Mages were normal in this world, but in this table, I guess I’m the only person who knows magic, given how my body reacted to the contact with black magic.

Licensed mages or any citizens practicing magic use light magic traceable from grimoires written by ancient archmages, while black magic—which was made by demons—was practiced by sorcerers, witches or in some cases—bandits and nomads. Black magic is an act of heresy, anyone caught using it were burned at the stake.

If Susanna’s black magic aura is this powerful, why am I the only one who reacted to it? There should be magicians outside who have felt it before I did, right?

This negative feeling should be enough to point to her as the lady who gave Zathrian the cursed necklace, but I need to have stronger evidence before I can proceed with a plan.

Not long after, the maids brought the pastries to the table. “I heard the ladies loved the macarons served at Lady Ayana’s previous tea party, so I requested it to be made with the exact recipe to the baker.”

The ladies were about to take their servings when Ayana raised her hand to get our attention. There was a hint of mocking in her eyes as she looked at me. What is she trying to pull now?

“Pardon me, my lady, but I’ve become allergic to local pastries when we stopped by Brewvale Village. Their pastries are just much better and organic. Does anyone want to try? I’ve brought a whole basket with me.”

I almost rolled my eyes. The ladies swarmed over Ayana’s basket and completely ignored my macarons. She flashed me a grin—a satisfied one—as if she won a contest I hadn’t thought about joining.

I smiled back, which made her raise a brow. It was a good thing that I know a lot about plants and materials used in this world. There’s only one bakery in that village, and they were known for one thing.

“Are you talking about the pastries of Brewvale Village in northern Galicia? Isn’t the only bakery in that village known to mix Plumdaisy flower essence into their ingredients? I heard it's bad if a woman consumes it too much, they’ll get bad body odour.”

“What?!” The ladies dropped Ayana’s pastries. I glared at the one who threw up beside me—Lady Rebecca—her cheeks reddened in shame meeting my disgusted gaze.

“W-What are you talking about? That’s not true!” Ayana hysterically exclaimed, Susanna glared at me. Is she going to curse me with black magic for embarrassing her sister?

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“I wish I was lying.” I sipped on my tea. It’s the truth, after all. In the next few months, it’ll be published in the local newspapers, since Evermore and Galicia have a long history of trading and Brewvale is the closest region in Evermore’s northwestern border.

Ayana still had the guts to smirk. She’s very competitive according to what I have heard about her. “It seems the lady has found herself interested in the study of science. Isn’t it because of what happened?”

“Well, yes.” That’s the story I told my family. “I figured I should have knowledge about plants after my last poisoning incident. I’m thinking about taking animal studies as well, so I’d know what kinds of snakes to avoid next time.”

Collective gasps were heard.

“You eccentric little—“

“What’s going on here?” Our heads turned in the direction of the voice by the door of the garden. The tension was getting so intense that no one heard Alasdair’s arrival.

“Alasdair…”

There were two figures behind him. I couldn’t see well because of the sunlight, but when they walked closer to my brother, I recognized who the other man was. With his insane combat abilities, he didn’t need to bring a bodyguard abroad.

“Prince Zathrian…”

The marquess examined the whole place, until his dead eyes locked with mine. His lips curved into a smile that made me hitch my breath. Our meeting in the tavern flashed my mind.

What is he doing here?

Ayana seemed to notice his stares and shot me a glare. Was she always treating Lilivienne like this? Openly hating on her while clinging to her, what? Name? Status? How did Lilivienne even tolerate this behaviour? I couldn’t blame her even if I wanted to, because I was once in her shoes. Well, now I’m literally on hers.

I calmed myself down. “What brought your sudden visit, dear brother? You don’t need to worry. We were only having a little argument.”

Zathrian kept smiling like a sly fox. “What’s with the commotion?”

Ayana’s heels marched beside me. “It’s just—“

“Hmm?” He never shot her a glance, his sharp gaze remained on mine. Those eye smiles were cunning, intently observing my reactions.

Is he still suspecting me? He didn’t let it go!

But this is the Zathrian I knew from the game.

“W-We were only talking about the study of plants.”

“Botany?” He turned to Alasdair, to which the latter nodded.

“My sister has been spending hours in the Grand Library reading books about every plant species.” I nodded my head. I’ve seriously convinced several people that I’m studying science instead of magic.

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Says Zathrian.

“L-Learning about plants? Haha,” I asked.

“When a lady knows how to talk back.” My ears instantly heated up. Was he talking about our past encounter or the one they just watched? Alasdair faked a cough and turned his head away. I assumed they heard everything I said.