Chapter 263
"Hmm? If it"s the Bate of Caramel Avenue......"
My father tilted his head, who could hear the butler because he was sitting right next to me.
"Tia, isn"t the name of your favorite dessert shop called Caramel Avenue?"
In an instant, the people around the table looked at me.
"Yes, Bate is the manager of the store there."
I responded naturally, pretending to wipe my mouth with a napkin, hiding my expression.
"By the way, there is no way that person could have delivered the delivery at such a time."
People don"t know that Bate is an informant working for me.
Whenever he come to me, he makes it look like he has delivered dessert.
But at this table, the only one person, Clarivan, who knows Bate"s ident.i.ty, was looking at me with a stiff face.
Something has happened.
Maybe that"s what Clarivan thinks.
Bate, who was originally supposed to meet tomorrow morning, couldn"t wait until then and came to me in person.
Even at the risk of endangering camouflage.
I finally lifted a gla.s.s of water and said, rinsing my mouth lightly.
"It seemed that there was a problem while expanding the business into a restaurant. So I told him to come and find me because it doesn"t matter even after the business hours are over. He"s the one who delivered desserts to the mansion many times since I was a child."
"Oh, no. I hope it"s not a big deal."
"I know, right."
I nodded as if it was okay, but I stood up right away.
And I spoke to Clarivan.
"Just in case I need some advice of the top. Why don"t you come with me, Clarivan?"
"I"ve finished my meal, so let"s do it."
Clarivan replied, shrugging his shoulders deliberately, as if it was good.
"Where is Bate waiting for me, Butler John?"
"I have guided him to the office."
After all, John has been a butler for decades since my grandfather.
Although he did not know the details, he seemed to have noticed that Bate was not just the owner of a dessert shop.
"......let"s go."
As I left the crowded dining room and entered the quiet corridor, I and Clarivan"s pace gradually accelerated.
***
Bate smiled politely at Lombardi"s knight as he stood in the side of the office of householder, watching him.
It was to monitor outsiders who alone occupied the work s.p.a.ce of the householder.
"I must have visited you too late."
He tried to say so, but the thing that came back was the disapproving look of the knight, who seemed to be asking "Do you ask me because I don"t know?"
Bate smiled again at such an article and squeezed the hand he hid inside his sleeve once more.
The smiley face that he made out of habit felt awkward, but this was the limit for now.
There was an inevitable nervousness in his eyes as he looked at the office door for signs of popularity.
About ten times like that, looking at a closed door.
Click.
"It"s been a while, Bate."
Florentia entered, fluttering the hem of her long dress.
"I"ve been in high spirits, the Matriarch."
At the same time, Bate, who jumped from his seat, bowed his head deeply and greeted her.
And, as always, there was an expressionless Clarivan behind her.
It was a very short time, but Clarivan and Bate exchanged firm eyes.
"You"re welcome to go out."
Tia said, gesturing lightly at the knight who was still guarding a corner of the office.
"Yes, the Matriarch."
As soon as the knight left the office, and the footsteps went away, she turned her head and asked.
"What is it?"
"Chanton Sushou has moved."
Bate gave Florentia a summary of what he had hidden in his arms.
He said, "At the order of His Majesty the Emperor, he released the top man who was being detained, but it seems that he is going to check it for security reasons. And that"s what Chanton Sushou sent to the West today in an emergency message on his estate."
Reinforce the checkpoints above Lombardi and Pellet Corporation, don"t let it go.
Of course there was no question of how the h.e.l.l it looked into Chanton Sushou"s transcript.
"And?"
This couldn"t be all.
Florentia"s green eyes without laughter looked at Bate as if rushing him.
"And this is the information that came up today from Tamal region, one of the estates of Sushou."
Port construction resumed.
The construction of the Nokta River basin topography is carried out in secret.
"Isn"t Tamal the place where Sushou tried to open the port last year and failed?"
Clarivan frowned as he hurriedly put the map in office onto the table.
Tamal was a city located further down the Nokta River than Chesail.
Looking down at the map for a moment, Florentia asked Bate.
"What"s the exact location of where he"s organizing the terrain?"
"This and this place. However, it"s not cutting, it"s reinforcing."
"Is he reinforcing it?"
It couldn"t be understood at all, Clarivan grinned in vain.
Sushou is building a port on the road to the east, but he"s building a port rather than expanding it so that it can be accessed more easily?
And at the thought of pa.s.sing her head, she looked closer to the map.
"Surely...... "
"It comes out nasty, really."
Florentia"s cool voice rang in the office.
"Since the water cannot be blocked, would he like to block the downstream of the river?"
The two places that Bate pointed to on the map were the points where poisonous sprouts protruded from the downstream of the wide Nokta River.
And as informed, if he reinforce the gap between the two places, the width of the river will be narrow, although it is a short section.
It"s like a checkpoint.
"That"s why he put on a smoke screen."
Sushou is afraid Florentia will interfere the construction.
Clarivan and Bate"s complexion hardened at the same time as Florentia murmured.
They blame themselves because it happened due to lack of their own abilities.
"I"m so ashamed, the Matriarch."
In any case, Bate, who plays the role of the eyes and ears of Florentia, bowed his head.
"I should have noticed earlier..."
Florentia, who was silent for a moment even after Bate"s apology, shook her head.
"No, it"s not that Bate couldn"t do it this time. Chanton Sushou did a good job. It"s kind of annoying."
After that, she was silent again.
She picked a nearby chair and sat leaning against her back.
Then, tapping the armrest with her fingertips, she fell in thought.
But there was no sign of frustration on her face.
Nor was it the face of a person struggling to get over trouble.
Her appearance was close to that of a fighter trying to make a decision, whether or not to use the hand held in her hand.
As soon as he got information on what Chanton Sushou was doing, Bate, who had been rushing, loosened the powers from his hand, which had been holding tightly until then.
"If it is the the Matriarch."
It is vague, but it is because there was such a deep faith.
After so many small noises, she suddenly asked Bate.
"What happened to "that job" then?"
"Oh, that......"
Bate sneaked a look at Clarivan and replied.
"I"ve checked. As the Matriarch said, it is the southeastern region. In addition, scholars sent by Herringa"s householder have also completed the experiment."
"How does it work?"
"It is said that they are satisfied."
"As expected."
Florentia nodded her head, as if convinced of something.
Then she fell back to her thoughts, with a strange smile on her face, slightly narrowing her eyes.
Startle.
Clarivan, who saw the expression of Florentia, whispered in a low voice.
"When I look at the face of the Matriarch like this, I feel a little pitiful for Chanton Sushou."
"Is Sir Clarivan think so? Actually, I too......"
When a strong bond was formed between the left and right arms of the Matriarch of Lombardi.
"John."
"Yes, the Matriarch."
"Please call Violet, no, Pellets Corporation"s chief in the restaurant."
***
"Tia, are you sure you"re okay?"
Gillieu asked me with a straight eyebrow, as if he didn"t like it.
"It"s okay, how many times do you ask."
"But all of a sudden, you"re going to start your trip a week or so earlier."
A few days after Bate"s visit.
I was checking my luggage in a pa.s.senger carriage that would take me to the outskirts of Lombardi.
Even so, there were only a few modest ready-to-wear clothes from my father"s clothing store and some essentials for a carriage trip.
"Wouldn"t it be better for me and Gillieu to go together?"
Mairon said, shaking the wheel of the shabby carriage so that the tendons stood tight against his st.u.r.dy arms, as if he was anxious.
"I"m worried about it anyway."
"Yeah, camouflage is good, but it"s too dangerous. You"re going to the east alone without us as escorts."
After a long time, the two men, who were creating shades as big as their st.u.r.dy bodies, were showing themselves as cousin brothers.
When did the little things that were only chasing me behind me grow up like this.
With a special heart, I patted the shoulders of Gillieu and Mairon one at a time.
"Who is alone alone. I"m not going alone."
When I said that, someone who had just finished checking the other side of the carriage came up and informed me.
"Tia, you"re ready."
It was Perez, who wore an ordinary ready-to-wear clothes, just like me, who burst his dusty hands casually.