For the Lady's Wise Regression - Chapter 38

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 38
As Ian’s gaze drifted back to the newspaper, Vanessa focused on the food before her.
‘……That caught me off guard.’
He’d maintained that bored expression the entire time, so I’d expected the same again.
But that moment our eyes met, however brief, it was unmistakably…….
‘Affection? Of all things.’
That Ian Ruscliff, feeling something for me?
A sidelong glance revealed that he’d already buried his face almost entirely behind the newspaper.
‘I must have imagined it.’
If he’d harbored even the slightest affection for me, he wouldn’t be burying his nose in a newspaper like this.
He would’ve made some effort to meet my eyes.
Though the portion was more than she could finish alone, Vanessa steadily cleared her plate.
No matter how she thought about it, this place seemed to surpass the Dominic Fraya Restaurant in the Capital in quality.
Especially this cream pasta—it was the richest yet most delicate pasta she’d ever tasted.
Was it even possible to achieve this flavor with nothing but milk?
This morning it was tomato pasta, wasn’t it? It was so tart I could barely finish it.
But this……I could eat two plates of this.
Once she’d scraped the plate clean, Vanessa set down her utensils with a lingering, wistful look.
“That was delicious.”
“……Are you going out now?”
“Yes. I’ll probably be back around evening. Oh, right.”
Vanessa paused as she rose from her seat.
“Thank you.”
At this unexpected expression of gratitude, Ian lifted his eyes from the newspaper.
“For the escort knight.”
“……I thought you’d be angry.”
“When I thought about it, I realized I needed one.”
It saved money on hiring mercenaries, and more importantly, his abilities were guaranteed—there was no reason not to be grateful.
For revenge, raw strength was a necessity.
So even if he received reports of her every move through the Knight Order commander.
“I can accept that much.”
As his gaze returned to the newspaper, Vanessa moved toward the restaurant entrance.
“……Vanessa.”
Just as she was about to leave entirely, Ian’s voice drifted softly from behind her.
“Yes?”
Vanessa turned her head toward him.
“Use him freely. That’s why I assigned him to you.”
Though his eyes remained fixed on the newspaper, Vanessa paid no mind, and a small laugh escaped her.
Not merely a knight, but the commander of the entire Knight Order—using him as she pleased. The other nobility would be scandalized to hear it.
“I will. Sleep well tonight, and I’ll see you tomorrow, Ian.”
“……All right.”
The faint blush that seemed to tint his ears was surely just her imagination.
***
Phew.
Before opening the door, Vanessa drew a quiet breath.
‘It should be fine, shouldn’t it? The plan went slightly off track, but……I needed someone to keep in hand regardless.’
After pulling the Robe snug, she threw the door open.
‘It’s better than hiring mercenaries.’
Leannuk, dressed identically in a Robe, gave a small bow.
“The carriage is waiting outside.”
“Thank you. You work fast.”
“But……is that truly our destination?”
Following Vanessa as she walked ahead, Leannuk asked cautiously.
“It’s quite far from an outing, isn’t it?”
“……Lower your tone.”
……
“Ma’am?”
Vanessa gazed at Leannuk’s face for a moment, then offered a faint smile.
“Somehow I think speaking formally to you is the right approach.”
At Vanessa’s words, Leannuk’s expression shifted.
A look in her eye that suggested she was either in on something or doubting what she heard.
“But a Knight Commander would certainly have received a Title, wouldn’t she?”
Only then did Leannuk’s gaze soften.
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re someone I must serve.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
The conversation ended there.
Vanessa climbed into the carriage and gazed out the window.
The reason she’d said she could only come back once evening had fully fallen.
Everything hinged on secretly bringing away a single boy from Saint Berthold Orphanage.
The children at Saint Berthold Orphanage faced a crossroads on the year they came of age.
Either to dedicate themselves wholly to whoever had sponsored them until their Coming of Age, or to enter society with nothing at all.
And if they chose the latter, every copper of the sponsorship money they’d received became debt. They stepped into the world already buried under obligation.
But was choosing the former any easier? Not at all. The sponsorship money itself was a noose.
Of course, once you repaid the sponsorship in full, you could earn freely after that—but in truth it amounted to a lifetime of unpaid servitude.
The Marquis Leonard Family would force the boy to follow them under the guise of long-standing sponsorship.
And the boy surely knew that this nobleman who’d suddenly appeared offering to sponsor him was someone who preyed on children without mercy.
So the boy had only one path open to him.
Flight.
He wouldn’t accept going to the Marquis Leonard Family, nor would he choose service to any other nobleman.
The boy would come of age tomorrow.
Which meant tonight was his window to escape.
Vanessa exhaled quietly.
In her past life, the boy had fled only to be caught by the Marquis Leonard Family’s mercenaries and dragged away.
But not this time.
Because she would save him herself!
Looking back on it now, she wondered how the Marquis Leonard Family’s people had known the escape route in advance and lain in wait, but unraveling that could wait.
Vanessa stopped the carriage a short distance from Saint Berthold Orphanage.
‘I don’t have time to handle everything by evening.’
She’d originally planned to wander alone and gather what was needed.
But plotting an escape route based only on what she’d heard rather than lived through left her feeling hopelessly lost.
Swallowing a sigh, Vanessa set off toward the village near the orphanage.
‘All right. Let me try this.’
***
Leannuk had been watching Vanessa circle the same area for hours now.
What on earth was the lady doing, moving about like some common thief?
Though Leannuk was the sort to simply accept orders without question, she couldn’t help but feel puzzled by Vanessa’s behavior.
The master and mistress were different in every outward way, and in how they treated her, yet there was one thing.
Their stubbornness was remarkably alike.
“Hmm… this path won’t do either.”
Every so often she muttered something incomprehensible, then sought out a new route.
As if she were plotting an escape plan.
It was then that Leannuk finally broke from her usual protocol.
Normally she simply followed whatever orders were given, but at this rate they’d never escape this alley.
“Tsk. Ah, not here either.”
This was the twenty-ninth failure—though only Leannuk knew the count.
Watching Vanessa release a heavy sigh as she stared down the open street ahead, Leannuk’s lips moved.
“Madam, if you tell me precisely what you’re looking for, I can search in your stead.”
Only then did Vanessa stop her hurried pacing.
“Well…”
She let out a breath and glanced once at Leannuk, then once more at the open street behind her, about to say something when—
“If we continue like this, I’ll be the one facing the master’s censure. And the Commander’s reputation will suffer as well.”
At Leannuk’s words, Vanessa pressed her lips together.
“…Then, would you help me? I thought I could find it alone, but I never experienced it firsthand.”
“Command me as you will.”
“Once you go in, you can only come back out the same way. The space needs to be completely enclosed, but the path can’t be too short either. You have to go deep inside before you realize there’s no way out.”
Leannuk was the one caught off-guard by how readily the words came pouring out.
She’d thought they were looking for an escape route, but instead this was about herding prey into a trap?
Regardless, now that the order had been given, she had to find it.
“An entrance and exit that are one and the same. I understand.”
“Good. Once you find it, shall we meet over there by the fruit seller’s shop? Two will cover more ground than one, so I’ll search as well.”
“Together…….”
“There’s no time. The sun will set soon.”
Vanessa left those words and vanished swiftly into the crowd.
……Did I say earlier that the only thing they had in common was stubbornness?
Never mind. That was wrong.
Whether it was the master or the mistress, there was no predicting what either of them was thinking—and that, too, was something they shared.
‘They do say that married couples come to resemble each other. Seems there was truth to it after all.’
Leannuk swallowed a small sigh and moved in the opposite direction.
***
The moment the sun had fully withdrawn from sight.
Vanessa was crouching in the tall grass at the town’s entrance, pulling Leannuk down beside her, the Saint Berthold Orphanage visible in the distance.
“……Mistress, surely you can tell me now? What business do you have at Saint Berthold Orphanage?”
Vanessa glanced sideways at Leannuk and pressed a finger to her lips.
“Shh, Leannuk. This is the critical moment.”
“……But what exactly—”
“There!”
A brown-haired boy came bolting out of the orphanage as if fleeing for his life.
Vanessa lurched to her feet.
From this point on, every second counted.
The boy would be spotted by the Marquis Leonard Family’s mercenaries a mere ten minutes after leaving the orphanage.
Which meant the mercenaries were somewhere nearby in this area.
“Leannuk! If you spot anything suspicious in the vicinity, apprehend them!”
“What? Mistress, where are you going alone—!”
Leaving Leannuk’s bewildered cry behind, Vanessa pushed off the ground with all her strength and ran.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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