A reluctant answer flowed through the gap.

“……Miss Kelly has no surname.”

“Ah.”

Delphine stared intently at Ioan, who was imitating a nobleman, and finally added a word.

“I see.”

Delphine did not miss the moment when Ioan’s lips, which had been wearing a mask-like smile, trembled slightly.

Should I push a little more?

Thinking this, Delphine opened her mouth again.

“If it’s not rude, may I ask where you met Miss Kelly, ‘Lord Pryde’?”

“……By chance, during work.”

“You seem close enough to call her by her first name.”

“……Not really.”

“Then how long have you been acquainted with the refined Miss Kelly?”

“……Not exactly.”

This man, really.

Delphine’s eyebrows rose sky-high.

Red hair and green eyes.

Having a woman with such blatantly noticeable features visit his home, yet acting so shamelessly oblivious?

“You said trophy.”

She stared at him standing with his hands behind his back, feigning calmness, and spat out.

“Do you have a special taste in trophies?”

Paradoxically, as soon as she spat out that question, it was Delphine herself who was hurt.

As she called herself a trophy, she seemed to hear the sound of cracks in the pride she had grown up with as the only heir to the Pembrook family.

However, when the man slowly opened his mouth, her cracked heart shattered with a cold sound.

“……That’s right.”

The man, standing as stiff as a statue, added with an expressionless face.

“Tastes don’t change easily, after all.”

Delphine bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

After chewing on her lips for a while, she glared at the man and retorted.

“That’s right. Taste usually reflects a person’s class.”

Before he could reply, Delphine quickly continued.

“Just as a guest’s class represents the host’s class. ……I suppose it’s the first time someone without a surname has stayed in this mansion’s guest room?”

The man’s mask-like composure finally cracked.

Delphine savored the intense sense of defeat and inferiority that appeared on his face as she slowly passed by him.

In the end, she stood her ground and broke his pride.

But strangely, leaving him in the empty hall left a very bitter taste in her mouth.

[This is the timeline separator]

As evening fell, the blizzard’s fury intensified.

The windows rattled ominously despite having been tightly secured earlier.

Delphine was deeply buried in her boudoir chair, lost in thought.

Ioan had shut himself in his study since the morning’s incident.

Had he been somewhat hurt by her words?

No, why should I care about that?

‘Whatever it is, now’s my chance.’

Let’s meet Glasscock first before dinner and have a talk.

He should have warmed up enough by now.

Kelly, that woman…….

Delphine bit her lip hard as she thought of a woman unpleasantly similar to herself.

Let’s deal with Glasscock first, then ask Kelly what her relationship with Ioan was.

“I’ll go down before dinner.”

Delphine, who had sprung up from her seat, added while checking Anna’s reaction as she was knitting.

“……I’m bored.”

“Oh my, are you going down like that, madam?”

“Why?”

“Well……”

Anna gently sat her down in front of the boudoir’s dressing table.

Only then did Delphine discover the vivid red mark on her nape and was shocked.

“When did this……”

Her words trailed off as a memory suddenly came to her.

This morning.

When Ioan had pounced on her like a dog trying to bite its master.

Realizing this, Delphine’s face turned bright red.

“I’ll prepare this dress for you, madam.”

Anna said, as if understanding everything, and brought out a silver dress from the dressing room.

It was a design with a collar that came up to the neck.

Delphine quietly accepted her service without saying much.

However, as she stood in front of the mirror after changing, she remembered Kelly’s deeply cut dress.

“……I think it might be too plain. I think I’ll wear the ruby necklace too.”

With the buttons done up to her neck, she felt her appearance looked a bit stuffy.

Delphine asked Anna to put her hair up and wore a necklace with rubies adorning the ends of pearls.

“You look absolutely beautiful. It especially suits your hair color so well.”

Anna praised her young mistress with a satisfied face.

It might be a bit much, but there are guests in the house.

Delphine, convincing herself thus, left the boudoir.

[This is the timeline separator]

One of the guest rooms on the first floor corridor quietly opened.

The mansion, battered by the blizzard, was extremely quiet.

The servants, who had already finished their winter preparations, were huddled together in rooms, sharing body heat and casual conversation.

Only the eerie sound of windows being shaken resounded in the cool corridor.

What appeared in that quiet corridor was Kelly, dressed in a splendid pink dress.

She had been inevitably guided to the guest room.

No matter how common she might be, she had come as the master’s guest.

It was a decision made due to the special circumstances of the snowstorm, as she couldn’t be made to stay in the maid’s quarters, but Kelly had thoroughly misunderstood the intention.

‘Indeed, my choice was not wrong.’

Just the fact that she almost spent the night with that marquis allowed her to stay in such a noble mansion.

So, if she really did spend the night……?

That would be the end of her miserable life in District 3.

‘Moreover, I have information about ‘them’.’

She looked around the quiet corridor and moved, holding her dress skirt.

She was about to head towards the stairs leading to the second floor.

“Kyaa……!”

Someone suddenly grabbed her hand.

At the same time, a large hand covered her mouth, cutting off her scream.

Kelly, who had been dragged into the dark shadow under the stairs, quickly erased her surprised expression and narrowed her eyes.

“What are you doing coming all the way here.”

Glasscock, who had removed his hand from her mouth, spat through gritted teeth.

As if they already knew each other, there were no new introductions between the two.

“Do you know how dangerous this action is? I risked my life because of you.”

“Speak plainly. You came here risking danger to silence me, didn’t you?”

She added in a mocking tone.

“Afraid I might tell the Marquis about your precious ‘revolution headquarters’.”

Glyn Glasscock could not bring himself to answer those words.

It was true that he had received orders from headquarters to eliminate her if her betrayal became certain, to silence her.

So instead of answering, he asked another question.

“Why now of all times? Don’t you know that in this weather you can’t escape and will be trapped in the mansion with that man?”

“Who do you take me for, a fool?”

Cally, whose wrist he was holding, retorted coldly.

“That’s why I came. …Neither you nor the capital defense forces can interfere for days.”

“Just tell me what you’re trying to do coming all the way here.”

“What else?”

Cally’s eyes flashed with madness as she quickly spat out.

“I’m going to attach myself to the Marquis. You saw his damnably pretty wife, didn’t you?”

“What do you mean…”

“They say that woman was also a commoner, no, even worse off, but the Marquis saved her through marriage? Would it be a problem for him to take me as a concubine?”

Glyn Glasscock’s grip tightened on her wrist.

He said through gritted teeth.

“Did you approach us from the beginning to extract information about Pryde? How long have you known about that man?”

“Long before that man was reborn as the devil of District 3.”

Cally smiled sinisterly.

“You’re investigating how that man suddenly gained such great power, aren’t you? I know one of those secrets.”

“What are you…”

“Of course, I have no intention of telling you now.”

Glyn Glasscock gritted his molars as he looked at the woman speaking mockingly.

Vile woman.

She seemed to cooperate readily, saying ‘the nobility’s hypocrisy is disgusting’…

Who would have thought she was hiding such a scheme behind it.

“We thought you were joining our great cause.”

At that, Cally burst out laughing.

“Surely not! Freedom? Revolution? Don’t make me laugh. Do you think the barrier that has endured for three hundred years will crumble just because of your efforts?”

“You…!”

Just as the enraged Glyn Glasscock was about to shout something, both of them froze simultaneously.

Swish.

The sound of silk skirts brushing was heard from atop the stairs.

[This is the timeline separator]

It was when Delphine Pembrook had left her chamber and was heading towards the guest room on the first floor.

Her eyes caught sight of Cally walking down the stairs.

She was wearing a different dress from the one Delphine had seen in the reception room.

Whether it was her taste, it still seemed to be adorned with plenty of decorations and lace.

‘For someone who claimed not to know about the blizzard, she even packed her luggage in advance. How blatant.’

It was the custom of the empire for commoners to bow their heads first when encountering nobles.

However, Cally, whom Delphine met halfway up the stairs, did not offer greetings first no matter how long she waited.

Instead, she openly looked Delphine up and down.

Those green eyes were quite persistently examining the ruby necklace around her neck.

It was a look that said, That could have been mine−.

‘Blatant. In many ways.’

Easy to use, that is.

…Perhaps it would be better to approach Cally before Glyn Glasscock.

But would she really cooperate with her willingly?

As Delphine was inwardly weighing this, Cally, who had been staring at the necklace, suddenly spoke.