The Damn Family Is Back Again

5 – 5. The Result of Evil (2)

As the two sisters entered Karsein’s room, intending to scold him for leaving their mother’s presence so quickly, their words were forgotten.

“Hey! Karsein, are you okay… cough!”

As Claire shook his shoulder to check his condition, she shivered at the heat she felt.

“Why is his body so hot? Why is he like this?”

“…I can’t believe it. He was fine just this morning.”

In response, Ariana also frowned deeply. His body temperature had exceeded that of an average person. The heat was so intense that even she involuntarily swallowed dry saliva.

“It will take some time for Shayden to arrive. We can’t leave him on this cold floor.”

“Got it. I’ll take care of this side, so you handle the other.”

“No need for a signal… No, there’s no need for that.”

It was easy. Even though the two women were carrying a 17-year-old boy, it didn’t require much effort.

Without even needing a signal, the slender body was so light that they didn’t need to exert much strength to move him onto the bed.

“Sigh. Seriously. What on earth happened…!”

As Claire grumbled while moving Karsein onto the bed, Shayden hurriedly arrived and immediately began his diagnosis.

“This is…”

“Did you find something out?”

Ariana narrowed her eyes and asked Dr. Shaiden.

“First of all, His Highness has caught a cold.”

“A cold?”

“Yes. I’m not sure what he did or how, but… it’s a cold.”

At the mention of a cold, Ariana immediately frowned.

“Always causing trouble. Is it because he can’t take care of his health properly that he ended up like this?”

As if criticizing the lying Karsain, Shaiden immediately added.

“Of course, that’s not the only thing. The main symptom is a cold, but there are also several other symptoms mixed in, making the condition worse.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Hmm… He has recently consumed a lot of salt. To the point of being excessive.”

“How much did he eat?”

“If we consider the amount usually consumed, it seems like he has consumed more than several times that. With this amount, even the taste of salt would have been overwhelming in his meals…”

Several times? Even if he had a habit of eating salty food, he wouldn’t eat that much.

Claire asked from a distance.

“So, that salt, he must have consumed it from food, right?”

“Yes, I think so too.”

Shaiden replied, glancing at the food in the room.

If it’s said that there was excessive salt, it’s only natural to suspect the food that was put in the mouth first, right?

Immediately, the pink-haired girl turned her head towards the direction of the dessert. Suspecting this side because the excessive salt was said to have been consumed from food.

She cut a piece of the last remaining pudding with a utensil and took a bite, but there was no problem with the taste itself. Then, how about the drinks?

With that thought in mind, she took a sip of the beverage.

“…!”

Clare immediately grabbed a tissue and spat out everything in her mouth.

“What the hell. How dare someone do such a thing…!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ligomos hypersensitivity disorder. It’s a crude method that was used in social circles to tarnish someone’s image. It involves feeding them food with secretions and extracts to make their nerves hypersensitive.”

“No way. Was it in there?”

“Well, yes. That reaction is also happening in Lord Carsein’s body.”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but we have to catch them. They dared to do such a thing in Bagrand, so they should be severely punished.”

The thought of such a thing happening in the dessert that was brought in made her blood boil.

To spit out the foreign substances remaining in her mouth, Clare grabbed the kettle and poured water directly into it. Then, she immediately spat out the water and opened the kettle lid to check.

“Cough, cough! What the hell…!”

“Clare?”

Ariana turned her gaze again, sensing something was wrong.

Clare’s already distorted expression became even more fierce.

“Shaden. List all the symptoms. Excessive salt intake, Ligomos hypersensitivity disorder. Is there anything else?”

“Well… overall malnutrition and a cold.”

“A cold. Yeah, that’s what it is.”

Although malnutrition could be attributed to the food, it was a different story when it came to a cold.

No matter how busy Karsen was, he always made sure to dress perfectly. There was no sign of a cold, not even a hint of a runny nose.

Today was no exception. Even on the day Isabella returned as a duchess, she dressed impeccably.

So, how could she catch a cold?

There was only one answer.

-Thunk!

Claire, filled with anger, forcefully opened the bathroom door.

As soon as she looked inside and saw no steam, she had a suspicion, and when she personally touched the water temperature in the bathtub, she was certain.

“Camilla, that woman, lock her up in solitary confinement right away!”

Only a maid who serves the master directly would dare to do such a thing.

***

“Camilla, that woman, lock her up in solitary confinement right away!”

In response to Claire’s outburst in Karsen’s room, Flora pressed her lips with both hands and hunched her shoulders, clutching her shawl.

‘How, how can this…? If this gets out, they’ll find out it was me…!’

She couldn’t even remember how many times she had asked Camilla for favors.

Camilla, who had met Emma, a fellow maid, to ask for a favor in order to torment Karsen, had always been willing to help her.

Flora didn’t know what Emma had said, but if it was her own words, if it was the words of Flora Bagrand, she would have listened to anything.

But now she was caught.

All these actions were secrets that she couldn’t tell her mother, let alone her two sisters.

Once caught, she started to worry that her name might be mentioned and that she might be caught.

In the meantime, the angry voice continued to echo from the room.

“Who else would find it easiest to sprinkle salt or mix medicine into the owner’s food?”

“Calm down and tell me. What did you see that made you say that?”

As they spoke, the lid of the teapot hit the floor with a thud and rang out.

“Look at this, sis. I did something to the water people drink. That’s why I spat it out.”

“No, this is… sand?”

The water in the teapot was filled with sand, making it undrinkable.

“I understand what you mean, Claire. But it doesn’t have to be Camilla. Even though these things were found in Karceine’s room, another maid could have done all of this instead.”

That was a valid point. Camilla couldn’t be singled out. Even though these things were found in Karceine’s room, another maid could have done all of this instead.

But there was one thing. The other maids couldn’t enter Karceine’s room so freely.

That’s why Claire’s opinion carried more weight.

“Other maids could have put sand in the water that Karceine drinks. But entering cold water during this winter?”

“What?”

“The bathtub was filled with cold water. I didn’t see any steam that would indicate hot water! If she wanted to gain Mother’s favor, she would have pretended to be pitiful and come out looking dirty! But, how was she today?”

She came out looking clean.

She washed her entire body with that cold water and came out.

The dirt that had been there just a few days ago was completely gone. She washed herself so thoroughly that not a speck of dust could be seen.

“Come to think of it, Karceine didn’t say anything to Mother today, did she?”

“Don’t you feel a sense of intuition, too, sis? This is all deliberate torture. It can’t happen repeatedly unless someone is right next to us, constantly causing trouble!”

The logic was flawless.

That’s why Arina couldn’t retort. As the possibility of Camilla being the culprit increased, they couldn’t just ignore it and move on.

“There, all of you, go find Camilla and lock her up in solitary confinement.”

Eventually, the order was carried out.

“Just a moment! I, I…!”

Camilla, who had been working nearby, was mercilessly dragged away by the other maids. In the midst of it, she tried to make an excuse and locked eyes with Flora.

“…”

“Flora, mil…lady…”

“What are you all doing? Why aren’t you immediately taking the sinner to solitary confinement?”

Flora felt a desperate gaze and was momentarily taken aback, but she turned away. The head maid also responded sarcastically, showing an attitude that seemed like it was not her concern.

The lifeless eyes of the exhausted maid struggled until the end, but in the end, she was dragged away by others.

Flora was the only one who could salvage this situation. However, sadly, this matter was her responsibility.

Except for the imperial palace of the Pesselos Empire under the sky, this was the highest noble family. The Bagrand Duchy. The moment it was rumored that a mere maid like her tried to feed this kind of thing to the master here, an ominous future might have been foretold.

“Miss. Remember. This is not your fault. Do you understand?”

“…Uh?”

“If you keep quiet, it will end with punishment for that maid. Don’t worry too much.”

Flora hesitated but nodded at Emma’s remark.

It shouldn’t have been her fault.

That Karcein, who tormented her, collapsing. The maid who ordered her to torment him being dragged away.

None of it should have been Flora Bagrand’s fault.

***

-Ding!

It feels like my consciousness is coming back, and immediately a familiar signal rings in my head.

Of course, when I open my eyes, the status window will be floating there. It would have been better if instead of the status window, the ending was that I fell asleep and woke up in my own house.

The dizziness has disappeared, and my body, which was like a fireball, can move somewhat. Most of the abnormal conditions seem to have recovered.

But my mood turned worse.

“Ah, damn.”

It’s not like I intentionally caught a cold to feel all the pain and fever and dizziness when it’s not even my body.

It’s not because I’m forced to eat soup at the dining table.

It wasn’t even a major abnormality from the status window, not even Karsein’s. It was just that my bad mood was so bad.

“Damn. Why does it feel so familiar?”

The reason this unpleasant feeling doesn’t go away is because Karsein’s appearance is exactly the same as my past self.

This actually happened. Because of my younger sister, who tried to create a yellow situation, I ended up lying sick in bed.

The rest of the process was also exactly the same.

My mother’s reaction when she came back from her business trip and the scene at the dining table, even the feeling that I shouldn’t be there, all felt vividly real.

Two older sisters and one younger sister.

It was too similar to the time when I lived in a house with them, even though I was a completely different person with no blood relation.

They didn’t treat me as family. I was just a child their mother had picked up from outside, a stranger.

That’s why it felt so bad, because it felt so similar to my past self.

“…No. Maybe it’s actually better this way.”

It’s too much of a coincidence.

Even though I complain that it’s too much to experience this twice, it might actually be okay.

But things turned out for the better. That’s what I thought.

Because I had experience in advance, I could handle it.

I am not their family. They don’t treat me as family either, and even if I suffer all sorts of unfair things, I won’t crumble.

Yeah. Just as they said, as someone who is not family, I was able to quickly realize, unlike before.

That I have to escape from this house.

“Hoo. Yeah. First, I have to prioritize the strategy and escape at the same time.”

-Ding!

CHAPTER 1. Episode I cleared!

You responded well without being falsely accused of Flora’s evil!

Karsenein was able to continue living without being driven out of the ducal house!

The status window that I was about to check appeared automatically.

“That’s enough. This should do.”

It was a strange coincidence. This game having such a setting, me playing this game, and…

Me being reincarnated as Karsenein in this game, dreaming of escaping again.

There’s only one choice given to me anyway.

To clear this game and return to the studio apartment where I used to live.

■ Reward

[ Perception +3 ]

[ Perception within the ducal house of Bagrande will be partially improved. ]

Successive reward windows appeared, but well, they don’t have much meaning. It was a message that appeared every time in the game.

“Everything else… is pretty useless.”

I already knew that, but I still looked around, hoping to find something I could gain. However, it was still the same.

It only goes as far as showing the branching paths where choices appear or confirming Karsein’s condition. There’s a stat window where you can increase your stats, but even that has a fatal flaw.

“If your stats increase, at least you won’t die due to poor health, but raising your level and getting 0.05 points in stats doesn’t really mean much.”

As your level goes up, you invest points to increase related stats. It’s a basic element that you would find in an RPG, but the values here are too insignificant.

Even if you increase your strength, it would be much better to exercise instead of investing 0.05 in the stat window, as it would increase by a much larger value… You won’t feel much of a difference.

It’s better to keep this for when it’s dangerous.

As I continued to look at the status window, a progress window appeared unexpectedly, contrary to my will.

-Ding!

The remaining rewards will be delivered shortly!

I thought it was about time.

Since clearing it with the Retry Divine Power, I had become familiar with the tutorial and Episode I.

After clearing this, most of the abnormal states would be restored, and additional rewards would be received. That’s when I would open that door and come out.

-Thud.

“You finally woke up. Anyway.”

“Everyone, start moving.”

As the door opened, Claire sarcastically commented on how I woke up late. Arina was right next to her, and the two of them called the maids and instructed them to move the tables one by one.

This was the reward written at the bottom of the status window, and another reward for clearing Episode I. It was a meal.

“Ha. This is what they call a reward.”

I couldn’t believe it.

First, I repeated the same line as Carsein.

“Why did you come?”

The question didn’t sit well with my sister, and her expression soured.

“After the doctor diagnosed you, he pointed out malnutrition and excessive salt intake. But since something like that happened today, someone could have tampered with your food, so we brought it ourselves.”

“We’ve thoroughly inspected not only the food you eat but also the water you drink. So you can eat without worry.”

Just like the line I saw in the game, Carsein had various problems with his body because he couldn’t properly take care of his meals.

So, in this episode, they were trying to check the problem and went to the restaurant themselves to watch the cooking process and feed him, that’s the story.

But that’s just a story in the game. Instead, I felt even worse looking at the sumptuous feast in front of me.

“You want me to eat this? Are you kidding?”

That was a genuine reaction from me.