“...What do you mean by that?”
Agne’s hand, which had been lifting the teacup to her lips, slowly lowered again. There was something unsettling about the faint smile on Ceres’s face. It sent a quiet chill through her.
“I happened to get my hands on something very interesting this time.”
As if to confirm that unease, Ceres placed something down on the table.
“I made sure to put plenty of this in.”
Agne dropped her gaze with a look asking what trick this was. Her eyes instantly widened.
A small hexagonal glass vial!
“Th-That’s...!”
Wasn’t that the very vial she had given to Director Arnold? The one she told him to feed to Julia little by little?
If that was mixed into this tea...
“Ugh!”
Agne gagged immediately. As if she wanted to throw up everything she had just swallowed, she kept retching for a long while without stopping.
“Y-You!”
After a moment, Agne raised her head, her face deathly pale. She glared at Ceres with eyes burning with anger.
How dare she!
How dare she make her drink something like that? And of all people, that foolish Ceres!
“Hmm, that’s strange.”
However, even facing that furious glare, Ceres’s expression remained calm.
“Why are you throwing up?”
“What?”
“I’m asking what makes you so certain you should be reacting like that.”
“That’s because this bottle is poi—”
“......”
Watching her aunt freeze, Ceres clicked her tongue softly. Just like that so-called director, this woman also had a remarkable talent for digging her own grave.
“I only showed you the bottle. Do you know what’s inside it to be so terrified?”
She hadn’t said a single word about it being poison.
“Ugh...!”
Only then did Agne realize her mistake, her eyes darting anxiously. She tried to come up with an excuse, but Ceres spoke before she could.
“The director has already confessed everything.”
“What?”
“He admitted that you were the one who gave him the poison and told him to feed it to Julia.”
“That’s ridiculous! Don’t lie!”
Was she seriously supposed to believe that? That Arnold had told Ceres everything?
That can’t be.
Almost instinctively, Agne touched the ring fitted snugly on her left hand.
Didn’t they already plan to settle everything and leave together once this was over? And now he betrayed her? There was no way.
“You should know this better than anyone, Aunt. This medicine...”
Ceres picked up the vial from the table and gave it a gentle shake.
“If taken in small amounts, it slowly destroys the body, but if you take a large amount all at once...”
As she let her words trail off and made a throat-slitting gesture, Agne’s face turned whiter.
“I put everything that was left into your tea.”
“Ugh!”
At those words, Agne began retching again. As if what she had already thrown up wasn’t enough, she shoved her fingers into her mouth and forced herself to empty everything inside.
“How is it? The feeling of having been poisoned?”
“Ugh!”
“Do you understand Julia’s feelings a little better now?”
Ceres rose from her seat and patted Agne’s back as she continued to retch, even gently stroking her head as though trying to calm her down.
But that gentle touch only made Agne’s skin crawl. Shuddering, she quickly staggered a step back from Ceres.
“Why don’t you stop now? I didn’t put it in.”
“...What?”
She didn’t put it in? There was no poison in the tea?
Agne’s mouth fell open, her shock deepening further.
“Do you think I’m insane? Why would I become a murderer because of someone like you?”
“Y-You...”
“If this can be resolved cleanly through the law, why would I bother dirtying my hands?”
“I-I didn’t do anything!”
Only then did Agne come to her senses and scramble to recover the situation.
“I don’t know what that director told you, but it’s all lies!”
“Yes, of course. Be sure to say exactly that when you stand in court.”
Ceres answered lazily as she reached for something she had discreetly tossed onto her seat earlier. It was a transparent orb, a bit larger than an adult’s fist.
“...What is that?”
“It’s a recording orb.”
“What? That ugly thing is supposed to be a recording orb?”
...Ugly?
Ceres scratched her cheek, feeling slightly embarrassed.
Do recording orbs not look like this anymore? She took it out from her subspace, but she didn’t realize it was such an old version that it would look ugly. Technology must have advanced quite a bit since then.
“Well, it may be old, but it still records perfectly. It even captured you jumping to conclusions and making yourself throw up.”
“—!”
Agne’s face twisted.
“How dare you!”
It seemed her shock had finally turned into anger.
Ceres closed the distance after watching her for a while. She placed both hands on Agne’s shoulders and leaned in close, one corner of her lips curling upward.
“Exactly. How dare you.”
“You—”
“How dare someone like you lay a hand on a child?”
“—!”
Up close, Ceres’s gaze was colder and sharper than ever. As goosebumps spread across Agne’s body, Ceres leaned in even closer and whispered into her ear.
“Get out.”
“...Huh?”
“I said get out of this house right now.”
“Aaah!”
At that moment, a horrific pain shot through the shoulder Ceres was holding. Agne screamed.
Ceres stepped back a few paces and smiled like nothing had happened.
“I’ll give you one hour. Leave within that time. No matter how kind I am, I can’t live under the same roof as someone who tried to kill my sibling, can I?”
“Uh... ugh...”
Resentment and fear twisted together on Agne’s face as she glared at Ceres, but in the end, she couldn’t force out another word.
“Oh, and just so you know, there’s no point going to see Director Arnold. He’s already been handed over to the guards and is under investigation.”
“W-what?”
“You should turn yourself in before I report you, Aunt. That way, you might at least be able to appeal emotionally in court.”
“—!”
Ceres grinned as she shook the recording orb. Agne’s lips trembled.
“You have one hour.”
After delivering her final warning, Ceres turned without a second glance and walked away like she had no further business here.
“Y-you...! Aaaah!”
Unable to contain her rage, Agne began hurling anything within reach.
What do I do now?
What was she supposed to fix first? Did Arnold really confess everything? Did he name her as an accomplice?
“M-Madam?”
Moments later, the maids rushed into the room after hearing the commotion.
“What...?”
“Gasp!”
However, something about their expressions as they looked at Agne was off. Shock washed over their faces, leaving them unable to speak.
“Haa... haa...”
Still panting with anger, Agne frowned more deeply at the sight of the stunned maids.
“M-Madam, your hair...!”
...Her hair?
“White...”
...What?
Watching the maids stammer, Agne clicked her tongue in irritation. What nonsense were they spouting?
“What about my hair...?”
As Agne approached the mirror, her eyes slowly widened. She rubbed them again and again, thinking she must have seen wrong. But the reflection didn’t change in the slightest.
What is that? That can’t be... me?
“A-AAAAAAHH!”
A scream more desperate than ever tore from her throat. The hair reflected in the mirror had turned completely white.
Her once thick and glossy brown hair was gone, replaced by brittle and thinning strands that looked lifeless and shabby.
“H-how...!”
Agne couldn’t form proper words. How did her hair suddenly end up like this? Faced with her own white-haired reflection, she couldn’t regain her composure.
“M-Madam, please try to calm down...”
“AAAAH!”
Even after that, Agne’s screams continued to echo throughout the Drow estate.
***
One month later.
“Dammit. Maybe I should’ve just taken the settlement money.”
Ceres irritably brushed her hair back.
She had managed to recover most of the money Ceres had handed over to Agne and Director Arnold under the pretense of treatment fees. However, that wasn’t enough to cover the accumulated interest, let alone the principal.
“Ugh, how annoying.”
They had offered a settlement and begged for leniency, but she turned them down.
“If it were you, would you settle with people who tried to kill a child? Just thinking about it makes me sick.”
“Aaaah! Ceres Drow, you devil! I will never—”
“What a joke.”