At that moment, Crepes·Clair walked over.

"Mr. Amagi, thank you very much for your help," she said, bowing her head in gratitude towards Ryuto.

"No, I just thought... Was I meddling too much?" Ryuto replied.

"No, if it weren't for Mr. Amagi, the later plans would have been difficult to implement, and..." Crepes·Clair paused for a moment before speaking up again.

"In the end, it was my own fault. In other words, I caused this mess myself, and in the end, Mr. Amagi had to solve it for me. I feel really sorry," she confessed.

"It's not just that. And about solving it, it's not really solved yet. At this current stage, we can only try to pull back the others first. As for the one left... that's something for later," Ryuto explained.

"No, Mr. Amagi has already helped a lot. I'll handle the rest on my own. Please don't trouble yourself any further," Crepes·Clair assured.

"I see..." Since she put it that way, there was no need to interfere any further.

"It's getting late. Let's hurry. I hope we didn't reveal anything because of what happened earlier," Ryuto said.

"Don't worry too much. The trading place is on the next street over. It shouldn't be discovered," Crepes·Clair replied.

"I see... By the way, what about that person from earlier?" Although Ryuto's words were vague, Crepes·Clair understood.

"I sent Tennan back. His job was done," she responded.

"Got it." As she answered, Ryuto couldn't help but think.

Being a slave, she was not only despised by slaves but also by the nobility now. All because of her identity as a slave and an adopted noble daughter. Despised by the nobility for being a slave and rejected by her former comrades for being a noble, she found herself squeezed from both sides in this conflict.

Furthermore, the harder she worked, the worse the situation became. Putting effort into capturing terrorists, who were mostly slaves themselves, meant being shunned by her former comrades. Simultaneously, her noble colleagues would be more critical of her, as hard work meant promotion, and the higher her rank, the more she would be ostracized for her slave origins.

A mere slave holding a position higher than me. Not only nobles would think so, but her common colleagues might have similar sentiments. The higher the position, the more dissenters there would be.

Perhaps in the past, before Duke Crepes, who had taken her in, was imprisoned, people might have been more discreet due to their fear of him. But now that their feared figure no longer existed, situations like today's would only worsen.

The person from earlier was just a sample. There were definitely more like him, and they were not few in number.

Ultimately, her current state of affairs was entirely due to Duke Crepes, her adopted father. If he hadn't appeared, she wouldn't have become his adopted daughter, her beloved old governess wouldn't have died, she wouldn't be despised by her former comrades and colleagues. Moreover, if Duke Crepes hadn't been imprisoned, things wouldn't have escalated to this point. At least he could have had a deterrent effect.

In short, it was all Duke Crepes's doing, but despite that, she still worked hard. Why was that?

Was it to gain achievements, elevate the status of the Crepes family, and fulfill her duty as an adopted daughter?

With Crepes·Clair's earnest personality, she might likely strive for this. But upon deeper reflection, such a possibility did not really exist.

As mentioned earlier, how did Crepes·Clair end up in this situation now? The responsibility lay entirely with Duke Crepes, and it was impossible to strive for achievements for someone who had brought her to such a dire state.

Then the only possibility left was...

Resentment? Whether due to the old governess's suicide or the consequences caused by Duke Crepes, it was only natural for Crepes·Clair to harbor resentment towards him.

In that case, was the reason for her hard work ultimately for revenge? For creating opportunities for revenge? Though it was unclear how exactly such opportunities would be created.

Well, in the end, these were all just speculations. Best not to dwell on these thoughts for now.