Although peeking at someone else’s diary and taking it away wasn’t exactly a good thing, if it was someone like Irina Zi, there was nothing to feel guilty about.
After all, what she had done was a hundred times worse than peeking at a diary.
“You make it sound reasonable, but it just makes me feel even more disgusted.”
Field pinched the diary with a look of distaste.
“Can’t you just hold it instead?”
“Fine, fine.”
Liyakade sighed helplessly and took the diary that Field didn’t even want to hold for another second.
They continued searching for the contract in Irina Zi’s bedroom.
With sharp eyes, Liyakade noticed a small storage cabinet in the corner that had been sealed and locked.
“What’s kept here? It’s even sealed with a seal technique?”
Field came over to Liyakade’s side, examining the small storage cabinet.
“Could she have put the contract in here?”
“Not necessarily. It could be something else important.”
“Whatever. I’ll just break the seal first.”
With that, Field drew the dagger hidden on her thigh and, infusing it with magic, stabbed at the seal.
“Wait!”
Liyakade hurried to stop Field, but it was too late.
The blade, burning with flames, pierced the core of the seal, and with a crack, the entire spell formation was destroyed.
Liyakade instantly pulled Field away and shielded her, warily watching the storage cabinet.
“W-What is it?”
Seeing Liyakade’s tense expression, Field also became nervous.
Liyakade didn’t answer right away.
After a brief moment, confirming there was no danger, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Phew… Don’t rush to forcibly break through a seal. Some seal techniques come with attack magic, and breaking them by force might trigger linked spell formations. It’s dangerous.”
She explained to Field while wiping sweat from her forehead.
“Just let me unlock it slowly.”
“I-Is that so?”
Only then did Field realize she had nearly caused trouble.
“Speaking of which, how can you be a princess and not understand seal techniques?”
Liyakade couldn’t help but retort.
“Uh… That’s something only second-year students learn, so it’s normal for me not to know much, right? I always thought it was just like a ‘lock’.”
Field answered awkwardly.
“Huh? But you’re a princess! Doesn’t the royal family teach you these things in advance?”
“I-I forgot if they did or not… Anyway, I don’t remember.”
“Alright… Forget it. At least this seal technique doesn’t seem to have any other magic attached.”
Liyakade pressed her forehead, helplessly letting the topic slide.
The two opened the storage cabinet.
Inside, a contract lay silently, with Liyakade’s name boldly written on it.
“Yes! We finally found it!”
Field excitedly pulled out the contract, her fingertips igniting with flames, ready to burn it on the spot.
But beside her, Liyakade couldn’t feel excited.
In fact, a vague sense of unease crept in.
She felt things were going too smoothly.
Irina Zi showed no signs of being on guard, almost as if she thought Liyakade would obediently follow orders—or that she didn’t care about their presence in her mansion at all.
If it was at the start, before they had completely fallen out, Liyakade would have believed Irina Zi would keep the contract here.
But now, to find the contract in such an obvious place—
Either Irina Zi was a fool, or there was a scheme at play.
If Irina Zi had set a few more traps in the bedroom, or hidden a secret room entrance to store the contract, Liyakade would have believed it.
As it turned out, her doubts were correct.
“No, this contract is fake!”
Just as she was about to burn it, Field’s eyes narrowed.
“If a contract is complete, both names turn gold. But on this one, both names are black.”
“She dared to trick us…”
Realizing they had been set up again, Field clenched her fists in anger.
“What do we do now? The seal’s been destroyed—she’ll definitely know someone entered her room.”
“……There’s nothing we can do. Let’s use what little time we have left to keep searching. If we can destroy the real contract, it doesn’t matter if we’re discovered.”
Liyakade said grimly.
Though she had learned seal techniques and could set up an identical one, it was only possible if she could fully analyze the seal first.
This time, she hadn’t even touched the spell formation, so replicating it was impossible.
Moreover, neither of them noticed that this seal technique actually had a linked magic—not an attack magic, but something else.
“Damn it. To think she put a fake contract in there and went so far as to set up a seal… What a waste of excitement.”
Field vented her frustration, fiercely igniting the fake contract in her hand.
Since it was useless, she might as well burn it to ashes.
An uneasy premonition rose in Liyakade’s heart as well.
Since Irina Zi set a fake contract, why bother adding a seal?
Was it just to waste their time?
They searched Irina Zi’s room unwillingly, even overturning the bed boards, but apart from the diary, they found no clues.
Helpless, they decided to search elsewhere.
Liyakade also realized their efficiency was too low—searching blindly without clues was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
There was only an hour left until the banquet ended.
Their time was running out.
They decided to check the butler’s office, and if there was still time, to look for the dungeon.
However, as soon as they stepped out of Irina Zi’s bedroom, Liyakade sensed something was different in the corridor.
“What’s wrong, Liyakade?”
Field looked at Liyakade, who had suddenly stopped, and asked in confusion.
“All the people in the corridor are gone.”
Liyakade said gravely.
She could feel it—there wasn’t even the slightest ripple in the air, and aside from the two of them, she couldn’t sense anyone else’s breathing.
Alerted by Liyakade’s words, Field noticed too.
The corridor was eerily quiet.
“Did we… get discovered?”
“Looks like we’ll have to retreat for today. Let’s escape through the window—there’s bound to be heavy guards at the entrance by now.”
“Who said you could leave?”
At that moment, a column of water surged forth with tremendous force.
“Look out!”
Liyakade pushed Field away and tried to block the water with a wind shield.
However—
“Defense forbidden!”
At the sound of the voice, Liyakade’s arms went limp, and her magic wouldn’t gather.
She could only watch as the water engulfed her.
The powerful impact slammed Liyakade against the wall, leaving a massive dent.
“Liyakade!?”