“……”

“……”

Few people remained in the place where most had followed Liena to the greenhouse. Among them were Aelfrie and Ino.

‘Why did she invite me, really.’

Annoyed, Ino fiddled with his uncomfortable Denertum formal wear.

‘I knew Nisha wouldn’t go.’

Last night, Nisha had summoned him and said,

“Ino, attend the tea party at the Duke’s residence tomorrow. The Duke’s daughter asked that someone of our rank be there.”

“Why me?”

“It’s a direct order from the section chief. Go.”

“Are you kidding? You just don’t want to go, right?”

“You know too much. Drop dead.”

“This is tyranny! Why should I go? There will be nothing but Denertum ladies laughing away at the tea party. Even if the Duke’s family is friendly, the daughter isn’t fond of commoners like us. What’s the point of going?”

Ino had protested, but Nisha was firm.

“You forgot your task? Lord Calon said to find someone skilled in ancient languages. Go to the tea party, make some connections, and find someone.”

Hearing Calon’s order, Ino had no choice but to leave, his shoulders drooping like a dog caught in the rain.

‘But could I really find someone here?’

Whatever the women of the social circle were discussing, the atmosphere felt off, and the tea party soon ended.

Liena stood, saying she would introduce the newly arrived plants in the greenhouse to some women she appeared to be friendly with.

“Oh my, we have many guests today. I worry my explanations won’t be clear.”

Liena said she’d split the presentation into two, but clearly those left behind were not to her liking.

‘Including me.’

Called here and then neglected. Annoyed, Ino turned his head.

Just then, he saw Aelfrie standing a little distant, staring at the table.

‘That woman too…’

Ino noticed what was in front of Aelfrie. And moments later,

“Excuse me!”

He abruptly stood and approached Aelfrie.

“May I take a look at this?”

Aelfrie flinched and stepped back at the sudden and stiff voice of a man she had never spoken to.

‘Why is he acting like this?’

It was no issue to look, so Aelfrie reluctantly nodded.

Seizing the paper like a hawk capturing prey, Ino looked at it.

When he’d seen Aelfrie, she was solving a quiz that was laid on the table.

Recently, the Ash Corporation had popularized quizzes, a hot topic even among nobles.

Of course, their motive was not money but a chance to show off their intellect.

Nobles had their competitive spirits. They were restless for not being able to flaunt their superiority more.

Soon enough, solving the freshly released quizzes at tea parties became a regular activity.

So much so that if the host of the tea party hadn’t prepared quizzes, they’d be considered out of fashion.

So, Liena had also placed quizzes next to the tea party table.

Of course, she didn’t just use cheap paper like commoners; she’d ordered her skilled servants to write them on high-quality paper.
This week’s offerings alone felt lacking, so various types of quizzes from the past were also prepared in advance.

Sitting alone to pass the time, Aelfrie picked up a few sheets, thinking there was nothing better to do.

Eno thought she’d grabbed an unnecessarily large amount.

‘How difficult are these?’

While the first few might be easy, the difficulty ramped up quickly as one progressed. Hence, the number of correct answers arriving each week was never high, and most of those were incorrect anyway.

‘So even if you bring so many…’

She’d likely scribble on the first part and leave it at that.

That’s what he thought, idly watching her.

However, contrary to Eno’s expectations, Aelfrie picked up her pen and began swiftly jotting down answers.

She did seem to pause for a moment of thought now and then but otherwise wrote almost nonstop till the end.

‘What? Did she just write randomly?’

Most of the quizzes scattered around Denerthum were produced and distributed by the Ash Corporation.

Eno himself had participated in their creation, so he knew the difficulty of each quiz quite well.

‘There weren’t any that could be solved that easily.’

Curiosity began to build up in Eno. Did she actually get the answers right?

When Aelfrie started solving a new quiz, Eno’s eyes widened. Even from a distance, he could tell that it was this week’s quiz.

After all, he’d included ancient language questions lately under Calon’s tutelage.

He’d thought the first question alone wouldn’t be easy, but Aelfrie solved it like a simple ‘1 plus 1 equals 2’ math problem and moved on to the next.

From that point, all of Eno’s attention was focused on Aelfrie.

‘Oh, my God. Are my eyes deceiving me?’

If she was truly solving ancient language questions and possessed the ability to solve the rest of the quizzes…

Eno, who was sitting, couldn’t keep still. He wanted to run to the Ash Corporation and announce that he’d found her.

‘No, stay calm. She might have just written any answer.’

Thinking this, he tried to calm himself down, but Eno’s heart was already pounding.

If she really is the talent I’ve been searching for…

‘I can finally sleep peacefully!’

He remembered Calon’s disapproving look and Nisha’s scornful gaze.

The thought that he could finally escape their cold scrutiny nearly brought tears to his eyes.

Gathering all his patience, Eno waited for Aelfrie’s hand to stop. And the moment it did, he jumped up.

He quickly checked the quiz solutions. Clearly, these were the quizzes that had been distributed through newspapers, magazines, and bulletin boards.

The answers hadn’t been publicly revealed yet.

‘The answers are adapted from some decoded codes from headquarters. So, not many people would know.’

The people who perfectly knew the answers were about five, including Calon, Nisha, and himself.

Moreover, it also included ancient language questions; without the headquarters’ interpretation, even those five wouldn’t know if the answers were correct.

Eno compared the answers Aelfrie had written to the answers he remembered. As his eyes moved down the paper, his hands started to tremble.

Oh my God.

The moment he saw the last answer, he had to cover his mouth with his hand.

‘It’s all correct!’

Am I seeing things? Did she—no, did this lady write all the correct answers?

Alternating his gaze between the paper with perfectly correct answers and Aelfrie’s face, Eno shook with joy.

Aelfrie slowly backed away from the intensity of his gaze, snapping him back to reality.
It was too early to celebrate. Before reporting to Calon and Nisha, verification was necessary. Then Calon remembered he had stored next week’s problem in his bag.

He hurriedly opened his bag and took out the quiz solutions scheduled for distribution the next week.

“This, this! Could you perhaps solve it?”

“Huh? Ah, I can solve it quickly, but… why this?”

“Please, I beg you. Think of it as saving a life and please solve it.”

To plead this desperately for quiz solutions, something everyone usually enjoyed as simple entertainment, was unusual.

‘He said he’s with Ash Trading Company.’

Aelfrie recalled the faces of Kyle and Nisha she had met. Both were good people, enough to make her wish to meet them again.

‘This person must be working with them.’

With a gaze mixed with envy and admiration, Aelfrie took the new quiz solutions he extended to her.

Though she didn’t know what was going on, there was no reason not to comply with such an earnest plea.

It wasn’t a particularly difficult task. And… somehow she felt that by helping him, her connection with the people from Ash Trading Company, whom she believed she might never meet again, could extend a bit further.

Aelfrie picked up her pen.

The new quiz solutions didn’t seem that difficult either.