CHAPTER 47…….
Left alone with Kaas, Linaria glanced briefly at the empty air before looking around.
‘There really is nothing left.’
But that was fine.
Because she had come here today with another purpose in mind.
“Wait a moment, let’s go outside.”
Linaria murmured toward the empty air—as though speaking to someone other than Kaas—then walked out into the garden.
She checked her pocket, then spoke in a surprised tone.
“Kaas, I think I dropped my handkerchief on the way here. Could you find it for me?”
“Alright.”
Without the slightest suspicion, Kaas—who had been following her—walked off into the distance.
Linaria was alone.
No, to be precise, she wasn’t alone.
“Right? Right? You were talking to me earlier, weren’t you? And last time, you even made eye contact with me!”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“You answered! You actually answered me!”
The reason she had returned to Brimstone Manor—
It was solely because of the divine beast.
“Thanks to you, Federico’s hair is falling out less!”
“I’ve also received help from you, you know.”
“Help? When?”
The divine beast seemed completely unaware that it had blurted out Brimstone’s internal secrets.
‘Well, those are all human matters. A divine beast isn’t human.’
“This is my way of saying thank you.”
Today, she hadn’t just brought the Duke of Brimstone’s gift.
From her bag, she took out a mouse-shaped cat toy and some catnip.
“I didn’t know what you’d like, so I thought about it and remembered I had these lying around from a long time ago.”
A bitter smile flickered across Linaria’s lips.
“I suppose you wouldn’t be able to wear something like this?”
Jingle, jingle—
She shook a bell-adorned collar.
“You’re treating me like a pet!”
Hmph.
Brimstone snorted.
It seemed the gifts she had brought, just in case, didn’t appeal to him.
Still, since he was a divine beast, perhaps treating him too much like a stray cat had been a mistake. She began to gather the items back up—
When the divine beast crept closer, glanced around nervously, and batted at the mouse toy.
The dirt on the ground rose slightly, wrapping around the toy where the beast’s paw touched it.
It seemed he was using the soil since he couldn’t touch it directly.
And then—
Squeak, squeak, squeeeak—
“Yap! Yap-yap!”
It took exactly three seconds for the divine beast—who had just snorted at being treated like a pet—to become utterly absorbed in the toy.
Linaria could almost smell the warm, toasty scent from his little paws as he played enthusiastically.
He was so cute it was hard to understand why anyone feared divine beasts.
She was happily watching that scene when—
Cheng!
The sharp sound of clashing blades rang out directly behind her.
Startled, Linaria turned her head.
Kaas was there, holding a dagger.
And the person whose sword he had crossed with—
“Well, looks like you’re worth a hundred thousand runes after all.”
Even at those words, Kaas didn’t lower his blade.
“But you should choose your opponents more carefully before drawing your weapon. You know I’d never harm my lovely cousin.”
“Lord Brimstone.”
In the end, it was Auguste who sheathed his sword first. Strangely, he had a bouquet of flowers in one hand.
“‘Lord Brimstone’? That’s not the only way you can address me.”
“In this appearance, I can’t call you that. After all, I’m just a Brimstone maid.”
As though he’d just heard a funny joke, Auguste laughed.
Since he didn’t know why Linaria was here disguised like this, the situation must have seemed amusing to him.
“When did you get a job here?”
“Just for today.”
“That’s a shame. I wanted to see your face more often. Well then, Miss Maid, what were you doing here?”
“Just…”
The divine beast was lying belly-up, shooting her a look that clearly meant “Hurry up and pet me.”
Linaria forcibly averted her gaze.
“Looking around the garden. What about you, my lord? Don’t you have something to do?”
“Ah, I was going to visit a friend today, but I forgot to bring the gift I was going to give them.”
“That bouquet?”
“Yes, exactly. I came to get it, but then the atmosphere here felt strange, and I happened to run into you.”
“Congratulations.”
Linaria responded half-heartedly.
“Oh, right. Do you want to come meet my friend too? You remember when we went to the black market, and I was worrying about what gift to give? I’m going to see that friend.”
With the bouquet in hand…
Linaria had no desire to watch Auguste get slapped—twice—in person.
Sensing her cooling gaze, Auguste hastily made an excuse.
“He’s really just a friend.”
“I see.”
“You know Noah Ignas, right?”
“…He’s your friend?”
The reclusive Duke Ignas?
And he was supposed to be the man who would one day fall in love with Rusalka.
“Of course. I’m also friends with Evanna and Vanessa.”
Unfortunately, Linaria barely heard the rest of his words—
“Ignas? Let’s go, let’s go!”
—because the divine beast was clamoring to leave.
From the way he was stomping his front paws on the ground, Linaria suspected that if she refused, he’d start yanking out her hair.
“…Alright, I’ll go.”
“Really?”
Auguste brightened and took the lead.
As she followed, a bundle of silvery fur slipped onto her head. Linaria whispered quietly to the divine beast—
“But you’re going to stay quiet, okay?”
“Mm-hm, mm-hm!”
She had hoped to have a leisurely conversation with him, but it seemed today was not the day.
Linaria, still in disguise, visited the Ignas estate with Auguste.
But—
“I’m sorry, Lord Brimstone.”
“It’s fine. I considered this possibility. Just make sure these flowers reach Noah.”
“Yes, my lord.”
She had been thrown out without so much as a glimpse of the Duke of Ignas’s hair.
Looking a bit awkward, Auguste spoke up.
“I wasn’t lying—we really are close, but maybe today just wasn’t the day. You know how Noah has had a lot going on.”
“….”
“I don’t think he’s meeting anyone except me these days, so I wanted to introduce you. Too bad. If there’s another chance, will you come with me again?”
No answer came.
“Linaria?”
Of course.
Even her shadow was gone.
Just moments ago, she had been following behind him, still playing the maid.
“Linaria!”
He called her name louder than before.
But only his own voice echoed emptily.
“Don’t tell me you’re trying to mess with me right now…”
Halfway through speaking, Auguste ran a rough hand through his hair.
“No, with your personality, there’s no way.”
Linaria wasn’t the type to vanish without a word, nor to play pranks.
Which meant someone had taken her.
They had entered the Ignas estate together, and in the moment he’d let his guard down, she had disappeared.
“Come to think of it…”
The hundred-thousand-rune bodyguard—no, the slave knight—she’d brought along was also gone.
Both of them had been disguised as servants.
On a hunch, Auguste tried to re-enter the estate.
But the firmly closed doors did not open again.
“What were you doing there?!”
Linaria and Kaas had been following Auguste obediently.
If not for the hand that had hooked around their necks like a fishing gaff, they would have safely left the estate.
A maid had herded them into a corner, then lowered her voice to scold them.
“Even if we’re short-staffed, it’s not your job to guide guests around yet.”
Linaria and Kaas exchanged a brief glance.
Looks like that’s what happened, huh?
Yeah.
“You should be grateful to me. Otherwise, you’d have been thrown out without pay.”
It seemed she had mistaken them for estate servants.
“You’re the new ones, right?”
“No—”
“Yes.”
She could feel Kaas’s startled gaze.
But Linaria didn’t bother correcting the misunderstanding.
“The butler’s been on edge lately because of preparations for the upcoming Unity Gathering, so let’s avoid him. Follow me.”
Among the five ducal families, Brimstone was the only one that could be counted on to help the Obel family bring down Maximilian.
‘Aside from the Levia-tans, who are in-laws, and the Wendishels who side with them, that only leaves Ignas.’
If the long-reclusive Ignas sided with Obel, it would be a significant boost in numbers.
‘But I have no personal connection with the Duke of Ignas, nor do I know anything about his internal affairs.’
Right now, before Rusalka had appeared, was the best time to win him over.
But Ignas was so reclusive that even dangling an enticing lure wouldn’t be easy.
‘No choice. I’ll have to find out myself.’
Even Auguste—who claimed to be close to him—had been thrown out without so much as seeing his face.
And as the Obel heiress, there were limits to what she could investigate from outside.
So perhaps… this was an opportunity.
As the saying goes, words have power—today, Linaria really had been hired as a maid.
Their first job in their undercover employment—
“They must’ve forgotten to move the ingredients. Could you put these away first?”
—was carrying supplies.
Linaria was about to lift a crate full of potatoes when it suddenly rose into the air.
She turned her head to see Kaas balancing his own crate with hers stacked on top.
“Your left arm’s injured.”
“It’s fine.”
She distinctly remembered him saying he couldn’t use his left arm properly—yet now he claimed it was fine?
As she worried about the wound reopening and rendering his arm completely useless, Kaas spoke again.
“I’ll do all the heavy work, so don’t push yourself. That’s my job.”
Before she could protest, he had walked off.
As she looked around for something else to do—
“Hey.”
The senior maid spoke hesitantly.
“Are you two siblings?”
Was she asking if she and Kaas were siblings?
Her incredulity must have shown on her face, because the maid quickly added—
“I don’t mean you look alike, but your hair color is the same, so I just wondered. Sorry if that was rude.”
With a slightly embarrassed flush, the maid continued—
“When I first saw you from behind, I didn’t notice, but then he looked up and—wow—he’s handsome. And you’re so pretty too, so I thought maybe you were siblings.”
“….”
“And you seem close. Like you have a special relationship.”
Special, indeed.
They were, after all, master and slave.
But the “special” she meant was likely romantic.
From the way she tucked her hair behind her ear and snuck glances toward where Kaas had gone, it was obvious—
She had fallen for him at first sight.
