Chapter 57

“Today’s afternoon is very bright for distinguished guests, my dear customer,” Railin smiled and kissed the back of Annette’s hand. Fortunately, today he was wearing a normal gentleman’s clothes.

The black stripe suit fitted well with his tall and slim body and made him look more sophisticated and beautiful. Particularly the crimson red vest and the black silk hat adorned with colorful peacock feathers were truly unique. But Annette still couldn’t forget the shocking appearance of Railin that she saw last time.

“Mister Railin, did you return the maid’s clothes that you took from our mansion last time?”

Annette asked gracefully. An ‘oops!’  expression came on Railin’s charming face and then soon disappeared. Having a whimsical cat-like demeanor, he paid little attention to trivial matters. Of course, the maid’s uniform was included in that list. Annette, who saw this, narrowed her eyes and said.

“If it’s okay, I would like you to return it to the original owner. The number of uniforms given to each maid is fixed.”

By now, some poor maid working for the Marquis of Carnesis must be losing her mind over her lost uniform. Since two maid’s uniforms were provided to each person, she must be now embarrassed because she didn’t know where her clothes had disappeared. Listening to Annette, Railin bowed down elegantly and kissed the back of her hand again.

“Okay, whatever you want.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

With a friendly but determined smile, Annette pulled out her hand from Railin’s grasp. She hadn’t come here to talk about the maid’s outfits with him today. Annette took a book related to the temple in her arms and opened a page.

“According to my research, the temple has a system called ‘God’s Servant.’ They collect orphans and poor people and use them as servants to manage the temple. Unlike the priests, they’re just slaves, so they have no identities or any records. Of course, a place as big as Goddess Odessa’s temple would be a little more difficult to manage, but maybe I could……….”

“Aha! You’re trying to infiltrate the temple as a servant. And are you thinking of meeting Lady Celestine, who comes to pray there? Well, since they poorly investigate the personal details of these people, you can enter the temple as a maidservant without being noticed.”

Railin, holding his chin smiled and said. As expected, he correctly deduced what she was thinking. Annette nodded and admitted,

“That’s right. Honestly, I don’t know if I can be a good servant, but… I think this is the best way to do it right now. Do you have any other opinions?”

Annette, who was brought up in riches, was far from a maidservant. Of course, she would do her best, but frankly speaking, she wasn’t very confident. But there was no other way to infiltrate the temple. Even after searching throughout the book, using the system of ‘God’s Servant’ was the easiest way for her to infiltrate.

Of course, meeting Celestine was another hurdle. Even if she infiltrated the temple, it would be difficult to approach Celestine. There was no way that a servant would be allowed to approach a person like her, who was about to become the Crown Princess. However, Annette had also thought about that.

“…Just help me infiltrate the temple for now. After that, I’ll take care of everything by myself.”

Annette bit her lips and said. It was not easy to sneak into a temple that was visited by the future princess. But the ‘Secret’ guild run by Railin would certainly find a way to infiltrate.

Instead of answering her request immediately, Railin stared at Annette without saying a word. He looked as if he was calculating the benefits of his involvement in this work and the risks he would face if Annette failed. As Railin’s silence grew, Annette asked anxiously.

“Is there something wrong with my plan? Or perhaps… is it impossible for you to infiltrate the temple?”

“Impossible? Nothing is impossible for me.”

Annette’s question seemed to have hurt his pride. Railin smiled brightly like a poisonous flower. It was a secret, but he was one of the few remaining wizards in the world. It’s just that no one knew what Railin was because he had hidden his identity using the cover of the information guild.

In the first place, there was no information that couldn’t fall into Railin’s grasp. He was the master of the Secret Guild, which was the largest underground information guild in Deltium. However, Railin didn’t detect the secret that Annette was keeping. The secret that she is a regressor. Railin, who had no idea of Annette’s secret, shrugged his shoulders.

“Okay, I think I can help you sneak into the temple. But after that, as you said, you’re on your own. We won’t take responsibility for what happens later.”

Fortunately, Railin agreed to help. Annette tried to suppress her joy and thanked him with a bright smile.

“Thank you very much, Mister Railin. As expected, there’s nothing you can’t do. You’re very competent.”

“Of course. But if there’s one thing I want to point out…….”

With a strange look, Railin reached for Annette like a cat. The man’s delicate white hands glided along the contours of Annette’s face. When his hands hovered around her as if they were going to touch her bare skin, her breathing accelerated, making the hair stand up on the back of her neck.

“Mister Railin?”

Annette called his name out as she tried to get away from his fingertips. But at that moment, Railin gently grabbed her chin. The unfamiliar fingers touching her face were cold, and there was a dreamy scent coming from them. As soon as he saw Annette’s eyes widen in surprise, Railin smiled brightly. He then took his hands off her face and said in a strange tone, as if he had done nothing wrong.

“To be honest with you, the idea of infiltrating as a maidservant is too reckless. Your face is too noticeable to do that. Even if you wear rags, it’ll be too difficult to hide your natural elegance. With such a face, no one would believe that you’re an orphan or a slave girl. So you will be caught at once.”

“Oh, is that so?…. So then what should we do?”

Annette was relieved that the air around them had returned to normal. He must have put his hand on her face to look closely. Railin’s appearance was so gorgeous and beautiful that it tended to mess with people’s eyes. So even though his actions didn’t mean much, it made people nervous just like now. Railin laughed a little when he saw the tip of Annette’s ear turn slightly red.

“Well, I’ll do something about it. I’ll contact you on a suitable day to infiltrate the temple. I heard that the Odessa Louis’ temple is having a harvest ritual for autumn soon. As far as I know, the priests would wear ceremonial masks in the rituals. Why don’t we go for that?”

“The mask, that’s great! It will definitely work. If we go on normal days, we will have to reveal our faces, so the chances of us getting caught will also be high but… if we go during the festive period, the mask will help us to hide. And there will be a lot of people looking for the temple, so sneaking into it will be much easier.”

Annette’s face brightened. It was much better to disguise yourself as one of the masked priests than to act as a maidservant. Since she could now cover her face while doing something bad, it felt a lot less burdensome psychologically. Railin, who was watching Annette’s face brighten up, said slowly.

“I’m glad you like my opinion. Do you have any more issues you’d like to discuss?”

Railin expected that Annette would tell him that she would leave her husband and wanted to be smuggled out. Once she left Deltium, he had planned to sneak into her new life. Annette, who was just asked this question, was lost in thought. Her red lips moved enchantingly.

“I still have one thing I want to find out.”

“What is that, my dear customer?”

Railin tilted his head and looked at her in anticipation. Annette’s neatly combed blond hair, white round forehead, and elegant nose were really pleasing to the eye. But the question from Annette was completely unexpected.

“Can I find out how we can take someone else’s ownership of the mine? Please don’t leave out any information if possible.”

“Mine’s ownership…..is that what you want?”

“Yes, please find out all the legal and illegal ways.”

Annette was lost in thought and did not notice Railin’s weak tone. She hadn’t just taken bridal lessons before marriage. Allamand wanted to make her a perfect princess and gave his daughter an excessive higher education. Thanks to him, Annette knew more than what her father expected. Especially about how he gets what he wants.

However, Annette did not know the law regarding the ownership of the mine, so she needed some help from Railin. Surely it was quite difficult to contact Railin, but whenever she successfully did, she was always satisfied. The ‘Secret’ Guild was Deltium’s top information guild that provided thorough services when paid. And Annette had enough money to commission them. So eventually a good synergy was formed between both of them in this deal.

“As you wish.”

Railin, who let out a faint sigh, smiled and accepted her request. The lady sitting in front of him had an innocent and graceful face that could not kill a single worm. But every step she made was really extraordinary and exciting.

‘I wish you would take your husband’s mine.’

Well, he didn’t think that would happen. Railin, who had a rough grip on Annette’s personal affairs, clicked his tongue in annoyance. Until she came to visit him, she had a pretty bad relationship with her husband. However, the relationship seemed to be improving these days. He had heard two reports of Annette accompanying her husband at a recent ball. It was a real shame. But ···

“Then I look forward to your kind cooperation. Mister Railin, thank you so much for your help.”

Annette’s smiling face, as she stood up from her seat, shined like the sun. Her heartfelt words of gratitude wrapped in his ears and sounded as sweet as honey. Her honest eyes showed no greed or trickery. That’s why Railin liked her.

Laughing helplessly, Railin said goodbye and kissed the back of her hand. The red lips, which concealed their greed, fell covetously on the back of her white hands.

“I look forward to seeing you again, my special customer.”