Tap. Tap. Tap—
The footsteps grew louder, and closer.
Why is she awake this early?!
Elena started to panic. She hurriedly resealed the tea packet and put it back where it had been.
Then she left the kitchen, meaning to go hide in the washroom... and instead ran straight into Lilith, who had just reached the ground floor.
Lilith was in her nightdress and still looked half asleep, her eyes barely open.
"Oh, it's Elena... You're up early. Morning~"
Lilith's voice was soft, completely unlike the way she usually spoke, and for a moment Elena honestly thought Lilith had been replaced by someone else.
Does she have a second personality? Is this the same person as that old hag?!
No — none of that mattered right now. What she had to do was get out of here at once.
"Ah, morning... um! I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I'll be going!"
Elena worked hard at keeping her voice level, and it still shook slightly despite her.
"Mm. Off you go."
Lilith only nodded, apparently not registering anything odd about Elena at all.
That let Elena breathe again, and she hurried to the washroom and bolted the door.
Standing in front of the washroom mirror, she scooped up water and flung it hard against her own face to calm herself down.
"Why am I this nervous..."
She did not quite understand it. She had been fine while actually doing the deed, and yet one look at Lilith made her tense up on its own.
In front of her, the reflection in the mirror looked rather disheveled — exactly the look of someone who had just finished doing something wrong.
But fortunately Lilith seemed to have only just woken up and had noticed nothing.
Any other time, Lilith might have seized her on the spot and punished her thoroughly.
She had no desire to suffer through a punishment again. Once was quite enough of that.
"It's fine, it's fine... The drug's already in. All I have to do now is wait..."
Elena murmured reassurances at herself in the mirror, easing the tension inside her.
Just then the sound of water being boiled came from the kitchen outside; Lilith must be about to brew her tea.
And she had been in the washroom quite long enough. Any longer and it would look far too suspicious.
Although she was already suspicious enough.
Elena washed her face one last time, braced herself, opened the door, and went out.
Coming into the living room, she spotted Lilith brewing tea at once — and the packet of tea beside her hand was precisely the one she had drugged.
The plan is going perfectly! Elena felt a private flush of glee.
Lilith noticed Elena too, and smiled at her and crooked a finger.
"Elena~ What would you like for breakfast?"
"A-anything!"
Elena gave a perfunctory answer and walked obediently over to Lilith's side.
"If it's anything, then make it yourself. There are still plenty of ingredients — make whatever you feel like eating~"
Lilith said it while pointing at the cold cabinet in the kitchen where the ingredients were kept.
Elena looked over as well and nodded.
"I know... What about you, do you want any?"
Hearing that, Lilith looked rather surprised, as though it had never occurred to her that Elena might think of her.
"Hm? Does my little maid want to make her Master breakfast?"
Then she put on the face of someone about to burst into tears and flung her arms around Elena.
"Boo hoo~ My little maid is finally acting like a maid! As her Master, I'm truly gratified~"
Elena tried to push Lilith off, but with both arms pinned in that embrace she could not get any leverage at all.
All she could do was speak with an expression of pure distaste.
"Y-you talk too much! Keep hugging me like this and I won't make you any!"
At that Lilith let go instantly, the smile back on her face.
"All right, I'll stop teasing you. I don't need any — go on and eat your own~"
At that moment the water finished boiling.
Lilith turned and brewed a cup of tea crisply, her movements quick and economical and apparently effortless.
But only Elena knew the agony of learning to brew tea yesterday! It was nowhere near as simple as it looked!
Before long Lilith came over to Elena carrying the finished tea and gave her one last set of instructions.
"Oh, and remember to wash up after breakfast~ Then wash and hang out the clothes you changed out of last night, and after that you're free to do as you like~"
"I know!"
Hearing Elena's answer, she nodded in satisfaction.
"Be a good girl~"
Then she went past Elena, out of the kitchen, and back up to the second floor.
Only once Lilith's back had disappeared from view did Elena finally let out her breath.
"Hmph~ As if I'd wash your clothes. Very soon, this will all be over!"
Gurgle~ gurgle gurgle—
But at that exact moment, Elena's stomach spoke up at the worst possible time.
"—! Dammit, why now of all..."
Her cheeks went faintly warm on their own.
Never mind. She was going to drink it anyway, so there was no use being impatient now. She would wait a while longer and then go and collect the body.
Elena talked herself around, and soon stopped being nervous.
While she waited she made herself a simple breakfast: fried eggs with fried bacon and bread.
Mostly because it was the only thing she knew how to make — and even with cooking this simple, she still burned the bacon.
But you eat what you cook even if it takes tears to get it down; wasting food was wrong no matter the circumstances.
Time crept past minute by minute, and Elena finished her breakfast.
It had been over half an hour since Lilith went upstairs. Whatever else, the drug ought to have taken full effect by now.
"Shall I go and look?"
Elena muttered it to herself.
At the very least she should confirm whether Lilith had actually drunk it.
With that thought, she put the used dishes back in the kitchen and then went up to the second floor, to the door of Lilith's bedroom.
First she leaned against the door and listened carefully to the situation inside.
It was very quiet inside. Not a sound.
Then she took hold of the handle, pressed it gently, and opened the bedroom door.
Inside, Lilith was seated at the desk leafing through a book, and there, to the right of her hand, sat the cup of tea.
Half the tea was already gone, and yet she looked perfectly fine.
The sound of Elena opening the door was caught by Lilith as well. She turned around and looked at Elena skulking in the doorway.
"What is it? Was there something you needed~?"
Elena went straight back into a panic and hastily grabbed at an excuse.
"Th-that is, where's the soap for washing clothes...?"
"Hm? Is there none in the washroom? If not, go and look in the storeroom. There should still be stock~"
"I-I understand!"
Elena then hurried out of Lilith's bedroom and shut the door.
Outside it, Elena sat down on the floor to one side, thoroughly baffled.
That old hag had clearly drunk it, so how could she look completely unaffected?
Had the drug not started working yet? But this much time had passed — any poison would have taken hold by now, surely?
The more Elena thought about it the stranger it got. Bloodclot was supposed to take effect within 10 minutes of being drunk...
Outside the door Elena was in an agony of impatience. Inside the door the scene was another thing entirely.
Lilith sat at the desk with her legs crossed, the half-drunk cup resting against her lips, and took a small sip, the corners of her mouth curving slightly upward.
"What a cute expression~"