“Cough!”

With the cough that erupted first thing in the morning, Eloise quickly covered her mouth with a handkerchief.

Though this didn’t stop the coughing, it at least prevented others from approaching her.

Maids passing through the hallway whispered about whether she might have tuberculosis and quickly hurried past.

After they had passed, Eloise lowered her handkerchief.

‘It’s convenient that they misunderstand!’

Since childhood, her health had always deteriorated in winter. Because of this, it wasn’t particularly difficult for her to assess her own physical condition.

‘It’s not good, but it’s not tuberculosis.’

Occasionally, when she couldn’t bear the stifling air in the room and left the window open for too long, she would start coughing like this.

‘Of course, if I leave it too long, it could become a problem.’

But for now, this level was fine. It had to be fine.

Because she deliberately coughed loudly enough for others to hear, no one lingered around Eloise’s room. This allowed her to comfortably observe the mansion’s courtyard through the hallway window.

It was a rare mansion in the capital with a square-shaped courtyard.

Usually, during parties, people would walk around the courtyard with glasses in hand, enjoying moving between the banquet hall and the garden.

And now, something covered with old sacks was placed there.

They had started piling up one by one a few days ago. Even though outsiders were prohibited from entering, she wondered where these items were coming from.

‘A pile was added each time the food delivery wagon came!’

Having watched outside all day, she knew this well. The wagons, which usually carried only about half a load, had recently been coming so full that they needed to add an extra horse.

‘What’s inside them?’

She wanted to go closer and examine them, but there were too many watchful eyes.

All the doors leading to the courtyard were locked because they were too obvious, and the structure was such that anyone passing by could see if someone was lingering near those doors.

Because of this, Eloise couldn’t get close to the piles the entire time they were accumulating.

Again today, it seemed impossible to approach them.

After trying to observe more, she eventually returned to her room.

Before entering her room, she saw the butler moving around the mansion’s entrance.

Eloise approached him.

“Butler?”

He had been treating her specially these days, but today it was particularly intense.

She thought, ‘Let’s not even think about it for a few more days! Tomorrow I’ll part ways with this person, so there’s no need to provoke the butler now.’

“What time will Lady Sinclair leave the mansion tomorrow? I’m also planning to leave tomorrow!”

Perhaps thanks to the letter she had handed over previously not arousing suspicion, the butler no longer showed particular vigilance toward Eloise. Of course, this wasn’t enough to allow her access to the courtyard.

The butler turned his gaze to Eloise and answered.

“She plans to depart around 9 AM tomorrow. It seems everyone in the mansion will be busy, so we won’t be able to give her a proper send-off. All carriages will be in use tomorrow, so it will be difficult to take you to your desired location. Ah, please move your luggage over there in advance.”

Having said that, the butler clearly indicated he had no further business with her.

Eloise had also finished what she wanted to say, so she nodded.

Then, what the butler had just said crossed her mind again.

‘All carriages will be in use?’

Sinclair frequently held parties and was friendly with people regardless of their social status. Because of this, she sometimes sent the mansion’s carriages directly to those who had difficulty attending parties due to physical discomfort or living far away.

For this reason, although not luxurious, the mansion had more carriages than most noble houses, but to use all of them?

Is such a thing possible? Wouldn’t that mean dozens would need to be brought out?

Thinking this, as Eloise returned to her room, her eyes again fell on the things piled in the courtyard.

‘Yes, it seems that’s the amount of luggage that will be going out…’

The moment her thoughts reached this point, she realized. Tomorrow, the things piled there would be taken outside the mansion.

***

“Ah, this is driving me crazy!”

Richard pulled at his hair with both hands as he sat in his desk chair.

Around him, informants who already looked half-dead were sprawled out.

They weren’t many people. Especially after the war ended, many left the military saying they were sick of it, so the already understaffed intelligence department suffered even more from a shortage of personnel.

‘But we can’t request additional civilians either.’

This matter was directly approved by His Majesty the King. Moreover, it was approved in utmost secrecy, without even informing his children.

Knowing that information was leaking from the royal family, this was an attempt to completely root out enemy spies.

Since this was the first and last attempt, failure could not be tolerated. As a result, using only carefully selected agents meant the amount of work had inevitably increased tremendously.

‘And there will certainly be incidents.’

Too many suspicious telegrams were being intercepted ahead of Ryan’s funeral.

At first, he thought they were curious telegrams because dignitaries from various countries were attending, but the desk monitored a telegram the day before, and then immediately confirmed that its contents were transferred to Albion.

They were deliberately routing through Gilia to hide where the telegrams were coming from. How could such things not be suspicious?

‘Some of them did contain normal messages!’

Half were about weddings and such. Someone’s wedding, someone’s death, someone’s birth—content people commonly exchange in telegrams.

‘They’re not even using the previous codebook.’

Thanks to the book Eloise had discovered earlier, they had been able to track many people. But not everything could go smoothly.

Despite ordering continued tracking and surveillance, the trail went cold, and rumors eventually arose.

They couldn’t just give up, so they persisted until the end, but after that day, all numerical codes disappeared.

Realizing they were being tracked, the enemy had completely changed their coding system.

‘Since it changed urgently, it should be even simpler!’

But now they didn’t even have the manpower to review what it might be.

After sighing several times, Richard put a cigarette from his desk in his mouth and went outside.

It was still dark outside. In that darkness, he flicked the lighter’s flint several times, but the flame wouldn’t catch.

It seemed he needed to replace the whole thing.

Richard threw the cigarette on the ground.

In the distance, he could see the sky beginning to brighten. Finally today, Ryan’s funeral would be held.

“D*mn it…”

The kick he aimed at the ground lacked strength.

Until now, he had fought countless battles alongside Ryan, bickering but returning alive. Even amidst falling shells, they had joked about collecting the belongings of whoever died first as they ran between trenches.

They had made a promise, hadn’t they?

Ryan’s body, who had died in Gilia, had apparently been recovered by Philip, who had gone with him.

‘I don’t even know where Philip is, so I can’t ask him about the final moments.’

He had wanted to at least ask about Ryan’s last moments. But Philip’s whereabouts were unknown to everyone.

Perhaps he didn’t want to meet with anyone.

That’s why Richard felt even more troubled.

‘I heard it was death by explosion.’

Along with Richard, it was the kind of death that left the body in the most terrible state.

‘That’s probably why they said they would skip the step of showing the coffin.’

Simple information about Ryan’s funeral had been provided. To prevent shock to the living from seeing the deceased’s condition, they said the coffin would remain closed throughout the proceedings.

If that’s true, perhaps Ryan had returned in multiple pieces.

‘Now what am I supposed to say to Miss Eloise…’

She would surely ask about Ryan’s final appearance, and Richard was at a loss for what to tell her.

“You crazy bastard, what am I supposed to tell Miss Eloise? I’ll have to face her right after the funeral…”

As he grumbled, Richard immediately turned around when he sensed someone behind him.

But the other person was faster.

The person immediately knocked Richard to the ground and covered his mouth. At the same time, they pressed his vital points so he couldn’t move his body.

Unable to even groan, Richard gritted his teeth as he fell.

D*mn it, this wasn’t the time to be worrying about others.

Just as he tightly closed his eyes, recalling his mental will, a familiar voice came from above his jaw.

“Eloise is here? What?!”