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A large-scale, secret investigation was carried out for a whole week. Starting the night after the banquet, the kitchen was turned upside down, before the entire residence became involved. As it couldn't be made known that Inés knew she was being poisoned by panote, they had launched the investigation on the grounds that there had been an attempt to poison Duke Escalante and the entire family, under cover of the commotion that had erupted at the banquet. The residence was strictly monitored to make sure no news of this leaked out, but it did, naturally, cause an uproar among the household staff all week.

It was such an unpleasant affair that the entire staff was tense and incredibly nervous. They didn't question the Escalante family's decision to stay secluded in the manor unless circumstances dictated otherwise; they understood that this only proved the seriousness of the situation. The stern faces of Duke Valeztena and Miguel, who went out on a daily basis to fulfill their duties, also contributed to the strained atmosphere.

Much was, of course, covered up from the start. For instance, the fact that Duke Escalante, who had already exhausted himself at the banquet, was now pouring so much of his energy into the poisoning incident of his daughter-in-law that he was barely able to walk, or the fact that Inés was suddenly keeping to her bedroom without ever leaving. This applied also to Duchess Escalante, who had previously been so active outside of the house, as well as Miguel, who had practically been living in the training grounds. Most of the household staff had not seen their masters in days, which showed them just how grave the situation at hand was.

Alfonso took advantage of this state of things. He put on his stern face and made it easy for the other employees to come to him with any secret reports. The butler had devoted so many years of his life to House Escalante that he was both trusted by the other employees and quite intimidating to them. This made him appear to have some power to reward any informants, even as he seemed less involved in the investigation as the butler of the residence, who was in charge of it all.

In the end, it was a matter of a few silver coins. Even those who had previously been unaware and uninterested in this unpleasant plot suddenly began to cast a watchful eye over the behavior of the other members of household staff, eager to make a profit by reporting a decisive clue.

At the same time, Raúl helped the butler make use of this state of affairs. The fact that he was a high-ranking employee despite being in his early twenties, as well as the fact that he was an outsider hailing from Perez, tended to get him labeled as an idle man who had been lucky to be promoted so young. But he was able to get up close and personal with everyone using his young, harmless, and friendly demeanor, managing to get into the good graces of the older maids and the male servants who envied him alike.

"At this rate, it wouldn't be surprising if we were all dismissed. If His Grace insists that he can't trust a single person anymore and decides to let everyone from the butler to the laundry maid go, would any one of us be able to stay in this nice environment? Where would we find anyone who pays us as well?" he would tell them, inciting the other employees to action.

He would also say things like, "Even if someone with truly untoward intentions did betray our master, it would be unfair for us all to have to pay the price when we have always served House Escalante faithfully," or "How could our fates be so tragic just because of one rat?"

To one maid, he put it this way: "You have so many friends here at the manor... All I got is a nicer uniform, since I am just a young man from Perez, but if you manage to get in the good graces of Don Alfonso, you may soon find yourself in charge of a whole floor and being addressed by your friends as Doña Marina."

"You mean I would become a high-ranking employee like you, Don Raúl?" she had replied.

"After that, you may be promoted to housekeeper, who gets to walk around with all of the manor's keys on her person, or perhaps even be granted the chance to be educated and become one of the duchess's ladies-in-waiting. You must be aware that this would change your life completely. All of it is up to you, of course, my dear Marina."

"I would love that, of course... Don Raúl, if I become the same rank as you, will you accept my affection?"

"Oh dear, I thought my admiration for you was one-sided."

"Liar. Don't tease me when I know full well you would never lay a finger on a mere maid. In any case, I will keep an eye out. But I cannot think of anyone who would do this..."

"You are a smart woman. There must have been someone who would do this. Don't you agree?"

"Yes, of course... Come to think of it, there are a couple of sly girls who come to mind."

Things continued in this fashion. Raúl would act very affably with everyone he spoke to, telling them that he was only speaking to them because he trusted them, and continued to act like he was concerned about all of their futures. At the end of each conversation, he would add, "I suppose we must all participate in the search, as uncomfortable as it is.

Oh, I am only telling you this because I trust you, of course."

He was encouraging them to turn every last stone, if only to prove themselves innocent, and by using any ill feelings they harbored for anyone else. Nothing inspired as much persistent, hawk-eyed vigilance as that.

This was the case for Marina, who wished to one day be called Doña Marina. For years now, she had firmly believed that one of the scullery maids had stolen her mother's ring and hated her for it. After the night of the banquet, while this particular maid had been called to the laundry room, Marina had taken the chance to sneak into and search her entire room. She was, of course, much more thorough than when armed knights had barged in and turned the employees' quarters upside down a few days ago.

Not only was she aware that employees like her often split open the floorboards to use the space under them as a kind of secret safe, but she also knew about the other methods some of them tried, afraid that even such a safe space would be found out. Though some were satisfied with just one hiding place, thieves and those who feared thieves had similar habits when it came to hiding things.

Marina went past the hiding place that was clearly there as a distraction to make any potential investigators believe they had found everything there was to find; she managed to pull out the rug from under the bed with her frail body to knock on every floorboard underneath. And she did find a few more secret safes this way, discovering her mother's ring inside of a hidden pouch. But as she had been so certain that this maid had been the culprit, she was only glad that she was able to retrieve the item.

There was something much more important left for her to discover.

To her surprise, the most important find actually came from under the bed of a young maid who happened to be sharing the room with the thief blinded by gold. Marina had found something very small sticking out from the wooden beams supporting the mat and had pulled on it to find a series of very small pouches, each only the size of a finger, tied together. Inside of them were dried herbs ground into a very fine powder.

Marina had immediately reported this to the butler, who had then called in the two maids, Leila and Eva, for questioning. The actual suspect was Leila, but Eva had been called in for sharing a room with her as well as her own crime of theft. The two of them sat side by side on their knees.

"Let me ask you this again, Leila. Where did you get this?" Alfonso asked.

"I-I don't know... I w-wasn't even aware this was under my bed... I-it... it doesn't belong to me..." Leila answered, stuttering violently.

Eva whipped her head to the other maid. "Are you saying it's mine, then?" she spat.

For members of household staff, merely having sticky fingers and attempting to murder their masters were incomparable crimes. Trying to prove that she had no connection to Leila's schemes, Eva then began to list every suspicious detail she had noticed about the younger maid and continued to interrupt Alfonso's interrogation despite being reprimanded several times.

Leila looked incredibly guilty despite her claim of innocence, but she also seemed rather confused about the whole ordeal. This was only natural, as she had not been ordered to poison all family members of House Escalante in the first place.

Inés had slipped into the room at some point, without the maids noticing, and was watching the interrogation. The scullery maid who had been given small errands to do in the kitchen was only thirteen.

How many coins had been placed in those small, naïve hands in return? How much had Inés's womb been worth in this life?

"Don Alfonso, I have been part of the Escalante household staff since I was younger than this girl-and I have worked here for as long as she has been alive!" Eva's voice grew louder with each word. "I may be a fool who was temporarily blinded by greed and stole a little gold piece, but how could I ever want to kill my master or hurt the gracious duchess? I owe so much to House Escalante and managed to feed and clothe my younger siblings with this work; the fact that I work here is the pride of my whole family. I am happier than anyone that the young master is becoming so famous out at sea. I apologize for failing to stop this murderer, but I swear, I-"

Alfonso raised a hand to stop her and gave the younger maid a stern look. "Leila, how much longer do you plan on denying this? What you have done is a grave sin. It is clear that you received this herb dozens of times with your own hands, but despite what you have done, we are more concerned about finding out how much poison was ingested, which is why I am letting you sit here and confess. I could just as easily lock you up in a cold, dark storage room and have the other servants beat the answers out of you."

"Don Alfonso, I swear, I... honestly..." the girl stammered, tears in her eyes and her face pale.

"Will you continue to waste all of our time even if I tell you this has to do with the cure? If one of the family members truly falls ill because of this, you will not be spared. The same goes for your family. Do you know who it was that persuaded you to partake in this matter?"

"I swear, this wasn't... I didn't mean to-"

"You are simply confused as to what you are being accused of," Inés commented.

The maids stiffened visibly at the unexpected voice.

Inés sat down on the chair Raúl had quickly brought over while Alfonso fretted over her. When she faced the young maid, she realized that she looked oddly familiar. With a quick nod of her head, she had the other maid dismissed. Then she asked, "So, this wasn't, you said. Continue."

The young maid was struck speechless.

"If you are having trouble broaching the subject, let me help you. This was not meant to be used to assassinate anyone here at House Escalante but merely to harm the young master's wife. You find it extremely unjust that you are being accused of trying to kill the whole family."

Leila trembled much more now than she had with Alfonso. Her gaze was fixed on the floor, not daring to face Inés, despite having tried to deny her involvement to the butler several times.

"Oh dear. Do you need more help?" Inés asked. She knew very well that the girl was weighed down not by the difficulty of dealing with someone of much higher status, but by a guilty conscience. It was clear that this was not a false accusation, judging by how awkward the girl was being. "What did they tell you when they gave you this powder?"

"My lady, I..."

"My physicians must be told just how much and for how long you have been giving this to me. Judging by the fact that so much is left over, you seem to have been a rather ineffective traitor."

"I...I... I am so sorry. I truly never intended to harm you..."

"There you go with your obvious lies again. Let me play along, then. You like money, don't you? Then let's start with how much they paid you."

"M-my mother is ill, my lady. No matter how much my father tried to make money, it was never enough for her medicine... I am still too young and don't get paid as much as the other maids, so... I just...that is why I started this, but..." The young maid was pitifully pale as she stammered her confession. Evil was not always committed by genuine villains. Someone as pitiful and weak as this girl with absolutely no malice toward her could be used as a weapon to harm her and her child.

"So you thought it would be fine to kill me?" Inés responded.

"No...! Not at all! I was told this wouldn't kill you, my lady. I-I asked so many times. Wh-whether this could kill someone... that I didn't want to become a murderer-"

"But you didn't mind destroying my womb."

The girl fell silent.

"Am I wrong?"

"I-I swear, I d-didn't know..."

"And you didn't care to know."

"S-since it wouldn't k-kill you... s-since it's not poison... I th-thought it would be fine, for just a little while... I am so sorry..."

"You thought it would be all right because it wasn't poison? I suppose I should be thanking you for your mercy."

"B-but it was truly just for a short while...! I swear to God! On my parents' names! If I am lying, may my whole family be sent to hell! I-I am aware of what food you dislike and tend to leave over, my lady, so... I o-only added it to the food you didn't like... only three times. A-and on those days...thankfully, you only took a few bites. I swear..."

Inés's green eyes lit up. "And the rest?"

"I-I thought that I needed to do as I was told, s-since I was getting paid, but... I was so afraid that I might h-harm you, my lady... that I lied to them and just kept receiving more of the medicine. Th-that merchant was so frightening that I-I thought I needed to do it, and... the w-woman who was keeping an eye on me realized I wasn't giving you all the doses, s-so she threatened to tell, and h-hit me, but I couldn't... I couldn't dare to..."

The merchant and the woman keeping an eye on her. Inés glanced over at Raúl, indicating that he ought to find out who these people were. He nodded and quickly left the room.

Inés then asked Leila, in a slightly warmer tone, "But why? You said it wasn't poison."

"I-I just couldn't... I couldn't do that to you, my lady..."

"Continue."

"While I was clearing the dining room one day, I-I stole an apple, but then... you, my lady, came back in because you had forgotten something and c-caught me stealing. But then... you told me that, if I am going to be a thief anyway, I should use both my hands..." Leila sobbed, shaking her head, her face completely red now. "A-and then you told me to take another apple, my lady."

"Oh..." Inés realized now why the girl had looked familiar. She had looked so flustered over a single apple and been so overly grateful. There had been something suspicious in her eyes, but Inés had figured that it was just because she had been caught stealing by one of her masters. That she must be incredibly spineless to be so scared over an apple.

"I-I couldn't stand it. Th-that I was being paid by someone who wished to harm you, my lady... Th-the guilt was eating me alive, s-so... I started h-hiding the pouches under my bed... and gave the money I received to that woman. I-I swear, I never added any medicine to your food after that. I prayed every night that my room would catch fire and just burn down my bed and what was under it... but now..."

"How commendable of you."

Leila blinked. "Pardon?"

"I am simply saying that you are commendable for continuing to get money for something you weren't even doing." Inés placed her hands on the girl's cheeks and made her look up. "I will have all of your wrongdoings blamed on the woman who spied on you. And in order for that to happen, you need to listen to me very well, like the little rat you are."

"S-sorry?"

"Continue to get that medicine. And this time, do as you are told."

The girl's gaze wavered in confusion.

Smile, Inés elaborated. "Continue to add the medicine to my food so that the woman watching you can see it, and bring that food to me yourself. And tell your 'masters' that the foolish Inés Escalante seems to trust you now. Make them laugh, will you?"