“You’re awake.”

At the voice tinged with exasperation, Gemvil immediately shot up.

At that quick movement, Horas pressed down on Gemvil’s shoulder.

“Hey, lie down. Do you think you’re some kind of monster? They say you need to rest in bed.”

“What happened?”

“What do you mean what happened? You passed out from poison.”

Only then did Gemvil groan, clutching his head.

“Ah, right.”

Then he suddenly thought of the kid.

Since Rodi was the one who gave him the juice, she must have been quite shocked.

“So.”

“Well, everything’s been turned upside down. For now, everyone’s waiting in the East Wing dormitory until the culprit is found. Only those completely cleared of suspicion have been allowed to go home. There aren’t many left now. They must have been quite clever this time.”

“What about the kid?”

At that, Horas’s face darkened.

“…She’s currently the prime suspect.”

Gemvil returned to his room to recover after reporting to Eclise that he was fine.

Even after that, he kept mulling over Horas’s words.

“Nothing turned up. If it had been given to an outsider, Lord Eclise would have just handled it, but they targeted you specifically. Even just confronting an executive usually leads straight to punishment, so we can’t just let this slide. And it doesn’t look good to other staff either.”

“If I say I’m fine…”

“If you had consumed just a bit more, one of your limbs would have been paralyzed for life. This isn’t a simple matter.”

“As long as I woke up fine…”

“Regardless, until the culprit is found, this isn’t resolved. Just rest for now. Even so, we can’t just punish someone who knows nothing.”

“……”

“Don’t worry. Once we figure out whether someone put the rookie up to it or not, this will be resolved quickly. But still, to think this would happen right after the rookie arrives.”

“……”

Gemvil lay in bed, unable to rest, constantly worrying.

There had been a goal.

“Brother! Look at this! Isn’t it pretty?”

“Brother, I’m going to become a really amazing person. Then I’ll buy you a huge present. Ah, don’t pat my head!”

“When will the war end, brother?”

“Haah.”

As the past kept overlapping, Gemvil sighed and rubbed his face.

Knock knock.

A soft knocking sound was heard at the door.

“Come in.”

At the quiet voice, the door opened silently.

“…Mister.”

The dejected voice made Gemvil turn his head.

His eyes met with Rodi’s, who was watching him while barely opening the door halfway, looking hesitant.

Eyes full of apology.

If this was acting, she should have debuted as a star actress in a theater troupe instead of being here.

Gemvil made a deflating sound.

“It’s Gemvil.”

“Are… are you in a lot of pain?”

When Gemvil beckoned with his hand, Rodi quietly entered.

“Do I look like I’m in pain?”

“A little.”

Rodi, taking a few more steps closer, moved her lips.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to give you something refreshing…”

“Did you put the poison in?”

At that, Rodi’s eyes flew wide open.

“No! I didn’t do it!”

“Then that’s fine. Don’t worry about it. It’s my fault for not being careful.”

“But…”

“If you didn’t do it, that’s enough. Go on now, I’ll be back to normal by tomorrow.”

Gemvil waved his hand, telling Rodi to leave, saying he needed to rest.

When Rodi still didn’t move, Gemvil spoke again.

“If you keep staring like that, I’ll get attached, so hurry and leave.”

“…okay.”

Finally, Rodi quietly closed the door after watching Gemvil lie down completely and cover his eyes with his arm to sleep.

***

“Are you crazy?”

Horas blurted out incredulously as he watched Gemvil changing clothes.

Gemvil ignored him completely as he took off his uniform and changed into his own clothes.

“Seems like it.”

“No, look at this madman. What’s wrong with you? You, who even volunteered for night shifts, why are you quitting? Just go to bed and sleep.”

Regardless, Gemvil folded even his remaining cravat, placed it down, and closed the cabinet door.

Hailo and Jin, who were entering behind them, approached asking what was going on when they saw the two bickering.

Hailo and Jin had been working non-stop, in charge of searching the staff waiting in the East Wing dormitory.

Especially Hailo, since he was there, had deliberately stepped forward to help clear Rodi’s false charges.

“Why, why, why, why are you like this? Gemvil, you should be resting, why are you out?”

“This guy says he’s quitting.”

“Why? Because you’re sick?”

“Isn’t it obvious? He’s trying to cover up the incident.”

Horas shook his head in disbelief.

Hailo and Jin looked at each other before trying to stop Gemvil.

“This doesn’t seem right.”

“Yeah, Jin’s right. How much trouble could the kid really get into?”

“Cheiles die because they’re incompetent. I was careless, so I deserve to be disqualified.”

“No, how did you arrive at that conclusion?”

“Hey…”

“Take care.”

Gemvil left the break room after leaving those brief words.

Horas muttered “That ignorant fool,” while Jin and Hailo, who had come to change clothes, wore faces like lost puppies, looking perplexed.

***

Meanwhile, similar events were unfolding in the administrative office.

“I’ll just take disciplinary action for negligent management since I was in the banquet hall, that’s all.”

Ekision clicked his tongue and scratched his chin awkwardly as he handed the incident report to Padrid.

“So you’re taking direct responsibility?”

“Didn’t you say I should be responsible if the rookie goes astray? Such a young kid, what would she know?

Do you know what kind of poison it was? If Gemvil hadn’t eaten it, the kid would have. Ugh, it’s terrible just thinking about it.”

He clearly remembered Rodi asking if it tasted like lemon, curious about it.

If he had stopped the little one from eating when her belly was bulging like a tadpole, this wouldn’t have happened.

He kept feeling guilty for letting it continue because it was nice seeing her so excited.

Padrid raised his eyebrows as if surprised by this behavior.

“Just keeping her isolated for a while should be enough.”

“Forget it. Wonder if I’ll get a few months’ pay cut? Tsk, I should use this as an excuse to ask the rookie to be my daughter.”

Just as Padrid was about to say how unlike him it was to care for others, a white envelope was suddenly thrust forward from behind Ekision.

“Lord Gemvil. Are you alright?”

“Huh? Gemvil. Why are you here? Why aren’t you in your room?”

“What is this?”

Padrid and Ekision looked at Gemvil questioningly.

“Resignation letter.”

“Resignation letter?”

“Huh? Hey, are you that sick? Jon said you were fine. You just need some rest, why submit a resignation letter?”

Ekision fussed around examining Gemvil’s body while mentioning the chief physician’s name.

Though his internal injuries weren’t visible from the outside, judging by his complexion, he seemed to have recovered quite well.

As expected of such a monster-like guy.

“I already spoke with Lord Eclise at dawn, so after I leave, treat it like nothing happened.”

Along with the resignation letter, he took out the badge that executives carried from his pocket and placed it on Padrid’s desk.

“……”

“……”

Both Padrid and Ekision were left speechless.

Gemvil didn’t stay any longer.

“Take care, all of you.”

With a slight smile and just a nod of his head, he left. Padrid was the first to come to his senses.

“No, wait! What are you saying!”

Padrid groaned while pressing his temples firmly.

“Why are these guys all doing things they’ve never done before?”

It wasn’t just Gemvil and Ekision acting this way.

Right after leaving the conference room yesterday, Jin said he would take some of the punishment, claiming responsibility.

Hailo was suggesting they try to persuade Lord Eclise.

Even Horas, while pretending not to care, had slipped him an incident report citing management negligence.

‘Nothing’s happened to the kid in just a few days.’

They said isolation, but they were actually protecting her quite well.

If anything, Padrid himself was receiving almost real-time reports.

He just wasn’t stepping forward to avoid staff backlash.

With everyone acting like this, he felt like he was the only trash.

Padrid tore up both Gemvil’s resignation letter and Ekision’s incident report right there.

“Hey, why are you tearing up mine!”

“Shut it.”

Then Padrid got up from his seat and left the administrative office.

His steps were so quick they created a whooshing sound.

“…Has Padrid always spoken informally to me? Why doesn’t it feel awkward?”

Ekision quickly followed after him.