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Rose hurriedly followed after her as she headed external of the room.
Rose: “M-milady. You just want to drink a little bit of wine, right? You don’t have any other purpose, right?”
Keira: “I don’t know why you’d ask that. Do you think there’s another reason?”
Rose: “O-of course not
”
Rose trembled anxiously and moved forward. She still had a feeling that Lady Keira had other reasons for being so stubborn.
The atmosphere had already been tense because of Cosette’s presence; Rose just hoped this wasn’t something that could provoke Lady Johanna’s anger.
Unable to hide her anxiety, she followed Lady Keira downstairs.
Keira: “Ah, Gordon.”
Kiira, who found the butler, approached and spoke to him. The butler seemed flustered, but he would give the key to the wine cellar.
Rose had no choice but to look on anxiously.
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‘W-will things be alright
?’
And behind them, Lira, who did her best to silence her footsteps, rushed past.
Knock, knock–.
Lira: “Lady! Milady!”
Lira hurriedly knocked on the door, and someone replied from the inside.
Cosette: “What happened?”
Lira: “It’s me! Lira.”
Cosette: “Just a second.”
Soon after, Cosette, still in her pajamas, appeared between the doors. She looked like she was getting ready to go to bed.
Cosette: “What’s going on?”
Lira: “You told me this morning to tell you if Lady Keira is plotting something behind Lady Johanna’s back!”
Cosette brightened in an instant.
‘Bright, changed
?’
Lira shivered without realizing it. If she’s really worried Lady Keira will do her harm, shouldn’t she look terrified right now?
But Cosette was smiling brightly. As if she had been waiting for this moment.
Cosette: “Why? What’s going on?”
Lira: “T-that
 I saw Lady Keira asking the maid to secretly bring the keys to the basement.”
Cosette: “Is that all?”
Lira: “She asked the maid not to tell Lady Johanna
 She said she didn’t want to be caught drinking in the middle of the night.”
If anyone listened up to that point, one might think, ‘Ah, looks like she’s suddenly craving alcohol.’
The problem, however, was that it was Keira Parvis who made such a request.
Lira: “Lady Keira rarely drinks alcohol. But then she goes to Lady Johanna’s mansion, and suddenly she wants to drink wine at night. And she’s even hiding it from Lady Johanna! Isn’t that strange?”
Cosette: “Huu, is that so?”
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So she’s suddenly going to drink liquor she rarely drank at her Great-aunt’s house, and without even telling the owner of the house?
Even Cosette, who didn’t know much about Keira’s personality, could sense something strange.
Cosette: “So where is Keira now?”
Lira: “I’m not sure. She just got the key
 If it’s true that she wants a drink, she’s probably in the basement by now.”
Lira, who immediately thought of something, added.
Lira: “Come to think of it, I don’t think she’ll go down to the basement herself since she doesn’t do things like this. Maybe Her Ladyship will go up to her room after receiving the key, and Rose will go get the drink.”
Cosette: “Hmm, I don’t think so.”
Lira: “Yes?”
Cosette just smiled at Lira’s question.
‘It’s the basement.’
It wasn’t likely that the food and spirit stone was kept in the same place, so there was probably a secret passage to Beatrice’s spirit stone in the basement.
Cosette’s smile grew wider.
People were quick to feel anxious and suspicious. Cosette knew that better than anyone.
One day, if you thought you were not the next elementalist or your father’s biological daughter, no matter how firm you were, your mind would falter.
She smirked.
‘You pretended to be so calm, but as expected, you were actually scared, weren’t you?’
She was grateful to Keira, who moved as she wanted.
Cosette: “Thank you for letting me know. I’ll definitely repay you for this one day.”
Without letting Lira answer, Cosette continued. There was no time to share frivolous greetings.
Cosette: “Where are the maids staying?”
Lira: “The north side of the first floor of the annex. But most of them are probably asleep by now.”
Cosette: “Then I’ll wake them up.”
Lira: “Pardon?”
Cosette: “Let’s talk about it next time, Lira.”
Cosette then rushed out of the room. The sound of running down the hallway was deafening. In an instant, she disappeared under the stairs.
She spotted two servants on duty walking from the end of the hallway. Cosette ran to them, about to grab them by the collar, and asked.
Cosette: “You guys! Do you know where the key to the mansion is kept?”
(Maid): “What are you talking about
 uh, Lady Cosette?”
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Cosette: “Yes, it’s me. The keys to the mansion, where do you keep them?”
(Maid): “I-I’m sure it’s in the storage room. Why do you ask?”
Cosette: “I think there is an intruder in the mansion! I need to check it quickly, so please guide me there!”
(Maid): “Y-yes?”
If there was an intruder, the first priority was to block the entrance and strengthen the security. However, Cosette pushed ahead, so there was no time to think rationally.
The two followed after Cosette and directed her to the storage room, where nearly a hundred keys hung on one side of the wall.
Cosette scanned the wall and discovered that the space for the basement key was empty.
Cosette: “Do you have to write down your name and reason to take the key?”
(Maid): “In principle, yes.”
Cosette: “Bring in the books.”
Cosette hurriedly looked through the ledger that the servant had handed over. Even after checking all the records for today’s date, there was no sign that the basement key was taken.
‘That’s it.’
Cosette was filled with joy when she realized that her plan was a success.
Cosette turned around and cried.
Cosette: “It’s the basement! The intruder went there!”
(Maid): “I, Lady, you need to explain what’s going on
”
Cosette: “We’ll have to catch the intruder first, isn’t that important?”
She shook off her servants’ hands and ran back to the annex.
Since she had been wandering around the mansion during the day to figure out the structure, it didn’t take long to get to the maids’ sleeping quarters.
She banged on the dimly lit bedroom door and raised her voice.
Cosette: “Everyone get up! Wake up! It’s urgent!”
“What’s wrong, milady?”
Rubbing her eyes, a maid who had just fallen asleep opened the door. Her sleepy eyes were filled with irritation and confusion.
Cosette shouted at her.
Cosette: “I think there’s an intruder in the basement! We need to catch the intruder! Hurry and wake them up!”
(Maid): “Intruder?! B-by the way, how did you know that?”
Cosette: “I don’t have time to explain, so hurry up!”
Instead of explaining the situation, Cosette ran to the other hallway to call the guards.
“W-what do we do?”
The maids woke up and looked into each other’s eyes, restless.
“For now
 We have to catch the intruder.”
“No, before that, is there even one?”
“I don’t know, but we have to follow what the young lady said.”
At that time, the maid who woke up due to the commotion opened the door one by one and started to come out.
“Ugh
 What’s going on?”
“Isn’t this too much at night?”
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“I think there’s an intruder in the basement. We have to go.”
“What? An intruder?”
It wasn’t unusual for a stranger to try to break into the only elementalist’s residence.
The maids rushed to the main building with their lanterns while rubbing their eyes awake.
When the guards followed Cosette, the main building’s first floor lit up like daytime thanks to the lanterns.
“The lock is open!”
When someone shouted that, the people gathered in the basement entrance turned pale.
So, there really was an intruder!
How talented would the intruder have to be to break through the barriers made by an elementalist?
The powerless maid began to tremble and take a step backward. Only a few guards with weapons carefully approached the entrance of the basement.
Creak–.
They tapped the door with a window, and the wooden door creaked open. Soon, the dark basement stairs came to view.
Perhaps someone was in the basement because a light flame flickered under the stairs.
Pushing the people frozen in fear, Cosette stepped forward.
Cosette: “The entrance is surrounded. Come out.”
“M-milady! If you provoke a criminal like that
”
They didn’t know what they’d do if the intruder took Cosette hostage.
The maids were restless and discouraged her, but Cosette firmly stopped them.
Stomp, stomp–.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps began to rise from under the basement stairs.
What appeared to be the light of the lamp gradually became brighter.
“I–I
 I just needed something
”
What appeared was a face they knew very well.
“Rose?!”