The man deliberately ran down an alley that was difficult to pursue.

Roselia gritted her teeth as she watched the man nimbly escape, avoiding the junk and garbage piled up in the alley.

“Hey!”

Despite her call, the man ran without even looking back. Watching this, Roselia made an expression filled with anger and immediately sprinted vigorously.

Having worked as a servant, she was quite confident in her physical strength.

Moreover, she was originally quick-bodied, so the distance began to narrow gradually.

As Roselia, who seemed like she would collapse soon due to her small stature, unexpectedly clung on persistently, the man cursed and suddenly bent his waist.

As Roselia looked on in bewilderment for a moment, the man picked up a wooden stick lying on the ground and threw it towards her.

Roselia, who had been running fiercely, had to slow down and reflexively raise her arm in response to the stick flying at her unexpectedly.

Whack−!

“Ugh!”

The wooden stick hit her hand and bounced off.

When she looked ahead with a contorted face, the man had already run far away and disappeared into another alley.

Clutching her hand that was in pain, Roselia muttered curses inwardly.

It seemed too dangerous to chase any further.

The man’s companions might be hiding, and it was difficult to run with her hand in this condition.

It seemed better to inform the duke directly.

Roselia glared at the alley where the man had disappeared, then had to turn around with a disgruntled expression.

Roselia went to Klaus’s office, took a deep breath in front of the door for a moment, and then knocked.

Knock knock−

“Your Grace, it’s Antonio.”

At her voice, there was a moment of silence in the room before Klaus’s gruff voice was heard.

“Come in.”

At Klaus’s permission, Roselia took a deep breath and opened the door to enter.

Klaus was sitting at his office desk piled with stacks of documents, as usual, scanning through papers.

As Roselia approached near the desk, Klaus put down the document he was holding and looked at her quizzically.

“What’s the matter?”

Since it was rare for her to visit the office directly without being summoned, Klaus put the document down on the desk and waited for her to speak.

Under his gaze, Roselia hesitated for a moment.

What should I say? That devil’s snare is hidden on the school grounds?

This was information that could only be known if one knew the original story.

Generally, it was impossible to know what was hidden on the grounds.

Even if she said it, if he asked how she knew, it would be difficult to answer.

“Antonio?”

As she remained silent with her mouth firmly shut despite coming with something to say, Klaus called her name quizzically.

Finally organizing her thoughts, Roselia met Klaus’s eyes with a determined expression and opened her mouth.

“It’s about the school site under construction in Algrishia village.”

Starting the conversation, Roselia swallowed dry saliva once while observing Klaus’s expression, then continued.

“I think it would be good to conduct a thorough investigation.”

“What do you mean?”

When Klaus frowned one eyebrow and asked quizzically, Roselia took a deep breath and carefully opened her mouth.

“Well… I heard some bad rumors. That something illegal is hidden on the school grounds…”

At Roselia’s words, Klaus got up and approached her, leaning against the desk with his arms crossed.

“Who’s saying such things?”

“It’s not that someone said it, but rumors…”

At Roselia’s words, Klaus let out a scoff with his arms crossed and twisted his lips.

“Antonio, speak plainly. Do you think the duke’s family would be in the dark about such rumors? As far as I know, there are no such rumors circulating about the school grounds.”

At this sharp point, Roselia was at a loss for words.

But she had no intention of giving up.

Perhaps this incident could be a matter of life and death not only for Klaus but for herself as well.

If the imperial family discovered the devil’s snare hidden on the school grounds as in the original story, Klaus’s route as a traitor would be all but confirmed.

After pondering, Roselia met Klaus’s eyes with a determined expression and spoke word by word.

“Just this once, couldn’t you trust me and thoroughly dig up the school grounds?”

At Roselia’s words, Klaus exhaled in exasperation and added coldly.

“Exactly where are you saying to dig up?”

In the original story, it was only explained that devil’s snare was hidden on the school grounds, but there was no description of exactly where on the grounds it was hidden.

Unless she directly asked the man she missed yesterday, there was no choice but to dig up the whole area.

Roselia frowned at the frustrating situation even to herself.

“That… I don’t know either…”

Seeing Roselia bow her head, Klaus sighed and rubbed his forehead in irritation.

“Haa, Antonio. Construction has already been underway for quite some time. Are you saying we should flip over all that land?”

“But… there’s definitely something on the school grounds. Please, just this once, believe what I’m saying…!”

As Roselia was expressing her frustration, even waving her hands, she suddenly had to make a startled expression as Klaus approached and grabbed her wrist.

His gaze was now fixed on her swollen, red hand.

“What happened to your hand?”

It was where she had been hit by the stick thrown by the man she was chasing.

If she said she had chased a man who came out of the school grounds, Klaus would surely get angry first, so Roselia deliberately avoided his gaze and replied nonchalantly.

“It’s nothing, I just bumped it slightly.”

“You call this bumping it slightly? Don’t tell me… you went to the construction site?”

“…”

Realizing her silent affirmation, Klaus released her wrist and roughly ran his hand through his hair.

“Haa… Antonio. Please don’t do unnecessary things.”

“It’s not unnecessary…”

At Roselia’s rebuttal, Klaus glared at her coldly as if in warning.

“I won’t hear any more about the construction site. I’ll instruct the head butler about your hand, so make sure to get it treated properly.”

“…”

Roselia glared at Klaus, feeling frustrated and uneasy.

She wasn’t saying this for her own benefit, but for his sake, yet he stubbornly refused to listen, which was exasperating.

At this rate, Klaus alone would bear the imperial family’s disgrace, just like in the original story.

Feeling frustrated, Roselia glared at Klaus for a long time before turning and leaving the office.

Klaus, who seemed to be checking documents after returning to his desk, lifted his head and looked towards the door after Antonio had left.

Seeing the wound on Antonio’s hand, he felt strangely angry.

Even if Antonio’s words were true, he didn’t want to involve him.

Seeing the wound on his hand made that feeling even clearer.

It was all to warn him not to meddle for his own sake… seeing him leave in a huff without understanding his own intentions made Klaus feel frustrated.

As the documents no longer held his attention, Klaus slowly got up and walked to the window.

A deep sigh escaped from Klaus’s lips as he nervously ran his hand through his hair.

As the sun was setting, Roselia, hiding her body among the construction materials at the school site, flashed her eyes sharply.

In the end, out of frustration, she had infiltrated the school grounds alone.

If Klaus wouldn’t believe her, she planned to find convincing evidence to show him.

With that thought, Roselia scanned her surroundings while holding her breath.

He will definitely appear again.

Because criminals always return to the scene.

Moreover, after what happened with her yesterday, he would surely come back to check on the hidden items out of anxiety.

After crouching like a stray cat for a long time, finally, the sound of unfamiliar movement was heard.

A dark shadow was entering the construction site, looking around more cautiously than yesterday.

Roselia, who didn’t miss confirming this sight, quietly followed behind him, even muffling the sound of her footsteps.

Fortunately, the man didn’t easily notice her, perhaps due to the darkness around.

And soon, the man arrived at a certain point and began to dig the ground.

It was a place that would never be noticed unless one paid close attention, as there was so much dug-up ground at the construction site.

The man who dug up the ground confirmed that the items were safely there, filled the sack he had brought additionally today, and covered it with soil again.

She, who had watched this scene while hiding until the end, waited for the man to get up and leave the construction site.

And soon after the man’s presence disappeared, Roselia carefully got up and approached the ground the man had dug up.

Using a shovel nearby, Roselia dug up the ground and could confirm several sacks hidden neatly in the soil. Roselia’s shoulders stiffened as she opened the sacks to check the contents.

Devil’s snare… it was indeed devil’s snare.

As Roselia was examining a few pieces of devil’s snare, her gaze suddenly fell on a wooden pillar visible directly in front of the dug-up spot. There was something small engraved on the pillar. It looked like a mark indicating the location of this place.

As she was intently looking at that mark, suddenly a loud noise was heard above her.

Crack−!!! Creak, creak!

Roselia, who looked up quizzically, froze for a moment.

The huge pillars set up as the basic framework were collapsing.

When the startled Roselia looked towards the exit, she could see the man she thought had disappeared looking this way.

Damn it, he must have realized the devil’s snare was discovered and was trying to cover up the truth.

By the time she had that thought, the pillars were already collapsing above her.

Roselia closed her eyes tightly and covered her head.

And at that moment, something solid wrapped around her and covered her.

Crash− Boom!

Roselia, who fell down with the tremendous noise, couldn’t come to her senses.

And as the noise finally subsided, Roselia opened her eyes, puzzled by the fact that she felt less pain than expected.

Only then did she realize she was in someone’s arms, and she turned her head in bewilderment.

She could see Klaus, who was lying on top of her protectively, breathing heavily.

“Your Grace…?”

Klaus, with his brows deeply furrowed, held her tightly and warned in one word.

“Don’t move, Antonio.”

Thanks to the pillars collapsing and interlocking, a space just big enough for two people to lie down had barely been created. If those pillars collapsed wrongly, the two could be in even more danger.

Although she understood the situation logically, the intimately overlapped bodies were too explicit to think properly.

It felt like her heartbeat would be transmitted to him due to their entangled legs and touching chests.

Moreover, Klaus’s rough breathing was pouring directly onto her forehead.

Roselia tried to turn her head to hide her reddening face.

But then she felt something damp on her hand that was unconsciously wrapped around his back.

With only the light seeping through the pillars, it was difficult to discern the liquid on her hand, but as a pungent scent touched her nose, Roselia could easily guess the identity of the liquid.

“Blood…?”