“It’s a simple story. Let’s say you’re planning to steal my doll.”
“Stealing is a bad thing, Idel.”
“…Okay. Then let’s say you secretly borrow one. Would you take the teddy bear I hug every night or the teddy bear that’s been stuck in the toy box for over a year?”
“Hmm, I’d take the one you’re more attached to. That way, you’ll come looking for it the next day.”
With no hesitation on Gianna’s face, Idel narrowed her eyes.
“Not that. What about the one that’s easier to take?”
“If it’s the easier one, then of course it would be the teddy bear in the toy box, right?”
“Exactly. I’m going to become that ‘teddy bear in the toy box’ to the servants. And I’m going to see who plays tricks on me.”
“I see…!”
Gianna exclaimed softly, understanding Idel’s metaphor.
Feeling a sense of pride as Idel nodded, as if to say it was good that she understood, Gianna couldn’t help but feel her chest swell with pride.
‘Just like with Ivan and the Countess before… My sister must be a genius!’
She reminded herself of how effortlessly Idel tackled difficult tasks, just like their dad at work.
‘Sometimes, when she focuses, her eyebrows move just like Dad’s.’
As Gianna imagined Idel rolling a pen in her office like Duke Clementine, she smiled brightly.
At that moment, Diane, who had been listening to Idel, raised her hand.
“Um, Miss Idel, I have a question! Are you letting them bully you to figure out who the instigator is?”
“Well… something like that?”
“Then wouldn’t it be safer for me to point it out directly? No, if they know you’ve reconciled with Gianna, I think they’d go quiet out of instinct… or maybe not?”
Her initially bold voice gradually shrank. As Diane glanced nervously, Idel silently agreed.
‘That’s true. It’s quite reasonable.’
But at the same time, Idel didn’t believe they would behave themselves out of instinct.
She had heard Melisa say on the stairs, “It’s time to bully Idel.” They were even planning to stir up the servants.
‘But I can’t say that.’
Swallowing the secret she couldn’t share with the two, Idel blinked innocently and replied.
“Hmph, they’ll only act like this for now. And doing this will create an opportunity.”
“Opportunity…?”
Idel’s gaze swept over Diane, who was mimicking her words like a parrot.
‘From her expression, it seems she’s not completely clueless. She must have some idea, though.’
Thinking that Diane was vaguely imagining something like “an opportunity to catch them all,” Idel calmly nodded.
“Yeah, exactly what you’re thinking.”
“Oh, I see! All at once…!”
Just as I thought.
Idel smiled with satisfaction, confirming her guess was correct.
Of course, it was a mistaken assumption.
When Diane confessed in Idel’s room before that the servants were plotting something and that she was worried about her, she had caught a glimpse of Idel’s true feelings.
‘If I tell the Duke and Duchess, all the servants will be dismissed, but she said she didn’t want to do that.’
Diane, who had boldly imagined Idel waving her hands in denial if she heard that, finally reached the wrong conclusion.
‘So, Idel is giving them a chance!’
She’s going to step in at the decisive moment after finding out about the servants’ mischief.
In reality, she knew that they hated her and were plotting something lowly. Yet she hadn’t informed her parents.
‘Then she would express her true feelings! They did wrong, but she couldn’t just tell the Duke and have them kicked out of the Duke’s residence…! She’s giving them one more chance!’
The scene of Idel standing confidently with her hands on her hips, supported firmly by Gianna, and the astonished servants unfolded before her like a picture.
‘It’s thrilling.’
And it’s incredibly moving.
To give the servants a chance and endure their bullying to win their hearts…
‘Indeed, Idel is really…’
With a stuffy nose, Diane secretly wiped her tears and looked at Idel with determined eyes.
In her eyes, Idel was already forgiving the servants for their wrongdoings.
‘Our lady is just like a protagonist from a novel!’
She especially resembled the main character from the recent popular novel in the empire, “The Villainous Lady Pretends to Know Nothing.”
‘Our lady is even smarter than that heroine!’
Comparing the printed heroine to Idel, she bit her lower lip slightly and smiled proudly.
Meanwhile, unaware of the thoughts of the two, Idel lightly cleared her throat.
“So, you both understand what to do, right?”
“Yes! Of course! Honestly, I’m a bit… upset, but I’ll pretend to fight with Idel well!”
“Me too! I’ll do my best to slander Miss Idel to my colleagues and find out how they plan to bully you!”
Listening to the strangely enthusiastic words of the two, Idel calmly nodded.
“Good, work hard. Oh, and Diane.”
“Yes, Miss Idel?”
“There are one, um, no, two more things you need to do…”
Idel pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Diane, who looked at her with wide eyes.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Sigmund was in a foul mood because of that damn customer.
It hadn’t been long since he last saw them, and now they were rubbing the ring again.
While waiting indefinitely for Idel in front of the twin raven emblem, Sigmund burst out in anger.
“Why the hell doesn’t this damn ring don’t have a communication function?”
Even his master, Vilred, seemed a bit awkward about sending him out so suddenly, muttering to himself that he should have given a communication artifact, even if it wasn’t as secretive…
“Tsk!”
He swept his black hair back with one hand and slowly leaned against the wall.
Sigmund pushed his black hair back with one hand and leaned against the wall, his eyes gazing up at the ceiling.
In fact, Sigmund knew the reason for his bad mood wasn’t just Idel’s frequent calls but his master’s behavior.
‘What the hell is going on?’
Since the wedding of Ivan Ernest and Countess Bright, his master had been acting as if he had left his mind somewhere else.
He had been neglecting his daily life and magic and was being overly sensitive to himself and his surroundings.
‘No matter how I think about it, there’s something about that symbol.’
Sigmund still remembered his master’s expression that day. The moment he heard that the curse on Idel came from her biological mother, Melisa, who bore that symbol, Vilred definitely showed a different side.
His serious gaze, the subtle tension in his hands, and his tightly closed lips.
‘It’s suspicious no matter how I think about it.’
As he raised one eyebrow, he absentmindedly kicked a stone on the ground.
At that moment, a tall shadow, which couldn’t possibly be Idel, stood in front of Sigmund.
“Excuse me…”
“What is it?”
“Is that you, Sigmund?”
With a wary expression, Sigmund raised his head and squinted his eyes for a moment.
He hadn’t noticed at first because she was wearing a hood, but upon closer inspection, it was the maid who always accompanied Idel.
“You really were waiting here, just like she said?”
Realizing that Sigmund recognized her, Diane smiled and took out a letter.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a letter from the young lady to your master. She asked me to deliver it quickly.”
“What does it say?”
“Well… I don’t know either.”
Diane shook her head, saying she had no idea about the contents of the letter.
Resigned, Sigmund took the letter and lightly examined both sides with one hand.
“…There’s nothing here.”
As Sigmund inspected the letter repeatedly, a slight smile appeared on Diane’s lips.
Despite his grumbling, his careful examination of the letter made him look like a child throwing a tantrum for not being able to meet his best friend.
‘Idel, really. She became friends with someone just like her.’
So cute, indeed.
They even hold hands every time they meet.
As Diane watched Sigmund with a fond expression, she checked the time and quickly said goodbye. She had come out under the pretext of Idel’s ‘malicious errand,’ so she needed to hurry.
“Well, I’ve delivered it, so I’ll be on my way! Let’s meet again when we have the chance!”
“…”
He was so focused on one thing that he even forgot to respond.
As Diane turned away, lost in her unfounded delusions, Sigmund, holding the letter, fell into a moment of contemplation.
Should he intercept the letter and read it or not?
