Pampered By My Three Brothers: The Return Of The Neglected Heiress - Chapter 790

Chapter 790: She’s the culprit
William had no ammunition for tonight, as he had used most of his plans with Jonathan. With the latter’s absence, he was desperate to bring up something to stir trouble without actually causing too much disturbance. Hence, Zoren’s remarks were like an advertisement that any customer would be tempted to buy.

“Try it, William, and let me know if it’s my taste buds that have a problem. Who knows? It could be a symptom of yet another illness.” Zoren wiggled his brows, tilting his head slightly to the side. “Give him another pair of spoons.”

The nearest staff nodded in understanding, rushing to the trolley in the corner and quickly returning to the table. The staff then placed the fork over the napkin near William’s plate, walking back with his head lowered, darting his eyes between Zoren and William.

“Mildred, are you sure this food was prepared by you?” William inquired, keeping his eyes on Zoren as he spoke. “And no one else touched it?”

Mildred gulped, keeping her head low. “Yes,” she breathed out. “Unless something happened in the short time the plate left the kitchen and was brought to the dining hall, I’m confident nothing should be wrong with the food.”

“Heh.” William sneered, picking up the new fork and sliding Zoren’s plate closer to him. He examined the dish. Zoren had only taken one spoonful. Turning the plate, he scooped from the other side and, without a second’s hesitation, took a bite.

Everyone held their breath as they watched William guide the spoon to his mouth. After a second, all they saw was William reaching for the napkin, covering his mouth, and spitting the food out.

This immediately told everyone that something was wrong with the food.

“What is this abomination!?” William roared as he quickly chugged down a glass of water to rid himself of the horrible taste. He glared at Mildred, his face flushed red with anger and embarrassment. “Mildred, how do you explain this?! How come Zoren’s food tastes different from ours?! Are you trying to poison him?”

“Poi—poison?” Mildred stuttered. “William, isn’t that word a little too heavy for an accusation?”

“Have you tasted it, huh?!”

“What?”

William pushed himself up angrily, pointing a finger at Mildred. “I’m asking you. Have you tasted this?”

“Of course…” Mildred panicked, rattled by William’s aggressive approach. Although William was always aggressive, he seemed even more so now, as if he might slap her at any moment. It scared her. However, Mildred kept her body still, gulped, and stabilized her breathing.

“Like I said, I prepared the food all on my own,” Mildred repeated under her breath, fighting off the fear creeping into her heart. “Aside from the transport, no one else had touched it.”

“Are you sure?” Dean frowned, tilting his head slightly to the side. “Are you sure no one else touched it, aside from you? From preparing the ingredients, cooking, and the plating?”

“Everyone in the kitchen helps each other prepare the ingredients, Young Master Dean. The cooking, however, is something I did alone.”

“How about the plating?” This time, it was Karina who joined the discussion. Her expression was dark, looking at Mildred as though she were beneath her. “Did you also do the plating?”

This time, Mildred faltered and couldn’t answer immediately. Her eyes shook as she saw that everyone was looking in her direction with observant eyes. A few might believe her if she lied, but for sure, someone would catch on to it.

Mildred hung her head low, squeezing her hand to stop it from trembling. “Yes,” she breathed out. “I did everything from cooking to the plating.”

“Then that leaves one person.” William huffed, shifting his glare to the line of servants who had just stepped forward. “Who among you served this abomination to the head of the Pierson Family?”

The servers looked at each other before one petite man stepped forward. His steps were shaky, and one could tell by his pale complexion that he was nervous—almost about to faint. Seeing him, William couldn’t help but snort in disgust.

“Are you the one who took this plate and served it here?” William asked, his tone making it sound more like an accusation than a question. “What did you put in this food?”

“Si—sir, I did carry it from the kitchen to here, but that doesn’t mean I did anything to it,” the server explained nervously, stuttering every other word from his nerves. “Moreover, the food was sealed from the kitchen all the way to the dining hall. We only unsealed them once we served them.”

“Huh?!” William arched an eyebrow, looking the server up and down. “Are you saying there’s no way you could’ve spiked the family head’s food?”

“Ye—yes,” the server breathed out, casting a glance at one of his colleagues for help. Fortunately, someone among them was brave enough to speak up about the procedure and how the food had been meticulously and carefully transferred from the kitchen to the dining hall.

Based on his explanation, there couldn’t have been any mishandling. If that wasn’t enough, they also explained that mishandling food was a violation of their contract with the host. If proven guilty, both the company and the individual would be subject to a lawsuit and an unreasonable fine.

“Hah!” William scoffed, darting his eyes from the server to Mildred. “So, are you saying none of you could’ve spiked the food?! It just tastes this bad… miraculously!?”

“We have her!”

Suddenly, everyone heard a voice from somewhere in the dining hall. When they turned, all they saw were some people from the kitchen marching in.

“We found the culprit!”

Mildred furrowed her brows, too familiar with the faces that were approaching the dining hall. “Ashley…?” she whispered, staring at the woman who was left in charge of the kitchen. “What are you doing here…?”

Mildred trailed off when she noticed that some of the men behind Ashley were dragging someone. She narrowed her eyes before her mouth dropped open in disbelief, seeing how they were dragging Penny by her arms.

“She’s the culprit,” Ashley announced fiercely, glancing over her shoulder and nodding.

With that, the men holding Penny by the shoulders pushed her down.

THUD!

“Ow…” Penny yelped, glaring at the two men who had just pushed her down like that. ‘Aren’t they being a little too in character?! Pushing me down wasn’t part of the plan!’