“Ah, that’s a bit……”

At the mention of her private study, Sinclair’s words trailed off.

Eloise tilted her head and asked her:

“Why? Didn’t you say before that I could use it freely?”

That was true. When Eloise had first arrived, Sinclair had taken the initiative to tell her she could go anywhere in the mansion freely. She had even suggested that Eloise use her private study.

“That was true……. But lately I’ve been keeping some personal items there.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. How could I possibly touch your belongings without permission? I just……”

Eloise set down her wine glass and spoke in a somewhat bitter voice.

“I just want a quiet place to write letters to my parents back home. They must be very worried about me, and I realized I’ve been negligent in contacting them because I was concerned about causing them anxiety. So I’d like a space where I can collect my thoughts and write a letter.”

When she said it was out of concern for her parents, it became difficult to refuse.

Besides, Sinclair had previously told her she could use it anytime.

‘But that was then.’

Back then, she needed to make an effort to win Eloise’s favor. Moreover, anyone could see that Eloise had shown no interest in the mansion and was busy going to the Army Headquarters or her inherited house all day, showing no intention of entering her study.

That’s why Sinclair had made the offer, but she hadn’t expected Eloise to request it now. Especially when she was no longer useful.

But since she had brought up her parents, Sinclair found it difficult to refuse.

Just then, a guest arrived.

Sinclair secretly hoped Eloise would leave, but far from it, she greeted the visitor warmly and continued to sit there.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything important.”

When the guest asked, Eloise put on a sad face again and said:

“Well…… I was just asking Lady Sinclair for a favor.”

Then, with a voice that sounded like she was about to cry, she said she missed her parents back home and needed to write them a very long letter.

Listening to Eloise, the guest had already taken out a handkerchief and was sniffling along with her.

Eloise continued in an even more tearful voice than before:

“So I was in the middle of asking Lady Sinclair for a favor. But perhaps it was too presumptuous of me. She mentioned she has important things there, so I’d feel uncomfortable staying there for long……”

When the words “important things” were mentioned, the guest’s eyes lit up.

Sinclair was already receiving many gifts from various circles. But since not everything she received was made public, everyone was curious about what gifts she had.

“I suppose Lady Sinclair’s gifts are kept there. That would certainly be problematic.”

The guest’s comment made Sinclair even more uncomfortable.

If she continued to refuse Eloise’s request now, it would be like admitting that those things were indeed in her study.

‘That would increase the number of people snooping around.’

On the surface, it was just an ordinary study storing books and documents. But if such rumors spread, more people would take an interest.

Most of the maids in the mansion were people Sinclair trusted, but it wouldn’t be strange if any of them turned their backs on her at any time.

Moreover, with the increasing number of gatherings, there might be newly hired maids who would search the mansion freely for money from others.

‘But it’s inconvenient right now……’

She had recently sent and decoded several secret letters in preparation for the conflict between Gilia and Albion, and important letters were in there.

She burned most of them, but those that shouldn’t be burned were tucked between books in the study.

More importantly, there were books she had selected as cipher books among the regular books.

If maids searched without the owner’s knowledge and found such things, they might leak them somewhere.

Sinclair was lost in thought for a moment, then smiled brightly.

“It’s nothing like that. I haven’t been paying much attention to the study lately, so I was hesitant to offer it because I was embarrassed about how messy it might be.”

Then, as if it were no big deal, she said:

“Please feel free to use it. I’ll tell the maids to tidy it up a bit. If the timing works for you, shall I have it empty all day tomorrow?”

When Sinclair offered the study more easily than expected, the curiosity in the guest’s eyes quickly faded.

Seeing how easily she offered it, the guest thought there truly wasn’t anything special there.

At this, Sinclair inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

The woman was known for spreading rumors here and there. Now that her curiosity had disappeared, others probably wouldn’t take an interest in the study either.

‘I’ll have to remove the important things this evening.’

Then there shouldn’t be any problems.

* * *

The next day, Eloise headed to Sinclair’s study early in the morning with her stationery.

Sinclair had said she would ask the maids to clean, and indeed, the windows of the study were wide open. As a result, the room was filled with cold air, making it difficult to sit. Looking around, she saw there was no fire in the fireplace.

‘Is this deliberate?’

If she complained, it was obvious that they would claim it was the maid’s mistake and light the fire belatedly. Even if they lit it now, it would take quite some time for a room this size to warm up.

Ignoring the petty spite, Eloise placed her stationery down and locked the door firmly. Returning to the desk, she looked to the side and saw the nearby bookshelf.

She could tell immediately.

‘Books are missing!’

There were no gaps, but she could tell. After all, she had already been here before entering today.

‘She probably thought it would be fine to remove only the important things for just one day!’

She clearly remembered how flustered Sinclair had been when she asked to borrow the private study. She must have allowed it because she feared raising suspicion by continuing to refuse.

But Eloise had already searched this study.

And she hadn’t just looked around and left.

Eloise moved the top sheet of the stationery she had brought to the side.

Underneath appeared a paper filled with dense writing.

Before asking Sinclair, when everyone was busy with preparations for the gathering and distracted by circulating rumors, Eloise had gone up to her room early, claiming she wasn’t feeling well.

With everyone busy with the gathering and the mistress of the house no longer paying much attention to Eloise, no one bothered to check on her.

So she had been able to enter this study quite easily and examine the books and materials on the shelves.

‘Sinclair has been spending a lot of time here lately!’

And she hadn’t been visiting the common study, which was almost like a library. It seemed she had judged it inconvenient to keep cipher books there due to the increasing number of people coming and going through the mansion.

Eloise held the paper she had brought and examined the bookshelf.

Before long, she confirmed that books she had definitely seen before were now missing. Eloise quickly noted the names of those books.

* * *

After finishing her meeting, Sinclair hurried up to the second floor.

‘I’ve removed all the important things, but…….’

In truth, to other people’s eyes, it was just an ordinary study and bookshelf. Even the books used as cipher books had been completely removed, leaving only truly insignificant ones on the shelf, yet strangely, Sinclair felt uneasy.

As she came upstairs, she saw a maid just entering the study.

“Where is Miss Eloise?”

“She said she finished writing her letters in the afternoon and returned to her room. She also asked me to tell you that she borrowed a book called ‘The Murder at Newhaven Manor’ from the bookshelf.”

“I see…?”

She had expected Eloise to stay longer, but it seemed she had really just written her letters and returned to her room.

‘That book is just an ordinary book!’

It was a book she had bought from a bookstore and placed on the shelf to make it look like a normal bookcase, something that was supposedly popular.

Sinclair entered her private study. Judging by the small fire in the fireplace, the maids had lit it belatedly as instructed.

The room was still not very warm.

‘She might have left early because it was cold!’

In any case, from Eloise’s behavior, there didn’t seem to be anything suspicious.

Nevertheless, feeling somewhat unsatisfied, Sinclair needlessly looked around the study. Of course, nothing was missing. There hadn’t been anything to begin with.

‘I was worried for nothing!’

With that thought, Sinclair left the study.

* * *

The next day.

Richard looked at the letter he had received from Eloise.

Sinclair had hidden 13 books in total. All were likely being used as cipher books.

Below that were titles of books that appeared ordinary at first glance.

Richard frantically copied down those titles. Then he saw the last sentence.

Is Ryan really dead?

He could see that the last letter was smudged with what looked like a teardrop. And there were marks as if the end of the letter had been crumpled and then smoothed out again.

Richard sighed and continued moving his hand.

‘Everyone is letting their guard down.’

With Ryan’s death made public, those who had been targeting him and wishing for Albion’s downfall were now raising their glasses in celebration.

Now was not the time to be lost in grief; they needed to find out who the owners of those raised glasses were.

‘We must hurry.’

If they could identify which of these books Eloise had revealed were being used as cipher books by Lensk, finding those owners would be faster.