Vivian’s gaze slowly dropped downward.

The man’s shoes were covered in mud and extremely dirty.

The mansion’s servants might dirty their bodies, but they always kept their shoes clean.

If muddy shoes dirtied the mansion, it would ultimately be the servants who had to clean it up.

In other words…

‘He’s not a servant of the Blanche mansion.’

Still hiding behind the door, Vivian answered with a wary expression.

“He, he went on an errand. No, he left. So, he’s not in the mansion right now.”

“Do I need to check if that’s true?”

At that moment, a nervous voice came from behind the wooden door where the sly man stood.

“Hey, don’t make a big deal out of this. Let’s just find the target and get out.”

In that instant, Vivian realized what she had to do.

Even if it was in name only, wasn’t she staying in this mansion as the head maid?

She stepped out of the room and blocked the man’s path with her small frame, threatening him.

“Th-this is Belinda Blanche’s residence! Y-you can’t just come in here like this!”

She wanted to speak confidently, but her voice trembled terribly.

The man found her so amusing that he took another step forward, as if to show off.

“D-don’t come any closer! I-I’ll scream!”

At those words, the man twisted one corner of his mouth and burst into laughter. The scar on his cheek twisted grotesquely, making his fierce appearance even more pronounced.

“Is there anyone who’ll come running if you scream?”

“……”

“So, what are you going to do now, missy?”

“Th-then, um… I, I’ll, um…”

Vivian hesitated, stepping back while rummaging inside the large robe she was wearing.

The man, confident he could subdue whatever she pulled out, waited mockingly for her to counterattack.

Finally, what Vivian pulled out was a small glass bottle that fit in her hand.

“A potion bottle? What do you plan to do with that?”

“I-I’ll do this!”

Vivian shouted so loudly that her voice cracked, and she threw the object in her hand onto the floor.

Crash!

The potion bottle shattered, and an incredible amount of thick smoke, far more than one would expect from such a small bottle, quickly spread throughout the mansion.

The intruder cursed and retreated.

The smoke billowed thick and green, appearing toxic, but it was merely the result of a failed experiment.

Vivian quickly ran up to the second floor where Leo’s room was, taking advantage of the man’s retreat.

‘He definitely said target.’

She didn’t know what was going on, but one thing was certain.

The man was targeting Leo.

“Vivian, is Belinda back?”

Leo came out of his room, having heard the commotion.

“I, I don’t know. But we need to run away right now!”

She wanted to act bravely so the child could rely on her. But her hands and voice were trembling terribly.

Just as Vivian and Leo were about to go down the stairs, they heard the intruders’ voices through the thick smoke that filled the first floor.

“Block the entrance and the stairs!”

“Damn it, I told you not to make a big deal out of this!”

The silhouettes of the men flickered faintly through the dense green smoke.

All the exits connected to the outside were blocked.

In this situation, they had no choice but to hold out in a room on the second floor until help arrived.

At that moment, Leo looked up at the high ceiling.

“Vivian, up there!”

The child pointed to the end of the hallway, where there was an attic entrance in the ceiling.

Vivian used magic to pull the latch of the attic door, and with a clattering sound, the folding stairs leading to the attic unfolded quickly.

“Hurry, let’s go up!”

As they hurriedly climbed into the attic and pulled up the folding stairs, shutting the door behind them, the intruders entered the second floor just in time.

“Cough, cough. I thought I heard something up here. Hack, ptooey.”

Vivian and Leo held each other’s hands tightly and held their breath.

They could hear the intruders opening and closing doors and overturning things in a mess. It was only a matter of time before they discovered the attic.

“E-escape… If we go out through that window!”

Vivian ran to the large round window in the attic, but the height was so great that it felt like it was almost as high as the fifth floor.

If they jumped from here and something went wrong, they wouldn’t just end up with broken legs.

At that moment, a strong wind messed up Vivian’s hair.

She suddenly mumbled as if she had thought of something.

“With this kind of strong wind… if I generate a headwind, it will create a lift… if someone generates magic power as a thrust…”

Vivian’s gaze swept over the attic.

She noticed the white cloths covering unused furniture.

“Th-there might be a way to escape from here. But still…”

However, as she shook her head, lacking confidence, Leo held her hand and asked,

“Vivian, there is a way, right?”

“…I’m too heavy, so I can’t do it. But if it’s you, you can escape. But it’s too dangerous…”

“I’ll do it. I can do it! I’ll go out and bring help. I promise.”

At that moment, Vivian realized that she wasn’t the only one trembling.

Leo’s hand, which was holding hers tightly, was also shaking with fear.

Depending on a child. How disgraceful.

Vivian closed her eyes tightly to calm her trembling and recalled the laughter of people she had seen on the coffee terrace.

‘I can do this. I am a valuable person.’

Finally, she opened her eyes wide, slapped her cheeks hard enough to make a sound, and tied her two pigtails, which had been hanging down, into a high ponytail.

Then she quickly pulled out the white cloth covering the furniture.

Using the white cloth as a canvas, she grabbed a pen and began to move her hands busily.

“First, draw a reinforcement magic circle so the cloth doesn’t tear… then add a magic circle that will act as a headwind to generate lift…”

Her hands were trembling, but the magic circle she drew was astonishingly precise without a single flaw.

The magic circle drawn by the pen, which used the ground-up magic stone as ink, emitted a soft light even in the darkness.

Leo watched the outside nervously.

As they held their breath, they could faintly hear the intruders’ voices.

“Well, who would have thought I’d see the inside of the Blanche mansion in my lifetime. They said it was an unused annex, but who would have thought that there are a lot of expensive-looking things here?”

“If you touch anything and we don’t get the rest of our commission because of it, I’ll sell your organs to get the money, so keep that in mind.”

“Hey, are you sure the target is inside the mansion? Where is he hiding that we can’t even see his nose?”

There were three intruders.

What they were after…

“By the way, I never heard that there was a young master in the Blanche family. It’s not like he’s from some noble family, right? Are you sure this won’t cause any trouble?”

“Absolutely, he’s a worthless orphan with no backing. I don’t know the details, but apparently, he is some kind of weakness.”

‘It was me. I was… the weakness.’

Leo’s fists clenched tightly.

He then whispered softly enough that Vivian wouldn’t hear.

“Sugar, you’re here, right?”

With all the noise around, there was no way curious Sugar wouldn’t come out.

Leo continued, looking into the empty air.

“When I leave, stay by Vivian’s side. And if by any chance…”

Leo’s lips pressed tightly together.

It was a scenario he didn’t even want to imagine.

However, always assume the worst and prepare for it, that was the knight’s teaching, wasn’t it?

‘So I had to prepare for the worst.’

Leo’s jaw trembled as if he were shivering from the cold, yet he stubbornly pressed on after biting down hard on his lip.

“If Vivian gets taken somewhere, follow her. You must follow her to the end. Then remember the location and inform Lady Belinda where Vivian is. Can you do that?”

Of course, there was no answer.

But as if knowing that Sugar was listening, Leo nodded and extended his pinky finger.

“Thank you. When I come back, I’ll give you a gold coin. I have a gold coin in my piggy bank. It’s a promise.”