Chapter 789: Perhaps, a symptom of yet another illness.

Meanwhile...

Even before Mildred could arrive, the medics had already joined the family gathering. Accidents were not uncommon at family gatherings, so having a medical team on-site was a necessity.

When Mildred arrived, she immediately saw the medical team gathered around Zoren.

"You called for me, Master?" Mildred asked, stopping a few steps from the table, and watching one of the medics take Zoren’s blood pressure.

This immediately didn’t look good.

On her way to the venue hall, Mildred had been told that the head of the family was summoning the person who had prepared the particular dish in question. The servant didn’t elaborate further, only advising her to find out for herself. After all, even the servant wasn’t sure what was wrong with the food.

Everyone had been served the same dish, but only Zoren couldn’t stomach it.

Zoren and everyone around the table turned their heads in Mildred’s direction.

"Are you the one who prepared this?" Zoren asked, tipping the end of the plate in front of him.

"Yes," Mildred replied.

"Who else touched it besides you, Mildred?" he followed up, his eyes darker than usual. "As far as I remember, I asked everyone who had come close to this dish to come."

Mildred took a deep breath, noticing the slight impatience in Zoren’s voice. He usually spoke in an aloof tone, and most of the time, an emotionless one. Even when things were dire, his tone rarely changed. But today, it had.

’What did that brat do to the food?’Mildred wondered, remembering Penny sneaking near the dish. ’I told her not to touch it since it was going to be served to the family.’

Earlier, Penny had kept trying to taste the food while Mildred was cooking. So Mildred had to keep slapping her hand away. The only time she allowed Penny near it was when Mildred was occupied with something else and asked Penny to assist with plating.

’But she was actually good at plating,’she thought, mentally shaking her head to dismiss the thought. ’It’s better not to mention anyone or anything.’

"Master, no one else touches or comes close to the dishes I make," Mildred reassured politely, lowering her head. "I can assure you of that."

"You’re saying... you’re the only person who touched this dish?" Zoren repeated, stressing each word to make it as clear as possible. "No one else?"

Mildred stood near the table, her hand in front of her. "Yes," she raised her eyes to meet Zoren’s. "Aside from the handling of the food from the kitchen to this hall, no one else touched the food except me and the person who served it."

"So, are you implying the person who handled this food could have put something into the master’s dish?" William snorted, involving himself to such an extent that it made others sneer in disdain. "Haha. Who is the person who delivered this food? Get them in here and let’s see who’s lying."

With that, William signaled to the servant to bring in whoever had served the food. After all, Zoren was now receiving a first aid check.

"While we’re waiting for the other person, Mildred, how could you be so reckless?!" William harrumphed. "You’ve been supervising the kitchen for so long! How could you forget that the master’s food should be served by another family member—specifically, you!"

Mildred lowered her head and pursed her lips, not reacting to William’s obviously aggressive tone. She had no interest in family politics, but she was aware that speaking less would lessen the chance of making any mistakes.

"I told her I don’t need her serving my food," Zoren mused calmly, casting William a lazy glance. "William, I am moved by your enthusiasm to get to the bottom of this. However, I would like to handle the questioning myself. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask... but only if they remain on topic."

"Zoren, I’ve always stayed on the main topic. It’s just frustrating that this is all happening," William roared, still not calming down, as if a plan was brewing in the back of his mind. "Look at this! Everyone here has at least taken a bite, yet only yours tastes different."

’Will you look at him?’ Dean smirked in amusement, looking at William with ridicule. ’Acting as if he cares, but really just sowing discord among us again.’

It wasn’t like the Pierson Family didn’t have enough discord as it was—their relationships were more broken than anyone would expect. But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t work. By insinuating that only Zoren’s food tasted bad, William was suggesting someone was trying to poison him.

"Now that I think about it..." Zoren hummed, glancing at the plates ahead of him. "Has anyone here had any complaints about the food?"

"It’s good," Dean was the first to answer. "Uncle, is yours really that bad? You called it poison."

"Mine is alright as well," Lloyd nodded, glancing at his food, then at Zoren’s plate.

One by one, the people at the table either nodded or quietly murmured their answers. None of them found anything wrong with the food. If anything, it tasted heavenly.

"Huh?" William raised an eyebrow, looking at everyone before his eyes landed on his plate. He then slowly lifted his eyes to Zoren, narrowing them. "Zoren, are you sure the food tastes terrible?"

"What are you going on about now, William?"

"Well, with all due respect, you’ve been sick all your life," William explained, though his tone hinted at something else. "You’ve been taking different medicines all these years. All I’m asking is, what if it’s your taste buds that have a... defect?"

The side of Zoren’s mouth curled up, amused at how resourceful William was and how he never missed an opportunity to put doubt in Zoren’s reputation.

"Why don’t you try it?" Zoren carefully slid his plate forward, keeping his other arm still as the nurse tried to administer his IV. "Try it, William, and let me know if it’s my taste buds that has the problem. Who knows? It could be a symptom of yet another illness."