Chapter 105
Why did that Roll-Bun take it?
To bother me?
No. It’s true that the dreamcatcher was precious to me, but the chance that Roll-Bun knew that was low.
Besides, stealing would be too risky even from Roll-Bun’s perspective.
One hypothesis came to mind.
Marquis Godel must have demanded it.
Not necessarily targeting the dreamcatcher itself, but probably instructing him to take any seemingly valuable items from the room.
…To find the Mana Pearl Detector.
Marquis Godel thinks of me as a faithful subordinate of the duke. So it wouldn’t be strange for him to have someone search my room to gather evidence against the duke.
Ah, of course, normal people wouldn’t do that!
I wanted to grab Roll-Bun by the hair immediately.
But right now, it was exactly the time when one might notice a thief had been in the room. Roll-Bun could be waiting for me, either pretending to be a victim while sitting on the floor or otherwise.
I couldn’t fabricate evidence.
But I could make you run out on your own.
Lady Frühling. Publicly—say, in formal gatherings where nobles talk to each other—she was the precious youngest daughter of the Frühling family.
But when nobles quietly sipped drinks in a tea room or salon and whispered, she was the family’s problem child who insulted and seduced her sister’s fiancé, a commoner.
In this situation, her future was obvious.
Graduate safely from the temple school “Gruner Vant” and later be married off somewhere under the pretense of “Behold, my daughter has fully repented!” from the Count of Frühling.
“Somewhere suitable” really meant marrying a man far inferior even to her brother-in-law. And having to survive two years at Gruner Vant for that future…
It was hell enough already.
“Why the hell do I have to get tangled with someone like Sol Schlager?”
The biggest problem was Sol Schlager herself. A mere commoner, she had already dug into the past of the Frühling heiress on the very first day.
Last spring, it annoyed Lady Frühling how Sol boasted about “helping” Lady Paste. Did she think she’d done a favor?
And when she called her after choir practice for no reason and said things like “I am special to you,” it sent chills down her spine.
Truly, if she had to spend another year and a half with this girl, she felt her stomach would rot away.
…So, on that very day, when the provincial noble Marquis Godel approached her and said:
“I am Marquis Godel. You are surely the lady of the Frühling family?”
“Pardon? Oh my, are you someone acquainted with my father? I’m sorry, but I cannot speak long with someone I do not know—”
“Haha, how ladylike. My business is brief. It seems that lady has caused you some unpleasantness… Shall I help remove this impurity from noble society?”
What followed from Marquis Godel was rather enticing:
“There’s no reason for a young lady to live like a nun. I will look into the noble prospects in the Godel domain and speak frankly to your father. Surely there will be a suitable marriage proposal.”
It’s embarrassing to receive marriage advice from an unfamiliar adult, she knew.
But she heard that the girl had done something even more embarrassing.
“Sol Schlager stole an important treasure from our family.”
“Eh? Oh my, you can’t hide your lowly blood! I knew it!”
“…Thank you for believing me right away. Then, what I ask of you—”
Marquis Godel smiled and gestured to a servant, who handed her a small metal piece and explained what she had to do.
Lady Frühling’s face hardened.
“Are you asking me to steal?”
“Recovering what is yours is not theft.”
Marquis Godel smiled.
“Just as one does not call disciplining by a superior violence.”
Some time later.
Lady Frühling entered Sol’s room with the matron under the pretense that a necklace had been stolen and worked the doorknob. She skipped class and searched Sol’s room.
Marquis Godel hadn’t explained exactly what the treasure was—only that it was a “valuable, solid item unsuitable for a teenage lady.”
“If I said too much, she might snatch it herself,” she muttered.
She searched through Sol’s room, even under the pillowcases, and found an item that clearly didn’t suit the Schlager family: a cloth mobile with a large pink gem in the center. Thick macramé knots formed a spiderweb pattern. The center was padded, like a nest holding a pink egg.
“This is it,” Lady Frühling decided. She took the item.
The room was neatly tidied, but it wouldn’t matter if Sol ran in and grabbed her by the hair—then everyone would see Sol Schlager’s vulgarity.
Yet nothing went as planned.
Though she waited in the room with her heart racing for Sol to arrive, Sol did not appear.
“Was it really stolen?”
The relief was brief; the thrill of victory was short-lived.
On the day she was supposed to hand over the item, Marquis Godel, by chance or fate, was with Sol, so Lady Frühling had to keep the item longer.
What had been proof of victory became a catalyst for foreboding imagination. It felt as if the Schlager duke could burst in at any moment, pointing the Ice Sword.
She wanted to deliver it to Marquis Godel quickly, but he had said not to show it until he sent his own servant.
Just waiting was torment, yet strange currents were visible at school.
The instructor said to the students:
“Everyone, Sol Schlager has lost a precious item. Has anyone seen it?”
There was fatigue in the instructor’s voice. Apparently, Sol had nagged them considerably to find the lost item.
The students exchanged glances and whispers. Most were more curious about whether Sol would kill the thief than where the lost item had gone.
Even by her expression, they could tell: Sol was convinced the item had been stolen, not merely lost.
Lady Frühling clenched her fists as she realized what she had done. The instructor continued:
“It’s a palm-sized silk pouch. Pink in color.”
Unlike the dreamcatcher made of thread, this was unmistakable.
“Why aren’t they looking for the dreamcatcher?”
Her questions only grew more complicated.
One day, while waiting eagerly for Marquis Godel’s letter, Lady Frühling found Betty caught by Sol outside the dorm.
Caught, her voice sharp, interrogating:
“You took it, didn’t you?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not interested in that.”
Betty’s voice sounded odd even as she passed it, trembling like a fish out of water.
Lady Frühling wanted to mock her.
“…If she’s this nervous, could it be…”
She could not laugh.
“Did Betty really steal the important item?”
Her suspicion turned to certainty when Betty subtly asked if she knew when Marquis Godel would arrive.
After answering curtly that she didn’t, Lady Frühling swallowed a curse and ran to her room.
In retrospect, it seemed unlikely that Marquis Godel had entrusted only her. Using multiple people at once would increase success.
“Better to assign it to someone closer to that girl to avoid suspicion.”
Her thoughts dug darker and darker.
“Could it be… I was the bait for the real culprit?”
The anxiety gradually turned into anger, simmering during the long hours Marquis Godel didn’t contact her.
Thus, one afternoon after choir practice, when Marquis Godel arrived at the temple, Lady Frühling ran with the item—her reaction alone could not be blamed entirely.
Conscious of onlookers, Marquis Godel spoke with a sharp voice even while smiling:
“I haven’t sent my servant yet. I wish to avoid needless attention.”
“I brought what you wanted, though.”
“I did not come to haggle with the lady… I have prior engagements, so move aside before there’s a misunderstanding!”
He growled. It was an instinctive threat. Anyone with experience dealing with boys and girls would know such behavior only provokes resistance.
Lady Frühling, however, did not step back. She took the item from a separate pouch she had brought:
“This, is it right?”
The pink gem fluttered before Marquis Godel. It could be pink spinel. She felt a brief pull toward the gem, but it was nothing compared to the Mana Pearl Detector.
Marquis Godel checked with his servants, but there was no loupe anywhere. He tossed the bundle aside.
“I don’t need toys.”
“Excuse me? Wasn’t it this gem?”
“No.”
As Marquis Godel began to leave, Lady Frühling blocked him—not just out of anger at being ignored.
Helping him under the guise of teaching Sol, if it was meaningless, would make her a simple “thief.”
Confused words spilled from her mouth:
“W-wait! Even if it’s not what you were looking for, take it! And pay the price!”
“I don’t want to talk with an incompetent thief any longer.”
Marquis Godel roughly pushed her shoulder and began to leave. Lady Frühling stared blankly, clutching the item. He would likely seek another thief, like Betty, whom he had prepared in advance.
Could it end like this? Making me, a lady, a thief?
Lady Frühling had only one choice left.
A few days ago, I had sent a letter to Marquis Godel:
This is Sol. About what you asked me to help with last time, I’m still thinking. Can we talk at the temple?
He agreed. Pretentious as always, he didn’t keep the appointment time exactly, but thirty minutes were forgivable.
…And though we didn’t promise anything:
I got a signal from Eugene that Roll-Bun, bristling with nerves, was chasing the marquis. I knew you’d stubbornly follow.
The day after the dreamcatcher was stolen, I asked Betty to imitate a thief. Of course, Betty was flustered.
“Are you asking me to act like you want to bury someone? You don’t really mean steal it, right?”
“Just pretend to fight. The worse the acting, the better. As payment, maybe the rosewater hand cream that’s popular these days?”
“Oh, that works for me!”
“But there’s a risk.”
“What is it?”
“Lady Frühling might grab your scruff and yell ‘Thief cat!’”
“…Sounds fun.”
Thanks to that, I easily found a partner to make Roll-Bun impatient.
Now, Marquis Godel has reached the temple courtyard, with the thief thinking they’re noble in tow.
