The Peaceful Life of a Maid Who Hides Her Power and Enjoys It

<Episode 14>

I blinked quietly.

The investigator seemed somewhat dissatisfied. It seemed that suspicions deepened in the gaze that was looking at me.

“What did you do before coming to this city?”

I think I answered that question very well.

Though I had no intention of cooperating with the investigation, considering the head maid’s situation, I did it sincerely. 

The head maid must not be troubled. She’s my boss, my cash cow.

. 

“So, to put it simply,”

The finger of the investigator tapping the table gradually accelerated.

“Miss Daisy Fager is from Blue Ben, a port in the south of the Empire, you have a younger brother in your family, and you came up to Midwinterre to get a job?”

I nodded. This is the fake identity I made up in order to work as a maid.

“The distance between Midwintree and the south coast is not small, so why did you choose this city?”

“Just because.”

“You really don’t have any reason?”

“I don’t have one.”

As if contemplating something, the inspector folded his arms and closed his eyes.

Originally, I’d expected that I would go through this process after I was accused of assault.

However, the investigation seems to be more focused on me rather than the assault itself.

Come to think of it, the inspector said something as soon as he came in.

“I’ll be straightforward, we found a singularity in your identity. It may be annoying, but we will have to get to this point.”

A singularity in status?

‘They must know I’m a Queen Island survivor.’

But something was wrong. If they already knew my identity, there was no reason to conduct the investigation this way. They could simply warn me, ‘Miss Bertie, why are you using a fake identity?”

“Sigh, Miss Fager? You seem young and innocent, so I’m going to say this as an older member of society.”

This guy is trying to bait me.

“It would be better for you to be honest in this investigation without any lies. I’m not trying to persuade you with some lip-service, but if that’s what Miss Fager wants…”

As if he wants to get confirmation from my own mouth, that means…

‘It means that the information about my identity is uncertain.’

This person is not simply investigating the assault of Baron Fedegail..

Someone anonymous is digging into my identity through an investigator. Going through the lengths of extorting some military intelligence.

“So, just identify yourself.”

Who could it be? There’s no way to know.

Then there’s nothing we can do.

Let’s kill him.

‘No, that’s not it. You can’t kill him, he’s a civilian, not an assassin.’

Let’s threaten him.

This option seemed much better. Threaten him to open his mouth, or shut it down altogether to make things easier. That way, the head maid won’t be troubled either.

“Don’t think too much. You’re still young, and you have a lot of possibilities ahead. But there are times when we’re young that we can get caught up in useless things. If you try to hide anything further, things will get bigger. You may be treated unfairly.”

“…….”

I changed my mind a little.

The investigator in front of me seemed sincerely concerned about me. I felt sorry for thinking to treat him like an associate of the merchant’s association.

“Who?”

Maybe I should hit him less and just threaten him.

Whatever the method, there was an issue at hand that needed to be sorted.

“Who is it?”

“What?”

“Who’s spying on me?”

For a moment, it seemed that the investigator froze in his spot. I’d hit the nail on the head, and he was left speechless.

Thud.

The door, which had been firmly closed, opened coolly. Beyond the door that swung open roughly enough to hit the wall, a tall presence stood tall. As if another wall had been made.

The grandstander was a very tall, moderately slim, but somehow threatening man.

The next thing I recognised after his outstanding height was a stiff, wobbly straw hat.

Wait, a straw hat? In a big city interrogation centre like this?

As soon as I was puzzled, my eyes met with the gloomy eyes that shimmered in gold.

Subconsciously, the other person’s name came to my lips.

“Rue?”

As if he knew it now, his flowing, soft eyebrows rose up and then down.

“Daisy Fager.”

Rue, who casually called out my name, stuck his chin out to me.

“Come out.”

Holding a brown bag full of vegetables and dairy products in one hand.

Before I could ask how he’d come here, he began to walk away.

“Should I follow you?”

My confusion was short-lived. I quickly got up before the investigator could stop me and pursued Rue. The investigator, who was sitting in a daze, finally came to his senses and followed us.

“Hey, wait! Who are you? This is not a place that outsiders can enter recklessly. Get out now!”

His back, dressed in a neat shirt and a dark-gray vest, shook slowly in front of my eyes.

Wearing a straw-hat on top of a classy suit.

The noticeable imbalance seemed to further support Rue’s brilliance.

“Senior!”

A young man who suddenly popped out of nowhere stopped the investigator who was on our steps urgently.

“Whoa, whoa. Calm down for now. You don’t have to be angry. The work of investigating is done now. It’s no longer within our hands.”

“What? What does that mean?”

“If I could have your ears for a moment…”

Their whispers were clearly audible to my ears.

“Baron Fedegail has dropped the charges.”

“What?”

“A letter of withdrawal of complaint has just arrived through his secretary. Isn’t it sort of funny? People are so impatient these days, if we don’t catch the person instantly, they make a fuss…”

“That’s not a problem. Daisy Fager’s identity check is separate from the incident – it was ordered from higher authorities.”

The scuffle between the two men only grew longer.

I walked out of the police station pretending I didn’t hear them .

The warm spring sunset poured down, blessing the freedom I’d gained after half-a-day.

‘The higher authorities are watching me.’

Power to keep the police at bay and extract military intelligence secretly.

Few people own both.

‘The boss must be an aristocrat.’

The aristocrat I do not know is interested in me, and the police investigator wasn’t sure of my identity.

This meant that I wasn’t investigated because I was a Queen Island survivor, rather, the fact that I was one was only information gained while I was already being investigated.

The other party is someone who got to know me after I got a job at the Weatherwoods.

When all of this information is put together, there can only be one person I can deduce to be the ‘higher authority’ that the investigator mentioned.

“The client.”

The guy who keeps sending assassins to the Weatherwoods. He’s trying to kill me now. As expected, the most plausible one is him.

Rue was suspicious at first, but if it were Rue, he would torture me directly and hear the truth. That would be the easier way.

But if the client is an aristocrat, then the suspects can be narrowed down.

Flowy.

I, who was lost in thought, raised my head suddenly to the turret heard right in front of my nose.

There was a dirty wagon parked in front of the police station. It was a cart used to move fertiliser from farms.

“Get in.”

Rue, who got on the wagon and sat on the straw, directed me with his head. Surprisingly, the assassin-butler was the one who was driving the wagon.

It was funny to see him gently lower his hat in politeness and pretend to be only acquainted with me.

Are you a horseman now? He really does play in all sorts of directions.

A passing little child suddenly exclaimed.

“Wow! It’s a country wagon! Dirty!”

“Don’t go near it. You’lll get sick.”

I jumped up on the wagon before the attention of the people around me increased. As I leaned my back at an angle, Rue held out the paper bag he was holding in his arms.

“Why didn’t you just kill him? Then you wouldn’t have bothered me with my work.”

Such deadly irritation.

I buried my head quietly in the paper bag to admit my mistake. Quality potatoes and carrots came into view with a fresh smell of soil.

I didn’t see these this morning. Did he go out of town to get these crops?

As I gently raised my head, I saw Rue’s face with his eyes closed.

“What about the head maid?”

“Our precious boss let us leave work early. I heard she had a place to stop by, she’s busy too.”

I was convinced as I stared at Rue’s angelically beautiful face.

You used your hands.

Baron Fedegaill would not have dropped the charges without him, nor would Rue have brought me back in time in person otherwise.

But what did he do?

“If you continue looking at me like that, you’ll burn a hole in my face.”

I asked cautiously, ignoring his blunt nonsense.

“The baron, did you kill him?”

The eyelids opened and the golden eyes were revealed. I looked into his eyes and whispered,

“Is there something on my face?”

“You shouldn’t say that anywhere, Miss Daisy. It’s a perfect way to be misunderstood.”

Rue smiled with his back to the carriage.

“At times like this, when you’re helped, you could say things like, ‘I will not forget what happened today until I die,’ or say, ‘I will be your slave as a token of thanks,’ or ‘Let me lick your feet, my lord.’”

Do you really think I’d say that?