Rozenne let out a cold laugh. Then she said icily:

“Do you know who the owner is? It’s Iris. Madame Iris.”

Vairen’s pupils dilated.

Rozenne smirked.

Recognizing those shoes had been a coincidence. She noticed they were the same as the shoes she had seen when Iris was personally altering her dress, and out of suspicion, she investigated Iris’s background again.

But there was no connection whatsoever between Iris and Ires.

Just a country woman who had lived in the provincial Lorentz region.

She was also so unremarkable that hardly anyone in Lorentz even remembered her.

How could such a woman possibly be Ires? Besides, Rozenne had seen it herself. The hair and eye color behind the veil.

“How could that woman be Ires? She wouldn’t even know anything about her. She’s a woman born in the countryside called Lorentz. It was a waste of effort, Vairen. That day, Iris simply left her seat due to unavoidable circumstances.”

Rozenne looked Vairen up and down. There was a time when just seeing his face made her heart flutter. There were nights she couldn’t sleep thinking this man might become her husband.

But now he was an object of love and hate for her.

Rozenne crushed Vairen’s hope mercilessly.

“Iris didn’t run from you because she was Ires. She would have fled from anyone chasing her, even if it had been a stable boy. She had her reasons. Do you understand now? Those mere shoes.”

Rozenne tapped the table.

“They offer no hope whatsoever. If you want to catch even a glimpse of Ires, you’d better listen to me.”

After finishing her words, she stood up abruptly.

Seeing Vairen’s expression harden impassively gave her a surge of elation. Rozenne patted his shoulder and left first.

Vairen’s eyes darkened as he watched Rozenne walk away.

Madame Iris?

Vairen had met her too.

He had gone with Rozenne to have formal attire fitted. But he had never once associated Iris with Ires. And he hadn’t noticed anything strange about her that day.

Was it really nothing, as Rozenne said?

Was it just an illusion created by his wishful thinking?

“……How foolish.”

If that were true, he might have already forgotten even the sight of Ires’s back. Vairen ran his hand through his hair with a troubled heart.

Please, Ires.

‘Come back before I forget you, please.’

Vairen let out a long sigh with his face buried in his palms.

The longing that had pooled inside him spilled out.

※※※

Fortunately, the fervor for finding the shoe owner quickly subsided. That’s truly fortunate, isn’t it?

When the advertisements disappeared from the newspapers, people lost interest.

〈They must have found her already.〉

〈What kind of woman is she? Is she pretty?〉

Those kinds of conversations seemed to be happening, but that was really all.

I had planned to go to Cappuccino and ask him to steal the shoes. If only Cappuccino, who could squeeze blood from a stone, hadn’t demanded the 200,000 gold reward for the shoes.

What was it he said?

〈You should be grateful that I’m not reporting you, Owl. 200,000 gold isn’t pocket change, you know?〉

As if I’d ever go to him again. I’m cutting ties.

That’s what I thought, but…

“You’re out of hair dye, right?”

I nodded.

“Fifty gold.”

“Why!”

“Consider it compensation for me giving up the reward. Sigh, it still feels like a waste.”

Twitch.

My hands trembled.

“This is illegal.”

“Dyeing your eyes and hair is also illegal, isn’t it? You come to me because you know that. Right, Owl?”

So this is what they call having your nose cut off right before your eyes. This is why people you know are more frightening. I glared at Cappuccino while paying for the dye.

“Ah.”

Cappuccino smiled sweetly.

The eyes of this decadently handsome man curved gently. If you fall for that face, you’ll end up like me—robbed of money, robbed of home…… Sigh.

He really has the perfect face for committing crimes.

“Well. Don’t keep me in suspense. Tell me. I’m anxious.”

“I heard the VIP found the owner of the shoes?”

“What!!”

That can’t be right? I thought my heart would jump out of my mouth.

“I haven’t heard anything about that! Those shoes are mine.”

“I know, right? But apparently Lady Rozenne knew who owned the shoes.”

That wicked woman.

“And she told Crown Prince Vairen. But she said, ‘They belong to Madame Iris, so stop dreaming. Madame Iris simply left her seat that day because she had circumstances.'”

Now that I think about it, Rozenne is actually a good person. I take back what I just said.

Rozenne doesn’t want Vairen to find Ires. So she might have revealed the owner of the shoes to break Vairen’s resolve.

That might be a decent strategy.

Rozenne can be helpful to me sometimes.

“Haa. Then he must have given up looking for the shoe owner.”

“It seems so. The newspapers are quiet these days. And the people who were making a fuss are quiet too. Anyway, I thought you should know.”

“Thank you……”

Sometimes things like this really confuse me.

“Are you on my side, or someone else’s?”

Cappuccino opened his eyes wide. Then he let out a soft laugh and leaned toward me. A rich coffee aroma—true to his name—wafted strongly from him. He smiled languidly.

His face made it impossible to guess his age.

All I know about him is that he’s lived a difficult life? Getting this close, I could see faint scars on his cheek. A long scar running from his eye to the tip of his chin was positioned where it wasn’t easily visible from the front.

I first met him shortly after my transmigration here.

At that time, I had run away from the ducal family’s persecution and was starving. I was wandering the streets when it started to rain. I was about fifteen years old then.

I huddled under the awning of some shop, and that’s when Cappuccino appeared.

〈What’s this? Are you lost?〉

Back then, he hadn’t styled his hair up but wore it down. Though his eyes still held the same melancholy, his face was much younger.

〈……I ran away from home.〉

〈How can you run away from home when the world is so dangerous? You could get into serious trouble.〉

The memory came flooding back. Back then, this scar wasn’t so faint. It was bright red and inflamed. After Cappuccino bought me a meal, I returned home, but he told me the money he paid for my meal was his entire day’s wages.

I felt really sorry about that.

Looking back now, I wonder if it was groundwork for the present. Anyway, after that, I ran into him occasionally, and eventually ended up where I am now.

I never thought he would become an information broker. But thanks to him, changing my identity and escaping wasn’t difficult.

Cappuccino brushed some dust off my face. Then he whispered softly.

“I’m on the side of money, Owl. And on the side of people who won’t betray me.”

He naturally flicked my forehead as he moved away from me and smiled sweetly.

“When will you come next?”

“……Don’t know. I’ll try not to come at all.”

I replied gruffly. Cappuccino let out a soft laugh.

“Then I’ll have to charge sixty gold next time.”

“You highway robber.”

“So come earlier.”

Cappuccino rested his chin in his hand and grinned. It can’t be easy for a man to smile so seductively that it’s almost vicious. Yet our Cappuccino manages it.

“Why?”

“Because I’ll miss you.”

I let out a deep sigh.

“You don’t say that to just anyone, do you?”

“Of course not. I only say it to you, Owl.”

Ugh, really.

Such a sinful man.

“Let me know if anything else happens.”

Cappuccino smiled sweetly.

“I’ll pray nothing happens, Ires.”

After being so annoying all this time. I couldn’t help but smile back.

※※※

Meanwhile.

Rozenne returned to the ducal residence after having an audience with the Empress. It was a bleak place that didn’t feel like home at all, even though she had been living there for three years now.

“You’re late again today.”

Rozenne looked up.

Her eyes met those of the Duchess looking down at her from the stairs. It seemed like it had been this way since the first day she came here.

Those eyes mixed with welcome and subtle emotions.

“……I was on my way back from meeting Her Majesty the Empress. I’m a bit tired today……”

“You really have a talent for wasting time on useless things.”

Rozenne’s eyes widened.

“Mother, I am now……!”

“Does that make Crown Prince Vairen look at you? If not that, are you planning to marry one of the Empress’s newborn babies?”

The Duchess snapped coldly. Rozenne bit her lip hard.

It was always like this. The Duke and Duchess never acknowledged Rozenne’s efforts. All that mattered to them was results.

They never cared about what difficulties Rozenne was facing, what she was trying to do, or what she was thinking.

A lady who had lived on the streets.

People pointed fingers at Rozenne as “already tarnished honor.” They questioned what she had been doing living on the streets.