Don’t Ask, It’ll Hurt If You Know - Chapter 38

Chloe tried the doorknob just in case, but the door wouldn’t open. It was nothing new. After what she had done, there was no way they would open the door for her.

She was sure Maria Lloyd would have been furious about what had happened to her maid, ranting and reporting everything to her stepmother, and the Viscountess would have ordered Bianca to be locked up for even longer.

The fact that they carefully put the collapsed and unconscious Bianca back to bed during all that was quite amusing.

Chloe scoffed, turning around, and frowned when she saw a tray on the nightstand next to the bed. On the tray was a bowl of medicine.

“Looks like poison.”

If it were poison, they wouldn’t have left it out in the open, but she couldn’t rule out the possibility. Chloe took a silver hair clip from her vanity drawer and dipped it into the pitch-black liquid. She repeated this several times, but the color didn’t change.

“So it’s not poisoned then.”

Of course, there were poisons in the world that didn’t react to silver. She could immediately recall at least three or four.

However, such poisons were extremely expensive and hard to acquire. Chloe thought that whoever the culprit was, they wouldn’t go through such trouble just to kill Bianca Lloyd.

“Ah, but that bastard might have.”

The culprit who disguised the murder of the maid named Lina as a suicide. It was entirely plausible that such a person would do it. Chloe looked down at the bowl of medicine with a deeper sense of unease and noticed a small note tucked underneath it.

It was a clearly suspicious note, which made her want to check it quickly. Chloe checked the firmly closed door once more and pocketed the note. Her entire palm, which gripped it, felt like it was throbbing. To be able to react immediately if someone came in, she crouched at the edge of the bed, facing the door, and checked the note.

[Why did you target Chloe Elena?]

The red lettering, as if written in blood, was chilling. Her name being written made the feeling of dread even more intense. Chloe tightly clenched the note, as if she were about to tear it up, and burned the sentence into her eyes. She repeated it out loud, muttering like a cow chewing the cud.

How much time passed like that? Suddenly, the edge of the note caught fire, and the paper began to rapidly burn away. Chloe was startled and tried to extinguish the fire by pouring the medicine on it and smothering it with a pillow, but it was no use.

“It’s magic.”

The sudden ignition, and the fact that the fire wouldn’t go out even with her efforts, confirmed it was magic. She had heard from her Magic professor that such magic was used when evidence needed to be destroyed.

“If I could sense mana, I would have known for sure.”

Chloe had outstanding talent in both literary and martial arts, but regrettably, she had absolutely no talent for magic. She couldn’t even feel mana, let alone cast a spell.

That was a great disappointment, but one consolation was that Ian MacMilden also lacked talent in magic.

He had inherited the blood of the Imperial Family but not the magical talent.

“Just in case, I should collect this carefully and show it to Jeremy.”

That child, a priest, might be able to sense something. Chloe gathered the charred ashes and stored them. She also separately collected the minuscule amount of the mysterious medicine that was left after she used it to try and put out the fire.

Perhaps I should find out who brought this medicine and which doctor prescribed it. Since the note was on the tray, it seems related to that.

Since she couldn’t let her younger sibling bear all the burdens, it was right for her to do everything she could on her own. Chloe picked up the damp pillow, which she would use as bait, and knocked on the door.

“Emily, I accidentally spilled the medicine on the pillow while drinking it. Could you bring a new one?”

“Emily is not here.”

A heavy voice, husky as if the speaker hadn’t talked for a long time. It was a man’s voice she’d never heard before. Frowning, Chloe pressed closer to the door and asked.

“Who are you?”

“I can bring a new pillow immediately, but I need to check if there is any more medicine, so please wait a moment.”

The man neatly ignored Chloe’s question about his identity and left. Clomp, clomp, the sound of footsteps seeped through the gap in the door.

What kind of guy is that? Chloe was dumbfounded, but since he would have to open the door to give her the pillow and medicine anyway, she waited patiently for the man to return. But an hour passed, and the man didn’t return.

“Hey! Is anyone outside?!”

Furious, Chloe loudly kicked the door and shouted. Then, a familiar voice, accompanied by a faint scream of Ugh!, was heard.

“Yes! I’m here!”

It was Emily. Chloe was slightly confused by her sudden appearance, as she had just been told Emily was not there, and asked.

“Why are you here? No, since when have you been here?”

“Pardon? I’ve been here since earlier…….”

“Lies. When I knocked on the door just now, some man answered. He said you weren’t here.”

“Th-that can’t be. I’ve been here the whole time. Of course, I did doze off for a bit…… but other than that, I was here the whole time!”

Seeing her admit to dozing off, it didn’t seem like she was lying, which made Chloe even more perplexed. She had clearly heard a man answer. It was too clear to be an auditory hallucination, and the conversation had been quite long. It definitely wasn’t a hallucination.

“What the hell is going on?”

With a succession of incomprehensible phenomena, Chloe was seized by confusion and stared blankly at the floor covered with an old carpet.

The wind was still cool, as the mischief of winter, jealous of spring, had not completely disappeared. Yet, flower buds were welcoming spring and blooming profusely.

Ian sat perched on a second-floor window ledge, looking down at the street. The buildings lined up along the wide street, the people moving diligently with their own purposes, and the beautiful spring flowers blooming in profusion—the eyes that swept over the scene were chillingly indifferent. He looked like a doll devoid of emotion.

“What are you doing here, Ian?”

Anthony Grenville, the second son of the Count Grenville, patted Ian’s shoulder and asked cordially, but there was no reply. Ian merely glanced at the hand on his shoulder as if displeased and looked back out the window.

Despite the clear snub, Anthony didn’t get angry; instead, he laughed. He had no choice. His counterpart was none other than the sole heir of the House of MacMilden and the Emperor’s nephew. Anthony would have laughed even if he had been slapped by Ian, let alone ignored.

“I was wondering where you went after playing poker, and here you are bothering Ian.”

Hwiren Fabre, the eldest son of the Count Fabre, who was Ian’s longtime friend and academy classmate, put his arm around Anthony’s shoulder and chastised him.

“Let’s not provoke Ian right now; he’s in a very disturbed state due to the absence of his only source of vitality, his rival.”

“Rival? Ah, you mean Chloe Elena of the Count Elena household, right?”

Chloe Elena. At the mention of that name, Ian’s gaze landed on Anthony. Hwiren, his old friend, immediately knew it wasn’t a good sign, but Anthony didn’t. He was simply overjoyed that he had captured Ian’s attention and began rambling.

“I heard she fell from a horse and hasn’t woken up for over ten days? What’s going to happen? She’s not going to die like this, is she?”

“Hey!”

When Hwiren shouted in alarm at the ominous remark, Anthony was even more surprised and stepped back. His round brown eyes began to tremble when he made eye contact with Ian.

Just meeting his gaze sent shivers down his spine and made his mouth go completely dry. It felt like being face-to-face with a terrifying beast. People who had come over to see what the commotion was about quickly retreated when they saw Ian’s expression.

“That’s impossible. Chloe is such a healthy and strong girl. She will definitely wake up again. Of course, she will.”

For better or worse, they were members of the same social club. As they were intertwined by various interests, Hwiren did his best to cover for Anthony’s mistake.

Anthony also belatedly realized his slip of the tongue and apologized, saying he didn’t mean it. As apologies continued in a constant loop, Ian stood up.

Huff. As Ian approached, Anthony gasped and backed away. Soon, his body hit the wall and collapsed limply. The sight of him covering his ashen face was quite pathetic. As Hwiren nervously stamped his foot, not knowing what to do, a pair of pristine, dust-free shoes arrived in front of Anthony.