Chapter 25

The evidence Philippa had was not just the book.

As long as she had embezzled, she collected various other evidence of exploitation. Originally, she would have been strangled to death by Nikan with those, but it was different now.

“Capture and search the chef!”

The searching went by in a flash.

“W-what is this, so suddenly?!”

The chef’s face turned blue when he saw the knights and administrators who came into the kitchen like lightning.

He had eaten so much during the time, his feet were numb. (T/N: He stole a lot of items.)

There were so many expensive items in his accommodation that the cost of the restaurant wasn’t even enough.

The administrator looked at the chef with a fierce look.

“An administrator like you who embezzled is eliminated. You’d better not think about running off.”

As the kitchen was being searched, Lyndon and Philippa searched Charlotte’s room.

Lyndon’s expression became grim while Philippa was triumphant when a record-like object was found in her room.

“Find Charlotte right now!”

He couldn’t let the unworthy servant of the great Agnes be. However, Charlotte was nowhere to be seen.

Philippa went to Navia’s room swearing at her for making things annoying. If she wasn’t anywhere, she had to be in Navia’s room!

“Charlotte!”

Philippa slammed the door open and shouted triumphantly, but paused.

No one was in the room.

‘She’s not here either? But where did that brat Navia go?’

Are they working on something somewhere?

Otherwise, there’s no reason for both of them to be unseen at the same time!

Philippa was impatient and pressed the servants around her.

“Hurry and find Charlotte! She has to be caught before she runs away!” Philippa treated Charlotte as a sinner and commanded the servants.

“A maid called Charlotte is nowhere to be seen inside the mansion!”

“Ha…”

Philippa was baffled but soon almost cheered.

It’s rather better this way.

The evidence was very clear towards the chef, but there was only a few pieces of evidence framing Charlotte. But hiding during a time like this completed the painting.

“That damn b*tch caught on and ran away! We need to find her!”

Lyndon sighed with annoyance.

‘Yesterday it was Charlotte, today it’s also Charlotte. There seems to be a real problem today.’

If it was reported that a maid committed embezzlement and quickly fled, a candlestick might fly into his head.

She has to be caught before Nikan returns to the Duchy from the Imperial Palace.

“Expand the search!”

They expanded their search not only within the main building but also for the gardens, greenhouses, and detached houses.

“I found her!”

At the good news, Lyndon hurried to one of the separate houses along with the servant.

Philippa quickly followed the butler.

It was because she had to deny the accusations that she had embezzled.

And.

“…What is going on?”

Charlotte was in an unused detached house.

On top of that, she was unconscious.

“Something is weird, Butler. The house was also locked from the outside.”

“What? Then doesn’t that mean that someone knocked out Charlotte and locked her up!”

Philippa sensed that something had gone wrong and spoke hurriedly,

“Isn’t it the chef’s work? He did this because he was scared of the embezzlement!”

It was pure nonsense, so no one answered and frowned.

“…Move Charlotte for now and have the doctor look at her.”

“Yes sir.”

Lyndon thought that the process for catching thieves was flowing strangely.

A servant, who was searching the mansion, spoke carefully,

“Um, Lady Navia has been missing the whole time.”

“What? Since when?”

“Since we have been searching for the maid called Charlotte, probably since before that too…”

At then, a fierce roar was heard from behind.

“What do you mean!”

Lyndon looked back quickly with a tingling look. Nikan, who had just returned, approached with a scary expression.

“M-Master!”

“Explain what is going on right now!”

Lyndon and Philippa reported briefly about the chef’s embezzlement.

Nikan looked more threatening as he heard the explanation.

He couldn’t stand the fact that a family servant dared to embezzle without knowing his place. But there was also Navia’s disappearance and her maid trapped in a separate house unconscious.

This is apparent kidnapping!

He was so angry he felt dizzy.

‘Why did this happen right when I arranged a face-to-face dinner with the Empress!’

Nikan lost his mind and shouted.

“Find her! Even if you have to search the whole capital, find Navia right now!”

***

Blink.

Navia just blinked her eyes. It was because nothing was identified. The surrounding area was only dark.

‘Where am I?’

She felt the touch of the floor behind her back. Navia lay down and moved her hand slightly to feel the floor.

‘It’s wood floor.’

It was also spoiled and smelled.

“Hit her.”

She was able to guess the situation with her last memory.

‘…I was kidnapped.’

The shitty Wood finally ignored his father’s bluff and touched her.

“Ugh…”

The area she was hit was throbbing painfully. Navia took a short deep breath and suppressed her pounding heart from the sudden incident.

‘Let’s stay calm for now. The answer won’t come out from just struggling.’

If Wood kidnapped her, she has to look like it.

Something could have broken in the meantime.

Fortunately, she didn’t seem to have been hit yet.

In addition, she wasn’t tied up,

‘I didn’t get a gag and my feet and hands aren’t tied up.’

It was surprisingly a sloppy job. Navia was dumbfounded for a moment but sorted out the situation.

‘You can tell how unprofessional he is because of how clumsily he did the job.’

It seemed that Wood ordered his servant to lock her up here.

‘The reason you locked me up here is obvious.’

It was clear that he was trying to knock her down with force and not magic. But Wood left her without touching a hair. Also, he wasn’t here right now.

It meant that she was in a state where he could take care of her at any time.

Or there was an unexpected situation causing him to have to leave.

‘Like Nikan looking for him.’

There was one thing she could guess.

‘I’m still inside Agnes.’

If so, where am I?

Navia wanted to check the inside, but nothing was identified because it was so dark.

Because of that, it was better to close her eyes and focus all her attention to the sounds.

Where is this place, how long she was unconscious for, whether there are people outside…

A recognizable sound could be heard.

‘A bird’s cry.’

She didn’t know what bird it was, but the cries she would hear at night were always clear.

‘So is it night right now?’

Other than that, another piece of information was attained.

‘The smell of wood rotting and the sound outside, this is probably an external warehouse.’

Where would Charlotte be? Wouldn’t Charlotte, who would have found the situation strange that she wasn’t coming back to the room, be leading the people to search the mansion?

‘That’s unlikely.’

It was highly likely that Wood knocked out Charlotte and locked her up somewhere else.

‘It’s cold…’

Navia crouched down.

The mansion was thoroughly heated, so she only had a dress on.

Navia reached out and shook around. She carefully raised her body when her hand didn’t catch anything.

She didn’t have any thoughts of being locked up like this.

‘It would be nice if there was even a little bit of light.’

Navia looked around, touching the floor.

Thud!

An empty wooden box was met with her foot.