CH 52

“Welcome. You must be Adler’s guest! Nice to meet you.”

Soon the bishop appeared and she grinned.

“Hello, Bishop. This is Bella.”

“God bless you.”

“God bless you.”

After a religious greeting, she looked directly at the bishop’s face.

‘Hum, very good. There is greed in your eyes. The basket is full.’

“Bishop. I want to be taught by the bishop.”

“Oh oh. You are a zealous believer!”

“Sure. I heard that winemaking requires a lot of care. It must be the way you chose to serve God, right?”

As the flattery continued, the bishop nodded his head in satisfaction. And she was ushered into a single prayer room. Of course, the escort could not enter.

The bishop led me into a prayer room with a central curtain. The curtain was a consideration that allowed the believers to express their inner feelings more comfortably. As soon as she sat across the curtain from the bishop, she got to the point.

“I heard that wine is famous here.”

“It is a blessing from God, so we are making the most of it.”

It’s a bummer to use blessings. If the price of wine rises astronomically, it would be the individual bishop who would ultimately benefit.

She grinned.

“How much will the wine cost approximately?”

“It ranges from 1 gold wine that commoners can eat to 100 gold wines that nobles visit.”

How did commoners eat 1 gold wine? Money that was hard to hold in your hands for the rest of your life. With Adler’s wages plus a significant vacation cost, and the huge amount of 20 million gold spent to erase the marriage record, 1 gold doesn’t seem like a big deal now. To put it bluntly, when she lived with Jamie, the 1 gold coin her father gave her was the only rope. That was a lot of money.

Even for most nobles, wine worth 100 gold belonged to a luxury item.

“Okay. I want to buy 100 gold wine.”

It would be a bishop’s face to openly give money, so she created a medium.

“Huh…! Okay. We will prepare it right away. I never thought Adler’s acquaintance would be interested in Stude’s wine…!”

“If I buy this wine, I think the bishop will do a special favor… Am I right?”

She didn’t point out exactly what she was saying. It wouldn’t be a very large amount of money like other nobles asked for, but it would be enough pocket money to cover a short outing. The bishop was silent for a moment, then answered in a bright voice.

“Of course. I will be happy if you give me the honor of serving Lady Bella.”

Spent money was spent, but it was worth it.

* * *

The time limit was only 1 hour. The carriage given by the bishop was a shabby wagon that could not be noticed. After sneaking out through the back door of the temple, they reached the outskirts of the city by carriage.

She walked away from the place where the coachman said he would wait for a long time. Looking at the signs on the street.

“Verbena flowers…”

Then she stopped in front of a tavern at the end of the street. A small wooden sign that read ‘Bang’s Beer’. A very small white verbena flower was drawn at the bottom of the sign.

It was the size you wouldn’t notice at a cursory glance, and the size you’d find if you wandered around. That was the base of the Empire’s best information guild, ‘Verbena’, disguised as a tavern. No matter where you go to any city in the empire, this pattern always existed in a bar on the outskirts.

“Welcome.”

As she entered, a lively voice greeted her. Even in broad daylight, there were few customers.

“Verbena and whiskey. Except for the ice.”

As soon as she sat down at the counter, she ordered while trying to stay calm. The bartender who was cleaning the cup raised his head at those words.

“How many lemons do you need?”

Bingo! They were the correct words.

The scene where the female lead went to the information guild in the original work was her favorite scene. So she remembered exactly one line that she said with a trembling heart.

“About 10.”

“There are many kinds of lemons. Would you like to pick your own?”

“I do.”

Done! All of these enigmatic words were passwords. It meant that there was something to request from the information guild other than verbena, whiskey, and ice. Lemons meant the limit of money a client could pay. Half or one if it’s not too much money, ten if you can pay a lot. The more lemons were called, the guild member with better performance was assigned.

With 10 lemons, she maybe could at least meet the local guild manager.

“Come this way.”

Behind the kitchen was a long hallway. When she went down the stairs at the end of the hallway, the twisted path continued like an anthill. How long did it take? They stopped in front of a room.

“Come in.”

The thick wooden door opened and creaked.

“Welcome.”

A simple basement room, with an old table and two chairs in the middle. A man with scars on his face was smiling at her.

‘Scar… scar?’

That was weird. A rural village like this has never appeared in the original work. That’s why there’s no way a precious person from the guild could be there. But that big scar that went from the cheekbone to the center of the nose and the burning red hair…

“Hello.”

It was a guild leader. Although he was a person who traveled all over the place. Why did he  come there?

“Ten lemons in Stud. It’s a very conspicuous request.”

“… It’s such an important commission, and I trust Verbena since I’m sure it works for money.”

The appearance of the guild leader was confidential. There was no need to show that she noticed, so she treated him like a normal guild member.

“You’re someone who knows us well. I will definitely repay the trust you showed us.”

Verbena shows unconditional results if you give money. They didn’t ask why, and guaranteed confidentiality. It was a uniquely honest trade in an information trading world where money fraud was rampant. Because of being so honest, in the original work, the heroine and the villain Grand Duke received a double request from each other and solved both of them.

‘Someone will ask them to investigate.’

But she was an extra, not someone who would go through something like a female lead. She hadn’t been identified as anyone yet! So she went there with confidence.

“Did you come because you wanted to make a request? Um, what’s your name?”

“Bella. Please call me Bella.”

She sat down in front of the guild leader. She felt something strange. So far it has been going well, but it felt very bad to see a supporting actor from the original work appear. She just pulled up her collar. Although her face was not covered.

“I need a reliable escort to move and…”

She took out the map that Leone had discovered. She pointed to one of the marked places and recited the request.

“This place. It’s far from the temple, and it’s a rural town where people don’t come and go, right?”

“Bennot… It’s a place that even I, who had been in Verbena and traveled all over the empire, had only passed by once.”

“Please look for vacant houses in this village. A place where you can live alone without being too shabby.”

“Are you going to travel this far away with an escort? If you want to look at houses, the price is quite high.”

“I said 10 lemons.”

“… You’re on fire. All right.”

Contrary to her strangely anxious mind, he accepted the request coolly, probably because he was also the guild leader. It’s embarrassing, but this was the only safe and accurate method for her. Even if a commoner woman with a lot of money found an escort, there was a chance that she would be dealt with without even knowing. She had to top it off a lot, but even then she had a lot of money left over. And safety came first.

“It will take a month to find a house. There is a need for time to come and go.”

“No. I will be leaving in five days, so please find out in the meantime and arrange for me to move in when I arrive.”

“You might not like the house, you know?”

“Because it’s not the time to question that.”

“It is a very interesting story. Are you trying to run away?”

What? Wasn’t the Verbena Guild’s iron rule not to ask about the privacy of its customers? She replied without changing her expression.

“Is it okay for a guild member to break the rules of the Verbena Guild?”

“Because I am not an ordinary guild member.”

That man. He seemed unwilling to hide that he was the guild leader. What kind of plan was that?

“That is not my business. It’s five days later. Are you ready?”

She felt danger. She thought it would be better to quickly clean up and leave. The guild leader nodded.

“Of course, Miss Bella. As for the delivery, I will send a telegram to Miss Bella’s mansion. Of course, unobtrusively, secretly.”

“…yes. Where am I staying?”

“It’s Adler’s villa. Right?”

That was also weird. How did he know where she was staying?

“You look surprised. Foreigners rarely come to this town. The only recent outsider is a guest at the mansion. That’s all I know, so don’t be too afraid.”

“…Then I will wait.”

It’s embarrassing, but he was originally such a person. A character who stirs people’s hearts with useless words. She left her anxiety behind and left the bar. It wasn’t long before she really ran away from everything. But she felt strange.

She rejoined the escort at the temple and returned to Adler’s villa.

“Have you been well?”

The kindness of the people who greeted her was very nice. Even when they were living at the foot of Mount Meto, everyone was very warm. She thought she would be lonely if she left alone. Anyway, she was a human being too, so it seemed like she was better off hanging out with someone.

“I have prepared the bath water, Miss Bella. After taking a bath, it will be a good time for dinner.”

It was a nice place to stay. Even in a hot bath, while eating a gorgeously prepared meal, she let out a sigh. It would have been nice if she could just live by Leone’s side, getting a good salary and living well.

What was Leone doing? A kind child who knows how to share affection and tenderness even though he looks wounded.

Eyes dyed in the color of the dawn sky, as if they were not of this world, and blond hair that was vivid even in the dark. When she thought of each one, it was as vivid as if it were right in front of her eyes…

“…Leone? It’s that you?”

She looked out the window blankly and jumped up from her seat.