Emily soon returned with a box containing the jewels.
The small box, wrapped in fine velvet, looked luxurious at first glance.
Taking the box, I opened it without delay.
"Wow! The color is so beautiful!"
As the deep blue, round gem, which seemed to have been transplanted directly from the depths of the sea, was revealed, Emily exclaimed in admiration on my behalf.
Lapis Lazuli usually contains small specks of gold or white. The more intense the blue and the fewer the specks, the higher the quality.
After checking the gemstone by passing the box around, I found that the dark blue gem had not a single flaw.
"I like it."
I placed the box on the desk with a satisfied look.
It was worth paying the high price to the boastful jeweler.
"Are you going to give this as a gift to the Duke, Miss?"
Emily, looking at the cufflinks with a large lapis lazuli, asked with an innocent face.
'No way.'
I replied indifferently in my mind and then brought up another topic.
"Could you go and bring me any of the jewelry boxes?"
"Jewelry box? Yes, Miss."
Emily looked puzzled at the incomprehensible instruction but followed it without a word.
Thud. A moment later, she placed a large, heavy wooden box on the desk.
I pretended to think while looking at it, stalling for time, and then spoke at the right moment.
"I have a task for someone else to do on my behalf."
"Yes? What is it?"
"Do you know anything about the information brokers in the merchant district?"
"Information brokers...?"
Emily hesitated for a moment before answering.
"I don't know much, but my roommate, who shares the same room, might know. She used to work as a messenger in the merchant district before coming to the mansion."
"Is that so?"
I paused for a moment and then asked.
"What's her name?"
"Rena... her name is Rena..."
"Where is she now?"
"......But, but I can do it better than Rena, Miss!"
Emily hastily added before she could finish her answer.
"That girl talks too much because she knows a lot."
She rolled her eyes, trying to read my thoughts, seemingly afraid that I might dismiss her and call the other girl right away.
"Emily, this task needs to be carried out very secretly and carefully. You may need to act on your own initiative at times."
In fact, I had decided to use her as my personal maid for this task, so Emily was the only suitable person from the start.
"But you, who have looked down on me, a princess, all this time."
But I deliberately created a sense of crisis.
"Can I really trust you?"
"P-Penelope, Miss!"
It was a topic that hadn't been brought up for a while.
Emily's face turned pale as if she had recalled a forgotten past.
"I, I haven't had any disrespectful thoughts since then, Miss! I, I have served you so devotedly, how could...?"
"Anyone in the Duke's mansion could say that, Emily."
Emily, sobbing and pleading, was silenced by my cold words.
"I, I..."
After a moment of sobbing, she began to think and changed her approach.
"You've seen how sharp my intuition is, haven't you, Miss?"
I was impressed by her quick change of tactics.
'Impressive.'
Indeed, Emily was more cunning than the other extras.
She had hidden a needle in her hair and meticulously tormented Penelope for years.
Unaware that I was thinking such things about her, Emily pleaded with a desperate look.
"Remember, Miss, I've never made a mistake in any task you've given me."
"......"
"I'll do it, Miss. I'm your personal maid, after all..."
A long silence followed.
Tap, tap. The only sound in the room was the tapping of my fingers on the desk.
Just as the maid's anxiety was about to boil over,
"......Alright."
I finally agreed.
"I'll trust you this time."
"Miss..."
Emily looked at me with a grateful expression.
Honestly, I had never thought she harbored any good feelings toward me after the needle threat.
But the possibility that the master's trust might shift to someone else was enough to make her swear loyalty.
"Thank you, Miss! I won't let you down!"
I nodded to the bowing Emily and said,
"Open the jewelry box."
Perhaps fearing that I might change my mind, she moved immediately after I finished speaking.
"After my morning duties, go to the information brokers until my probation ends. You'll be entrusting them with a request to find someone."
"Someone? Who...?"
"I'll write it down separately. You just need to show them the paper. You can use anything in the jewelry box to pay for it."
The box was filled with shining jewels, representing the extreme luxury of the fake princess.
Unfortunately, Penelope didn't have a large amount of cash, so the only assets available were the jewels.
But even if I used all of them, it wouldn't matter.
The vault storing the princess's valuables was filled with many more jewelry boxes.
"Yes! I can do it, Miss! I'll find the person quickly."
"However, it can't be a regular information broker who deals with finding people."
Emily's eyes widened at my words.
"Then, what kind of...?"
"Places that handle very rare information or items. High-end information brokers that only high-ranking nobles would use. I'm sure you can find them on your own."
"Yes! Of course!"
In the game, the largest and most famous of such brokers was run by Bauter.
'So it should be easy to find.'
Of course, I already knew that he was a marquis, a mage, and secretly ran a merchant business.
If I wanted to meet him, I could just attend the balls he was likely to attend.
However, Bauter was one of the potential male leads after Eclis.
For a more dramatic encounter, I decided to reverse-engineer a normal mode episode.
[The heroine, upon returning to the Duke's mansion, searches for the benefactor who helped her find her original family.
All she knows about him is that he is a wizard wearing a white rabbit mask.
However, at a ball she attends to debut as the 'real princess,' she meets Bauter and recognizes him as her benefactor by his eye color.]
'Does that make sense? How can you recognize someone just by their eye color?'
The days when I was delighted by the easy-to-break plot now seemed distant.
I had no intention of attending every ball just to meet Bauter.
'I'll make him come to me.'
I spoke to Emily again, maintaining a serious tone.
"And one more thing. You need to subtly let it be known that you are a maid to a high-ranking noble lady."
"Yes? How...?"
"Act as if you're secretly searching for a man a noble lady has fallen in love with at first sight."
"Oh, Miss!"
Emily jumped at my low whisper.
"Maybe it would be faster to ask me directly."
I frowned at her reaction.
"All the maids talk about is the high-ranking nobles. Especially the unmarried ones with good looks, we all know them well..."
"Emily."
I cut off her chatter sharply.
"Can you do the task I'm asking you to do, or not? Just answer that."
"Leave it to me, Miss! I'll definitely find out who your lover is..."
"It's not that."
I firmly denied it. I could see she was making some wild assumptions.
'You don't even know my thoughts.'
But her eyes sparkled suspiciously, as if she didn't believe me at all.
"Spring has finally come to our Miss..."
I had to bring her back to reality, so I rolled up my sleeve and showed her my palm.
"Be careful. This task will determine the fate of your needle."
"Ah...!"
"This is a clear opportunity for you, Emily. If you do something you weren't asked to do and get caught, you might be dismissed this time."
My palm, now free of any ugly needle marks, was clean.
But Emily quickly composed herself, looking solemn, as if she hadn't forgotten the needle threat.
'Has she developed some feelings for me?'
I felt a bit sorry for her.
Just then, there was a knock.
"Miss, it's Penel."
The butler announced his presence.
The days of doors bursting open were over, but I still waited a few seconds before responding.
"......Come in."
The butler carefully opened the door, bowed, and entered.
"What is it?"
"A letter of invitation for Penelope Miss has arrived from the palace."
"For me?"
I tilted my head. Since the second prince's birthday ball had just ended, I didn't expect an invitation from the palace for a while.
"Yes, Miss. It seems there will be a simple ball at the palace on the last day of the Founding Festival to celebrate the empire's victory."
I frowned.
What's wrong with the palace, always hosting balls for no reason?
"Didn't we already have a grand welcome ball?"
"This one is being hosted by the Crown Prince himself."
At the butler's words, my neck creaked as if it were an un-oiled robot.