I don’t know what Cahirun is thinking.

He handed over the information with his own hands, and even this morning when he left for Ham Bert territory, he grinned saying, ‘You look sad to be parting from the man you like.’ He even said to look forward to it, as he’d bring back a gift.

I understand he finds it fun to tease me, but I don’t know why he goes this far. He goes along with me while not trusting me, and hands over his information telling me to take it to Floria. There’s no particular reason for him to do so.

I couldn’t grasp Cahirun’s incomprehensible behavior, so even as I lazily rolled around in bed after a long time, my mind was unsettled.

“What are you pondering so deeply?”

Recalling the sensation of being tapped on the forehead, I absentmindedly rubbed it with my finger before snapping back to reality. Only then did I remember that I had come to the library to meet Matthias.

Matthias tilted his head and smiled gently. I straightened my disheveled posture.

“Ah, I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

“Do you have something worrying you?”

“No, nothing like that.”

I can’t just say I worry as naturally as breathing.

“…Are you feeling alright?”

Matthias asked cautiously while observing me. His gaze was extremely careful.

“I’m completely fine. Thank you for that day, Sir Matthias.”

“Pardon?”

“I heard from Silvia. She said you helped me. I truly survived thanks to you.”

“Ah….”

At my thanks, Matthias turned his head with a flustered expression. He couldn’t meet my eyes and his gaze wandered. Being such a shy person, he seemed embarrassed.

“But how did it happen? Did your family help? The head maid still hasn’t returned, did you take her away?”

“Ah, well, that is….”

Matthias bit his lower lip with a troubled expression at the barrage of questions. Whatever it was, he seemed to find it difficult to answer. Seeing his defensively bitten lip, it seemed he didn’t want to speak about it.

Perhaps some problem arose in his family while rescuing me? Indeed, even for a count’s family, it wouldn’t have been easy to recruit the head maid of the Second Prince’s palace.

Though I didn’t know the reason, I couldn’t press further when someone was so uncomfortable. Still, I offered thanks one last time.

“Thank you so much. It seems I’m always receiving help from you in various ways, Sir Matthias.”

Matthias frowned and shook his lowered head.

“…No, Lady Reneola. You don’t need to thank me.”

“Look at this.”

As I looked around the annex that had become slightly unfamiliar after a few days, I turned my gaze to where Silvia was pointing.

“Someone dug up all the ground, and it was incredibly difficult to fill it back in. It must have been done deliberately out of spite. If I catch whoever did it, I really won’t let them off easy.”

“…..”

Unable to imagine that the culprit was actually me, I couldn’t bring myself to confess as I watched Silvia rage.

‘Sorry, Silvia. I had no choice.’

Before going to the First Prince’s palace, I had diligently dug with the sole intention of finding the origin of the first queen. Then I was trapped in the dark room for days, and the next day I immediately went to the First Prince’s palace, so there was no time to clean up.

Silvia, who was fuming that whoever it was would be haunted by the ghosts in the annex, let out an exclamation.

“Oh, did you hear about Maid Eileen?”

“What about her?”

“Her family went bankrupt overnight!”

“What? How did that happen?”

“They were running a trading company and recklessly borrowed money from here and there, but the due dates for the promissory notes weren’t extended. With simultaneous demands for repayment coming in, there was no time to do anything. They even sold off their title, so Maid Eileen left the palace too.”

It was only a few days ago that I had seen Eileen. Until then, she had laughed at me with an innocent face. I had been grinding my teeth, vowing to get revenge someday, but I didn’t expect her to disappear so suddenly.

‘She said I might not be able to see her properly again.’

“To be honest, I feel a bit relieved.”

“Why?”

“How much did Eileen torment you, Lady Reneola? I don’t know for sure, but the incident of being locked in the underground dark room must be related to Eileen as well.”

Silvia pinpointed it accurately without me even telling her. She was surprisingly perceptive. Well, Eileen did visibly dislike me.

Still, until now it had been at a cute level, but being trapped in the dark room at the end was truly terrifying. With nothing visible, only my hearing became sensitive, and even the slightest rustling sound set my nerves on edge.

I was proud of myself for enduring until the door opened. If I had stayed there a little longer, I might have lost my mind. I felt grateful to Matthias once again.

‘I should treat him to a meal sometime.’

“More importantly, tell me about yourself now. How are you doing at the First Prince’s palace? Now that you’re a lady-in-waiting, you probably don’t have to do hard work, right?”

Silvia’s eyes sparkled. I smiled faintly.

“I’m more tired than when I was a maid, Silvia…”

As soon as she saw me, Floria ran over with a delighted expression and grabbed my hands first.

“Sister, it’s been so long. How have you been all this time?”

“I’ve been well thanks to your concern, Your Highness.”

“You’re not sick anywhere, are you? I’ve been so worried, but seeing your face now finally puts my mind at ease.”

Floria looked me over with concerned eyes. However, unlike Matthias, it seemed more like she was searching to see if I had changed in any way during that time, rather than worrying about my well-being.

After briefly exchanging greetings, I sat across from Floria and handed her an envelope of documents. It was the very document I had received directly from Cahirun a few days ago.

“What’s this?”

“It’s information about an iron mine that the First Prince is trying to purchase. It’s an item up for auction, and it seems the First Prince has his eye on it because there are not only iron but also rare rocks buried in the mine.”

Floria quickly read through the documents she took out of the envelope.

“It looks ordinary, but you’re saying there are such rare rocks inside?”

“Yes. I don’t know exactly what kind of rocks they are, but if the First Prince is putting in effort, it’s probably not an ordinary item. Rare means supply is low compared to demand, so it’s bound to be worth whatever price is asked. If this mine falls into the First Prince’s hands, his already abundant financial power will become even more solid.”

It was certainly not a pleasant thing for the financial power of a rival to become enormous.

After all, it becomes that much harder to deal with them. Whether Floria believed these documents or not, she would try to purchase the mine just in case.

“Moreover, it seems its true value hasn’t been properly revealed yet, as the price is lower than expected. It will surely be helpful if you have it.”

In truth, I still couldn’t be certain whether this was real information or a trap using me.

But facing Floria, who was looking at me suspiciously, I felt I needed to show her some results for now. I could see that Floria’s eyes had lost their composure in the meantime.

‘What was happening around this time in the original story?’

As I racked my brain, I inwardly exclaimed. Just then,

“How did you obtain these documents?”

Shana, standing behind Floria, asked with a suspicious look.

“The First Prince is suspicious and flawless. It couldn’t have been easy to pilfer them.”

“I picked them up by chance when they fell under the bed. The First Prince has a habit of reviewing documents until he goes to sleep. He usually doesn’t make mistakes, but they went under the bed and I was able to get my hands on them. I was lucky.”

Of course, I couldn’t answer that Cahirun had handed them to me directly, so I blurted out the excuse I had prepared in advance.

“By chance? You expect us to believe that?”

Shana frowned. Faced with her even more suspicious expression, I pushed harder.

“It’s fine if you don’t believe me. But if this is real, you might regret it quite a bit later.”

To ascend to the throne, various abilities were required, and among them was financial power.

There was no surer way to recruit centrists who pursued practical benefits rather than justification and ideology than to put what they wanted in their hands.

Cahirun excelled in that aspect. Whether his tactics and experience built on the battlefield applied to management or he was just exceptionally intelligent, it could be said that gold coins were laid on every path he walked, as all the businesses he touched achieved success.

‘Though it’s puzzling when I think of that tea so sour it’s hard to drink or the mint-flavored cake.’

In contrast, the Second Prince Eric was utterly hopeless at managing finances. However, because his maternal relatives owned a large trading company, they had abundant funds and were able to fully support him.

That’s why Floria, while hating the queen who disapproved of her, couldn’t immediately do anything about her. But if the information about this iron mine was real, she might not need to endure her anymore.

I’m not sure if Cahirun knew this and gave me the documents or not, but from Floria’s perspective, it was bound to be tempting.

‘Especially since it’s a mine the First Prince is putting effort into.’

Desire glimmered in Floria’s eyes as she scanned through the documents, already half convinced.

“Your Highness, the First Prince is not one to carelessly drop documents. This might be a trap.”

“You’re right. There’s no harm in being careful.”

Floria handed the documents to the concerned Shana and smiled brightly at me.

“It must be difficult adjusting to an unfamiliar place, but thank you so much for your efforts.”

“It’s nothing. It’s only what I should do. I’m just glad I can help Your Highness.”

I smiled back at Floria, pretending to be naive.