As soon as Madame Histin left, Elise headed to the Crown Prince’s palace with a bottle of fine liquor. Lucas, who had been seething at the fact that Floyd had entered the city on a carriage, accepted the drink Elise poured for him, saying, “Only you understand my heart.”

The sleeping pill mixed in the alcohol took effect quickly.

Elise looked down at Lucas, who was crumpled and deeply asleep on the sofa, with cold eyes. She entered Lucas’s bedroom without anyone’s interference. Elise knew what was inside the secret safe behind the painting hanging on the bedroom wall.

Elise’s movements were swift as she removed the painting and opened the safe.

Elise took out a land deed from inside the safe. It was a deed for land in the Ibenue region in the southwest of Gania.

Hiding the land deed deep inside her skirt as she came out, Elise whispered to the sleeping Lucas.

“I’m not trying to sell this land, Your Highness.”

Having already borrowed 200 gold from a moneylender, she needed collateral to borrow more. There was a network among moneylenders, and if Elise, who had already borrowed 200 gold, tried to borrow more, they wouldn’t lend without collateral.

“I’ll get it back soon. So don’t worry.”

+++

Floyd burst into laughter as he watched the caretaker of the mansion near the palace squirm.

“Still as petty as ever!”

Although there was no subject, everyone present knew who it was directed at. The caretaker was shocked by Floyd’s words that made the Crown Prince of his country seem petty, but he bowed his head even lower as he secretly harbored similar thoughts.

Before departing for Gania, Floyd had rented the mansion. An errand boy had even put down a large sum as a deposit, but the Crown Prince had recently issued an order prohibiting passage to crack down on the gypsies who were causing a commotion in the capital.

The number of gypsies entering and leaving the capital was similar to usual, and there was no particularly dangerous incident, but the knights had no choice but to strictly guard the Royal Road according to the Crown Prince’s orders.

Naturally, Floyd’s party couldn’t even set foot on the Royal Road and received the deposit back from the mansion’s caretaker in front of it.

The knights guarding the front of the Royal Road glanced nervously, not knowing when Floyd might explode, but fortunately, Floyd mounted his carriage after tossing and catching the pouch of gold coins.

Floyd shook the pouch of gold coins ostentatiously towards Roxiana.

“I won, Roti.”

“Indeed. I didn’t expect Lucas’s pettiness to exceed my imagination.”

On the way here, Floyd had said that the entrance to the mansion might be blocked because of Lucas, and Roxiana had retorted, asking if he could really be that petty. Thus, in the bet that started, Roxiana lost, but since there was nothing at stake, they both just laughed it off.

Floyd had rented a mansion a bit away from the city center in preparation for this. Though not as grand, it was a beautiful mansion once used by a marquis family.

While the employees were unpacking, Floyd deployed knights here and there to guard against potential assassins.

Roxiana entered her room and sank onto the bed without even looking around.

In fact, she had been tense ever since entering Atanta City.

Two years since her family died and she was branded a slave. She had finally reached a distance where she could touch them.

‘This is just the beginning.’

Elise would not be happy.

The daughter of a destroyed family from the colonized Kingdom of Kanta. Elise, who had nothing, became the Crown Princess without any preparation, so there was no one to reach out to her.

‘You probably didn’t know.’

Despite being a survivor of a family destroyed for committing a crime, Elise had lived with care in the Ider Palace. Of course, there were people who didn’t look kindly upon Elise, but no one openly pointed fingers at Princess Roxiana’s best friend.

So she probably didn’t know.

How cruel the noble world could be. How cold it could become.

She intended to turn Elise’s world, which was already sufficiently harsh, into a barren wasteland where nothing existed.

Roxiana, who had been staring straight ahead without blinking, lowered her gaze at the sensation of something brushing against the back of her hand. Lion was pressing his nose against Roxiana’s hand. On top of Lion’s head, Niss, the white otter, was lying down, staring at Roxiana with purple eyes.

As if they were comforting her, Roxiana smiled faintly and stroked the two animals. The soft fur wrapped around her fingers. Whenever she felt like she might turn into an evil spirit, the warmth shared by these two animals softened her heart.

“You know, I plan to stay here for a long time from now on, becoming a thorn in Elise’s heart.”

Elise would find Roxiana unbearable. Everything Roxiana did would reach Elise’s ears, and each time, she would make clumsy moves out of anxiety.

“I’ve laid out many things, so I won’t need to use my own hands anew.”

Roxiana’s eyes darkened as she scratched the bridge of Niss’s nose.

“If only I could find Lanian while I’m here. If only I could discover even a trace of him.”

Roxiana let out a short, fragmented sigh and looked out the window. She had sent someone to the Litten Salon before entering the capital, so it should be time for them to arrive soon.

As expected, not long after, a person in a fine tuxedo with a wide-brimmed hat half-covering their face arrived. They looked like a man, but when they took off the hat, long black hair flowed down.

It was Madame Histin.

After taking a sip of the drink Roxiana had personally prepared, Madame Histin said,

“So this is it. The guild master highly praised Master’s drink. He said once you taste it, you can’t forget it. It wasn’t an exaggeration.”

Madame Histin stared at the drink for a while in wonder before saying,

“I’m meeting Elise tonight.”

“Did everything go well?”

“Of course. It’s flowing exactly as Master predicted. I didn’t expect her to invest such a large sum, even going into debt.”

“Is she making additional investments?”

“Yes, the child I sent earlier came back and said she handed over a land deed to a moneylender.”

“A land deed…”

“I heard she borrowed 2,000 gold. After borrowing, she went to the shopping district and bought dresses and accessories. She probably bought quite expensive things, not wanting to lose to Master.”

The corners of Roxiana’s mouth lifted slightly before returning to their place.

‘You’ve gone too far, Elise. Stealing a land deed.’

She didn’t think it was Elise’s land. The King and Queen wouldn’t have generously given land to the Crown Princess they disliked.

‘Perhaps it was land Lucas gifted her, but…’

In any case, she won’t be able to get that land deed back.

“Oh, and Elise really did steal the fan. I didn’t expect her to do such a vulgar thing… How did you know? That she would steal the fan if I said I had another appointment later?”

“I was only about half sure myself. But it seems she really did steal it.”

Wanting to know how far Elise had fallen and how desperate her situation was, Roxiana had instructed that if they met Elise, they should talk in a private room and then say they had another appointment and ask her to leave. And Elise, left alone, stole the fan.

“Did she sell that fan?”

“That’s the really strange part…”

Madame Histin furrowed her brow, thinking about how to explain, then leaned forward.

“I think Elise went to the neighboring city and sold it herself.”

“Is that strange? There probably isn’t anyone in the palace who would secretly move for Elise right now.”

“She acted too conspicuously.”

“Conspicuously?”

“If she went all the way to the neighboring city to secretly sell the stolen fan, she should have hidden her identity too. Wearing a wig or a hood. But there are widespread rumors about a very pretty woman with auburn hair and blue eyes who caused trouble at a jewelry store in the neighboring city.”

“Did you meet the jeweler in person?”

“Of course. I called an artist to listen to the description and draw a composite sketch.”

Madame Histin took out a neatly folded paper from her pocket and handed it to Roxiana. Roxiana’s expression hardened as she unfolded the paper and checked the portrait.

“It really is Elise.”

“That’s what I’m saying. She didn’t seem that stupid, but even if she doesn’t have an errand boy, how could she think to go herself and cause such a commotion to sell the fan?”

Roxiana felt a chill run down her spine.

After suspecting that Lucas might have a dark mage attached to him, she had looked into black magic here and there. Because of this, she learned that among black magic, there were types that could imitate the appearance of others. And that magic was an extremely difficult one, which only very powerful dark mages could use.

‘I thought the dark mage was working for Lucas, but…’

There’s no way Elise would have asked Lucas to sell the fan she stole.

‘They’re working for Elise. And quite a skilled one at that.’

Even after Madame Histin left, Roxiana’s hardened expression didn’t soften. Although she had looked into black magic, she didn’t know everything perfectly. Not knowing the extent of what black magic could do, she needed to be more prepared than she was now.

‘The Grand Duke and I can somehow block it, but…’

Black magic is a power that uses magi. And Roxiana and Floyd had the power to block magi.

‘The other knights might be in danger if they face black magic head-on.’

After asking the spirits to protect the knights if a dark mage approached, Roxiana went to meet Floyd. Floyd was watching the knights with the knight captains and checking if there were any places where someone could sneak into the mansion.

“A dark mage is working for Elise.”

Floyd chuckled.

“Must be a man. It’s really fascinating. What part of that woman bewitches men? Do you guys know?”