Chapter 26

Emily quickly returned with a box.

The box made of Swan Silk City looked very expensive.

I opened the box as soon as I got it.

“Wow! What a beautiful color!”

Emily exclaimed in awe as the greenish-blue gemstone revealed its bubbly form in the box.

Usually lapis lazuli is mixed with a little gold and white light spots in it. Generally speaking, the darker the color, the less gold and white the lazurite, the more valuable it will be.

I held the box in my hands and examined the contents over and over again, yet the deep sapphire showed no parts that had been replaced with other white or gold colors.

“I like it.”

I lay the box flat on the table with a satisfied smile.

The value of this side of the stone was worth the money I spent on it.

Still admiring the cufflinks with lapis lazuli embedded in the book, Emily asked.

“I’m not going to give him to the Duke.”

I dismissed her question and instructed her.

“Will you bring me any of the jewelry boxes that belong to me?”

“Jewelry boxes? Certainly! Miss.”

Emily was curious as to what I was going to do, but went ahead and carried out my request without asking too many questions.

Ka! A few minutes later, Emily set a large and heavy wooden box on the table.

Gazing at that box for a moment I looked to be thinking about how to speak at the right moment.

“There’s something I need someone to do for me on my behalf.”

“Hmm? What kind of thing?”

“Is it possible for you to know an intelligence dealer in place on the business streets?”

“Intelligence dealers? ……?”

Emily murmured before answering.

“I’m not too familiar with that area, but my roommate might know. She worked on the commercial side of the street before she came to work here.”

“Is that right?”

I thought for a moment before speaking again.

“What’s her name?”

“She …… her name is Reina.”

“Where is she now?”

“But, but I can definitely do better than Reina!”

Emily interrupted my question anxiously and continued.

“She does know very much about what’s going on, but she’s not tight lipped.”

Emily watched my face as she spoke. She seemed terrified that I might invite another maid over and subsequently alienate her.

“Emily. This mission is to be carried out secretly and alone, and the person in charge is to improvise according to the situation.”

The reason why I kept Emily around as a personal maid was so that I could leave this kind of thing to her. There was no one better suited for the job than Emily to begin with.

“You used to take me very seriously.”

But, to make her feel even more intimidated, I purposely warned her one more time.

“Can I really trust you?”

I hadn’t brought this up in a long time.

Emily’s face instantly turned pale as if she was remembering the past.

“Miss! Ever since then I …… have never thought anything bad about you. I have also done my best to serve you ……”

“Anyone in this mansion could say the same thing, Emily.”

Emily stifled the statement at my cold statement.

“I… I ……”

She thinks for a moment and continues.

“Miss, you understand that I’m good at reading people’s minds, as well as improvising.”

I was surprised how quickly she understood that begging would not work on me and immediately changed tactics to try to prove that she could do something.

‘Amazing.’

I’d noticed early on that Emily was smarter and sharper than anyone else here, and seeing her now proved it even more.

But maybe that’s also why she was able to come up with the idea of abusing Penelope with a needle. Emily tried to convince me with a look of eagerness to gain my trust.

“Please think about it, I have never failed you in anything you have commanded me to do.”

“Please leave the work to me. After all, I am also your personal maid at the same time ……”

There was a silence in the air after the words.

Ta ……. Ta ……

The only sound that echoed through the room was my fingertips tapping down the desktop.

Before the hopes held by the distraught Emily faded away ……

“…… Okay.”

I accepted.

“I’ll try to trust you this time.”

“Miss ……”

Emily looked at me with a touched look on her face.

I didn’t expect her to treat me with such a nice attitude after I threatened her with the needle thing.

But it’s also possible that she wanted to pledge her loyalty because she realized that she was about to lose her trust.

“Thank you, miss! I won’t let you down!”

I nodded lightly at Emily’s curtsy.

“Open this jewelry box.”

Out of fear that I’ll change my mind, she immediately carries out my instructions after I share them.

“From now until the end of my confinement, you’ll meet the intelligence dealers in the morning after you’ve finished serving me. After that, you commission them to find a person for me.”

“A person? Whom are you looking for?”

“I will write down all the messages about him so that those intelligence dealers can find him. All you need to do is give them this paper. The gems in this jewelry box are yours to use at your sole discretion to pay those intelligence agents what they need.”

As if to compensate the trapped false duchess, there were countless gems in the jewelry box.

And unfortunately, Penelope doesn’t have enough money herself, so she can only use these gems to pay the rewards.

Even if I used all of the jewels in this box it wouldn’t be much of a problem, because there are countless other such boxes full of jewels in the place dedicated to storing things of value belonging to the duke’s only daughter

“I understand! I can do it, Miss! You can certainly find the man very quickly.”

“But you can’t just entrust it to an intelligence merchant who specializes in finding people.”

My words confused Emily a bit.

“You can only go to places where people specialize in trading valuable news and items. The kind of high-level intelligence merchants that famous nobles go to exclusively. There Strife would have a way to find that person, right? ”

“Yes! No problem!”

In the game, it was said that Winter owned countless strongholds. One of the strongholds run by him was said to be the largest and most famous store.

“So she can easily find that place.”

I already knew that he held the identities of both a marquis and a magician, and was secretly running an intelligence stronghold.

If I wanted to meet him, all I really had to do was attend a party he might consider attending.

But Winter is one of the male protagonists, and he’s also the one with the highest likelihood after Ikris.

I decided to make good use of the events in the normal mode of occurrence in order to have a more dramatic encounter with him.

After returning to Eckhardt’s house, the heroine has been searching for the benefactor who made it possible for her to return to her family of origin. The only thing she knows about him is that he is a wizard with a rabbit mask. When she debuts at a party as the real ‘Duke’s only daughter’ and meets Winter, she immediately recognizes him as the one who helped her due to the unique color of his eyes.

”It doesn’t make sense. How do you recognize someone just by their eyes?”

Now for me, who had once scoffed at the fact that Normal Mode was easy, I felt very ashamed.

I didn’t want to go to every party just to meet Winter like the heroine in Normal Mode.

‘Instead, I’m more of a clubber who comes to me of his own accord.’

I spoke again.

“One more thing. Don’t let them notice that you’re a maid serving a high-ranking noble.”

“Hmm? Why ……”

“Just let them think it’s nothing more than an ordinary noble lady trying to secretly find love at first sight.”

“Oh! My goodness, my lady!”

Emily jumped up on the spot at my whisper.

“If it’s something like that, it would have been quicker for you to ask me about it.”

I knocked an eyebrow at her counter.

“People of the upper classes will always be the talk of the maids of honor after tea together. If it’s a single, handsome, and aristocratic male, then I’ve got the information down at ……”

“Emily.”

I interrupted her.

“Can you finish what I asked? Just answer this.”

“Please feel free to leave it to me, miss! I will find out what makes a lady fall in love ……”

“That’s not what happened.”

I clarify. I can guess what she’s rambling on about.

‘She doesn’t know anything.’

Still, Emily’s eyes continued to sparkle and didn’t seem to believe my words.

“It looks like spring has finally arrived for Miss.”

Having no choice but to roll up my sleeves slightly, I let what she saw bring her back to reality.

“Act smart. The existence of that needle depends on your performance in this mission.”

“Well ………”

“Emily, this is your chance. If you do something without authorization that you haven’t been told to do, then you really will be expelled.”

I covered my arm again once more, while no longer re-seeing the pinholes.

As long as I showed my arm, Emily wouldn’t fail to understand what it meant, and she also showed a cautious expression.

”Could it be that a bit of affection was cultivated during this time?”

Seeing that expression made me feel sorry.

At that moment.

Knock……knock……

“Miss, it’s me, Fennel.”

There was a knock at the door of the room.

Now the butler no longer opens the door without permission. But I still spaced out a few seconds before allowing him to enter.

“…… Come in.”

The butler opens the door discreetly and bows and curtsies.

“What can I do for you?”

“An invitation for Miss Penelope has arrived from the palace.”

“For me?”

I cocked my head in confusion. It hadn’t been long since the second prince’s birthday celebration dinner, and there shouldn’t be any other dinners that would be held within the palace in the recent past.

“Yes, my lady. It seems that there will be a simple triumphal banquet on the last day of the celebration.”

I knocked up an eyebrow.

What’s the deal with the palace with that guy, there’s going to be a banquet on that day.

“Wasn’t there already a banquet before? I remember it was quite grand, wasn’t it?”

“I heard that this time the banquet was hosted by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself.”

The butler’s response immediately following made me turn my head to look at him as stiffly as a machine.

“The Imperial …… Crown …… Prince . .?”