# 1
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“And now, this is the child who will stay with you from today.”
Even though her entire body was covered in dirt and her hair was messy, she was as beautiful as a doll.
“You too, say hello.”
When the man, a large, middle-aged man, spoke, the little girl, who shrugged with fear and trembling, sniffed the snot and said hello loudly.
“Ah, oh hah... I'm Diana!”
After saying hello, the child, unlike the other children in the orphanage, raised her plump arms and waved her hands like maple leaves.
It was just like the past memories, without a single mistake.
“Am I dreaming?”
No, this is not a dream.
With my mouth open and my eyes narrowed, I shook my head inward.
Haven't I been hungry all day and felt so badly that it wasn't a dream?
She thought, frozen by the undeniable reality.
'. …Why today?’
The Duke of Elad's first day back from the dead was the day Diana, the youngest princess of the duchy, entered the Tessar orphanage.
In the first place, it was hard to even accept the fact that I was back in my childhood, but with Diana in front of me, I was completely terrified.
It was a time when I closed my eyes and tried to make sense of this situation somehow.
“Huh, huh.”
When I heard a small scream, I opened my eyes and lowered my head a little.
Immediately my gaze met the clear blue eyes of the little girl who was holding my sleeve.
"Yes . … ".
I was embarrassed for a moment when I saw my eyes wet with tears.
Without realizing it, I looked blankly into the little girl's eyes.
Then, naturally, a man with ice-cold walls and the same color as those eyes comes to mind.
And the moment I faced death.
* * *
One day ago, the headquarters of the Information Syndicate “Turnsium”.
Breathing heavily, I quickly ran up the stairs and opened the huge locked door.
Then he stopped and froze.
“What, what!”
The guild executives who were sitting around the round table turned their heads in unison and stared at me, as if they were all working together.
As I stared into my eyes, wondering why everyone was gathered together in a meeting, I realized.
“The full moon will soon rise and night will fall.”
At this time of year, the heads of the guild, including the master, were unusually busy and had been absent for a while.
For me, who was not close to my colleagues except the manager, it was also a period of time in which I lived as if I was on a remote island.
“Leah, didn’t you see the sign in front of the door?”
Then the master asked.
Unlike the older chiefs, he looked to be only twenty-six years old when he sat at the head of the table.
'I don't know exactly how old he is.'
This mysterious man, who was the head of an intelligence guild that collected all kinds of information, but had no known information, was my boss.
The master sighed, carelessly combing his flowing black hair.
“I told you to check the sign on the door first when you enter my room.”
“I'm sorry, I was in a hurry and forgot.”
When I answered shyly, trying to avoid the master's red eyes, he smiled and shook his head.
Then the chiefs rushed around him.
“Sir, is this something worth laughing at? I think Leia can’t change her habits because she always does.”
“Yes, besides, they put a sign in front of the door because of Leah, wouldn’t it be better to teach her to just knock on the door?”
“They kept knocking on the door, and in the first place, who opened the master’s room like that and came in? For a moment, I thought this was Leah’s room.”
“You're right, Master, you're being very kind to Leah.”
The superiors complained in very hurtful terms.
They were all making fun of me.
'What is wrong with my behavior? How can the master ignore me!?
That was when I was grumbling inside.
“Everyone, be calm.”
My eyes widened at the Master's sudden reaction to the weight bearing.
Why are you trying to stand by me?
“Will Leia listen to me if I teach her such politeness?”
I'm a fool for expecting that.
From the master to the bosses, the group treated me like an idiot.
'Do you still think I'm a ten-year-old kid wandering the streets?'
Even though I was proud of myf as the most talented person in this guild, my face was in a frown.
Moreover, one of my greatest skills is “hide presence”, so I learned how to “knock” when entering a room!
Actually, it was probably because I was still in a hurry, but there was no way I would forget to knock on the door if I decided to do so.
‘The other intelligence guilds are still worried because they can’t scout me….’
While I was frowning with my mouth open, the gentleman gestured for me to come closer and asked me.
“So what happened?”
The other heads also turned their heads and said: “Okay, let’s see where we can go.”
Only then did I remember the matter that had arrived in the master's room.
“Important, important! I haven’t received any orders for over a week already.”
“Did something like this really happen?”
When I saw the master speaking slowly, I got excited for no reason.
There was someone who was keen to become a detective that everyone recognized, not just a top-notch detective, as quickly as possible.
"my lord !"
I shouted, but the master only smiled and raised his hand to lightly pat my cheek, which had become very frowning.
It was a time when I felt pain at being treated like a child out of the ordinary.
“Okay, I’ll give you a task too, so finish it when I get back, you can do that, right?”
"truly?"
I asked again without any pride.
'Are you really going to give me a proper task this time?'
This is not a task requested by the bakery owner, Susan, to find out the colors of napkins that Butcher Nick likes!
“It is a suitable mission...”
The master looked at me with a strange expression, then slowly lowered his hand and nodded.
“Wow, Master is the best! You are the most handsome in the world!”
I was excited and quickly praised the master, just as the superiors had taught me.
Then the master burst out laughing as if it was ridiculous, and the managers also twitched the corners of their mouths, holding back their laughter.
I just did what I was taught and worked hard, but the reaction was very strange.
‘But I think the master’s hand tried to touch my neck a short while ago. …Is it an illusion?'
That was when I tilted my head.
“Go back, I will soon assign your assignment and hand it over to you.”
After the master's words, I completely forgot what I was thinking earlier and nodded with a happy face.
It was less than a few hours.
"...Where? The Duchy?"
She blinked and looked at Jade.
“Did Master really assign me the mission of infiltrating the Duchy?”
As if I hadn't misunderstood, Jade, who was in the middle of giving me instructions about today's assignment, shrugged.
“Yes, you did a good job on your mission to sneak in as a maid not long ago, I think that's why he trusted you again this time.”
“But then! I couldn’t help it because I was the only female among the top agents.”
The Duke of Elad was the most guarded of all the noble families in the empire.
Since it was a hard-to-reach place like the Imperial Palace, being assigned an infiltration mission also meant that the master recognized me.
However, instead of the joy of finally taking on an important task, I was more surprised by Jade's obedient attitude, always belittling me with sarcasm.
At that time, Jade said something more important.
“In fact, none of us know that you are the most talented.”
". … What?"
“We all know, I didn’t admit it because I was jealous because you were Master’s favorite.”
My mouth fell open at Jade's words.
The praise he gave me was very surprising.
To be honest, I was so happy that I wanted to dance.
But I pretended to be calm and answered calmly.
“You said I wasn't a favorite, so you're doing it again.”
Normally, I would have reacted harshly to that annoying voice, but maybe because I was in a good mood, the words came out softly.
Even if I tried to hold it back, I felt like the laughter would escape without me knowing.
then.
“But didn’t you say you knew someone from the duchy?”
“...What? Oh my God, when did you say that?”
“Don’t you remember? The day you became an adult and became unconscious for the first time, you said something in the orphanage when you were little.”
Oh, my God.
Did you say that when you were drunk?
Embarrassed, I closed my eyes.
Under the pretext of congratulating me on turning 18 this year, officials arranged an event to bring me and my colleagues closer together.
It was clear that everyone had submitted to the superiors' orders, which made them feel embarrassed and embarrassed.
To make up for it, I drank the glass of alcohol in front of me without fear.
After that, I couldn't remember anything, so I heard that the gentleman who came late cleaned up and took me to the accommodation.
'I'm sure Master said I was sleeping peacefully!'
My face turned blue because I had no idea he was talking about my past.
“Drunk, what can't you say when you're drunk? It's impossible for me to have anything to do with such a great noble!”
I stood up and raised my voice as if it was all a hoax.
I couldn't see him because he left in a hurry.
A secret smile came to Jade's face.