Chapter 193 - 29: Discovered

Chapter 193: Chapter 29: Discovered

Lilia was completely in her element at the Earl Mansion.

She was familiar with every corner of the estate, and even more so with the servants’ routines. Every time she went out, she managed to bring back a substantial amount of food from the kitchen. It was mainly for herself, of course; Selas was just a convenient afterthought.

The amount of Magic Power she could absorb from the food was pitifully small, but it was better than nothing. With a few days of accumulation, Lilia finally managed to properly repair the window. Now, if they encountered another rainstorm, they wouldn’t have to huddle together on the bed, shivering.

While passing by the servants’ quarters one day, Lilia spotted a few pieces of children’s clothing hanging on a clothesline. The fabric was mediocre—a coarse linen that commoners could barely afford and Nobles wouldn’t even touch. Lilia guessed they were some maid’s personal belongings, likely a gift for her child.

The black cat crept closer on silent paws, trading some of her stolen food for two pieces of clothing, which she then stuffed into the attic’s empty wardrobe.

Taking things without asking was naturally a very bad habit. However, desperate times called for desperate measures, and right now, Selas was in dire need of them. Judging by the attitude of the manservant, Warren, getting anything out of him would be harder than squeezing blood from a stone. Lilia could only rely on herself, using her own hard work to provide a better living standard for her current cooperative partner.

Lilia was practically moved to tears by her own kindness and dedication to their contract. Selas felt it even more deeply.

She still remembered the complex expression on the young boy’s face when he saw the clothes she brought back—he looked both deeply moved and somewhat devastated. He hadn’t said a single word, but a myriad of emotions had practically overflowed from his eyes. In the very end, just like before, he only murmured a quiet thank you.

And that was it.

The Phantom Black Cat Thief continued to forge her legend within the Earl Mansion.

Perhaps because of Selas’s identity, eating the Earl Mansion’s food and using its supplies was perfectly justified. Or perhaps, as an unfed stray cat, scavenging for food in the kitchen was as normal as could be. Despite playing the role of a master thief for so long, Lilia’s Morality hadn’t decreased by a single point. Although it hadn’t increased either, the numerical proof further convinced her that what she was doing was absolutely right. Thus, she became even more emboldened.

The kitchen supervisor wasn’t an idiot. After losing items so many times, he was bound to notice something amiss. However, Lilia was extremely cautious, and combined with her ability to transform into black mist at the first sign of trouble, she came and went without a trace.

The supervisor searched for a long time but never figured out who the thief was. He had also tried dispatching people to lie in wait, but the culprit seemed to have insider information. Whenever a trap was set in the kitchen, the thief simply never showed up. The manager had once suspected a mole among his staff, but after a thorough investigation, he found no clues.

This bizarre string of events had become a heavy weight on the manager’s mind. The thief was like a ghost, secretly watching their every move, striking with precision the moment he let his guard down. They would steal several of the most expensive and delicious dishes in the kitchen before slipping away with swagger. All that remained was an empty tablecloth, gaping like a wide-open mouth mocking the manager’s incompetence.

The manager even woke up from his dreams several times, gnashing his teeth in hatred toward this fated rival of a master thief. If it weren’t for the fact that stolen food wasn’t strictly a major issue, and that reporting it with zero clues about the suspect would only highlight his own incompetence, he would have reported the situation to the Earl Sir long ago and requested support from the regular guards. Unfortunately, he couldn’t ask for help.

Rumors about the phantom kitchen thief spread rapidly throughout the Earl Mansion, the speed of their spread directly proportional to how dark the circles under the kitchen manager’s eyes had become. The news was mysterious, bizarre, and carried a touch of dark humor, considering a member of management was pulling his hair out over it.

Therefore, the story was highly popular among the servants, with many discussing it eagerly. Everyone hoped to catch a glimpse of this master thief—both to satisfy their own curiosity and because... if they could provide a solid clue to the manager, they might just score a handsome reward.

Normally, such gossip would never reach the ears of the higher-ups, but as it happened, someone was paying special attention to this sort of news. Ever since seeing the white-robed figures suddenly appear at the banquet that day, Caius had been keeping a closer eye on strange occurrences within the Earl Mansion.

The Countess didn’t want him to know that Count Beaumont had kept a lover on the outside, let alone that he had brought the child born to that lover back into their home. Even though she knew Count Beaumont had his bitter reasons for doing so, she didn’t want her son to be saddened or distressed by it.

However, Caius was very smart. From the Countess’s attitude, he had already gleaned a few clues. The appearance of the white-robed men further cemented his guess: someone was being hidden in his home. Someone whose existence his mother despised but was forced to tolerate. Someone whom several High-level Mages had hunted deep into the night, even going so far as to trespass into the Earl Mansion.

Caius had pondered the person’s identity. Perhaps a fugitive. Perhaps a Dark Mage his father had brought back from who-knew-where. But after listening to the servants’ recent discussions, he was astonished to discover that this person might just be... a petty thief obsessed with stealing from the kitchen?

Caius felt his entire worldview taking a hit. He comforted himself with the thought that these were mere speculations; the exact identity of the other party was still inconclusive. In order to preserve the mysterious figure’s image in his mind, Caius decided that, no matter what, he had to meet him.

His parents certainly wouldn’t provide him with any support. And the servants never had tight lips; if his mother threw her weight around as the Countess and offered a few threats and bribes, they would spill everything they knew in a heartbeat. Therefore, he could only rely on himself.

Caius observed for a few days and pinpointed the mysterious figure’s operating hours.

By now, the kitchen manager seemed to have resigned himself to his fate. You couldn’t stay on guard against a thief indefinitely. The kitchen was already short-staffed, and assigning people to patrol or stand watch meant sacrificing the efficiency of their actual work. Once or twice was fine, but doing it too often could result in severe punishment. He might just have to kiss his manager’s hat goodbye. It was just a few high-grade ingredients going missing every day; he would treat it as paying out of pocket to feed a stray cat. The manager tried his best to ignore the dull ache in his heart, comforting himself with these thoughts.

With the kitchen operating normally again, the master thief seemed to sense that the threat was gone. On this particular day, the culprit leisurely slipped into the dining hall just like before, grabbed her loot, and swaggered right out the front door.

Evading all eyes within the kitchen, the pitch-black figure bounded nimbly through the bushes. The moment she stepped onto the main path, a silhouette appeared on the previously empty bluestone pavement. A not-too-tall body blocked the sunlight, casting a small shadow over Lilia.

Lilia looked up, blinking her round cat eyes.

Oops.

She had been discovered.