The servant scolded her as he led her back to her room, his tone shifting from reprimanding to concerned by the time they arrived.

During this time, Delia used the Character List to learn the servant’s name.

“Thank you for bringing me back, Lisa.”

When Delia thanked her by name, the servant Lisa’s heart completely opened up, and she told her to call if she needed anything before leaving.

When Lisa returned, she informed Delia that she would be staying in the castle as a researcher and that Kaiel had sent a letter to her parents, Baron and Baroness Averbit. With his seal on the letter, her parents would surely feel reassured.

For the next few days, Delia was busy pretending to gather information about lapocia while going back and forth to the research lab.

Despite thinking that staying in the castle would give her more opportunities to see Kaiel, he remained holed up in his office due to his busy schedule. As a result, the plausibility score was gradually dropping.

She couldn’t openly badmouth Kaiel in the castle.

‘I have to do something.’

Determined, Delia grabbed a book lying nearby and tore out the last page. She then dipped a quill in ink.

「Kaiel」

Delia wrote his name on the torn paper and continued.

「Don’t you want to see me?」

She crossed out the line with two strokes and wrote a new one.

「I miss you.」

After doodling a small face of Kaiel on the paper, Delia folded it into a note and handed it to Lisa.

“Please give this to the Grand Duke.”

Delia smirked, thinking that if Kaiel found the note annoying, it might raise the plausibility score a bit.

“You didn’t write anything strange, did you?”

Suspicious of Delia’s smile, Lisa eyed the note.

“Oh, come on. Please, just deliver it.”

After sending Lisa off, Delia paced around the lab before leaning back in a chair in the corner.

Through the window, she could faintly see the snow-covered Tranade. She wiped the fogged-up window with her sleeve several times, only for it to fog up again. She spent some time idly watching the window.

“What on earth did you send to the Grand Duke…!”

Lisa’s excited voice woke Delia from her half-sleep.

“Lisa, you’re here?”

Lisa, now more agitated by Delia’s relaxed tone and small smile, huffed. Although the plausibility score had risen, Delia felt sorry for making Lisa deal with Kaiel’s anger.

After calming Lisa down and sending her off, Delia decided to reassess her current situation.

She couldn’t just sit around doing nothing.

“This isn’t why I came here.”

Although Kaiel had assigned her to research lapocia in the Tranade castle, Delia couldn’t do it. Researching lapocia would help Kaiel, and the cursed system would undoubtedly cut her plausibility score. The penalties would worsen, making her future uncertain.

If the final penalty meant dying and returning to her original world, it might be different, but she couldn’t predict the suffering she’d endure in a body that couldn’t die.

She reminded herself that she didn’t come to help Kaiel but to kill him. But trying to kill him immediately would surely fail, so she needed to buy time and find a method.

Feeling down, Delia idly tapped the flasks on the table. The clear sound rang out.

Each flask, containing different substances, produced a unique resonance.

Listening to the sounds, Delia finally thought of a feasible method.

‘Poison….’

Poisoning was advantageous for Delia and the least painful way to kill him.

‘Poison it is.’

***

After the stormy encounter, Kaiel closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

It had been months since he started handling everything alone, as his attendants were increasingly harmed by assassins targeting him.

“…Annoying.”

Among the various issues, ‘lapocia’ troubled him the most. This poisonous plant was cultivated in the Prolen region and smuggled into the Sheriton Empire, eventually reaching the imperial palace.

The problem was that his mother, Lady Rant, seemed to have health issues related to lapocia.

“I know a lot about Tranade, so I can help you, Your Grace.”

The confident voice echoed in his ears.

“Take me with you, Kaiel.”

His brows furrowed at the memory of her calling his name so freely.

It was a mystery. Why did he bring her here, of all people?

Even if she knew a lot about lapocia, bringing her here was risky, especially with assassins lurking around.

He decided to ponder his inexplicable choice further.

It didn’t take long for the image of her petite figure to form in his mind.

Her fragile body looked like it would topple over with a light push, and her annoyingly curly crimson hair.

He chuckled softly.

“She’s too insignificant to be a threat.”

That’s why he brought her. He could dispose of her if needed.

Kaiel slowly opened his eyes.

For now, he had to trust her.

Few people knew about Lapocia, and even fewer were trustworthy. If everyone was untrustworthy, she might be the easiest to handle.

Since she studied herbal medicine, she might be more helpful than expected.

A keen nose for herbal medicine.

She had quickly deduced that his mother’s condition was related to lapocia, something he had only suspected until now.

Whether by coincidence or a keen nose, he didn’t know.

He picked up the red apple from his desk and tossed it lightly into the air. The apple landed back in his large hand.

“Delia Averbit.”

He said her name aloud. The apple was tossed into the air again and fell back into his hand.

“Delia….”

He remembered her grimacing face after biting the unripe apple.

The nickname ‘Unripe Apple’ suited her better than Delia.

If not that, then ‘Dog Nose.’

He took a bite of the still red and luscious apple.

The sweet and fresh juice filled his mouth.

On a day when the fierce snowstorm had calmed a bit, the Grand Duke was having a rather good day.

His good mood lasted until he received a note from a hesitant servant in the afternoon.

“What is this?”

As the Grand Duke opened the note, the servant backed away cautiously.

As expected, Kaiel frowned in displeasure as soon as he read the note and crumpled it in one hand.

“Throw it away.”

“Pardon? But the Miss….”

Kaiel threw the crumpled note at the servant.

“Throw it away.”

The servant, sensing that arguing would only anger the Grand Duke, retreated.

Outside, Lisa couldn’t resist opening the crumpled note secretly.

She quickly understood why Kaiel was so angry. Reading the note, she herself felt embarrassed and shook her head.

“Miss, please….”

Assigned to serve the fearless and audacious baron’s daughter, Lisa diligently attended to her today as well.

***

“This is the Tranade castle’s library….”

The next day, Delia had just been shown the location of the library by Lisa.

The Tranade library was perhaps the warmest and most splendid place in the otherwise dreary castle.

Delia planned to look for books on poisonous plants there.

“You’re not planning anything strange again, are you?”

Lisa’s cautionary words were met with Delia’s bright smile.

“I’m just looking for materials needed for my research.”

Lisa’s heart melted at her smile, and she spoke softly.

“Just don’t play pranks like ‘I miss you,’ on the Grand Duke again, okay?”

Delia repeatedly answered Lisa that she understood and then asked her to prepare some warm tea before sending her off.

Delia stepped inside the library.

The plush red carpet muffled her footsteps, making it almost silent. Only the crackling sound of the fireplaces scattered around could be heard.

The bookshelves, filled with various books, were incredibly high, reaching what seemed to be the height of two to three floors.

It seemed impossible for anyone to read all these books, but judging by how well-organized the library was, it appeared that the owner of the castle visited frequently whenever time allowed.

“Finally found it!”

After exploring the vast library, Delia found a section near the window dedicated to herbal medicine books.

The books related to poisonous plants were placed quite high up. She had to stand on tiptoe to barely see the titles.

Among those books, a red one about poisonous plants and poisoning caught her eye.

Knowing she couldn’t reach it, Delia stretched her hand out anyway before lowering it again.

Why was it that the things she wanted were always out of reach? Delia sighed in frustration.

Looking around, she spotted a stepladder in the corner of the opposite bookshelf and quickly dragged it over.

As she dragged the ladder, the friction with the floor caused the joints to misalign, but she was unaware of this.