After the maids brought the snack tray and disappeared, Esperanza actually sat down right in the middle of the library stairs. She was holding a teacup from a famous company that supplied to the royal family in her hands. The tea water swayed uneasily. Esperanza, who had stuck her head between the railings, asked.
"What's this serious thing you want to talk about?"
"Do you really have to talk in that position? Oh, wait. Don't even think about jumping down. You'll spill tea on my books."
Esperanza, who had been about to jump over the railing, lightly stepped on the landing and gracefully ca down below. Even though she had jumped down from a height equal to her own, the floor was clean without a single drop of tea spilled. After shaking out her skirt to tidy it and sitting down, Cider spoke as if he had been waiting.
"If Mrs. Lux had seen that, it would have been a year's worth of nagging material."
"That's why I do it secretly."
The count, who had sohow beco about a hundred tis more lenient than the housekeeper, only sighed even when his ward put her feet up on the sofa. He definitely used to point it out at first, but now he thought this wasn't so bad either, which was strange.
"I don't know how I beca accustod to your unruly posture."
"I told you this is comfortable."
"Of course it would be for you."
Esperanza glanced at him sideways and giggled while covering her mouth.
"As if you don't get nagged by Mrs. Lux yourself."
"I used to be Mrs. Lux's biggest headache, but now you seem likely to take that position."
"I don't think I'll be taking your place. Mrs. Lux was lanting until just now. The count didn't sleep until dawn again yesterday, what should I do..."
"Ah, so you gossip about when I'm not around?"
"I'll keep it secret."
"I can see what you're doing."
Esperanza had sohow sprawled out completely, taking up one entire side of the sofa, stacking cushions layer upon layer on her knees and burying her chin deep into them.
"So, what's this serious thing you want to talk about?"
At those words, Cider's mood sank as if by magic, and he asked in a slow tone while fixing his eyes on the hourglass.
"There's been talk that Duke Galliston is going to propose to you. What do you think about it?"
Ah. So that story had reached there too. As the saying goes, it seed to be a rumor that everyone in Nine Holder knew about. Esperanza gave an ambiguous smile and mumbled evasively.
"Well..."
It wasn't a very good answer. In Cider's mind, the delusional speculation he had discarded just monts ago began to sprout again. An involuntarily sarcastic tone ca out.
"According to the rumors, he's quite passionate."
Esperanza tilted her head. Why is he suddenly being so spiteful? However, she didn't reveal that thought and continued speaking.
"It wasn't a proposal to begin with, was it? If I had to categorize it, more like a headhunter wanting to scout a capable employee?"
It wasn't an accurate analogy, nor was it an understandable one. Cider only asked back, "Hunter?" Ah, not that kind of hunter. Not the hunter who harvests heads.
"So, um, like when you discover an excellent butler and want to hire him..."
"Howard is doing well enough, and I've never thought about needing to find another butler."
He's acting like that when he clearly understood. However, Cider seed equally frustrated. He sighed and added.
"Esperanza. I'm not asking for your opinion, I'm asking for your feelings."
"About the duke? Are you crazy?"
"It could happen, right? Sotis there are idiots who develop romantic feelings for people who treat them badly."
"Are you calling an idiot?"
"I didn't say that."
But Cider's smile contained the implication of "that depends on your answer." Esperanza let out an incredulous laugh.
"It is true that his conditions are objectively excellent."
"That's true."
"Unless you have so reason you can't tell , could you honestly tell whether you're an idiot or not at this point?"
That was true. The duke was objectively handso, royalty, rich, smart, and his manners were... usually good it seed, and anyway, aside from being old, he was an irreproachable person. Even that age was only a three-year difference compared to Esperanza's original age.
But what would a three-year difference an at this mont? Esperanza clenched her fists.
"That person was sixteen years older than ! When I first saw him, he was already almost forty, so what romantic feelings could I have?"
Cider, who had raised his head, nodded slowly and blankly.
"Ah... I didn't think of that."
"You really must be crazy."
"I was rude. To try to pair you with such a middle-aged man, I shouldn't have done that. Right?"
"Don't ever say such things again. Marriage with Duke Galliston? Why would I do such a thing?"
"Right. Why would you do such a thing?"
The slow, soothing yet amused voice agreed with everything Esperanza said. Esperanza, who had been huffing for a while, let out a deep sigh.
"Enough, stop it."
It was embarrassing that she had gotten excited over sothing like this. The rumors had spread as far as they could spread, so it was natural to ask about it. At least the current Galliston was just thirty, so one could think there might be feelings. She couldn't understand herself why she had desperately denied it.
Esperanza, who readjusted her cushion, asked.
"Regardless of the truth, since the rumors have spread, the duke will probably use this sohow, right?"
"I think it's the opposite. It's more likely that the duke spread the rumors to use them."
"What on earth would he use such rumors for..."
"Exactly. I should have installed a wiretap in Pinent House."
Esperanza, who had been nodding in agreent unconsciously, squinted her eyes slightly.
"Isn't that illegal?"
"It's illegal."
"Is that okay?"
"Would what the duke did be legal?"
A duke who raised assassins wouldn't distinguish between legal and illegal when doing his work anyway.
"I an, won't I get scolded again if Pri Minister Tempton calls in?"
"At most, it would be expulsion. I'd be happy to be expelled from the House of Lords."
"Still, expulsion is a bit... No, wait, didn't you say they can't expel you?"
"If they expel , they can't scold . They can't drag in to work either."
It was clear how much Pri Minister Tempton had struggled trying to make use of this man sohow. And Cider probably had no interest whatsoever in Pri Minister Tempton's struggles.
"Anyway, we'll have to wait and see what the duke is trying to gain from this rumor. What made him escalate things like this."
"So we're just leaving the rumors as they are?"
Cider nodded slowly and added.
"Though I don't like it."
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
The purpose of the rumors was revealed exactly two weeks later.
As usual, Cider was in the laboratory, and unusually, Esperanza was also inside the laboratory rather than the library.
Cider glanced sideways at the massive golden machine spitting out paper from the typewriter while fiddling with a small machine.
Esperanza, who had been watching him tighten and loosen screws, touched the small bandage on her forearm. It was the trace from where blood had just been drawn.
Usually, after drawing blood once, Cider would be completely absorbed in his research without looking back, but for so reason, he had put the bandage on for her.
"Want to co see this?"
As if sensing her gaze, he called Esperanza over and patted the seat next to him on the long bench. When Esperanza sat close beside him, he showed her the inside of the machine he had been handling. The parts filling the machine were so small they looked like toys.
"If you put this in here, it's finished. Want to try putting it in?"
"Can I do it? It's so small."
It was a part small enough to be picked up with tweezers. When placed on Esperanza's fingertip, it fit perfectly without overflowing.
"Just put it in as it is."
There was exactly one spot left for a part to go in. Esperanza swallowed nervously and inserted the part. The brass-colored machine part slid into place as if being sucked in. At the sa ti, the parts began moving as one body.
Esperanza flinched and pulled back, but Cider closed the lid and placed the machine on the floor. The machine, buried among the short fibers of the carpet, was barely visible.
"What kind of machine is it?"
"It's a portable wiretap. When you put it down like this, it automatically goes and attaches to an appropriate wall."
The machine that had sohow crawled all the way to the far end was now stuck to the wall with its small arms and legs.
"Why are you making sothing like this...?"
It was clearly an object with high potential for criminal misuse. Esperanza thought of those not-so-respectable items that start with "ultra-small." So why on earth?
"The rumors are about ripe now. It's the perfect ti for the duke to put his plan into action."
"You said you didn't know what it was."
When Esperanza grumbled, Cider shrugged his shoulders dramatically and said.
"I didn't know then, but I think I know now."
If you knew, you should have told as soon as you figured it out!
"What is it?"
"Creating a natural picture. So his enemies won't suspect. That's why it's taking so long."
The 'enemies' referred to here are not the pri minister and his political rivals. Trivial social gossip is not their domain. The duke's real 'enemies' are those mysterious adversaries in the labyrinth who are threatening the queen's safety.
"You..."
Cider lightly tapped his fingers under Esperanza's chin. Her chin lifted slightly and their eyes t. Eyes without any trace of laughter were unfamiliar. Whenever their gazes t, he was always smiling.
Surely it wasn't like that at first. When did it start? She tried to search her mory to find the answer to the question that suddenly crossed her mind. Sothing seed within reach, yet not quite. Her senses beca acutely alert. So...
"Wait a mont."
A cheerful bell sound interrupted her train of thought. What had seed within reach slipped away like sand from her hand.
"What were you trying to say earlier?"
"I don't think I need to tell you."
"Why?"
"Because it seems to have already arrived."
Cider went out to the library and threw open the window. An old carriage was standing in front of the mansion. That is, it was really a horse-drawn carriage.
Of course, real horse-drawn carriages still ran in this era's Nine Holder. Steam carriages were expensive, so private ownership was still limited to the upper classes.
However, it was rare for a carriage parked at the main gate of an Upper Lane mansion to be horse-drawn. Moreover, it was even rarer to see a neat and decent-looking carriage rather than a freight wagon.
Esperanza instinctively gripped Cider's sleeve tightly.
"Don't tell ."
With a clattering sound, the library door burst open. Millen waved a white envelope and spoke urgently.
"An invitation has arrived from the royal palace!"
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