The handmaids of Simon were not entirely wrong.
For him, a mere viscount’s son, to treat Princess Ivnoa as a casual ‘friend’ would simultaneously lower her dignity. He vaguely understood that much.
Ivnoa wasn’t just a ‘girl’; she was the legitimate heir representing the imperial family of Tayen.
On the other hand, he held no authority of his own. He couldn’t afford to make her a laughingstock—not for her sake.
There was no way to return to how things were before. Secretly being friends? That was nonsense. Such an arrangement would only lead to mistakes. It was better to maintain a clear boundary from the start.
But, to stay close to her as much as possible, to protect her, he needed to diligently rise higher himself.
Even as he resolved this, he quietly stared at a photograph from their childhood.
It was a time that would never return, a memory only he now held onto. A time he could neither forget nor discard.
***
That afternoon, it happened.
“Kayan! Sir Kayan!”
Hans came running, his face full of urgency.
“You need to come, quickly!”
“Why?”
“Well…”
Hans, gasping for breath, explained.
“The head of the Red Falcon Information Guild and the madam of the Laisano Tailors are here!”
What? He hadn’t even struck or threatened them, nor made any demands. How could they have come so soon?
As he stepped out of the room, Ivnoa, who occupied the room opposite his, was also just coming out. They met face-to-face.
“Let’s go.”
Her eyes blazed with fiery determination, a stark contrast to her delicate and graceful appearance.
“To teach those swindlers, who deserve to be whipped a hundred times and hung upside down in the streets, the proper cost of their actions.”
Kayan swallowed nervously as his eyes instinctively darted to her waist, checking if she had a sword—just in case she planned on threatening anyone.
Rolling up her sleeves, Ivnoa instructed, “Kayan, don’t say a word. If they ask you anything, just alternate between saying, ‘Is that so?’ and ‘Do you take me for a fool?’ Then, at some point, act bored and say, ‘I’m tired of dealing with this,’ and stand up to leave.”
In the end, he agreed to do as she asked. Like when they were pages, she often knew things he didn’t.
“Leave the rest to me.”
Ivnoa flashed a confident smile, her eyes narrowing into crescents.
***
I headed to the drawing room with Kayan, Hans, and Connie, sighing involuntarily as I walked.
“The drawing room itself is a problem.”
Though it was a noble estate, the drawing room was in a sorry state of neglect.
Even though the knights cleaned it diligently, that was the extent of its maintenance. The space, meant to welcome guests, was barren and uninviting.
Sure enough, as soon as we approached the corridor, the voices of the two people in the drawing room reached us.
“Really, who would call this a noble’s residence?”
“It’s just a house of ignorant mercenaries, isn’t it? Still, under the circumstances, let’s humor them.”
“Yes, we’ve gotten the money anyway.”
Though they spoke in hushed tones, the poor soundproofing of the Barcklith estate made their words crystal clear.
“Did you hear what happened when they entered the palace?”
“Of course. I heard they sat next to the coachman, as if they were of the same status!”
Their conversation was dripping with scorn.
I quickly whispered to Kayan and Hans, “Don’t react as if you heard them. It’ll only make us look more ridiculous. Got it?”
Hans, his face red with anger, fumed, “Damn it, I want to hang them upside down from a tree and beat them!”
“Are you crazy? Don’t spout nonsense. At the very least, we should hang them from the bell tower.”
A tree? What a modest and adorable punishment.
“But doing so will just give them more reasons to mock us. Hold it in.”
Hans, taking my advice, let out a deep sigh to calm himself.
“Alright, go.”
I signaled to Kayan with my eyes.
“Just follow the script I gave you, respond sparingly, and leave. I’ll handle the rest.”
As if it had all been planned in advance, I hid in the hallway while Kayan, always composed, strode confidently into the drawing room. The moment he entered, the two inside immediately sat upright and greeted him properly, as if they hadn’t been mocking anyone moments ago.
“We greet the young lord of the Barcklith Viscounty.”
“May peace remain within the family. It is an honor to meet you, young lord.”
Their flawless manners stood in stark contrast to their earlier derisive conversation.
Kayan took the seat of honor, and Connie served refreshments.
Thank goodness for Connie, I thought as I observed the scene from my hiding spot.
The northern knights don’t even know the basics of serving tea.
“Refreshments? We’re supposed to prepare those? Like a snack table? How about piling up some cookies on a table so people can pick and eat with their hands? Oh! To flaunt Barcklith’s wealth, why not fill a cup with tea laced with gold flakes—”
“Before I shove those gold flakes down your throat, shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I’ll do it myself.”
Connie had definitely adapted well; there was no need to worry. She still stammered a little in front of the towering knights, but she never failed to speak her mind.
At least the guests didn’t suspect that Connie was my maid; they accepted her presence naturally.
Once the atmosphere settled, the first to speak was the Red Falcon Information Guildmaster.
“Um, it seems there was some sort of misunderstanding. While I did mention that finding a real estate broker was challenging, I never said it was impossible.”
He fidgeted as he handed over a document.
“Here is the person you were looking for.”
Kayan took the document and, upon checking the photograph, muttered, “It’s them.”
The guildmaster hesitantly asked, “Um… by any chance, were you the one who mentioned to the surrounding information guilds that ‘Red Falcon couldn’t find them’?”
Kayan lifted his head from the document and, with a sharp gaze, retorted, “And if I did?”
Overcome with emotion, I clasped my hands over my mouth.
I had originally instructed him to say, “Is that so?” But his improvisation was perfect! That’s Kayan for you.
How intelligent, how brilliant! A rare genius indeed!
The guildmaster stammered, “Ah, well, it’s just that there were other priorities on our end, so we were a bit delayed. It wasn’t because we lacked the ability.”
As expected.
This was precisely what I had instructed Hans to set in motion.
“Go back to the alley where the other information guilds are gathered.”
“Yes. And then?”
“Go during lunch, when it’s busiest. Then, say you’re here because the Red Falcon Information Guild couldn’t locate the fraudulent real estate broker you met during the property contract.”
The Barcklith Viscounty had no network of connections and thus couldn’t spread rumors effectively. Additionally, using another information guild wasn’t an option since guilds, despite being competitors, often colluded behind the scenes.
So, I decided to use the guild’s own clientele against them.
“The information guilds can’t outright admit, ‘We ignored them because they’re from the Barcklith Viscounty.’ If they did, their clients might collectively lose trust in all guilds.”
“Really?”
“As a result, even if they hear about it, they’ll pretend they didn’t. Meanwhile, rumors that Red Falcon is incompetent will spread like wildfire.”
Naturally, the other guilds would have reported this back to the Red Falcon Guildmaster, forcing him to scramble to locate the real estate broker.
“Only visit one guild! Don’t go to multiple ones!”
I had foreseen this outcome from the beginning, which is why I gave such specific instructions.
In my past life, trapped for eight years, I frequently read newspapers and magazines.
The maids, with their usual false kindness, would comment,
“These are just articles meant to pique the public’s curiosity. The real truths are all held by the information guilds.”
“You can’t read the world through things like this. The world is far more complicated and rough. Information guilds operate in ways that…”
Although their intention was to instill fear of the outside world in me, those remarks had given me a rough understanding of how information guilds worked.
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