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Someone quietly approached Merria, who had been standing for a long time.
“Lady?”
“…!”
Merria then lifted her gaze…
She saw a familiar silver eyes through the empty space of the bookshelf, which had been emptied because the books were on the cart.
“Oh…”
‘I couldn’t believe I’m seeing that guy here.’
Merria greeted him and shoved the book she was holding.
‘That’s why I didn’t want to show anyone I was reading this suspicious book.’ (Merria)
As soon as Merria greeted lightly, Deston circled around the bookshelf and stood in front of her.
He, too, was wearing an outfit that gave off the feeling of being an outsider.
“What are you doing here?” Deston whispered.
“I just came here to meet my sister.” Merria answered in a similarly low voice.
“Are you talking about the library?”
Deston’s head tilted, wondering what she meant.
It was a moment when Deston really wanted to see Merria, who would just do whatever Reukis said.
But Deston wasn’t Reukis, so he had to make a plausible excuse to meet her.
“Since you’re here, I wasn’t told to see you…”
Fortunately, at least, he was far from the bookshelf because she was reading.
Merria passed by the cart as if she had not chosen the book.
Deston followed Merria, coughing lightly.
Walking alongside her as if he was a companion looked blatantly brazen.
“Anything you want to say to me?”
Merria stopped walking and asked.
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes.”
It was well past lunch, but it wasn’t a lie because Merria had breakfast.
Deston smiled embarrassingly at Merria’s cold answer.
“Lady, you don’t have to be too wary of me.”
At his sudden words, Merria turned her head and looked at him.
When Merria looked him in the eye, Deston continued with an innocent face.
“I applied to be your partner because I didn’t know the relationship between you and the Grand Duke. It’s embarrassing to say this because I was busy working. It wasn’t until I sent the letter that I knew that you had a lover.”
“Ah…”
Merria hesitated as she saw Deston’s sullen expression.
After all, it was only in front of the young noble ladies that Merria announced their relationship.
Besides, Merria said that when she was arguing with Riley, Deston wasn’t at the party.
Because he ran into her right after she came out.
Merria judged that Deston’s words were reasonable, and slightly lowered her guard.
“Okay. I’ll do as you say.”
As Merria’s expression softened, and Deston smiled.
“I’m just happy that you understand my heart. Then I’ll go back.”
Merria shrugged at Deston’s neat turn as if that was all he had to say.
It was because it felt useless to be overly wary of such a polite person.
‘Ah. Name!’
Now that I’ve turned down his offer, it would be perfect to ask for his name.
However, it was too much to hold onto Deston, who had already left.
It wasn’t even that important for me to know his name.
Merria decided that there would be a time when she would naturally get to know his name later.
✿
Merria visited Count Lawrence’s residence after a while.
Her main purpose was to visit her cute cousin.
For a moment she rejoiced that Derek had returned to the capital, and for the first ten days she had to yield to the Countess Lawrence.
And until now,  Derek was lying in bed.
Eventually, Merria came to meet Derek on the pretext of visiting him.
Fortunately or not, Derek’s condition was worse than usual, so the power that came from the ring was quite strong.
Reassured, after Derek fell asleep, Merria headed to Lilith in the garden. She was about to have tea time with Lilith while she was here.
Merria took a sip of hot tea while eating the refreshments prepared by the maid.
“A stomachache? What do you mean Derek was weak?”
Merria said thinking of Derek lying in bed who looked skinny.
However, Lilith replied snorting as it was ridiculous.
“It’s not like that, Merria.”
When Merria looked at Lilith with a puzzled expression, she took a sip of the tea and continued.
“The troublemaker secretly ate a plate of cake late at night, so he got sick.” (Lilith)
“Really?” Merria burst into laughter and asked back as if it were absurd.
“That’s right. I thought he recently had a cavity, so I cut down his snacks, and no one knew it would happen at night. I let my guard down.”
Lilith shook her head and sighed.
It was a known fact that Derek liked sweets as much as Merria, but she didn’t know it was much to that extent.
Feeling that it was recklessness like that of a child, Merria nodded.
“It’s incredible in many ways.”
Merria, who was worried earlier, giggled and said.
“He has to work hard in the morning. Don’t you think so? He worked too much yesterday, but he got better after the doctor came.”
“I couldn’t give him anything that I brought as a gift for the visit. Let’s share it after dinner later.”
Merria smiled as she recalled the appetizing cakes she had bought for Derek.
She had expected that Count Lawrence and his wife would not be at the mansion because they were always busy.
She took this opportunity to buy a lot to feed Derek a bunch of desserts.
Lilith, who received the unexpected gift, also smiled brightly.
“Great!”
After chatting for such a long time, a maid came to say that the meal was ready.
During the meal, Lilith suddenly said something that came to her mind.
“Ah! Merria. Do you often go to the shopping street?”
“Right.”
Merria answered, cutting the meat into small pieces gently and putting it in her mouth.
‘I go out with Reukis, and sometimes go shopping with Lexie.’ (Merria)
“These days, rumors are circulating in the capital. There must be some madman attacking young women.”
“Attacking?” Merria asked back.
Lilith frowned like a person who saw something unpleasant.
“That’s kind of vague. It’s not that life-threatening… He just suddenly appears and runs away leaving a sharp scratch in a place that’s revealed like an arm or hand.”
“What? Who’s the culprit?”
“They haven’t caught him yet…” Lilith said as she tilted her head and blurred the ends of her words.
Merria waited for her to finish her words with a puzzled face.
“Recently, there were a few noble victims, but I guess they didn’t even see his face.” Lilith continued with a grim expression.
“…”
An unidentified person targets young noble ladies and inflicts wounds on them, and they still haven’t seen his face.
It felt like I was only looking at the outer part of the story without finding anything important.
Merria continued to eat, unable to get rid of the uneasiness that had been transmitted to Lilith.
Perhaps because of hearing bad news, the two of them had a short meal.
✿
A few days later, Merria peeked out the window excitedly.
Soon in the distance, a dark blue-violet carriage could be seen from afar.
The carriage, which was approaching at fast speed, quickly arrived at the front door of the Rackester Mansion.
As soon as Merria saw it, she went straight down the stairs.
Ruben and Serinia had already heard the news, so they were already out in front of the main entrance.
Soon the carriage slowed down, and the door swung open before it could come to a complete stop.
Curly lavender hair popped out from it.
“Sister May!” (Derek)
“Derek.” (Merria)
As Merria ran at once, Derek also ran to her and hugged her without slowing down.
Derek, who was shorter than his age, ruffled his frizzy hair near her chin.
“Sister, I missed you.”
She couldn’t resist the tickling she felt and burst into laughter.
Merria ruffled Derek’s hair as he dug in her arms, to the point that his hair was disheveled.
“Have you been well?” (Merria)
“Yes!”
Perhaps it was the aftermath of the last stomachache, his lovely cheeks were a little slim, but he’s still smiling.
Lilith slowly got out of the carriage and walked as she watched their eunion with cold eyes.
She grabbed Derek by the nape of the neck, who was still clinging to Merria, and stood him beside her.
“This little kid. You have to greet them first.”
Lilith interrupted their reunion and Derek squinted.
Lilith smirked thinking that her brother was acting childish in front of Merria.
Derek mumbled as if he had something to say and soon stood up properly.
“Lady Serinia, Lady Merria, how have you been?”
After taking the successor class, Merria and Serinia raised an eyebrow in a pretty plausible figure of Derek.
Serinia replied, gazing at Derek like looking at a grown-up son.
“You look healthy. How many days are you going to stay? Your room’s ready.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
After greeting like a gentleman, Derek again hung from Merria’s waist and walked into the mansion.
Merria smiled softly as she felt the warmth of her beloved young cousin after a long time.
After a quick lunch, Merria and Derek got ready to go out.
In the previous letter, it was because of a promise to buy Derek a gift when he returns from his estate managing education.
Lilith refused to accompany them, saying she was tired of taking care of his brother.
“Lady, are you going out?”
A knight from the mansion approached Merria, who was carrying her coat.
It was Gwen who she previously attended the victory banquet with.
“I’m going to the shopping street.” Merria answered with a nod.
“I’ll accompany you.”
Merria usually went to the shopping street alone or with Lexie. But then she remembered the last conversation she had with Lilith.
‘Come to think of it, there was a strange rumor.’
Didn’t they say that there was a crazy person who preyed on noble girls roaming around the shopping streets?
Merria, who values her own safety very much, had no reason to refuse.
‘Besides, today, I’m not alone… I’m with my younger cousin.’
“Could we leave right away?” Merria pointed to the carriage and said.
Gwen immediately got into the driver’s seat.
Soon the wheels of the carriage began to roll slowly.