A person was sitting on a kitchen chair, seemingly fiddling with some papers. There was a faint sound of thin paper rustling.
‘What is it? There’s no reason for Lola to be here at this hour.’
Lola was the type to run to her room and sleep the moment she had any free time.
Just as Edele was feeling suspicious, someone knocked on the kitchen’s side door. The woman sitting in the kitchen opened it.
“Greetings!”
The person outside was a middle-aged man with a gruff voice. The woman in the kitchen didn’t reply to the greeting, and the man began placing something down, acting as if he were well-accustomed to the routine.
‘A vegetable merchant…?’
Edele guessed this because what he was dropping made sounds like sacks of potatoes.
After setting a few sacks on the kitchen floor, he brushed his hands together and said, “I should sign here, right?”
“You’ve done this more than once or twice, so why do you keep asking?”
At that irritated voice, Edele’s senses sharpened instantly.
‘Lady Bohen?’
It seemed Marsha was signing a receipt while purchasing vegetables from the merchant.
“I’m bringing everything you ask me to bring every time, and I’m signing exactly where you tell me to sign, but… is it really alright?”
“Has anything happened in the three years you’ve been coming here?”
“No, that’s true, but for some reason, I feel uneasy lately.”
“Then quit! I can just find another vegetable merchant.”
“No, no! Hahaha! Then, I’ll see you next time!”
He lowered his body quickly and scurried away as if fleeing.
Once the kitchen’s side door closed, Marsha muttered while the paper crinkled again.
“Even when I let them earn easy money, they still complain. When else would they ever touch this much money if not for ripping off that noble guy while I’m here…”
She made a very dangerous statement, then immediately gathered the papers and left the kitchen.
Even after she had gone, Edele stood still for a long time with her ears perked, holding her breath before quietly coming down from the stairs.
Next to the kitchen side door were the sacks the merchant had brought.
‘I have to check.’
Edele opened the sacks one by one.
Inside the sacks were potatoes, onions, carrots, dried tomatoes, peas, garlic, ginger, and cinnamon.
‘These are the same things we usually use…’
But why would Marsha say she was ripping off the noble’s money?
As Edele pondered, she remembered the merchant hesitating to sign.
‘It must have been a receipt; there must be something on it that worried the merchant.’
However, Marsha had already taken the receipt with her, so there was no way to check.
‘What should I do?’
If she stopped caring now, she could spend a peaceful day just like any other.
Even knowing that, Edele couldn’t just stand by because Marsha’s attitude bothered her too much.
She stepped out of the kitchen, checked the time, and looked to see where Marsha was.
She was coming down from the second floor.
‘The second floor… Lynnia’s room? Or the Count’s office?’
She might have just come out after going into Lynnia’s room. Or, she could have placed the receipt from the vegetable merchant on Laslo’s desk.
Edele watched from hiding as Marsha went into her room with Mina to have tea, and once she confirmed that the other servants had also gone to rest, she quietly headed to the second floor.
‘What will happen if I get caught entering the Count’s office without permission?’
Marsha would likely seize the opportunity to frame and denounce her.
Edele was well aware of that risk.
Nevertheless, her feet moved busily toward the Count’s office without making a single sound.
Upon arriving in front of the office, Edele checked the hallway again, verified that no one was around, and quietly opened the door to enter.
‘The scent of Count Krissus…’
His fragrance lingered faintly in the room.
Perhaps it was the sense that she was doing something wrong, but her heart began to thump.
Edele quickly approached Laslo’s desk and searched the surface. Sure enough, the receipt for the vegetable purchase was carelessly left on one side of the desk.
She pulled out the receipt and examined it.
「 Receipt of Purchase
– Chewick Potatoes (Premium) 20kg: 225 Lington
– Carrots (Premium) 10kg: 105 Lington
– Cubera Shallots (Premium) 20kg: 372 Lington
– Dried Tomatoes (Premium) 1kg: 120 Lington
– Peas (Premium) 1kg: 50 Lington
……
Total: 2,038 Lington
The above amount has been duly received.
– Alan Bobex」
Edele doubted her own eyes.
‘Chewick potatoes? The potatoes from earlier were ordinary storage potatoes, small and tasteless!’
Chewick potatoes were famous for being delicious, high-quality potatoes. But the potatoes she had checked in the kitchen earlier were definitely not from Chewick. Edele knew this because she had always eaten nothing but Chewick potatoes.
Even the weight was different.
‘20kg? That’s nonsense! Those earlier wouldn’t even hit 10kg if I were being generous.’
It wasn’t just the potatoes.
How could such small carrots and garlic be premium grade? And don’t even get her started on the shriveled peas and the cinnamon that barely had any scent.
It was even absurd that they bought onions and wrote them down as shallots—specifically, the high-end Cubera shallots. Did they buy such small onions just to pass them off as shallots?
Just by looking at this one receipt, she could see what Marsha had been doing all this time.
‘Lady Bohen was skimming off the top!’
It now made sense why she had bought a house on Durum Street less than three years after working at this mansion.
If she had been siphoning money like this every time, it wouldn’t have been difficult to afford a house.
‘It probably isn’t just the ingredients. She must have purchased everything that filled this mansion in the same way.’
Edele suddenly remembered the carriage she had ridden in when she first came to this mansion.
Even then, she had thought it was small and shabby for a Count’s carriage, but could Marsha’s hand have reached into the purchase of the carriage as well?
It was hard to believe she would commit such a bold act, but she couldn’t help but be suspicious.
Edele placed the receipt back where it had been and quietly slipped out of Laslo’s office.
And just as she was about to move away from the front of the door:
“Edele Lancaster?”
Her back stiffened, and cold sweat broke out.
Edele turned around, acting as nonchalant as possible while desperately trying to come up with an excuse in her head.
“Did you call for me, My Lady?”
It was Lynnia who had called her.
“What are you doing here?”
“That is…”
Her mind went blank.
She knew Lynnia’s room was on the second floor, but she hadn’t expected to run into her.
‘What should I say? She’s already angry with me…’
Edele’s mouth went dry.
Lynnia had been punished because of the incident where imperial knights had harassed her. She would try to pick a fight even over trivial matters, so being caught wandering around the second floor under suspicious circumstances was a terrible situation.
“I asked you what you were doing?”
“I, I am sorry. Actually…”
“Actually?”
“A, are you worried about my lady…”
“What?”
Her heart was pounding so loudly she thought it could be heard across the hall, but Edele steeled herself to be shameless and began to continue the lie.
“I know it is presumptuous. But… I heard you were punished by the Count because of the incident last time, and I was worried about whether you were alright.”
Perhaps it was an unexpected answer, as Lynnia just stared at Edele with wide eyes.
“I know that you had no choice but to call me at that time. You couldn’t have known those knights would commit such insolent acts. And yet, I thought a two-week restriction from going out was a bit… an excessive punishment…”
“So, you came up here to spy on what I’m doing?”
“What would I gain from spying on you, My Lady? It’s just…”
Edele licked her dry lips and took a gamble.
“I wanted to see if there was anything I could do for you.”
“Something you could do for me? Even if it means being a punching bag?”
“Even if you were to slap my cheek or kick me.”
At those words, Lynnia laughed as if she found it ridiculous.
“Do you think I’m a mercenary-born person like my brother? I don’t hit people!”
Would Lynnia ever know that Edele felt relieved deep down at those words?
Lynnia, who had been hesitating while lost in thought, unexpectedly spoke in a soft voice, saying something entirely unforeseen.
“And thanks to you, my brother shortened my house arrest period.”
“Pardon?”
“You’re the one who told my brother to do that, aren’t you? You really have no fear.”
This time, it was Edele who was left speechless.
“Still, well, thank you.”
“I’m… relieved. It seems the Count has also realized that you didn’t have any ill intentions toward me, My Lady.”
“Hmph! Anyway, my brother is always nagging only me, ah, no, *ahem*! Well, regardless.”
Lynnia, who had been about to grumble and voice her complaints, pulled herself together belatedly, cleared her throat, and asked a sudden question.
“By the way, do you happen to know of Viscountess Emerson?”
“Viscountess Emerson? …May I ask why you’re inquiring about her?”
“It seems she has taken a liking to me. I’ve been invited for the second time to a party hosted by her. It’s a party taking place in a month, and it’s famous for being so entertaining that everyone wants to be invited.”
She wore an expression that was somewhat proud.
However, Edele found it difficult to shake off a feeling of unease.