Chapter 164 Exposed?!

Back at the Blueriver Palace, Dorothy goes about her day as usual. For safety reasons, she takes a break from her mission.

Her focus now is more on compiling the rumours floating in the palace and analysing their authenticity. Once the validity is confirmed, she'll send it out. Her superior would decide whether the intel is valuable or not.

One of the rumours is about the invasion of the prince's office. Although there aren't many people paying attention, it is enough to make Dorothy put her guard up.

Harford was seen snooping around recently. She didn't know how much the investigation progress was but, it is definitely not a good sign for her.

Nevertheless, there's nothing she can do except hide. She is fairly confident in hiding her tracks.

"There you go..." Dorothy wipes the last window panel of the palace. With her job done now, she has to make her way to her next destination, the nursery room.

Ever since she came into contact with Lady Reina, their mind seems to click together. Some sort of understanding was established between them. Thenceforth, the princess of Barlia often called her to spend some time with her.

The servants called her 'lucky maid' for this reason but she wasn't sure about that.

Though she acts normally, the lady intuitively suspects her to be a spy from Ryntum. Either she's bad at hiding or Lady Reina simply has a good sense. She plays it safe by pretending to be ignorant every time the lady talks about the south. Regardless of how comfortable Dorothy is, she needs to play her character well.

A spy claiming to be a spy is the worst spy among spies.

Today, she was once again in front of the nursery room. She can with the voice of a child laugh behind the door.

Dorothy knocks on the door gently. After receiving permission, she turns the doorknob and slowly pushes the door leaf open.

Inside, a beautiful brown-haired woman sitting on a plush chair, slouching to one side. Her eyes never left her son, watching him with an affectionate gaze. The boy is playful as usual, giving no attention to the maid who has just arrived.

"You're late today, Dorothy." Her soft voice came out of her mouth. Still, her eyes remain unmoved.

"My apologies, Your Highness. Today's work portion is more than usual." Dorothy shows her apologetic face. She then looked around, there was no sight of Matilda in the room.

"Never mind. I'm not angry in the first place." Reina dragged a chair closer to her, "Come and take a seat. Do you want some tea?"

"Let me pour it myself, Your Highness." Dorothy cautiously takes the teapot from Reina's hand and carefully pours the aromatic beverage into the porcelain teacup. The tea set was worth at least a year of her salary. She really couldn't understand rich people's thought processes.

During the time Dorothy spends with Lady Reina, most of it was filled with Reina teaching her embroidery. Occasionally, they would talk about the past. Something that Dorothy hates the most because of the difficulty to maintain the consistency of her backstory.

Her lies beget another lie.

At this point, she does think she can make a side income by writing the entire novel based on her fake background alone.

"You've improved a lot, aren't you?" Reina praised the maid for her skill.

Dorothy answered with a shy smile, "Thank you, Your Highness."

"It's still not good enough. You tend to skimp on the details. However, I do applaud you for keeping up with this complicated design. Even a noble lady has a hard time producing the same result as you."

"Hehehe~" Dorothy grinned from ear to ear. "Thank you for your compliment, Your Highness. Many people said I have dexterous fingers."

"Hmm...Dexterous fingers, I see. Is that how you open the lock?" Reina drops the bomb right on top of her head.

She's staring intensely at the maid.

"Pardon?" Dorothy was dumbfounded. Her brain's processing speed suddenly slows down before crashing. How should she react?

She laughs dryly, "Your Highness, what lock are you talking about? I'm afraid I didn't get the meaning behind your question."

Reina, like her brother, directly broached the subject. "The lock of the prince's office, of course. Don't you hear a recent rumour going around about it?"

After observing Dorothy for a period of time, Reina is convinced of her real role as a spy. On the surface, this embroidery companion of hers acts like a normal maid.

Nothing out of the ordinary except that she tends to encroach on other maids' assigned areas. Sometimes, she will swap places with her coworkers for no reason. Every time she swaps workplaces, there are always hot rumours circulating in the area. One would say she's simply a busybody woman. But, from what she heard from other maids, Dorothy never once joined in the conversation. She simply listens intensely. Occasionally, she would request a leave. Her pattern of movement looks random with only one thing in common. She visits the market without fail. And that too, near the damn fruit seller stall.

"I am never aware of such rumours." Dorothy keeps denying it. The best she could think of is finding a reason to naturally leave this place. However, doing so would jeopardize her trustworthiness.

"Is that so? Then forget about it."

"Huh?" She expresses her confusion. Did Lady Reina just scoff it off like nothing?

Reina stares at the maid's surprised face, "What? Are you really the culprit?"

"N-No, no, absolutely not. I found your question weird. Why would you search for the culprit anyway?"

"I have something to gi—"

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Your Highness." Harford's voice came from outside out of the blue.

Reina was taken aback by his presence, "What is it, Harford?"

"Is Matilda inside with you?"

"No, she's not here. I'm with a maid."

"Hoh?! A maid, you say?" Harford saw it in a low voice so the princess couldn't hear him. He found the situation very intriguing. The hard-to-approach princess who never bats a glance at the servants unless necessary approaches the lowly maid by herself.

This is something he should look for.