NOVEL WEB Chapter 60
Chapter: 60
Ashley had a ton of magical abilities.
Not just the advanced spells that I could use, but also a variety of more complex and diverse spells.
She was really drowsy, but with those advantages, she didn’t mind.
It wasn’t just her looks that got her hired; she had a definitive edge as a magic teacher.
“What I’d like you to bring from the room is just a sheet of letter paper. An envelope isn’t necessary, but we absolutely need the letter paper.”
“…This feels a bit criminal.”
“It’s fine! You don’t have to worry about a thing, just take out the letter paper and make sure not to get caught.”
“…Hmm.”
She explained exactly what needed to be done.
The most important part was, of course, not getting caught.
We had to make sure it didn’t get noticed that I had snatched the letter.
I would be reading it in secret without Rosalyn’s permission, so avoiding detection was paramount.
I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it, but if it was Ashley’s magic… I had faith she’d figure it out somehow.
Still, it did make me a bit uneasy.
For now, I started thinking about how Ashley and I could ensure I wouldn’t be caught by Rosalyn while sneaking out the letter.
“Is it really necessary to avoid detection for the letter?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If the content of the letter is incredibly long and there’s a lot to write, that’s one thing, but if it’s just a small amount… wouldn’t it be enough to just read it quickly…?”
“You do have a point.”
Hearing Ashley’s reply, it was clear that there was absolutely no need to hide it for a long time.
Just a little while ago, I had been planning to keep the letter paper hidden, but I realized I didn’t need to hold onto it for long at all—I could just read it quickly and return it.
“That’s right. I don’t really need to carry the letter paper around for so long.”
“If that’s the case… I think we might have a method.”
“Really?”
“Well… for now….”
Ashley hadn’t confirmed that it was definitely possible yet, but with that answer, I felt pretty certain it would be enough.
Now, the only thing left was to not get caught during the stealing process.
“How do you plan to pull it off?”
“Before that, there’s something I need to do first.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to set up a small magic circle in front of the lady’s room.”
“A magic circle?”
I wondered what kind of magic circle she was going to use.
There were so many spells that came to mind that it was hard to choose.
Before sneaking the letter from Rosalyn, what kind of magic was she planning to use?
“Probably sleep magic…? Other spells might go wrong or be a bit risky, so I thought this would be the cleanest option.”
“If possible, that does seem like a good idea.”
It didn’t sound like a bad plan at all.
In fact, I thought it was great, especially since it would eliminate the unexpected variable of Rosalyn coming in from outside.
Honestly, since Ashley had such a wide range of magic, I wondered if she’d use some invisibility spell or something.
Of course, I wasn’t sure if such a spell even existed, but it seemed like there would be some possibility.
Ashley’s magical skills were definitely that good…
“Hmm… Teacher, do you think you can do it by tomorrow? Tomorrow night.”
“…I should be able to. It’s a favor from Camelia.”
“Really?”
Honestly, I thought she might say she was too tired and suggest delaying it a bit, but I was surprised she was actually agreeing like this.
“…Yeah.”
“I appreciate that. Then please tell me more about the magic. How exactly does it induce a sleep state, and how long does it last…?”
I continued to ask Ashley questions, while lying on the bed in her room.
I needed to carefully plan how to retrieve the letter from Rosalyn’s room.
I felt a little guilty about it, but I thought it was more Rosalyn’s fault for purposefully hiding things from me than mine.
And if she planned on keeping it a secret, she shouldn’t have made it obvious.
Yeah, I honestly didn’t think it was my fault.
“But, um… Camelia?”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Do I really have to talk this closely…?”
“Why?”
Out of the blue, Ashley brought that up during our conversation.
Now?
It felt like we’d been chatting in this position for quite a while, and now she was bringing it up.
“Are you uncomfortable?”
“No, it’s not like that…”
“Then it’s fine, right?”
I was just having a casual conversation with Ashley, who was comfortably lounging on the bed.
I hadn’t even considered that this could be an issue.
It made sense, given that during classes, she often sat right next to me, so I didn’t see why it would be uncomfortable now.
Plus, there had been many times when she’d fallen asleep on my shoulder at the end of a class…
“Do you dislike it?”
“…I was just thinking that since we’ve been this close for a while, maybe it’d make Camelia uncomfortable…?”
“I’m fine. I’m sitting here talking to you, after all. I just pulled my chair close to the bed to chat.”
“…I guess that’s true.”
What was clear was that Ashley awake and Ashley not fully awake were definitely different.
If she were more alert right now, she’d probably be less attentive to this kind of thing—just half-heartedly answering with her eyes half-closed.
Well, in my case, an Ashley who had woken up properly was way better than a half-awake one.
“Anyway, thank you in advance, Teacher.”
“Honestly, I don’t know why, but since I agreed, I got no choice…”
“Hehe, it’s not for a strange reason, so you don’t have to worry too much. You just need to help me a little, that’s all!”
It’s true; it involved stealing from my mother’s room, but still…
*
“Is there something going on, Young Lady?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary.”
After finishing my conversation with Ashley, I returned to my room to relax comfortably.
I did have some things to do, but I was a bit tired from planning so intensely just before.
“Is that so…?”
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Yeah.
I hadn’t even started working yet; I’d just had a brief chat.
It was perfectly fine to say there was nothing out of the ordinary right now.
Of course, that would change tomorrow, but still.
“Rize, is there any family lately that has some issues going on?”
“That’s sudden… but as far as I know, none. Recently, there’s been more talk about the royal family in the newspapers than the nobility.”
“Oh? That sounds pretty boring. Last summer, there were all kinds of scandals among the families in the western region—it was a lot more entertaining back then.”
I asked Rize, but I already knew there hadn’t been anything noteworthy lately.
After all, I received information long before her.
It was only natural since I got the information from the Information Guild.
However, after my discussion with Ashley, I felt a bit tense about the things I had to do.
“Hmm…”
“Why do you ask?”
“Rize, have you ever stolen something?”
“…What?”
“I’m just curious. If you haven’t, that’s great.”
“…?”
Rize looked at me as if I was being ridiculous, but I felt awkward myself.
It was true that I had focused more on money and business in my life, but that didn’t mean I had ever committed a crime or done anything bad.
But this time, regardless of everything… I was about to commit a wrongdoing, so it was only natural to feel uneasy about it.
“Our Rize is too kind to be someone who would ever do something bad.”
“That’s not really…”
“I think Rize is extremely kind. Don’t you think so?”
“…Yeah.”
“Hmm… Is that so?”
Compared to the average Leonhardt family member, I definitely felt that she was kinder.
She didn’t seem overly greedy, and honestly, she gave off the impression of being someone who lacked ambition.
At least compared to the other maids, she was definitely better.
In my opinion, Rize was genuinely kind.
Among everyone in the mansion along with Rosalyn, she was someone I could say was truly a good person.
“Soon, Sister Karen will go back to her family… so before she returns, we should definitely spend some time together.”
“There’s a newly opened restaurant in the city recently; it might be good to go there.”
“Really? I haven’t heard anything about that.”
“It happened while we were away from the mansion. It’s understandable that you wouldn’t know.”
Actually, after Karen came back to the mansion, we hadn’t really done anything together.
I had a lot on my plate, and Karen usually liked to quietly rest, so it was just how things were.
But I still wanted to spend some proper time with Karen before she returned to Melnick.
After all, once we parted this time, we wouldn’t see each other again until winter.
Of course, from next year, we’d see each other almost every day, but still, it was a different matter.
“Rize, about that restaurant you mentioned. Can you make a reservation for the day after tomorrow?”
“Of course.”
“Then please make the reservation for that day. Tomorrow would be too sudden.”
“Understood. Is there anything else you need to reserve?”
“Hmm… There’s no need to reserve a bookstore. I don’t think there’s anything else.”
Karen’s character is such that it would be unnecessary to reserve too many things.
In fact, I knew she would likely feel pressured if we booked more than necessary, so keeping the atmosphere relaxed was the best approach.
“Oh, there won’t be any guests coming to the mansion tomorrow or the day after, right?”
“No, there won’t be. It’s pretty rare for guests to come to our mansion, to begin with.”
“That’s true. Still, if I were to go on a trip with my sister and someone showed up… it’d be a bit awkward, wouldn’t it?”
Actually, the real reason I asked was to confirm that there wouldn’t be any unforeseen complications regarding my plans for tomorrow night.
After all, if guests arrived unexpectedly, rushing through things could lead to all sorts of trouble.