"Huh? What's this thing doing in here?" Tina, the maid, stared in bewilderment at the index-finger-sized bamboo tube.
"Tina, keep your voice down!" Catherine hissed, shooting her a warning glare. She used her chopsticks to delicately pry the bamboo tube out of the steak and wiped it clean with a piece of linen.
She turned it over in her hands, carefully popping the wax seal at one end. Inside, she found a tightly rolled slip of paper.
"This is..." Tina's eyes widened to the size of saucers. It was like watching a magic trick.
"As expected of Jones. She actually thought of a way in," Catherine's lips curled upward, her eyes scanning the tiny script.
It's Jones. Your room is under lockdown, and I can't sneak in for now. I've bribed the kitchen staff. Put your reply in this tube and send it back out. I'll be waiting.
Tina watched the smile spread across her mistress's face. Recalling Catherine's strange behavior since yesterday and the chef's odd comments earlier, the gears finally began to turn in her head. She covered her mouth, staring in shock.
The Mistress is in contact with Sedona City! Does Lord Lucas have a thing for her? Heavens, no wonder she won't marry the Prince. Sedona City has the best food and all those novelties... if she marries him, does that mean I get to live there too?
While the little maid was busy daydreaming, Catherine quickly took her pre-written letter, rolled it up, and shoved it into the tube. She resealed the cap and tucked the tube back into the cavity of the steak, rearranging the garnishes to make the dish look untouched.
"Listen. Take this tray back to the kitchen. Act exactly like you usually do," Catherine commanded.
"Understood, Miss!" Tina promised, standing tall.
"And be natural," Catherine warned. "I don't want this communication channel discovered."
"Of course," Tina nodded, then allowed a mischievous grin to surface. "So, Miss, who is the letter for? Is it really Lord Lucas?"
"You talk too much," Catherine teased, rolling her eyes. "If this fails, I'll marry you off to Obinna."
"Eek! No! I want to stay with you, Miss!" Tina squeaked in horror. Obinna was a stuttering kitchen hand with a face full of spots and a cowardly streak.
"Then do it right. If you succeed, I'll make sure you eat so much Sedona delicacies you'll want to puke," Catherine said, falling back onto the bed. This waiting game was torture.
Tina wiped the chopsticks, placed them back on the tray, and did a final visual check before stepping out.
Click.
"Halt. Search," The middle-aged matron ordered.
Tina was patted down again, and the matron glanced at the tray. "Why didn't she eat?"
"The Mistress has no appetite again," Tina said with a practiced, heavy sigh.
"Go on then." The matrons didn't suspect a thing; Catherine's starvation protest was common knowledge by now.
Tina reached the kitchen and handed the tray to the head chef. The chef's eyes flickered as he looked at the steak. "Tina, Miss Catherine didn't eat again?"
"No," Tina sighed. "Just dispose of it the usual way."
"Understood." According to the rules, the Mistress's leftovers had to be burned to prevent anyone from stealing noble food. But today, the chef called out, "Obinna! Come here. Deal with this tray."
"Coming, coming!" Obinna scurried out from behind the stoves. As he took the tray, a silver coin slid from his palm into the chef's hand.
The chef felt the weight of the silver and tucked it into his pocket with a satisfied smirk. It would have taken him six months of skimming food costs to save up that much. He didn't care why Obinna had silver or what he was doing; in the world of the small people, a lack of curiosity was the key to a long life.
Obinna took the tray to the furnace, fished the bamboo tube out of the steak, and slipped it into his pocket. He then dumped the food into the flames.
"Chef, my stomach hurts. I need to step out for a bit!" Obinna called out, clutching his gut.
"Go, go!" The chef waved him off, knowing full well it was a ruse.
Obinna slipped out the back gate. To the knights, he was a nobody—the lowest of the low. No one suspected a kitchen drudge of carrying secrets. He walked two blocks away to a back alley where a beggar sat leaning against a wall, a chipped bowl beside him.
Obinna scanned the area, dropped the bamboo tube into the bowl, and took ten copper coins out of it as a theft to make the exchange look like a petty crime.
"Be careful. Don't blow your cover," The beggar muttered, his voice cold.
"Yes... I understand," Obinna whispered. He had been recruited days ago. They had given him gold for his parents and taught him how to be a ghost within the manor. This was his first real mission.
A few minutes later, Jones appeared. She retrieved the tube, her red eyes narrowing. She had planned to infiltrate the manor again, but the security was too high. She had relied on the Letter Express—Lucas's burgeoning spy and courier network—to get the job done.
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