“Why... why isn’t it here!”

“It’s definitely the right spot...”

“Dig a bit more over there!”

The hands ransacking the Rose Garden grew more and more frantic.

At Camilla’s order, the maids and pages who had hidden the ring here were now scrambling to find it.

“Why on earth isn’t it here!”

“Damn it!”

They had already been tearing up the place for over two hours, and they hadn’t found so much as a scrap of wire, let alone the ring.

“It hurts...”

Their hands were already full of scratches and punctures from the rose thorns.

“What are you doing! Dig faster!”

“...All right.”

But they had no room to worry about cuts on their hands.

If they failed to find and bring back the ring today, who knew what disaster would follow.

The Camilla they had just met seemed more than capable of making them vanish from the ducal house without a trace.

Or if, as she said, she actually caused a suicide uproar...!

“...Nothing.”

“Nothing here either.”

More time passed. Dusk had already fallen dim.

“This is driving me crazy!”

“This really is the spot!”

Exhausted to the limit, they all sank down onto the ground.

Where on earth had the ring gone? Had one of them secretly dug it up and sold it off?

After a moment of suspecting one another, they soon shook their heads.

None of them were foolish enough to siphon off a noble house’s jewel to sell.

A precious gem reveals where it came from by the workmanship alone.

One misstep and they would be branded thieves—who would dare?

“Get up.”

“Keep looking.”

“Damn it!”

The maids and pages dragged themselves to their feet.

They had to find the ring somehow—bring it back in hand and beg and beg Camilla.

“You lot—what are you doing here right now?”

Someone was approaching them slowly.

“B–Butler.”

It was Rube, the butler.

“I asked what you were doing.”

“Th-that is...”

Rube’s face, usually smiling, had gone cold. At that sight, none of them could continue.

They could not very well say outright that they had stolen Camilla’s ring, hidden it here, and now could not find it.

“Follow me.”

Rube spun around after saying that, and the servants’ faces went white.

Realizing something had gone completely wrong, they held their breath, clamped their mouths shut, and followed the butler.

But unlike the frightened lot behind him, a faint smile had already formed at the corners of Rube’s mouth as he walked ahead.

She really has changed.

In truth, he had already grasped the situation.

Yesterday, passing nearby by chance, he had seen Camilla digging the ring up here.

Only then had he understood why, months ago, Camilla had torn this place apart.

Therefore he could also guess well enough why those people were floundering now.

Just as Chef Jellard could not even lift his head before Camilla, clearly these ones had likewise been caught by the scruff.

Rube kept chuckling soundlessly, as if he found it amusing.

Crack!

“Stolen?”

“......”

That desk took a master craftsman five years to make.

Rube looked at the desk whose corner had cracked under Duke Sorpel’s grip and sighed inwardly. Can it even be repaired?

“Then the reason Camilla made such a mess of the Rose Garden back then...”

“Yes. It seems she was looking for the ring.”

Crack!

Watching the desk break apart and collapse completely, Rube swiftly calculated the estimate for ordering a new one.

Meanwhile, Duke Sorpel’s thoughts grew more and more tangled.

“I cannot understand this.”

Why did she not tell me?

“She could have just told me the truth that such a thing happened...”

Back then, he had summoned Camilla after she damaged the Rose Garden and asked the reason, but the girl had sealed her lips and offered not a single excuse.

In the end, he had dismissed her with the warning that another disturbance would bring severe punishment.

“Why, in the world...”

The dining-hall matter, and now this as well. After a long time without an answer, Duke Sorpel looked again to Rube.

“Bring Camilla.”

“Understood.”

Watching Butler Rube go out, Duke Sorpel let out a small sigh.

He recalled the first time he met Camilla—a child who would not even properly meet his eyes.

He let it pass. A strange man had suddenly taken the place of father; he thought it natural she would feel awkward and ill at ease.

I was the same, after all.

He had not tried to approach a child who gave him no opening. He, too, had felt the awkwardness.

He thought he was fulfilling his duty by ensuring she could enjoy everything a duke’s daughter should enjoy.

And yet...

What treatment had his daughter actually been receiving inside this ducal house?

Knock, knock.

After a while, the door opened and Camilla stepped inside.

****

“Father, you sent for me?”

Her smile was bright, but inside she was anything but comfortable. With a creeping unease, Camilla tightened her clasped hands a little.

In her memory, there had never been a time the duke called Camilla alone and it turned out well.

Had something blown up again without her knowing? Had Ravi already done something?

Ugh, what on earth now.

Seeing Duke Sorpel’s rigid expression, Camilla grew even more anxious.

“They say you lost a ring.”

“...What?”

But the words that came from Duke Sorpel’s mouth were unexpected.

What?

Had word reached even him? Already?

Strange.

If they were in their right minds, they would never have spoken out loud that they stole the ring.

That was an actual crime. Even if others caught them, she had thought they would somehow make up a reason for tearing up the Rose Garden.

Competent, aren’t they.

Unaware that the servants who did it had been caught by Butler Rube right away, Camilla briefly admired the ability of whoever had seized them and questioned them.

Anyway, that means it isn’t something I don’t know about, right?

From the sound of Duke Sorpel’s voice, it did not ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) seem he had called her to scold her.

But still...

The air felt a bit strange. He did not seem angry, but rather as if his mood had fallen flat.

She was the one who had lost the ring—why did the other side look so down?

“Why did you not tell me.”

After a moment, Duke Sorpel’s voice came again.

“Back then, why did you not speak to me at once?”

By back then he must have meant when Camilla lost the ring and dug up the Rose Garden.

Knowing exactly how it had been, she could only find it absurd.

And if I had told you, would you have believed me?

She could still clearly recall Duke Sorpel’s expression that day. His eyes had certainly asked, What trouble have you caused again?

Seeing disgust, annoyance, and resignation sitting there in his gaze, what could she have said?

It would have gone the way they wanted.

Even if she had told the truth, he would not have believed it.

He would have listened more to the maids’ tearful report, and in the end Camilla would have been branded a liar again.

Who was there to blame. It was she herself who clamped her mouth shut and brooded alone.

That aside...

She still did not understand.

Why so serious?

As always, he could just issue orders to the underlings and settle it simply. Matters about Camilla had always been handled that way.

She could not fathom Duke Sorpel’s intent in going so far as to summon her separately and ask the whole story.

“You should have told me sooner.”

The duke clicked his tongue again and again. It almost sounded like regret...

Regret?

From that man? For Camilla?

For over twenty years she had watched that man kill Camilla. She had seen him, cold and unfeeling, turn his back on her countless times.

Of late things had improved the tiniest bit—truly the tiniest bit—but...

I know perfectly well we are not that kind of father and daughter.

Chiding herself that she must not relax yet, Camilla bowed her head as if apologizing.

“I didn’t want to make you fuss over something pointless.”

“Pointless?”

As Duke Sorpel’s voice rose a little, Camilla showed a forlorn smile.

“You are already busy with work, and I didn’t want you to grow more tired because of me.”

“......”

“I’m sorry. I fell short... I thought I would somehow handle it by myself...”

“Why are you the one apologizing!”

He had blurted it out, his voice rising in a rush. Seeing Camilla droop like a child who had been scolded, Duke Sorpel hurried to add,

“Camilla.”

“Yes.”

“From now on, whatever happens, tell me first.”

Duke Sorpel’s voice was very gentle, unlike usual.

What is this?

So were his eyes.

At the kind gaze she had never once seen from Duke Sorpel, Camilla looked at him with even greater wariness.

Chapter. Look-alike

[What are you doing right now?]

“I’m looking at a map.”

[Right, but why suddenly a map?]

The chef’s ghost, Ferrol, looked curiously at Camilla, who sat in the study staring intently at the map.

He had come to discuss tonight’s dessert, only to find that she hadn’t let go of the map since earlier.

“I’m checking where would be best if I had to run.”

The farthest and safest place she could reach from here.

[Run? What do you mean by that?]

“There’s such a thing.”

Camilla answered offhandedly without lifting her eyes.

It’d be best if things went smoothly enough that I’d never need to run...

But life never went the way one wanted.

Who knows when Ravi might cause trouble again.

She had realized it clearly when the duke summoned her last time: she needed to prepare other means of survival ahead of time.

The anxiety of that moment... the cold sweat that had broken out the instant she heard the duke wanted to see her.

It had turned out to be nothing serious, but the need to create an escape hatch had struck her deeply.

Clinging only to the duke’s favor to preserve her life felt far too precarious.

The problem was...

“Damn it...”

She couldn’t make sense of it.

What kind of map was this, so messy and convoluted? No matter how long she looked, she couldn’t grasp how things were laid out.

[Donna is coming.]

At Ferrol’s words, Camilla lifted her head. Just then, Donna stepped into the study.

She spotted Camilla at once and quickly hurried over.