Seeing Charlotte hesitate, Karina made a puzzled expression.

“Why? Is there something strange?”

“There’s a laundry maid named Jen who shared a room with that maid and was close to her.”

“Jen?”

Charlotte nodded and continued speaking.

“That maid reportedly said her friend would never commit suicide. But it was dismissed due to the overwhelming circumstantial evidence and witnesses.”

“Oh really?”

Karina’s expression changed.

“Where is this maid named Jen now?”

“She left this morning on pre-approved leave to visit home.”

“When will she return?”

“In a week.”

“A week?”

Karina sighed in exasperation.

‘A close roommate would likely know the most about the dead maid.’

She felt disappointed to have missed the chance to hear a proper account.

“I see.”

Karina held out a pouch of gold coins to Charlotte.

“This is payment for your answer. Take it.”

“Ah…”

A groan escaped Charlotte’s lips as she looked at the money pouch in Karina’s hand.

She soon made a troubled expression.

Karina’s reason for offering the money pouch was clear.

It meant she didn’t want any further trouble, while also indicating she didn’t yet consider Charlotte as one of her people.

Charlotte opened her mouth with a grave expression, as if she had made some decision.

“Grand Duchess. I’m sorry, but I won’t accept it.”

“…Why?”

Karina asked with a bewildered expression.

Charlotte met Karina’s gaze once before bowing deeply.

“I sincerely wish to become one of your people, Grand Duchess.”

“Huh…?”

Karina was a bit taken aback by the sudden declaration of wanting to become her person.

“I know it will be difficult for you to trust me readily. I’ve done many wrong things until now. But please decide after seeing how I act from now on.”

Charlotte raised her head again with a sincere expression.

“I’m not asking to be accepted right away. I will show you a better side of myself to earn your trust, Grand Duchess. Please give me any tasks you need done!”

“Ah… alright.”

Karina was dumbfounded, but she agreed.

“Then find out more details about that maid named Jen. And about the dead maid too. I want to know if there’s anything suspicious about that maid’s death.”

Charlotte’s expression brightened at Karina’s order.

“Thank you for giving me a chance, Grand Duchess. I won’t disappoint you.”

Charlotte left with a satisfied expression.

‘What in the world is this situation…’

Though completely unexpected, it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.

‘I’ll see if those words are sincere as time passes.’

Karina composed her expression.

Then she left the room.

She intended to personally examine the room of the kitchen maid who was found dead yesterday.

‘I don’t know what might be left, but I can’t just stay cooped up in my room wasting time. It’s better to try something.’

Karina headed towards the kitchen.

Since they worked in the same place, the kitchen staff might know where the maid’s quarters were, and she could also hear directly about the maid’s usual conduct and attitude.

As she quickly crossed the hallway, she saw an impressive carriage entering the grand duke’s estate in the distance through the window.

‘What is that…?’

Karina stopped in her tracks and looked out the window with a puzzled expression.

Seeing the white carriage with luxurious gold trim, it was clearly an imperial carriage.

Suddenly, a memory from the past came to mind.

‘Ah, could it be! Come to think of it, the emperor’s letter was supposed to arrive around this time!’

This year marked 300 years since the founding of the empire.

To commemorate this, there had been a fuss since last year about holding an even bigger, more grand and magnificent banquet than before.

So this year’s New Year’s festival was longer in duration than before, and the preparations were enormous.

And since the Colsberg Grand Duchy in the north was also of imperial blood, there had been orders to prepare to come up to the capital in advance.

Sure enough, a man holding an imperial-sealed letter like a treasure emerged from the carriage that had arrived in front of the mansion.

Karina’s heart raced even more.

‘If we have to go to the capital in this situation, the investigation into the mastermind will fizzle out. I need to hurry even more. There’s not much time left.’

Karina’s eyes sank deeply.

She hurriedly went to the kitchen, where voices could be heard from inside.

“Wasn’t the investigation already finished? Why are they calling people one by one for questioning again?”

“I heard the Grand Duchess wasn’t convinced and wanted a reinvestigation.”

“Come on, anyone can see it was due to guilt. What will change with a reinvestigation? There was even a suicide note.”

“We just do as we’re told.”

“By the way, I heard the maid who shared a room with her also said this wasn’t suicide.”

“Really? Then shouldn’t they be questioning her instead?”

“She left on vacation this morning.”

“In this situation?”

“Apparently it was pre-approved from before, so permission was granted.”

“Of all times?”

“Her home is far away in Lundium, so she got a whole week off. By then, both the questioning and reinvestigation will be over.”

“I heard she was happy about the reinvestigation before she left.”

“That’s because she doesn’t have to be questioned herself since she’s going on vacation.”

The complaints continued.

It seemed there was nothing to gain from the servants here.

But one thing was gleaned.

‘So that close maid’s home is in Lundium.’

To get from the north to Lundium, one had to take a carriage from the city to the village at the western edge.

And from there, board another carriage heading in the direction of Lundium.

It took a full day just to reach the western edge village, and another full day from there to Lundium.

Karina hurriedly returned to her room.

‘They said she left this morning, so she must have gone to the city. She’ll need to rent a carriage going to the western edge village. If I leave now, I might be able to catch up!’

Karina quickly finished preparing to leave.

She considered leaving a note for when Mikhail returned, but decided against it.

‘Mikhail should be in the city too, so I can meet him there.’

Karina immediately left the mansion.

Arriving in the city, Karina headed to the public carriage rental office to find a carriage going to the western edge.

“Yes, that’s correct. There is one carriage going to the western edge village this afternoon. It’s scheduled to depart at 3 PM.”

“Was there a woman traveling alone among those who rented that carriage?”

“Yes. There were a few, but since the departure is at 3, they all scattered to sightsee in the city with the extra time. If you wait here, they’ll probably show up in time for departure.”

3 PM meant waiting 5 hours from now.

‘It might be better to meet up with Mikhail who went to Selena, then come back.’

With that thought, Karina also went into the city.

Growl.

“Huh?”

Her stomach growled and hunger hit her.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t eaten anything since waking up this morning.

She recalled deliciously eating street food with Mikhail last time they came to the city.

‘Should I look around a bit while walking?’

Karina licked her lips as she tried to find stalls selling food.

Just then, a delicious smell wafted from nearby.

‘Wow. That smells good.’

Following the scent, she saw bread being fried in oil, like last time.

‘Ah! That!’

Karina’s eyes sparkled.

The twisted bread called kwabaegi that she ate with Mikhail was piled up on one side.

Swallowing her saliva, Karina approached the stall to buy some kwabaegi.

“Welcome! It’s 1 rikel per bag!”

Karina rummaged through her pockets to take out money.

“Huh? What’s this?”

Something long and hard was caught in her robe pocket.

When she pulled it out to look, it was the hairpin Mikhail had bought her last time.

“Ah, so this was here.”

She had forgotten about it after encountering the demon beast that day, being constantly distracted.

‘Now that I’ve found it, I should keep it safe.’

Karina parted her hair in half and twisted it up into a half-bun as she had learned before, securing it with the hairpin.

She felt pleased that it seemed more securely fastened than when she clumsily put it up last time.

As she raised her head in satisfaction, she saw a woman with purple hair inside an alley across the street.

‘Ah! Could that be Selena?’

Karina thought so because of the uncommon hair color.

The purple-haired woman entered a shabby-looking building.

‘She should be receiving the request details from Mikhail, so why is she here?’

Curious, Karina also entered the building to find Selena.

The interior of the building was quite spacious compared to its narrow-looking exterior.

And there were quite a few people inside as well.

‘What kind of place is this?’

The building’s interior looked like a resting area for taking short breaks.

A man sitting at one of the tables spoke up.

“Here to leave luggage?”

“Luggage?”

Seeing Karina’s puzzled expression, the man said:

“Ah, or are you here to pick up? What kind of luggage did you leave?”

The man got up from his seat and walked towards a pile of luggage in one corner.

Seeing him limp, it seemed his leg was injured.

Karina looked a bit uncomfortable as he stood there awkwardly waiting for her response.

“I thought I saw someone I knew come in here just now, so I followed.”

“You should’ve said that sooner.”

The man sat back down in his spot with an expression of having gotten up for nothing.

Karina stood there awkwardly, looking around the room.

She was looking for the purple-haired woman, but to others it probably looked like she was examining what this place was.

A mother sitting in a chair with two children on either side spoke:

“This is a place that holds onto luggage for a short time. Leaving it at the carriage rental office is extremely expensive. Nobles and important people can use that, but for poor folks like us, it’s too much to pay just to leave things for a bit, yet too heavy to carry around. So we leave our luggage here for a while. It’s much cheaper here.”

“Ah, I see.”

Karina nodded slightly and blinked her eyes.

It was her first time learning that such a place existed.

She found it interesting to learn this new fact.

“There’s an awful lot of luggage today.”

From an adjoining room came the constant rustling sound of someone organizing luggage.

Karina poked her head in to peek inside the room.

Among the people crouched down organizing luggage, she saw the purple hair from earlier.

But.

‘Ah…’

Though the hair was purple, it wasn’t Selena.

She had mistaken the person.

Feeling awkward, Karina turned around.

‘Let’s buy some kwabaegi and go to the flower shop. It would be good to meet up with Mikhail there.’

She decided it was best to then go to the carriage rental office in time for departure.

With that in mind, she was about to leave when burly men came barging in.

Lastly, a man with a build like a mountain and a fierce look blocked the entrance.

‘What’s going on?’

They blocked her way out.

She was about to ask them to move so she could leave, when the man blocking the entrance looked her up and down unpleasantly.

“…”

About to say something in response to the unpleasant gaze, Karina was cut off as the man spoke first.

“Are you the Grand Duchess?”

It was a harsh, grating voice unpleasant to hear.