"I'm fine now. But your complexion is not good."
"Do you think I'm still able to stay sane while you're lying there, You almost death?"
I was so touched when he said that. I thought Killian really has a heart on me? I brushed his greasy hair gently, trying not to make it too obvious that i liked it so much.
"How long did i sleep?"
"Three days, Edith. You just opened your eyes after three days right now."
"Yes? Three days?"
My eyes opened wider. I didn't even feel that i slept that long. . . . Anyway, i had to fix the situation quickly.
"Killian. What is going on? I heard that boat malfunctioned."
"We're investigating it now. I looked into the yacht and found that important screws on the steering wheel were loose. I believe that Samuel has neglected my work or been given the instruction of someone."
"I don't think so, Killian."
"Edith. . . . ?"
He's an extra that probably wouldn't have been mentioned in the original, but he's already got the name Samuel in my world. So i didn't want that kind of person die in vain because of the original author's play.
"Why would he have done something that would have been caught so quickly? He was even on boat together. He probably looked carefully into it."
Killian sighed and hugged me tightly. Then he whispered in a voice that only me could heard.
"I think so, too. This is just a warning to show the culprit that we don't know who it is."
"Killian. . . . !"
"Of course, we are not neglecting the investigation of Samuel. But we don't have any clues yet."
The frustration of having to investigate the crime with no evidence was reflected in his voice. However, as long as the original author, who is like a god on this world,intervenes, it would be impossible to find evidence.
"The culprit of this incident will not be caught so easily. On the contrary, it also means that they were very determined to do so."
"If it's a plan. . . . They set to kill you. . . .?"
"I'm thinking so. Killian, are you good at swimming?"
Killian nodded his head. I knew it.
"So maybe. . . . they were probably after me."
"But why. . . . "
"We need to know who did it so we are able to know what the reason that person did it."
Killian nodded and hugged me even more tightly.
"For now, just take care of yourself."
In his firm embrace, I breathed a sigh of relief for the first time.
"It's late, but thank you for saving me."
"Me, too, thank you for living, Edith."
I looked up after enjoying Killian's arms that embrace me for a long time.
"Don't punish Samuel. There must be a real culprit. It's not fair for an innocent person to go through the hardships."
"I know he didn't break it on purpose or try to harm you. But it's his fault that he didn't check the yacht again that day, so he should be punished."
"Everyone's took a 'nobles' mistakes are too generous. But why are you so heartless about commoner's people mistake?"
Killian, who had been silent for while, answered with a sigh.
"Those who haven't learned probably need a clear education."
But I couldn't agree with that.
"I understand that you have to correct his mistakes and make him realize his mistakes. But those who haven't learned should forgive them more generously. Who is more guilty, those who make mistakes despite learning, or those who make mistakes because they haven't learned?"
My voice got louder because i remembered the senior I met when I was at work. They also made mistakes and sarcastically criticized other employees' mistakes, saying, "This is why scholars can't do it," The nobles here looked like senior at that time.
"You know, sometimes. . . . .You don't look like a from a noble family."
"I just want to be a person."
Killian looked at me with an unpleasant face and held my hand tightly.
"If that's what you want. . . . I got it."
"Thank you, Killian."
She feel a little tired again, so she wanted to lie down. Killian laid me down on the bed and tell me to take a rest a little more.
"By the way, Killian."
"Yes. Say it."
"What are Lizzy and Cliff doing?"
"Why are you asking about Lizzy and Cliff all of a sudden?"
"I think they must have been very shocked."
Killian went quiet. He seemed to notice that she was doubting them. She closed her eyes, pretending she didn't notice his agitation.
'But I have no choice but to doubt it.'
Cliff, who recommended her to go on a boat with Killian and Lizzy, who wanted to follow our outing on the morning of the boat trip. . . . . Of course, both of them were characters who were set up as 'just', but it was unknown again.
'The original is already falling apart. . . . .'
She fallen asleep sleep again with a stuffy sigh.
***
It made me feel terrified to think about it again. Killian gets goosebumps all over his body when he thinks about everything that happened from the moment Edith fell into the lake. A clear weather, a fresh breeze, the yacht that went smoothly through the middle of the lake, the fish that were swimming on the calm water and Edith held her hand out and said the fish was so cute. Killian was so happy that time. And then, as if waiting for him to feel happy, the ship suddenly titled.
"Ah. . . . ?"
Just as he was about to say something stupid in disbelief at the situation, he could heard a sharp scream, and Edith fell into the blue lake.
"Edith!"
The yacht, moving wildly its own, Killian anxiously threw the rope he was holding toward Edith. However, when he lost Edith sight of her head bouncing up and down above the water, Killian didn't think twice, he took off his vest and shoes, and jumped into the lake. He gripped the rope tightly in his one hand and when he found Edith sinking into the abyss from the lake he'd jumped into, Killian felt his heart freeze. He couldn't remember how he swim there to rescue Edith. When he come to his senses, he already swimming approach the yacht while shouting at Edith to woke her up, which is unconscious.
"Haa. . . . ."
Just thinking about it, his heart beating terribly and he out of breath. He pressed his hand against Edith's chest, who looked so pale as a corpse and she not even breathing, Killian prayed to God over and over again to save her.
"No, Edith, please! Please live! Open your eyes! I will never forgive you if you die here this!"
He kept shouting at Edith, he didn't even remember what he was saying at that times. Fortunately, Edith began to breathe again and opened her eyes after receiving treatment from a doctor, but he couldn't let it go the experience that Edith's almost death in his arms.
He remember thinking Edith was so annoying after she ate the poison on the peach pie and collapsed before, but now he get goosebumps just thinking about her pale wet face. No, the peach pie incident was becoming horrible in hindsight.
'I'm sure they are aiming Edith?'
Even if Edith hadn't said it, he already know it. He was able to swim out quickly even if he fell into the water. But if it's Edith, it's a different story. Because of the heavy dress hem and uncomfortable shoes, women are always in danger when related with boating accident. So the culprit who touched his yacht's steering wheel must be a person who desperate wanted Edith to died.
'But who is that person, and why. . . . ?'
'Countess Riegelhoff, who was offended by Edith? Or Countess Sinclair, who hates Lizzy and the Riegelhoff family? Or people from other family who hate Edith. . . .?'
It was Edith maid from Riegelhoff family who poisoned the peach pie, but she wasn't the one who poisoned the embroidery in Lizzy room. We didn't even caught the culprit who took the documents. It's was hard to point it to anyone other than Edith as a suspect at all the incidents that had happened. But what made more thing become more suspicious, there was another completely new assumption.
'Don't tell me, Lizzy. . . . . No, it's not. That can't be.'
Well, whenever Edith was framed as the culprit, Lizzy would defend her, saying it couldn't be true. besides, Lizzy would marry Cliff and become a duchess if she stayed put, just like Edith had no reason to hurt Lizzy, and Lizzy also had no reason to hurt Edith. However, the more I denied it, the more he suspicions about Lizzy's attitude, which has changed subtly recently.
'Why did Lizzy suddenly change?'
If he thinks about it more detail it was Lizzy, who had certainly given him and Cliff a fair affection before. A few months before he married with Edith, he felt Lizzy had a feeling toward Cliff. That why he accepted the political marriage with Edith.
'I'm sure she had a feelings toward Cliff. But what she up now. . . . !'
Lizzy, who hasn't changed since he married Edith, has changed recently since Killian started dating Edith. A subtle temptation that makes he feel scary if he thinks about it. . . . and from the moment he thought it, a terrifying assumption had appeared in Killian's mind.
'Other than the peach pie incident, there's another person who could be used as a suspect in the incident where everyone pointed Edith as a culprit?'
During the document leak incident, the person who was able touch the documents with their own hands and was able to open the desk drawer is Lizzy, also the person who was able to apply the poison directly to the embroidery thread is Lizzy itself. After all that doubt, everything Lizzy told him about Edith became suspicious.