After returning to my room, I sat in a chair by the window for a long time, looking at the moon and thinking.

Connections that didn’t exist in my previous life: the empress… and Veltune Crescent, a member of the imperial family….

And the empress tried to introduce me to Veltune.

So… are Veltune Crescent and the empress, who didn’t exist in my previous life, plotting something?

Since Veltune Crescent was also a character who had never been involved with me in my previous life, that possibility seems highest.

Various possibilities came to mind, but in the end, they were just my imagination without any evidence.

I lay in bed and tried to close my eyes and sleep for a while, but due to my head being full of complicated thoughts, I couldn’t sleep at all that night.

* * *

On a certain day during the quiet days that continued, I woke up to a noisy sound coming from the garden.

Looking down, I saw familiar faces gathered and chatting.

Among the happily seated people, only Brother Rubert was rolling his eyes around with an anxious expression, as if he didn’t quite understand the situation.

And soon, when his eyes met mine, my brother seemed to want to explain the situation and moved his lips, then excused himself from the others and stood up.

Soon there was a knock at the door, and Brother Rubert entered.

“Brother, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Leila seems to know something… Veltune Crescent visited the residence this morning without any warning.”

According to Brother Rubert, Veltune had suddenly visited the residence in the morning.

Father showed discomfort at seeing Veltune, but he seemed to discuss something with Leila and Veltune in his office, and then came out with a smiling face.

And now, the situation had progressed to the point where a small party was being held in the garden for Veltune and Leila.

“What did they do in the office that made Father throw a party……”

“He didn’t say anything. I asked Brother Bershua since he seemed to know something, but he’s also insisting that he doesn’t know.”

Hearing those words, I let out a sigh.

I bit my lip hard, feeling like things were getting more and more tangled.

“For now, you should change your clothes and come down. Father told me to wake you up, but Veltune said not to wake someone who’s sleeping.”

“Yes. I’ll change my clothes and go out.”

I changed into an outdoor dress and headed to the garden.

The faces of my father, Leila, and Bershua hardened when they saw me.

But unlike them, Veltune Crescent put on a bright smile when he saw me and stood up from his seat.

“We started without you because I didn’t want to wake you up.”

I put on an awkward smile upon hearing those words.

Veltune then pulled out the empty chair beside him.

Once I sat down, people immediately began chatting among themselves again.

“That’s right. I heard rumors at the academy that Lady Leila’s grades have improved significantly.”

“My, do you also attend our academy, Lord Veltune…? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you there.”

“Yes. I think it’s because we use different buildings than Lady Leila. I also haven’t been going to the academy much lately.”

“Ah… different buildings means……”

When Leila became intimidated by Veltune’s words, he changed the subject.

Then Veltune turned his head and looked at me.

“By the way, are you feeling better from your injuries at the debutante ball?”

Leila and Bershua looked at Veltune with surprised faces upon hearing those words.

But Veltune just maintained the same smile as before while looking at me.

I looked at Leila and Bershua once each and slightly raised one corner of my mouth.

“Yes. Thanks to Her Majesty the Empress who took great care of me.”

“Her Majesty the Empress… Her Majesty the Empress……”

As Veltune kept muttering “Her Majesty the Empress” while looking at me, I turned my head away, feeling uncomfortable with his gaze.

“By the way, about that… ‘re…corder?’ product you used then.”

My face naturally frowned at the unexpected words that came from Veltune’s mouth.

“I’d like to know more about that product… may I ask where you purchased it?”

Following Veltune’s question, the gazes of Leila and my father fixed on me.

“As I told other nobles last time, the developer of that product doesn’t want to sell it to others.”

“That’s why I want to go and persuade them myself.”

“And that product has already been registered for exclusive sales rights.”

Upon hearing those words, my father, Leila, and Veltune clicked their tongues.

“Could it be that the owner of those exclusive sales rights is……”

“Yes, it’s me.”

When people started showing interest in the recorder at the ball, I went directly to the imperial palace the next day to submit documents to the emperor and receive exclusive sales rights.

The emperor also showed interest in the sales rights for that product, but with my firm attitude, he stamped the documents with an approval seal, looking as if he had no choice.

The expressions of the people who heard this became distorted.

“I suppose… you wouldn’t consider selling it to me.”

“No.”

Veltune hardened his expression and turned his gaze away from me.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he began to talk with people about other topics.

The party continued for a long time, and I half-listened to the tedious conversations before eventually standing up.

“I apologize. I have another appointment today. I’ll excuse myself first.”

At that, my father stopped his hearty laughter and frowned at me.

“Where are you going so rudely……”

“I’m sorry, but it’s an important appointment I made a few days ago.”

It wasn’t a lie.

I needed to meet Mafi today.

It was the day we had agreed to discuss how to sell this product called the recorder in the future.

Mafi seemed to feel tremendous pride in the fact that other people liked his invention.

“Ah, perhaps you’re going to meet that developer?”

As I was turning to enter the mansion, Veltune looked at me with a sly smile.

I smiled at him once before entering the mansion.

And he, after seemingly excusing himself to the others, followed me in.

“Lady Rowenloa. I’ve helped you before, so it hurts my feelings when you act like this.”

I tilted my head at his words.

“I deliberately made it look like Bershua was responsible for the rumors about the land that you spread, to protect you.”

I snorted at his words.

“Thanks to that incident, the Masipacius family had to subsidize the business your father was conducting to silence you.”

Hearing those words, Veltune clicked his tongue and shrugged.

I raised one corner of my mouth at him before returning to my room.

“You’ll regret it.”

Veltune muttered behind me, but I didn’t care.

After preparing to go out with Mylene in my room, I quickly got into the carriage and left the residence, trying to avoid the people in the garden as much as possible.

And that was my last memory.

* * *

Bump—

Bump—

I opened my eyes to the unusually rough ride.

But even though I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see anything.

It seemed like a black cloth was covering my eyes.

What is this…

My hands were tied behind my back, and both ankles were also tied with rope, making it difficult to move.

And beside me, I could hear the mumbling voices of unfamiliar men.

I thought I had been kidnapped, and realizing that it wouldn’t be good to let them know I was awake, I closed my eyes again and concentrated on my hearing to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“…Are you sure it’s okay to touch her?”

“How many times are you going to ask? Yes, it is. You know who hired us! It’s not like we’re going to kill her.”

“No… I heard she even goes in and out of the imperial palace… I’m just worried!”

“It’s fine!”

So whoever has a grudge against me didn’t kidnap me directly….

The fact that they’re willing to kidnap me despite knowing my connection to the crown prince means that person also has connections to the imperial palace.

“Oh, boss. I think she’s awake.”

But then, one of the kidnappers noticed I was awake and started poking me.

“I heard she was raised preciously, so I thought she’d cry when she woke up, but she’s more calm than I expected?”

“We still have a long way to go, so shouldn’t we knock her out again?”

They seemed to be discussing something while looking at me, then they brought something damp near my nose and mouth, and I felt my eyelids getting heavy again before they closed.

And when I opened my eyes again, the sensation on my skin and the smell entering my nose had clearly changed.

Moldy smell…

Judging by the hard floor and the moldy smell, it seemed like they had locked me in some unused warehouse.

Tap—

I tapped my foot once, but the sound only filled the warehouse with no response following it.

As soon as I determined there was nothing around me, I carefully untied the ribbon attached to my clothes. I inserted that string between the ropes binding my hands and rubbed it for a while, and with a snap, one of the ropes binding my wrists broke off, allowing me to easily undo the rest of the bindings due to the weakened restraint.

Once my hands were free, I used them to remove the cloth covering my eyes and then freed my bound feet. Only then could I see where I was imprisoned and where this place was.

“This is……”

It was a wooden warehouse with a damp smell.

I opened nearby boxes, but they were only filled with grass that could be used as feed for livestock.

Then I noticed a small window high up, and I stacked boxes to check outside through the window.

But apart from trees densely packed enough to tell it was a forest, nothing else was visible.

While I was walking around the warehouse for a while, looking for anything useful, I heard the sound of a lock being rattled from the door.

“Boss, I think that girl has escaped?”

The three men who entered the warehouse looked around in surprise, seeing the ropes and cloths I had untied.

“Damn it, we haven’t received the seal yet!”

…Seal?