# 50
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The long-awaited next day
"Ma'am! Madam!"
While I was enjoying the morning sunshine on the porch, Fifi stormed into the bedroom, completely disoriented. I turned around with a calm smile.
“Vivi, why are you making so much noise so early in the morning?”
“Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that I heard something very shocking...”
“Shocking news?”
“The shopping area is a mess this morning.”
When I heard exactly what I was expecting, a wry smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.
“Really? The shopping district, you say.”
“Yes! You know how Marquis Merry and Countess Olsen used to fight over this mine, right?”
"Yes, I know. Didn't they say the mine was about to fall into the hands of Marquis Merry?"
“That's what I thought too, but the situation has completely changed!”
“What do you mean by completely changing the situation?”
She asked, feigning ignorance, and Vivi widened her eyes, practically dancing with excitement.
“Well, it turns out that the Countess didn’t covet the mine out of her greed!”
“Huh?”
“There's a big tree near the mine, and it seems to be a place full of memories of the late Count! An anonymous servant from the Count's house posted an announcement about it! The place is crowded with people trying to read it.”
"Oh, my God."
Feigning surprise, I gasped softly and covered my mouth.
“Well, this is…”
Just as I planned.
She swallowed the urge to burst out laughing and looked at Vivi.
"Did you know anything about this, ma'am? You visited the Olsen house last weekend, didn't you?"
I kept my innocent appearance.
“No, I had no idea. We didn't discuss anything like that...”
“Oh my God, so you didn’t know either, ma’am!”
Vivi couldn't contain her excitement, overwhelmed by this unexpected surprise. If this was her reaction without even reading the notice, I could only imagine the scene in the shopping district now.
She naturally looked beyond the balcony, and smiled softly.
"Vivi, you've made me curious. I think I'll go see for myf. Can you help me get ready?"
“Yes! I will prepare everything right away!”
Vivi seemed as eager to see the contents of the notification as I was, helping me get ready twice as quickly as she usually did.
As I was walking down the stairs after getting ready, I ran into a familiar face again.
He was there, in the hall at the bottom of the stairs, on his way to the dining hall, when Ian stopped and looked at me.
'Seriously, I didn't see a single hair on him, but now he's everywhere?'
Anyone would think he was deliberately wandering around.
He kept his lips pressed together as he looked between the dining hall and me in my outer clothing before asking,
“...Are you going out without eating breakfast?”
His voice did not hide his confusion.
There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice, as if he was saying more than just a simple question.
"Yes."
I finally realized that I had scratched my cheek embarrassingly.
I was so excited that I completely forgot to have breakfast with Ian.
'But really, breakfast isn't the important thing here.'
There was no way I could sit still while the shopping area was bustling with activity because of the notice I posted!
After a few moments of awkward silence, I managed to smile nervously.
“Um… I’m really sorry, but I’m kind of busy right now.”
“I've been busy all weekend, and now today too.”
His response was strange.
If I think about it, I've been running non-stop since Saturday.
'The lonely ghost who didn't leave the palace must have caught his attention now that you came out, right?'
Barely suppressing my sarcasm, I smiled at him.
“Yes, I think so. It's rare to have such a busy day. So, I'm afraid I won't be able to have breakfast with you, but maybe we can have lunch instead...”
“Are you heading out now?”
"Sorry?"
“Looks like you're headed to the shopping district.”
“Oh, yeah… you see?”
I replied confused, and Ian nodded briefly. Then move away from the dining hall.
“I will accompany you then.”
"What?"
I was so startled that my voice cracked. Why did he suddenly insist on joining me? It wasn't even a weekend.
He completely confused me, and I stared at him expressionlessly, trying to understand his actions, while Ian, with his usual stern expression, looked at his watch and tilted his head.
“Since we didn’t have any plans to meet over the weekend, and I don’t have any urgent work today, I have time to accompany you.”
It was as if there was a hint of something in his words.
'Why is he acting like this all of a sudden? Did he eat something wrong?'
They say that when people are so shocked, they may lose the ability to speak, and that's exactly what I felt.
Meanwhile, Ian still looked upset, so he looked at his watch again and tilted his head.
“It won't take long to prepare because it's just a light walk. So just wait.”
"my lady?"
“Oh, yeah. Let's do this...”
“Okay.”
Ian responded firmly, turning around and disappearing into the dressing room without any hesitation.
I stood there in amazement for a moment, tilting my head in confusion.
'Should I consider this a success in my educational efforts?'
❖ ❖ ❖
What was supposed to be a quiet outing with Vivi turned into a major event in the blink of an eye. A large carriage bearing the emblem of the Grand Duke's estate appeared, and along with Fifi, three other servants, and even Ian's close assistant accompanied us.
That assistant, named Kyle, had a strangely happy look in his eyes as he watched Ian and me.
I heard he was a royal wizard.
He was supposed to accompany us as a protection measure, but his actions seemed more like those of onlookers rather than a bodyguard.
After all, Ian is a sword master – what kind of protection does he need?
'The cart is spacious, and having extra hands is nice, but... is all this really necessary?'
Regardless of my discomfort, Ian accompanied me, and the carriage set off.
As we approached the center of the shopping district, I could feel the energy of the crowd even before getting off the cart.
The sounds of chatter filled the air, especially near one of the central squares, where the announcement was posted.
“Wow…there are so many people.”
I was expecting this to cause a stir, given that it appeared on the front page of the Arya Newspaper, but this response was further along than I had imagined.
We parked the car a little away from the central area, and I got out with Ian's help.
Unlike last time, when just getting off the cart drew all the attention to me, today the notification diverted most of the attention.
Instead, everyone was complaining about Count and Countess Olsen.
She pretended to be calm while listening to their conversations.
“…They say the two met for the first time under that tree 20 years ago.”
“This means they were just over ten years old at the time.”
“Oh my god... they've known each other since they were kids.”
"Countess Olsen must have treated her servants really well. It can't have been easy to extend help in this way to a former employer…"
Sighs of pity arose from various places. From another direction, I heard more of their conversations.
“So was Countess Olsen being stubborn because she wanted to preserve those memories with the Count?”
"Now it makes sense. It always seemed strange that she would hold out, refuse to hand over the mine even while neglecting the ones she already owned."
“I never imagined there would be such a reason behind this...”
“If that's true, then I really feel sorry for Countess Olsen.”
“Isn’t it? Do you think Marquis Merry knew this? Based on the notice, the servants at the Count’s estate seemed to know something...”
“Would the Marquis have gone ahead if he had known about this? I doubt it.”
“Of course not, right? However, that's the problem...”
As I listened to the whispering voices, I stifled a satisfied smile.
'Look, I still have talent.'
Keep it up, keep talking.