"Marie, who was that person who came looking for you outside?"
"Oh, the Cardinal-nim sent you a letter."
At Lotos's question, I handed him the letter.
"He sent a letter to me, not you or Aramis?"
"Maybe... he wanted to maintain security by sending it to an unexpected person, I suppose."
"Well, who would send important documents to you, Lotos? The Cardinal-nim is quite the figure, after all."
Aramis nodded, listening to our conversation.
"The Cardinal-nim sent a letter directly?"
Laurent, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, asked us in surprise.
"Shouldn't we have been talking about this where this friend isn't?"
"What does it matter? If you say he's a guy who fought and won against Duchac, the Cardinal-nim will welcome him."
Lotos nodded, thinking Aramis's answer made sense.
"Then, I'll open this."
When I pointed to the envelope, the other three nodded.
After opening the envelope and taking out the letter, I slowly began to read the contents first.
[Come to receive the Lord's grace. And if there is a sheep to guide together, bring him too.]
"Hmm..."
After reading the letter, I looked at Laurent.
"What's wrong...?"
"No, you guys read it too, one by one."
The letter was passed around in the order of Aramis, Lotos, and Laurent.
"He's not some fortune teller..."
"I just... think he means to bring anyone useful along."
"Then there's only this friend, isn't there."
When Lotos pointed at Laurent with his finger, Laurent tilted his head.
"Am I allowed to go?"
"Hmm... he's of the mind that anyone who is an enemy of the Duke of Orleans is an ally, so it should be fine."
"I understand."
Aramis closed his book and got up from his seat.
"The Cardinal-nim is calling, I can't just sit here waiting for the booze to arrive."
"Yeah, let's hurry."
We put on our clothes and went outside.
"Huh?! Uh-oh? Master-nim!"
Planchet, carrying a bunch of liquor jars and waddling as he walked, approached us with a smile.
"Where are you masters-nim going?"
"We have some business to take care of, so we'll be back. Don't even think about drinking the booze. One, two, three, four..."
Lotos counted the number of liquor jars and patted Planchet on the shoulder.
Planchet's face was filled with disappointment, as if he really was planning to secretly drink the booze while we were gone.
"Planchet, cheer up."
"Ihi!"
At Lotos's command, Planchet forced a smile.
"Alright, now go back, my loyal servant."
"Ugh, yes, I understand."
Planchet frowned again and bowed to us before waddling back towards Lotos's house.
"First, let's go to my house, get the carriage, and go to the cathedral."
"How long will it take to walk to your house, get the carriage, and go to the cathedral? How about using pigeons instead?"
At Aramis's words, Lotos casually suggested using pigeons.
"Pigeons? As far as I know, pigeons can only return to one place."
Everyone smiled at Laurent's question.
"Looks like this country bumpkin doesn't know much."
Aramis put his arm around Laurent's shoulder and began to explain.
"Using pigeons for delivering letters through simple repetitive training is a story from 200 years ago when we were fighting the Britons."
"Then I guess a magician controls them now?"
"Correct."
"Huh?"
"Why are you so surprised? We're the ones who should be surprised."
Laurent, who had accidentally guessed the correct answer, stared at Aramis with his mouth wide open.
"Then let's go send a pigeon."
Because the sun was somewhat tilted westward from the center of the sky, the streets weren't as crowded as before.
We were able to arrive at the pigeon shop before long.
"Welcome."
As we entered the shop, an employee bowed his head and greeted us.
The shop was full of people writing letters to attach to the pigeons' legs.
When the four of us entered the shop, the gazes of the people writing letters were focused on us.
'Have you never seen a woman's chest before...?'
Especially mine, and among them, there were people staring intently at my chest.
"Are there many people waiting?"
"No, if you give us the letter, we'll send it right away,"
The employee shook his head at Aramis's question.
"Is that so? Then give us some paper, a pen, and ink, it won't take long."
"You can go to that seat over there and write."
I was a bit uncomfortable because there was a young master who had been glancing at my chest from the corner since earlier.
"It's cramped here, so I'll wait outside."
"I find it fun to watch the pigeons fly, so I'll stay here."
Lotos smiled brightly as he watched the magician on one side, grabbing pigeons, muttering incantations, and throwing them out the window.
I went outside the building and sat on the bench where the waiting people sat.
Feeling like my body was getting stiff from basking in the warm sunlight, I stretched out once.
"Eueueu..."
When I clasped my hands together and stretched them upwards, my chest protruded forward, asserting itself.
Passersby saw that and cleared their throats, "Ahem!" as they passed by.
"What kind of letter takes so long to write?"
I glanced at the door and stared blankly at the sky.
While watching the cumulonimbus clouds leisurely floating across the blue sky, someone called me.
"Excuse me."
I turned my head and looked at the person calling me.
A gentleman wearing a red coat was standing in front of me.
"What is it?"
"Ahem! I was wondering if the line is long since you're sitting here."
The man made a small cough as he made eye contact with me.
"My party also went in a little while ago and is writing a letter right away. There's no line... so you'll probably be able to send a pigeon right away."
"Thank you, Young Lady."
The man took off his red-feathered hat and bowed his upper body to me.
Then he extended his right hand to me.
'What is it? Is he asking for a handshake?'
I stared blankly at the hand extended to me, then I also extended my right hand, grabbed his hand, and shook it.
"I wasn't trying to shake hands, but you're a unique person. Then, goodbye."
He put on his hat and went inside the shop.
I stared blankly at the sky again, then I remembered what the meaning of the gentleman's actions from just now was.
'Ah! It wasn't a handshake... it was that...!'
It wasn't a handshake, but he was pretending to grab my left hand and kiss my ring finger as a greeting.
"Ahaha..."
Every time I experienced these small mistakes, I felt like I needed to adapt to being a woman quickly.
'I wonder if the Cardinal-nim knows a way.'
It was a truly sad fact that the only person I could rely on was the Cardinal-nim.
Squeak-
When the door opened, I looked up, thinking the three of them had come out, but it was the noble brat, one of the people who had been staring intently at my chest from the corner.
The guy stared at my chest with burning eyes, then looked at my face.
"Excuse me."
I was too annoyed to deal with him, so I ignored him, resting my chin on the armrest and staring blankly at the street.
"Young Lady?"
Whether he couldn't understand unless I spoke, even after I gestured that I wasn't interested, the guy spoke to me.
Even if I wasn't interested in the other person, it wasn't proper etiquette between nobles to simply ignore them if they spoke to me first, so I turned my head and looked at him.
Looking at his face, he was roughly Laurent's age.
He was much shorter than Laurent, and his skin was so white that it looked like if I hit him once, he would break somewhere and fall over.
"What is it?"
He grinned when he heard my voice.
"It's nothing much. I fell in love at first sight when I saw you earlier. May I know the Young Lady's name?"
"No, thank you."
"Young Lady."
When I turned my head and refused, the guy called me again.
I sighed and looked at him.
"Hello. My name is Monsieur Ang Le Conti. I am the eldest son of the Conti Count family."
He put his right hand on his left chest and bowed to me.
The Conti family was a capital noble family that lived in the capital and worked under the king as nobles, unlike Laurent's family, which was a noble family that managed their territory in the countryside after the family went bankrupt 5 years ago during the 30 Years' War and handed over all rights to the territory to the king.
"The Conti Count family..."
It was obvious that this brat was infatuated with my body and was trying to do something to me, but I had to be polite, so I got up from the bench.
Recalling the memories of helping my younger sister learn etiquette when I was young, I awkwardly greeted him as well.
"I am Marie de Roang, the adopted daughter of Armand Jean de Roang-nim, the Cardinal of the Elans Kingdom."
I bowed to him by slightly extending my right leg back with my left foot as the central axis and slightly lifting the hem of my dress.
"Ro... Roang?!"
His face turned pale when I said the name Armand gave me.
"'Roang'."
I looked at him with indifferent eyes.
Honestly, he was a guy who would have run away in a hurry even if I had said the name of my previous identity, but saying the name of Roang, which was several levels higher than that, was enough to elicit such a reaction.
He swallowed hard and scanned me, then grabbed my wrist tightly.
"Yo... Young Lady!"
"Kyaak?!"
I was surprised when my wrist was suddenly grabbed, and I screamed like a girl without realizing it.
The guy grabbed my wrist and pulled, as if he was trying to drag me somewhere.
But because the difference in strength was so great, I just stretched out my arm and remained sitting on the bench.
"Iik!"
The guy tried to drag me away with all his might, but I remained sitting on the bench, unmoving.
Bang!
"Young Lady!"
The shop door opened and Laurent rushed out.
Laurent, seeing Monsieur Ang grabbing my wrist and trying to drag me somewhere, drew his rapier.
"You... you rude bastard! How dare you try to forcibly drag a Lady away?!"
Laurent's eyes, burning fiercely, looked like they would soon shoot out beams.
"Hick! Calm... calm down!"
People walking down the street stopped in their tracks and looked at us at the sudden commotion.
"I, Laurent de Bastogne, cannot forgive you for trying to force the Young Lady!"
Laurent raised his rapier and took a fighting stance.
"No... that's... well..."
Monsieur Ang looked at Laurent, who looked like he was about to stab him at any moment, and sweated profusely.
"Laurent."
"Yes."
"It's okay, put your sword down."
"I understand."
At my words, Laurent looked at me, nodded, and put away his rapier.
I got up from my seat and released Monsieur Ang's hand.
"Monsieur Ang, Young Master."
"Yo... Young Lady?"
"This time, I'll let it go because of Laurent's rudeness, but..."
I grabbed Monsieur Ang's neck and pressed my thumb hard on his Adam's apple.
"Cough! Keuk! Cough!"
I released Monsieur Ang's neck, who was coughing from having his neck pressed.
"If you try to harass other women like that in other places, disaster will befall you someday, so be careful with your actions from now on."
"I... I'm sorry!"
Monsieur Ang ran away in a hurry after hearing my warning.
Clap clap clap clap
The passersby applauded us.
"Bravo! Brava!"
Lotos and Aramis, who had already sent the letter, were clapping for us in front of the door.
"Don't clap, it's embarrassing."
"Disaster will befall you someday...."
"Hey! Didn't I tell you to stop...!"
"Ehehehe!"
I grabbed Lotos's cheeks, who was imitating the advice I gave to Monsieur Ang, and pulled them hard.
"It hurhurhurts! It hurts, Marie!"
"I'm pulling it to hurt!"
"Alright, alright, stop it."
Aramis grabbed my shoulder, pulled me away, and stopped me.
The situation was resolved, and the four of us sat side by side on the bench, waiting for Grimaud to bring Aramis's carriage.
"Ugh, the line is long. Excuse me, how long is the line inside the shop?"
A man with a look of dismay on his face after seeing us sitting on the bench asked.
"There's no line inside, just go in."
"There's no line inside."
"Just go in and write. I did too."
"You should be able to send a letter if you go in."
We answered his question at the same time.
"Ah... th, thank you."
The man nodded with a bewildered expression and went inside the shop.