# 27
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Lessons are over.
Tidian's heart was beating madly when he was alone.
Will Wirt tell my brother I lied?
'I'm disappointed, Teddy. I didn't expect that from you.'
“No, impossible!”
Tidian shouted loudly.
Just thinking about it was terrifying.
That was something that should never happen.
Tidian rushed to check the new assignment Wiert had given him.
But, contrary to what was said of being similar, he could not understand any part of the matters.
“…the maid in the laundry room.”
I have to find that maid I met yesterday.
As his anxiety grew, Tidian quickly ran to the laundry room.
* * *
Tidian staggered out of the laundry room.
“No one is here...”
Gather all the maids working in the laundry room.
He carefully examined the faces of everyone who had even slightly brown hair.
But the maid he met yesterday was not among them.
No one knew the girl Tidian met.
'Do you want us to check all the servants in the palace? Do you at least know her name?'
When he heard the veteran maid's question, Tidian realized that he did not even know the girl's name.
“Maybe she really was a thief.”
Otherwise, how could no one know her identity?
His shoulders slumped in disappointment.
Screwing up tomorrow's assignment was a problem, but what made him feel even more guilty was that he had let a thief he met last night go unpunished.
“I'm hopeless.”
Tidian hid deep inside the garden, sighing sadly.
“I wanted to make my brother proud.”
Matthias returned a few days ago after a month's absence due to an important family matter.
He was scheduled to have dinner with his brother this evening.
When Matthias returned, Tidian intended to show off how hard he had trained and studied.
But now he was afraid to face his big brother.
To the point that he no longer wanted to attend the long-awaited dinner.
rumbling.
“I'm hungry...”
By dinner time, he was hungry.
Suddenly, Tidian noticed that the training ground was lit up.
'By the way, why was that girl in the training ground?'
There was nothing in the training ground worth stealing.
Precious metals or rare paintings by famous artists, which could bring money, were all in the main building.
'Could she be a spy from another family, trying to steal information about the Knights?'
It was a surprising idea, but it seemed plausible.
Tidian's face turned yellow.
"No way. It can't be true."
But he felt worried.
After hesitating, he decided to return to the training ground instead of going to the palace for dinner.
“Huh, huh.”
Tidian returned to the place where he had met the thief and looked around.
Yesterday, he had an early dinner and returned to the training ground to practice.
In other words, he had been at the training ground since at least 7 p.m.
He met the girl when it was approaching midnight.
Up until that moment, Tidian had not sensed anyone approaching the training ground.
His gaze turned towards the warehouse inside the training ground.
“Sure, I got out of there.”
Tidian strode towards the storeroom and opened the door.
The inside was filled with swords, armor, and training equipment that knights needed.
Nothing worth stealing appeared.
But who knows? Maybe there's something he didn't notice.
"they?"
Tidian suddenly stopped as he examined the place.
There was a plain wall with a broom on it.
But in front of the wall, there were traces of dust wiped away.
Like someone's footprints...
Tidian examined the wall with the eyes of a hawk.
Then he started feeling the wall for a while.
Friction sound.
Bang.
“What, what is this?”
Before his eyes, a hidden secret passage opened up.
The passage was very deep, dark and without any light.
A cold wind blew from the other side.
There is a slight metallic smell as well.
Tidian gulped.
His hesitation did not last long.
He took a step into the open secret passage.
* * *
Currently, there was only one maid accompanying Elinor.
Matthias said it would serve her, but her real mission was to keep an eye on Elinor.
Elinor knew this.
Therefore, I assumed that the maid had reported on last night's events.
This was the first time she had left the baby of her own free will, so she expected Matthias would react in some way.
But she didn't expect his reaction to be...
“Mother, are you okay? They said you were sick all night.”
Didn't imagine it would be so exaggerated.
Elinor blinked.
Matthias came to visit her at sunset.
He did not come empty-handed.
Carry fruits, flowers and many things. The room, which was not small, seemed full.
Eleanor asked puzzled:
“Why did you bring all this?”
“I knew this was going to happen.”
Matthias ignored Elinor's words and said:
“Since you fainted and didn't regain consciousness for days, I expected something like this to happen.”
Matthias placed his hand on Elinor's forehead.
Elinor was surprised by the sudden touch and her shoulders stiffened.
“Your forehead is still hot. Is the fever still there?”
Matthias's head tilted as he took her temperature.
Elinor regained her composure and said:
“I'm still… not fully recovered. Cough.”
Fortunately she put a hot towel on.
She was planning to pretend to be sick tonight as well, but she was almost discovered from the start.
“Did you take the medicine?”
“Yes, I had it.”
“And yet the fever hasn't gone down? Looks like we need to call a doctor.”
“It's just a cold.”
Elinor was afraid that the doctor would discover her pretense, so she said quickly:
"Normally, when I get a cold, I'm sick for a day or two. It's not a doctor I need. I'll be fine if I rest another day."
“Your body is very weak, mother of the child.”
“Haha, indeed. Fuck, Fuck.”
Elinor gave a fake cough and pulled the blanket up to her nose.
She wasn't used to pretending to be sick, so it wasn't easy.
“Abba abba.”
The child extended his hands towards Matthias excitedly.
Matthias laughed and picked up the baby.
“They say you didn't cry even though you were away from your mother at night, and you were so brave? Well done.”
“I was worried he would cry a lot, but fortunately.”
“But when we were at the inn, you never let me take care of him. Did you change your mind here?”
Mathias scolded, twisting his lips.
Elinor answered calmly.
“I don’t want to infect the baby. Last time when the fever lasted all night, I was so scared.”
That was true.
Last night, she pretended to be sick to explore the secret passage in the ward, but if she really caught a cold, she intended to keep the child away temporarily.
"And I don't think you'll hurt the child. You protected him in the fire and you saved me."
Although he imprisoned me separately.
Mathias opened his eyes slightly, then raised the corner of his mouth in a slight smile.
I don't know what he's thinking.
Eleanor changed the subject.
“By the way, were you on your way from somewhere?”
“Yes. I have news that will please you.”
“News that will make me happy? Does that mean...”
Eleanor sat up straight.
The only news that can cheer her up concerns Charlotte.
“Go out for a while.”
Matthias ordered the maid to leave, so only Matthias, Elinor, and the child remained in the room.
“In the northeastern part of the empire...”
While Matthias slowly opened his mouth.
Bumping sound.
Suddenly, a strange sound was heard.
It was coming from the secret passage Elinor had used last night.