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Chapter : 4
Why?
Why was Alias appearing here right now?
Rachel tried to look at Alias’s face beneath the hood, but it was useless. He wore a black eye patch that concealed both his face and eye color.
Alias—the alias name of Grand Duke Sian Aisa Dikarsinyak, the only grand duke of the empire and the father of Dolorasa, the female protagonist’s father in the original novel.
Rachel decided to revise her plan of subtly extracting information from the informant.
Alias was the father of her son’s future girlfriend—in other words, a future in-law. Now that he had appeared right in front of her like this, she couldn’t just let him slip away.
Alias tilted his head slightly.
“Countess? Is something the matter?”
“I’m sorry. Your name is the same as someone I know, so I was startled for a moment. This conversation may take longer than expected, so could you wait in another reception room? I’ll finish my previous discussion and come to you right away.”
“Then you’ll have to compensate me for the waiting time.”
“Of course.”
At her immediate reply, Alias left the reception room.
A man counted among the richest in the empire calculating his compensation so meticulously! If she hadn’t known better, it would have been an excellent performance that could easily fool anyone.
Rachel’s body grew impatient, eager to speak with Alias quickly. But first, she had to finish Marsha’s matter.
Calming her excitement, Rachel slowly opened her mouth.
“Now that the nuisance is gone, shall we continue our conversation?”
“M-Madam…”
“I gave you a chance, and Marsha here threw it away with her own hands. Don’t take it too personally.”
She calmly clasped her hands and began delivering the punishment she had already decided upon.
“First, from this moment on, Marsha is no longer the nanny of the Elrosa family. All benefits she has enjoyed as a servant of this household will be revoked. The financial support sent to your family will also stop.”
“If you cut that off, my family will—!”
“Don’t interrupt. I’m not finished yet. Return all items provided to you over the years, including the clothes you are wearing now. If anything listed in the records is damaged or unusable, you will compensate for it.”
Marsha’s head drooped weakly toward the floor.
It wasn’t even the end yet, and she was already like this. That wouldn’t do.
“Return all items you secretly stole over the years. Of course, if anything is missing, you must pay for it. I will calculate usage fees based on the dates cutlery went missing, and I will also charge for the meals consumed during the reconciliation gatherings, based on the amount of food taken.”
“I… I don’t have that kind of money…”
“Additionally, you must repay the salary you improperly received while absent from your duties. I will also claim compensation for the mental damage caused to me and Graham through your lies and negligence. Graham is such a kind child, so he may not even speak ill of you properly, but still.”
Rachel exhaled deeply after pouring out her words like a waterfall.
“I’ll organize the total amount and payment deadline and send it to your family in the countryside. If you disappear, your family will have to bear it, so don’t even think about running away.”
“Sniff… sob…”
In the end, Marsha broke into tears.
Rachel watched the elderly nanny of her son scratching the floor as she cried, then turned away.
In truth, there was still more she could say, but seeing her cry made her soften, and she couldn’t deliver the final punishment.
‘Originally, I planned to spread rumors that she was dismissed for theft, but I can’t go that far. That would make it impossible for her to ever work as a nanny again.’
It was a shame, but Marsha would suffer enough from the financial penalties alone, so Rachel decided to end it there.
Rachel immediately headed to the other reception room where Alias was waiting.
When she opened the door, Alias turned toward her. Even with his hood and eye patch covering him, he accurately faced her direction as if he could see perfectly.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting.”
“It’s fine. As I said, I will charge you for the waiting time.”
“Very well.”
Although there was a chair by the sunlit window, Alias stood deliberately in the shadows.
Instead of sitting, Rachel also stepped into the shade. Alias directed his gaze at her as if he could see.
“I assume you’ve heard, but I have something I’m looking for. I was originally supposed to visit the guild myself, but my husband and butler are quite overprotective, so I had to trouble you to come here.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Before I formally state my request, may I say something first?”
“As long as you pay for the extended time, you may speak freely.”
“Good.”
Rachel respectfully inclined her head toward Alias in the black cloak and eye patch.
“It is an honor to meet Your Grace, Grand Duke Sian Aisa Dikarsinyak.”
“What…?”
She could feel Alias stiffen in shock.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I am the guild informant Alias.”
“That would be a false name, wouldn’t it?”
“……”
Alias—or rather, Sian—carefully studied Rachel’s presence before speaking again, his voice sharpening.
“How did you know?”
She had succeeded in capturing his interest.
Rachel calmly recited the lie she had prepared.
“It wasn’t difficult. You concealed your eyes and hair so thoroughly that it actually made things suspicious.”
Not difficult at all, she claimed.
It was common for guild informants to conceal their appearance during secret missions.
Of course, it was rare to conceal both eyes and hair as thoroughly as Sian did. Not just anyone could gather information while effectively blind.
“So you’re saying you figured out I’m the Grand Duke from just that?”
“Your voice wasn’t concealed either. Although you rarely appear in public, your voice is distinctive enough to be unforgettable once heard.”
It was a reasonable deduction, but it still didn’t fully convince Sian. Human hearing was not as sharp as smell or vision.
It was hard to believe she could remember a voice she had barely heard—one she had never even been close to.
Rachel added one final point.
“And there was also your reason for coming here.”
This was the most decisive factor.
In the original story, it was this investigation that led to Theodore falling into ruin, Graham losing his title and name, and ultimately becoming a mercenary.
“I know that the noble council suspects my husband Theodore Elrosa of rebellion. And I also know that Your Grace often conducts undercover investigations on behalf of the council. Isn’t that enough to make a rough deduction?”
Yes.
It was widely known that Sian represented the noble council and sometimes went undercover through the guild. Only his identity as Alias was unknown.
The problem was—
“How did you know the noble council suspects Theodore Elrosa of rebellion? That is information only high-ranking nobles in the council would know.”
“Theodore often wanders outside the mansion at night and moves through secluded alleys. The family’s finances are also strangely hollow. Even I would suspect rebellion.”
Sian’s eyes narrowed beneath the eye patch.
Everything Rachel said was true. From Sian’s identity to the suspicion of rebellion.
Last year, reports had been made that Count Theodore Elrosa’s behavior was suspicious. Within the noble council that assisted the Emperor, some suggested he might be preparing a rebellion.
Since then, Sian had been assigned to watch Theodore. He found no signs of rebellion—only evidence of an affair.
The problem was that the anxious Emperor refused to dismiss his suspicion. As a result, surveillance of the Elrosa estate continued.
Even today, he had simply come because the council insisted after hearing that the guild informant was visiting the estate. He had planned to take the request, observe briefly, and leave.
But unexpectedly, Rachel had seen through his identity. She had even read the council’s suspicions.
The Rachel Sian had observed during his investigation was not like this. To put it kindly, she was innocent; to put it bluntly, dull. A woman who hadn’t even noticed her husband’s affair for years.
And yet—
Rachel, seeing his silence, spoke as if persuading him.
“Theodore is simply meeting his mistress secretly while avoiding my eyes and others’. The money missing from the estate likely went into that woman’s household, not the military. I can help you gather the evidence.”
She knew about the affair and still pretended not to?
Who exactly was this woman?
He had never been wrong in his investigations like this before. His curiosity stirred.
Sian provoked her.
“How amusing. Perhaps you’re trying to cover up your husband’s treason. I won’t believe your words.”
“I’m telling you precisely because you won’t believe them. The more suspicious you are, the more you should investigate Theodore until you become certain it’s not rebellion—but infidelity.”
What was she saying?
Sian remained silent, so Rachel continued.
“There’s a general store with pale yellow flowers painted on it on Rotten Street. Enter the alley to the right of that building, pass two houses, and you’ll find a red-roofed two-story house. Watch that place. You will understand clearly what Theodore is doing.”
He already knew that place. It was the mistress Jane’s house.
That meant Rachel was not merely suspecting her husband’s affair—she had already grasped the entire situation.
“After you investigate and confirm that it is truly infidelity rather than rebellion, come back to me.”
“…Are you asking for payment?”
“No.”
Despite trying to hold it in, Rachel eventually laughed.
“I want the concrete evidence of my husband’s affair that you gather. I want a safe and certain divorce from Theodore.”
Using Sian was the perfect way to obtain evidence without arousing Theodore’s suspicion. And it also gave her another excuse to meet him again.
From Rachel’s perspective, it was a flawless plan—divorce and a future alliance all at once.
All that remained was for Sian to agree.
Sian’s firm lips beneath the eye patch moved slightly.
