chapter 4
“For now, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong. However, symptoms of poisoning may appear later, so we should observe her for a few more days.”
“Thank you, doctor.”
Only after the examination did Derek finally let out a relieved sigh.
“But for silver to tarnish like this… Where on earth did you get this?”
The doctor carefully inspected the small amount of cosmetic left behind.
“...I received it from someone else. They said it was a popular product lately, which makes me worried others may have been harmed as well.”
“Hm. I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before. I’d like to investigate it further—would it be alright if I took it with me?”
“Of course. I’d appreciate it if you looked into it.”
“It may help with the child’s treatment. If I discover anything, I’ll come back. There may still be traces of toxins left on her body, so bathe her daily with soap for the next week.”
The doctor left the estate with the cosmetics in hand. After seeing him off at the entrance, Derek rubbed his exhausted face and headed back to Hystia’s room.
“Ugh… Mom, it tastes bad.”
“Even if it tastes bad, you still have to take it. It’s for your health.”
Anna, who had been just as frightened as Derek, was feeding Hystia the medicine the doctor had left behind.
Hystia swallowed the medicine with an exaggerated grimace. Derek walked over and slipped a candy into her mouth.
As the sweetness washed away the bitterness, Hystia smiled brightly.
“Dad!”
“Tia, don’t ever do something like that again. Do you know how worried we were?”
“...Okay. I won’t do it again. I’m sorry.”
Seeing his daughter looking so dejected, Derek’s heart softened instantly.
“Dad, was there something wrong with that cosmetic?”
“Yes. So don’t touch it again, alright?”
“Okay, I won’t. But, Dad.”
“Hm?”
“Didn’t Viscount Harbor say it was really popular and ask you to sell it together with him? If it’s dangerous, is it okay to sell it to other people?”
“Come to think of it…”
He had been so worried about Hystia that he hadn’t even considered that.
Victor wouldn’t have intentionally poisoned the cosmetics if he had left the product behind as part of a business proposal.
“It definitely is a trendy product, but…”
He couldn’t tell whether the man had deliberately tried to sabotage his family or not. After all, Derek himself recognized the cosmetic as something currently popular.
Still, the fact remained that the cosmetics were toxic. The doctor had said there were no immediate symptoms, meaning the effects likely appeared only after some time…
“If things had gone wrong, this could’ve been disastrous.”
And since the product was still circulating as a trend, it was obvious nobody else knew it was poisonous.
“For now, I’ll issue an order banning its use throughout the territory.”
Watching Derek mutter to himself, Hystia secretly smiled.
“Hystia, the bath is ready.”
“Okaaay~.”
Three days had passed since the incident.
Hystia still showed no signs of poisoning, but following the doctor’s orders, she was bathing every day.
Honestly, it was annoying.
‘It’s not like I was poisoned that badly.’
The cosmetic had contained powdered Sorin flower petals. When finely ground and used properly, they brightened the complexion, but if they accumulated in the body over time, they caused poisoning symptoms like rashes, vomiting, low fever, and eventually even death.
Simply touching it briefly wouldn’t cause serious harm.
‘But I’m supposed to be an ignorant child, so I should stay quiet.’
At present, Hystia was an eight-year-old child.
She obediently let her mother wash her.
‘At least I stopped the first disaster. But what now?’
Preventing this one crisis didn’t solve everything.
Many more problems still awaited them, and above all, unless the family’s finances stabilized, Derek would continue taking dangerous risks in business.
‘What could turn this family around in one shot?’
They weren’t wealthy to begin with. The household only had two maids and one butler who also served as an attendant.
That meant they couldn’t invest huge sums into something like mining operations.
Something that could make enormous profits without requiring much capital…
“Ugh.”
A foul smell suddenly stabbed at Hystia’s nose, making her shrink back.
The source was the soap Anna was using to wash her.
“Mom, I feel nauseous.”
“Just bear with it a little longer. We’re almost done.”
But the smell kept invading her nose, making her want to gag.
Maybe because she was in a child’s body, her sense of smell was especially sensitive.
What kind of smell even was it?
Rancid oil? Animal fat?
It wasn’t unbearably awful, but the longer she smelled it, the more sickening it became, like inhaling greasy oil fumes.
Thankfully, the smell disappeared once rinsed off with water, but having to endure it every bath was torture.
‘Can’t they just use scented soap?’
They probably couldn’t afford expensive kinds, but surely even mildly floral soap could be bought with her own allowance—
“That’s it!”
“Goodness! Hystia, you startled me.”
Hystia, who had been drying herself, suddenly grabbed her still-wet hair and sniffed it before turning to Anna.
“Mom! Don’t we have a soap workshop in our territory?”
“We do.”
“I want to go visit it!”
“What? You’ve been acting strange these past few days. Are you sure you’re not still sick?”
“I’m totally fine now. So can I go?”
“If you take your medicine today.”
“Ugh… I don’t wanna.”
“Then no going out.”
Faced with Anna’s firm stance, Hystia puffed out her cheeks.
“Fine! I’ll take it!”
It was just medicine. She could survive it.
Afraid Hystia might change her mind, Anna hurriedly brought the medicine over, and Hystia pinched her nose shut before gulping it down in one go.
“Blech, it tastes awful.”
“You took it bravely. Did you really want to go outside that badly?”
“Yes! So can I go now?”
“You can. But don’t stay out too late.”
“Don’t worry~.”
Hystia hurried upstairs to prepare for her outing.
“Ah, I need to bring that too.”
Just as she was about to head downstairs, she glanced around and quietly slipped into her parents’ room.
After confirming nobody was there, she quickly entered.
Her destination was Anna’s vanity table.
Though they weren’t rich, they were still nobles, so there were quite a few cosmetics laid out.
Among them, Hystia picked up a bottle of perfume.
“Perfect.”
“Noona, what are you doing?”
“Gyaaaah!”
Hearing a voice suddenly come from behind her without warning, Hystia nearly jumped out of her skin.
She barely managed to catch the expensive perfume before it fell and turned around.
“Elvin!”
“That belongs to Mom.”
Her three-year-old brother tilted his head innocently.
‘Of all people to catch me…’
If Elvin immediately ran off to tell their mother, she’d be doomed.
“Elvin, want me to buy you delicious candy?”
“Candy?!”
His eyes instantly sparkled.
Hystia tucked the perfume into her pocket.
“Yeah. I’m going out for a little while, and I’ll bring back a huge candy for you. So what you saw here today is a secret from Mom and Dad, okay?”
“Mhm! Secret!”
It felt a little risky, but she didn’t have a better option.
“Noona! You have to bring the candy!”
Leaving Elvin shouting loudly at the entrance behind her, Hystia quickly hurried away.
“Better finish this before I get caught.”
The moment she left the estate, she headed straight for the village.
The scenery felt both familiar and slightly unfamiliar. There were fewer shops and buildings than she remembered, but it was enough to stir old memories.
“It’s been almost twelve years.”
After fleeing the Frost family as though being chased away, she had never been able to return here.
Byrne—the territory governed by the Frost family. Though not quite a city, it was still a fairly large village bustling with people.
After briefly sinking into nostalgia, Hystia slapped both cheeks lightly.
“This isn’t the time for that. I need to hurry.”
Before visiting the soap workshop, she first stopped by an herbal shop.
“Welcome! Huh? Young miss?”
The shop owner recognized Hystia immediately and greeted her warmly. Since Derek was a good lord, most people in Byrne viewed the Frost family favorably.
“Running an errand?”
“No, I’m looking for something. Do you happen to have black herb?”
“We do. But that’s usually something commoners like us use. We have better herbs too—would you like a recommendation?”
“No, black herb is fine. Just one handful, please.”
Though puzzled, the owner brought her the black herb she requested.
“Will this be enough?”
“Yes! More than enough.”
Seeing the small bundle packed full of black herb, Hystia smiled with satisfaction and paid before leaving the shop.
“Now I just need to secretly add this.”
The reason she had brought black herb and perfume was because they were necessary ingredients for making scented soap.
Scented soap had become a massive trend throughout the empire when she was in her mid-twenties.
Until then, soap was made from rendered animal fat, so it smelled terrible.
Nobles used olive soap, which had a milder scent, but it was expensive and out of reach for ordinary commoners.
People had long attempted to mask soap’s foul smell.
They added fragrances and various herbs, but none could eliminate the distinctive stench, so every attempt failed.
‘Then someone invented scented soap.’
Someone who regularly drank black herb tea had accidentally spilled it into a soap vat while making soap, discovering that black herb removed soap’s characteristic odor.
As its name implied, black herb had a dark color and ominous appearance. It also had little medicinal value, so poor commoners only used it as cheap tea leaves to imitate drinking real tea.
However, black herb excelled at eliminating unpleasant smells far better than other herbs.
Afterward, soap makers began adding black herb during production to neutralize odors before mixing in various fragrances to create scented soaps.
Naturally, the workshop that developed the product became enormously successful.
‘Jerome, the father of soap.’
Sorry, but I’m borrowing your idea.
She felt a little guilty stealing someone else’s idea, but rebuilding her family came first.
Hystia hurried toward the soap workshop.
“Hey, rookie! Go throw this out!”
“Yes, sir!”
The newest worker at the soap workshop was overwhelmed with errands assigned by senior employees.
While taking out the trash as instructed, he noticed a little girl peeking nervously around the workshop entrance on his way back.
“Hey there, are you looking for someone?”
The child flinched and turned her head.
‘She’s adorable.’
The worker stared briefly at the rabbit-like little girl.
“I came looking for my dad. Is he inside?”
“Your dad? What’s his name?”
“Derek Frost!”
“There’s no one named Derek here—wait, Frost?”
Wasn’t Frost the lord’s family name?
Blinking in confusion, the man suddenly looked horrified as he stared down at the child.
‘Come to think of it, the lord got married a few years ago.’
And he remembered hearing that the viscountess had entered the estate carrying a young daughter.
Recalling the viscountess’s face he had once glimpsed from afar, the man realized the child looked remarkably similar to her.
“M-manager…! The young lady is here!”
Concluding that this was far beyond his ability to handle, the worker hurriedly ran off in a panic to fetch the workshop owner.