In Viscount Rufus’ carriage, which had been borrowed in advance, the three of them returned their hair color, that had been changed by style change magic, to their original color, and threw off the thin mask like makeup that covered their faces.
“Thank you for holding it in.”
“What?”
“Raccoon hunting, you wanted to do it today right?”
“Ellington.”
“Yes?”
The tallest knight commander was sitting next to him, and the long-legged Duke was sitting on the other side, so Ellington, who was the thinnest and smallest, asked back with strained patience while being squashed in a corner, but only cold eyes returned.
“It’s still nothing more than a skinny old raccoon. I’ll be waiting for the right time.”
“In my opinion, there’s not much inside. Looking at it today, he seems to be touching everything that can possibly make money……I don’t think he’s as complicated as you think, right?”
Ellington quickly rolled his eyes, and Jarga reported as well.
“……But he put assassins on the ceiling and they didn’t attack.”
“That’s what bothers me, too. He seemed to put up with us for a purpose.”
“Purpose, that’s the point. What the hell are they aiming for?”
To be honest, there were so many things to aim for inside the Duchy, and that’s the reason it has a strong defense.
There are many precious treasures in Bellstein, whose values were difficult to estimate, but none were known to the public. Albeit vaguely, one can see the enormous amount of wealth that had been accumulated.
The castle had numerous shields and The Black Wings Order. Even if a thief managed to enter, he would become a corpse before he even reached the safe.
A mere illegal businessman was not in a level to dare covet anything across the castle walls, but the Duke was specially suspicious of that. Cavill does not have the strength, money, or troops to target Bellstein.
He was, above all, a human being who was not worthy of such a great feat.
The Duke narrowed his eyes. There might be a simpler reason than that. What he wants is in Bellstein. The Marquis was a human being who would do anything for wealth.
“Ellington, as soon as you get back to the castle, I want you to investigate the Marquis’ past. I’ll have to review it.”
“To what extent are you talking about the past?”
“……Everything possible.”
“All right.”
“And one more thing. The nanny of Count Orbia, whom I released last time.”
“Ah…… Are you talking about the woman named Volladi, who was the nanny of our Little Madam?”
“Yes. Just in case you don’t know, let’s also investigate her whereabouts.”
“But I remember that she confessed all about the Count’s sins.”
“Maybe I was mistaken, but it looked like she was hiding something. At that time, our final purpose was finding out the Count’s sins, so I let her go…….but something is smelly.”
The Duke’s eyes stared sharply at somewhere.
“And I’ll find out what it is.”
Ellington opened a communication port and started his job.
* * *
Luciel crept after Ellington, who was walking somewhere after coming out of the Duke’s office. She remembered the prank that Grandpa Gillard played with her, but she couldn’t play it herself because of the height difference.
“Ellington!”
Luciel poked her head out, and Ellington turned around. But today, his behavior was somehow strange. He was wearing an unsuitable long tunic, and something flesh-colored stuck to his face.
Besides, he seemed to be sweating a lot.
“What happened?”
“……Oh, I went outside to get things done for a while.”
“Are you working?”
“Yes, I am on my way to meet an illegal loan shark. I think we need to investigate him closely.”
As soon as Luciel heard the story, a person immediately came to mind.
When it comes to illegality and money, the person who was engraved in Luciel’s mind was the Marquis of Cavill.
“Please let me know, too.”
After hesitating for a moment, Ellington confessed the whole story.
“That’s why you’re dressed like that.
Ellington scratched his head.
“Yeah, haha.”
“It’s a great tactic to trick the Marquis of Cavill and even throw a bait.”
“It was the Duke’s idea.”
“As expected of my father-in-law.”
In admiration, Luciel rolled her shiny crimson eyes for a moment.
The Marquis of Cavill moved to get information about Bellstein. He was a man who would do anything to get money and valuables. But what he really wanted, is probably herself.
He had known the existence of the Crystal Fairy from the past.
At the auction house where she met Gillard, Luciel’s eyes twinkled and he even tried to take a closer look.
‘He definitely knows that Crystal Fairies have jewel-like eyes. So…….’
Luciel remembered the last time she ran into Penelope in the capital’s boutique. If Penelope and the Marquise had also communicated about Luciel’s sparkling eyes, it was possible that he would keep coming. Maybe in other ways…….
“Little Madam. I have to go back now.”
“Yes. Thanks for telling me the story.”
What she can do now is to sort out the corruption and illegal businesses of the Marquis that she learned from her previous life.
It’s been a while and Luciel’s head was a little muddy about such information, but she decided to give it a try.
The memories from when she was living with the Marquis made Luciel’s fists tightly clenched.
“Hiccup.”
She was swept up in anger and almost created a Ruby. Luciel hurriedly returned to her room.
* * *
Reflecting his brief academy life, Kizef’s dormitory room had nothing much to organize.
There were only two boxes full of letters.
The servants from the Duke’s came and cleaned up his room to transfer the master without a hitch, and his belongings were moved to the carriage.
Instead of the school uniform that he no longer needed to wear, he changed into clothes suitable for the Duke’s Young Master, and he seemed even more like a high nobleman.
Kisef received farewells from his classmates, mostly girls, at the cafeteria in the academy. The students, who were happy to see his face, were sad and disappointed that he was leaving the academy with one measly month left before summer vacation.
“Too bad. Then this is the last time.”
“Don’t go. What should we do with our academy if Kisef is gone? Sob.”
“…….”
“Why are you leaving the academy?”
“That’s right. Why are you quitting?”
At the children’s baptism of questions, Kisef clicked the teacup down on the coaster and said:
“I’m getting married.”
“……Wh-what?”
“This must be a dream.”
“Who is it? I hope it’s not a princess?”
“Ah, if it’s a princess, I can understand.”
The girls were in shock in perfect unity and ripped off their heads trying to predict who the opponent was.
He moved his dry red eyes to the sweet dessert that other children were eating, whether the children noticed him do so or not.
He almost got all the desserts that Luciel had asked him to buy, but there was only one that he couldn’t find.
Fluffy and soft cotton candy.
The cotton candy he bought back at that time was a bit ordinary, so he wanted to give something special this time.
Because the day after tomorrow is both her wedding and her birthday.
“Do you guys know of a place that sells a special cotton candy?”
Rejecting the young ladies’ help to guide him, Kisef bowed his head to the academy’s teacher and principal, then he left.
“Come back anytime, whenever.”
Throwing the headmaster’s last words filled with regret out the other ear, Kizef slowly got on the Bellstein carriage.
He could also use movement magic, but in that case he would have to move separately from the items on the carriage, so he decided to use the gate. Especially in the capital, there were three places where one could ride on the gate, so there was no inconvenience.
Pleasantly looking at the capital’s specialty desserts piled up on the carriage and the sky-blue boxes with pink ribbons, Kizef ordered the coachman to go to the cotton candy store.
A white building with a sky blue awning had a table on the garden terrace and in there was something that caught Kizef’s attention.
“Found it.”
It was something he thought would make Luciel smile out loud.
* * *
It was already late in the evening.
Luciel used up all her memory to squeeze out the sins of the Marquis, to the point of being in pain. Earlier, she even refused a special snack from Chef Seth, which Eva recommended, and immersed herself in the task.
There were many things that the Marquis did.
Before she knew it, she saw the crimes that had filled her notebook and decided to think about when they happened.
“…I have a headache.”
But it was difficult to remember the exact point in time. Some of them came to mind, and some did not come to mind even if she died trying to remember.
‘Frustrating.’
Then she remembered not only the hurtful things the Marquis did to her, but also what Maximus and Penelope had done to her.
If she knew how to do magic when she met Maximus at the academy, she could have properly scolded him…It was so chaotic back then. Luciel unknowingly grabbed the hem of her robe and bit her lip.
Paah!
Mana gathered in the heart and created a sparkling ruby. Luciel tore a piece of her notebook apart and began to write names on it one by one.
<Hilda Volladi.
Raspard von Orbia.
Maximus von Cavill.
Penelope von Cavill.
Iaros von Cavill.
Reynolds de Sable Hendrick.>
And next to it, she wrote the most terrible and dirty swear words that Luciel knew.
Things like cockroach poop and so on.
But soon after, she was afraid that anyone would see it, so she crumpled the paper up.
Surprised by her growling tummy, she opened the door. It was late at night, so Luciel was wondering if she could get permission from Bessie to eat a snack.
Bessie was not seen in the hallway. Luciel put on slippers and walked around.
She probably went to rest.
“Huh?”
Luciel tilted her head. Thanks to this, her twin pigtails also tilted.
“What is that?”
From downstairs, something big and fluffy was coming up little by little. It was like a bunch of big pink clouds. Judging from the fact that it had long ears, it was a rabbit-shaped cloud.
“Doll? No, no.”
After reasoning for a moment, Luciel shook her head. She soon realized what it was and her eyes soon came alive.
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“It’s cotton candy.”
A Human-sized King Rabbit Cotton Candy.
I’ve never seen anything like this before. I laughed because I was amazed just by looking at it.
Luciel noticed the person who was hiding behind the cotton candy. She smiled and bit it gently. The sweet strawberry scent melted as soon as she put it in her mouth. In a bit, next to the cotton candy, Kizef’s face appeared.
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