“Exactly what on earth is happening that it’s so noisy!”

The mansion’s servants never made a fuss in front of the Duke, so his mood became extremely uncomfortable, as if he wanted to strangle Beth immediately.

“There’s something you must see right away…!”

Nevertheless, Beth didn’t back down. For a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she raised her voice even louder to call the Duke.

However, when the Duke, angered by this, opened the door as if to slap Beth on the cheek, she quickly presented him with what she had been holding.

“I received a letter that seems to have been written by the Duchess… it looks like it wasn’t sent to you…!”

“A mistakenly sent letter?”

It wasn’t just any letter, but a mistakenly sent one. The Duke found it hard to grasp the meaning at once. He reached out and took the letter.

Upon reading, he found a message stating that she intended to formally start divorce procedures and take all the property. She asked him to lay low for the time being and not get caught.

“…What on earth is this?”

“It seems to be a letter intended for someone she’s been meeting in secret.”

“Someone she’s been meeting secretly?”

“Yes, yes…! In fact, the Duchess often went out without saying anything. I suspect she might have been meeting him…”

“…”

So, the implication was that the Duchess had an affair behind the Duke’s back. It was something he had never suspected, and his anger soared.

“So she wanted to divorce under the pretext of trivial things? Truly a crazy woman!”

Seeing the unmistakable handwriting of the Duchess, the Duke was easily fooled. If she had been in front of him, he would have been ready to tear her apart.

Crumpling the letter, the furious Duke was lied to by Beth.

“Actually, I once accompanied the Duchess on one of her outings and might have seen the person. I’m not sure, but it seemed strange for her to meet him…”

“Who was it?!”

Hearing that she knew the other party, the Duke’s eyes sparkled. Beyond feeling betrayed, revealing the truth would give him an advantage in the divorce proceedings.

With a difficult expression, Beth hesitated and then began.

“Actually… the person the Duchess met outside was our butler, Gillian…”

It wasn’t a lie. The butler had indeed met the Duchess outside.

Of course, he had no intention of having an affair. He simply had a good eye for jewels and had helped her briefly. The purpose of their meeting was to lure others into a trap.

In any case, they had met, making it hard for Gillian to easily evade interrogation.

And the Duke would probably forget that someone was still in his office-

“That means the instruction to ‘stay quiet’…!”

Probably didn’t mean to observe the situation at the mansion and wait. Given he’d been told to fold his reports temporarily, he might have been actively selling information.

If Beth was telling the truth, that was the only interpretation. In his rage, the Duke clenched his fist and shouted at Beth.

“Where is that bastard now!”

* * *

Thanks to Beth buying her time, Luna had the chance to rummage through the Duke’s office.

There were numerous drawers where documents were stored. She started opening the ones that seemed less likely to be used, and suddenly, she remembered something her father, Baron Peils, had once said.

– When I went to report to the Duke in his office, he locked and checked his desk drawers several times. I joked, asking if he had a ledger he was hiding from me, and he became quite angry, as if he was about to breathe fire.

At that time, she thought the Baron’s joke was a bit too much, but if the Duke was this sensitive about his desk drawers, there might be something he didn’t want others to see.

‘They say the darkest place is under the candlestick. Usually, people create a secret safe, but some do the opposite.’

With this in mind, Luna began checking each of the Duke’s desk drawers.

“Uh…?!”

All the drawers could be opened with Beth’s key, except for one. To be precise, it did open, but inside was another drawer with its own lock.

‘Could this be…? It’s suspicious. Father wasn’t just joking. The Duke must be hiding something that should not be revealed to others.’

But Beth’s key didn’t work for this lock. She’d either have to get Beth to make a new key or break the drawer open and steal its contents at dawn.

‘Maybe I should try…’

She decided to try picking the lock, like in movies, using something like a hairpin. Since Beth was still buying time, she could attempt it.

Decided, Luna searched the Duke’s desk and found a clip that binds documents.

She jammed the lock with it, and with a click, the lock opened.

“…!”

However, there was a problem. She didn’t just unlock it like in the movies, she broke the locking mechanism.

‘You, did I use too much force? What should I do now? Why is the drawer where I hid the important documents so fragile?’

Luna thought for a moment, but she couldn’t undo what was already done. On the outside, it didn’t seem to have any visible damage, so if she didn’t mention it, no one would know. 

‘Royer will probably handle the aftermath.’

After all, he enjoyed thwarting the Duke’s family more than anything in the world, so even a slight complication would be welcomed with open arms. Furthermore, if she could get out without being caught, there would be no problems.

Thinking this, Luna quickly skimmed the documents.

Just as Beth had described, she found records of the Duke creating nonexistent people and distributing assets among them. 

‘…Why would such a wealthy person do something like this?’

Luna, who was baffled, picked out a few documents that could serve as decisive evidence.

To avoid later denial, she selected only those with the Duke’s signature or seal. She also didn’t miss out on the documents of the nobles who helped him. 

‘This should be enough.’

Although she wanted to take everything, there was no space to hide them all. It would be too obvious to carry them out openly.

As Luna was about to return the remaining documents to the drawer, she noticed a document she hadn’t seen earlier inside.

‘Huh? What is this?’

It turned out to be a contract between Deborah and the Duke.

Crazy guy. Luna cursed the Duke under her breath, then tucked the contract into her clothing and walked out of the office as if nothing happened. 

“Beth?” 

Surprisingly, there was no one around. How could the Duke forget she was still in his office? 

‘I don’t know what’s going on, but let’s return to the room for now.’

Her priority was to hide the documents, especially since she had broken the drawer’s lock. She needed to leave before getting caught.

Luna, without Beth, went to her room and pretended to sleep after hiding the documents in various places around the room. She intended to escape the mansion by dawn, so even if they were found, it wouldn’t matter.

As she hoped for night to deepen, she wondered why Beth hadn’t returned yet. 

‘I hope nothing’s happened to her…’

She worried that Beth might have confessed to the Duke to buy time and was now being tortured.

The lack of contact was strange. Luna contemplated whether to stay ignorant and run away.

Despite being used, she felt guilty. So she reluctantly got up.

If she left the mansion without checking on Beth, something terrible might happen.

As she was about to leave the room…

Knock-knock.

Someone knocked on the door.  Could it be Beth?

It wasn’t dawn yet, but who else would visit an unmarried woman’s room at this hour? It seemed Beth had been busy dealing with the Duke. 

Relieved, Luna asked:

“Who is it? Beth?” 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t Beth outside the door. It was someone Luna hadn’t expected at all. 

“No, it’s me.” 

Luna blinked and freezed just as she was about to turn the doorknob, when she heard the voice of a man who was familiar but shouldn’t be here.

“Wait! What are you doing here?!”