Plucking the weed out

"Oh, that's a difficult question to answer, if you ask me." Jerome sighed as he said that.

"Well, I'm not asking you to find the culprit. I'm just asking you to give me your honest thoughts on it." I replied.

"I mean, the reason I'm not able to answer that question is because you had a long list of enemies. So, it could easily be one of them that did it, or worse, all of them might've banded together and plotted to kill you with that poison." He replied.

"This is gonna be really difficult, huh?" I accidentally muttered it out loud.

"Well, it already is. I mean, I feel like almost ninety percent of your servants are spies. Like, different groups of spies, serving different people." He spoke.

"Hmm, let me guess… The head maid is the crown prince's spy, right?" I asked.

I mean, that was simple to deduct. After all, she was deliberately trying to prove that I have gone crazy or something. And the person who would profit the most from that sort of rumor would be the crown prince.

"Bravo. You're actually right. The maid was transferred from the crown prince's side back in the day and that essentially means that she is his spy." Jerome clapped his hand as he said that.

"Now, I believe I knew about the spies before as well, right?" I asked.

"You most definitely did." He nodded his head.

"I don't get it. Why didn't I just fire all of those guys? Well, now that I think about it, it would be kinda hard to do something like that without having a proper reason and stuff." I mumbled.

"Who says that? You are part of the imperial family. You don't need a reason to oust a mere servant. You were just so hardheaded. You kept all those people around because you didn't care. Like, you were like 'well, I'm not gonna fight for the succession, so I don't care' as if you didn't make enemies with literally every noble family by all the rules and regulations you implemented. You were quite the fool in that way, if you ask me. I mean, you were definitely diligent, but a fool as well." Jerome spoke.

"Ugh, I should probably start by firing all of them, right?" I asked.

"I mean, I'm in no position to answer that question, but if I was you, I would do that." Jerome nodded his head as he spoke.

"Fine. Look, I have a lot of questions that I want to ask you, but right now I just want to process all that's been happening. So, just head out for now and don't let anyone in this room; not even the Emperor himself, if he decides to swing by." I spoke.

"Okay, that would be difficult for two reasons. One; I'm not your butler and two, it doesn't matter if it's the second Prince who ordered it, but if someone disobeys the Emperor, they die. So, I'm not going to take that big of a risk. I mean, the most I can do is a Duke or something." Jerome shrugged.

"Fine, don't let anyone other than the Emperor in." I spoke.

"Hmm, I'll try." Jerome spoke as he headed out of the room.

I just had to let out a deep sigh at that point. Nosir Albius. Such a unique name and yet I have no idea as to who this guy is. Like, which story is he from and all. Like, props to the people in those Otome isekais who actually remembers the features of the leads. Like, how did they even?

Anyhow, right now, I have decisions to make. It seems like being a Grand Duke is not exactly the path of glory and pleasure and I'm being targeted by literally everyone. And that would mean that I have to save my ass from all the danger.

Now, one thing that I'm actually hopeful about is the fact that magic exists in this world. I feel like if I learned some cool magical skill that kills and protects at the same time, I could be safe. Although there is one big problem. I don't know anything about magic. And even if there are any artifacts in this world, it wouldn't matter for me because I don't even know what this world is. Why did I even transmigrate if this was gonna be the case? I mean, at this point, this is just a blind playthrough.

Anyhow, my brain felt like it just got all fried up from all this processing to the point that I didn't even realize when I fell asleep.

And it seemed like I fell asleep for a long time because the moment I woke up, I saw Jerome sleeping by my bedside for some odd reason.

"Dude, wake up! Do all doctors sleep beside their patients?" I asked.

"Nah, but friends do." Jerome smiled as he said that. This guy really has a way with his words. "Anyhow, good morning. You slept for an awfully long time to the point that I was worried that you went to a coma or something." He chuckled as he said that.

"Well, it be like that, I guess. But, don't worry now that I've woken up." I smiled back as I said that.

"Yea, I ain't worried no more. So, what is the plan for the day?" He asked.

"Well, we are going to pluck the weeds out today." I gave out a smile as I said that.

"You do know that we have specialized gardeners here, right?" He asked again.

"Bruv, don't take everything so literally. I was talking about firing all those servants that've been unfaithful towards me." I spoke.

"Oh, you were talking about that, huh? If that's the case, let's go!" He jumped up all excited.

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