I hastily abandoned my utterly foolish pose upon his arrival and bowed my head in a formal stance.

‘Don’t you know to knock?’

So, nobles think they can just barge into a maid’s room because they feel like it.

Of course, I couldn’t openly complain.

Isn’t that what the caste system is for?

The lower classes must endure.

Haha.

“Ahem.”

“Oh, what brings you here, sir knight?”

“Are you alright?”

The knight quickly adjusted his awkward expression to a serious one and looked at me.

I managed to hide my embarrassment and responded with a kind smile.

“Ah, I’ve heard about it. I owe my life to you, sir. Thank you.”

I heard it from Milla.

The prince’s knights had wiped out the slave traders.

It must have been quite the issue.

And I think I heard the knight’s voice just before I passed out.

“I was merely following His Highness’s orders.”

He answered emotionlessly.

‘Who asked you that?’

The abrupt answer cut off the conversation, and I awkwardly chuckled.

I wondered if he was socially inept or just answered according to his position.

Anyway, those who have the title of male lead are all strange.

It’s not without reason that they stick together.

That’s right, that’s right.

“I’m here not for any other reason but to interrogate you.”

“Ah. Is that so… What?”

I doubted my ears.

What?

Did he just come out of nowhere and say he’s here to interrogate?

He threw out words like lightning and suddenly burst into my room and started rummaging through my drawers.

“What are you doing now?”

His absurd behavior made a sharp voice escape me unknowingly. I frowned and glared at him.

Regardless, he began to recklessly mess up my room and, eventually, even my diary…

Crazy?

“Wait a minute, sir, that’s!”

There was nothing I could do.

Rustle! Before I could even stop him, he had indeed opened the diary, and my heart sank.

Ah, is my life over now? But strangely, there was nothing written in the diary he had opened.

‘What?’

He frowned and put the diary, which had nothing written in it, down on my desk.

Then, as if annoyed, he let out a short sigh and suddenly pulled my arm towards him.

I looked at him with wide eyes, dumbfounded.

What’s with this guy?

Has he lost his mind?

“You’ll have to come with me somewhere, Lady Estanya.”

* * *

I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Externally, he acted as if he was the epitome of politeness, as if he was just dropping by to ask how my lunch was, but then he kindly tied me up and brought me to some dark room.

I decided to cooperate with his intentions for the time being.

I was slightly nervous.

In movies, when they bring you to places like this and you resist, don’t they usually punch you in the solar plexus and knock you out?

And when you wake up, don’t they start interrogating you immediately with a snappy line like, “Know your sins!”?

That’s pretty much what the word “interrogation” meant to me.

“I don’t know why you’re doing this, sir, but I am innocent,”

“I have a few questions for you.”

He forced me into a chair, and I couldn’t keep my expression under control any longer.

I understood why he was doing this to me.

I must have looked suspicious.

I had discovered a threat of poisoning and even found a secret room.

And I was just a maid.

Even I thought I was quite suspicious.

But that’s their problem.

Regardless, I was innocent.

And they treat me like a criminal?

Ever heard of the presumption of innocence?

Well, I suppose I’ll never know. What can I expect?

“Asking casually like that is quite rude. Is this how the knights under His Highness the Crown Prince usually handle things?”

A moment of irritation sharply shot through my tone.

Under normal circumstances,

‘Oh dear, I must cooperate.’

I would have bowed, but the more I thought about it, the angrier I got.

To expect more patience from me, who has endured so much, even taking arrows while struggling to survive, was truly too much.

But whether I was annoyed or not didn’t seem to matter much to him; he simply ignored my words and said what he wanted to say.

“How did you know there was poison in the wine?”

“What?”

I furrowed my brows and stared directly at him.

As expected.

Though he chose love over friendship in the original story’s ending, he was still portrayed as the male lead’s only ally, with unwavering loyalty.

Fortunately, unlike the male lead, who was a tyrant through and through, he had an unnecessarily old-fashioned and kind side.

So, if I could just prove my innocence, this matter would be easily resolved.

“If you do not answer properly, I will have no choice but to use force. Answer truthfully.”

I really wanted to argue if this was something you say to someone who has risked their life to save their employer, but I bit my lip at the sight of the large sword at his waist.

Damn. What should I answer?

“It was my natural duty as a maid of His Highness the Crown Prince!”

I answered him with a very innocent expression.

And then I pondered.

In order to erase the sub-male lead’s suspicions, I had to show proof that I was innocent.

The best evidence was the ‘Venzent leaf’ given to me by the diary, but would the sub-male lead know of this herb’s existence?

Was it information that could be shared with him? I didn’t even know what the diary was, so it was difficult to easily explain the help it had given me.

“Checking if there’s poison in the food is a very basic skill for a servant, isn’t it?”

“The point of my question is ‘how’ you found out, Lady Estanya.”

Damn, I tried to turn the conversation around, but it didn’t seem to work.

I racked my brains to come up with an alibi.

But nothing came to mind.

Ugh. I don’t know.

“When I first heard that I would be serving His Highness, I got a few Venzent leaves from a well-known herbalist, just in case. You know what that is, right?”

As I retorted, his expression stiffened.

I had to take control of the conversation.

“Oh, please don’t ask me what it is.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not well-versed in that area.”

“Weren’t you the one closest to His Highness? Then how did you check for poison in His Highness’s food before?”

“…….”

He couldn’t continue.

Well, it’s obvious.

The only ally of the male lead was Ruel.

He would have been too busy with the tasks given by the male lead to spare any concern for this.

Besides, the male lead, well.

Always receiving the protagonist’s halo, he would have sprung up even after eating poison, all energetic.

So, he was about to chug down the drink given by someone else as if it was nothing.

Anyway, I confronted the supporting male character with a shocked expression on my face.

“Good heavens, are you saying that you haven’t even checked for the risk of poison in His Highness’s drink until now?”

“How did you find the office of the Third Prince at the party?”

Oh? Look at this guy, dodging the question.

As expected of the supporting male character, he seemed to have a sharp mind.

I made the saddest face possible and poured out my grievances.

“Are you really going to do this? His Highness ordered me to find evidence that the Third Prince was involved with the slave traders, and I was just following those orders!”

He frowned in disbelief at my words.

I spoke with frustration.

“While trying to find anything, I stumbled upon a false wall, and His Highness is aware of this fact!”

However, the supporting male character still frowned and tapped the table, speaking logically.

“Only the high-ranking officials of the slave traders knew about the secret room in that office. Moreover, there was a magical device installed at the entrance of the office. It doesn’t make sense that you found the false wall by accident.”

Tch. What a meticulous guy.

Honestly, I also don’t know why that door opened.

I had never heard about the magic before.

‘It just opened when I kicked it?’

In the end, I had to exert my creativity, which I thought was unnecessary, to refute his words.

I didn’t usually tell such elaborate lies except when I wanted to skip school to go to an idol fan meeting in high school. Thanks to that, I was able to reminisce about the good old days.

I calmly but with a hint of annoyance, spoke a lie that would make anyone admire me.

“Sir. At that time, there was an elf in the same room who could use magic. Besides, I have no knowledge of magic at all.”

“…. The secret passage, too.”

I interrupted him and rebutted. This was really unfair.

“No matter how insignificant I may be compared to you, sir, I can still make basic deductions. How could there possibly be only one passage in a secret space?”

“…….”

“Suppose something was being secretly carried out and inside, wouldn’t they have created at least one escape route in preparation for a day like that when His Highness the Crown Prince’s forces would storm in? A slave trader who has been operating without getting caught all this time?”

I gathered my inner sorrow and injustice to continue speaking as if spewing out my resentment.

“And the secret passage was discovered by the elf who was with us. Of course, I don’t know what happened to him now, but he definitely felt the concentration of mana, and that’s why….”

Wait a minute.

Why is he asking about this?

I stared straight at the second male lead and asked.

“Surely you must have seen that scene with His Highness?”