26.

The next day, a large pie box was unexpectedly delivered to me.

It was a pie box from Benedict’s Pie Shop.

Lemon pie, chocolate pie, pecan pie…

Among the many pies emitting sweet fragrances, a cherry pie with glistening cherry filling caught my eye.

<Thank you for trusting our Pâtisserie Pie House.

The one I personally recommend the most is our special cherry pie, made with our unique secret recipe.

The sooner you eat it, the better it tastes.>

I immediately picked up a fork and knife.

When I sliced the pie in half, a rolled-up note tied with a string came out from inside.

‘Hmm.’

The paper seemed to be water-resistant, without a hint of damage.

The sentence written on it said:

<Once a month, meet in the wine cellar between 2:30 AM and 3 AM.

Disguise as a milk delivery person, and the next meeting will be next Thursday.>

That’s the deal.

I pursed my lips.

Now it was time to put the sparrows that had been flying freely under my control to good use.

* * *

I summoned the sparrows that Victor had placed on me.

“What’s going on?”

“They’ve come to find us…”

It seemed like they were up to something, as the two maids cautiously watched my reactions.

I spoke calmly.

“You know that you’ve leaked my information to Victor, right?”

The maids froze in place.

Addressing them, I smiled gently.

“It wasn’t just one or two, probably, right?”

“E-Elze, ma’am!”

One of the maids exclaimed as if she had just realized something.

I stared at the maids as if to encourage them to speak if they had something to say.

“We, um… that is…”

“So, what about it…?”

The maids only pursed their lips and offered no excuses.

Well, they didn’t have much of a choice.

With just one Tilda dress shop, they were struggling to make ends meet. Those maids had even regularly reported minor details of my daily life within the boarding school to Victor. They attended the 3 o’clock teatime, sometimes retaliated against those who bothered Bridgette, and other small tasks like that.

And I purposely allowed them to inquire about my whereabouts.

Victor needed to believe in those maids, and most importantly…

‘The more they spy, the greater the sense of danger when they discover me.’

I calmly spoke.

“It’s quite strange how Victor knew that I visited the Tilda Dress Shop.”

Actually, Victor didn’t directly mention the dress shop to me.

But he acted as if he already knew about it, as if Victor had brought up the dress shop to me.

It was all to test the maids.

And my strategy was quite successful; the color drained from the maids’ faces in an instant.

“Isn’t it amazing? I left all the items I bought in the dress shop’s storage, and I didn’t bring anything to Rose Cross Boarding School.”

I shrugged as if to say, “I haven’t even seen the things I bought.”

“How could he have guessed my destination without even seeing the items I purchased?”

“…”

“Furthermore, I visited various stores, but Tilda Dress Shop was the only one he pointed out.”

I tilted my head inquisitively as I looked at the silent maids.

“Did he check my spending records? But all the money I spent was reported directly to Lord Offenheir, not Victor.”

“…”

“So in the end, someone leaked my destination to Victor…”

I continued my monologue as if expecting them to listen.

“Could it have been the maids? But I had a carriage waiting at the public carriage stand.”

“…”

“We didn’t even share an itinerary, so how could the maids know my destination?”

The maids remained silent, their shoulders quivering like clams with their mouths firmly shut.

“So as I pondered carefully…”

As I trailed off, obscuring the end of my words, I continued with an unusual tone.

“The day before I went out, you overheard my plans, didn’t you?”

The maids jolted, their heads snapping up in surprise.

I casually caught the maids’ gazes.

“I remember that at the time, I was a bit edgy about dress-related matters and complained about various things.”

I rested my chin on my hand and leaned back in the chair.

“At the time, you were the only ones who saw me, right?”

“…”

“…”

A chilling silence passed.

I drove the point home once more.

“You heard that then and leaked it to Victor, didn’t you?”

“Y-Your Excellency, we…”

Even in this situation, the maids tried to make excuses.

It was somewhat amusing, even a bit irritating.

I cut them off mid-sentence.

“You’re aware that I’m Dante’s lover, aren’t you?”

As I affectionately mentioned Dante’s name, the maids’ faces turned pallid like blank sheets of paper.

Thump!

The maids urgently dropped to their knees.

“P-Please spare us!”

“We made a mistake, so please…!”

In addition, they even banged their heads on the floor.

I watched their repulsive display with cold eyes.

Even though I was the one who had been spying on their daily lives.

In the end, they only apologized after I had dragged Dante here.

Perhaps the only thing that mattered to them was not appearing unfavorable to Dante, one of the male protagonists of this world.

No one cared about a troublemaking extra villain.

Even though I was well aware of that.

…I found the taste sour once again.

“Dante doesn’t spare anyone who challenges his authority.”

But I was in a position where I had to involve Dante, or even his grandfather, to achieve my goals.

“In that situation, what kind of punishment do you think he’ll give to those who dared to sell my information as Dante’s lover?”

Bringing up Dante once again, the maids looked like they might faint any moment.

Alright, I’ve pressed them this far.

I should offer them a new bait here.

“So, I have a proposal for you.”

“A proposal…?”

“Yes, if you accept my proposal, I will spare your lives.”

I spoke kindly.

“I will allow you to leave Rose Cross Boarding School with both of your feet intact. Promise.”

For a moment, life seemed to return to the maids’ eyes.

“If you don’t accept my proposal, well…”

I shrugged my shoulders with a snort.

“Then I’m not sure how I’ll act. I don’t even know myself.”

“We’ll do it! We’ll do it, so please!”

“Please spare our lives!”

The maids desperately begged me.

Toward the maids, I flashed a kind smile.

Like a rose tainted with venom, splendidly.

“Watch over Victor. And…”

The maids trembled as if they had been whipped.

Observing them, I spoke coldly.

“Report everything Victor does to me.”

* * *

After sending the maids away,

I was lost in thought.

‘Next Thursday, between 2:30 AM and 3 AM.’

There was no doubt about it.

It was information provided by Benedict himself.

Still, the reason I ordered the maids to monitor Victor’s activities and report daily life was for a specific purpose.

‘I need to create an alibi for how I found out about Victor’s rendezvous.’

Dante would undoubtedly be suspicious about how I knew about Victor’s actions.

But stating that I had made a deal with Benedict in that situation would be foolish.

The Elze that Dante knew was a foolish and unkempt villain.

She didn’t have the ability to secretly unearth information and request deals.

Above all, my goal was to leave this boarding school in the future and sever all connections with this place.

All the male protagonists were included in those connections.

To achieve this, I needed to conceal my actions as much as possible.

‘In that sense, the sparrows can be quite useful.’

So I intentionally left the sparrows alone all this time.

If Dante were to inquire about my actions,

‘I suspected it might be Victor and placed surveillance to expose his weaknesses.’

…I had prepared an excuse like that.

Of course, I couldn’t keep the people who had sold my information until the end, so I intended to dismiss them at an appropriate time.

However.

[Don’t let others ignore the lady from now on.]

Why did Lucian’s words echo in my ears at this crucial moment?

I shrugged it off with a flick of my tongue.

* * *

Afterward,

the maids incessantly provided information about Victor’s activities.

“Today, Victor did…”

“Victor…”

To be honest, from my perspective, waiting for predetermined answers was mostly useless information.

But as I patiently waited…

“Um, Your Excellency.”

“Speak.”

“Um, you asked us to report even trivial things. It’s really nothing important.”

A hesitant maid cautiously spoke up.

“The kitchen maids say that Victor periodically converses with the milk deliveryman in the wine cellar.”

The maid said with uncertainty.

“Why do they meet in that remote place where there are no people?”

I, who had been casually listening to her words, suddenly lit up for the first time.

Finally, it seemed my alibi was complete.