"Kyaaaaaaah!"

I woke up to a woman's scream, followed by footsteps echoing everywhere.

The surroundings were reminiscent of Medieval Europe.

I held a cup in my hand—something's not right about it.

Reflected in the cup was a young man's face—which wasn't my own. He was blond-haired, of slender build, and quite handsome.

While I scrutinized this place, a maid broke inside the room; her face was pale.

"Sir Conrad! Bad news, the Lord was murdered!"

"What?"

At that moment, a series of memories flooded into me.

The young man's name is Conrad McDonovan, third son of Marquis McDonovan. As his talents were mediocre, he's currently helping his older brother, Viscount Vince, the city lord, to attend the meetings with nobles on his behalf.

...and why did I transmigrate into Conrad's body?

Ignoring the maid for a while, I checked the cup.

A message-box popped in front of me.

Oh? Interesting.

[Teacup: contains lethal poison, planted by the Butler, Adrian Montgomery.]

The Butler?

A certain old-man came to mind. He's the one who invited Viscount Vince to a meeting, and I came on his behalf.

The said noble is Baron Wesphalt, one of Vince's trusted subordinate.

...and he was murdered?

Why would the butler plant poison in my cup? Is there anything he didn't want me to know?

"Sir Conrad?"

She looked rather suspicious of me, from my pause.

There's also the fact I was able to survive unscathed from drinking poison.

Myriad things went through her mind, and she had to put a poker face, lest she gave something away.

"Let's call the Authorities first."

"Y-yes!"

She hurriedly ran towards an analog phone. In the meantime, I threw [Appraisal] at her.

Her stages seem a bit too high for an average maid, plus:

[Job: Assassin]

[Plotting to frame Conrad for murder.]

It started to get pretty confusing.

What should I do?

"Help, please! Our Lord was murdered..."

I decided to approach the telephone and said, "Can you keep in touch with Viscount Vince? He's my elder brother, and I honestly find this whole situation very confusing."

"Ah, sir Conrad! Is everything alright with you?"

I took the receiver from the maid's arms, and she seemed to be giving me the death glare.

My mind went on full-throttle on how I could escape this mess, but I decide to get along, "Yes, indeed, there was a murder in this mansion."

The original Conrad's memories seeped into me at an opportune moment. I began to recount, in all honesty, things that happened.

"Understood, we will send the police over here. Anything else?"

"Hold on."

It was strange how the maid didn't murder me at that moment. If I recall, this Conrad wasn't proficient in martial arts, and this world had no magic.

...but it's strange how this RPG-like System appeared in front of me, and I could assign stats to it.

My gut feeling told me to hand the phone over.

"Got anything to say?"

"No! Not at all."

I sat down with my back against the wall. Seeing she's an Assassin, I didn't dare to put my guard down. Although I tried my best to appear relaxed, so she didn't make her move too soon.

I also assigned my stat points. I didn't have enough to overpower her, but I should be able to defend myself until the police arrived.

There's also a skill which let me whisper something in secrecy, "Listen, this maid is suspicious. She might be trying to do me harm, order some skilled men to apprehend her, just in case."

"Understood."

Despite his lack of aptitude, he's still a noble. I could use it to my advantage.

The maid could only stand there and glare at me.

The original Conrad would probably follow the maid into Baron Wesphalt's room and do something, so his tracks would be all over the victim's corpse.

...but was it the Butler who murdered him? What's their aim?

While I didn't see the body myself, I wouldn't be charged with false reports, since it's the maid who started it.

I was just a minor character, and I don't think it's worth murdering a Baron, just to make the city lord look bad.

Did I have a motive for doing so? In my past meetings with the Baron, we seem pretty amicable, nor the slightest bit of grudges.

I threw another appraisal at the maid.

[Status: Wary]

For what?

I took a glance at the tea, and I thought—did I have any spells to neutralize the poison?

[De-Tox]
[Fireball]
[Bolt]
[Heal]

Ah, there it was.

By turning the effect options, I could make my spells invisible as well.

...but was it necessary? What if I could use it as evidence?

Best not touch it, I guess. I wasn't part of the law, let the professionals handle it.

What if they're not trustworthy? Just how far would my status get me?

Still, the maid's actions puzzled me.

Why didn't she make any move, knowing the police might blow her cover anytime?

Soon the police came and went straight to investigate the Baron's room.

The maid immediately showed the way, looking completely innocent.

She would try to eliminate me later, but she underestimated the McDonovan family.

Plus, I would prepare a surprise next time she pops up.

In any case, Baron Wesphalt was murdered by a vicious stab from a broken bottle. There were numerous wounds all over his body, and his clothes were ripped apart as if he just had a big fight.

...but the appraisal result showed something else.

Most of the wounds were made after his death. The actual wound was only as big as a mole. It's a needle-shaped object which pierced his vital parts. Adrian Montgomery was a trained assassin in disguise.

The deadly poison should also kill me--no, it already killed the previous Conrad, but by the time the news reached that old bastard, he'd have gotten far away.

What's strange was, poisons of this level would kill regular people or severely cripple them, but I felt brand new. Perhaps whoever behind my transmigration healed it.

From examining his corpse, I also could infer the cause behind everything.

Power struggle.

Someone wanted to weaken the influence of McDonovan's household by assassinating their members one by one.

I was one of the easiest targets, and also a close aide to Vince.

My death might cause his morale to drop and distract him from noticing the big picture. After all, he's still young and inexperienced, despite his talent.

Which house did we have beef on? Was it the Forza? The Guliani?

McDonovan House had plenty of enemies, despite the head only being a Marquis. With this Kingdom's politics, everyone's enemies with another, despite showing polite smiles and courtesy on the surface.

The Kingdom was often ruined by civil wars between the nobles. Due to how unstable and unruly it was, even the neighboring countries didn't care to invade us.

Before the current Royal Family cemented their rule, the other took place and burned the histories of their predecessors.

As such, nobody gave a damn about history anymore.

Soon, the police finished the autopsy. We've pretty much reached the same conclusion about the murder and its wound fabrication.

They also confiscated the cup of tea and planned to identify the poison at a later date.

Despite that, they weren't able to identify the murderer.

Madam Wesphalt and his son were out in the capital, and there's no sign of other servants as well.

All in all, everything's settled when they took the corpse for autopsy. I was let out after a short questioning.

The maid did not resist arrest.

Most likely, someone would rat her out--a good time to pull the rug.

While I didn't have relations to the McDonovan family, I wasn't strong enough to roam the world on my own.

For now, my priority was to eliminate the threats toward their house and live a peaceful life.

With that thought in mind, I applied several barriers in my room and went for a sound sleep.

Enough thinking for today, I'd lay down further plans tomorrow.