“I’m sorry……”

I rejected the young duke’s offer.

Though he said he had expected this, his expression was bitter.

I couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“Then I’ll pick you up by carriage on the morning of the banquet.”

I nodded at Detrian’s words.

Detrian then said he had only come out briefly to avoid people’s eyes and that he would invite us to the imperial palace for socializing next time, before hurriedly leaving the basement.

After Detrian left, I was carefully examining the documents he had left behind when—

“Since you rejected my earlier request, please grant me one other favor.”

The young duke of Posilia approached me carefully, called out to me cautiously, and spoke with a very tense expression.

His expression made me feel uneasy, but remembering his bitter expression from earlier, I couldn’t help but nod.

His face immediately brightened, and he spoke,

“Please call me Delian, not ‘young duke of Posilia.'”

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at his words.

Brother Rubert and Grace, standing behind him, also rolled their eyes for a while, seemingly unable to grasp the situation.

Then, Brother Rubert’s face suddenly turned hostile as he clenched his fist and approached the young duke of Posilia.

Grace was busy trying to stop him.

“What… what do you mean……”

“Drop the title ‘young duke’ and call me by my name.”

I stared blankly at the young duke’s face for a long time.

Seeing his face full of determination for this simple request, I had no choice but to nod.

“Alright…. Lord Delian.”

He smiled brightly at my words.

Grace was looking at him as if he were disgusting, and Brother Rubert collapsed into a nearby chair, holding his head.

* * *

The awkward atmosphere continued, and Brother Rubert and I left the basement under the pretext of dinner.

We were now on our way back to the Masipacius mansion by carriage.

“Don’t you think… there are too many men around you these days?”

I gave an embarrassed smile at Brother Rubert’s clearly annoyed voice.

“I mean, when did you get so close to the crown prince… and why is the young duke of Posilia to you……”

“There are… circumstances for all of that. I’ll tell you when the time comes, so please calm down for now……”

I chose to keep quiet, as my brother seemed ready to go kill those two immediately if I told him everything that had happened with them.

Brother Rubert sighed as if frustrated with me, then shifted his gaze out the window.

“These days, there are quite a lot of people using items with the Arme Trading Company’s emblem on the streets.”

I nodded at my brother’s words.

“There are also many nobles proposing deals… Don’t you think it’s about time to launch Royal Arme Trading Company?”

“You’re right. I was thinking of putting up the Royal Arme sign in the boutique area frequently visited by nobles.”

Brother Rubert tilted his head and made a “hmm” sound, as if thinking about something after hearing my words.

“You’re thinking there’s no other way to promote it, right?”

Brother nodded at my words.

I winked at him playfully.

“Why worry about that when you have me? Don’t worry. I have it all planned out.”

“You… your personality seems to be getting more and more sly.”

“Thank you for the compliment, brother.”

At my words, Brother Rubert let out a few incredulous laughs before continuing,

“Oh, right. You’re graduating early? Is the preparation going well?”

“Yes. I think I’ll be able to graduate after attending just this semester.”

“As expected of you. Oh, by the way, Belsanne came to the marquis mansion a few days ago.”

Belsanne….

After Leila and Brother Bershua were greatly embarrassed at the ball last time, she seemed to distance herself from them….

“She said she’s now working with Bershua on something he recently started. But… she was carefully handing some documents to Leila.”

I frowned at his words.

“Documents…?”

“Yes, while saying not to tell anyone and that only you should see them.”

Brother Rubert is completely on my side now.

However, unlike me, my brother hasn’t completely broken ties with Bershua and Leila.

This is for situations like this.

Brother Rubert maintained good relations with them and passed on information like this to me one by one.

Hearing my brother’s words, I closed my eyes briefly and fell into thought.

If Belsanne had handed something to Leila after hearing about her early graduation exam, and it was something that shouldn’t be spread to anyone else, it was certainly illegally obtained information about early graduation.

There had been many suspicious things already.

Bershua, along with Belsanne, Voltu, and Signet, whom I personally considered extremely stupid, had all studied at the highest level at the academy before graduating.

If that too was the result of illegally obtained information, like whatever Belsanne had given to Leila?

When I opened my eyes with a start, my brother asked if I had thought of something.

“I’m not certain, but I’ve come up with a hypothesis that could bring them down if proven.”

I poured out the hypothesis I had thought of to my brother, and he nodded as if it made some sense.

Just as we were about to discuss the matter further, the carriage stopped and the door opened, forcing us to close our mouths.

“See you at dinner then.”

Back in my room, I thought long and hard about the hypothesis I had formed.

If those idiots had really been maintaining their levels through illegally obtained information…

It could potentially even lead to the cancellation of their graduations.

But… how to find evidence?

I’ve never been in Bershua’s or Leila’s rooms.

I was contemplating how to get hold of the documents Leila had received from Belsanne when I ended up banging my head hard on the desk with a thud.

No matter how much I thought, I couldn’t come up with anything.

“Miss!”

Mylene came running at the sound, but with my complicated feelings, I waved my hand once to indicate I was fine, then trudged to bed and fell asleep without eating dinner.

But contrary to the weight of my worries, I was able to figure out how to find evidence surprisingly quickly.

It all started with Detrian, who came to see me that night.

* * *

Knock—

Knock—

At first, I thought it was the sound of rain, but when I realized the knocking from outside the window was rhythmic, I recognized who was knocking and drew the curtains.

Detrian, wearing a black cloak, was standing on the terrace, looking at me.

“Ah, sorry. Were you sleeping?”

I shook my head as he gently brushed his finger across my eyes as if apologizing.

“It’s fine. What brings you here?”

“Oh, just… the moon is beautiful.”

I tilted my head at his words.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“I mean exactly what I said—I came because the moon is beautiful.”

With that, he naturally walked past me, who was staring at him blankly, and entered my room.

And that’s when it hit me.

What if I just sneak in at night…?

I’ve been exercising regularly… and if I wrap myself in a cloak like that, people might not recognize me.

I haven’t seen Leila’s face separately except during dinner recently, and even during those dinner times, we rarely make eye contact.

So if I could just learn the technique to move freely in the air like Detrian, everything would be solved….

I turned my head toward Detrian, who had naturally sat down in a chair and picked up a book from the desk.

Perhaps sensing something in my eyes as I looked directly at him, Detrian shook his head even before hearing what I had to say.

“No.”

At that, I approached him slowly with a bright smile.

“Hmm? I haven’t said anything yet.”

“Every time you smile like that, you make some outrageous request… No.”

Ignoring his words, I approached him and placed my hands firmly on his shoulders.

“Teach me too.”

“Teach you what……”

“How did you fly up from the first floor to my room like whoosh?”

The crown prince wrinkled his face as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“What on earth are you talking about?”

I explained everything to the crown prince—what I had heard from Brother Rubert today, my hypothesis, and my plan.

He looked down at me with an expression of disbelief.

…It seemed I had become too close to Detrian.

When we were still maintaining formalities, he wouldn’t have made such an expression even when hearing outrageous stories….

Perhaps it was time to change friends.

“Why don’t you just ask me for help?”

I shook my head at his words.

“Of course, I’ve considered asking you, but I don’t know what the documents look like or what they contain. If the documents are related to early graduation, the one who would recognize that isn’t you, but me.”

The crown prince tilted his head.

He was wondering why he wouldn’t be able to tell.

“You’ve never attended the academy or prepared for early graduation. Only someone like me, who is preparing for early graduation, would be able to verify if the document contents are related to that.”

Seeming to find this reasonable, the crown prince clicked his tongue as if there was no helping it.

“But even if those documents are really related to the early graduation exam, you can’t take them out.”

At his words, I took out a rectangular object from my bosom.

Then I aimed the object at him and pressed the button on top.

‘Click—’

I handed the device to Detrian.

Taking the device, he looked at me with a surprised expression.

“This is… me.”

I wore a triumphant expression at his words.