Cedine hadn’t had the chance to run into Nelipa until now, given how large the mansion was and how many employees there were. She quickly grew close to Nelipa again. During their chat, Nelipa happened to mention an incident that occurred before Cedine came to the mansion. To be precise, it was just two days before Cedine visited the mansion to propose a fake marriage.

“I’ve been working in this house since I was very young, but I’ve never seen the Viscount rambling like that. He was walking down the hallway in his nightgown, and when he saw me, he started saying nonsensical things. I got in trouble later for explaining to the other maids that it wasn’t true.”

Cedine was about to ask what he had said. But Nelipa’s words were so fast that it was impossible to interject.

Indeed, Nelipa’s flaw was that once she started talking, she wouldn’t stop. Unless you deliberately shouted ‘Aaargh!’ to interrupt her, Nelipa would keep on talking.

“Even Butler MacGray, who came running after him, looked flustered. Oh, and then the Viscount ran into some empty room.”

“Nelipa!”

At the butler’s voice, Nelipa jumped like a spring.

“Have you finished all your assigned tasks?”

“What? Oh, no. Not yet. Um, well, I’ll be going then!”

Cedine watched Nelipa’s retreating figure with eyes full of regret.

“Good day, Viscountess.”

“…Hello, MacGray.”

Just as Nelipa had a fatal flaw, Butler MacGray had a flaw too. Strictly speaking, it was a flaw only applicable to her who was in the process of gathering evidence. It was his absolute loyalty to his master, Ivlik. If by any chance Ivlik had ordered him to keep quiet about that day’s incident, the butler would keep his mouth shut even with a gun pointed at his forehead.

It was hopeless to try to extract information from the butler. Cedine decided to give up quickly on what she needed to give up. Instead, she changed to a question that could be answered.

“Do you know where Ivlik is right now?”

“The master should be in the garage, Viscountess.”

“Thank you.”

Unnecessarily moving torture devices that should be in the basement to the Brown Room. And he said only I could enter that room. Saying it’s up to my choice whether to enter the room or not, it’s like a test in itself. Is he blatantly following the Bluebeard fairy tale? Cedine’s steps quickened. Ivlik is hiding something from me. But it’s definitely not the ‘operation’ he made up. Even if I asked Karen, it would be useless if my sister believed Ivlik’s words.

So Cedine decided to take a direct approach. It was also because the questions that had been piling up since just before the regression had grown unbearable.

The butler’s words that the Viscount was in the garage now were correct. She could see Ivlik talking with the driver in front of a car that looked like it had just come out of the factory. Being so tall and having hair as blue as the sea, it was easy to spot Ivlik wherever he was.

“Ivlik Wintermore, let’s talk. A real conversation with words, not bodies.”

When Ivlik didn’t respond immediately, Cedine put more force into her voice.

“I mean, right now.”

Sensing the unusual atmosphere, the driver glanced at Ivlik. Normally, the master and mistress would go inside the mansion to discuss matters. But Cedine’s ‘right now’ meant right here, right now. Ivlik suggested to the driver to go inside and have some tea or rest. The driver immediately saluted and left the garage.

In the garage with twelve cars of different release years, colors, and models, now only Cedine and Ivlik remained. Cedine glared at Ivlik and slowly closed the garage door.

* * *

After closing the garage door, Cedine looked down at her own hands and frowned. It seems some soot or grease had gotten on them. Before Ivlik could even tell her where the sink was, he saw Cedine go straight to it and turn on the faucet.

Looking back, that wasn’t the only thing. From her first day at the mansion, Cedine never got lost. When told to choose a personal room, she picked the one she had used in her previous life without a second thought.

Also, not only one-time visitors but even Army Ministry soldiers find Butler MacGray intimidating. However, Cedine always showed a friendly attitude towards him. She even handed him a bag of cookies once, saying she bought them because there was a long line at the bakery. MacGray sniffed like a hunting dog at that time. There was a strange light in MacGray’s eyes as he accepted the bag. Coincidentally, that shop was famous for lemon cookies, MacGray’s favorite.

‘As I thought, she regressed with her memories intact.’

Meanwhile, Cedine, after shaking off the water from her hands, unnecessarily circled around the car, setting the mood. It was to signal that she was about to have a serious conversation, so he should be prepared. However, Ivlik seemed to interpret this as interest in the car, and started explaining that it had the most spacious interior among cars on the market.

The four-seater car with a white body and silver frame looked luxurious at a glance. Instead of windows on three sides except for the windshield, the roof could be folded and unfolded. When the roof was completely pushed back, the view would open up, making it seem quite pleasant.

Even Cedine, who wasn’t particularly interested in cars, knew about this foreign brand. If the car the men who shot her before the regression were riding was an economy model of another brand, the P brand in front of her had pushed for a luxury image from its launch.

“How much is it?”

Cedine asked, her eyes skimming over the gleaming white bonnet. It was polished so fiercely that she didn’t dare to touch it casually.

“The local price is 8,000 dollars.”

For a moment, Cedine thought she had misheard. She remembered that the price of another company’s economy model six years later was around 400 dollars. Even when she lived as Miss Cedine of the viscount’s mansion, she rode in nice cars, but not to this extent. It was because of Cedine Liere’s last bit of conscience that felt living off others was already enough.

That’s when Ivlik spoke.

“It’s for you, Cedine. I prepared it in advance as a hundred-day anniversary gift, but the timing is unfortunate. I didn’t know you’d come to the garage today.”

“What hundred days are we commemorating?”

“Our hundred days of marriage.”

Cedine was momentarily speechless. Celebrating a hundred days of marriage, not even a birthday. She wanted to ask if he planned to celebrate 200 days and 300 days as well. Are you planning to give gifts every hundred days? It seems he’s forgotten that this marriage is supposed to be a cover.

‘Well, he did say he likes me.’

But does liking someone make everything okay? Ivlik might like her, but she couldn’t fully trust him. Is it enough that they look like a real couple on the surface, having registered their marriage and held a wedding ceremony? Cedine had no intention of sitting back and watching this fake marriage subtly transform into a real one.

“I have something to ask you, Ivlik.”

Cedine crossed her arms over her chest.

“The reason you keep meeting with Karen. It’s not because of Army Ministry operations, is it? If you answer honestly, I’ll confess an important fact to you too.”

Cedine added one more thing.

“Whether you believe my confession or not, that’s up to you.”

“…Then whether I answer your question or not is entirely up to me as well.”

“Aren’t you curious about what confession I’ll make?”

“I’m curious, but not to the point where I can’t stand it.”

“I’ll ask again. Why were you displeased when I chose my personal room? Is there some unsettling reason why I shouldn’t use that room?”

“Did I react that way? I don’t know why I did.”

“…Can I go into the Brown Room?”

“The key is with MacGray. If you like it after looking around, you can eat and sleep there.”

Ivlik Wintermore, I’m going to kill you.

Cedine trembled, clenching her fists. But before killing Ivlik, she felt like she would die of frustration first.

When Cedine was a trainee receiving special tutoring from Ivlik, she was tested on her composure every day. Even though years had passed since then, was she still destined to be caught up in his pace? Would she never be able to extract information from him?

As Cedine struggled to calm her anger, the words of Training Instructor Ivlik came to mind.

[Shall I tell you a really efficient method?]
[You lie down on this table and lift your skirt. You propose a deal to the man that you’ll raise it three centimeters for every useful piece of information he gives. If the man gets a high passing score, you say you’ll even take off your underwear and have s*x.]
[But there are also humans like me who don’t react to women.]