Evolaine hung her head low, embarrassed.

Cardel opened the window slightly, feeling his face heat up for some reason.

“You speak first.”

“No, Young Master, please speak first…”

The carriage was wrapped in silence again.

It seemed they’d need to have a proper conversation after entering the estate.

As soon as they arrived at the estate, Evolaine was caught by Cardel and dragged to the Duke’s office.

In the office, all the key figures of the Duchy of Radelica had gathered—the Duke, Leopold, Elisa, Ashili, Lucia, and others.

Evolaine could only be released after listening to their affectionate nagging for hours and being dragged away by Lucia to play with her favorite dolls.

“Ugh…”

Having reached a state just before becoming a corpse, Evolaine entered the dormitory and dove onto the bed.

Staying up all night had hit harder than expected.

She’d been relatively fine in the morning, but the mental exhaustion in the office might have been the cause.

“Hah…”

Exhaling deeply, she remembered something she’d forgotten.

The proposal Ashiel made at the imperial palace.

She’d demanded Evolaine build a bridge so she could meet Cardel, in exchange for revealing the Marquisate’s secrets.

Though it was a deal that only went through if accepted, now that Ashiel had seen through her purpose, she needed countermeasures.

‘How exactly did she find out? By what means?’

Not many people knew she’d been pursued by the Marchioness.

They’d moved thoroughly to keep it secret from everyone.

That’s why the fact that the Marquisate of La Voletta even had an illegitimate child wasn’t known, causing such a stir at the banquet.

“And that woman.”

Ashiel was a problem, but the strange woman who’d caused her to stay out overnight also bothered her.

She was definitely a Gypsy.

The problem was she didn’t want to show she was a Gypsy in front of Evolaine.

“I can’t even ask her like this…”

Asking if she knew about her family had been a kind of bait.

She’d thrown it out to see her reaction since she knew who Evolaine was—it wasn’t the real question she wanted to ask.

But the woman avoided answering even slightly deeper questions.

Like she didn’t want to reveal anything.

“That palace was strange too.”

Why was her home on imperial palace grounds, close to Ashiel’s garden?

Since her home was a palace, she must be related to the imperial family.

The problem was she’d never heard of anyone so frail and sickly among the royalty or those who frequented the imperial palace.

Plus that strange sheep drawing on her neck.

There were more than one or two suspicious things.

“I should write it down.”

Information flooded in like a deluge, making her head complicated.

She got up to organize her thoughts and sat at the desk, pulling out a notebook from the drawer.

The notebook with a dark green cover was a gift the Head Maid had given her recently to practice writing.

Evolaine opened the notebook and took out the fountain pen Cardel had gifted her.

A black fountain pen and ink, the same color as his hair.

She was happy that her first writing tools were all gifts from people precious to her.

“Let’s see… I should start from the very beginning.”

The very beginning wasn’t this life, but her two previous lives.

Evolaine began writing in the notebook, tracing her hazy memories.

First life.

Back then, Evolaine had moved between orphanages frequently.

The very first was an orphanage that received lots of funding and boasted transparent operations.

Though as time went on, she moved to orphanages with vicious directors and poor finances.

‘Why didn’t I realize?’

Thinking about it now, it was only possible because someone helped from behind.

Meaning, someone had been watching her.

She didn’t know if it was the Marchioness’s confidant, but she’d definitely been monitored consistently.

‘But the Marchioness said she’d barely found me.’

Just before dying, she’d said this:

“That damned woman must have used some curse-like power. Quite skilled.”

Since her mother was a Gypsy, curse-like power meant the sorcery Gypsies used.

Presumably, the Marchioness had been hindered by some safety measure the Gypsy woman had set up.

“But the dead can do nothing. In the end, you fell into my hands, so that woman failed.”

“Kugh, cough…!”

“Remember this. No one blessed your birth.”

“Urk, kugh…”

“Even your path to death will be lonely. Because there’s no one in this world to help you, no one to love you.”

“…”

She couldn’t have had those eyes otherwise.

The satisfaction of finally finding her, and the cold gaze watching a young child suffer from swallowing poison.

She seemed like someone steeped in deeply accumulated, concentrated malice.

A firm will that even if she went to the afterlife, she’d find and kill her before going.

To young Evolaine, she’d just seemed like a crazy person.

Anyway, her first life ended early because of the Marchioness.

“The problem is the second one…”

Evolaine didn’t properly remember her second life.

For some reason, most of it lingered hazily in her mind, and important parts weren’t remembered, like someone had cut them out.

“Is it related to why I’ve lived three times?”

Generally, people don’t remember past lives or live multiple times as the same person, so there must be some reason.

Ancient magic, perhaps. Or Gypsy sorcery might be involved.

‘To find out, I need to find Mother.’

She probably died long ago, but she needed to find even traces of her.

Even small, trivial things might help.

“But why didn’t I remember my first life in the second one?”

She couldn’t be certain if this was true.

However, that’s how she remembered it.

As hazy as the memories were, there must be distorted parts, but there must be a reason she perceived it this way.

“Now the third record.”

In this life, fortunately, she’d seized an opportunity.

She’d shown the Duke of Radelica the mark of Kelic and even joined the Lacrel Knights.

Over half a year had passed since joining, and when this winter approached, it would be a full year.

Many things had happened since becoming a Knight Squire and serving as Cardel’s escort knight.

She’d revealed her existence at the imperial palace banquet and been suspected by Elisa, the mistress of the duchy.

Though she’d gotten through it with quick thinking, looking back, it was a chilling moment.

‘I saved the Commander and Advisor Heron too.’

It was something she’d done to prove her ability to the Duke, but fortunately the results were good.

That day, she’d realized for the first time how difficult and hard it was to protect someone.

“What the Young Master said this morning is a bit concerning though…”

Though Cardel had stopped her because Kelic wouldn’t calm down all night, she was inwardly afraid.

What if someday she couldn’t properly control Kelic and it went berserk?

If it went berserk, not only Cardel who helped with training but the people of the duchy would be harmed.

Why else would Kelic’s swordsmen be called the empire’s secret weapon?

Precisely because handling such powerful strength came with considerably high danger.

“I need to work harder.”

Enough to do it alone without Cardel’s help.

She needed to keep striving forward.

Then someday, instead of receiving help,

She could become someone who gives help.

* * *

After finishing organizing in the notebook, Evolaine grabbed her coat and left the dormitory.

She had something she wanted to ask Elisa.

Upon entering the main building, the Head Maid nearby greeted Evolaine with a flood of worry.

“Evolaine! Why didn’t you come back yesterday? The world is so dangerous these days…!”

“Ack! Head Maid!”

Tears welled up at the spicy touch full of affection.

“If you do it one more time…”

“Eek, I won’t! Really!”

“Promise?”

“I promise…”

After hooking pinkies and pressing palms to stamp it, the Head Maid let her go.

“But what brings you to the main building?”

“Ah, I have something to ask the Madam. Do you know where she is?”

“Let’s see… She should be in the library around now.”

“Where’s the library?”

“Go straight down the right corridor, turn left, and you’ll see stairs. The library is on the fourth floor, so just go up the stairs.”

When the Head Maid finished explaining, Evolaine was already waving from far away.

“Thank you, Head Maid!”

“Don’t forget to knock before entering!”

“Of course!”

At the mischievous answer, the Head Maid couldn’t help but smile.

“Fourth floor… Ah, here it is.”

Upon reaching the fourth floor, she saw the library door on the left.

On the right was a long corridor stretching across the estate.

The corridor had large windows attached to the right wall, and peculiarly, each window had curtains.

“It’s huge…”

Besides that, there were various decorations like knight statues and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

She wanted to look around more, but seeing Elisa came first.

Evolaine knocked on the library door.

However, there was no answer from inside.

“Did she go out?”

She pressed her ear to the door, but the library was quiet inside.

When she pressed against the door to hear better, the door opened from her body weight.

“Eek!”

As the door she’d been leaning on disappeared, her view tilted straight toward the floor.

Fortunately, she pressed her hands to the floor before hitting it, avoiding disaster.

“That scared me…”

Embarrassment rising belatedly, Evolaine stood up and closed the door like nothing happened.

The library had a quiet, cozy atmosphere.

Books were categorized by type on a large bookshelf on one side. Evolaine approached and examined the bookshelf.

“War, plants, imperial history…”

The book types weren’t arranged by similar topics but in alphabetical order of the Vesasium Empire language.

‘Things that don’t seem to go together are close by.’

The person who organized it must have had their reasons.

Just as she was crossing between the tall bookshelves,

Evolaine’s gaze turned toward a peculiar space.

“Remove your shoes?”

Though the warning sign seemed odd, she took off her shoes as instructed and entered.

Climbing stairs made of low steps, an unfamiliar space revealed itself.