Chapter 33

The fear brought about by the sudden decrease in favorability struck me deeply.

Already frightened by the world, I didn’t even have the residual energy to pay attention to the potential dangers around me.

I slowly moved Gu’s trembling hands behind my back, stirring and fiddling with my fingers in an attempt to hide the fear in my heart.

Then I opened my mouth.

“…… Sorry, I didn’t realize this was a secret space. It was rude of me.”

Even though my whole body was dominated by fear, I tried to suppress the urge of my whole body wanting to tremble and raise my chin to face him.

I had to act like a haughty, unafraid of anything, and arrogant noble lady.

But this feeling is terrible.

Probably not expecting such a soft and sweet yet confident voice to come out from under the mask, Winter looked a little surprised.

“…… Then please head this way.”

He made a gesture.

“This is no place to talk business.”

He politely guided me away from this place.

It seems like he really, really doesn’t want me to stay here any longer.

As he slowed down as much as possible, I stared at the top of his head, still keeping an eye out for any other system prompts to appear.

According to the system alert, I did start the quest ‘Mysterious Base’. However, I haven’t seen any failure or success alerts yet.

After witnessing Winter’s favorability drop, I thought that entering and exiting this place without being detected was the real ‘secret mission’.

If that’s the case, then the mission must have failed.

Wouldn’t the hard mode alert of a failed mission?

‘What kind of game is this? I’ll never grind to accept this kind of mission again.”

As soon as I came to his side, he turned towards the front of the corridor with terrifying speed.

”Do you think I’m a bad person who would hurt a child?”

All sorts of negative emotions tumbled through me.

Though I shouldn’t have sneaked into this place in the first place. But I hadn’t done anything but help and play with these kids for a while.

Just then.

“Noble aunt! Bye!”

“Let’s play together next time.”

I turned around and five tiny figures wearing masks waved towards me.

The child who had covered for me earlier and was wearing a lion mask moved his index finger to his mouth and made a silent gesture.

”What cute kids.”

I felt a little apologetic about leaving without having the chance to thank them.

I also waved my hand to them as a sign of thanks. Even though they couldn’t see my expression, I smiled at them.

Then I notice the man in the rabbit mask stop and wait for me to follow him.

I jogged to keep up.

And like that, we walk without a word and in silence until we leave.

‘How the hell did things get to this point’

Along the way, I just stared melancholically at the [3% Favorability] progress bar.

If it wasn’t for those kids jumping out to help me, I probably would have become an outlaw under Winter’s wand.

Originally, I wanted to use Winter as a filing in order to prevent Ikris’ favorability from dropping.

But now …… as long as Winter’s favorability doesn’t plummet anymore I should be thankful.

”Phew……”

I let out a deep sigh.

The return trip always seemed to be shorter than the trip there. Winter stood by the door, sidling up to me and waiting for me to go out.

I put on a good face and clouded over as I passed him and left the passage.

Winter followed in my footsteps and exited the passage as well. Only to see him turn and point his wand at the door.

The door, which was still half-covered, slowly closed.

”Hm?”

I stared dumbfounded at the area that changed back into a wall.

The gap that was there a few seconds ago just disappeared as if it had never existed.

Even if I was still inside just now, I wouldn’t necessarily be able to recognize the location.

Compared to my taste of surprise, Winter looked very calm.

Wynter didn’t seem to care that I was watching him work his magic.

He waved his wand several times as if he were locking several complicated locks on the wall, and eventually he lowered his hand and looked over at me.

“Thank you for taking care of those children.”

“…….”

“But it’s too late for commissions, so please come back another time.”

Honestly, I expected him to ask how I got in there.

Listening to his words, I looked out the window.

Looking out at the sun, which was just past noon and already beginning to sink in the west, I once again realized how much time I had inadvertently spent.

Emily must have noticed me sneaking off.

“…… It’s over.”

‘Looks like a good ‘talk’ with the Duke is inevitable.’ ,’

It’s an embarrassing situation that makes me want to cry.

Since it’s come to this, I decided to stick to my guns and fulfill the reason I came here in the first place.

“I didn’t come here to commission a quest, but I came here after receiving a message from the white rabbit.”

“A……”

“I waited here for quite a while yet no one showed up. While I can come back another time, I’m afraid I don’t know when I’ll be free again.”

Even though I definitely have plenty of time I act like I’m busy and won’t have time to come again.

Because, this is the arrogance that comes with being a duke’s daughter.

“While I was waiting, those kids just happened to come out of there to ask me for assistance.”

Do you understand? It’s because you were late, so it’s not my fault.

I pointed at the wall and unabashedly displayed a ‘It’s your tardiness that made me wait so long, not my fault that I had to run in there on purpose.’ The attitude of

Winter looked a little uncomfortable ever since I mentioned the term white rabbit.

Even for a magician, he wouldn’t have known that the intruder who broke into the secret base today was the customer he had informed earlier.

Surprisingly, he obediently bowed his head and apologized towards me.

“I am sorry to offer my deepest apologies. Most customers come over a day or two after they receive another message …… I did not expect you to arrive so soon. It was my fault.”

My face suddenly reddened. Luckily the mask hid my expression.

‘What? Do they have such shallow rules?’

How could I possibly know that nobles usually come over a day or two after receiving a message?

Now, instead, I’ve become that client who just received a message and rushed to pick up the results of the commission.

The general description of the commission was one

“Desperately want to find a man I met at a party.

It’s quite possible that Wynter realized that he was the man I was looking for when he received the commission.

After all, he was the one I was aiming for when I wrote the narrative about the ‘handkerchief’.

The very thought of it, oh dear. I didn’t dare pick up my head to look at him.

“Pretend I didn’t say anything about this. Just get even.”

I spit out the words vaguely and turned around, ready to leave.

Right now I didn’t want to think about anything about the mission or the original plan at all. I just wanted to get the hell out of here before I could think about these things.

Just as I was about to leave the white rabbit’s merchant group a

“Wait.”

His almost startled voice stopped me.

“Please stay.”

“…… What is it?”

Unable to take any more steps toward the exit, I turned back around.

Pupils the color of navy blue eyes looked toward me, meeting my eyes.

“I couldn’t let a benefactor who took care of those children just leave, especially since I kept you waiting in the first place.”

A huge question mark rose in my head.

‘Why does he suddenly want me to stay? Wasn’t he just itching for me to leave quickly?’

I reject his overly polite, pompous remark.

“It’s okay. It’s just a show of hands, it’s not as impressive as you make it out to be ……”

“Then please give me a chance as an atonement for not trusting you.”

Winter interrupted me and said with conviction.

I was going to turn down the offer he made, hoping he’d make it up to me next time.

I had to hurry back to the Duke’s mansion before things got too complicated.

As well as, the matter of having to change my plans because of accepting the hidden quest.

But in that instant, the text above his head flashed a few times.

[Favorability 6%]

I’ve changed my mind.

“…… Then let me hear the results of the investigation I entrusted you with.”

I sat down on the couch.

Winter walked around the coffee table and sat directly across from me.

He waved his hands in the air a few times.

A whole set of tea sets appeared out of nowhere and just landed and floated in front of us.

Once seated, I watched in fascination as the tea relics automatically poured tea into the teacups.

The mask on my face hid my curious expression.

“Please taste it.”

With his slow downward gesture, the teapot settled on the table.

I picked up the teacup and took a sip of black tea at just the right temperature.

Winter spoke up.

“…… I don’t know if you know, Miss, but the number of people in this world who know that the leader of this organization is a wizard is very small.”

‘I also know that you are a Marquis.’

This superior thought suddenly appeared in my heart, while on the window I only nodded my head to show that I knew.

“Also, no one who’s ever been here has ever been able to get home on their own two feet.”

I nearly spit out the tea I’d just taken in.

Setting my teacup down, I replied in a cold tone.

“…… What? Of course not, that’s a crime.”

Wynter replied in a panicked voice.

“I mean, the magic of losing their memories would be cast on those people to make them fall asleep. That’s why they’re not walking back on their own two feet.”

“Cough, cough!”

Feeling a little embarrassed by the Void Realm, I cleared my throat.

“According to the original rules, I’m supposed to erase the young lady’s memory, but ……”

Contrary to me, Winter he calmly continued his words.