Right now, I stood in front of the dressing room.
I had come here hoping to find Alice, but she wasn’t inside. A maid told me she was with a noblewoman and Amelia.
The real reason I was here wasn’t simple curiosity. I wanted to know what had caused the sudden shift in Alice’s behavior. I had my suspicions, but no certainty—and certainty was something I needed.
That was when I heard her voice behind me.
"What are you doing here?"
I turned. Alice stood a few steps away, Amelia beside her. Her tone was cold—sharper than ice, the same as when we’d first met.
"I came as I pleased," I said, trying to sound casual. "You told me to handle things myself, didn’t you? After all, I am your exclusive servant."
Alice’s gaze didn’t soften. She did not allow my familiar boldness this time.
"So it seems. Perhaps my command was too ambiguous. Then let me make it clear: for my birthday, you are stripped of your exclusive servant rights."
In other words—get lost.
The words landed heavier than steel chains. Both Amelia and I stiffened, exchanging uneasy glances.
"Do you want me to repeat myself?" Alice asked, her voice like a honed blade.
"...I will obey your command," I managed, bowing my head.
But inside, my thoughts churned. The aura pressing down on me wasn’t imagined—cold, sharp, and unmistakably directed at me.
’What happened to her?’
From the morning in the garden until now, barely past midday, something had changed. Something strong enough to drive a wedge between us. No system messages, no new quests—nothing to explain it. Yet her attitude left no room for doubt.
"...I’ll figure it out," I muttered under my breath.
And then fate placed the answer before me.
As Alice moved to change into her dress for the gathering, she slipped off her cloak. The hem brushed against me as the fabric shifted, and there—just barely—metal glinted faintly inside.
It was the listening device I had planted on her.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat.
The faint glimmer of the listening stone was small, almost invisible against the rich fabric of her cloak. Anyone else would have overlooked it. But I knew exactly what it was—because I had placed it there myself.
She hadn’t noticed it. At least, not yet.
’Good. That means I still have time.’
I forced my gaze down, bowing slightly so Alice wouldn’t catch the flicker of recognition in my eyes. Amelia was chatting with her in a low voice, helping her adjust the layers of her gown, and for a moment, I was invisible—just a servant standing where he was told.
But my heart beat louder than footsteps in an empty hall.
I slipped a hand into my pocket, brushing the twin stone I carried—the receiver. If I tuned into it now, I’d hear every private word Alice spoke when she thought she was alone. The thought made my fingers tighten around the cool surface.
’This could be the answer. Whatever changed her... I’ll hear it directly from her lips.’
Alice’s gaze cut to me again, sharp as ever. "Why are you still standing here? Didn’t I make myself clear?"
"Yes, my lady." I bowed low, forcing my tone to remain obedient. My body moved automatically, one step back, two steps. But my mind was already racing ahead.
The moment I was dismissed, I walked quickly down the corridor, out of sight, and leaned against the cold stone wall. My hand trembled slightly as I pulled out the receiver stone.
For a long breath, I hesitated.
If Alice discovered this, she would kill me with her eyes alone. Yet if I didn’t listen, I’d remain blind to whatever storm was brewing inside her.
Finally, I pressed the stone to my ear.
----
A few minutes later...
—No. That can’t be.
A familiar voice leaked from the listening device.
It was Alice. Without a doubt.
"You were looking for it separately."
Her tone carried disappointment, but beneath it burned the spark of a warrior’s pride. Alice had always been fiercely competitive. Of course, she would take it upon herself to hunt down the Faceless Imposter.
"...But this is too fast."
I shivered involuntarily as the bug crackled, catching fragments of the conversation. With nothing more than circumstantial evidence, she had already begun piecing things together—her reasoning narrowing down the possibilities until it hovered dangerously close to me.
—The connection to the Phantom Thief.
Just that single thread, and she was weaving it into a noose.
Because of the muffled sound, the voices weren’t entirely clear, but I could still tell. That voice accompanying hers...
"Emma."
The noblewoman of the Voss family. She had been at Alice’s side from the garden to the drawing-room.
"What business does the lady of Voss have with her?"
People like her didn’t move without purpose. Amelia played her games for politics and power, weaving marriages like snares. But Emma... no, her motives were never so shallow. She was from the west. What ties could she have to a thief in the north?
—Are you planning to return to the west?
That wasn’t idle curiosity. No noblewoman of her stature would reveal her intentions so openly unless there was weight behind them.
"Then... I’ll have to unravel Emma Voss, piece by piece."
If I couldn’t see her purpose clearly, I needed to rely on what I knew.
First.
In the game, Emma had always been portrayed as a competent noblewoman. And for a western noble, "competence" meant only one thing: catching criminals. Her reputation was supported by her high arrest rate. But it wasn’t about prestige alone.
—Criminals, regardless of their status, gender, or age, must be punished as they deserve. All of them.
That was her creed.
Second.
Her entire character was built upon vengeance. She had lost her mother to a thief, and from that day forward, she bore a grudge that would never fade. For Emma Voss, criminals weren’t just enemies of order—they were personal demons.
And the sharpest tip of that vengeance?
The Phantom Thief.
"...So that’s it."
Her purpose wasn’t Alice, nor the north, nor even the Faceless Imposter. Which was me.
She had come chasing the Phantom Thief—the one who had humiliated her family in the west.
But the cruel irony?
The man she sought so desperately was no longer here.
He was already in the east.