Chapter 12
“I’m sick and tired of lace! I don’t even want to hear the letter ‘L’ anymore!”
The next day, Lobelin had snuck out of her house.
Her face was the picture of exhaustion.
‘My Lady, how about this lace?’
‘My Lady, how should we set the pleats on the skirt?’
‘My Lady, please step this way—’
The employees at Daphne were driven by a fierce sense of duty to tailor every single button and lace pattern to the client’s taste.
While she appreciated that this was what a high-end custom dress required, the endless questions and fit checks were a grueling ordeal for Lobelin.
“I need to catch my breath today.”
And so, Lobelin had staged a secret escape.
The dress production would be delayed a bit, but she didn’t mind.
Ian was the one who had forced it on her in the first place.
And above all, she had an important plan for today.
“If I remember the original story correctly, it should be around this time.”
Soon, a massive fire was scheduled to break out on 4th Avenue, the busiest commercial street in the capital, Centerfield.
The fire itself was an accident, not a crime.
However, the problem was that the Imperial Family’s finances would take a massive hit because of it, causing the Emperor to rush Ian’s marriage due to the enormous dowry Cornelia would bring.
And it was around this time that Ian began to feel resentful about a marriage bound by money.
It was the incident that served as the starting point for ruining Cornelia’s life in the original novel.
“I can’t just sit back and watch that happen.”
Lobelin decided to scout the site of the incident first to see if there were any fire hazards.
Since she had snuck out, she couldn’t use the Viscounty carriage, so she hailed a public carriage and headed into the city.
“Huh? Wait.”
But the moment she stepped off the carriage, someone familiar caught Lobelin’s eye.
‘Isn’t that the coachman from back then?’
The man looked around warily and pulled his hat down low, but Lobelin recognized him instantly.
It was the very man who had been put on the wanted list for fleeing the scene after the carriage accident.
Having memorized his face by checking the wanted posters frequently, she was able to identify him at once.
‘How is he walking around here?’
Since the carriage accident, wanted posters for him had been plastered all over Centerfield.
And yet, here he was, walking the streets boldly in broad daylight?
‘Come to think of it, Ian said there must be someone behind him.’
Though he hadn’t told her who.
Perhaps he was on his way to meet his backer.
After a moment of hesitation, Lobelin turned and decided to tail the coachman.
‘He might be contacting his backer to try and harm Cornelia again.’
The man, who had been walking while glancing around, soon slipped into an alleyway.
Lobelin hurriedly followed him inside.
In her frantic pursuit, Lobelin soon found herself on 6th Street, an area notorious for crime that everyone in Centerfield avoided.
‘Ah, this place is a bit scary. Should I have called the City Guard instead?’
The dark street was lined with shops that felt ominous.
Most were tightly locked up, perhaps because they didn’t operate during the day, which only added to the desolate atmosphere.
Just as she was debating whether to keep following the man or leave and report him…
“You!”
“Aaah!”
Suddenly, long, witch-like fingers reached out from behind and grabbed Lobelin’s arm.
Startled, Lobelin let out a shriek and spun around.
A woman with sunken eyes and smeared, cheap makeup was looking up at Lobelin with hollow eyes.
“You’re the one who brought that, right?”
“T-that? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“What do you mean?! Are you planning to snatch it for yourself now? I paid for it! Do you have any idea how I got that money?”
The woman rambled incoherently, refusing to let go of Lobelin’s wrist.
Despite her skeletal frame, her grip was so strong that Lobelin couldn’t break free no matter how much she twisted and resisted.
“Give it to me now! I feel like I’m going to die without it!”
“I’m telling you, I don’t know what that is—”
“Take this instead.”
While the two were scuffling, a pouch suddenly thrust out from Lobelin’s side.
Seeing this, the woman shoved Lobelin’s wrist away and scrambled to snatch the pouch.
‘What on earth is…?’
Lobelin watched for a moment as the woman opened the pouch while making a strange, howling sound.
“This way, quickly!”
The person who had handed over the pouch now grabbed Lobelin’s wrist.
Without a moment to think, Lobelin was pulled along.
Terrified that the woman from before might chase them, Lobelin kept looking back.
Because of that, she didn’t have a chance to get a good look at the stranger’s appearance.
“Aaaagh! You swindler! I’ll kill you if I catch you! I’ll kill you!”
“Oh dear, we’ve been found out already.”
The woman’s piercing scream echoed from behind.
At the bone-chilling sound, the man quickly stepped into a building.
Terrified, Lobelin followed close behind him.
Only after reaching a top-floor attic did the two stop to catch their breath.
“Huff, thank, you, huff. You saved me—”
However, the moment she saw the man’s face, Lobelin’s words of gratitude stopped dead.
At the same time, her expression crumpled again.
Because that sun-bright blonde hair revealed the man’s identity.
“Your Highness, why are you here again?”
“This is the second time, isn’t it? That I’ve saved your life.”
Unlike the flabbergasted Lobelin, Ian was leaning back and catching his breath with an air of leisure.
Just like last time, he was in disguise.
“Did you happen to follow me?”
“Follow you?”
Hearing Lobelin’s question, Ian let out a snort.
“How ridiculous. I only came because I heard that the trade of poisonous herbs was active on 6th Street, and I just happened to find you in trouble. Why would I follow you? Right?”
“Yes, yes, I understand, so please breathe before you speak.”
‘He did it. He definitely followed me.’
As it turned out, Ian was a man who was terrible at lying.
The way he shifted his gaze while trying to act nonchalant was practically advertising to the world that he was lying.
Ian tailing Lobelin, who was tailing the coachman.
It was like a game of tag.
‘Fine, whatever. What did I expect from Ian Heriet?’
Resigned, Lobelin shook her head.
There was a more important question than whether he followed her.
“More importantly, what do you mean by poisonous herbs?”
“Haven’t you heard of it? The ‘Devil of Pernin.’”
“Ah.”
At Ian’s words, Lobelin’s eyes widened.
She had caught a glimpse of it in the newspapers.
The City Guard had been struggling because of a poisonous herb that had begun spreading through the empire.
It was said to be a horrific substance that might provide pleasure the moment it was consumed, but slowly withered people to death.
Wasn’t it so toxic that an antidote hadn’t even been developed yet?
“But why are you investigating that personally, Your Highness? You could leave it to the City Guard.”
“I can’t fully trust them. Wighill, the head of the City Guard, is one of the Empress’s people.”
“Pardon?”
What did that mean? He didn’t trust the Empress?
Lobelin blinked.
Seeing this, Ian gave a smirk and ruffled Lobelin’s hair.
“It’s Imperial business, so you don’t need to worry about it.”
But soon, the smile vanished from his lips.
The poisonous herb had already infiltrated the capital, and the state of the addicts he had seen in person was far more wretched than expected.
‘Was the situation really this dire?’
What he had told Lobelin earlier was an excuse, but it was true that there were rumors of active poisonous herb trade on 6th Street.
And today, Ian had seen it with his own eyes.
‘A place like this would certainly suit as a base for such people.’
The place Ian and Lobelin had entered was a warehouse filled with cluttered junk.
It looked like it hadn’t been touched in a long time, with layers of dust and cobwebs in every corner creating an eerie atmosphere.
However, something stood out among the mess.
‘This is…’
Ian approached a pile of sacks stacked on one side.
It was the only thing in the room without dust or cobwebs, clearly something that hadn’t been there long.
Ian reached out toward one of the sacks.
Just then.
“Your, Your Highness.”
“What is it?”
When Lobelin suddenly called out, Ian turned around.
Lobelin was staring at the door with a frightened expression.
“I think someone is coming up right now.”
