IBYPF~01

Chapter~01

“Now, starting today, this child will be staying with all of you.”

Even though the child was covered in dirt from head to toe, with her hair completely disheveled, she was as pretty as a doll.

“You introduce yourself, too.”

At the words of the director, a large middle-aged man, the frightened-looking child flinched and trembled, then sniffled and greeted everyone in a loud voice.

“H-Hi……. I’m Dana!”

After introducing herself, unlike the other children at the orphanage, the child raised her chubby arm and waved her maple-leaf-shaped hand.

It was exactly the same situation as I remembered from the past, without the slightest difference.

Am I dreaming?

No, this wasn’t a dream.

I shook my head inwardly as I stared blankly with my mouth hanging open.

Hadn’t I spent the entire day struggling with hunger and felt painfully certain that this wasn’t a dream?

Frozen in the undeniable reality, I thought.

……Of all days, it had to be today?

The first day after returning from my death at the Elard Ducal Family was the very day Diana, the youngest daughter of the Elard Ducal Family, entered the Tesaar Orphanage.

I was already having a hard enough time accepting the fact that I had returned to my childhood, but seeing Diana right in front of me sent me into complete panic.

Just as I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to somehow make sense of the situation,

“H-hic.”

At the small sound of crying, I opened my eyes wide and lowered my head slightly.

My eyes immediately met the child’s clear blue ones as she clutched the hem of my sleeve.

“Ah……”

I was momentarily flustered by her tear-filled eyes.

Then, without realizing it, I found myself staring blankly into those eyes.

Naturally, a man with eyes of exactly the same color, cold and icy blue, came to mind.

And so did the moment of my death.

—

One day earlier, at the headquarters of the information guild ‘Terenchium.’

I hurriedly climbed several steps at a time, gasping for breath, then flung open the huge closed doors.

And I froze in place.

W-What the!

The guild executives sitting around a round table all turned their heads at once, as if they had rehearsed it, and stared at me.

I had been wondering why everyone had gathered for a meeting for once, but then I realized.

The full moon is coming soon.

Around this time, the guild executives, including the Master, were unusually busy and would sometimes be away for quite a while.

Since I wasn’t close to any of my colleagues except the executives, it was also a period when I would spend my days standing around awkwardly like an isolated island.

“Ria, didn’t you see the sign in front of the door?”

The Master asked me.

Unlike the elderly executives, the man sitting in the seat of honor looked barely twenty-five or twenty-six.

I don’t know exactly how old he is, though.

The mysterious man who was the head of an information guild that collected every bit of information imaginable, yet whose own information was completely unknown, was my superior.

The Master casually swept back his falling black hair and sighed.

“I told you to check that first whenever you come into my room.”

“I’m sorry, I was in a hurry and forgot.”

I answered sheepishly while deliberately avoiding the Master’s red eyes.

He gave a small laugh and shook his head.

Then the executives around us immediately joined in.

“Master, is this something to laugh about? You always let her off so easily, which is why Ria never fixes her habits.”

“Exactly. And putting up a sign in front of your door because of Ria? Wouldn’t it be better to teach her to knock instead?”

“Forget knocking. Who on earth barges into the Master’s room and throws the door open like that? For a moment, I thought this was Ria’s room.”

“That’s right. Master, you’re far too soft on Ria.”

The executives complained with extremely mischievous expressions.

They were all teasing me.

What do you mean, he’s soft on me? The Master ignores me all the time!

As I grumbled inwardly,

“Everyone, be quiet.”

At the Master’s suddenly stern reaction, I widened my eyes.

Is he actually taking my side for once?

“Would Ria really be the kind of child to listen just because you teach her that sort of etiquette?”

“……”

I was the idiot for getting my hopes up.

From the Master to the executives, they were all treating me like an idiot.

Do they still think I’m the ten-year-old beggar who used to wander the streets?

My face twisted in displeasure as I prided myself on being the most capable talent in this guild.

Besides, my greatest ability was ‘concealing my presence,’ and they were telling me to learn to ‘knock’ before entering a room!

It wasn’t that I couldn’t knock.

It was only because I was in such a hurry right now, and if I made up my mind to do it, there was no way I would forget something as simple as knocking.

Other information guilds are still desperate to recruit me…….

As I puffed out my cheeks and sulked, the Master gestured for me to come closer and asked,

“So, what’s the matter?”

The other executives also turned toward me as if saying, “Well, let’s hear it.”

Only then did I remember why I had come to the Master’s room.

“A mission, a mission! I haven’t received a single assignment in over a week already.”

“Has it really been that long?”

Seeing the Master speak so lazily made my temper flare for no reason.

While I was desperate to become not merely a first-class informant in name, but an informant recognized by everyone as soon as possible,

“Master!”

I shouted, but the Master merely smiled and raised a hand to lightly pat my puffed-up cheek.

Just when I was about to feel hurt by being treated like a child out of habit,

“All right. I’ll give you a mission too, so finish it by the time I return. You can do that, right?”

“Really?”

I asked back brightly, my pride nowhere to be found.

“You’ll really give me a proper mission this time, right?”

Not something like finding out what color handkerchief Nick, the butcher, liked, a request made by Susan, the baker!

“A proper mission……”

The Master looked at me strangely, then slowly lowered his hand and nodded.

“Wow, Master, you’re the best! You’re the most handsome man in the world!”

Excited, I quickly gave him a thumbs-up and praised the Master just as the executives had taught me.

The Master burst out laughing as if he couldn’t believe me, while the executives also twitched their lips, trying to hold back their laughter.

I had only been doing my best according to what I had been taught, but their reactions were strange.

But just now, it looked like the Master’s hand was about to touch my neck…… Was I imagining it?

Just as I tilted my head in confusion,

“Go back. I’ll assign and deliver your mission soon.”

At the Master’s words, I completely forgot what I had been thinking about and nodded happily.

And only a few hours later.

“……Where? The Elard Ducal Family?”

I blinked and looked at Jade.

“Did the Master really assign me a mission to infiltrate the Elard Ducal Family?”

Jade, who had been listing the precautions for today’s mission as if to prove that I hadn’t heard wrong, shrugged.

“Yeah. You handled the mission where you infiltrated as a maid pretty well before. So I guess that’s why he assigned this one to you again.”

“But that time! I only did it because I was the only woman among the first-class agents.”

The Elard Ducal Family was the most heavily guarded place among all the noble families in the empire.

Since it was as difficult to approach as the Imperial Family itself, being entrusted with an infiltration mission was also proof that the Master acknowledged my abilities.

But more than the joy of finally receiving an important mission, I was surprised by Jade’s unusually gentle attitude after always making sarcastic remarks and putting me down.

Then Jade said something even more astonishing.

“Actually, there’s no one among us who doesn’t know that you’re the most skilled.”

“……What?”

“We all know. We just refused to admit it because we were jealous since the Master favors you.”

Jade’s words left my mouth hanging open.

I was utterly bewildered by his praise.

I was so happy that I felt like dancing.

But I pretended to remain calm and replied nonchalantly.

“I told you, the Master doesn’t favor me. You’re doing it again.”

Normally, I would have sharply retorted to this irritating remark, but perhaps because I was in such a good mood, my words came out gently.

Even though I tried to hold it back, I felt like a smile was about to slip out on its own.

That was when it happened.

“But didn’t you say you knew someone in the Elard Ducal Family?”

“……What? W-When did I ever?”

“Don’t you remember? On the day you had your first drink because you had become an adult, you said something about an orphanage when you were young.”

Gasp. Did I say something like that while I was drunk?

Flustered, I blinked.

Under the pretext of celebrating my turning eighteen this year, the executives had once arranged a gathering in an attempt to bring my colleagues and me even a little closer.

It was obvious that everyone had come reluctantly because the executives had ordered them to, which made me feel awkward and embarrassed.

To smooth things over, I had fearlessly downed one glass of alcohol after another.

After that, I had no memory of what happened, and when I asked about it later, I was told that the Master had arrived late, wrapped things up, and taken me back to my quarters.

The Master definitely said I had been sleeping quietly!

My face turned pale and greenish at the thought that I might have rambled about my past without realizing it.

“W-When you’re drunk, who knows what you might say? There’s no way I could possibly have any connection to some great noble family!”

I raised my voice as if everything I had said had merely been empty boasting, then stood up.

Because I hurriedly left like that, I failed to notice it.

The sly smile on Jade’s face.