Chapter 233: Chapter 233
Gabriel took out a fichu from her pocket, put it around her shoulders, changed her headdress, and removed the royal family’s emblem on her chest.
Maid outfits were all similar. Even a little change of a few details was enough to make her look like the maid of a noble family.
“But Elise must have taken my carriage, what should we do?”
“You can ask for House Chartle’s carriage.”
Now that they knew where their target was headed, they could afford a small delay. Rubica walked to the entrance after Christopher was gone.
“Your Grace! But your lady-in-waiting just left in your carriage…”
One of the knights who was on guard recognized Rubica and talked to her. Sadly, he and Gabriel knew each other. Gabriel cursed silently, pulled down her headdress, and hid herself behind Rubica.
“Yes, I sent her first on an errand. Miss Chartle has agreed to let me take her carriage, so please have it brought here.”
The knight seemed to have a lot of questions, but he didn’t want to displease Duchess Claymore and pay for it, so he backed off easily.
Until the carriage arrived, Rubica kept talking to the knight so that he wouldn’t be able to see Gabriel’s face.
“Madam, let me escort you.”
However, the knight took it the wrong way and thought she liked him. He even offered a hand with a sneaky smile.
Letting him escort her was highly likely going to let him see Gabriel’s face, so Rubica quickly turned him down flatly.
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
“You can’t be saying your husband will be jealous of this. It is a noble lady’s privilege to be escorted.”
It was quite a gentlemanlike act to offer help to a lady mount a carriage, and the knight seemed to be having a hard time accepting her refusal.
However, just because he was offering it out of goodwill, it didn’t mean Rubica was obliged to accept it. Actually, mounting a carriage alone wasn’t that impossible, although it could be a little difficult.
“Why would my husband be jealous about this? But is it also a privilege to be escorted by a man I don’t like?”
“Your… Grace?”
“If you are ever rejected by any other lady, don’t talk about privilege again. Just accept her refusal and let her be on her way.”
While the knight was in a daze from the shock, Gabriel mounted the carriage first. Rubica gave the knight a displeased look and went to the carriage. The doorkeeper couldn’t dare to come to him.
‘Will now they say I’m rude?’
Whatever. Countess Tangt, the queen, and Princess Charlotte. They had all kinds of rumors about the flaws in their personalities. Sometimes, ill fame could be helpful.
“Your Grace!”
When the door was opened, Tatiana, who was already in the carriage, offered her a hand. She was giving her a broad smile that was nothing like her usual shy smile.
“That felt so good. That knight is famous for using escort as an excuse to flirt with the ladies.”
“Well then, I should have been even harsher on him.”
Rubica mounted the carriage, and Tatiana didn’t seem so surprised by her suddenly joining their spy act.
As soon as the door was closed, Gabriel took off her maid outfit and yelled, “He’s going to Argot Street!”
“Argot Street? Of course. Good.”
Tatiana opened the window to the driver’s seat and talked to the driver, but the man didn’t seem to be an ordinary carriage driver.
He even knew the location of Christopher’s workroom, so he was probably a reporter of the newspaper House Chartle published.
At least the girls had prepared a lot for this.
“Your dresses don’t require a corset or a petticoat, so they’re perfect for an occasion like this.”
Gabriel finished getting changed and smiled innocently, but Rubica didn’t know what to feel about this.
She had thought about how to make more comfortable and prettier dresses not because she wanted to let Gabriel use them as a disguise. How many times had this girl done such a dangerous thing?
“Gabriel.”
“I know, I know. But you really don’t have to worry. This is our first time!”
Gabriel said bravely as if she knew what Rubica was thinking. She was just so full of energy, and children like her were not stopped easily.
She was smart, so she must have calculated several of the possibilities her action might bring before carrying it out. Rubica didn’t want to nag on her and decided to not ask further.
“But promise me you’ll never do this again.”
“Um, I don’t know…”
Gabriel tried to change the topic, but Rubica gave her a hard look and she had no choice but to nod. Even she knew she was being reckless, at least to some extent.
“Tatiana, Christopher just met Baron Jacob. I think he is his conspirator.”
“Baron Jacob?”
Tatiana took out a document, that was encrypted in strange symbols and numbers, and read it.
“If Baron Jacob is in this, this can be bigger than we thought.”
“Why is that?”
“Do you remember that plagiarism scandal that happened recently?”
“Are you talking about the sons of peers at the Academy who plagiarized for their graduate paper?”
Rubica asked, unable to resist her curiosity. The scandal had been quite famous.
People who passed the final grade of Aron’s Academy and graduated from it were needed in many places, and they didn’t have to worry about making their living for the rest of their lives.
It was the only way for second or third sons of high houses, who couldn’t inherit their father’s rank, to live decently.
The problem was that although anyone who could afford their studies could enter the Academy, it wasn’t easy to graduate from it. Aron’s Academy was strict and didn’t pass any paper that didn’t meet its criteria, even if the paper was written by a prince or a princess.
Money and rank meant nothing there, but then the scandal broke out. A group that ghostwrote graduate papers for students, who weren’t good enough to do it themselves, had been busted.
“Yes, they found and arrested some of the people involved, but only a few. We think Baron Jacob was their middleman, although we don’t have certain information and can’t write about it yet.”
Rubica’s eyes widened to hear that.
“I didn’t know The Little Bird’s News handled such matters.”
“We don’t. My father owns a newspaper company. Oh, and John, who is driving this carriage, is a reporter of my father’s daily newspaper.”
Rubica had been right about the driver. Still, she was surprised to know Tatiana knew the top secrets of the Chartle family’s newspaper.
It didn’t seem like her family funded her magazine just because of the money it made. However, now that they knew the baron who was in such a dangerous business was involved in this, what the girls were doing looked even more dangerous.
“Well then, I guess Christopher will lead us to more clues about Baron Jacob.”
Contrary to Rubica’s worried heart, Tatiana seemed quite glad about their newest finding.
“But Tatiana, The Little Bird’s News must handle this. If your father steals it, I will describe in my column how tacky his clothes are, how many times his bold head reflects the light of the chandelier at every ball, and how he kills the mood with his boring jokes for a whole year.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
They could write about Christopher in their magazine, and Tatiana’s father’s newspaper could handle the ghostwriting scandal. Then, both of them would be gaining a lot.
Tatiana was so glad to know information which even the king wasn’t aware of that she wanted to applaud herself.
“Hmm, anyway, why are we going after Christopher?”
Rubica asked, quite curious. Too late, Gabriel realized she hadn’t explained the important part. Well, she was always a bit out of her mind.
“Hmm, where should we start?”
“First, we must show her that.”
Tatiana had her important research documents hidden in her family’s carriage. No one knew she was publishing the magazine, except for her father. It was far safer than leaving it in her room. Otherwise, the maid who cleaned her room could find it.
She took out the drawer hidden under the seat and looked for four pieces of paper. They were all in different colors. One was yellow, probably very old, but one was clean and white.
“This is the instruction paper Christopher gave to the workers at his shop. You should take a look.”
Unlike design sketches, which were made to be shown, instruction papers were full of all kinds of instructions and details. They were the kind of secrets that were not supposed to be shown to outsiders.
Rubica wondered how Tatiana had acquired them. Maybe the queen or other noble ladies didn’t control society, but these young girls did.