After happily saving up money, Marco finally of victory.
"If you're so grateful, would you like to buy me a drink? I wanted to enjoy some drinks, but since I'm not from here, I didn't know where to go."
Marco woke up in a good mood after hearing the words with a subtle smile.
"It's good. I have your share of mine, and I will shoot you with that! There's a great place nearby."
***
The man who left the gambling house immediately hummed and walked lightly.
He even added that he was lucky today.
Before I handed him the money, he seemed to have long since forgotten about the worry he had over losing all his money and messing with money he shouldn't have spent.
"It's quick if you go this way. It's right around here."
It was that moment when I was passing right next to a dark alley. Without letting go, I took out my dagger, aimed it at his side, and whispered softly.
"Don't say anything and go in quietly. If you scream, I'll stab you right away."
"Oh, why..."
"Follow me quietly."
When the dagger cut into his flesh and left a light wound on his side, Marco became quiet as if he realized it was no joke and slowly entered the alley following my instructions.
"Why on earth are you doing this?"
"I heard you lost a lot at the gambling house yesterday, right? I heard you passed someone over."
"What? What does that have to do with you?"
When Marco became angry and raised his voice, I kicked him in the chest.
"Ugh! Cough, cough."
The man fell backward awkwardly and coughed loudly. I walked to his side, slowly bent down, and whispered.
"The Viscountess is generous to her employees. There's no way the salary you're receiving is low, but it's a debt that you can't repay even with that money."
Marco opened his eyes wide. Fear gradually began to appear in his eyes.
"My, my, how do you know that I work for the Viscountess..."
'I lost my parents at a young age and when I'm not working, I'm always into drinking and gambling, so I don't see anyone. Even with the servants I work with. I'm in trouble.'
As I recited his personal details one after another, Marco closed his mouth with an uncomfortable look.
I stepped on the back of his hand and strengthened my toes.
"Ugh!"
"I don't think you handed it over to your family because you don't have any family to pay off your gambling debt. Who did you hand over?"
Hesitation flashed across Marco's face at the low question.
'I'm curious again.'
I already knew that he was addicted to gambling before entering the mansion.
On the contrary, thanks to that, I was able to prepare a large framework for the 'plan', so I can say that he is a person I am thankful for.
What I don't understand, however, is how someone with addiction symptoms so severe that it interferes with work can continue to be employed at the mansion. Why does Alfred, who handles everything with a clear mind, leave someone like this behind in the mansion?
He even handed over the mansion's maid as collateral for his debt.
"Please, please get rid of that foot!"
His face was distorted as he gasped for breath and complained of pain.
As soon as I slowed down his strength even a little, he twisted his whole body in pain and cried out.
'Eric's method is definitely helpful in times like this.'
As the intensity of the pain increased and then decreased, he responded obediently, unlike before when he was struggling.
"I passed on what I know."
"Who knows?"
"Well, I just know..."
Marco was so scared that it didn't seem like he would open his mouth easily.
I picked up the bag of money spilling out of his arms.
"I'm not sure, but if you handed over someone yesterday because you didn't have money, and you brought money again today, there's a high probability that this money is not yours."
When I smelled it up close, I could clearly see it.
The scent coming from this pouch was the same as that from the flowers that the Viscountess often kept in her room.
Marco's face turned pale.
"If you tell me who, where, and how you gave it to me, I can give you this money back."
When I gently put pressure on the back of the hand of the hesitant man, he opened his mouth in a voice full of fear.
"Ha, a maid. She was a maid who worked at the mansion."
"..."
The more my guess turned out to be correct, the more depressed I felt.
Strength went into the pocket I was holding.
"It's impossible to just steal away a maid who works in a mansion. If you are a self-employed person, the personal information of the employees is always checked."
"..."
"So there must be someone who helped you. For example, a person like a butler who oversees users."
Marco gasped and trembled and curled up.
I quietly looked down at him, then reached out and pulled his hair, forcing him to raise his head.
"No matter how much you have a butler to look after you, there is no need to bring a maid to wait on the "lady." I wonder if there was another reason why she was handed over."
"Well, that's..."
Marco, who had lowered his head at the quiet words, carefully opened his mouth.
"Because the child was already broken."
"It's broken?"
"I heard she was beaten, severely beaten."
My heart sank.
Marco continued speaking in a panic, wondering how he could interpret the blank stare.
"My, it was already damaged beyond use before I could even turn it over! Really! That's why the buet also decided to hand over the child."
"Who ruined her like that?"
"That's it..."
Marco, who was about to answer, closed his mouth again.
'It's annoying. No wonder he's so scared.'
It's not like he wouldn't be able to open his mouth if I were to vent, but the night was short and I didn't have much time.
It was times like this that I missed Eric.
"If that man were to sit down for just 30 minutes, he would be able to make you recite everything from your childhood that you couldn't even remember."
I looked at Marco, whose eyes were rolling in confusion as if he didn't understand what I was saying.
"Well, I have some idea of the culprit in the first place."
Aileen appeared at the meal table with a particularly refreshing face on a morning that must have been extremely feverish.
The girl was obviously very drugged, but she behaved more generously and kindly than usual.
'I knew from the beginning that the stimulation was too much.'
That's why I was anxious.
As I slowly removed my foot from the back of his hand, Marco whimpered and tried to sit up. It was ridiculous to see the little boy trembling as if he could feel all the pain in the world with just a few strokes.
Isn't this the man who handed over a maid who was beaten to death and a man who had nothing to do with me to a gambling debt, and then came back to gamble again?
'Shall I kill you?'
There are no witnesses, and if I go back to being 'Isabella', the culprit will disappear completely.
No one will find it.
"..."
"Please let me go. I am a self-employed person."
"I know. If it wasn't for that, you would have died long ago."
But this man is more useful if he's still alive.
Moreover, he still had 'roles' left.
I walked closer to Marco and whispered.
"Alfred handed over the maid who worked at his house just for you, who was addicted to gambling. They even went so far as to relocate workers on a large scale to hide it."
It is a story that this man is worth the considerable hassle and trouble.
"What did you do for him?"
Marco's mouth closed like a clam.
I looked at him with his head down as if he wasn't going to say anything, then smiled and stood up.
"Yes. It would be better that way."
If he had been scared and just burned everything, I would have been disappointed.
He'd rather keep his mouth shut so I can do my best.
"I know why Alfred passed on Annie."
Even if he hands her over, she is a maid with a status and environment that will not cause any harm.
Just as no one would be interested in the death of Rebecca, who lived in a slum, no noble would cause an uproar over the disappearance of even a maid.
The Viscountess is a merciful and fair person, but that only shows her as an 'aristocratic' person.
She's not the kind of person who cares about the disappearance of things like maids.
"That goes for you too."
The butler says he's trying to distract her, but the fact that she doesn't even know that the coachman she sees every day is showing such serious symptoms of gambling addiction means that your existence is no big deal to her.
"So he doesn't care how messed up you look or how broken you are."
"Hey, hey."
"I don't mind as long as I put your life on the line."
To prevent useless foreign substances from getting on my hands, I put on pitch-black gloves and kicked the man who was trying to crawl away.
"Ugh."
"If you don't want to tell me where Annie is, just give it a try."
It was a thing I was curious about too.
About how well I can use what Eric taught me in real life.
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