?

“Ah, what time is it…….”

Nicole opened her eyes to a sudden headache.

She had been a light sleeper since she was a child.

She could hear a strange sound in her ears, like tinnitus. More precisely, a chirping sound. It was so intrusive that it made her stomach clench when she opened her eyes.

It was that moment. Nicole had a strange feeling. The ring she’d gotten from Grace was glowing blue.

‘Is the ring making…… sounds?’

Nicole jumped to her feet.

She knew how to use it: press the groove on the back of the ring.

‘Grace said it must be broken, but…….’

Documents appeared, just as they had in Raul’s ring in his past life. This ring also had the power to store documents.

?

?Report on Freya YvesChapel?.

?Freya YvesChapel was found in a city near the Holy Land while on the run.

She was pregnant at the time of her discovery.

…….

Freya’s daughter is still alive.

She can be used to revive the Marriage Pact and use it as a hand to delay the request to marry into the Imperial family.

January 8, 332 Imperial calendar, whereabouts still unknown.

January 4, 334 Imperial calendar, whereabouts still unknown…….

Whereabouts are still unknown…….?

‘I’ve read this before.’

In the ring Raul gave her in her last life.

It was a report from Raul’s men searching for Freya and her daughter.

But why did this document come from Grace’s ring and not Raúl’s?

‘How could this be?’

Nicole questioned.

‘There’s one more document.’

Nicole hurriedly flipped through the pages. She realized that if she touched the page, it would turn to the next page.

?This letter, in case anyone finds out, I will officially say I did not write it.

Scion of the House of YvesChapel.

It concerns the pardon of the Grand Duchess Nicole.

Grand Duchess Nicole de Freya.

If she, now Nicole Valentine, will accept your betrothal to Celia after your divorce, I will grant your request.

The House of YvesChapel will not be spared, but Grand Duchess Nicole Valentine will be freed from her traitorous status.

I will allow her to live in the comfort of ordinary nobility. I will allow her to live the rest of her life in peace, and I will protect her for life.

The terms of the marriage remain unchanged, of course. This is an additional offer.?

A half-torn piece of paper.

It was an unfamiliar document, and it was handwritten by someone.

‘This letter was written by…….’

Nicole’s heart sank.

The letter didn’t say who it was from. But it wasn’t hard for Nicole to guess who it was from.

Only the Emperor could make such an offer to Raul.

‘No, that’s not possible……. Are you telling me that Raul has asked for my good graces in exchange for divorcing me and marrying the Princess?’

She had never played the part of a Grand Duchess. All her life she had hated and loathed Raul.

Nicole felt her world as she knew it crumbled.

“Ah!”

In the blink of an eye, the documents she had been reading were gone. Nicole tried to press the ring again and again.

But the documents she had just read never came back to her, as if it had been a dream. Nicole woke up and checked again.

But this wasn’t a dream, it was real.

“Maybe the ring is malfunctioning?”

But even if it was, it was in a past life. Nicole lay awake all night with questions she couldn’t answer.

?

‘What was that……?’

Nicole sat at the checkout counter and tapped her fingers on the wooden desk.

In front of her at the worn desk were a few receipts, silver dollars, and coins, all neatly organized.

It’s been a few days since she arrived on her first assignment. Nicole’s post wasn’t in some high noble’s mansion or battlefield.

It was a general store and teahouse in the center of the capital, but in one of its most secluded alleys. What made it different from other teahouses was that there was a separate place to pay.

The counter and cash register were covered by an iron shield with tons of tiny holes, so people couldn’t see the face of the clerk sitting at the counter.

‘I thought she was a clerk at a general store.’

General stores like this were common in the commoner neighborhoods.

They sold all sorts of things and, after lunch, cheap tea and soda.

Nicole even baked cookies in the morning in the store’s attached kitchen.

She had bread and sweets delivered, but they only came every few days and tasted terrible, so she didn’t want to serve them.

She thought to herself, “It’s worth it that Mother taught me how to bake bread and cookies when we were hiding in the mountains. I never thought it would come in handy like this.”

Of course, no matter how much Raul disliked Nicole, he wasn’t going to make a valuable Sith agent just selling tea and cigarettes.

The store existed for a reason.

Click. Ding.

Nicole heard someone throw a rock behind the chair she was sitting in. She pulled her hood up and headed for the wall, where there was a small back door.

“Sister, I’m hungry. Can I get something to eat?”

It was a child with his hat pushed down low. Nicole bent down to see the child.

“Poor thing, just wait a minute.”

Nicole dug into her apron and held out some bread and sweets wrapped in paper. At the bottom were a few silver coins wrapped in another piece of paper.

The boy pretends to take the cookie from Nicole and nudged her hand. When the boy’s hand dropped, there was a small folded note in Nicole’s hand.

“Thank you. May you be blessed.”

“I put a special ingredient in them this time. Eat them slowly, and when you get hungry, feel free to come over with your friends.”

“I like Sister better, because you’re giving me freshly baked cookies instead of tasteless bread.”

The boy chuckled and looked inside, then looked around and whispered quickly. Nicole raised the corner of her mouth invisibly. She closed the back door.

She set the note down on her desk and unfolded a fresh sheet of paper. The note read.

– 9:10. Son of a bitch. Spent the night in a gambling house on Lustrier Street…….

– 10:30. Bastard, out of the capital in a carriage…….

Nicole scribbled it down on a piece of paper. Several other notes were similarly densely packed.

There would probably be more this afternoon. And she’d be spying on others.

That was the raison d’être* of the shop.

[T/N: purpose]

For some reason, the boys who delivered notes like this one were called Leafs by the higher-ups. Several times a day, these boys would come and go.

And every single one of them called Nicole ‘Sister’.

“Hi, Sister.”

This time, someone flicked the blinds. Nicole squinted through it, then stepped outside.

Before she knew it, cat-eyed Dagger was sitting at one of the tables, staring at her.

Dagger was dressed like a poor high school student today. Even with his hat pushed down, it was hard to hide the fact that he was a handsome boy.

Dahlia had seemed taller when she was a girl, but now that Dagger was a boy, he was just the right height and was skinny.

“Did you used to be a Leaf, too?”

“I was a Leaf for a while.”

“But why are they called the Leafs?”

“I don’t know, maybe because Shadows has the name of a flower.”

“So when do I get a name?”

If she doesn’t get a name, she will not be provided with accommodation and activity expenses. Nicole was getting room and board and a stipend for her activities now, but it was nothing compared to the perks the Sith enjoyed.

She didn’t need the money right now, but she was growing impatient for merit.

“When your apprenticeship is over.”

“When does an apprenticeship usually end?”

“After you’ve done well on your first assignment.”

He’d give me an answer, but he wasn’t going to give me any specific information. After all, Raul would make all the decisions anyway. Nicole knew it.

“I smell cookies.”

“…… Can I get you a cup of tea?”

“Sure.”

The shop was so out in the back that most of the time it was empty like this.

In fact, the Leafs were the reason Nicole was baking cookies, and she rarely had any other customers.

Early in the morning, Nicole set out plates full of freshly baked cheese and cranberry cookies. She brewed a fresh pot of tea and set it down in front of Dagger with the cookies.

Dagger eyed the cookie suspiciously for a moment before shoving it into his mouth.

“What did you put in these to make them so good?”

“I don’t know, by sleight of hand?”

“Are you giving these to me because I’m your boss at work, to get along?”

“No, I’m giving it to you so you’ll eat it and stay away from me, because I’ve had enough of getting my ass kicked by Dahlia.”

Nicole said without changing her expression. Dagger rolled his eyes as she sipped her tea.

“Nicole, were you really serious with Dahlia, like friendship or something?”

“I thought I’d have at least a …… decent female coworker. I never thought I’d have a male coworker my age.”

Dagger chuckled, as if he thought that was funny. The look in his eyes was a little like Estock’s. I had just learned that they were best friends.

‘They say that humans are creatures that pass on traits and characteristics from generation to generation.’

Nicole wanted to click her tongue.

“I’ve got all the intel this morning, but who is the…… Son of a Bitch? I’ve got a lot of other intel, but he’s the only one who’s being spied on everything, and we’re using Leafs.”

Gambling. And who Raul named the Son of a Bitch.

Nicole had already guessed who he was. But she didn’t tell him.

“Oh, that’s because the Son of a Bitch has a pretty high profile, and if we get caught sending a mole, we’ll have to deny that our Grand Duke had anything to do with it. Leafs are easy to cut off tails, right?”

“Who the hell is …… by any chance—”

“Care to guess?”

Someone said then. It was from the front door.

A man slowly walked into the store, pulling back the curtain in front of the door.

‘I didn’t even hear the door open.’

The moment he stepped inside, the mood in the small shop changed instantly. Nicole stiffened as she stood with her back to the partition.

“What brings you here?”

Dagger stood up. Raul didn’t answer, just stared at Nicole.

“Good morning, Grand Duke.”

Nicole said in a low voice, her eyes downcast. She didn’t want to look at Raul’s face, not because she didn’t want to, but because of what she’d seen last night…… her heart fluttered unpleasantly again.