A few days later, Iren inspected the laboratory with Jane. It was her last inspection before facing death.

The pharmaceutical tools and materials, along with several medicines she made herself, were sold. Jane’s wide connections were helpful in selling the medicines.

Since there were medicines not commonly found in the market, they gathered a considerable amount of money after selling everything.

Iren decided to take only the money from selling the medicines she made. The tools and materials were bought with Lahart’s money, so they weren’t hers. She didn’t want to take anything given by Lahart.

Still, she had enough money to rent a small room and live out there for a few months.

“Madam, I… I’m so scared.”

Jane quietly sobbed after checking that the last medicine box was empty. Iren knelt down and patted her back.

“If, Madam… if you don’t wake up, I… I!”

Jane hugged Iren. Iren’s shoulders became hot and wet with Jane’s tears. The weight seeped into Iren’s heart, pressing down heavily.

“I’m sorry. For leaving you with such a burden.”

“No! That’s not why I’m crying. I’m so happy that you trust me. What makes me cry is that… this is the only way for Madam to be happy. I really don’t understand what sin our kind Madam has committed to deserve this. It makes me angry.”

Jane sobbed but burst out in frustration. Iren wiped her tears away.

“I’m not kind. Kind people don’t gamble with their lives, nor do they drag others into their gamble.”

“I’m not ‘others’! Do you think of me as others? That really hurts!”

Jane exclaimed. Iren comforted and soothed her again.

“Madam might think it’s a gamble, but I don’t. We will definitely succeed. Your skills are the best in the empire, Madam. I know it. I just have to do well!”

“I trust you too, Jane. Because your feelings for me are the best in the empire.”

The two smiled at each other. Jane, regaining her strength, helped Iren to stand up. Iren looked around the finished lab and touched her belly.

Please, let this little life endure.

A few days later, Irelaide Phaeson died like that.

* * *

“It’s Robben.”

No answer came back. Butler Robben quietly raised his eyes. The door was broken, so he could see the entire lab at a glance.

Lahart was sitting stiffly in front of the desk, his hands clasped to his forehead, frozen.

The lab, having lost its master, felt as empty as ruins. Even Lahart’s presence couldn’t fill the void space. Maybe Lahart sitting like that made it feel even more desolate.

He was a man terribly out of place in the lab. That fact reminded him that the true owner of the lab was indeed gone.

“The magician has visited.”

“You made sure he won’t talk?”

A murky voice that could come from a beast crawling out of the darkness, asked. A killing intent with no specific target or purpose constricted the air.

Even Robben, who once dominated battlefields with a single sword, felt a chill from such intense killing intent for a moment.

“He wouldn’t dare to utter a word.”

“Did you make sure?”

“I’m not well-versed in magic, so I can’t be certain. However, the magician assured that he was thorough in his work and there should be no problems.”

“Besides that.”

Robben noticed what Lahart wanted to say. He clasped his hands and answered respectfully and politely.

“I checked. Madam has completely stopped breathing….”

“Enough.”

Lahart wanted to burst into cynical laughter. After all, wasn’t the state he was in, the actions he was taking, utterly ridiculous?

Even a fleeting glance could distinguish whether the thing rolling on the floor was a living human or not.

He had spent time on the battlefield and had stepped over countless lives. It was a sense, if it could be called that, granted by those experiences.

His head, his senses, judged it. Irelaide was no longer alive.

He had held the stiff, warmth-less hand. He had watched the chest that no longer rose and fell shallowly for minutes. He had even forcibly opened the lips that were tightly shut and gave off nothing.

Yet, unable to accept it, he asked someone else whether his wife was truly dead. He looked very, really, extremely pathetic.

He couldn’t bring himself to laugh. No matter how much force he applied to the muscles around his mouth, they only twisted.

“Arrange the funeral yourself.”

You dared, without permission, to leave my side. Leaving behind only a piece of paper that settled the duty and sins you carried with a single bottle of medicine. As if you had been waiting and preparing for this moment alone. Very neatly and cleanly.

You were always like that. When you were with me, you would bite your lips, grip the hem of your clothes tightly, and avoid my eyes.

No matter what I said or did, it was the same. I thought it was because of your guilt towards me.

Your death made it clear to me. To me, your existence was nothing more than an annoying and cumbersome task. You had been dreaming of the day you would get rid of me, to be freed from me.

So you could say to burn everything and leave nothing behind.

Even in death, you wanted to escape from my side.

You weren’t by my side because you wanted to be. You stayed only to complete the antidote, to repay your sin.

“Use whatever is necessary, only the best. Make sure I don’t have to worry about anything.”

I vow once again not to give you anything you wanted from me.

Forgiveness, mercy, love, freedom… Whatever it was that you desired.

“You are a woman who deserves it.”

* * *

A disorderly and gloomy atmosphere had taken over the ducal palace.

The sudden death of the duchess had shattered the stability barely maintained by the new butler and head maid.

“Did you hear why the Madam passed away?”

“No, I haven’t. The butler and head maid told us never to talk about it. Did you hear something?”

“Well… The coachman who brought the doctor heard.”

“Yeah?”

“She died from poisoning.”

“What? Really? You’re kidding!”

“I don’t know for sure. But she had been acting strange recently, right? She couldn’t even eat properly.”

“And she looked unwell.”

“That’s because she’s always been like that. She’s from the Phaeson family.”

“Still, it doesn’t make sense. How could someone who hardly ever leaves the castle get poisoned?”

One of the maids who gathered raised a question. The maid who first brought up the topic glanced around and then lowered her posture. The other maids also bent their waists and huddled their heads together.

The rumor that Iren had died of poisoning was interesting enough to make them forget about the tragic ends of the previous butler and head maid.

“The Madam’s laboratory in the basement.”

“Wasn’t that where she was researching the antidote?”

“Even if that’s what they say, how would we know what she actually did in there?”

“Right. No one has been inside the laboratory, except for Jane.”

“Should we ask Jane? If the madam was really researching the antidote?”

“What for?”

“Just. Aren’t you curious? Don’t you wonder?”

“Guys, it’s Jane.”

Someone pointed towards the end of the hallway. Jane, wearing a maid’s uniform made of white cloth, was walking towards them.

One of the maids, observing each other, muttered as if it was ridiculous.

“Making such a fuss. Anyone would think the lady was her own sister.”

In Sirencia, there’s a custom to wear white clothes to mourn and commemorate the deceased. Like the snow that covers Sirencia throughout winter and melts in spring to bloom flowers and sprout leaves, it’s a tradition born from the wish for the deceased to stay by their loved ones’ side before flowing into new life.

Jane started wearing the white maid’s uniform from the day it was announced Iren had died. She was the only one who wore white clothes for the dead Iren.

Since the dress code was only required at funerals by rule, neither the butler nor the head maid ordered them to wear white clothes. More accurately, it was more like they couldn’t.

“Where are you going, Jane?”

Jane, who was about to pass by the group of maids, stopped in her tracks. The maid who had mocked Jane for making a fuss stepped forward.

It was the very maid who had relayed what she heard from the coachman and mentioned the laboratory.

“It’s hard to see your face properly. Been busy lately?”

“There’s a lot to prepare. Don’t you have your own work? You shouldn’t have time to be gossiping like this.”

“We have plenty of work, but not without breaks. You must be more relaxed now that the mistress you served has passed away.”

“Are you mocking me because I have time to rest now?”

“Look at this one. When did I say that? If someone heard you, they’d think I’m happy about the madam’s death.”

“I heard you all spouting nonsense about the madam.”

“This…!”

The face of the maid who had become red with anger looked as if she was about to charge at Jane any moment, but she soon snorted and crossed her arms.

“What’s the use of saying you and the madam were especially close? It’s just going to hurt your feelings. If you were truly special, you would understand, wouldn’t you?”

“What?”

“What was in the madam’s laboratory. What exactly was the madam researching there.”

Jane’s expression darkened. She’s been caught! The maid pressed on Jane with renewed vigor.

“The madam was using the excuse of researching an antidote but was actually studying poison, right? That’s it, isn’t it? And she died from being poisoned!”

“…Who said that?”

“What does it matter who said it? The madam received divine punishment. She was punished by heaven. How could she do such a thing in the duke’s castle? You too, Jane. You should have stopped the madam from doing such things.”

The other maids gasped silently at Sasha’s words, which had crossed the line.

“Sasha, stop it. Let’s just go.”

“Yeah, we should start cleaning soon. We’re going to get scolded by the head maid.”

“Why stop me? Did I say anything wrong?”

Sasha glared at the other maids. She was of noble descent, bearing a noble surname, even though she had fallen from grace.

I’m not an ordinary maid. I’m different from you all.

She entered the castle as a maid with a clear purpose, driven by her sense of privilege.

Jane realized Sasha’s purpose early on. And the reason Sasha was trying so hard to belittle Iren was not unrelated to that purpose.