Once Lloyd used the Artifact, the Dove’s condition visibly improved. It still had not opened its eyes, but he could at least breathe a sigh of relief.
At the same time, Lloyd realized why the Dove had suddenly begun acting strangely some time ago.
‘Was it all to keep me from eating poisoned food?’
Lloyd felt sorry.
Not knowing that, he had gotten angry and even refused to feed it.
As he thought that he would give the Dove as many Energy Bars as it wanted once it recovered, Cotton arrived.
“I heard the circumstances from the maid Anna. I understand that the Dove ate poisoned food?”
“Yes. I detoxified it with an Artifact for now, but please examine it closely.”
“Understood.”
After answering briefly, Cotton began checking the Dove’s condition as it lay on a cushion.
After examining the Dove for a long time, Cotton spoke with a small smile.
“Thanks to Young Master Lloyd’s quick response, its life is not in danger. However, its body seems weakened, so I will give it a potion for recovery.”
“Then I leave it to you.”
Only after hearing Cotton say that it would be all right could Lloyd relax.
Perhaps because he felt relieved.
Only then did his anger rise belatedly.
‘I had planned to remain quiet and leave without causing trouble…….’
Unable to restrain the quiet rage welling up inside him, Lloyd unknowingly released his Telekinesis.
RUMBLE, RUMBLE.
As though an earthquake had struck, the room…… no, the entire castle began shaking violently.
The shaking was so severe that furniture toppled over, while people hurried to avoid objects falling from above.
“Why is there suddenly an earthquake……?”
Cotton thought of the current situation as nothing more than an ordinary earthquake.
It was only natural for him to think that.
Telekinesis had nothing to do with Mana.
Just as he was panicking over the sudden earthquake, Cotton saw a bookshelf that looked ready to topple.
If things continued like this, Lloyd could be seriously injured.
“Young Master Lloyd, it is dangerous!”
In truth, a shield created by Telekinesis was protecting Lloyd, but Cotton had no way of knowing that. He hurriedly cast Shield Magic.
At the same time that the Shield Magic unfolded, the bookshelf fell and crashed down on Lloyd.
“Phew, I am glad I was not too late. Are you all right?”
“……Yes.”
Thanks to Cotton, Lloyd regained some of his composure and controlled his anger with deep breaths.
The shaking gradually weakened before finally stopping.
“Young Master Lloyd, are you truly all right?”
When Anna asked in a worried voice, Lloyd nodded to reassure her before asking Cotton,
“More importantly, Sir Cotton. I hear that Magic Scholars know a great deal about poison. Can you identify the poison the Dove consumed in detail?”
“Is there any poisoned food remaining?”
“A little.”
As he answered, Lloyd pointed to the food still scattered haphazardly across the floor because it had not all been cleaned up.
“This is enough.”
Answering confidently, Cotton took an empty glass vial from the bag he always carried and carefully placed some of the poisoned food inside.
“This will do. Then I will go investigate the poison.”
Cotton hurried back to his laboratory to identify the poison.
Not long afterward, Vector and Martin rushed over in a panic.
“L-Leader!”
“Young Master Lloyd, are you all right?!”
They had hurried over to check on Lloyd after the powerful shaking earlier.
“I am fine.”
At that short, almost indifferent answer, Martin seemed relieved instead and spoke with a playful smile.
“That is a relief. Thinking about it, there is no way Young Master Lloyd would be injured by a mere earthquake of this degree.”
He knew Lloyd’s abilities well.
Lloyd had displayed remarkable abilities in the dungeon and during the battle against the Chimera. Protecting his own body could not be difficult for him.
But Vector had realized that the shaking earlier was not an ordinary earthquake, so he worried for a different reason.
“T-That earlier…….”
Vector was about to ask whether the Leader had caused it, but he noticed Anna and Martin nearby and hurriedly changed his words.
“D-Did something happen?”
“Hmm.”
Lloyd considered for a moment whether he should tell the two of them.
“Actually…….”
With a low sigh, he began telling them what had happened.
About the Dove’s strange behavior that had continued for several days, and how it had eaten poisoned food in Lloyd’s place.
As Vector and Martin listened, their expressions steadily grew serious.
“Doves have an exceptionally keen sense of smell. It likely detected a dangerous scent from the food.”
“As I thought.”
“What do you intend to do now? Do you have any suspicions?”
“Hmm, I do not know…….”
No one came to mind immediately.
Who was targeting him, and for what reason?
As Lloyd crossed his arms and sank into thought,
“I-I will not forgive them…… They dared to try to poison the Leader.”
“I feel the same way, but calm down for now. After all, we do not even know who the culprit is yet……”
Martin had been trying to calm Vector, but the moment he saw Vector’s face, he could not continue speaking.
Vector, who normally seemed so innocent that Martin wondered how he would survive in this harsh world, now had a face violently twisted by rage.
“Y-Your face…….”
So shocked by an expression he had never seen on Vector before, Martin could barely get the words out.
Whether Martin was surprised or not, Vector, blinded by anger, could not contain his boiling rage and struck the wall hard with his fist.
CRASH!!
The wall shattered like Styrofoam under the tremendous strength in his fist, leaving a large hole.
“I-I will find the culprit with these hands and tear them apart right there.”
After muttering that, Vector began walking.
If they let Vector leave the room in that state, there was no telling what he would do.
Certain that something serious would happen, Martin urgently grabbed Vector as he tried to leave.
“Hey, I said calm down. Let us hear Young Master Lloyd’s opinion first.”
But Martin’s strength was not enough to stop Vector. Instead, he was dragged along by Vector’s strength.
Even though Martin gathered Mana to increase his physical strength, the situation did not change.
“Gah, what kind of strength is this…….”
Martin was shocked inwardly.
He knew Vector was strong, but he had never imagined he was this strong.
As he was dragged helplessly toward the door, Vector suddenly stopped.
The one who had stopped Vector was Lloyd.
Lloyd had first sent Anna out, then used Telekinesis to stop Vector’s movements.
“Calm down, Vector.”
“T-This time, it will not matter even if you try to stop me, Leader.”
“Is that so? Then I have no choice.”
With a low sigh, Lloyd raised his outstretched arm.
Vector’s body began floating through the air.
Since the ceiling was quite high, Vector’s large body rose a considerable distance.
“U-Uh?”
Vector, who was extremely afraid of heights, forgot his anger and began panicking the moment his body rose into the air.
When his head touched the ceiling, Vector’s face turned pale.
“L-Leader! P-Please put me down quickly.”
“Has your head cooled now?”
“Y-Yes!! S-So please put me down quickly.”
Only then did Lloyd gently lower Vector to the floor.
Then he spoke to the two of them.
“Do not act rashly. First, find out whether there are any suspicious people. Do not let the others notice.”
“Yes, understood!”
“I-I am not confident, but I will do my best.”
After Vector and Martin left, Lloyd remained alone in the wrecked room and leaned so deeply into the sofa that his body sank into it.
“I am tired.”
Even though he had not used much Telekinesis, mental fatigue rushed over him.
He had thought he had stayed as quiet as possible while hiding his abilities to avoid troublesome incidents like this, but apparently, other people did not see it that way.
Now that things had come to this, revealing his abilities might not be a bad idea. But finding the culprit who had tried to poison him came first.
‘The employees would not suddenly poison me on their own…….’
There had to be someone else behind it.
At that moment, two faces appeared in Lloyd’s mind.
‘The people in this house who would want me gone are probably Countess Bled and Hailed.’
But Lloyd soon removed Hailed from the list of suspects.
In Lloyd’s eyes, Hailed did not seem to possess the nerve to do something like this.
‘Then the only one left is Countess Bled?’
Lloyd remembered the Countess glaring at him with an icy gaze in front of Count Bled’s study not long ago.
A woman who loved her son as fiercely as she did would be more than capable of doing something like this.
Lloyd closed his eyes and considered what he should do next.
‘Hmm, what should I do……?’
But with so few clues, he could not think of any decisive solution.
Of course, Iriana might be able to find the culprit quickly, but he did not want to inform her.
She was already busy with the Chimera and finding their comrades, so he wanted to trouble her as little as possible.
Besides……
‘I do not want to make her worry.’
Then only one method remained.
He would wait until the other side showed a reaction.
If Lloyd continued to appear completely fine, they would surely show even the slightest response.
‘Perhaps, since the poison did not work, they might come to find me in person.’
In any case, whoever dared touch him would not be forgiven!
That was Lloyd’s quiet resolve.
***
Unable to stay still from impatience and anxiety, Countess Bled paced around her room before suddenly beginning to mutter to herself in an irritated voice.
“What in the world is happening? Why is Lloyd…… why is that thing still walking around perfectly fine?”
Then, surprisingly, a voice came from somewhere in the room, though she had thought there was no one else there.
“Please wait a little longer. In rare cases, certain poisons do not work well.”
At the man’s words, Countess Bled spoke in an even shriller voice.
“You want me to wait longer? Is that something you should be saying? Do you know how much money I paid your Assassin Guild? How long do you expect me to wait!”
“…….”
When the man, who seemed to be a member of the Assassin Guild, gave no answer, her irritation rose.
‘There is not much time left until the Swordsmanship Exchange…….’
She wanted to use Mana-Destroying Poison to reveal at the Swordsmanship Exchange that Lloyd had become incapable again, while firmly strengthening Hailed’s position.
But several days had passed without any news that Lloyd had collapsed or fallen ill. Instead, he was boldly walking around the castle in perfect health.
How could she not be angry?
“The Swordsmanship Exchange is not far away. Do you have any plan going forward?”
“……Would it not be better to simply eliminate the target?”
For a moment, Countess Bled could not answer.
Lloyd was certainly a thorn in her side, but she had not considered killing him.
“There is no need to go that far……”
“Even though the target’s standing rises more with each passing day?”
The assassin had learned something while spending several days as a servant of House Bled.
Among the knights and servants, Lloyd, the illegitimate child, was more popular than Hailed, the official heir.
If things continued like this, the successor would almost certainly be changed.
Perhaps Countess Bled had realized something as well.
Biting her lip and keeping a heavy silence, she finally spoke.
“Very well. Use any means necessary and deal with Lloyd somehow.”
A venomous glint filled her eyes as she spoke.