Meanwhile, on the other side of that very wall—

“Wow, what is with that guest? She’s terrifying.”

The boy shuddered, deliberately avoiding Catherine’s gleaming, predatory eyes.

As she had guessed, the wall did indeed conceal a secret door.

However, unlike what she assumed, there was no mechanism to open it from the outside—only from within.

Moreover, aside from the narrow passage just large enough for one person to slip through, the rest of the wall functioned as a one-way mirror, allowing those inside to observe everything happening outside without being seen.

“What should we do, Arian?”

At the boy’s question, the man called Arian—a magician and an informant of the back alleys—grinned with a nasty expression.

“What else? I have to tell them to wait. I can’t just let a guest who knows both the passphrase and my name walk away, can I? Don’t you agree?”

Aiger, sitting across from him, nodded indifferently, while Raylin, next to him, wore an expression of sheer disbelief, much like the boy’s.

No matter how coincidental, could luck really be this awful?

They had come to see Arian today to investigate the mastermind behind Viscount Piastre’s attack on Roir and to gather information about those Aiger had saved but whose identities remained unknown.

“Arian?”

“Yes. He’s an informant…”

“If it’s that guy, I know him. Will you come with me?”

To make matters worse, Aiger had simply appeared before Arian, following a passage leading from the house, without even bothering with the normal procedure of knocking with a passphrase like Catherine had.

Arian welcomed him with open arms, as if he had been expecting him.

“Welcome! My biggest source of income! Your Highness, the Crown Prince!”

Raylin found his excessively blatant greeting distasteful, but Aiger ignored him and got straight to the point.

Just as their conversation—Arian, who was obsessed with extracting more money, and Aiger, who casually brushed him off—was beginning to take shape,

Catherine suddenly appeared.

Wait a minute. Isn’t this a golden opportunity?

Raylin, who had been quietly watching Catherine persistently run her hands over the wall, finally spoke up.

“You can deal with that guest first.”

“Huh? No, that would go against business ethics…”

“I’ll pay you four times your asking price.”

Before Arian could even finish speaking, Raylin folded her thumb and wiggled four fingers in front of his nose.

“If you let us hear what that guest wants and what they’re offering in return, I’ll pay you four times whatever amount you’re thinking of.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?”

Arian, who was already smiling brightly at the thought of overflowing gold coins, looked at Raylin, who merely snorted.

“It doesn’t matter how much.”

“Wow, as expected from Greuga’s golden girl… Do you think I’ll get scared just because you’re looking at me like that? Yes. I’m scared. I’ll stop now.”

Arian, who had been gazing at Raylin with eyes full of admiration for her wealth, raised his hands in surrender.

He pushed his glasses up and answered.

“How could I refuse the lady’s request… Oh, is that not acceptable either? Anyway, of course, Lady Raylin. However, there is just one, just one small issue.”

“Don’t tell me four times isn’t enough?”

“No, I do have some conscience, so four times is more than sufficient. It’s not about the money, but you’re not suggesting that I let you be present for the conversation with that guest, are you?”

“Of course not.”

“Well, that’s the thing.”

As Arian subtly shifted his gaze, expressions of disbelief began to form on the faces of Raylin and Aiger.

Then, they heard Arian’s voice, which didn’t sound troubled at all.

“Haha, this is quite a predicament. But since that’s the only available space, we have no choice. Still, it’s big enough for the two of you to fit.”

By the time they realized what was happening, Arian had already moved to a hidden space, opening the door so they could see inside.

Raylin asked urgently.

“Wait, isn’t there another separate space…?”

“There isn’t. This place is for my personal use. In fact, that secret space was originally built for me to hide in, but I’m making a special exception for Your Highness and the Lady!”

Raylin hesitated, as the space looked too small for even one person, let alone two, but Arian pressed them.

“Come on, hurry in. Time is money, after all.”

Aiger, who had been silently watching their back-and-forth, finally stood up.

When he held out his hand, Raylin reflexively took it, and before she could react, she found herself standing face to face with him inside the hidden space behind the grandfather clock.

The narrow space, as expected, barely allowed the two of them to fit. They had to intertwine their legs to stand properly.

In truth, the space was never meant for two people. It was only thanks to Arian’s real magic that the dimensions of the space adjusted to accommodate them.

Raylin didn’t notice the discrepancy, and while Aiger did realize that the space inside felt different from what he had seen outside, he had no time to dwell on it.

Aiger’s arm naturally wrapped around Raylin’s waist as they entered, and with her gaze trapped near his chest, she found herself unable to look anywhere else.

They had the same thought simultaneously.

This is dangerous.

They were too close.

No, they had been this close before, more than once, but perhaps because it had been a while, the sensation of their bodies pressed together felt overwhelmingly vivid.

Raylin desperately tried to focus on something else.

She needed to think about what nonsense Catherine might spout and how to stop that lunatic after hearing her out.

She also had to ask Arian something.

Had there been any new medicines circulating recently that were good for insomnia?

No, wait. Should she ask Aiger first if he had taken any such medicine?

Even if 『Re.Vil.Bre』 had detailed how much and for how long he had taken them, she didn’t remember that part.

Besides, in her past life before returning, she had never cared enough about Aiger to know.

She should have paid more attention back then.

If only she had realized earlier what kind of person this man truly was.

For some reason, a wave of regret so deep that it ached in her chest washed over her, and before she knew it, she had stopped shifting her gaze around and instead fixed her eyes on Aiger.

And she couldn’t look away.

Because those dark blue eyes had been staring only at her for who knew how long, perhaps all along, capturing her completely.

As her thoughts drifted elsewhere, the awkwardness and tension that had momentarily faded surged over Raylin like a tidal wave. Because of how tightly they were pressed together, she could hear everything—the sound of his breathing, the pounding of his heart, even the nervous gulping of saliva.

No, it wasn’t just hearing it; she could feel the vibrations coursing through her body. Her own breathing was so loud that it made her dizzy.

Raylin couldn’t bury her face in his chest, nor could she pull away, so she simply stiffened her neck in an awkward posture, only to shudder at the sudden sound of Catherine’s voice beyond the grandfather clock.

“I have a task I want to entrust to you.”

“If the price is right, I will gladly be of service.”

Arian’s words, laced with an ambiguous tone that made it unclear whether he was being sarcastic or flattering, seemed to irritate Catherine. Her voice grew sharp.

“Anything? That’s quite the confidence, making guarantees before even hearing the request. If only you managed your subordinates as well as you do your bravado.”

She openly criticized the boy under his command, but Arian didn’t respond at all. Instead, he let out a smirk that made him seem ill-tempered.

“Lady of Sillion, let’s hear what it is you want to entrust to me.”

Only after he addressed her so directly did Catherine finally remove the hood she had been keeping pressed down and swept her hair back over her shoulders.

“I need information on the Emperor. What he likes, what he dislikes, who he keeps close, who he distances himself from…”

The Emperor? Information on the Emperor?

Raylin’s instincts whispered to her. This was it—this was the moment when something truly significant was about to surface.

Up until now, Catherine had been tirelessly gathering people who could serve as her hands and feet, securing her financial sources. Thanks to that, in her previous life before regression, Catherine had already been standing on her own, flourishing in a dazzling life of independence. But now, she was still trapped within Sillion Manor.

That didn’t mean Raylin could afford to let her guard down.

Catherine was the kind of heroine who could overcome all unfavorable conditions, yet she was also a lunatic who could kill a person without batting an eye if it suited her whims.

As if her previous helplessness had been a lie, Raylin pressed her cheek completely against Aiger’s chest and strained her ears toward the outside.

“…unable to hide my deep admiration for His Majesty the Emperor…”

“Ah, I understand, but given that this pertains to imperial affairs, especially regarding His Majesty…”

Arian’s words came through clearly, but from the moment Catherine mentioned “the Emperor,” she seemed to deliberately lower her voice. Raylin could still hear it, but some parts were blurred.

Just as Raylin twisted her body, trying to push her ear closer to the door—

“Raylin.”

A voice, deep and resonant like a cavern, sent a shiver up her ear.

Aiger let out a soft sigh and said,

“Stop squirming.”

“But I can’t hear it properly—”