"You'll bring out the freezer? You don't need to. It's just that it's been a while so I was happy to have it, but I don't really love it that much......."
The empty bowl in her hand undermined her persuasiveness. Esperanza, who had trailed off, pouted.
"Fine, get up now."
Mayton Hall with its glass ceiling was a bit hotter than before. It had just passed three o'clock. The glass ceiling had had enough time to heat up. It was the right time to have eaten ice cream.
Esperanza nodded and was about to straighten her clothes and get up when a face that seemed familiar came running with wide eyes.
"Oh my. I thought I was seeing things. Lord Avondale! I didn't recognize you because you were escorting a lady. Miss Hunter? That's right, isn't it?"
A lady in a cream-colored dress densely covered with lace like a mannequin from the boutique they had just passed approached boldly. Esperanza also found the lady familiar. And there was only one place where she could have been introduced to a lady in such attire. The Humphrey party.
"Miss Talbot."
Cider stepped back and called the lady's name for Esperanza to hear. Mary Elizabeth Talbot. Esperanza easily recalled that typical and old-fashioned name.
"You hate this sort of thing, don't you? It's been a while, Miss Hunter."
"It has. Good to see you again, Miss Talbot."
"You two, I heard you briefly left Nine Holder—when did you return? Then you'll purchase tickets for next week's party, won't you?"
As if anticipating Esperanza's question, Mary Talbot added with a smile.
"It's a charity party hosted by Mother. It's embarrassing to say this myself, but Mother's charity parties are always the season's finest events attended by the best celebrities."
A party. It wouldn't be bad, but did they really need to attend? Especially buying tickets? Just as she was about to politely decline, Cider nodded.
"I trust you've set aside two tickets for us."
"By all means."
Mary Talbot, seemingly satisfied with Cider's response, smiled and curtsied with deliberately exaggerated movements. Then she followed behind what was clearly her mother, a noblewoman, like an automaton attendant.
"Cider?"
"It's for a good cause, so there's nothing wrong with it, right?"
After Mary Talbot left, Cider spoke as if soothing Esperanza. It wasn't that she disliked charity, but she didn't particularly want to stick a foot into this era's hypocritical charity either.
"Let's talk about that when we get back, and let's stop by the grocery shop for a moment."
That was the name of the magical tool store Esperanza had visited with Cordelia. But back then, they had gone quietly among themselves.
"If you go, you'll draw attention, won't you?"
The Count was a celebrity at the toy store and a celebrity at the ice cream shop, but the appearance of this century's greatest magical engineer at a magical tool store had different implications. Both Esperanza and Cider were people accustomed to attention, but they didn't enjoy it.
"It's bothersome, but I probably never applied for the grocery shop's catalog."
"What are you planning to buy? Can't you just make it yourself?"
"There's nothing I can't make."
Cider said firmly and decisively.
"But commercially made items have their own advantages."
"For example?"
"Design?"
She was convinced. The fireplace guardian Cider had roughly made at Mabelwood had been quite crude-looking. It was certainly not something to place in an upper-class mansion.
The grocery shop was closer to the ice cream shop than expected.
"So what did you come here to buy?"
The grocery shop couple bowed so deeply their foreheads nearly touched their knees as they guided Cider. Cider followed them without much interest and stopped at one spot. Esperanza, who had been glancing sideways at automatons creaking as they bowed, also looked in the direction Cider was looking. That was.......
"You're buying a freezer?"
"It looks good, doesn't it?"
A plate filled with water went into the machine during the demonstration. The automaton put the plate into the machine, closed the door, and spun the handle round and round. When the golden-bodied automaton turned the handle ten times, steam shot out of the machine with a clear bell sound. When the automaton opened the machine, the water in the plate had become ice.
"You said you have one at home."
"It's old. It should work, but."
"Lord Avondale, this is our latest product. It's a Geoffrin company freezer, and as you can see, its appearance is very elegant."
Mrs. Grocery, who knew all too well that boasting about freezer performance in front of Count Avondale was meaningless, spent the entire time praising only its appearance and convenience. And Cider was listening to it all earnestly.
Esperanza clicked her tongue when she saw him actually sign an order worth tens of thousands of terot.
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
"Really, why are you acting like this, so unlike yourself?"
Throughout the return to the mansion, Esperanza, who had been torn between 'it's his money so it's his karma if he wastes it' and 'but we're friends so I should be able to give this much advice,' finally asked.
"I think I'm acting very much like myself? When the freezer arrives, you can try freezing whatever you want to freeze."
"I'd like to freeze you."
"I won't fit inside."
Cider, who had entrusted his coat to Butler Howard's hands, said nonchalantly while checking his watch.
"It's nothing special. It's not a burdensome price for me, and it's the first time I've seen you enjoy eating something so happily. In short, it was an amount I could spend for what I wanted."
The butler holding his master's cane clicked his tongue.
"Miss Esperanza, please understand."
Esperanza shook her head as if fed up and flopped onto the reception room sofa.
"It's not my money, and maybe I'm worrying for nothing."
"No, worry is good, so keep doing it."
"Ah, yes."
Esperanza glared at him briefly, then asked.
"So when is the freezer coming?"
Cider burst into quiet laughter. The butler watching from behind also chuckled.
The difference one person coming and going makes is this great. In the five years since the previous Count died, this mansion had never been so lively. From when the young Count Avondale was Viscount Glailly until now, he had never seen him this happy.
Esperanza sat sideways, resting both arms on the sofa's armrest with her chin propped on top. Cider, who sat in a single chair instead of the opposite seat, had turned his body halfway toward where Esperanza sat, facing her in a posture unbecoming of a well-educated upper-class gentleman. When their eyes met, silly laughter burst out. There was no telling who started first.
"I thought you'd say something about my posture."
"Don't you remember saying you gave up from the beginning?"
"Mmm. So why did you decide to go to the charity party?"
"Changing the subject."
Cider took off his hat and opened his mouth while fixing his gaze on Esperanza's somewhat disheveled hair. A weighty word was thrown out that didn't match his attitude of still seeming to flirt lightly.
"'The Chancellor's dogs.'"
Esperanza blinked slowly. She felt like she'd heard those words recently. Where was that.......
"Ah. Lord Sterling."
"Alastair Renfrew definitely said he heard such words. So here's the question. What does 'the Chancellor's dogs' refer to?"
It was an easy question. At the time, she had let the term itself pass by without thinking about it, but with just a little attention, she could figure it out.
The Chancellor was the highest authority in this country's legislation and administration. A group that moved like the Chancellor's hands and feet. A group that would execute even somewhat inappropriate orders without delay.
"The Secret Intelligence Service."
When she first learned of this existence, she remembered mocking it as a James Bond parody. Whether MI6 or CIA, it was natural for a country of that scale to have an intelligence agency that collected domestic and foreign information. There was no way a country like Osdern wouldn't have an intelligence bureau under the Chancellor.
"Then what force could oppose 'the Chancellor's dogs'?"
A force that could shake off their pursuit while being chased by them. Ones bold enough to throw Count Sterling, the heir of Duke Dunbarton, into danger.
"Since it's thirteen years ago, it might be different from what I know. But based on what I know."
It's the royal family. Even if they say they don't rule by word, the royal family's influence secretly extended everywhere.
"The Queen's hands and feet, that is, Duke Galliston."
"Even after thirteen years, the country's state remains the same—what a hopeful answer."
A cynical response came back. Esperanza shrugged greatly.
The assassin who had followed them on the train to Mabelwood, and the suspicious people Alastair Renfrew had encountered. All of it was Duke Galliston's doing.
"But I don't know much about Duke Galliston. And why would the Duke target us......?"
"That's something we'll have to find out gradually. The charity party and Duke Galliston. Is there still a connection thirteen years later?"
"Well. I wasn't really interested."
She didn't even know whether there was an amazing ice cream shop in Mayton Hall or not, so there was no way she'd know whether a Duke would appear at charity parties or not. Cider, who expressed admiration for Esperanza's biased information network, immediately provided the correct answer.
"Duke Galliston doesn't often attend social events, but among them, he somehow makes time to attend charity events. He's always the person who donates the largest amount."
"So we'll casually probe there?"
"If possible. Or we can find another method."
It wasn't a bad story. The gathering he definitely attended wasn't a drug party but a charity event.
Why would such a good person suddenly send assassins?