Chapter 27: The Spring Journey (2)
“It was Arian who managed the underground library.”
The head maid kept wiping the sweat from her forehead as she spoke to Cain and Oleciren who had suddenly appeared.
“It’s not like she really managed it, but she was someone we couldn’t just treat casually, so we entrusted it to her.”
“Hard to deal with?”
Cain asked, crossing his legs.
He couldn’t understand what could be difficult between two maids who weren’t of different status.
The head maid glanced at Oleciren.
It was as if she was hinting that it was difficult to speak because she was there.
“Shall I get up?”
“It’s alright.”
Oleciren, who had half-raised her bottom, sat back down.
The head maid closed her eyes as if she couldn’t help it and said.
“Because she was a lady-in-waiting from Count Lamaring’s house. Madam Chloe’s lady-in-waiting.”
“……!”
Oleciren’s eyes widened.
She instinctively turned to Cain.
He muttered, stroking his chin as if he hadn’t thought of it.
“Mother’s lady-in-waiting you say…….”
“Yes. At that time, Sir Vanderbilt and Arian came from Lamaring together.”
“Why don’t I know her?”
Cain tilted his head.
He might have hazy memories of living with his mother, but he shouldn’t have forgotten her only personal maid.
Let alone the name Arian.
‘……Primundi’s alias.’
It was the name she used when she was the village head in Vanderbilt’s Arzweber fiefdom.
Chloe Lamaring.
The lady-in-waiting and Vanderbilt who came with her.
Something smelled fishy.
The smell of something he hadn’t been able to figure out before.
The head maid sighed in response to Cain’s question.
“She came as a personal maid, but Madam kept her at a distance. She mostly called on us.”
“Why?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know. She lived with us for a few months after coming here, but she stopped calling on her at some point.”
“So you entrusted the underground library to that Arian, who was left hanging like that?”
“There’s…… one more place.”
“Where?”
“Sir Vanderbilt’s quarters.”
“Isn’t it inside the castle?”
Cain tilted his head.
Then the head maid scratched her cheek with an awkward smile.
“It’s inside the castle, but he built a small one outside because he said it was stuffy. We don’t need to manage it, but…….”
“So you sent Arian there because it was a good place to send her.”
Cain and Oleciren nodded.
It was definitely a suitable assignment.
Although there were questions about the lady-in-waiting, Arian, other possibilities had to be kept open.
“Is there anyone else who accessed the underground library besides that person?”
The head maid didn’t answer right away and pondered over her memories.
It was a place that could only be accessed through the stairs inside the castle, not any other place, so she could answer for sure.
“No.”
Of course, professional assassins or thieves might be able to do it.
But Cain dismissed that possibility.
If Count Edmund was there, no one would have been able to get past his formidable senses.
Since there were no changed books after the count went into the dungeon Eire, it was obvious that someone before him had done something.
‘Or maybe this head maid is lying.’
Cain didn’t dismiss his suspicions and continued to ask questions.
“So where is that Arian, the lady-in-waiting?”
Then the head maid rolled her eyes as if she were flustered and opened her mouth.
“She’s, she’s dead.”
“What?”
“Rumor has it that Sir Vanderbilt killed her…….”
“……!”
🔹🔹🔹
Knock, knock.
Cain and Oleciren knocked on the door of Vanderbilt’s lodging.
The old wooden door creaked open, revealing a man in comfortable clothes with a bright smile.
“I didn’t expect you to come here, Young Master Cain.”
“Me neither. I didn’t know there was a separate lodging like this?”
Vanderbilt is not a knight of Count Ethelred.
A knight who came with Chloe Lamaring.
In other words, since he is now a knight who pledges his loyalty to Cain, Chloe’s only son, he has prepared a space for him within the castle.
Cain, of course, thought he was always there.
“I’m an old man, so I’m not used to living in a castle where everything is taken care of. Please come in.”
The elderly knight laughed heartily and opened the door wide.
Inside, there was a wooden table and bed that seemed to be made by him, and various items he had brought in were placed here and there.
Cain and Oleciren entered.
It was a cozy lodging with a brick fireplace.
The two sat down on wooden chairs made by Vanderbilt, and he held up a hand-carved cup and asked.
“Would you like some tea?”
“Come to think of it, you made tea in Arzweber’s fief as well.”
Cain chuckled bitterly.
He realized how careless he had been to him.
He felt pathetic because he had taken it for granted, but he couldn’t accept it as a matter of course.
Vanderbilt shrugged his shoulders in a manly way and brushed aside Cain’s bitter smile as he asked Oleciren.
“Do you prefer something sweet or something refreshing, Your Highness?”
“Let’s have your recommendation.”
“I have a secret tea that I learned from Arian. I’ll make it for you right away.”
Vanderbilt began to boil the pewter kettle, humming a tune.
He seemed to be quite happy to have guests in his lodging.
At the same time, Cain and Oleciren exchanged glances and nodded. They could naturally mention her name.
“Arian?”
Cain asked as if he knew nothing.
“Ah! She’s a friend who came with me, following Chloe-nim. Unfortunately, she’s already passed away.”
“What happened?”
Vanderbilt, as he took out and mixed the tea leaves he had prepared beforehand, spoke in a slightly somber tone.
“I don’t know for sure. She was the one in charge of this lodging, so she came here every few days.”
“Oh, I see.”
Thump, thump.