***

“Noona, what kind of magic did you do?”

“I must have made something delicious since Dagger loves my cookies. I guess I’m good at making tasty treats with my hands.”

That evening, Dagger and Nicole met at the general store as promised.

As Nicole walked into the shop, taking off her coat, Dagger, who was waiting in a chair, gave her a stern look.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m your boss, so why don’t you tell me the truth?”

“I thought such things were just formalities and all shadows are equal?”

“But I’m also Dagger.”

Nicole nodded, completely convinced by that.

“It’s just a coincidence, really, when he took a liking to me and asked me to come over to the mansion to prepare for tea and drinks, how could I refuse?”

“Noona, you know the way you lie is so insincere. What if I turn on you for doing something our Grand Duke didn’t ask you to do? It would hurt quite a bit to be punished directly by him, don’t you think?”

“Ah, you should cover for me. I deserve it for feeding you all those tasty treats.”

“Ah. Noona is really…!”

Dagger laughed in disbelief. The boy’s feline eyes glowed blue.

“What do you really want?”

“To get ahead.”

“You’re smart and pretty, so I know it’s a shame where you come from, but I’m sure there are ways to get ahead.”

“You think so?”

Nicole said.

“You know what it’s like for a girl with a half-decent face who doesn’t have a decent status, since even a pretty boy like you has to go through a lot. I know that, even though I’m not blessed with exceptional beauty.”

Dagger was silent. She has a point. Nicole realized that Dagger was looking toward her and spoke softly.

“Dagger. Believe it or not, it’s not just the glamorous life I want; I want to have the honor, the money, the whole nine yards, just like the proper knights of the Sith.”

“It’s not exactly glamorous when you’re hiding out in someone’s house undercover in the first place, is it?”

“Who cares if the road to get there is a little rough, as long as you know where you’re going, and…….”

Nicole said in a low voice.

“I have beliefs, too.”

Today, Nicole is Karen. A back-alley girl from humble beginnings. A woman who doesn’t know who her parents are and has lived a nearly criminal life.

She’s the kind of woman who’s used to speaking in crude terms and talking about money. So Nicole decided to explain her current status.

“When I say I want to make a name for myself, I mean that I want to do the right thing, and after all, the whole country praises the Grand Duke, and I want to help the most wonderful person I know, so I’m just greedy to make a name for myself.”

Nicole said. She suddenly realized she had talked a lot today. Dagger smiled faintly.

“Our Grand Duke is a much better man than that asshole, but you know, you become an asshole when you deal with an asshole.”

“Well, that asshole is the most admirable ally I’ll ever have, anyway……. Don’t doubt me.”

Dagger gave a small sigh.

“……I understand, then, but I want you to stay away from Grace’s house until this mission is over. I don’t want you to get involved with her, and I don’t want you on any future missions.”

“I understand.”

Nicole said in a small voice. It wasn’t much of a penalty; she’d been sleeping alone on the second floor since she’d started working here anyway.

The first floor was a tea house, but the second floor was for staff sleeping quarters. It was safe and fully secured.

“By the way, if you can, try to leave the mansion at night and come back. It’s not safe for someone like you to be in that bastard’s mansion all night.”

“What do you mean by someone like me?”

“You attract the bad guys, don’t you know?”

Dagger said. Nicole was beginning to wonder how old Dagger was.

When he finished, Dagger stood up.

“Goodbye, Dagger.”

Nicole waved goodbye to Dagger and went upstairs.

After a while, Dagger turned his head toward the darkness.

“This …… do you still want to interrogate her yourself?”

“Yes.”

Raoul replied briefly.

They spoke in low voices, barely audible.

“It sounds like a lie, so I don’t know where to start.”

“But noona, I mean, Agent Karen, is…….”

Dagger started to say.

‘At least she seemed sincere when she said she wanted to work for the Grand Duke.’

No way.

The same thing as what happened to Sienna shouldn’t happen twice. Dagger thought. Raul was silent for a moment.

He had a habit of frowning slightly, without wrinkling his brow, an expression that enhanced his good looks and made him look cruelly handsome. This was that look now.

“She’s a nuisance, that woman. No one is worth a long tongue.”

Raul said briefly.

“We’ll see.”

Dagger said.

But strangely, Dagger had the feeling that Raul cared a great deal about her. It was a touch he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

***

The next day, her peaceful undercover life resumed.

‘This house……. Something’s wrong.’

Nicole quickly noticed the discrepancies. First, there were times when the hired hands were never allowed to move about the house.

At 7 p.m., the butler would ring the bell and go around the manor.

At that time, boarders would return to their bedrooms, while nonboarders would either return quickly or retire to the common room for an hour.

Some days Gaston was home, some days he wasn’t.

On the days he wasn’t, he’d usually go to courtisan’s house or spend the night at a private gambling house. But the rules were always the same for his employers.

“This is the time when our Marquis prays to the Lord. Be quiet and follow the Marquis as he prays for the faith.”

When the hired hands asked why they weren’t allowed to move around at that hour, the butler would cough and say something like that.

‘Has Gaston have any faith? Even a passing dog would laugh.’

Gaston was a scoundrel and a psychopath. When he was in a good mood, he would harass a passing maid then give her money. The next day, when he was in a bad mood, he would slap the maid on the cheek.

But, strangely enough, the butler would go out the back door to greet someone.

<I think they’re smuggling something, and if my guess is right, it’s…….>

Dagger rattled off the details.

<Remember, smuggling and tax evasion aren’t going to bring down the Marquis of Saratheve. Those sorts of sins are usually committed by those in power. Anyway- there are two ways to do it. Either you blow the big one out of proportion in a way that can never be turned away by the imperial family. Or you make him a traitor.>

A little of both would be nice.

<Noona, I think Gaston is up to something underground.>

Dagger quickly found a clue. After a thorough sweep of all his employees, Gaston consistently disappears underground. And the suspicious crates that came in through the back door all headed underground.

<Something smells fishy. There’s something down there…….>

Nicole agreed. The tense atmosphere in the house got even stranger after seven o’clock.

There were fewer servants than in other mansions, thanks to the unruly owner, and the servants, tired of the drudgery and the whims of their master, were silent, and their mood was no better.

<Did you ever succeed in breaking into the basement?>

<I’m afraid that would be a problem: this is a very old mansion. In other words, this was built when the power of the seven great families was stronger than it is now.>

<What does that mean?>

<The door to the basement can’t be opened unless you’re Gaston, and this house has a door that was installed a long time ago by people from House Sotia.>

That meant it was a magic tool. The Sotia family, now headed by Grace, were masters of magic tools.

<It’s a kind of magic identification device, so you have to open and close the doors yourself, and if the owner of the manor manually locks the door to the basement, there’s no way to open it – unless the ancestors of the Sotia family who helped design this house come back to life.>

Nicole pondered the words.

‘If what I am thinking is correct…….’

Then they must enter the underground. There is a secret there that will destroy Gaston.

‘You owe you a debt from my last life.’

Gaston owes her a debt, a grudge from a past life.

And this grudge is long overdue. It was the Saratheves who helped destroy the YvesChapel family.

In a way, they were responsible for the ruin of Nicole’s life.

In her last life, she had been too exhausted to dwell on it.

But this time was different. Nicole was clear-headed and able to recognize her situation.

‘In three years, Raul will destroy Gaston, but it won’t be enough. After all, Gaston survived with the help of the imperial family. We have to make sure that even if the imperial family gives Gaston a way out, it won’t matter.’

Nicole was determined to see this through, and she needed to take strong action.