"What?"
Just now, my eyelids felt heavy as if I had stones on them, but in an instant, sleep escaped me.
I looked back at Sarah in surprise.
“Who fought with whom?”
“May and Jack.”
“May who I brought from the imperial palace?”
"Yes. And Jack is Perdes’ servant.”
Yeah, I guess so.
Because there is no other servant with the same name in the mansion.
But the two people hit and fought?
"What brings you here?"
“I didn’t hear exactly what the fight was about. I called the two people and asked what was going on, but they didn’t tell me.”
“Are they both silent?”
"Yes. Instead, everyone else heard May pointing her finger at Jack and yelling at him not to live like that.”
“Hmm.”
From what I heard, it looks like it wasn't just an emotional fight.
There were many servants in the mansion, and it was impossible to be close to them all.
Just as Perdes and Lord Aldor rarely became friends, some employees did not become friends even after working together for several years.
But the fact that they fought so openly means that there was something.
Besides, it bothered me that both of them were court ladies who had been in the palace.
Both of them also received special orders from the Emperor.
To bring May, I had to get permission from the Empress, who was originally in charge of the imperial household.
However, the day before, I was so upset that the Empress would not allow it, so I went to see the Emperor.
And I asked permission to take May with him.
The Emperor was puzzled at first and told me to go to the Empress and ask for permission.
But I said, ‘There are some things that even His Majesty the Emperor cannot do...' When I said this as if I was very sorry, the emperor became angry and told me to take her with me and that he would tell the Empress.
And while I was preparing to leave for Leopold's estate, the Emperor secretly called May and gave her various instructions.
I was given such obvious instructions to keep an eye on me to see if I was doing anything strange and to help me give birth as soon as possible.
After May answered that she would do so to the Emperor, she told me all the facts.
After that, whenever she received a call from the Emperor, she told me what kind of call it was.
And she reported to the Emperor only the truth that would not harm me, mixing in lies when necessary.
In this way, May became the second double agent after Perdes.
Since Perdes had not yet properly acted as a double agent, it would be safe to say that she was the first.
No, unless Jack betrayed the Emperor, he would be the first double agent.
Anyway, it bothered me that May had such a big fight with Jack.
“Please call May.”
I should ask her directly what's going on.
Not long after Sarah left, May came in.
“I had something to tell you anyway!”
When May saw my face, she exploded in anger and started spewing out things I hadn't even asked her.
“What happened to you today!”
The momentum was so strong that I couldn't stop talking.
Besides, I saw the story about the Emperor coming up, so I thought it would be a good idea to listen to it first, so I stayed silent.
“Today is the day to report to the Emperor about the young lady’s daily life! So, I wrote down the young lady’s daily life on a piece of paper and, as always, crumpled it up and placed it in the hand of the large knight statue at the end of the east hallway on the third floor!”
After May became a double agent, she started calling the Emperor instead of His Majesty.
“And as I was about to turn back, I suddenly wondered who would take this paper and give it to His Majesty the Emperor, so I hid and watched!”
“You did that the first time.”
When she first reported to the Emperor, May had left a note and watched from hiding.
However, even after several hours, the other person did not appear.
While May was tired and left the room for a while, the other person disappeared with the hidden paper, which caused May to be distraught and stampede for several days.
“It was! However, I hid and watched with the thought that I should watch one more time just in case. However!"
May said in an excited voice, clenching her fists.
“About an hour later, the culprit appeared! Jack, that bastard!”
As expected, Jack was acting as a bridge.
"Yes?"
As I responded calmly, May unclenched her clenched fists and asked me.
“Oh, you’re not really surprised, are you?”
"Yes. I already knew Jack was the culprit.”
May's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yes. So I said it. There is no need to try to catch the criminal.”
“Ah, that’s what I meant.”
May looked despondent and slumped her shoulders.
“I liked it because I thought I got some helpful information from you... You already knew everything.”
“It was helpful.”
Because it reminded me again that Jack was on the Emperor's side.
“So that’s why you fought with Jack?”
“Yes. Jack is Lord Perdes’ servant. He has served Lord Perdes since he was very young.”
May kicked the floor with her toes.
“But he's on the Emperor’s side. It’s so outrageous. So I went and said something to him.”
So that's why May shouted at Jack not to live like that.
“Do you know what that kid said? He said that I had betrayed the young lady.”
Hmm? What does this mean again?
“He said he was doing it for Perdes, but he just said that I was just betraying you!"
“Did Jack really say he was doing it for Master Perdes?”
“That’s right! What nonsense! If he's doing it for Perdes, he can’t do something like that!”
May grumbled that Jack was making excuses to hide his mistakes, but I disagreed.
Maybe what I assumed was right.
The assumption is that Jack did not betray Perdes, but simply did the Emperor's favor.
As the thought reached that point, I calmed down the excited May and sent her out, then called Perdes.
“Why are you calling?”
Perdes had a somewhat distressed look on his face.
Could it be that he is doing this because I did not invite him to the new knight investiture ceremony?
In that case, I fully explained the reason, and since there were more important things to do than relieving his distressed feelings, I ignored it and immediately told him why I had called him.
“I think we can find out for sure that Jack did not betray Lord Perdes.”
"What?"
Perdes' expression changed in an instant.
"Really? How?"
“I’ll tell you right now, so hide here.”
When I pointed to the bed, Perdes looked at me with eyes demanding further explanation.
“Once you hide, you’ll know.”
“Hide over there and watch something.”
“There is something like that. Hide quickly.”
Perdes looked bewildered, but he did as I told him and hid under the covers.
I lowered the canopy so that the bed was not visible from outside, and then told the servant to call Jack.
Then, holding the sword I had previously received from Count Martina, I sat down on the sofa and waited for Jack to arrive.
After a while, there was a knocking sound.
"Come in."
“Did you call me...?”
Jack, who saw me fiddling with the sword, came in and stopped in shock.
“What are you doing there instead of coming in?”
“I-I’m going in!”
Jack's eyes were fixed on the sword I was holding the entire time he closed the door and came toward me.
“Sit over there.”
"Yes, yes."
I sat Jack down across from me, stared intently at his face, and asked.
“I heard you had a fight with May.”
When May's story came up, Jack flinched and waved his hands.
“I think there’s a misunderstanding. I didn’t betray Perdes!”
I just poked him, and the words just poured out like a raw egg breaking.
“Rather, it was May who betrayed the Lady!”
“May betrayed me?”
“You didn’t know either, Lady!”
A color came to Jack's face.
“That woman was watching the young lady’s every move and reporting it to His Majesty!”
"Why?"
“Because His Majesty the Emperor ordered her to do so!”
“So why did His Majesty the Emperor give such an order to May?”
"Uh...?”
Jack seemed to have not thought about it that far and stopped like a broken machine.
Looking at it this way, he wasn't a bright kid.
“Then let me ask you the opposite.”
That means he's bad at hiding his emotions, so it was easy to figure out if he was lying.
I rested my chin on my hand and looked at Jack intently.
“How do you know that?”
"That is..."
“May said that you were passing the news to His Majesty the Emperor.”
"That is..."
Jack rolled his eyes and thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Then you are a traitor too?”
“Oh, no!”
Jack jumped and waved his hands like a freshly caught fish.
“I never betrayed anything! It’s all for Perdes!”
“You did it for Perdes? What does that mean?”
Jack stopped again. His rolling eyes looked like he was contemplating what to say.
Bang-
I slammed the sofa table hard to get Jack's attention.
The moment Jack looked at me in surprise, I took my sword out of its scabbard.
The sound coming from the sharpened blade was sharp.
“You have to be honest with me, Jack.”
The blade reflected the light and sparkled sharply.
“From beginning to end.”
As I aimed the blade at him, Jack's face turned pale as if he had seen a ghost.
“Tell me everything that happened.”
"Yes, yes. Of course!"
He lay flat on the floor instead of on the sofa, trembling, and began to tell his story from the time he met the Emperor.
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