ADLG 27

Chapter 27

After receiving a report that continued for dozens of lines, Heinrich could not help but feel slightly surprised.

While he studied and trained in swordsmanship, he had always assumed the servants were simply working diligently in their own way.

But they, too, had their own form of diligence—so much so that it sometimes turned into petty hierarchy, clever tricks, or vanity.

Heinrich was reminded once again that they were each individual humans, and that they had to be managed within acceptable limits rather than judged as purely good or bad.

He also came to realize that a perfect human without any flaws could not exist.

Heinrich secretly began investigating the four servants whose reports contained no apparent flaws—including the head maid who had conducted the investigation—and the head chef Laura among them.

He soon discovered that the head maid, the head chef, and several other servants regularly met with each other.

Heinrich waited for the moment when servants and maids crossed paths and intercepted them, finding a note they had been passing between them.

“Today, take charge of the food waste duty.”

Heinrich locked the servant and maid in a secluded room and began interrogating them.

“…Who is this note from?”

At first, they kept their mouths shut tightly and refused to speak.

However, Heinrich was not without methods.

He spoke first to the servant.

“I heard your younger sister is carrying a child whose father is unknown. You were promised she would be taken in as a mistress if you completed this matter, weren’t you?”

“…Th-that’s…!”

The servant looked wronged, but Heinrich ignored him and turned to the maid.

“And you falsified your career history. I don’t know when you started, but you’ve already been found out. You no longer need to follow the Count Crimson’s orders.”

The servant and maid glanced at each other, flustered.

“If you don’t speak, you will be expelled either way. Choose whether you want to leave after a harsh punishment or at least get the chance to flee at night.”

Heinrich did not actually know what “harsh punishment” entailed in this world. But as a duke, he knew such a threat would work on them.

Eventually, they opened their mouths.

“It was the maid Erin who delivered the notes.”

“What does it mean—‘take charge of food waste duty’?”

“Erin is a maid, so it would look strange if she were handling food waste directly…”

“Speak clearly.”

Heinrich was, without doubt, a tall and well-defined boy for an eight-year-old. But to the servants, who had thought of him as merely a somewhat intelligent child, the pressure was overwhelming.

The boy did not let them slip away as they tried to evade the situation.

As they began to grasp the seriousness, their bodies trembled slightly.

“We don’t know the full details. But we heard Erin is assigned to handle the lady’s tea today.”

“Tea…?”

“It probably means we should clean up the tea leaves afterward so they don’t cause problems later. That’s what we think.”

The maid nodded quickly after speaking, and the servant followed suit, showing his agreement.

Heinrich suddenly stood up and checked the time.

2 p.m.—the time Livenia always drank tea.

“Keep them detained until the truth is confirmed.”

He ordered the escort knight and immediately ran toward Livenia’s office.

He even forgot his father’s advice—that a duke must never run recklessly, must always maintain composure.

When Heinrich entered the office, Livenia was just holding a teacup.

Beside her stood the expected maid, Erin, looking tense.

Heinrich shouted urgently.

“Madam, don’t drink that tea!”

“Your Grace? What is going on all of a sudden?”

Livenia widened her eyes in rare surprise, and Erin’s face turned pale.

But Heinrich saw only the teacup in Livenia’s hand.

He rushed forward.

Erin panicked as well and tried to block him.

Livenia set the teacup down, but she could not stop the two from colliding.

Crash!

The teapot in Erin’s hands fell to the ground, scattering hot tea everywhere, along with shattered fragments.

The first to move was Livenia.

She stood up, ignoring the glass shards, and grabbed Heinrich’s arm where the tea had spilled.

The chaos in the office began after that.

“Kyaaah—!”

Erin screamed in fear, frantically checking her arms and legs.

It was not the reaction of someone simply afraid of being burned.

In fact, her skin was already turning red and swelling.

Heinrich’s arm, where the tea had splashed, was the same.

He frowned and turned to call for a doctor—but then he saw Livenia’s face.

It was deathly pale.

She quickly wiped his arm with a handkerchief, then poured clean water over it from a container in the room.

Her movements were calm, precise—just like Livenia always was.

And yet her lips and fingertips were trembling uncontrollably.

“Your Grace… quickly… treatment…”

Seeing her shake like that, Heinrich felt his heart drop.

Erin, meanwhile, clutched her arm and muttered like a madwoman.

“I-it wasn’t supposed to act this fast! This can’t be happening…!”

The situation only made Livenia more unstable. Her expression was filled with confusion.

Then, suddenly, she lifted Heinrich into her arms.

“…We must go to the physician.”

Heinrich’s mind went blank.

Even though he was eight, he was large for his age—he had never been carried like this, not even by his father.

Yet this woman, who looked younger than his mother, had lifted him effortlessly.

“Ma-madam, I-I can walk myself!”

“I am faster. Please endure this moment, Your Grace.”

Livenia held him tightly and ran toward the physician’s room.

Naturally, the entire mansion was thrown into chaos.

No one had ever imagined the duchess carrying the duke like that.

Meanwhile, Livenia calmly explained everything that had happened to the physician.

“If he had ingested it, his internal organs would have swollen. It would have led to respiratory failure.”

“How dare they!”

Heinrich could not accept that such danger had been directed at the mistress of the house.

Erin had already been captured by Baldwin knights and thrown into the underground cells. Heinrich resolved to punish her severely.

But having never punished anyone before, he did not know what form that punishment should take.

He looked toward Livenia for advice.

And then he saw something he had never expected.

Livenia’s face was so pale she looked less like a living person and more like a statue carved from ice.

She was no longer trembling, but she did not move at all—so still she seemed almost lifeless.

Heinrich walked to her and took her hand with his uninjured one.

“Madam, were you very frightened?”

He feared she might shatter completely.

Fortunately, color slowly returned to her fingertips as she took a deep breath.

She looked like someone who had just returned from the brink of death.

Relieved, Heinrich smiled and said,

“Don’t worry. I will make sure she is severely punished for daring to harm you. And I’ll grow up quickly and protect you myself…”

“No!”

Livenia shouted sharply, startled.

She dropped to her knees in front of Heinrich and gripped his shoulders tightly.

“Your Grace, never do something like this again. Never.”

Each word was heavy, as if she wanted to carve it into his heart.

Heinrich lowered his head, dejected.

“…Was I wrong? I only… thought you were in danger…”

“You are eight years old! A child! And the future of House Baldwin! If you believed I was in danger, you should have called for an adult’s help—not rushed here yourself!”

“I… I was just too worried…”

“Remember this. Even in urgent moments, you must prioritize what is most important. Sometimes, you must abandon what is less important in order to obtain what you truly want.”

Heinrich could say nothing more.

He had only wanted to protect Livenia—his angel—but it felt like he had only caused trouble instead.

Livenia insisted the physician treat his arm properly before leaving.

Later, Heinrich learned from the butler that Livenia had already arrested all suspicious individuals, including maid Erin—and even others Heinrich himself had suspected.

She already knew everything? Then why didn’t she act earlier? Was she testing me?

The thought made Heinrich increasingly uncertain.

I may have failed her test.

His former duchess mother had once said that Livenia was an exceptional woman, far superior to others.

It was only natural that she would be disappointed in an ordinary boy.

If only he had been more careful… or acted faster…

Even as he went to bed, Heinrich’s mind remained restless with those thoughts.