Since It's My First Time Being a Lady, I'll Cause Some Trouble - Chapter 18

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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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The Lady Does It for the First Time – Episode 18
Jereon’s eyes betrayed him as he witnessed a scene that defied all reason.
Was he dreaming?
‘I’d suspected the Netzer Family’s heir had some physical training, but……’
He hadn’t anticipated a situation like this, though.
‘Where did she learn to knock someone unconscious with a neck strike? A business card isn’t exactly a throwing weapon, and what in the world is that attack technique?’
What kind of heir education was the Netzer Family providing?
“Ugh, seriously! Handle him carefully. You’re going to wake him up!”
At Ulpina’s sharp voice, Jereon snapped back to awareness.
Only then did he realize he was the one moving the unconscious servants—one slung across his shoulder, the other tucked awkwardly against his opposite side.
Both he and Ulpina had changed into Servant’s Formal Attire at some point.
No wonder those men were stripped bare…….
“If you crack that one’s skull against the wall again, I’ll make sure your head gets the same treatment.”
Jereon conceded the point.
‘This has to be a dream.’
A beautiful man with a cold expression speaking in a woman’s voice and using thuggish language—that confirmed it was a dream.
“Shove both of them into that oak barrel over there.”
Ulpina gave the order curtly.
“Where are we?”
Jereon asked as he moved the men toward the empty oak barrel she’d indicated.
“A wine storage and general storage room in the basement. And why can’t you fit a person properly into a barrel? Pack them tight!”
“If I pack them that tight, they’ll suffocate to death!”
An oak barrel was barely large enough for one person. Yet she wanted two crammed inside. Truly a cruel woman.
“People don’t die that easily! When their bodies are cramped, they can’t generate enough force to cry out!”
“How would you know that?”
“I just know!”
“Why would you know?”
Her counter-question made Jereon momentarily wonder if he was the strange one.
But his firm conviction that people shouldn’t be killed won out, and they settled on putting one man in each barrel.
Instead, they wedged them in headfirst to make escape difficult.
“Thanks for the help up to this point. Now we should split up and work separately.”
Ulpina pulled on a Half Mask as she spoke. She was still using informal speech, but there was no time to mind that.
“Wait, what are you going to do alone? How are you planning to get the item back from Penri?”
Human nature was truly contradictory. Moments ago he’d wanted to abandon her, but now that she herself was suggesting they separate, worry flooded in.
“Huh? I’m not going to see Penri.”
“What? Then how are you planning to find it?”
Jereon was taken aback. Hadn’t she been insisting they needed to meet Penri?
They’d come into the Club on that premise, only to find the person who supposedly had the item, and now she was saying she wouldn’t see him?
And had she just called him by a nickname?
“If you were him, would you carry something like that on you?”
“But you said it was possible he had it with him.”
“No.”
Ulpina dragged a heavy Flour Sack from the corner of the storage room, speaking with firm certainty.
“Have you thought about why Penri is holding a conspiracy meeting here?”
“Because it’s a place where many people can gather naturally without raising suspicion. And in an emergency, he could get cooperation from the Club to destroy evidence or buy time to escape.”
“Those are factors, but the real reason is that this is the only Club that operates a Safe Deposit Box Rental Service.”
“A safe deposit service? Why does that matter?”
Ulpina pointed alternately at the Flour Sack and the oak barrels, directing Jereon to stack them on top of the barrel lids.
Her determination to thoroughly prevent the servants from escaping was evident.
“Penri must have used something from the Netzer Family to gain people’s trust.”
She spoke to Jereon as he placed the Flour Sack on top of the barrel.
“But hiding it in his own room where many servants pass through would be risky and difficult. Entrusting it to someone else would be unreliable too—the danger of betrayal or theft.”
“So he put it in the safe here?”
“You catch on quickly.”
Jereon fell into thought.
Penri wanted a space where something from the Netzer Family could be kept safe under everyone’s watch, never falling into any single person’s hands.
‘If an item is important enough to require such precautions, what in the world could it be?’
He found it hard to believe the Netzer Family possessed something so significant.
If traitors were desperate enough to seek it out, wouldn’t there be danger of it being targeted again even after recovery?
“Lady Ulpina.”
Silver eyes, sunken and still, regarded Ulpina in profound silence.
“What is the nature of the object Penri took with him?”
* * *
‘Why does this one have so many questions?’
Tatio asked far too much. I’d answered a few harmless inquiries, and now he was demanding the truth about the object I’d lied to him over.
From the look of things, it was clear that this sandbag—no, Court Official Tatio—didn’t know anything about the legendary treasure the Netzer Family kept in safekeeping.
“I’m not telling you.”
“Tell me! You got me into the Club! You’re helping me right now!”
“I do appreciate that, truly.”
But that was separate from what I was searching for—something I simply couldn’t disclose.
‘How could I tell him what I don’t even know myself?’
I was only here because someone hired me to find evidence.
And even the claim that evidence existed here was nothing more than the client’s speculation.
Calderon had promised there would be something in the Club’s safe to prove Penri’s treason, but whether it was there remained uncertain—if it wasn’t, I’d merely beaten up an innocent man for nothing and wasted my time.
‘Nobility is born with pride. Even if Penri is acting the fool, he would have demanded proper compensation.’
According to Calderon, the traitors had gathered around Penri as their focal point—they needed him as both a source of funds and intelligence.
In exchange, Panty would naturally have received a promise of the imperial throne.
‘And the Marquis would have demanded proof that the promise was genuine.’
A oath of loyalty, for instance.
The question was: which of over a hundred rental safes was it hidden in?
If a ledger existed, that would be fortunate—but someone with sense wouldn’t leave such evidence behind, so I’d have to crack open every single safe.
“If you won’t tell me what you’re looking for, then you’re coming with me.”
“Ugh, how bothersome.”
“Am I bothersome?”
“Wait—you’re still here?”
I’d been so lost in thought I’d forgotten the man existed.
Once his job was done, he should’ve gone home. I couldn’t fathom why he lingered.
“Aren’t you leaving?”
“No. Either you come with me, or I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what you’re after.”
Damn it, I couldn’t even shoot him.
“Give up on chasing me away. I’m staying put until I know what this is about.”
He declared his stalking with perfect confidence.
“This is my business. What’s it to you?”
“It matters. You could misuse it.”
“Now that’s rich. You think knowing what it is will make me misuse it? And besides—it’s originally mine!”
That was true.
This wasn’t a matter of Netzer property; this was a commission I’d accepted.
I resented being hired despite not being a Guild Member, and now, thanks to this paranoid bastard, I couldn’t stop the treason and wouldn’t get paid either.
“I’ve had the thing all along—if I meant to misuse it, I’d have done it already, you idiot! And if I came here with ill intent, why would I have kept someone useless like you alive this long? I’d have shoved you in that oak barrel with the others!”
“But what if—”
“Shut it!”
My patience had run out.
The moment I raised my fist to knock Tatio unconscious, footsteps echoed from the stairwell.
We both held our breath, hoping he’d go elsewhere, but the sounds drew steadily closer.
I had no choice but to redirect my punch.
Thud!
Tatio handled the cleanup of the man I’d knocked cold.
Without being asked, he crammed the unconscious body into another oak barrel—I’m not sure why he stripped the clothes, but he did.
He even remembered to place a heavy flour sack on top of the lid.
Why was he only nimble at times like this?
Afraid another person might appear, I hurried Tatio toward the hidden servant’s staircase on the first floor.
“How did you even know this staircase was―”
“Is now really the time?”
…….
Part of me wanted to stuff him in an oak barrel too, but since we’d run out of empty ones after the last one, I just dragged him along.
Fortunately, there were no mercenaries near the Safe Room.
And remarkably, a Safe Deposit Box Ledger was here!
The ledger contained microscopic handwriting documenting exactly who had accessed which safe and when.
Penri’s name and safe number were naturally there as well.
The problem was that the safe lock was custom-made, beyond my Lock-Picking skill.
‘No wonder there was no one guarding the entrance.’
And the real problem was that Penri had the key right now.
I turned to face Tatio.
“Hey.”
“……What?”
“How good are you at Pickpocketing?”

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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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