Chapter 184
‘It seems Nosh does spend some money on his lover.’
Well, of course. If he acted like a miser even with his lover, maintaining the relationship would be difficult.
She nodded to herself. The room was filled with all kinds of things. Mysterious boxes piled up like mountains, dresses draped here and there, and shoes scattered across the floor.
“Where did it go?”
The woman made clattering noises as if she couldn’t find the letter paper or pen, then called out to someone in an irritated voice.
“Vermin! Bring me a pen and paper!”
“…”
Calling someone ‘vermin’ like that.
To hide the stiffness in her face, Lynette lowered her head slightly.
“Hey… where did you go? Vermin!”
The woman shouted again, but Edwin’s mother still didn’t answer.
“Haah… I told him we should hire a few more maids…”
The woman muttered with a frown, then shouted again. If Lynette had truly been a maid of a noble house, the moment she witnessed something like this she would have made some excuse to leave and reported everything to her master. But Lynette simply waited quietly. After being called several more times, a gaunt woman in worn clothes staggered over.
“Bring paper and a pen.”
Edwin’s mother, who had once been the real Countess, glanced at Lynette. Her expression showed she didn’t know who she was. But even giving more attention than that seemed exhausting for her, and without a word she brought the paper and pen. The woman took them and went back into the room, placed the paper on the table, then hesitated for a moment before beckoning to Lynette.
“Come here.”
“Yes.”
“What should I write? ‘I will attend’?”
“Yes. Just write that.”
In reality, she should have written several polite lines with a long greeting, expressed her intention to attend, conveyed her anticipation and gratitude, and then closed with formal courtesy… but there was no need to explain all that now. All Lynette needed was the seal.
The woman scribbled down that she would attend in handwriting that was barely legible, then roughly folded the paper and held it out to Lynette.
“You must seal it with your family seal. That way they can confirm it’s a reply personally sent by the Countess.”
“Ah, the seal.”
The woman showed an openly annoyed expression. She was probably thinking the whole process of attending a party was bothersome. Worried that the woman might not fully understand, Lynette added a more detailed explanation.
“You must stamp it with the seal of the count’s house that has been approved by His Majesty the Emperor.”
“I know what a seal is.”
Seeing the woman reply with a displeased frown, Lynette lowered her head deeply. There was no benefit in provoking her unnecessarily.
The woman walked straight to one side of the room. She sat down in front of a dressing table with a large mirror, opened a drawer, and felt around inside.
‘So the Count gave the seal to his lover.’
That was a bit unexpected. Since he had seized the title of Count by any means necessary, she had assumed he would carry the seal with him like his life depended on it. She had even prepared herself for the worst case. Hearing that they would have to ask Nosh for it.
Still, it seemed to be an important item, because it wasn’t just tossed loosely inside the drawer. After keeping her hand inside for a moment, the woman took out the seal and came over.
“This needs wax poured on it, right?”
“Yes.”
She poked her head out the door and began yelling for “vermin” again. This time, the former Countess came after only two calls and brought wax and a melting tool. Lynette watched quietly as the seal was pressed firmly onto the poorly folded letter.
“That’s done, right?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Go on, then.”
The woman waved her hand dismissively. Even though the other party behaved rudely, Lynette still maintained the appearance of a proper noble household maid until the end and withdrew.
As she went down the stairs, she stopped on the second floor and looked around. No one was watching. Sillian was nowhere to be seen, but the door of the room where they had first hidden together was slightly open.
“Sillian.”
When she carefully stepped inside, Sillian, who had been hiding behind the door, came out and looked at her. Instead of answering, Lynette held up the letter with the stamped seal.
“It seems he gave the seal to his lover.”
“I see.”
“But what should we do? She seems to stay in that room all the time. If that’s the case, we can’t steal it.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than the sound of footsteps descending the stairs slipped through the crack of the door. The light sound of heels. It couldn’t be Edwin’s mother. The man smirked.
“It seems our luck is good.”
Rather than luck, Lynette thought it was probably because the letter’s subject had been a party. Since she would be attending a nobles’ party for the first time, she would probably want a new dress and feel the need to adorn herself more extravagantly.
The two of them went upstairs. Perhaps because there were hardly any people in the mansion at all, the woman’s door was wide open.
“She just left it on the table.”
With a short laugh, Lynette simply walked into the room and took the seal. It was surprisingly simple.
So simple it almost felt anticlimactic.
It even made her think it would have been nice if they had used this method from the beginning.
She tucked it deep into her pocket and looked at the man. As if understanding the meaning of that look, Sillian smiled slightly.
“It seems it’s time to find Edwin’s mother now.”
At those words, Lynette let out a small sigh of relief.
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