Chapter 5

“How could you two leave so soon after Mother arrived?”

“Hey! Carsein, you’re okay… Huh!”

As Claire shook Carsein’s shoulder, she immediately felt the heat and flinched.

“Why is your body like a furnace? What’s happening?”

“I’m going mad. This morning he seemed fine.”

Arina, who also touched Carsein, frowned deeply. The boy’s body temperature exceeded normal levels. The boiling heat made her swallow dryly.

“We have to wait for Doctor Sheiden. Laying him on this cold floor won’t do.”

“Alright. I’ll take this side, you take the other.”

“No need for signals…”

It was surprisingly easy. Despite being two women lifting a 17-year-old boy, it wasn’t as heavy as expected.

Without needing any signal, his emaciated body was too light, requiring no effort to move him onto the bed.

“Phew. Really, what happened to him…”

Claire muttered as she moved Carsein to the bed, which brought Doctor Sheiden rushing in and immediately starting a diagnosis.

“This is…”

“Did you figure something out?”

Arina narrowed her eyes and asked Doctor Sheiden.

“Young Master has caught a cold.”

“A cold?”

“Yes. I don’t know how it happened, but it’s definitely a cold.”

At the mention of a cold, Arina frowned.

“Really going overboard. He couldn’t even manage basic health care and ended up like this?”

Sheidin quickly added as if reading her thoughts.

“It’s not just that. The main symptom is a cold, but there are other symptoms mixed in, making it worse.”

“What does that mean?”

“Hmm… Recently, he consumed too much salt. It’s quite excessive.”

“How much did he eat?”

“Judging by the usual amount, it seems he ate several times more than normal. With that much, the food would taste extremely salty.”

Several times? Even with a habit of eating salty food, one wouldn’t consume that much.

Claire clenched her teeth.

“Then that salt must have come from the food. Right?”

“Yes, that’s what I think too.”

Sheiden glanced around the room before answering.

Given the excess salt, it’s natural to suspect the food first.

Pink-haired Arina turned her head toward the desserts. If the salt came from the food, then this area should be suspicious.

She took a piece of pudding and tasted it, finding no issues. So, maybe it was the drink?

Just as she took a sip…

“…”

Claire immediately grabbed a tissue and spat out everything in her mouth.

“Damn it. Who dared do such a thing!”

“What happened?”

“It’s Rigomos Neurosensitivity. A terrible method once used in social circles to ruin someone’s image. By feeding them food laced with salt and extracts, it makes their nerves hypersensitive.”

“Impossible. Could it really be in there?”

“Yes, it showed the same reaction in Young Master Carsein’s body.”

“Whoever did this must be caught. They dared do such a thing in Bargrand.”

The thought of such a deed being done with desserts made her blood boil.

Claire drank water from a teapot to spit out the remnants in her mouth. Immediately, she spat out the water and opened the teapot lid to check.

“Cough, cough! Damn it…”

“Claire?”

Arina turned her gaze, seeing Claire’s already distorted face becoming even more furious.

“Sheiden, call out all the symptoms. Excess salt intake, Rigomos Neurosensitivity. Anything else?”

“That’s… overall malnutrition and a cold.”

“A cold. Yes, a cold.”

While malnutrition could be due to food, a cold was different.

Even if Carsein didn’t look like he had a cold, with no runny nose or signs of illness, he still got one.

Today was no exception. Even on Isabella’s return day, he wore proper clothes.

So, how did he catch a cold?

There’s only one answer.

*Bam!

Angry Claire roughly opened the bathroom door.

Seeing no steam inside and confirming the cold bathwater, she confirmed her suspicion.

“Camila, lock her in an isolation room right now!”

Such deeds can only be done by a maid serving the master directly.

***

“Camila, lock her in an isolation room right now!”

Flora covered her mouth with both hands and shrank her shoulders at Claire’s shout.

‘How…? If they find out I was involved…!’

Flora couldn’t even remember how many times she had asked Camila.

Camila, whom Flora met through Emma, the head maid, had helped her multiple times.

She didn’t know what Emma said, but she would listen to Flora, a Bargrand.

But now, the tail was caught.

These actions were secrets she couldn’t tell her mother or sisters.

Once caught, she started fearing that her name might be revealed.

Meanwhile, angry voices continued from inside the room.

“Who could have easily sprinkled salt or put medicine in the master’s food?”

“Calm down and explain. What did you see?”

The teapot lid clattered to the floor.

“Look, sis? They did this to people’s drinking water. That’s why I spat it out.”

“No, this is… sand?”

The water in the teapot was filled with sand, making it undrinkable.

“I understand, Claire. But this doesn’t necessarily have to be Camila.”

That was true. Camila wasn’t the only one who could do this. Even if these things were found in Carsein’s room, another maid could have done it.

However, no other maid could freely enter Carsein’s room.

This made Claire’s opinion carry more weight.

“Maybe another maid could sprinkle sand in Carsein’s drinking water, but why in cold water?”

“What?”

“The bathtub had cold water. There was no sign of hot steam! If she wanted to win Mother’s favor, she’d pretend to be pitiful and stay dirty. But today, she was clean.”

Cleanly washed with cold water.

Not a speck of dust remained, as if she scrubbed off every bit of dirt.

“Come to think of it, Carsein didn’t say anything to Mother today.”

“Sis, don’t you get it? This is planned harassment. Only a maid close enough to continuously do this could manage!”

Her logic was flawless.

Arina couldn’t argue back. With Camila’s guilt increasing, they couldn’t ignore it.

“Find Camila and lock her in an isolation room.”

In the end, the order was carried out.

“Wait! I didn’t—”

Camila, working nearby, was dragged away by other maids. She tried to protest, but…

“!”

Flora looked away, her eyes wide. The head maid responded coldly, acting as if it wasn’t her business.

The terrified maid struggled until she was dragged away by others.

The only way to break this situation was through Flora, but this was her solo mission.

Below the Pesselos Empire’s royal family, the highest house was the Bargrand. If a mere maid dared to feed such things to the master, it could spell doom.

“Lady, remember. This isn’t your fault. Understand?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry. This will end with the maid’s punishment.”

Flora shivered but nodded at Emma’s words.

None of this was her fault.

Carsein falling ill and the maid being taken away weren’t her faults.

***

*Bing!

As consciousness returned, the familiar notification sound rang in her ears.

Of course, when she woke up, the status window would appear. It would have been better if she simply woke up in her studio room.

Dizziness was gone, and her body, which felt like a fireball, could move slightly. Most status ailments were nearly recovered.

But her mood worsened.

“Damn it.”

It wasn’t because she intentionally caught a cold to feel pain and dizziness.

It wasn’t because she had to force herself to eat salty soup.

It wasn’t about the status ailments from the status window or Carsein’s condition.

It was her own feeling that was truly awful.

“Damn. Why does it feel so overlapping?”

This unpleasant feeling persisted because Carsein looked exactly like her past self.

This actually happened. Because of her mischievous younger sister, she ended up bedridden.

Everything else was the same.

Mother’s reaction upon returning, the scene at the dinner table, the feeling that she shouldn’t be there—all vividly replayed.

Two older sisters and one younger sister.

Even though they were step-siblings, it felt similar to living with three strangers who treated her as an outsider.

It felt so similar to her past self that it made her feel awful.

“…No. Maybe it’s for the best.”

What an uncanny coincidence.

Even if it happened twice, it was too much.

But it was for the best. This experience prepared her.

She wasn’t a family member, and they didn’t treat her as one either. Even with all the injustices, she could stand firm.

Yes, as they said, not being a family member allowed her to realize sooner.

She needed to escape from this house.

“Alright. First, I need to escape while planning.”

*Bing!

▶CHAPTER 1. Episode I Clear!◀

▶Flora handled the false accusation well!◀

▶Carsein can continue living in the duke’s house!◀

The status window appeared automatically as she wanted.

“Good enough. This is sufficient.”

What a strange coincidence. The game’s setting, her playing it, and her possessing Carsein to escape.

Her only choice was to clear the game and return to her studio room.

■Reward

[Recognition +3]

[Recognition within the Bargrand improves.]

A series of reward windows appeared, but it was meaningless. It was a common line in the game.

“There’s nothing else… It’s useless.”

Even though she knew, she checked to see if there was anything useful.

This was just for recognizing choices and checking Carsein’s status. The stat window, which could raise stats, had a fatal flaw.

“Increasing stats means I won’t die from health issues, but raising levels by 0.05 points each time isn’t significant.”

Raising levels meant investing points to increase related stats. Basic RPG elements existed, but the numbers were minuscule.

Even if strength increased, it was better to exercise than invest 0.05 points. The effect was negligible.

This was better kept for emergencies.

As she examined the status window, an unexpected progress bar appeared.

*Bing!

▶The remaining rewards will arrive shortly!◀

She had expected this moment.

After getting familiar with the tutorial and Episode I through retries,

Clearing this episode would recover most status ailments and grant additional rewards. That was the plan.

*Kachunk.

“Finally awake. As always.”

“Move him.”

The door opened, and Claire spoke sarcastically about being late.

Beside her, Arina stood, calling servants to move the table one by one.

This was the reward mentioned at the bottom of the status window and for clearing Episode I—a meal.

“Is this a reward?”

It was absurd.

First, she repeated the same dialogue as Carsein.

“Why are you here?”

Her sisters didn’t like the question, and their expressions soured.

“The doctor diagnosed malnutrition and excess salt. But given today’s events, someone tampered with your food, so we brought our own.”

“We thoroughly inspected the food and water you drink. So, you can eat without worry.”

Like in the game, Carsein couldn’t properly manage meals, causing various issues.

They intended to personally cook and serve meals in the dining room to address these problems.

But this was just the game’s story. Seeing the feast, her mood worsened.

“Eat this? You’re joking, right?”

That was her honest reaction.