I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 105

“Edith……?”

“Lizé. What are you doing here?”

“Just checking the door lock. What are you doing at this hour, Edith?”

“I was about to check the door lock, too. We seem to be very worried.”

I laughed dryly.

I was a little surprised to see Lizé in the place where the original Edith installed the anti-lock, but she said she was just checking the door lock.

‘Is this what they call a thief’s legs go numb[1]?’

[1] A thief’s legs go numb is an idiom that means: A state in which a person automatically feels uneasy because he or she has done something bad, worried that others will find out.

I walked over to Lizé, locked the back door, grabbed the doorknob, and gave it a few shakes.

The door remained securely locked.

“Looks like things are okay here, Anna and I have already checked the east hallway, now we’re going to the west hallway.”

“I have checked the west hallway……”

“Then you can check the east hallway and I’ll check the west hallway, because it’ll be more accurate if we do it twice.”

“I guess so.”

I waved to Lizé, who was still pale, and then walked with Anna toward the west hallway.

‘Nothing’s going to happen, nothing’s going to……’

I repeated the words as if they were a mantra.

I refused the Riegelhoffs’ last warning to cooperate with them, and I wouldn’t install any strange devices on the back door.

 

Every day, I’ve been checking every corner of the mansion to make sure there’s no sleeping incense.

It’s been a week since I checked the back door of the mansion every night, I kept telling myself that everything would be fine.

As usual, I checked the back door while Anna checked the hallway to the warehouse.

‘Huh?’

The back door, which normally locks with a solid click, made a creaking sound, giving me the feeling that it wasn’t locked properly.

‘No way……!’

My heart suddenly started beating fast.

I opened the back door to see that Anna hadn’t yet emerged from the warehouse-side hallway, and groped around inside the opening for the lock.

I touched something square and foreign in texture.

‘No, that can’t be……’

Even though I knew it couldn’t be, I pulled the ‘something’ out with my fingernail, stuffed it in my pocket, and closed the back door again.

Even though I knew it couldn’t be, I pulled the ‘something’ out with my fingernail, stuffed it in my pocket, and closed the back door again.

-clunk.

The back door locked firmly with the same sound as usual.

I felt a chill run down my spine and my back felt damp with a cold sweat.

“Miss……?”

“Eh! Huh?”

I thought it was Anna, but one of the maids who was carrying the laundry was looking at me strangely.

“What are you doing here?”

“I- I’m checking the door lock every night. Are you…… still working when it’s so late?”

“No. This is just my personal laundry.”

“I see…… It’s late, go inside and get some rest.”

“Okay, then……”

The maid bowed to me and disappeared into the darkness.

“Ha……”

“Miss?”

“Eh! Y- you’re back?”

Just as I was about to take a breath, I stuttered, startled by Anna’s voice calling out to me.

I was afraid that she would find me strange.

But she didn’t say anything, and we went back to check the door lock.

‘Why do I have to be in trouble for something I didn’t do?!’

It’s a good thing it’s dark now, because if it was daytime, my complexion would look pale.

My face must be covered in cold sweat right now.

But I couldn’t help it. The device that the original Edith installed in the back door was now in my pocket.

‘If I don’t throw it away, I might get accused again.’

But the fact that the device was still in my pocket was not so pleasant.

I kept imagining someone going through my clothes, finding the device, and accusing me of being a spy for the Riegelhoffs.

‘It’s quite traumatizing.’

Swallowing hard, I checked the door lock again and hurried back to bed, using the excuse that I was tired.

‘Who did that?’

The first person that came to mind was the Riegelhoffs’ spy, who must have been in the mansion. The one who might have been responsible for several unsolved incidents.

‘No matter how much I search Edith’s memories, I can’t figure out who it is.’

Count Riegelhoff didn’t trust Edith enough to let her go alone into the enemy’s lair, so he didn’t even tell her who the spy was.

‘I don’t know who the spy is, but he must be as competent as Sophia to have escaped notice so far.’

When the sound of Anna’s pacing outside the bedroom faded, I snuck out the device I had hidden under my pillow and examined it.

It was hard to see in the small light from the bedside lamp, but it was a simple device with a spring in the middle.

‘How do I throw this away?’

Keeping it would only prove that I am a spy.

But it’s made of metal, so it won’t burn if it’s set on fire, and if I go so far as to throw it away it would arouse suspicion.

‘I’ll take a walk in the garden tomorrow and leave it somewhere.’

Even after I thought that, all kinds of bad thoughts started to arise one after another.

Suddenly, the image of the author looking down at me with an evil smile came to mind.

‘How much fun would it be to watch me tremble and get caught in a noose?’

Instantly, my temper flared.

‘What did I do wrong, what did I do in my previous life to deserve this?’

The more I thought about it, the more my anger boiled over.

There were times when I thought this reincarnation was a stroke of luck, but now all I could think of was that I had been caught by an evil god.

Now the image of a child trapping an ant in a labyrinth, looking down on it from above and taking pleasure in it, came to mind.

‘Screw you! Do you think I’ll follow your wishes?’

Rather than letting my anxiety get the better of me, I decided to be more proactive.

‘If the spies managed to install this device, they most likely hid sleeping incense somewhere in this mansion. I must find them.’

I decided to start scouring the mansion the next day.

There is no way I’m letting Shane raid this mansion.

 

***

 

“Renon.”

“Miss.”

In the midst of the territorial war, life went on as usual for the occupants of the mansion.

In other words, I was arriving at Renon’s office as usual.

“Did you not sleep well last night?”

“What? W- why?”

“I’m just asking. Your complexion doesn’t look too good.”

The complexion comment had already been pointed out to Anna in the morning.

I’d gotten very little sleep because I’d been up all night gritting my teeth trying to figure out how to outwit the author.

Worse yet, I couldn’t think of a single thing to do in my sleeplessness.

‘I have no choice but to do the best I can with what’s at hand.’

It was a textbook-type conclusion, but that was all I could do at the moment.

“I need you to take care of the documents for the Ryzen estate again today. You’ve been working so hard that there’s not much documents left.”

“Sure. I’m just so excited to think that this is the estate I’ll be developing with Killian in the future……”

I smiled and took the documents for the Ryzen estate from Renon.

“How would you like to develop Ryzen?”

“From a macro or micro perspective?”

“I’d like to hear the macro perspective first.”

I put the papers on my desk and pictured Ryzen in my mind.

“That’s something I’ll have to discuss with Killian, but if you ask me, I’d like to develop it as a commercial and recreational city.”

“A commercial city? But Ryzen is a bit isolated.”

“On the map, yes, but if we can get rid of Mount Philiac, we can connect it to the port city of Driburn across the river.”

“How are you going to get rid of Mount Philiac?”

I unfolded the map of the Ryzen estate placed on my desk.

Mount Philiac isn’t very high, and the people of Ryzen are grateful for the many forest products it provides.

But its presence makes Ryzen feel like an isolated rural area, disconnected from the small towns and cities beyond.

“I don’t mean to get rid of the mountain literally. It is a valuable resource for the people of Ryzen.”

“Right.”

“Why don’t we just build a road?”

“A road?”

Tunneling would be difficult in this day and age, but finding the shortest, flattest path through the mountain and clearing the surrounding vegetation would be a worthwhile endeavor.

Maybe there are mountain paths that people still walk on.

“As long as we have good roads to the smaller cities beyond Mount Philiac, and good facilities for merchants, Ryzen will be transformed.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“And don’t you think it would be pretty cool to build a villa for nobles near Mount Philiac, as long as it’s well equipped with amenities? It would be a city with convenience while still enjoying nature.”

Renon looked a little surprised at my explanation, then nodded. “I have a feeling that Ryzen will be revitalized in ten years.”

“So I’m hoping Killian makes it back safely.”

“Um…… but……”

Renon asked cautiously, showing a hint of worry even in his otherwise expressionless face. “Count Riegelhoff might be defeated. Are you okay?”

It was the question everyone wanted to ask me, but never dared to ask outright.

I took a deep breath and answered, “I’m fine.”

“But……”

“Leaving me here and provoking House Ludwig means that my ties to them are severed, and I don’t want to be loyal to a family that might as well have asked me to die.”

But in this world, family honor is more important than life.

Perhaps the sight of me so hastily severing ties with my family would seem frivolous in the eyes of nobles who live and die by honor.