Chapter 177 - One week

In no time, people rushed into the room at Emily's cry. The Duke and butler, then Derrick and Renald burst in.

They looked at me lying down with my eyes open, and all of them suddenly were frozen at the moment. "Get the doctor, get the doctor! Hurry!"

"Y-yes!"

At the shout of the Duke, the butler hurried out to call the doctor. The bed was quickly surrounded with people. The Duke extended his hand to me.

"Penelope, dear. Are you alright? Do you recognize your father?"

I was almost poisoned to death. It was quite shocking that I survived after drinking the poison, and my fingers trembled a bit.

The Duke, unable to touch me at last, rubbed his face roughly with his hands lifted. "Hey, youyou okay?"

Renald spoke from behind the Duke. "Bitch, why the hell did you drink that!"

"Renald."

The Duke sharply stopped him, who made a loud noise with blue eyes.

Suddenly my left cheek stung. As I rolled my eyes, Derrick was looking down at me with an expressionless face, his blue eyes shimmering.

After that, beyond the door, I could see the doctor hesitating and just taking off his coat off. I was the one who came back from death, but everyone had a dead look in their eyes.

A I looked around to see if Yvonne was there, I closed my eyes in relief when I did not see her. "Pe-penelope!"

I heard someone calling me desperately, but I passed out again. I was tired.

When I opened my eyes at their sorrow without wanting to do it, the doctor was in the middle of a medical examination.

"The poisonit's all gone."

The old doctor said, who was checking my pulse, with his eyes wide open.

"Her pulse was faint until yesterday, but today it's back to normal. It'sa miracle."

"Then she's been cured?"

"She just needs time to rest and recover." "Thank god."

The Duke, who was asking about my progress, lost the strength in his legs and sat down. The face of the disbelieving Duke looked decades older.

I looked at him with dull eyes and sighed secretly. It was surprising fine, except for the fact that it was difficult to move my body because I had been laying down for a long time. It was truly a miracle if I thought how there was such much blood.

I couldn't shake off the uncomfortable sensation that the cause of such a rapid recovery was related to the goddamned system's dream that I had just woke up.

"I'm so annoyed."

I was about to close my eyes again to shake off the complicated thoughts. "...What is it that you don't like?"

An unpleasant sound caught my attention. I opened my eyes only to close them again. His blue eyes were staring straight at me.

"I thought you would love to be in this state. What's wrong with you?"

As I saw earlier, there was a strange nervousness in Derrick's eyes. He opened his mouth as soon as our eyes met.

"You woke up, so tell me. Why do you need to do this...?"

"Derrick, shut up."

"But-."

"How can you say that shit when she just opened her eyes?"

Renald, who was standing silently, suddenly yelled.

"She woke up after a week! Can't you ask her if she's okay...!" "Renald! You too."

"Don't stop me, Father! You know you has been weird lately? You've been drinking like you've been on a rampage ever since she collapsed!"

"Now that she's awake, why don't we settle the situation quickly and put down the spreading false rumors?"

Derrick's reply made Reynold act as if he would rush at any moment. The room was suddenly noisy. "These bastards!"

Huk-! The Duke, who was worse than them, sprang to his feet, dragging his chair. The moment he was about to scream at them two.

(Note: I love how stupid this family is) "Everyone."

I reluctantly opened my mouth.

"I guess you didn't hear that I'm a patient in need of recovery." The three mouths shut up at the same time.

It wasn't really my business whether they fought or not, but I couldn't stand the noise. "I'd like to rest, please..."

I casually asked for a favor, but suddenly I looked at the colors floating over their heads and opened my mouth wide.

The [Favorability] was missing. Now the favorability's gauge bar was gone. Therefore, I no longer had to look at them and curry favor from them.

I changed the words that I was about to say. "...Would you please leave? I'm tired."

My words changed the faces of the three men.

The duke became solemn, the expression of Reynold was distorted, and Derrick's jaw popped.

(Note: LOLLLL. i can't stop laugh from this. beat them all penny!!)

I stared at them in the state of watching and murmured a silent request. "...I'm sorry. I had a short temper."

Finally the Duke slowly managed to say.

"We're going to stop here, so don't worry about it. Rest well, Penelope."

With a soft whisper, he soon dragged his two sons out of the room. I turned my back on them without saying thank you to them like I usually did.

Tak—.

I heard the door closing behind my back.

* * *

"Miss, say ah."

The spoon Emily was holding was thrust into my mouth. After taking a few spoons of the soup, I frowned and spat it out.

"It doesn't taste good."

"But you still have to eat. Doctor said it's hard to eat right away because you haven't eaten for a long time."

But isn't it too much to eat it without any seasoning? When I didn't finish eating, Emily had no choice but to clean up the dishes.

Since waking up, the attitude of the servants has strangely changed.

Not only Emily, but also the Duke, two sons, butler and all the servants that normally despised me.

I was treated like a glass doll that could easily break. It was kind of funny, making me often twist the end of my lips.

'Now.'

I asked Emily, who was arranging the dishes, out of the blue. "How long did you say I was passed out, Emily?"

"One week." "One week..."

It was enough time for Yvonne to enchant the whole family. "How's she been?"

"Who? Oh, oh..."

When Emily realized who I was asking about, she came close to me and whispered. "After you collapsed, she was confined to her room."

"Confined?"

"Yes, the Duke ordered her not to take a step forward until all the cases are settled. It is about this commoner, right?"

Emily laughed cunningly at the remark. I was a little dazed by the unexpected news.

There was no disturbance in her free actions, so I expected the whole house would to be fully under her control.

This was because I thought it would be difficult for her to be admitted as the culprit, even if it was because of the ambiguous situation and the relics.

"Tell me what's been going on."

Emily told me in detail what had happened. Fortunately, the brainwashing didn't seem to include her.

I learned about the situation after I collapsed.

However, when I heard the maid named Becky committed suicide one morning, I shuddered with fright. "You don't know how much everyone had been worried about you, Miss. Do you know how worried I

was?"

After finishing her report, Emily complained with tears in her eyes. I answered in a nonchalant way.

"Really? You've had a hard time."

"Hard time! In fact, the Crown Prince suffered more than I did"

I paused, looking back at Emily, as I had heard an unfamiliar word. "His Highnessthe Crown Prince?"

"Yes! He hasn't left you side for a second since you collapsed. He can't even sleep and breath because he was afraid that you would die at any minute!"

"..."

"But you know, every night His Highness would hold your hand and I saw how desperate he was begging you."

"Begging? What?"

"I didn't hear the detailsBut I heard he said he would give you everything you want, so please don't die."

At that moment, I could hear the voice of someone talking to me in my mind, whether it was a dream, a hallucination, or unconscious, lingered in my ears.

— If you wamt to go out of here, I'll get you out of here.

— I will give you love or whatever you wish, I'll do everthimg you wamt.

I couldn't stop my face from slowly distorting.

It was my first purpose I'd ever come here to achieve. That was what I wanted to hear so much, and on another hand, what I didn't want to hear.

But now it's all for nothing. Hard mode is over, and even getting out of here has failed.

"And it is said that His Highness would soon offer proposal to you Miss, so every time we got together, we said that the rumors must have been true at the hunting competition!"

Emily, who was chattering wildly without seeing my distorted expression, stopped me from speaking. "Well, I made a slip of the tongue, Miss. I'm sorry."

She looked at me and apologized for her fault. I asked quietly. "Whereis he now?"

"Well, there must have been a rebellion in the north. He received an imperial order and had to leave in a hurry."

"I see."

I answered briefly and shut my mouth.

When I made no further questions, the room quickly became quiet. "Miss."

Emily was restless with a face full of unspoken words, and soon called spoke to me in a determined voice.

"You reallydidn't drink what you ordered me to bring, did you? That wasn't true, was it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"In the mansion, there's a rumor going around that you might have done your self-play." "...Self-play?"

"Yes. Yes. They say you did it on purpose to divert their attention, Miss." 'So, that's how things turned out.'

I nodded silently, and spit out. "That's a good thing."

"What do you mean!"

Emily was in a state of panic, but I meant it. 'Self-play. It's cute, isn't it?'

How unfair it would be if Yvonne brainwashed them and had me accused of trying to poison her? Emily, who had no way of knowing what I was thinking, sobbed out in grief.

"I thought... you were going to feed it to her."

"Be quiet, Emily. You shouldn't say such a villainous remark." "Oh, the villain is her!"

Emily cried out with a face full of resentment at my warning.

"I know everything. The poison you drank is different from the one you ordered...!" "You."

I grabbed her arm with a grim frown. Emily groaned faintly as if she was sick. "Oh, Miss."

"Have you told anyone about it?"

"Y-yes?"

"Who did you tell that I sent you to the top office?" "Oh, no, no."

Emily shook her head with a slightly frightened face.

"You insisted that no one should know. So I kept quiet and said I didn't know." "Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes!"

I insisted several times before I let go of her arm that I held tightly. "Just do that in the future, Emily. Don't tell anyone."

"Ha, but, then, you..."

"Don't think about me. Just think about your safety." I drew the line firmly.

"You don't want to be falsely accused of trying to poison the Duke's daughter. Right?" Emily cried and defended me.

"But self-play? That's slander. Why should Miss"

"That's not important."

I didn't feel wronged about being slandered. I expected it and it was true that I drank the poison of my own will.

"If you don't want to die, just keep pretending you don't know anything. Okay?" At my words, Emily nodded and wiped her tears.

"Y-yes. I'll keep ignoring them, Miss. I'll just do as you told me."

However, I honestly couldn't believe it even though she had promised me it so many times.

Perhaps the maid's suicide was due to the heroine's brainwashing. So I couldn't be sure what would happen if Emily would be brainwashed.

"...By the way, can I keep my mouth shut and let them know that you didn't do it yourself?" "Don't worry, I'll take care of it myself."

That's what I thought when I said that to the anxious maid. Do we really need to solve this problem?