Chapter 14
My heart pounded as I followed the old man inside.
“So this is the place!”
The kitchen, which had been hidden behind a messy cloth, turned out to be an astonishingly luxurious room.
I cleared my throat lightly, crossed my legs, and waited for Sven.
In fact, this was the headquarters of the Bestian Dark Intelligence Guild.
Of course, the reason I knew about this place was that in the original story, the male lead used it. To be precise, after winning a lot of money at the horse racing event, he came here to request the purchase of a title.
The Bestian Dark Intelligence Guild handled all kinds of information, and so-called illegal private investigation work was something they excelled at.
“Who do we have here?”
Not long after, a man who looked to be in his early thirties sat in front of me with a sly smile.
He had gray hair and blue eyes and was holding a black cat.
“I’m Sven Bestian. I’m surprised you know my real name, Ms. Laria Rose Icard.”
At that moment, the black cat jumped lightly and landed on my lap.
“Meow…”
The yellow eyes of the black cat stared straight at me.
I wasn’t particularly interested in Sven’s pet, but when the cat sat on my lap, Sven’s eyes widened.
“Th-this… well.”
“Meow.”
I didn’t have the leisure to fuss over such things, so I lifted the cat and returned it to Sven, saying:
“Meow?”
The cat looked at me with an expression that seemed to say, “How dare you not pay attention to someone this cute?” But unfortunately, I couldn’t even indulge in enjoying a cute cat right now.
“There’s no time. I’ll be quick.”
I placed a check on the table.
“I’d like to have 10 gold returned as change. And with the remaining money, I want to do three things.”
Sven continued to look back and forth between me and the black cat a few times before answering slowly.
“Yes… please go ahead.”
“First, I want to buy a title.”
“Excuse me?”
“And second, I want to purchase a fief.”
I would split the horse race winnings with the male lead, Seymour, and I planned to buy the fief he purchased.
Since I didn’t have enough money to buy all the fiefs, I would buy only half.
It had to be that particular fief. It was the fief where Seymour made money using some scheme, and later, iron ore would be discovered there.
So, in a way, I was taking half of everything Seymour would do.
I couldn’t help it. In the novel, the worldview isn’t fully shown; it’s told from the protagonist’s perspective. Of course, copying someone else’s actions wasn’t very honorable.
“Of course, it’ll be done secretly.”
And indeed, I had no qualms about it.
“No one in the Icard House must know.”
As long as I stayed alive, I could at least preserve a sense of conscience.
“About the title… the young lady of the Icard family is still too young, isn’t she? Fourteen, right?”
“‘Young lady’ is a bit of a dull title. Call me Laria. And of course, that issue…”
As expected from the guild master… he already knew my age.
“I’ll need an alias.”
I spoke quickly.
“Create a fictional persona. And for the fief, it’s Hanuwa. I won’t buy all of it—just from here to here.”
When I pointed to a location on the map on the wall, Sven frowned.
“Hanuwa isn’t too expensive. And it’s on the market anyway.”
But later, when the iron ore appears, it will gain tremendous value. I couldn’t buy all the fiefs, but even half was something.
And since Seymour would only win half of the money because of me, he wouldn’t be able to buy this fief entirely. Naturally, he wouldn’t be able to purchase a noble title either, starting from baron.
If you were a true male lead, you’d endure this trial.
I rationalized it quickly and said brightly,
“So, I should be able to purchase it after buying the baron title, right?”
“Yes. Then what should the alias be?”
I thought for a moment and then said something off the cuff:
“Kyle Dart Lavonis.”
I wanted to make someone completely opposite of me, so I deliberately gave a male name.
Hanuwa was so far away that any name would do.
“Well, let’s hear the rest. And the third?”
“Third…”
I spoke quickly.
“Soon, the Duke of Icard, my father, will look for my personal physician.”
This was in the original story as well. The Duke of Icard appointed a personal physician to continuously check my condition.
Being thorough in his hidden manipulations, he observed carefully whether I would die at an opportune moment.
“I want my person to be assigned there. Surely they’ll find the most capable one, but I want you to handle that from here.”
Therefore, the position of my personal physician would be the first to manage if I wanted to escape safely.
“If someone from the Bestian guild is attached to me, I think it will make future requests easier.”
“Understood. If possible, please request a female. There happens to be someone suitable.”
“I don’t know if I’ll have a choice… but alright. I’ll try my best.”
“The alias for our person as your personal physician will be Serena Moristo. Seeing the name, you should recognize her immediately.”
He spoke efficiently, which I liked. When the cat wandered around, he looked like a silly fool, but he seemed to have snapped back quickly.
I wanted to ask why he kept staring at the cat so intently, but he seemed just like an ordinary cat owner.
Well, if it’s his own cat, he can look at it as much as he wants.
Fair enough.
“Good. Thank you.”
“Since it’s such a large transaction, I have no choice but to accept it.”
I exhaled lightly in satisfaction. The Bestian Dark Intelligence Guild had the advantage of absolutely protecting the client’s secrets.
Even when the Duke of Icard tried to threaten them to get information about Seymour and the princess, they remained completely silent.
He took my check and handed me a 100-gold check.
“I only asked for 10 gold to be returned…”
“I know. The rest is an amount I want to transact with you, Ms. Laria.”
“With… me?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want from me?”
“What would a guild master want?”
He clasped his hands together and smiled.
“Information.”
“I know nothing about the Icard family. What would my father tell me?”
“Not the Duke of Icard.”
I blinked.
“Laria Rose Icard, I want information about you, Laria.”
In that moment, I sensed that how I answered here would determine whether this dark guild master would see me as a valuable client or just a clueless fourteen-year-old.
Well, if it was information about me, he could just make some up, so I didn’t need to worry. If I continued to transact with him, he’d have to learn about me anyway…
But Sven couldn’t not know this. It was a test. And above this cunning dark guild master, I had the advantage of being possessed.
“Good.”
I spoke clearly and handed the 100-gold check back to him.
“But I won’t sell myself for money.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want to receive it in information.”
At that, Sven smiled as if intrigued.
