房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

The red-haired girl enlightened the traitor, making sure that he understands the consequences of his actions.

"Now then, you better think about coughing up all the money you promised me or the turn of events will turn from bad to horrible... who knows? Aku is quite inventive, your family might actually beg for death after the next incident~"

Kierul stood up and hummed while walking back towards the carriage where her masked attendant helped her to get up inside.

"Check the bodies for valuables."

"Already doing that, my lady."

As she was standing in the open door, Kierul leaned back to Aku and reminded him to which he responded smugly, pointing at multiple copies of him searching through the remains of the dead bandits.

"Great minds think alike~"

The red-haired girl hummed with contentment and let herself fall on the pillows that weren\'t the original part of the carriage but instead were additions that her thoughtful attendant prepared.

"Hey mister traitor, Aku was done with looting before your lazy ass gets back to your job! We have places to be!"

"!!!"

After a few minutes during which the coachman was struggling to get up, Kierul called out from inside the carriage and cased the coachman to crawl his way to the driver\'s seat in pure terror.

Only a few moments later the old beaten-up carriage with the blood sprinkled on the Helterose family\'s crest was back on the main road riding towards their original destination.

"Hmm? Now, look what we have here~! Isn\'t that amusing?"

Kierul\'s eyes widened as she picked up a delicate golden ring with a small diamond from amongst the pile of valuables that Aku had repossessed from the deceased bandits back in the depths of the forest.

The red-haired girl raised the ring up watching the gem glisten in the sunlight illuminating the inside of the carriage and a rather devilish smirk crept its way onto her face.

"What exactly, my lady?"

Aku tilted his head and asked unable to see his master\'s expression but picking up on the tone of her voice that it really was something worth attention.

"Either my dear cousin is in really big financial trouble or she didn\'t think things through too much~! What we got here, Aku, is the engagement ring that Noelletta kept even after her fiance broke up with her a week ago~!"

Kierul giggled flicking the ring into the air and catching it, clenching her fist securely around it.

"I was not aware that we needed more evidence against her..."

The masked boy pondered, tilting his head a little bit confused.

"Of course, we don\'t, but it will serve for such good evidence though, don\'t you think?"

"Ah~! It will make things so much easier for me!"

The red-haired girl pointed out and the black-haired boy gasped, pleasantly surprised.

"How long until we arrive at Noelletta\'s summer house?"

Kierul shuddered from excitement and asked while leaning towards the window and peering through as if expecting to see their destination.

"We should arrive before lunch, my lady... so around two more hours."

Aku stopped moving for a bit before straightening his back and answering with confidence.

------

Two hours later Kierul\'s carriage did indeed arrive in front of the summer house of the only daughter of the second oldest brother of the current family head.

The second they stopped the trembling and ghastly pale coachman jumped down and hurriedly opened the door of the carriage, bowing down so much that a sharp pain pierced his back.

"My lady."

Aku was the first one to step out and as an attendant should he offered his master a helping hand which the red-haired girl gracefully accepted.

"Y-young lady Kierul...! Welcome... Welcome! Pardon me, young lady Noelletta said that you will arrive a bit late so I\'m only now going to town to buy the ingredients for the meal...!"

It just so happened that as they were approaching the house, a housekeeper holding an empty bag was locking the door – the poor older woman almost fainted when she turned around and saw the guests and immediately kneeled down and began apologizing profusely.

"Granny, what are you doing~? Please stand up, there\'s nothing to apologize for~!"

Kierul face turned cute as she laughed and trotted over to the old woman, grabbed her hand, and pulled her up.

"I was the one who hurried everything up because I was too worried about big sister Noelletta! Is she still holing up in her room after her engagement with the eldest son of the Moyena family was canceled?"

The red-haired girl smiled reassuringly to the old housekeeper but then her smile turned into a worried expression as she glanced towards one house.

"Young lady Kierul...!"

The housekeeper trembling hands grasped the red-haired girl\'s hands and the old woman\'s eyes filled with tears of gratefulness.

"I always knew you are such a good child...! Despite being only a cousin you treat her better than her own brothers...!"

The woman\'s chin trembled and she cried very moved by the girl\'s words.

"Young lady Noelletta barely gets out of her room... she is having such a hard time after the breakup... I am sure that she will be happy to see you. She doesn\'t want to open her door for me, but she should welcome you! I am sure that you can help her recover from the broken heart...!"

She added with a surprising amount of energy for someone her age.

"Just a moment ago I made some tea for the young lady Noelletta and left it by her door, I\'ll fetch another cup for you and..."

"If it\'s already ready and we only need a cup, please leave it to my attendant. Aku is very competent and will find his way to and around the kitchen with no trouble."

The old housekeeper didn\'t seem to want to let Kierul get a word in, but the red-haired girl managed to talk over her with a charming smile.