Reincarned with a deities Harem (Tome 1)

Vanderly's trick

Azef and I returned to the inn where Ifnir and Vanderly were waiting for us, and I decided to write a letter to Fancy and another to my father.

In Fancy's letter, I asked her to continue with our plan while keeping an eye on Sofiane and Gabrielle, especially the latter. I was certain that this little bitch would soon do something stupid that, to be honest, would help my plans.
If there was one thing I could give this bitch credit for, it was that she always had, so far, found a way to get what she wanted. With or without help, she would find something, and I had to be ready to thwart her.

So with this in mind, I asked Fancy to continue having her followed. All her movements and actions were to be closely monitored and reported to me.  I had understood that the maid at Gabrielle's side was a spy; I could recognize my little Fancy's good idea.
Finally, I asked Fancy to prepare the ground for my next big stunt and to make sure she asked her brother for help so that everything would be ready upon my return.

In the letter to my father, I tried to reassure him by giving him news so that he would stop worrying. I also told him that we were going to Selafon, and if, while I was away from the estate, a letter from Solsten was addressed to him, he would not respond unfavorably under any circumstances. No matter its content, he was neither to refuse nor to accept it. I would take care of it myself.

Once finished, I asked Azef to send them to the various recipients. We sat calmly, enjoying our tea while waiting for Vanderly, who had gone to retrieve the documents from Sofiane's room.

Vanderly arrived at the Hosten home and was now in his bird form, though he looked more like a sparrow. He was roaming the corridors of the Hosten home when he saw Sofiane coming out of the saddle shop.
She seemed to be checking to see if there was anyone in the hallway, almost panicking, which intrigued Vanderly, who decided to take a look before retrieving the papers.

He entered the saddle shop, checking every detail because even though at first glance he didn't find anything strange, the simple fact that this woman came out with such a suspicious look made the situation a little intriguing.

So he took his time casting a detection spell, but not just any spell. Sofiane had just left the place, so he was going to use a spell that would reveal the last movements that took place there a few minutes before his arrival.  Soon, traces of Sofiane's passage were revealed, leading him to a particular location.
Empowering himself with his human form, he advanced toward Sofiane's footsteps before frowning and bending over.

There was a strange smell that, despite everything, combined perfectly with that of the herbs in this jar.
It was a smell he recognized well because it came from a particular plant on the border of Genbu territory, at the edge of the Nightmare Forest. A highly toxic plant that he had seen so many humans use over the centuries to harm their fellow human beings.

It was particularly fearsome because it killed anyone who ingested it in certain doses with the same effectiveness as a specter snake bite. Humans used it to cause their enemies to die long, painful, and agonizing deaths, demonstrating a particularly sadistic and disgusting personality trait.  He looked at the jar before his face darkened with anger.

Mylène.

She enjoyed bitter tea and had ordered new tea leaves from a guild that traded with a small kingdom near Conceo for premium leaves. She had told them she regretted leaving without her tea leaves for their trip to Selafon and was eager to let them taste this tea once they returned.
So, knowing that no one would dare use Mylène's tea leaves, she decided to mix this highly toxic plant with the tea leaves, putting Mylène's life in danger. He grabbed the jar, deciding to take it with him before retrieving the documents from Sofiane's room while she was taking a bath.

He quickly found the English drawer and collected the documents, but before leaving, an idea crossed his mind, and he smiled menacingly.
He was vengeful by nature; his brothers knew it, and he wouldn't let such impudence pass. He turned toward the bed and dropped some of his feathers, which he turned into red powder before embedding themselves in Sofiane's sheets.

He chuckled before leaving the room and flying off to the city where he would amuse himself by telling Mylène and his brothers about his misdeeds.

When he arrived in the room, he found everyone waiting for him, and he smiled, running over to Mylène.

“Here are your documents.”

“Thank you, Van.”

I checked the documents one after the other, realizing that they were indeed the title deeds to several lands and mansions in my father's territory, in the capital, and even in neighboring kingdoms. I had only suggested the idea based on the old innkeeper's testimony and the bank statements, but the fact that it was at this level was even more impressive.
Sofyan had truly done her best to build a veritable fortune with the Hostens' money, and I had to give her a certain amount of respect, but that didn't mean I was going to let her go.

I frowned. Something about this story bothered me. Was it the fact that Sofiane hadn't tried to get rid of these incriminating documents, or was it the fact that she already knew she was stuck and there was nothing more she could do?
Something seemed fishy here.
It seemed she was keeping these documents because she knew they would still be useful to her despite my coup.
It seemed she expected everything in the house to return to its place soon and that she would be free of suspicion, or simply free of my shenanigans.

I handed the documents to Ifnir, who made them disappear with a click before turning back to Vanderly, the jar in his hand somewhat intriguing me.

“Van? Can you explain?”

Ifnir and Azef almost jumped, surprising me, while Vanderly simply nodded to his brothers.

“I caught Sofiane coming out of the saddle shop, looking suspicious. When I went to take a look to see what she was doing there, I found that smell my brothers recognized, engulfing the room. I checked and discovered that that wicked woman had poisoned your tea leaves.”

“What? My rare and special tea that I've been waiting days for?”

“Mylène, that's not the most important thing,” Azef reprimanded, and I pulled myself together.

“I see. So she had another key in reserve for the saddler and hid it. But worse, not only did she try to poison me, but she also wanted to pin it on Fancy since we're the only two who supposedly have the keys to the saddler... Clever animal…” I laughed, like a mother like a daughter apparently.

Or… She wasn't trying to poison me, but rather to draw suspicion. I ordered some rare tea leaves, and it turned out to be poison.
I still wondered how she could have framed me for it… It was my tea, so I'd drink it anyway being the only one who enjoyed bitter tea.

Unless she really just wanted to kill me… No challenge.
  I would have hoped for a better comeback from her after what she'd done to Mylène.
I shook my head; she was so desperate that she'd stopped thinking.
Killing me would inevitably draw suspicion on her, no matter how she went about it.

She was so desperate to regain her position as mistress of the house and Gabrielle, my brothers' favorite, that she hadn't taken the time to carefully craft her plan. In her place, I would have instead looked for a way to prove I was the one behind it all.

What a little girl!

I looked up at Vanderly, thinking there was no point in expecting any intelligence from these people, and decided to thank him.

“It's not much, Mylène. It's our duty to protect you, and by the way, I left that nasty woman a little gift.”

“A gift?”

“Yes... She'll stay quiet for at least a week, hopefully until we find Byakko.”

We went to rest. We had to hit the road for Selafon early. The bed was quite narrow, so the boys had to sleep on the floor while I lounged in bed, sleep coming a little late. I thought about how we had to stay vigilant. Even though the animal was on the ground, it remained somewhat ferocious and refused to give up.
All of this was incredibly exciting, I had to admit.

I fell asleep while in Claude's office, he received his daughter's letter and read it immediately.