Alejandro’s leisurely thoughts were blown away by an unexpected early morning visitor.
“Nora.”
“I’m sorry… the young lady has noticed…”
The person bowing deeply was the maid of the Viscount Olsen family, whom he had bribed.
He had ordered her to try to steal the letter from Leopold, but was instead tricked into a trap.
That Natalia…?
He was more conscious of Natalia’s improbable change than his own pawn’s blunder.
Alejandro’s cute little toy who accepted what was given to her as it was, like a doll, never doubting, giving up on everything, and allowing herself to be swept away.
“…did you talk to her?”
“Hii… N-no.”
The maid, who was caught by his angry glare and fell flat in front of him, let out a small scream as if frightened.
“I ran away the moment I was found. Young lady Natalia has not yet done anything…”
“I see.”
Alejandro kneeled down and gently patted Nora’s head.
“Well done, Nora. You’ve done well.”
“Alejandro-sama…”
“You can’t go back there. I’ll give you another job. I’d like to keep you close to me, but that can’t be done. Natalia would find me out.”
“…yes.”
“I’ll tell Zacharias to show you around. Wait here for a moment.”
“Ah, thank you very much.”
Relieved, Alejandro left the room, leaving the maid tearful and grateful.
He left Zacharias, who just appeared, whispering to him as they passed each other, “Deal with her at the place where you would take her.”
Then he quickly walked to his room.
Right now, Alejandro had only one thing on his mind.
Natalia.
Natalia, Natalia, Natalia.
My, my Natalia.
My lovely toy, carefully handcrafted over a decade.
You’re a puppet, you’re not supposed to set a trap for me.
Natalia should have just waited, trembling and frightened, without noticing anything, until they finished hunting down and killing that man.
Did the opposite happen and she trapped Nora instead?
That’s funny.
Because that’s just like…
It’s just like what a human being would do.
“…I don’t know what’s going on. Something is wrong.”
Last time, the reason why Natalia didn’t move as he expected was because that woman, Beatrice, had sidetracked her.
No way, not this time again?
No, it can’t be. I have had regular reports about that woman. I have not received any reports of Beatrice approaching Natalia. First of all, I’ve seen it with my own eyes at the academy.
“Then it’s the other guy…? No, not even Leopold. First of all, I haven’t even seen Leopold for the last two months.”
That Leopold has been holed up in the Reinalpha mansion.
Reportedly, though, he was helping his father with his affairs and trying to reduce his debts.
Something is not right. There is something strange about both Leopold and Natalia.