Blair was standing on the outer side of the balcony railing. As if she might fall at any moment.
Blair also seemed quite flustered, not having expected Rina to enter the room.
Rina rushed over in that moment and grabbed Blair's waist with brute force.
"No! Absolutely not!"
"Rina, wait! It's a misunderstanding. First, let go of this..."
"No! I won't let go! If Your Highness says you're going to die, I'll die with you!"
"That's not it..."
"No! I won't listen no matter what you say until you come back over here! Come inside quickly!"
In the end, Rina began sobbing while clutching Blair. Even amid that, she clung to Blair desperately, pulling her in like reeling in a massive catch.
"Where do you think you're going, leaving me behind! Absolutely not! If you're going to have such wicked thoughts, kill me first!"
"That's not it, I said. It's only the second floor..."
But her words didn't seem to reach Rina, who was sniffling with tears and snot. Blair had no choice but to endure being held tightly.
Only after a long while did Rina finally calm down and ask Blair,
"But why would you think something like that...?"
Her voice was still thick with tears.
Blair scratched her cheek awkwardly and explained.
"It's not what you think. I was just trying to sneak out somewhere."
Upon hearing Blair's words, Rina finally noticed the cloth tied to the balcony railing. It was a rope made by tightly weaving bedsheets from inside the room.
Rina was appalled.
"Oh, no. So reckless! What if you fell and got hurt?"
"It's only the second floor. There's bushes below."
Blair seemed confident, as if she had planned it meticulously, but Rina, who had watched her for a long time, knew.
Her lovely princess appeared demure but occasionally embarked on reckless endeavors.
Rina pressed her forehead and sighed, then suddenly remembered something and asked,
"By the way, where on earth are you going at this hour of the night...?"
To Rina's question, Blair smiled instead of answering. A dazzlingly beautiful smile, yet somehow ominous.
* * *
"This is..."
Rina's eyes widened as she looked out the carriage window.
The place they arrived at after leaving the duke's residence with Blair was the guild street in the back alleys of the Capital.
Blair pulled her robe hood over her head and opened the carriage door, saying,
"I'll be right back."
"If you're not out in 30 minutes, I'll really come looking for you. For real!"
Blair had repeatedly insisted that Rina couldn't enter the guild with her during the ride, so Rina put on a stern front but obediently stayed behind.
Getting out of the hired carriage, Blair stood before a guild building.
Libellus Guild.
Among numerous guilds, it was renowned as the unrivaled master in information gathering.
Blair took a deep breath and entered the guild building.
The interior appeared at first glance like an ordinary tavern. As Blair entered, the boisterous guild fell silent as if doused with cold water.
They scanned the intruder who didn't fit the place.
The woman had her robe hood pulled low over her face, but even the glimpse of her straight nose and small reddish lips revealed she was a beauty.
A burly middle-aged man who had been scrutinizing Blair's face slammed his beer mug down with a thud and shouted,
"Hey, who called their girlfriend to the guild? Own up."
"Ah, looks like it's my girlfriend."
"What nonsense. That's my wife, isn't it?"
The men teased each other, claiming Blair as theirs. Even their chuckling laughter felt frightening to Blair.
For her, raised as a precious princess, encountering men baring their raw instincts was unprecedented.
But if she had intended to flee in fear from here, she wouldn't have come in the first place.
Ignoring them, Blair headed straight to the bar in the center of the guild.
However, the drunken men had no intention of letting go of the rare eye candy easily and blocked her path.
"Hey, pretty miss. What brings you here?"
"I've come to meet the master of this place."
"Our master is too busy for small fry. How about telling it to us big brothers? We'll handle it cheap and reliably."
"Have a drink and talk slowly. Tell us pretty girl what troubles brought you fearlessly to a place crawling with us dark brutes."
A man too drunk to control his own body slung an arm around Blair's shoulders and pressed close. The stench of alcohol and unfamiliar warmth made her skin crawl.
Blair calmly grabbed the man's arm and pulled it down. Then she placed a single ring in his hand and said,
"Bring the master."
"Hah!"
The man, flushed red from drink, let out a scoff as if incredulous.
Ignoring his words entirely and treating him like a dog by just handing over a jewel was utterly distasteful.
"Who do you think I am, some street mutt? Think we'll wag our tails for money?"
The man raised his voice, spittle flying. His massive build and loud voice alone were sufficiently threatening.
But Blair did not back down.
No, she could not.
Considering that her future with Asiel hung on this guild commission.
Blair clenched her trembling hands to hide them and confronted the man.
"You've worked in this business long enough to know better than anyone how to conduct yourselves. How foolish it is to slit the belly of the goose that lays golden eggs."
The man who met Blair's eyes through the robe hood flinched. From this slender woman's gaze emanated an irresistible subtle pressure.
It wasn't just him; the watching guild members sensed the odd atmosphere and exchanged glances.
Whatever else, seeing the woman act so boldly convinced them she was a major client they couldn't let slip away.
One of the guild members who exchanged glances went up to the second floor, and soon returned with another man.
"Did the miss ask to see me?"
Blair glanced at the man once and opened her mouth.
"No. I wish to speak with the master."
"I am the master of Libellus."
"Is deceiving clients like this the rule of Libellus?"
As she spoke, Blair's gaze turned to the bartender wiping cups behind the bar.
He was a handsome man with kind features, curly brown hair, and green eyes.
"I shall commission the guild master of Libellus."
The man's eyes behind his round glasses paused momentarily, then curved into an amused smile as he asked,
"May I ask how you knew?"
"When I asked for the master. Everyone glanced sideways at you, but you simply listened."
"Sharp eyes."
The man smiled at Blair and glanced at his subordinates who had been caught glancing. They slyly avoided his gaze.
The man set down his glass and came out from behind the bar.
"Shall we move to a quieter place?"
Blair followed the man up to a room on the second floor. The room he led her to was an ordinary empty space.
Once alone, the man bowed politely.
"Allow me to greet you properly, Duchess. I am Mikhail Kines."
Blair flinched. The man knew her identity without her saying a word. But thinking about it, if the head of an information guild didn't recognize the princess's face, that would be more untrustworthy.
"...That situation earlier was a test for me on purpose."
"I wanted to gauge how desperate you are. Those who seek me out risking danger pay accordingly to their desperation. My apologies if it offended you."
"It's fine. It means you have confidence in handling the job cleanly."
Despite Mikhail's rudeness in testing her—a princess of the realm and duchess—Blair replied calmly.
Yet her soft voice and gaze held magnanimity laced with steel. A natural demeanor in granting mercy while overwhelming the other. The poise of one handling inferiors.
'Born a noble princess from the start, I suppose.'
Mikhail smiled and replied,
"Libellus will duly repay that trust. Then, please tell me the details of your commission. The more specific, the better I can assist your goals."
As the commission came up, light entered Blair's hitherto calm violet eyes.
"What I commission is three things."
Mentioning 'three things,' Blair spread three fingers. It was a habit from talking with Asiel, but Mikhail, unaware, found the gesture quite endearing.
"Entrusting us with three already. Libellus will grow even richer."
It was a joke born of confidence that they would never fail a commission.
Blair laid out her commissions.
"First, procure a small villa near Agenza, the capital of the Kingdom of Clania. And a new identity to live under, discarding this name."
She had no intention of staying long in one place, but traveling everywhere with a pregnant body would be hard, so she planned to stay in Agenza until Asiel was born.
'Agenza, being the kingdom's capital, will make it easy to find skilled doctors or necessary supplies.'
Hearing Blair's story, Mikhail was inwardly surprised.
The princess intended to discard her name. Meaning she would leave the ducal family as well.
Curious as to the reason, but he had no right to pry that far.
"Second, I need men to be entangled in a scandal with me. Four to five. Reliable ones who can keep secrets would be best."
"Then it would be good if I intervened as one of them. To report progress intermittently. Would that be alright?"
"If you're fine with it."
Blair nodded readily. If the guild master himself stepped in, that much more trustworthy.
Mikhail smiled.
"Then, when do you wish for the scandal to break?"
Mikhail grasped her plan from a single word. It was convenient, as expected of a professional.
"Half a year from now, ideally."
"We'll have to prepare as quickly as possible. Then, what is the final commission?"
Blair pulled a note from her inner pocket and handed it over. On the note was a pattern drawn from memory: the insignia engraved on the dagger of the intruder who killed her before regression.
"Find the person possessing a dagger engraved with this pattern."
Mikhail examined the pattern on the note closely before tucking it into his own inner pocket.
"I'll do my utmost to get you the answers you seek soon."
Finishing her conversation with him, Blair descended to the first floor.
The subordinates, who had vaguely guessed her identity from Mikhail's attitude toward Blair, now bowed deeply.
Blair left the guild amid their send-off. At the same time, the shadow watching her vanished.