“Did you find anything about the second murder?” I asked.
“Officially? Nothing. The royal guards aren’t exactly better at uncovering the case than the Schway guards,” he replied.
That’s what I thought. I frowned and pointed at him. “Did the detective from your previous life find out anything?”
“I’m grateful that you think I’m more capable than the royal guards,” he said, sounding touched.
I sighed. “Sometimes I wish there was CCTV. How nice would that be?”
“It would help to solve something like this. But there is something other than CCTV here,” he said, his grey eyes twinkling.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Servants. They are everywhere,” he said with a smile.
I frowned even more. “There are none in this carriage.”
“Wouldn’t it be stupid to have a dash cam when you’re having an affair?” he said, making a valid point.
I couldn’t agree with that, even though it was true. But wait a minute… what?!
“What do you mean, ‘affair’? You walked into my house confidently, loudly saying we should go for a walk. Everyone heard it!” I exclaimed.
“It was you who said this isn’t a walk, Alice,” Leon replied, calmly.
I stared at him for a moment, annoyed, and asked something that had been on my mind for a while. “Were you always like this and I didn’t know, or did you change in this life?”
“I am paying special attention to you. I don’t care nor pay attention to anyone else. To think you find it annoying… you’re breaking my heart,” he said, placing his hand on his chest and speaking theatrically.
It seemed that this behavior was something new in this life. I couldn’t recall him being like this in the past. Even though I had only briefly met him there, he definitely wasn’t like this…
Had he been like this when he was young in his past life? Maybe that part of him had faded away as he grew older and he had become a different person when I met him.
It was natural for someone to change as they aged, but it was sad not to be able to witness it by his side. I was a bit happy (though only slightly) to be able to see it now. Of course, I had no intention of telling him that.
“Ah, we’re here,” he said, smiling as if he knew what I was thinking. He got off the carriage and I frowned as I followed, holding his hand.
We were at a large, old building that didn’t exist in the Theresa division. The building was three stories tall and it seemed like it used to be a huge villa where many people lived. The bricks were used as walls and there were windows, but they were small. Once it got cold, the wind would come in without any resistance.
“Where are we?” I asked suspiciously. Instead of answering, he took my hand and led me inside.
“Let’s go in before anyone sees us. Well, no one will find it weird anyway. They’ll probably think I’m just a noble having fun without his wife knowing,” he said, with a smirk.
“You sound like you’re trying your best to ruin a pure 15-year-old lady,” I replied, with a hint of sarcasm.
“Of course. I told you already. I’m going to do that so that you’ll have to marry me,” he said, grinning.
I rolled my eyes. “Then why don’t you try some normal ways to propose? Who knows? I might fall for it if you act romantically.”
“Romantic gestures… What defines that in your mind?” he asked.
“I don’t know well, but something like this counts,” I replied.
“I did feel like you’ll like this as well,” he said, with a smirk.
He knocked on the door at the end of the second floor hallway. All the other doors also looked so old that they looked like they’d fall over at any moment. Some had noise coming from inside, others were silent.
This was still a middle-class place. It wasn’t completely old. I didn’t know what the rent would be like in a place like this. This would be where peasants lived in a large city.
Someone opened the door from inside. He took a step back as if telling me to go in first. I went in and saw a lady that was standing up. The lady froze the moment she saw me.
Ah, Mayve Corason, the maid of the princess and the royal spy who got caught searching through my stuff. Wait, not ‘our’ but the spy of the man standing behind me.