Guidelines for the Perfect Goodbye - Chapter 41

Guinevere, with a dazed expression, mumbled incoherently before suddenly raising her voice.

“How dare a mere maid have the audacity to poison her master? It’s preposterous! Mary, you must be lying!”

“It’s true! Several other maids saw me asking Mrs. Linfitt for the sachet’s embroidery!”

Witnesses too? Still, it couldn’t be. Guinevere resolutely had to prevent Hannah Linfitt from being summoned.

“She’s lying out of fear! Isn’t she, Adam?”

“Bring Hannah Linfitt here.”

“Adam!”

Adam, having shed his facade of affection, was relentless.

Hannah was brought in. She had been busy dusting in the attic, oblivious to the strife within the mansion.

All she found odd was her presence among the gathered masters. Then she suddenly recalled a recent task.

Hannah cheerfully asked,

“Master, have you called me to reinstate me as Lady Cecilia’s nanny?”

Adam sneered. Ulysses approached her and asked,

“Hannah Linfitt. Did you make this sachet?”

Upon seeing the sachet, Hannah confidently replied,

“Yes! I made it!”

She was proud of her embroidery skills. Perhaps the masters had seen her work and summoned her out of admiration? For a moment, she harbored that hope.

But the reactions to her answer were of shock for various reasons.

“So, this maid is the culprit.”

“M, Mrs. Linfitt. How could you… Really? You really did it? You poisoned Sir Nigel and tried to frame Ulysses…?” Caroline asked in a crawling voice.

“…Pardon?”

What was this situation?

Only after hearing the chatter about poison did Hannah grasp the severity of the situation.

“It wasn’t me! I didn’t put any poison in!”

“How can we believe that?”

Adam pressed her. Guinevere quietly watched as Hannah was being cornered as the culprit.

‘If this maid takes the fall instead of Ulysses, it’s actually a relief. I didn’t orchestrate this, so I’ll just stay quiet for now and later pay her to keep her mouth shut.’

As long as the attempt to poison Nathan doesn’t get exposed, it’s fine.

“I really didn’t do it…”

As Hannah started to tear up, Ulysses said,

“Uncle, we can’t definitively say she’s the culprit for poisoning the sachet.”

Ulysses had been keeping the gifted sachet in his room. Any maid assigned to clean could have secretly added the poison.

If that’s all there is, Hannah might have a defense.

But that’s just it.

Ulysses had personally witnessed her suspicious behavior, and now had to disclose that to clear his own doubts.

But if his suspicions were right, then the person behind this maid…

‘…Is my mother.’

He couldn’t fathom why she would poison his sachet. Was it really to get rid of an insufferably detestable son this time?

…No, that can’t be. Despite loathing him, he was still a useful son.

In other words, there was an unforeseen trap even mother hadn’t anticipated.

Ulysses thought that it might be Nigel, but he soon dismissed the idea.

‘The Young Marquis isn’t the type to risk his life for such a thing.’

Next, Ulysses directed his gaze towards Adam.

‘…’

This side was definitely suspicious. But there was only circumstantial evidence, no concrete proof.

A choice had to be made: to protect his mother, or to stand up for himself.

‘I want to protect my mother, but…’

What’s the point of a life feasting on scraps thrown by a parent who commits crimes, and turning a blind eye to those crimes?

As he did in the past, Ulysses was bound to become a hindrance to his mother’s plans yet again.

“Hannah Linfitt.”

Ulysses spoke.

“You were seen sneaking into the nanny’s room two nights ago. Nigel and I witnessed it.”

“But…!”

Hannah’s face turned pale, a different kind of distress than before. Beside her, a woman who had been idly picking at her nails also turned ghostly white.

‘Ulysses, you ungrateful, worthless scoundrel…!’

Guinevere bit her lip, unable to chastise her own son.

‘Shut up, please just SHUT UP!’

Her desperate wish was crushed by Ulysses’ continuing words.

“And is that all? You didn’t correct the fact to the Young Marquis and me that you’re no longer Cecilia’s nanny.”

Ulysses had only today learned of Hannah Linfitt’s demotion to a regular maid.

“This maid entered the nanny’s room?”

Adam intervened.

“Hannah Linfitt, explain yourself. Why were you on the second floor that night?”