Veronique noticed something was definitely off when she sat down for breakfast.

  Alexander was outright glaring at her and he seemed far sourer then usual for some reason.

  On any other day she would have written his behaviour off as Alexander merely waking to the wrong side of the bed and being crankier then usual had it been just him, but this wasn’t clearly the case as the staff as whole had tensed up the moment she entered, some were even glaring at her, but most wouldn’t even meet her eyes.

  Such thing had even affected her hallucinations, who had stopped their usual activities to stare back at the staff as if they were having a Mexican stand off, even if there were obliviously no guns to shoot.

  Thinking about such hypothetical scenario, if they all had guns and she could make her hallucinations real with what might be her second skill, then depending on how such skill worked her Dead would either surely win or lose for the same reason.

  They were already fucking dead.

  So either they would simply drop dead upon activating the hypothetical skill, or be completely unstoppable because they couldn’t be killed.

  ‘Such thing would be way too overpowered’ she thought then something else came to mind ‘Now that I think of it I remember I read something like that, but the way the protagonist earned their power felt legit enough it didn’t feel like reading a Gary Stu’

  “Veronique” the Duke’s stern voice broke her out of her thoughts

  “What? Eh…I mean yes your Lordship?” she hastily answered fumbling a little on her words both because it surprised her that the Duke called on her directly and she was simply a little startled

  “I have set up a medical check up for you tomorrow” he informed her

  “How? we don’t have a doctor anymore!” Alexander suddenly said looking angrily at the Duke

  “The old man retired?!” Veronique had seen him just yesterday so it felt like odd news, but he did look quite old so she wouldn’t be too surprised if he did.

  “No, he is in prison and Mr Kepler got sacked because of you” Alexander suddenly accused her

  “Alexander!” Duchess Lucretia reprimanded him

  “EH? but I didn’t do anything!?” Veronique defended herself, feeling as if such claim was utterly ridiculous ‘even if I did demonstrate to Miss Hawkings that the library’s staff refused to help me out it seems a bit over the rails to fire people over it’ she thought

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Mr Kepler thought he had a say in who could or could not make use of the Library, I had offered him a lower position, but he refused” the Duke elaborated on it “while Doctor Franklin outright refused to give medical aid and as such attempted to murder a member of this family” and put an end to such baseless accusations

  “But it was just a nosebleed” Veronique felt her eye twitch thinking the poor old man got into trouble over refusing to treat said nosebleed

  “I am referring to a past event that just came to light, your accident from yesterday has nothing to do with it” the Duke clarified that point as well and the redhead let out a sigh of relief.

  At the least till she noticed the staff was still either glaring at her or avoiding to look at her.

  ‘I don’t think the staff got the memo’ she thought, knowing her reputation with them was going go below rock bottom and it wasn’t already high to begin with.

  “Alexander if you wish to know the details of this matter you are more then welcome to pass by my study this afternoon” the Duke exclaimed when it was clear from Alexander’s expression that he wasn’t convinced about any of this

  “Understood sir” he replied back

  “Good” the Duke had said with an air of finality that simply told everyone on the room to drop the matter and just eat their breakfast

  “Dad” a small voice suddenly called on the Duke

  “Yes Rhea?” he responded patiently

  “Can we have pastries?” Rhea innocently asked

  ‘I guess she didn’t have her fill yesterday’ Veronique thought struggling not to laugh ‘now that I think of it that maid never came back with more pastries’

  “That is not a thing you can eat first thing in the morning” the Duke declared then made the mistake of looking at Rhea’s pleading eyes

  “…we will have some at Dinner” he ended up conceding

  ‘He’s really a softie with her’ Veronique thought her lips twitching trying to give a Cheshire cat smile that she knew she couldn’t show.

  The Duchess had no such problems she just giggled without an issue

  “But then Veronique won’t get any” then Rhea complained again and Veronique was about to say that she didn’t really want them

  “I will make sure she has some as well” but the Duke had already spoken

  “Thank you, your Lordship” so she thanked him as she was supposed to do

  “Oh before I forget” the Duchess suddenly spoke “Veronique, I have ordered some herbs that should help you with your overflowing mana problem, they should be there in a couple of days”

  “Thank you for being thoughtful” Veronique thanked the Duchess too, as she knew it was the proper thing to do at that the woman smiled at her.

  “Aren’t all the things that drain mana essentially poison?” Alexander suddenly asked, one eyebrow raised in question

  “Which is why it will take a bit of testing before we give any to Veronique” the Duchess had claimed “all we want is for them to drain her mana a little and nothing else”

  “Isn’t there someone with a skill that can just take it away?” Rhea asked

  “Even if we found someone with such skill then it would be as if we just put water in another pot instead of draining it” Duchess Lucretia explained

  “We will see if those herbs are a viable solution” the Duke concluded “Now I would appreciate some silence” and shut down any other attempt at conversation at the table.

  ‘Damn he does look stressed’ Veronique thought before she focused on her food.