Chapter 182
‘I could tell just from what he said earlier that he’s stingy with money… There’s no way he’d hire many servants.’
He must have made the mother and son do all the work. People who cost him not a single coin and whom he could even vent his anger on whenever he pleased. Sure enough, there were traces of the floor having been wiped with a wet rag where the previous Count’s wife had been just a moment ago.
Meanwhile, Sillian checked for any signs of movement inside each room before them, slightly opening the doors to peek inside.
Was he looking for the study or the bedroom?
Lynette craned her neck to look, but his large frame blocked her view, so she couldn’t see properly. Only after passing three rooms did he finally step inside one.
“Looks like the study.”
“If he doesn’t carry the seal with him, he would have left it either in the study or the bedroom.”
She took the lead and carefully opened the drawers, while Sillian checked the higher places that Lynette couldn’t easily reach.
How much time had passed? It felt like they had searched most places, yet nothing resembling a seal caught their eye. The man also continued to inspect the room, as if he hadn’t found anything worthwhile either.
‘Is there something like a hidden safe?’
She slightly lifted the framed picture hanging on the wall, but only a plain wall came into view. She even carefully ran her fingertips along the desk, wondering if there might be some kind of mechanism, but she couldn’t discover anything unusual.
‘Maybe the previous Count’s wife would know…’
Or maybe not.
After the seal had been taken from her, she must have lived in misery the entire time, so there was a high chance she didn’t know where it had been kept.
Still, if there were a secret place here, she would probably know best.
Lynette hesitated, her lips moving as if she were about to say something, then let out a small sigh. She noticed Sillian touching the carved decorations on the wall, feeling them here and there.
Had it been about ten minutes since she had been watching him like that? With a small clunk, a small drawer suddenly popped out from the wall.
“Wo- mmph.”
An exclamation slipped out of her before she realized it, and she hurriedly covered her mouth. Then she quickly approached him.
“What is it? Did you find something? How did you know?”
As the man stepped slightly aside as if to show her, Lynette leaned forward to look inside. However, the only thing in there was dust.
“It seems to be a place even Nosh didn’t know about.”
Sillian let out a small sigh.
“You found something that even the person who uses this study couldn’t find. How did you discover it? And how on earth did you open it…?”
“It’s a secret.”
He replied with a faint smile and closed the drawer.
“Did you find anything, Lynette?”
“No.”
She shook her head as she answered in a voice that barely came out. It might have been better if she had at least found some kind of secret place like this man had.
“It might not be here.”
Sillian said it in a soothing tone, as if reassuring her.
“What if Nosh has already noticed and is carrying the seal with him?”
“I hope that isn’t the case.”
Answering calmly, he strode toward the door. Lynette hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the man’s arm.
“Maybe the previous Count’s wife knows something…”
The moment the words slipped out subconsciously, she suddenly remembered what Eshar had told her earlier.
‘Edwin’s wife!’
Although she’s only a wife in name, hadn’t it been said that the woman is Nosh’s lover? Lynette didn’t know how much that man loved her, but at the very least it meant she was close enough to be involved in something like this. If so, he might have told her something.
“Do you think… Nosh’s lover might know something?”
At those words, Sillian thought for a moment, then nodded.
“But how do you intend to ask?”
“Uh, well…”
Lynette’s lips moved. She couldn’t just go in and bluntly ask where the seal was, and it didn’t seem likely that the woman would fall for a flimsy lie like saying Nosh had sent them. As her eyes rolled around restlessly, the man also sank into thought.
A way to ask where the seal was…
Frowning slightly, she finally came up with a somewhat plausible lie.
“Sillian, do you know where the nearest noble district from here is?”
“I do.”
“Then…”
Leaning close to his ear, she whispered the plan she had just thought of. The man frowned slightly as if he didn’t quite like it, then let out a low sigh.
“Still, it would be better to minimize contact as much as possible. Let’s search the bedroom as well, and if we still can’t find it, we’ll try the method Lynette suggested.”
“Alright.”
Lynette nodded obediently. As he said, it would be best if they could find it in the bedroom.
The two of them went to search the bedroom. Once again, they spent quite a lot of time carefully searching the room, but they couldn’t find the seal.
As Lynette returned the bed sheet she had flipped over back into place, she spoke.
“It doesn’t seem to be here either. Or maybe we just can’t find it.”
“…”
“Let’s try the method I mentioned.”
Sillian made a reluctant expression. Still, as if he knew that the worst possibility remaining was that Nosh had it, he obediently returned to the study with her. He took a sheet of paper from the drawer, placed it neatly on the desk, and looked at her.
“Should I write it?”
“Yes. I’m not very good at writing.”
“…”
“And you’d probably write the contents better too, Sillian.”
“Understood.”
The man readily sat down in the chair and dipped the pen in ink. Then, unlike his earlier hesitation, he began writing smoothly from the very beginning of the letter without stopping. Finishing a full page of the letter in one go, he waited a moment for the ink to dry before folding it perfectly without the slightest misalignment and handing it to Lynette.
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