Said, done.

My new right — hand man in villainous affairs Serpens — clearly understood this better than I did. This time I decided to listen to him. Anyway, I have been in this world for only the second month and I cannot do without loyal allies.

New acquaintances came into my life rapidly. The owner of the gun shop was one of them. And so far I could not determine who was my friend and who was my enemy. Especially Serpens, with his not obvious resemblance to a love interest… But in any case, he was definitely devoted to the organization and to my father. I felt in my gut that I could trust him.

Attending the imperial banquet will be another stage in my career as a villain.

And, as expected, the offer to accept the quest came to me immediately as soon as the man started the appropriate conversation. The «banquet incident» was what it was called. Well, this time there were no clues even in the name for me.

When I made the «accept» choice, it suddenly turned out that this quest consisted of several tasks. You could often see a similar element in RPG games, when the player needs to complete preliminary tasks before proceeding to the final mission. Like to talk to the NPCs or kill mobs.

However, I was not in an RPG, but in a romantic otome novel. And the tasks here were appropriate. My first item on this list was to talk to Duke Dickens. Or rather, to persuade him to take me with him.

I thought it was pretty easy. As always, it is better to complete easy tasks right away, so that later there is time for more complex ones. Serpens said that the imperial banquet will be held in a month. I wonder if I haven't completed all the tasks by then, will it still take place? After all, in fact it was not a temporary quest and I don't have a timer.

However, I decided not to take any chances and it's better to do everything on time. The Dickens estate was not far from the capital, so immediately after meeting Serpens, I was going to head there.

However, something strange happened before that.

At the moment when I left the shop and almost got into the carriage, the scent of perfume suddenly reached me. Floral, and for some reason seemed familiar to me. I turned around and saw a boy with silver hair in the crowd of passers-by.

It is not often that you will meet a child with such an exquisite hair color among the commoners.

But he disappeared faster than I could see him. I stared intently at the passers-by for a couple more seconds, after which I let go of this idea. Maybe it seemed?

I sighed and decided not to focus on such a trifle.

I arrived at the duchy in half an hour, and the guards at the gate parted, as they had already received orders to let me in and out at any time. I went straight to the Duke's office.

But…

My hand froze, touching the door handle.

— …How is the investigation going? It was the voice of William Dickens.

The man was pacing back and forth in the office.

— No change yet, — Roger said shortly.

— Still? The Duke frowned, «Did you notice anything suspicious?»

«Lady Weinstein doesn't say much… — the guy said uncertainly, — I didn't get much out of her.

— Fool, of course she won't tell you anything! Dickens Senior snorted, «I taught you. To find out information, you don't have to openly show your intentions.

Roger looked away.

— I'll… try.

The Duke chuckled and looked at him carefully.

«We need to find out how many people she has under her command,» the duke said sententiously, «How strong this organization is still.

— …

Roger said nothing.

— I remember in the old days, even Cedric had to reckon with the Weinsteins, — an indefinite smile froze on the duke's face, — It's interesting. Very interesting.

In fact, this thought had been maturing in his head for a long time. Who knew that the right opportunity would present itself so soon?

Meanwhile, the son did not particularly support the dialogue. Based on this, William decided to address him directly. Two pairs of identical blue eyes collided.

«You know what I mean,» he said harshly.

Roger could only answer meekly:

— Yes, Father.

I didn't listen to their further dialogue. And it wasn't necessary.

At that moment, I involuntarily released the door handle. An icy grin froze on his lips. That's how it is.

For some reason, my heart ached painfully. This otome game turned out to be more mean than I thought… As are the characters in it.

Is Roger Dickens a noble knight? In love with me? Ha… It turned out that all this time he was just following me.