I Have A Damn Family Again - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Consequences of Malice (2)

The two sisters, initially ready to scold Carsein for leaving the dining table so abruptly after their mother’s arrival, were struck silent as they entered his room.

“Hey! Carsein, are you… Whoa!”

Claire recoiled, her shoulders trembling as she touched Carsein and felt the intense heat radiating from him.

“Why is he burning up?! What’s going on?!”

“…Unbelievable. He was fine this morning.”

Arina, also touching him, frowned deeply. His temperature was far beyond normal. His body felt as if it were on fire, making her mouth go dry.

“It’ll take some time for Shaiden to get here. We can’t just leave him on this cold floor.”

“Okay. I’ll take this side, you take the other.”

“Give me a signal… no, we don’t even need that.”

He was light. Even though they were carrying a 17-year-old boy, it wasn’t difficult.

His thin, frail body was so light that they didn’t need to coordinate or exert much effort to move him to the bed.

“Ugh, seriously. What in the world happened…?!”

As Claire grumbled while they settled Carsein onto the bed, Shaiden arrived, quickly launching into his diagnosis.

“This is…”

“Did you find anything?”

Arina asked, narrowing her eyes at Shaiden, the family physician.

“Firstly, the young master has a cold.”

“A cold?”

“Yes. I’m not sure what happened, but… it’s definitely a cold.”

Arina frowned at the mention of a cold.

“Honestly. He can’t even take care of his own health, and now he’s collapsed like this?”

She chastised the unconscious Carsein, but Shaiden quickly added,

“Of course, there’s more to it. The main symptom is a cold, but there are other issues that have worsened his condition.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hmm… He’s consumed an excessive amount of salt recently. Too much, really.”

“How much did he eat?”

“From the symptoms, it seems like he’s ingested several times the normal amount. The food must have tasted incredibly salty…”

Several times? Even if he had a taste for salty food, it was impossible to consume that much.

Claire gritted her teeth.

“That means he got it from his food. Right?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

Shaiden replied, glancing at the remaining food in the room.

It was only natural to suspect the food, considering the excessive salt intake.

Claire immediately turned toward the dessert, her pink hair whipping around. If he had consumed that much salt, it had to have come from the food.

She took a bite of the remaining pudding, but it tasted fine. Maybe it was in the drink?

She took a sip of the drink, and then…

“…!”

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

“Damn it! Who the hell would do this…!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Rigomos nerve sensitivity. A nasty trick they used to pull in high society to ruin someone’s reputation. You’d feed the target food laced with sap and extract to make them extremely sensitive.”

“You’re saying… it was in that?”

“Y-yes! And those are the exact symptoms Master Carsein is showing.”

“We have to find the culprit. Whoever did this in the Bagrand duchy needs to be punished severely.”

Claire’s rage burned, imagining that such a thing had been done with the dessert she had brought.

To get rid of the awful taste, she grabbed the teapot and took a large gulp. Then, she immediately spat it out, opening the lid to inspect the contents.

“Cough, cough! This… damn it…!”

“Claire?”

Arina, startled, turned to look.

Claire’s already furious face contorted even more.

“Shaiden. Tell me everything. Excessive salt intake, Rigomos nerve sensitivity. What else?”

“Well… there’s also overall nutritional deficiency and a cold.”

“A cold. Right, a cold.”

The nutritional deficiency was likely linked to the food, but the cold was a different matter.

Even Carsein always dressed properly. He never showed any sign of a cold.

It was the same today. Even though Isabella was returning, he was dressed impeccably.

Then, how could he have caught a cold?

There was only one answer.

—Clang!

Claire, filled with rage, threw open the bathroom door.

She immediately noticed the lack of steam and knew. She confirmed it by checking the water temperature in the bathtub.

“Take Camilla to solitary confinement immediately!”

Only the maid who served him directly could have done this.

***

“Take Camilla to solitary confinement, immediately!”

Flora, hearing Claire’s furious roar from Carsein’s room, shuddered and covered her mouth and shoulders with her shawl.

‘H-how…? What if they find out it was me…?!’

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

To torment Carsein, she had asked Emma, her accomplice and the head maid, to recommend a maid who would do her bidding. Camilla had always agreed to her requests, anything for Flora Bagrand.

But now, she had been caught.

This was a secret she couldn’t reveal to her mother or sisters.

Now that Camilla had been caught, she was afraid her own involvement would be exposed.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Claire’s enraged voice continued.

“Who else would have such easy access to poison his food or water?”

“Calm down and tell me what happened. What did you see?”

The teapot lid clattered against the floor with a loud clang.

“Do you see this, sister? She did this to his drinking water. That’s why I spat it out.”

“No, this is… sand?”

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

“I understand, Claire. But it’s possible someone else did it, not just Camilla.”

It was true. They couldn’t accuse Camilla solely based on this. Even if it had happened in Carsein’s room, another maid could have done it.

However, there was one detail that made Claire’s suspicion more credible.

“Even another maid could have put sand in his water. But the cold water…?”

“What?”

“The bathtub was filled with cold water! There was no steam, meaning no hot water! If he wanted to gain Mother’s sympathy, he would have remained dirty and unbathed! But what happened today?”

He was clean.

He had taken a bath in that cold water.

Spotlessly clean, as if he had scrubbed away every speck of dust.

“And come to think of it, Carsein didn’t say anything to Mother today, did he?”

“Don’t you have a gut feeling, sis? This is deliberate harassment.It couldn't be a coincidence to have this happen consecutively unless a maid close to him was involved!”

It was a sound argument.

Arina couldn’t refute it. Camilla was the most likely culprit, and they couldn’t ignore this.

“Go find Camilla and lock her up in solitary confinement.”

The order was finally given.

“W-wait! I… I…!”

Camilla, who was nearby, was dragged away by the other maids, helpless. She tried to explain, and her eyes met Flora’s.

“…!”

“Flora, L-Lady…”

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

Flora flinched at Camilla’s desperate plea, but she averted her gaze. The head maid also reacted with a cynical sneer, as if it was none of her business.

The maid, her eyes dull with fear, struggled against her captors, but she was eventually dragged away.

The only way to solve this situation was for Flora to intervene. But unfortunately, this was her fault.

The Bagrand duchy was the most prestigious family in the Pesselus Empire, second only to the Imperial family. If word got out that a lowly maid had dared to poison her master's food and water, her future would be bleak.

“Miss, remember, this isn’t your fault. Alright?”

“…Hmm?”

“Just keep your mouth shut. This will all end with Camilla’s punishment. Don’t worry.”

Flora shuddered but nodded in agreement with Emma.

This wasn’t her fault.

The fact that Carsein had collapsed. The fact that the maid was taken away.

None of it was Flora Bagrand’s fault.

***

—Ding!

I felt my consciousness returning, and then the familiar signal beeped in my head.

The status window would be the first thing I saw when I woke up. I wished I had woken up in my own apartment instead.

The dizziness was gone, and my body was no longer burning. I seemed to have recovered from most of the status ailments.

But I felt even worse.

“Damn it.”

It wasn’t the fact that I had caught a cold and had to suffer the pain. It wasn’t the fact that I was forced to eat the salty soup.

It was the fact that my own emotions were being affected.

“Damn it. Why does everything feel so familiar?”

I couldn’t shake the feeling of unease. It was because Carsein's situation mirrored my past exactly.

It had happened before. My sister had tried to sabotage me, and I ended up sick in bed.

Every other detail was the same.

My mother’s reaction upon her return, the scene at the dining table, the feeling that I didn’t belong there… It was all so vivid.

I had lived with those three, two older sisters and one younger sister. They weren’t even my half-siblings; they were complete strangers, not related by blood.

They didn’t treat me like family. I was just an outsider, a child their mother had picked up from somewhere.

That’s why I felt so uncomfortable, it was all so similar to my past.

"...No. Maybe it’s a good thing."

This was too much of a coincidence. It was practically cruel to put me through this twice.

But then, I thought, perhaps it was a good thing.

I had experienced this before, so I could handle it.

They weren’t my family. They didn’t treat me as family, and no matter how unfair things were, I could withstand it.

Yes, they were right. Unlike before, I could see this clearly, realizing I had to escape this house.

“Alright. First, I need to clear the game and escape.”

—Ding!

▶CHAPTER 1. Episode I cleared!◀
▶You successfully avoided being blamed for Flora’s malice!◀
▶Carsein will be able to stay in the duchy!◀

The status window appeared just as I was about to check it.

“Alright. That’s enough.”

It was a bizarre coincidence. The game’s setting, the fact that I was playing it, and…

The fact that I was now Carsein, trapped in this game, hoping to escape again.

The only choice before me was to clear the game and return to my apartment.

■Reward
[Awareness +3]
[Your awareness within the Bagrand Duchy has improved slightly.]

A series of reward windows popped up, but they weren’t particularly significant. I had seen these messages in the game before.

“Nothing else worth using…”

I had already checked, but I wanted to see if there were any other rewards, but it was still the same.

These rewards were only useful for figuring out story branches and checking Carsein’s status. There was a stats window, but it had a fatal flaw.

“If I boost my stats, I won’t die from poor health, but even if I level up, the stats only increase by 0.05 points, which is practically useless.”

As you level up, you gain points that you can use to increase your stats. This was a basic RPG element that was present in this game, but the values were ridiculously low.

Even if I boosted my strength, it would be more effective to exercise than to invest 0.05 points in the stats window. It wouldn’t make much of a difference.

I should probably save this for emergencies.

As I continued looking at the status window, the progress window appeared on its own, despite my intention not to see it.

—Ding!

▶The remaining rewards will be delivered shortly!◀

I had a feeling that it was coming.

I was so familiar with the tutorial and Episode I, thanks to countless retries.

Once you clear them, most of the status ailments are healed, and you get additional rewards. This is what’s going to pop out from behind that door.

—Click.

“You’re finally awake. Honestly.”

"Get the table.”

Claire scoffed, mocking me for waking up late. Arina stood beside her, and they commanded the maids to bring over the dining table.

This was a reward listed at the bottom of the status window and also another reward for clearing Episode I. Dinner.

‘Ha. This is a reward?’

I was dumbfounded.

I started with the same line, just as Carsein had done.

“Why are you here?”

The sisters’ expressions soured upon hearing my question.

“The physician examined you and said you had nutritional deficiency and excessive salt intake. But, given what happened today, someone might have tampered with your food, so we brought it ourselves.”

“We even carefully checked the food and water you’ll be taking. So, don’t worry, you can eat safely.”

The dialogue was exactly the same as in the game. In the game, Carsein had developed health problems because he wasn’t eating properly.

So, they found out about his problem in this episode and had gone through the whole process of preparing the food themselves. That’s how the story played out in the game.

But that was just the story in the game. I looked at the magnificent feast laid out before me and became irritated.

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

These were my true feelings, coming out directly.

Next Chapter

Index

Previous Chapter