I’m Only a Stepmother, but My Daughter is Just so Cute! - Chapter 17

Sob sob. Good thing I got sick. Was this why Abigail pretended to be sick a lot? As I was wallowing in my own happiness for a bit, I heard the doctor speak from the side. “Since it hasn’t been too long since Miss Abigail recovered, I think it would be best if she is given some time alone for a bit.”

Wait, no. Look here, Mr. Doctor, sir. The only reason I recovered so quickly is because of Blanche! That stupid ass of a Sabelian just nodded away at whatever the doctor said. He turned to speak to Blanche. “Let’s leave, Blanche.”

“Ah, yes. Miss Abigail, p-please rest well…!” Sabelian left with my poor girl. Sob… That man’s seriously no help at all! I was left with complete silence when the room became empty of all but myself. It was pretty weird. I tried turning around in my bed a little bit.

So nutmegs were more dangerous than I thought, huh? I had no idea. Come to think of it, I feel like I’m forgetting something… Damn, I can’t remember. My head is still spinning all over the place. Come on, remember, remember… As I kept trying to think of whatever it was I was missing, I heard a voice come from somewhere next to me.

“….Hey! You okay?” The sound was coming from inside my drawer. I opened it with what little strength remained in my arms to see a small mirror placed inside it. It was Verite. “Abigail, are you feeling alright?”

“It’s not too bad, but…you were capable of doing something like this as well? You’re really talented, aren’t ya?” The Verite from inside the mirror was now the size of a doll. The boy reflected on the surface spoke rather glumly. “It’s still useless. I couldn’t even stop this from happening…”

I could tell he was quite worried for me, despite him trying to look all annoyed. I smiled faintly at him. “Thanks for worrying about me. I’m fine.”

“What do you mean you’re fine? You almost died.” He informed me grimly, “You can die from eating too much nutmeg. You could even become paralyzed or go blind..”

My jaw dropped. W-what the–nutmeg had that kind of a side effect…? I kind of understood why Sabelian wanted to execute the chef now. It was a mistake, but it almost brought in a very horrific result. “It was because you were an adult that it was only this bad and not worse. If Blanche had eaten it, she might’ve actually died.”

“…What? What do you mean?”

“Blanche is way smaller than you. That amount of poison would work far better on a smaller body than yours.” The moment I heard Verite’s words, I realized what it was I was trying to remember all this time, what had been nagging at me. This was what was making me feel so uncomfortable. The fact that the food was served to Blanche. It was something Blanche would have eaten. A cold sweat ran down my spine. My hand started to tremble uncontrollably, “…The chef will definitely have to be fired.”

“Nothing’s going to change, though,” Verite continued calmly. I turned to shoot him a confused glance as I listened to the rest of what he had to say, “The chef didn’t do anything. The nutmeg was thrown in by someone else entirely.”

My brain went completely blank after hearing this. Blanche almost died. And someone did this intentionally. Just who—? Who tried to kill that little child? It was then what Verite had just said clicked in my head. I turned back to the mirror immediately. “You said someone else threw on the nutmeg. Do you know who it is?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I told you. Don’t you remember?” Verite pointed to his right eye. It was sparkling with a silver light.

“Every mirror in this castle…might as well be my eyes.”

* * *

Miss Jeremie realized that the situation had gotten a lot more annoying than she had first envisioned. Abigail had ended up eating the dish Blanche was supposed to have had, which she hadn’t seen coming at all. According to the servants, Abigail had acted a little crazy because of the nutmeg before fainting.

Thankfully, no one suspected her of being the criminal. In fact, all the blame had gone to the chef. She had even heard that the man was to be executed for this. Well, it wasn’t her problem, though.

‘Princess Blanche should have eaten that.’ Miss Jeremie chewed on her fingernails. If Blanche had consumed the nutmeg, all the blame would have gone to Abigail instead. But Abigail was the one who’d ended up eating it instead, thus foiling her plan in an instant. As she let out a small sigh, she heard someone knock and enter the room. It was her maid.

“What do you want?”

“Um, well… Miss Abigail’s looking for you.” Abigail? Miss Jeremie found herself flinching a little on the inside, but she calmed down immediately. It can’t be because of the nutmeg. That stupid woman knew nothing. In fact, that woman’s wrath should be completely directed at the chef right about now.

“Very well, I’ll be there soon.” Miss Jeremie headed for Abigail’s room. Once inside, she was greeted with the sight of Abigail sitting on the sofa. The woman didn’t look sickly at all. In fact, she had a very queenly aura about her. She slowly turned her head to look at Miss Jeremie. When their eyes met, Miss Jeremie realized something had gone horribly wrong.

The air was thick with malice. It was a bright and sunny day, but it felt incredibly dark to her. Abigail was a woman who was already in possession of a face suited for evil, but today was different. The woman’s entire body oozed pure malice. Miss Jeremie felt that she might just faint from the venomous look in Abigail’s eyes. She barely managed to keep her calm as she ventured to ask, “I heard you were looking for me?”

“Do you know why I’ve called you here?”

Miss Jeremie decided to feign ignorance with a slight smile. “No, I do not.”

“I know that you tried to put nutmeg into Blanche’s food.” Miss Jeremie felt like her heart had just been stabbed by those words. Her smiling face crumbled away in an instant. How did this woman…? No, Abigail must be testing her right now. If she acted like a criminal here, Abigail would end up winning so she decided to act the part of the innocent.

“I don’t understand, Your Majesty. I know that you might harbor ill will towards me, but trying to make me a criminal is a bit excessive.” Miss Jeremie spoke, her tone and delivery exactly that of a person wronged. Her acting was perfect. Almost good enough to make anyone believe that Miss Jeremie really was being framed. But Abigail wasn’t fazed by this at all. In fact, the more Miss Jeremie tried to feign ignorance, the more furious she became, “Clara, bring her in.”

Clara nodded and brought someone in from the room next door. Miss Jeremie’s eyes widened. It was the maid who had been tasked with bringing the food to the dining hall that day. The poor maid’s face had gone completely pale. So that stupid bitch decided to betray me? Miss Jeremie wanted to tear that woman’s hair off right away, but she decided to employ patience and kept her voice level, “Who is this woman?”

“You of all people should know best who she is. The maid who was next to you when you were adding the nutmeg.”

“I don’t know that woman. Do you really not feel satisfied after chasing me out of my previous position?” Miss Jeremie’s eyes pooled with tears. That poor woman was shaking at this point but what did that matter to her? She had to feign ignorance till the end. There was no physical evidence anyway. Seeing that Abigail didn’t seem to have reported this to Sabelian, the stupid woman probably wasn’t sure either. Miss Jeremie shed silent tears as Abigail looked on before ordering the maids in the room to leave.

“Miss Jeremie.” Abigail slowly made her way over to Miss Jeremie. Miss Jeremie found herself stepping back in apprehension. Out of nowhere, she recalled the times she’d tried going out hunting with the men. During those hunts, the hunting dogs would often return with ducks or rabbits in their jaws. Why was she remembering this now? And why did Abigail suddenly remind her of those hunting dogs, with their mouths stained blood red?

“I wonder if you’ll keep spouting lies even after seeing this.” Abigail pulled something out from behind her. It was a little jewelry box. When she opened the box, Miss Jeremie found herself looking at a small mirror. Just as Miss Jeremie was wondering what in the world this woman was trying to do, she heard a familiar voice coming from inside the mirror.

[I’m just trying to put everything back to how it was in the past.]

It was her own voice. When she looked into the mirror, she found herself watching the scene of herself talking to a maid. The mirror was showing a place other than the room they were currently in. It was none other than the hallway connecting the kitchen to the dining hall. It depicted Miss Jeremie looking over the food, then taking out a glass bottle. Her face as she sprinkled the nutmeg over the food…was wreathed in smiles. Miss Jeremie, watching this, felt all the blood drain from her face.

[Give this to the princess. Since it is a smaller portion, you should be able to distinguish it much more easily.]

It was blatantly obvious that Miss Jeremie’s aim was none other than the princess. The box closed with a small click.

“Do tell me if you have anything to say, Miss Jeremie.” Abigail purred. Miss Jeremie knew Miss Abigail had a habit of collecting magic tools, but to think she had something like this… Now was no longer the time to act arrogant or bluff her way through. She knelt in front of Abigail and began to beg in a desperate voice. “Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I just…wanted to take back my place as a nanny. I just wanted Princess Blanche to experience a little bit of trouble…”

“A little?” Abigail crouched down to look Miss Jeremie straight in the eye. She extended a hand to firmly grasp Miss Jeremie’s jaw. Her grip was strong enough to almost crush it.

“Did you just say ‘a little’, just now?” Abigail’s eyes were filled with hatred, her hand tightening with anger. It felt like the woman was about to kill Miss Jeremie, who felt her legs tremble in fear. “I…I just wanted her to feel a little dizzy… Ugh, Your Majesty, it hurts…!”

“It hurts? Just from this? Blanche almost died.” Abigail hissed the words through gritted teeth. She looked like a demon to Miss Jeremie—a demon who was going to rip her apart piece by piece. “It was enough to make me, an adult, faint completely. Did you really think Blanche was only going to faint if she ate that steak?”

Miss Jeremie felt her heart skip a beat. She remembered talking to the doctor when she had been procuring the nutmeg. She had asked for a dose strong enough to make a person faint but she hadn’t told the doctor whom she was trying to feed it to. The doctor obviously thought she was asking about an adult. He didn’t at all think she was going to feed nutmeg to a child.

“I was actually feeling a little sorry for you. After all, you’ve taken care of Blanche for years, but I just waltzed right in and whisked the little girl away. It’s understandable if you hate me a little.” Her purple eyes glinted with a dangerous light, her voice like shattered glass stabbing into Miss Jeremie’s body. “I would have actually forgiven you if you came for me from the start. But how could you even think about harming a child you’ve taken care of for ten years straight?”

“I-I…just thought Princess Blanche would have a minor stomach ache…”

“A stomach ache? So you think a stomach ache is fine? You told me you thought of her as your own daughter!” Abigail’s fury was like a volcano, leaving Miss Jeremie with nothing to say. She felt her body burning away just standing near her. The crushing sensation on her jaw had disappeared long ago thanks to the overwhelming fear she now felt. Abigail fixed Miss Jeremie with a cold stare for a minute before throwing her away on the floor in disgust. “I’m going to give you three options.”

Three? Miss Jeremie looked up at Abigail with soulless eyes. Abigail continued on, raising her index finger up. “First, you confess to Sabelian.”

There was no way she could. Sabelian was famous for being heartless and cold blooded. Even with her being Duke Stork’s cousin, she was sure to be killed if she confessed. Ignoring this little detail completely, Abigail raised her middle finger. “Second, I tell the king what happened.”

Miss Jeremie wanted to complain. How different was this compared to the first option? In any case, she would have to face the repercussions for her actions.

But no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t complain, not in her current position. Instead, she squeezed out a servile smile, “Th-third…?”

Abigail withdrew her raised fingers. She put up her thumb, then drew it across her neck in a quick slashing motion that left nothing to the imagination. “Third. You die by my hands. Right here, right now.”