Her stoic colleague showed so little facial expression that she would always just say “is that so?” without any particular reaction, no matter what surprising news Mary brought. But just now, the corner of her eye had twitched slightly.

Flora shook her head as if it really wasn’t true. Affection? That was an emotion she had never felt despite living closely with so many men throughout her life.

“It’s really not—”

“No. I’m sure. You were thinking about a man just now, weren’t you?”

“……”

At the sudden direct question, Flora quietly blinked for a moment.

Taking this as a reaction that hit the mark, Mary grabbed both of her hands and narrowed the distance between them.

“See! I’m right. My goodness, to think our Flora has someone she likes.”

Mary showed her excitement as if she had heard her younger sister had found a lover. She even lifted her knee slightly like she’s about to jump up and down, and asked in succession.

“Won’t you really tell me who it is? I absolutely won’t tell anyone.”

Flora let out a deep sigh. It was true she had been thinking about the duke for a moment, but not exactly for that reason.

“Mary, you’re misunderstanding.”

Flora said this, but somehow a shadow fell under her lowered platinum eyelashes.

Perceptively reading that she indeed had some worry, Mary changed the subject to lighten the mood.

“We’ve pretty much finished cleaning here, so let’s go to town.”

“But it’s raining like this?”

Flora looked at the rain falling outside and asked in bewilderment. To this, Mary pulled out a white envelope from her apron pocket and showed it.

“We’ll be riding in a carriage, so what does it matter? Perfect timing. I was planning to mail a letter to my brother anyway.”

“……So it’s today.”

Flora, who was about to ask if another day would be better, bit her lip.

For some time now, Flora had been helping Mary write her letters. It was because Mary had asked for her help after accidentally discovering that she could write.

Since Mentus’s duty station had disappeared, she had sent multiple letters to the relevant administrative agency, but not once had she received a reply.

Still, Mary was far from giving up and burned with enthusiasm, determined to receive a response.

“Yes.”

Flora nodded.

Watching Mary, who was excited about stopping by Sol’s Bakery on the way to buy sweet desserts, Flora smiled gently.

Fortunately, the rain had considerably thinned, so they said there would be no problem going to town. Thanks to this, Michael ordered a few items, saying they were urgently needed today, and obtained permission from the butler.

“I was just about to send someone, so this works out well.”

Deverik said with a relieved face that he had been planning to send a few maids on errands anyway.

“I think two of you might not be enough. How about taking some other maids with you?”

“It’s fine. We can carry most things, and Uncle John is there too. Right, Flora?”

“Yes. It won’t take long.”

When Mary asked as if there would be no problem, Flora also nodded. They only needed to buy urgent items, and with the coachman present, there wouldn’t be much difficulty.

Deverik habitually held up his monocle and looked at Flora.

“Alright. Be careful on your way.”

Flora, who had put on a long robe over her clothes due to the cooler climate, boarded the carriage with Mary.

“Saint said this morning that more than one or two carriages got stuck in the mud on the fastest route to town, so we’ll take a different route.”

“Yes.”

Mary responded energetically to the coachman who showed his face through the small window facing forward. He was choosing to take a slightly roundabout path, avoiding the wide road with the most traffic.

Soon, the carriage carrying Flora and Mary began to move with a jolt. Only then did Mary stretch out both legs and speak with a relieved expression.

“Phew…… Thank goodness. I wanted to stop by the bakery at Yeraf Square on the way, but if we brought a bunch of people along, we couldn’t slack off.”

Flora laughed, belatedly understanding why she had adamantly refused the butler’s suggestion.

Now that she thought about it, the main purpose of this outing was to mail Mary’s letter, and having more people would actually be inconvenient.

Soon, the carriage began to speed up, cutting through the fine rain.

Flora looked out the window with a slightly worried face. Though it should be bright at this hour, the surroundings were somewhat dark due to the dark clouds.

“Don’t worry. The cargo cart got stuck in the mud because Saint was greedy and loaded it with an enormous amount of stuff, but we’re light.”

“That’s true.”

Mary patted Flora’s shoulder, telling her not to worry. Seeing Mary’s bright smile, her anxiety quickly subsided.

It was just as the carriage carrying the two women passed through the main gate of the duke’s residence and entered the road—

A splendid carriage appeared from somewhere and stopped behind them.

“Miss, she’s come out.”

“Is that so? Quite impressive.”

Rosaline raised the corner of her mouth in satisfaction at Monica’s words.

It was Monica’s idea to give a few coins to the supplier of food ingredients to the duke’s residence and deliberately make them delay.

‘If that happens, they’ll definitely send maids to town.’  

‘There’s no guarantee that the maid going out will be that maid.’  

‘I found out that another maid there goes to town on certain dates to mail letters. Today happens to be that day.’  

‘So?’

To the question of what this had to do with anything, Monica whispered secretively.

“That maid usually goes alone, but on days with a lot of luggage like today, she’ll definitely bring someone along. According to what I’ve learned, the maid who’s closest friends with that maid is the one who went to the banquet hall the other day.”

The maid had brought unexpectedly fruitful information.

Rosaline decided to follow Monica’s idea, which is why she had come here today.

Knock knock.

Just then, someone knocked on the carriage window. When the maid quickly opened the window slightly, Rosaline extended her hand through the gap and dropped the pouch she was holding.

Instead of the sound of it falling to the ground, there was the sound of someone quickly catching it, and Rosaline spoke.

“She’s a maid in her early twenties with platinum blonde hair. Handle it without mistakes.”

“How could there be any doubt? We’ll take care of it cleanly so Your Ladyship need not worry.”

A gravelly voice, similar to the sound of metal, respectfully answered from beyond the window, hiding their face.

The type of people who are good at bowing and scraping remained the same. Those who would do anything for money.

As Rosaline, unable to erase her disgust, gestured to close the window, another man asked.

“To what extent should we handle it?”

To what extent.

Rosaline delayed her answer for a moment and pondered.

Though the target was only one person, there was a high risk of being exposed to the other passengers in the carriage. For someone who preferred a clean job, the answer was already clear.

“Kill her. If the other woman gets in the way, it doesn’t matter.”

Rosaline coldly added, making sure not to forget.

“If there’s any trouble, I’ll take your lives instead.”

“Don’t worry. No client who has sought the Heide Guild has ever been disappointed.”

At Rosaline’s confident voice, she elegantly straightened her posture from where she had been leaning against the comfortable cushion.

* * *

Unlike the coachman’s warning about the rough road, the carriage quickly arrived in the city.

After mailing the letter and stopping by Sol’s Bakery to hear about Mrs. Enola’s husband who recently returned from the battlefield, Mary stepped outside to find it had grown dark.

The rain that had briefly thinned had turned into a downpour.

“We should hurry.”

Mary, who had been staring at the rain beating against the ground with startled eyes, agreed.

They immediately went to the store to purchase necessary items and came out holding paper baskets full in both hands. The carriage was parked at the entrance of the alley, but it would be too risky to run through this rain while carrying an armful of goods.

“Uncle John should come this way…… Flora, wait a moment. I’ll go call him.”

Just as Mary was about to hand over her packages to Flora, a large man passing by suddenly crashed into her roughly.

“Ah!”

Flora quickly caught Mary as she was pushed. Though she avoided falling, Mary dropped all her packages from the sharp pain.

Taking advantage of that moment, the man quickly snatched the smallest pouch from among the scattered items and fled swiftly into the alley.

Seeing this, Mary cried out in shock.

“Oh…… no! The money was in there!”

Flora looked around as she watched Mary’s distraught face. The security patrol knights were nowhere to be seen, likely having taken shelter from the rain somewhere.

“I’ll go after him, wait here for a moment.”