Chapter 18

“Miss…?”

Charlotte was flustered and called out to Navia.

However, Navia only put the perfectly ruined juice on the table.

Actually, more than half of the juice was left, but she still felt like she was dreaming because of the happiness she felt from the juice. It was a great luxury for her.

Flustered, Charlotte alternated between the juice and Navia.

Does Navia have a weird taste for juice? The taste of the juice must have become quite terrible. Wouldn’t it have been better to take the medicine separately than mix it in your juice…?

Slam!

Without a knock, the door slammed open.

Charlotte looked back at the uninvited guest with a face mixed with absurdity and anger. It was Maki and the butler Lyndon who came in. Charlotte asked with an unpleasant look.

“What’s the matter?”

Lyndon looked around the room without a word with a disrespectful expression. He could see a cup placed on a table.

“What is that?”

Lyndon pointed at the cup and asked Charlotte. Charlotte couldn’t open her mouth. Maki spoke with a calm but energetic look.

“It’s the same cup we used. One of them disappeared, but it looks like it was here.”

Charlotte refuted with a cold look.

“That’s weird. You even put it on the tray for me to take earlier, but why did your words change?”

Maki shook her head.

“Look at her trying to frame me, butler. You stole it, yet you’re being abominable.”

Lyndon questioned Charlotte with irritation.

“Charlotte, even if it was for the Lady, isn’t this against the Master’s will?”

“Butler, this…”

Maki stopped Charlotte from refuting.

“Not only that, but you mixed something in our juice! I told you about Laura earlier, right?”

She covered everything she had done, framing Charlotte. Maki murmured with a miserable look.

“If Lady Vivian had drunken it and not Laura…”

It didn’t happen, but it made them feel terrible thinking about it.

As Maki said, if Vivian had drunk the juice with the laxative, not only the maids but also the kitchen staff would have lost their necks. Lyndon also wouldn’t have been able to avoid it.

“How dare you do such dirty and cruel things in Agnes!”

However, in the end, it didn’t happen.

‘Tch, it’s hard to pass it over lightly because of Maki. I’ll erase this matter by demoting Charlotte to the laundry maid.’

Lyndon was determined to cover this up because he could be reprimanded by Nikan because of this incident.

“You should know the consequences of disobeying the Master’s will. You are now a maid of the laundry room…”

“Eu…”

A faint sound of illness was heard.

Everyone’s eyes turned.

Navia was curled up and her forehead was resting on her knees.

“Miss!”

Charlotte was surprised and approached Navia.

Maki rolled her eyes and shut her mouth. Something felt weird. Lyndon’s eyebrows furrowed when Navia, who had no sense of presence, suddenly became sick.

What’s wrong with her? There was no time to think.

“My stomach, euk…”

Navia raised her head with a distorted look.

Blood was scattered from her face to her neck and her eyes were bleak. it was the aftermath of staying up all night in the library. She would look like a sick person to anyone. When Charlotte looked at Navia, worried that she was actually sick, her eyes went to the juice.

‘It was definitely just juice…’

But then the image of Navia putting her pills in the juice came to mind.

‘Ah.’

A smile brushed on Charlotte’s lips and disappeared instantly.

She glared fiercely at Maki.

“Maki! You gave me the juice with this intention!”

“W-what…?”

Maki was flustered.

Laura definitely had the tampered juice, but why is Navia showing signs of the pills?

The laxatives were only in Charlotte’s glass, so there’s no way two people would get an upset stomach.

‘How dare you try to trick us!’

Maki found her composure and spoke to Lyndon.

“They’re acting because they’re cornered! There’s nothing wrong with that juice. They must be after Lady Vivian seeing that only one glass had stomach medicine in it!”

Maki was determined frame Charlotte for attempting to kill Vivian.

Charlotte laughed inside.

‘You must be very flustered by Lady Navia’s behavior, Maki.’

She made a fatal slip of the tongue.

Charlotte asked with a look of incomprehension.

“Why is juice with stomach medicine in it cruel? You don’t even know what this juice is like.”

Maki’s complexion hardened. Lyndon stopped upon hearing Charlotte’s question.

The atmosphere became strange quickly. Maki began to deny it.

“That’s because it’s the juice you took, so wouldn’t it obviously be fine?”

Charlotte spoke silently, helping the sick-looking Navia.

“Ha… Butler, it’s important to cover up the mischief, but this would get you in big trouble too.”

“Uh, hm. That’s true.”

Maki became impatient when Lyndon suddenly changed his attitude to neutral.

“Sick my ass, then we’ll know if I drink it, if it’s real or not!”

Maki took an urgent step to steal the juice from the table in case Charlotte or Navia spilled it.

“Maki!”

When Charlotte rebuked her with a look of great displeasure, Maki gave a thin smile.

‘Hmph, look at that. You’re afraid of being caught lying.’

Maki drank the juice in one shot.

“Euk!”

Maki spit out the juice because of the disgusting taste that was definitely not apple juice.

‘What is this…?’

Maki was flustered by the unexpected situation. She looked blankly at the juice without any thoughts.

What is this? Was the stomach medicine really in here?

Then why is Laura stuck in the bathroom?

Charlotte spoke coldly at Maki.

“My Lady has never had apple juice before, so she doesn’t know what it tastes like.”

“N-no… Charlotte…”

“But based on your reaction, it doesn’t seem to be apple juice.”

Lyndon remained silent from the moment he felt the situation was strange, and immediately changed his attitude.

“I think I need an explanation, Maki.”

“H-however, Butler, Laura is definitely still like that because of the stomach medicine that was in her juice…”

But then Charlotte pushed back hard.

“Where is that juice? I’m sure you have the evidence since I’m guilty, right?”

Maki broke into a cold sweat.

Only then did she realize she got caught in her own trap.

In fact, if the situation hadn’t escalated to this point, there would’ve been enough room to escape.

I should’ve trapped Navia for drinking juice without permission!

“…it looks like the juice was spoiled. I must’ve been over thinking it.”

Maki glossed over the problem with the juice being the cause.

Lyndon turned his attention to Navia.

“Fortunately, it seems that Lady Navia hasn’t had a lot, but we’d better have the doctor take a look.”

Navia was still curled up and hugging her belly.

Lyndon glared at Maki, who almost put him in trouble with something she shouldn’t have done, and tried to sort things out.

His master had already been nervous about the recent incidents, so it would be very troublesome to say that there was another problem today.

“Tch, Maki, you take responsibility and bring Doctor Hans. If you create another problem, it won’t end like this!”

Maki gritted her teeth.

“…yes, I’m sorry.”

Lyndon tried to find justification for questioning Navia and Charlotte in the beginning.

“Charlotte, I will cover for you breaking the Lord’s will this time, but I won’t let you go next time.”

“I will keep that in mind, Butler.”

“Ahem, Lady, if you are in bad condition, be sure to report it.”

Lyndon walked out of the room after his sentence like he had nothing to do with it. It was when Maki tried to leave with her fists clenched.

Charlotte mocked Maki with a worried face.

“You’re going to get Doctor Hans, right? You should come back quickly… If my Lady’s condition gets worse because of the delay, I’ll have to report it to Butler Lyndon, won’t I?”

Maki replied with a forced smile and anger in her eyes.

“Y…es. I will.”

Maki couldn’t hide her twitching lips.

Click.

When Maki closed the door and left, Charlotte picked up the apple juice that had been put back on the table.

Navia straightened her curled body, slid into her bed, and lied down.

“Throw that away in the pot.”

Charlotte replied, shrugging her shoulders, “Yes. I was thinking about which pot to throw it in.”

Their breathing was in sync. The two faced each other and smiled.