I immediately turned my body and met eyes with Cal, who had his head tilted at an angle. He seemed to have a somewhat displeased expression.

“What is it? Don’t you know this is the maid’s quarters?”

I stared incredulously at Cal, who was standing so brazenly in this area off-limits to men.

“I know. I escorted you here last time, remember?”

“Yes, and now there’s a rumor all over the capital about a maid who brought a man into her room.”

No matter how I thought about it, the only person who could have spread such a rumor was Ginger, who shares the room with me.

There’s no way Ginger could have seen him when we parted at the door that day, so she must have made it up with her shallow imagination.

I glared at Cal resentfully, then looked around nervously in case anyone might see.

Fortunately, no one was in sight at this late hour. Still, I lowered my voice in case someone might overhear.

“Why did you come here today?”

“To deliver the books you ordered.”

“At this hour?”

When I asked in bewilderment, Cal smiled faintly.

“If I’d returned earlier, it wouldn’t be this late.”

“Did you wait?”

Here?

At my dubious gaze, Cal tilted his head as if to ask what the problem was.

“No, I was going to say this sometime anyway, but it’s rude behavior, both standing guard outside my window when we first met and coming here today.”

“So?”

His completely unconcerned expression made me laugh humorlessly.

“I’ve had enough of these ridiculous rumors once already.”

When I rebuked him coldly, Cal, who had been averting his gaze, soon nodded obediently.

“I’ll be more careful in the future.”

What’s with this guy? Being so compliant. Expecting him to be shameless as usual, I cleared my throat softly.

“Ahem. But does the guild master do book deliveries too?”

“I came personally as a courtesy to the client.”

Cal grinned. It was a retort to my comment yesterday about his poor treatment of clients.

“Where are the books then?”

At my question, he took out a small pouch and shook it.

“It would be troublesome to unload a hundred books in the hallway, so I’ll lend you this.”

“What is this?”

“A magical pouch. The books you ordered are inside, so you can just take them out. But…”

Cal stared at me blankly for a moment before continuing.

“Your taste is more unique than I expected.”

“Pardon?”

…Wait. I’ve heard this somewhere before. As I rummaged through my memories, I recalled Silvia.

“Lady Reneola may have… unique tastes, but I don’t think she’s someone who would torment others without reason.”

With an inexplicable uneasiness, I quickly snatched the pouch and hurriedly bid farewell to Cal.

“Thanks for bringing it. See you next time!”

“Wait.”

“What? Do you have something else to say?”

Though I sent him an urging look as if to say ‘hurry up and speak’ due to my impatience, Cal was unhurried.

“I found out one more thing about the First Prince.”

The hundred questions and answers were quite extensive, but there’s more? However, having just heard about a lunatic who cut off the chef’s head for merely bringing out some carrots, I straightened up.

“What is it?”

“He dislikes people wandering around late at night.”

He had many dawn hobbies, but is he an early sleeper?

‘The servants must get off work early then. Right, if they assist from dawn, he must send them home early.’

I nodded.

“Thanks for letting me know.”

“Go inside.”

Cal nodded with a somewhat satisfied expression.

As soon as I entered the room, I went straight to the desk and pulled out a book titled “My Lord, I Can’t Take It Anymore” that I had carelessly stuffed into the bookshelf.

Then I banged my forehead on the desk. The sound was loud enough that Ginger would have said something if she had been in the room.

“What a disgrace, disgrace, utter disgrace!”

Remembering Cal looking down at me with narrowed eyes, my face flushed hot. Now I understood the surprised expression of the red-haired clerk when I said I was ordering a hundred books.

‘I didn’t know it was this kind of book!’

Since it’s a common title for regular romance or fantasy romance novels, I didn’t pay much attention, but to think it was an adult genre… And not just any adult content, but extremely explicit, at least R-rated…

As I flipped through a particularly worn section, I found myself unconsciously absorbed in reading before suddenly coming to my senses.

“So that’s what it was.”

The cause of the inexplicable uneasiness I felt every time I saw Cal. Though it’s a relief to know the reason, I think it might have been better not to know.

I picked up the magic pouch Cal had given me.

“To think a hundred books fit in this small thing, this really is a fantasy world.”

As I stared at the pouch, I opened the mouth.

“I’m just looking at what kind of books are in here.”

I put my hand into the pouch and stirred it around. Something bumped against my palm.

As I was about to pull one out, the door opened quietly. Ginger, who was peeking her head in as if checking for something, let out a scream when our eyes met, seemingly more surprised than me.

“Eek, mmph.”

Ginger quickly covered her mouth with her hand and looked at me disapprovingly.

“Why are you still up at this hour?”

“That’s rich coming from someone who hasn’t even come back to the room until now.”

As I was thinking that a lot of people seemed concerned about my well-being today, Ginger slowly backed away.

“You’re not coming in?”

“I remembered something I need to do.”

At this hour? But before I could say anything more, Ginger hastily closed the door.

As I tilted my head at her suspicious behavior, I suddenly remembered what Aisha had said.

“Be careful of the maids.”

So Ginger was the one who received instructions from Eileen. I wasn’t surprised, as I had suspected it.

Judging by how flustered she was upon seeing me just now, she must have been planning to do something while I was asleep. In that case…

“I’ll just stay awake then.”

That works out well. I had quite a few books to read anyway.

I took out the books and documents I received from Matthias. I don’t think I’ve ever studied this much even in high school. I sighed at the pile of books stacked up.

“…It’s been approved?”

“That’s what I said, how many times are you going to ask again?”

The head maid replied irritably.

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking why it was approved.”

The head maid looked me up and down with an incredulous expression. I could guess what she was thinking. But she probably wasn’t as dumbfounded as I was right now.

‘Didn’t they say just document review takes nearly a month?’

The first virtue of a palace servant was loyalty. For that reason, palace servants transferring from other palaces underwent even more rigorous screening.

Although transfers were said to be freely allowed, it was essentially an act of betraying one’s former master.

‘So why was I approved in just three days?!’

My transfer was approved just three days after Floria submitted the paperwork on my behalf. Even the head maid was puzzled by this unusually quick approval.

I had planned to search for the origin of the first queen during the review period, but now I was set to face the First Prince in just 5 days.

‘Is this also because I’m Floria’s elder sister?’

Perhaps the First Prince intends to use me after all.

‘Haha. Damn it.’

These days, it seems like nothing is going according to plan. I held my throbbing forehead.

“Is something troubling you, Lady Reneola?”

I quickly looked up at Silvia’s concerned voice. It seems I was lost in thought again, worrying about meeting the First Prince. I remembered why I had come to Silvia’s room and took out the magic pouch.

“Here, take this.”

“What is this?”

Silvia examined the magic pouch from all angles. Since it looked ordinary on the outside, she didn’t seem to realize it was a magic pouch.

“There’s a gift inside.”

At my words, Silvia’s eyes widened as she put her hand into the pouch.

“Oh my! There’s so much inside!”

Silvia kept exclaiming in amazement as books continued to come out of the small pouch.

“It’s my first time seeing a magic item with my own eyes. Where did you get this?”

“Someone lent it to me. Isn’t it a common item?”

Silvia shook her head vigorously as if to say absolutely not. I thought magical pouches would be plentiful in a fantasy world, but it seems that’s not the case.

“I’ve heard these are only found in the royal treasury.”

I recalled the face of the man who had handed over the pouch as if it were nothing special. Where did that guy get such a precious item? Since he’s from a dark guild, maybe he has some connections.

Silvia, having taken everything out of the pouch, gaped at the huge pile of books.

“Are you giving all of this to me?”

“You said you wanted similar books last time.”

“Lady Reneola…”

Silvia’s eyes glistened with tears as if deeply moved.

“Thank you. I’ll treasure them. Oh, let me gift you some books too!”

Following Silvia’s gaze, I noticed the ghost-related books on the shelf and quickly grabbed her arm.

“By the way, can I sleep here tonight?”

Although I had napped a bit during the day, staying up night after night was still tough. With Silvia here, Ginger wouldn’t be able to do anything either.

Silvia brightened considerably and took my hand.

“Of course! My roommate is on vacation today, so it’s just me. Perfect, since tomorrow’s a day off, let’s talk about ghosts all night. I even have chocolate cookies!”

Faced with Silvia’s sparkling eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to say I just wanted to sleep straight through.

“Then I’ll take a quick nap. I’m tired from not sleeping well for a few days.”

“Of course, of course! I’ll prepare everything while you sleep. Oh, would you like to borrow my pajamas?”

Silvia rummaged through the closet excitedly.

Let’s just sleep for now and wake up later. I need to tell Silvia that I’m going to the First Prince’s palace. Ah, I should also clear up the misunderstanding about my tastes. And I need to find the origin of the first queen within five days…

Unable to resist my increasingly heavy eyelids, I drifted off to sleep. And when I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in Silvia’s room.