Although she received the order from Sylvia to keep an eye on Idel, Veronica had no intention of getting deeply involved in this matter.
From the start, ‘Idel Clementine’ was someone outside her interest.
‘There’s nothing to gain from Idel Clementine, obviously.’
At best, she was a second daughter who didn’t have much to offer, and her prickly personality made it difficult for her to shine in social circles.
Above all, Veronica planned to leave the Duke’s residence with Demaric once he received his guarantee.
This meant that Idel was not someone she would serve for long.
So, whether the unrefined maids harassed her without knowing their place or not, Veronica intended to overlook it as long as they didn’t cross the line.
‘Of course, there’s a limit to turning a blind eye.’
It wouldn’t matter once she left with Demaric, but for now, she couldn’t let any problems arise. It would put her in trouble, and Sylvia too.
‘What if Sylvia loses her credibility and can’t grant Demaric’s request?’
In that sense, it was fortunate that she received instructions from Sylvia rather than Rose.
‘I have to do well so that my darling can succeed. What else can I do?’
The memory of their fingers intertwined as they parted ways that evening suddenly flooded her mind.
However, such sweet thoughts were short-lived.
Returning to the maid’s quarters, Veronica frowned at an anonymous letter addressed to her.
[Veronica Wands. I know your secret.]
Just a single line.
The letter, crafted from cut-out newspaper letters to obscure the handwriting, crushed Veronica’s mood with just those words.
“What is this…?”
Clutching the letter as if to crumple it, she hurriedly looked around, but it was a pointless action. There was no way the sender would be around.
In the end, all Veronica could do was tear the letter apart with a mix of irritation and anxiety on her face.
“Seriously, what kind of bad luck is this!”
Breathing heavily, she frantically tried to think.
‘Nothing has happened yet. That letter doesn’t exactly pinpoint my relationship with Demaric, right? It’s fine.’
Veronica decided to ignore the torn pieces of paper. She needed to find out who was behind this ridiculous act.
But how wonderful would it have been if everything had unfolded as she hoped?
Contrary to Veronica’s wishes, the anonymous sender continued to send letters without getting tired.
[The ring looks good on you.]
[Your cousin is a bit funny. Did you really think you wouldn’t get caught?]
[I wonder what would happen if the head maid found out.]
Unlike the initial letter, the increasingly elaborate content clearly indicated that the anonymous sender knew the truth.
“Ugh! What is this? Who the hell are you?”
She had thought it wouldn’t be easy, but pinpointing a suspicious person was more difficult than she had imagined.
Unlike Idel, who kept whining about things disappearing from her room, she couldn’t just interrogate people with a single command.
‘If I did that, I’d have to explain myself to the head maid.’
Of course, she could argue that her things were disappearing too, like Idel’s, but…
‘If the anonymous sender exposes me after that, it would be a disaster.’
The growing anxiety gnawed at Veronica’s heart little by little.
And on a day when her sensitivity reached its peak—
Clang!
“What… is this ring?”
Veronica found herself caught off guard by someone she never expected.
By Idel Clementine, whom she had always ignored and brushed aside.
To tell the story of how Idel successfully caught Veronica’s weakness, we need to turn back time a little.
To be precise, it was from the moment Gianna volunteered to become the ‘postman.’
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Not long ago, in Gianna’s secret hideout.
“What? Veronica is lying to Sylvia?”
“Yeah. Even though she knows the servants are bothering me, Veronica hasn’t told Sylvia the truth.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
A scream that was not quite a scream escaped from the old wooden house. Gianna was in shock after hearing this shocking fact from Idel.
‘Of course, it’s half the truth.’
Thinking that Gianna might have been too loud, Idel glanced at Diane, silently urging her to chime in.
Diane quickly caught Idel’s gaze and nodded rapidly as she spoke.
“Um, Idel is right, Miss Gianna. There are some servants who have stolen Miss Idel’s things, and she ignored them even though she knew.”
“Really? Stealing things is very wrong.”
“Uh-huh…”
Watching Gianna’s face fall in disappointment, Diane suddenly recalled the conversation she had with Idel.
‘Don’t mention Veronica and Demaric to Gianna. Just say that Veronica is ignoring the servants who are bothering me. It won’t affect the plan.’
“Huh? But why…”
“Are you really asking because you don’t know? If Gianna finds out about that… Ah, never mind! Just do it that way.”
At that time, she had merely been puzzled… But seeing Gianna’s reaction directly now made her feel like she understood why Idel had said that.
‘Just with this fact, she’s upset, so she thought knowing the truth would hurt Gianna, huh?’
A pang of emotion hit her heart. While Diane was lost in her thoughts, Idel felt a different kind of relief.
‘Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like she’ll run away. I’m glad I only told her half.’
If I had revealed the truth between Veronica and Sylvia, she would have undoubtedly lost her sense of justice and stormed out. Sylvia was quite an important person to Gianna.
Idel shook her head lightly as she imagined that scenario and clapped her hands to regain the attention of the two.
“Anyway, I’m planning to scare Veronica a bit. Like a ghost prank.”
“A ghost prank?”
“Yeah. When she comes back to her room, there will be letters from an unknown person every day. Threatening letters saying, ‘I know your wrongdoings’. But she doesn’t know who wrote them or when they were left.”
“Wow! So, you want to make Veronica repent for her mistakes?”
“…If possible?”
The chances of that happening were probably very slim.
While Idel internally countered Gianna’s words, Gianna’s expression brightened, and her eyes sparkled.
“But how are you going to pull off this ghost prank?”
“Making the letters is easy. You can just cut out letters from a newspaper. The problem is how to deliver them. I could just slip them through the crack of the door, but…”
After hearing Idel’s words, Gianna tilted her head for a moment before raising her hand excitedly.
“I’ll do it! Me!”
“What? Gianna, you?”
“Yeah! Veronica and Sylvia’s rooms are close, right? I pass by there almost every day! It’s near the second study! I’m sure I won’t get caught by anyone!”
Seeing her sparkling eyes as if asking for trust, Idel fell into thought.
‘If I change my perspective, Gianna might be the most suitable person for this.’
First of all, aside from Diane, the people of the duke’s family wouldn’t know that she and Gianna had reconciled.
‘Moreover, Gianna is one of the most active people in the Duke’s household.’
This wasn’t an exaggeration; it was the truth.
From the duke’s office to the stables, there was nowhere in the duke’s residence that Gianna hadn’t set foot in.
As a duke’s daughter, she should normally be accompanied by maids, but…
‘I heard the Duke gave up because she’d been running around so much since she was little?’
If that hadn’t been allowed, Gianna wouldn’t have been able to come out of her hideout and plot together now.
Of course, the duke didn’t grant permission thoughtlessly; it seemed he had poured a tremendous amount of funds into creating a protective artifact specifically for Gianna.
After briefly gazing at Gianna’s wrist, Idel shook her head lightly to clear her thoughts and spoke again.
“Okay, let’s do that.”
“Really? You’re leaving it to me?”
“Yep.”
“Yay!”
“Then that’s settled, and the only thing left is Veronica’s ring, right?”
Ring?
Just as a question mark was about to appear in Gianna’s eyes again, Diane, who had been quietly listening, spoke up first.
“You’re preparing for the possibility that Miss Veronica won’t repent from the ghost letter prank, right? That ring is special. So, I was thinking of a way to use it…”
Diane smiled awkwardly at the two pairs of blue eyes looking at her intently and cautiously pointed to her own palm.
“What if we use the incident from when I hurt my palm a while back…?”
