“You, ha…… Where do I even begin explaining this? She’s not ordinary.”

“You too? The rumor that the lord keeps her as a mistress sounds more plausible.”

He muttered to himself that it might actually be true, judging by her confident face. Heriot grabbed his shoulder firmly and turned him around.

“Baren, watch your words……! This is the capital, not the military.”

“Then the lord should have been more careful. He was reckless in this matter. He shouldn’t have created a maid who gets special treatment.”

He shook off Heriot’s hand again and climbed the stairs, only saying what he wanted to say.

Heriot rubbed his forehead in frustration. This stubborn man still made people angry even after not seeing him for a year.

“Don’t pick fights unnecessarily. I guarantee you…… Flora’s skills are no less than yours.”

But his serious words were drowned out by Baren’s snort.

Claude gestured for Baren and Heriot to sit down as they entered through the open door.

“Baren, did you resolve matters in the south well?”

“As you commanded, I’ve completed the redeployment of knights to the Revennil estate. Viscount Wecker only knows that they were moved because of the dam facility repairs.”

“Good work. Heriot, what about what I instructed?”

After the knight commander’s meticulous response, Claude asked about the next report. Heriot’s expression turned somewhat apologetic.

“I recruited one person from the Heide Guild’s leadership to investigate…… but they seemed completely unaware of that incident.”

Claude’s straight brows narrowed sharply at his adjutant’s report.

According to Flora, those who attacked her had received a commission from someone, and they were likely related to those who had previously infiltrated the mansion.

Claude also believed they were connected to the previous intruders and had ordered an investigation. He had already been secretly keeping an eye on the Heide Guild for other reasons.

“They explained that because the guild operates as a cell organization, even the leadership doesn’t always know about commissions that individual guild members receive. For now, I’ve judged it as a lie and am digging deeper.”

“What about Lady Melady’s whereabouts?”

“……I apologize.”

Heriot, who had confidently claimed he could do it in a day, ultimately failed to find Lady Melady.

He reported that she had completely vanished without a trace and was searching for her only son who was on the brink of ruin.

“I thought you were investigating the son. How is it possible you still can’t find one old lady?”

“Her son is addicted to gambling and alcohol…… He’s already lost his mansion and is being chased by debt collectors. He said he hasn’t heard from his mother for half a year already, and actually asked if she was still working at the residence.”

Between Claude’s long fingers, the body of an unlit cigar rolled.

He was well aware that her son was worthless garbage. Most of the old lady’s money had been flowing toward paying off her son’s debts.

So he had assumed that she, in desperate need of money, would have surely entered service with another noble family…… It couldn’t be explained except that someone deliberately hid her.

At that moment, Baren suddenly spoke up.

“My lord, may I speak?”

“Were you not going to if I didn’t allow it? Go ahead.”

“I’ve heard about what happened in my absence. I heard nothing was gained from the assassin incident either. I can’t believe you’re letting people who handle matters so poorly remain unpunished.”

“Then, should I behead the knights one by one?”

Unlike Heriot, who bowed his head at the deadly tone, Baren’s expression suggested he thought that would be appropriate.

“If necessary, yes. If it establishes discipline, then even by such means……”

“That’s your opinion. I’ll do things my way.”

Baren’s ideology differed from Claude’s.

If pressed to compare, he was similar to the previous generation, which had often led to clashes of opinion in the past. Seeing Baren suddenly turn contrary after getting along well, Heriot groaned and watched Claude’s reaction carefully.

“Is now the time to be concerned about such matters?”

“You’re quite skilled at indirectly saying your superior is inadequate.”

“I’m saying this because the lord I’m seeing after a year looks…… too relaxed. From what I hear, my lord has gained a reputation as quite a generous master. Why this sudden act of being a nice person?”

“Is that all you have to say? If you have complaints, speak more.”

Claude straightened his back as if knowing that wasn’t the entirety of the matter, crossed one leg over the other, and spoke coldly.

“Is the maid named Flora your woman?”

“That’s quite an impertinent question to ask right away.”

“Since you hold her in special regard, shouldn’t I know about it?”

“There’s no need for that.”

Claude put up a wall as if telling him to mind his own business.

At this point, Heriot would have quickly backed down, but Baren was someone who expressed his opinions to the end.

“Those who receive special treatment develop vain hopes.”

“Well……, perhaps.”

Or perhaps not.

He was a bit curious. She didn’t seem like the type to expect anything, but that couldn’t be confirmed just by a person’s outward appearance.

Looking at Claude’s face lost in thought, Baren threw out a pointed remark.

“I hope it’s not sincere.”

“……Sincere?”

“I mean, I hope you don’t fall into emotions like love and mess things up.”

Claude, finding his subordinate’s question somewhat absurd, lit the cigar in his mouth.

He admitted that he had wavered for a moment with her. While he felt various emotions toward her, it was fundamentally just compassion, yet when looking at that clear face, his hand impulsively reached out.

Her inscrutable blue eyes had at some point reminded him of the calm lakeside he used to visit often as a child. Just like that girl from his childhood.

So when her impassive expression disappeared, he was swept away. Almost impulsively.

Claude chewed on his cigar between his teeth.

“Baren…… You’re being overly sentimental.”

“Then please tell me properly.”

The straightforward knight’s gaze was intense, as if determined to hear an answer.

Claude let the answer slip casually.

“……I pity her.”

“You mean sympathy?”

“Yes, I feel sorry for her. She has no memories, nowhere to go, so I just treated her a bit kindly.”

Love? There was no way he could feel such a nonsensical emotion.

It was sympathy for her innocent appearance, unable to do much. Furthermore, it was similar to the sense of responsibility he felt for the lives of all his knights—that was the extent of the sentiment in his conclusion.

So his feelings for her went only that far.

However, Baren, with a face that showed he didn’t believe a word, added once more.

“I sincerely hope that’s all it is.”

* * *

After more than two weeks without news from those she had hired, Rosaline’s nerves reached their limit.

“How did you handle this so poorly! Still no contact?”

Having run out of patience waiting for the silent Heide Guild, Rosaline ordered Monica to spy on the mansion to see if that maid could still be seen.

As a result, reports came back that the platinum-blonde woman was perfectly fine and moving about freely. At this, Rosaline’s anger finally erupted.

“Miss, please calm down.”

“I trusted them because they work with Father. How dare they cheat me?”

The quickest way would be to ask the marquis about their whereabouts, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Since entering high society, she had been repeatedly warned to be careful about scandals.

Losing her patience, Rosaline gauged the time and gestured toward the door.

“This won’t do. Go out and bring one of those suspicious men who follow Father.”

“……What? Me?”

The maid’s face, who had occasionally seen the mysterious men visiting the marquis, turned pale. To be asked to personally bring one of those frightening men whom she was scared to even look at from a distance……

But regardless of her tearful expression, Rosaline immediately pushed the maid out. Driven by her mistress’s intensity, Monica headed toward the master’s room with a worried face, having no other choice.

As she walked, wondering how to approach them, she saw an unfamiliar middle-aged woman entering the marquis’s office.

‘Who is that?’

She looked very suspicious, surrounded by men in robes. Just as she was about to stealthily follow, suddenly a man in a pitch-black robe blocked her path.

In the end, she had to return without even speaking a word, driven away by his cold gaze telling her to mind her own business.

* * *

“I told you to stay hidden like a dead mouse.”

The marquis, ignoring the woman who entered through the door, reproached her with displeasure.

“I came because there was no contact, Marquis. I haven’t received the promised amount.”

“What money?”

The marquis, puffing on his cigarette, tilted his head as if hearing something for the first time.

The woman who entered the marquis’s office was Lady Melady. Unlike her previous dignified appearance, she looked haggard, as if she had been through considerable hardship.

“The amount you promised to give me…… when I delivered Duke Heinst’s secret.”

“Ah, that…… Melady, do I look like a sucker who would pay a fortune for half-baked information?”

“What? What do you……”

Lady Melady’s aged eyes trembled.

“According to you, the duke did sleep soundly. Perhaps the extra dose of the drug I used was effective. But you know what……? That sleeping duke had a knight hidden away who killed all the men I sent?”