My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 79

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 79
Ruppert tilted the teapot, filling Agnes’s teacup, then whispered softly.
“Don’t drink the tea.”
“Understood.”
Agnes tilted her cup with practiced ease, letting the liquid pour silently into the bushes below.
Ruppert turned his back to the Mansion, positioning himself so no one could witness what had just happened.
Amy’s eyes widened as she watched, utterly confused.
Agnes pressed a finger to her lips and smiled knowingly.
“Amy, you can’t tell anyone about this.”
“Why?”
“I’ll explain later.”
That afternoon, Agnes shut herself in her room.
Amy was with her, looking anxious as she gazed up at her sister.
Agnes explained everything slowly, wanting to ease Amy’s mind.
“I’m going to play dead for a while.”
“Play dead?”
“Yes. Like pretending something isn’t there when it is—I’m going to pretend I’m sick when I’m not.”
“…Was there poison in the tea?”
“Something like that. But it won’t kill me. You don’t need to worry.”
“Why? Who did that?!”
Amy’s cheeks had gone pale with fear. Agnes brushed them gently while hesitating for just a moment.
Could the person Amy had been afraid of all along be Count Valdemar?
Either way, she had to tell her the truth.
Amy already suspected something was wrong, and if Agnes lied to her now, Amy might figure out that Agnes hadn’t actually drunk the Romanil.
“Count Valdemar.”
“Who?”
Amy didn’t seem to know who he was.
Until now, Agnes had kept everything about Romanil and their father secret from her.
So it made sense that this name, suddenly introduced, felt strange to her.
But Amy was a child who could read the future.
‘That means the person Amy said would put me in danger isn’t Count Valdemar.’
Watching Amy’s expression shift from fear to confusion, Agnes felt relieved and smiled.
“I think he got greedy because you brought so much money. But it’s fine—I already knew. That’s why Ruppert warned me first. If he hadn’t, I would’ve drunk the tea.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And thanks to him, I’m prepared. That’s all that matters.”
“Oh.”
Now that Amy seemed reassured, Agnes pulled her close and held her tight.
“Don’t worry. Your sister will deal with all the bad people. You just need to pretend to be worried about me while I’m sick.”
“How?”
“Want to practice?”
“Yes!”
Of course, Amy had already noticed that Agnes and the others around her were moving about busily these days and sensed something was happening.
But since Count Valdemar hadn’t been given any special treatment in the novel, she simply hadn’t thought of him.
‘Was he just an extra character?’
Since this was a novel where only the male leads mattered, he probably wouldn’t have appeared prominently.
Still, Amy was delighted that she now had a secret to share with her sister.
And it seemed like it would be fun to pretend to worry about a perfectly healthy sister.
Amy scrunched up her forehead and asked earnestly.
“Sister, do you have a headache? Should I massage it for you?”
After practicing for quite some time to make it look convincing, Amy finally returned to her own room.
* * *
After Amy left, Ruppert came in shortly after.
He seemed to have been checking who had put the Romanil in the tea.
But Agnes asked him something else first.
“Ruppert, are you alright?”
She hurried over and grabbed him, examining his face carefully.
Ruppert looked away, embarrassed, but Agnes ignored his discomfort and continued her inspection until she was satisfied, then exhaled slowly.
“No dizziness? No foggy head? No headache? Nothing at all?”
“I’m truly fine, as I told you.”
“The Romanil was definitely in the tea, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Agnes, who had been watching Ruppert steadily, suddenly wondered if he wasn’t avoiding her gaze out of embarrassment at all.
“Ruppert.”
Realizing that Agnes had caught on, Ruppert shook his head quietly.
“I’m truly fine. I just need to rest for about ten minutes.”
There was no way he could be unaffected.
It wasn’t visibly obvious, but she knew because they were always together.
His movements were slower than usual, and his gaze was clouded and distant.
She was furious.
Both at Ruppert for trying to hide it, and at herself for having no choice but to ask this of him.
But now wasn’t the time to show her anger.
Agnes pulled Ruppert’s hand and made him lie down on her bed.
“Miss, I’ll go to my room.”
“If you do, I’ll just spend the whole time worrying about what happens to you and won’t be able to do anything. If you resist, next time I won’t let you taste-test. Stay here. And of course, this won’t end with just one time, will it?”
At that, Ruppert obediently surrendered to the bed.
Her insides twisted painfully, but she pushed it down hard, and Agnes dragged a chair from the corner and sat beside the bed.
“Really just ten minutes?”
“Yes.”
“Then sleep quickly. Until you feel better. I won’t let anyone in.”
Since Kesenor had cast countless mysterious spells, nowhere was safer than her own room.
Ruppert, who looked briefly troubled as he gazed up at Agnes, seemed to judge that recovering quickly was better, and soon closed his eyes and fell asleep.
The sight of Ruppert sleeping soundly looked unfamiliar to her.
Come to think of it, Ruppert was often by her side when she slept.
His composed face looked younger than she’d expected.
‘He’s my age, so it’s only natural.’
But that made her guilt all the worse.
Would he really be fine?
What if he ended up like her father?
What on earth had he been thinking to agree that Romanil was safe to consume?
If something happens to you because of this, I won’t know what to do.
As she worried and bit her lip, time flowed on mercilessly.
Then Ruppert’s eyes suddenly opened.
The moment he came to, he reached toward Agnes.
His fingertip lightly touched, then withdrew from, her lip that she’d been worrying raw.
“I’m fine.”
His eyes were truly clear now.
His resolute gaze turned toward Agnes.
“I won’t be in pain, and I won’t die.”
How could anyone be like that?
She was exasperated, but she couldn’t scold someone who had even drunk poison for her sake.
But she could push down Ruppert as he tried to sit up.
Agnes spoke as though giving an order.
“Stay lying down while we talk.”
Though he looked quite displeased, Ruppert complied without argument.
After a brief sigh, Agnes asked Ruppert what she was curious about.
“How did you know Romanil was in it? Silmare said it was colorless and odorless, so you shouldn’t be able to tell.”
“Because an impurity had entered my body.”
“You can tell that?”
If that were true, what of the people who’d been exposed to it before?
As she stood bewildered, Ruppert continued.
“It’s not just me—the Marquis and Silmare would notice it too. And it would be difficult to use on anyone whose body is well-trained or whose Mana is superior.”
“Really?”
“Because they’d quickly sense that something is wrong with their body. Of course, since Valdemar’s elder brother was an ordinary person, he might not have noticed.”
Still suspicious, Agnes fixed her gaze on Ruppert, but whether he’d undergone detoxification during his rest or not, he seemed exactly as he always was.
Unable to fully shake her worry, Agnes confirmed the information Ruppert had brought back.
“So who was it?”
“It was Heder.”
“Heder?”
She was the maid hired after Lilia, a woman with large, gentle-looking eyes.
It was a person Agnes had never suspected, yet in another way, it made sense.
She was diligent enough, but she came across as unusually timid.
“Romanil was still left behind, stored in a small cosmetic container. When I went to her room to check it, she was there, anxious and on edge.”
“I suppose I gave her extra, in case of mistakes.”
“I went to Lilia and asked where you were. She told me you’d gone upstairs with a headache.”
“How did she react?”
“She watched me carefully and sighed.”
“Good. Now we just wait for the report to reach the Count.”
After that, Agnes reduced her outside activities and kept entirely to her room.
Perhaps exhausted from all the tension of not knowing when something might happen, she intended to rest thoroughly while she had the chance.
She played with Amy, or examined documents related to the territory from within her chamber, and took her meals there as well.
Then one day.
When Heder came to bring her meal, Agnes deliberately asked her to fetch some headache medicine.
She couldn’t manage to act as naturally as an actress would, but Heder seemed too simple-minded to notice.
Agnes could see the maid noticeably relax with relief.
She appeared completely taken in.
‘Had she been threatened?’
It wasn’t difficult to slip a colorless, odorless substance into something, and since it wouldn’t be visibly obvious, it seemed likely that people like her had been used this way many times before.
‘That Elder who was processing the Romanil before seemed meek as well.’
Children like that were typically inconspicuous, making them easy to dispose of.
‘I should take care to see they don’t come to any harm.’

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————