Ch#40
The person sat on a chair in the kitchen, fiddling with some paper. There was a faint rustling sound of thin paper.
*‘What’s that? Lola wouldn’t come here at this hour.*
*She always rushes to her room to sleep the moment break time hits.*
By the time Edel started wondering, someone knocked on the kitchen side door. The woman sitting in the kitchen opened it.
“Hello there!”
The person outside was a middle-aged man with a gravelly voice. But the person in the kitchen didn’t respond to his greeting, and the man, as if familiar with the routine, began unloading something into the kitchen.
*‘Vegetable merchant...?*’
*Spoils of war*
She guessed as much because it made a sound like potato sacks being set down.
*Duchess*
After placing a few sacks on the kitchen floor, he clapped his hands clean and said,
“Just sign here, right?”
“Not like it’s your first or second time—why keep asking?”
Truly written by Lemon Frog
Edel snapped to attention at that irritated voice.
*‘Mrs. Bohen?*’
Marsha was apparently buying vegetables from the merchant and having him sign the receipt.
“You always bring what I ask for and sign where I tell you.... Is this really okay?”
“Any trouble in the three years you’ve been coming and going here?”
“No, but lately it just feels off somehow.”
“Then quit! We’ll find another vegetable supplier.”
- 2 -
.
“No, no! Haha! See you next time!”
*‘Second floor...? Linia’s room? Or the Count’s study?*’
He quickly bowed low like a toad and scurried off.
It could be her coming out of Linia’s room. Or maybe dropping the receipt from the vegetable merchant on Laslo’s study desk.
As the kitchen side door closed, Marsha resumed rustling the paper and muttered,
Edel secretly watched until Marsha went to her room with Mina for tea, confirmed the other servants had gone to rest, and quietly headed to the second floor.
*‘Even if they let me make easy money, I’m still dissatisfied. Never touch noble money when I’m around—when have I ever handled this much cash...?*’
*‘What if she gets caught sneaking into the Count’s study without permission?*’
She made a highly dangerous remark, then grabbed the paper and left the kitchen.
Marsha would surely frame and slander her if she got the chance.
Edel kept her ears perked and held her breath for a while even after she left, then quietly descended the stairs.
Edel knew that risk well.
Next to the kitchen side door were the sacks the merchant had brought.
Still, her feet soundlessly and busily headed to the Count’s study.
Upon reaching the study door, Edel looked down the hall again, confirmed no one was there once more, and quietly opened the door to enter.
*‘I have to check.*’
*‘Count Criserus’s scent.*
Edel opened the sacks one by one.
Inside were potatoes, onions, carrots, dried tomatoes, peas, garlic, ginger, and cinnamon.
His bodily scent faintly wafted in the room.
*Doing something bad made her heart pound.*
*·All the usual stuff...*.
Edel quickly approached Laslo’s desk and examined it. Sure enough, the vegetable purchase receipt was casually placed on one side.
She pulled out the receipt and looked it over.
*But why did Marsha say she was skimming nobles’ money?*
Thinking it over, Edel recalled the merchant hesitating to sign.
*‘Probably the receipt, and there’s something worrisome on it.*
「<Bovex Shop> Purchase Receipt」
- Chewick potatoes (premium) 20kg: 225 ringtons
The receipt was already with Marsha, so she couldn’t check it.
- Carrots (premium) 10kg: 105 ringtons
*‘What to do?*’
- Cubera shallots (premium) 20kg: 372 ringtons
She could ignore it and spend a peaceful day like usual.
- Dried tomatoes (premium) 1kg: 120 ringtons
- Peas (premium) 1kg: 50 ringtons
But knowing that, Marsha’s attitude nagged at her too much for Edel to stay put.
Total: 2,038 ringtons
Paid the above amount in full.
- Allen Bovex
She stepped out of the kitchen, checked the time, and confirmed where Marsha was.
She was coming down from the second floor.
Edel couldn’t believe her eyes.
*Chewick potatoes? Those were small, tasteless regular storage potatoes!*
The one who called her was Linia.
Chewick potatoes were famous as delicious premium ones. But the ones she’d checked in the kitchen were definitely not from Chewick—Edel knew, having eaten only Chewick potatoes her whole life.
“What are you doing here?”
The weight was off too.
*‘20kg? No way! Those were 10kg at most!*
Her head spun.
Linia’s room was on the second floor, but she hadn’t expected to run into her.
It wasn’t just the potatoes.
*‘What should I say? She’s already mad at me...*.
Premium status for those tiny carrots and garlic? Ridiculous. What about the shriveled peas and cinnamon that barely smelled?
Listing onions as premium Cubera shallots—the height of absurdity. Had she bought small onions just to pass them off as shallots?
This one receipt revealed exactly what Marsha had been up to.
Edel’s mouth went dry.
Last time with the Imperial Knights harassing her, even Linia got punished. So now, caught wandering suspiciously on the second floor over something trivial, the situation looked very bad.
*‘Mrs. Bohen’s been skimming in the middle!*
“What are you doing, I said?”
It made sense now how she’d bought a house on Durum Street in under three years working here.
“S-sorry. Actually...”
Skimming like this every time, buying a house wouldn’t be hard.
“Actually?”
“I-I was worried about you, miss...”
*‘Not just ingredients. Probably everything filling the mansion was bought this way.*
Edel suddenly recalled the carriage that brought her to this mansion.
Her heart pounded as if it’d reach her throat, but she steeled herself to brazen it out and continued the lie.
Even then, she’d thought it small and shabby for a count’s carriage. Could Marsha’s hand have reached even the carriage purchase?
Hard to believe she’d be that bold, but the suspicion lingered.
“I know it’s overstepping. But... I heard you got punished by the Count because of the last incident. I was worried if you were okay.”
Edel put the receipt back where it was and quietly slipped out of Laslo’s study.
It was just as she was about to leave the area.
Linia stared at her with wide eyes at the unexpected answer.
“Edel Lancaster?”
“I know you had no choice but to call me then. You couldn’t have known those knights would act so outrageously. Still, getting two weeks’ grounding seemed... a bit excessive...”
Her back stiffened, cold sweat broke out.
“So you came up to spy on me?”
Edel turned, trying to act nonchalant while desperately thinking of excuses in her head.
“What would I gain spying on you, miss? I just...”
“You called for me, miss?”
Edel moistened her tense, dry lips with her tongue and took a gamble.
“Wondered if there was anything I could do for you.”
-6-
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