, Ash deserved to be celebrated, so Lumina broke the uncomfortable mood with a cheerful shout.
“She's completely ruined the mood on such a wonderful day!”
“…”
“So, why don't we move this conversation to another place?”
*Like a prison cell.*
Lumina smiled sweetly.
***
A gambling den was a place where yesterday's rich man could become today's beggar.
As such, all sorts of characters gathered there, none of them in their right minds.
*‘A collection of ruined lives. A gutter of sorts.’*
It was teeming with lawbreakers who just hadn't been thrown in prison yet.
But as long as one had the means to gamble, no one paid much mind to anyone else.
As long as they had money, that is.
“Do you know who I am? I'm the one who created the love potion! This measly sum, I can make it back just by selling a few more potions…!”
There were always those who couldn't accept the fact that they had gone bankrupt.
The man in her past life who claimed to have created a love potion was one of them.
Having heard his story, Lumina had easily seen through Mrs. Klein's scheme.
And the same was true for the capable adjutant, Olivia.
The next day, she had uncovered the full story and reported it to Lucius.
“Nora Klein attempted to use a love potion on you, Your Grace.”
Duke Heart's office.
Lumina sat on the sofa, listening to the report alongside Lucius.
She had asked to be present, wanting to know the details of an incident involving her personal tutor.
“Is it effective?”
“No. It's a potion that merely mimics the effect. However, upon consumption, it causes the heart to beat rapidly, which could temporarily make one believe they have fallen in love.”
“Is it poison?”
“It is not a deadly poison. But if someone with a weak heart were to drink an entire bottle at once, they would die of a heart attack on the spot.”
It wasn't a love potion, but a poison from hell.
“Nora Klein used more than a lethal dose, taking into account that you are a Legion, Your Grace. She must have wanted a definitive result.”
“What are the instructions for its use?”
“There are so many illegal potions sold under the name 'love potion' that the methods of administration vary. In the case of the one Nora Klein acquired…”
Lumina recalled what the potion maker from her past life had said.
Coincidentally, they had been playing at the same table, so she had been able to overhear their conversation.
“A love potion? What's that? You drink it, open your eyes, and fall in love?”
“If you lock eyes with a total stranger by accident, it's all for nothing. It wouldn't sell. I made it more surefire before selling it.”
“Surefire?”
“You tell the buyer to drink the red potion for a month. Then, after a month, you have them give the blue potion to the person they have a crush on.”
“Since both people drink a potion, there's no risk of falling in love with the first person you see, like in a fairy tale.”
And the one-month restriction was put in place to make it easier for the seller to get away.
“Does it actually work?”
“Of course, it does. If there are no changes during the dosage period, the buyer gets suspicious.”
He explained simply with a vile smile.
When the buyer drinks the red potion, their heart beats faster and they lose a significant amount of weight.
For the first few days, they'll lose weight and hear from others how much prettier they've become.
Then they'll believe, ‘Ah, the potion is working!’
The blue potion was the same, just a different color.
He claimed that he was able to create the potion by combining secret ingredients a stranger had told him about, and he had immediately become rich.
“This way, you can sell the same potion twice to one person.”
“Mister. You know that's murder, right?”
“Are you blaming me now?”
Unable to listen anymore, Lumina had interjected. But the man was shameless.
“In the first place, how good can a person who tries to sway someone's heart with a potion be? Why pity them? Tsk, tsk.”
“…”
“After just a few days, they'd have no choice but to realize their health was failing. They must have noticed something was wrong partway through. But they kept taking it, so isn't it the buyer's fault?”
Listening to him, Lumina had thought he was disgusting.
*‘But that man was never punished.’*
He had shouted at the top of his lungs in the gambling den that he'd made the love potion, but no one listened.
It was the ironclad rule of gamblers not to question the source of one's assets.
“Nora Klein is currently in the dungeon awaiting her punishment. Surprisingly, she doesn't seem to think she's done anything wrong.”
Lucius mulled over what punishment to give her.
Just then, Lumina, who had been listening quietly, spoke.
“So if I had drunk Father's share of the drink back then, would I have fallen in love with Mrs. Klein?”
“The Young Lady is a special case, so I can't say for certain, but your heart might have beat a little faster.”
As soon as he heard Olivia's words, Lucius spoke.
“Confiscate them.”
“Pardon?”
“The love potions being traded in the shadows. Confiscate them all.”
It wasn't enough.
Lumina interjected once more.
“But if there's someone making them, won't they just reappear even if you confiscate them?”
“Bring me the creator as well.”
“…”
“We must give him the opportunity to taste his own medicine.”
