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At my question, both Rose and Daisy bowed simultaneously.  

“It’s our fault!”  

“We apologize for not taking better care after you entrusted it to us!”  

I quickly stood up and patted their shoulders.  

“I’m not trying to scold you; I just want to understand the situation. What’s missing?”  

Daisy, standing upright after hesitating, glanced at me nervously before cautiously speaking.  

“A painting by Van Dailo, a 40-carat pink diamond, and a ruby ring are missing.”  

A painting, jewels, and a piece of jewelry.  

I tilted my head in confusion.  

Losing jewels or jewelry made sense—they were small and easy to misplace.  

But a painting by Van Dailo was different.  

It was a large painting, over a meter in both height and width.  

‘How could that be lost?’  

Even considering the possibility of someone deliberately stealing it, it didn’t make sense.  

The Van Dailo painting was too large to easily steal unnoticed.  

In a mansion like this, with so many servants constantly working, it would be nearly impossible to secretly smuggle out such a large painting.  

‘Besides, no one would keep a stolen item with them forever.’  

The logical next step would be to sell it.  

With jewels or jewelry, unless they were exceptionally famous pieces, it wouldn’t be a problem.  

They could easily be sold on the black market for a reasonable profit.  

‘But a painting?’  

When Logan handed me the items, he specifically mentioned a few of the artworks.  

He was making sure I knew their value so I wouldn’t sell them for too little.  

‘The Van Dailo painting was on Logan’s list of important items.’  

Van Dailo was a famous artist not just in the Empire, but across the entire continent.  

If one of his works appeared on the market, word would quickly spread.  

Naturally, the seller would be tracked down just as quickly.  

‘I could understand if the thief was a great admirer of the painting and stole it just to hang it in their room.’  

But that was unlikely.  

‘Something smells fishy here.’  

Something definitely smells off!  

‘I have a good idea of who might be behind this…’  

Suppressing a smile, I asked Daisy,  

“All of these were stored in the warehouse, right?”  

“Yes.”  

“Let’s start by checking there.”  

I said, and then patted Oink’s bottom on the side table.  

‘Oink! Bring out the magnifying glass!’  

After all, a magnifying glass is essential for detective work!  

* * *  

At my nod, Rose quickly used the key to unlock the warehouse door.

Without that key, no one could open the storage room.  

‘Of course, there is one master key that can access all areas of the mansion.’  

The Duke’s key.  

With that, any door in the Elpinard mansion could be unlocked.  

‘But that doesn’t mean…’  

‘The Duke is the culprit!’ Of course not.  

As I passed through the large, heavy door and entered, the storage room was neatly organized.  

Artwork was arranged with artwork, jewels with jewels, and various documents with documents.  

“Thank you. The storage room is so tidy. It must have been a lot of work to organize it.”  

I first gave Rose and Daisy a warm smile.  

“N-no, miss.”  

“We should have been more vigilant…”  

Receiving praise when something had gone missing made Rose and Daisy feel embarrassed.  

But if the ‘person’ I suspected was indeed the culprit, it would have been difficult for Rose and Daisy to prevent it.  

I first inspected the area where the jewels and jewelry were stored.  

I hoped to find some trace of the culprit, but nothing particularly stood out.  

Next was the section where the artwork was kept.  

Besides the missing Van Dailo painting, there were several other paintings.  

Among them were smaller pieces than the Van Dailo painting.  

The culprit had not chosen the easiest items to steal but had instead selected the one with the highest value.  

This meant they knew exactly what they were taking.  

I crouched down to examine the floor where the painting had been.  

The floor was so clean it shone, but there was a long, suspicious strand of hair lying there.  

‘A clue!’  

As soon as I brought the magnifying glass I had prepared—my ‘All-Seeing Magnifying Glass’—close to the hair,  

“Reshia! What’s going on? How could you lose something the Duke entrusted to you!”  

The entrance to the storage room suddenly became noisy, and Veronica appeared with her maids in a dramatic fashion.  

Logan was with her too, looking serious, probably after hearing about the missing items.  

“Veronica. Logan.”  

I nodded slightly in greeting to them and picked up the hair from the floor.  

At first glance, it was an ordinary brown hair.  

While I was doing this, Veronica let out a heavy sigh and subtly spoke to Logan.  

“To lose such precious items so quickly… Reshia is still just a child after all. Children are prone to losing things.”  

Her words, accompanied by a deep sigh, had a clear intention.  

She wanted to imply that I wasn’t yet capable of managing such significant assets.  

If Logan reported this to the Duke, it would undoubtedly reach his ears as well.  

It seemed Veronica had brought Logan here specifically to ensure that would happen.  

She sighed again, dramatically.  

“Haa… The Duke trusted her, but if he hears about this so soon, I can’t imagine how disappointed and angry he’ll be…”  

“Miss.”  

Logan ignored Veronica’s comments and walked directly over to me.

Logan’s serious expression was mixed with concern.  

“This must have been quite a shock. You must be very worried.”  

When Logan showed concern instead of questioning me, Veronica raised one of her eyebrows slightly.  

‘Hmph.’  

I smirked inwardly.  

She probably didn’t realize how much effort I’d put into winning Logan over all this time.  

I knew very well who I needed to be on good terms with in this household.  

Isn’t that the basic rule of social life?  

Logan, the Duke’s close retainer, was naturally at the top of my “important people to impress” list.  

Memories of my younger self flashed through my mind—  

〈Logan, mister! Please take this four-leaf clover! May the saint bless you!〉  

〈Logan, mister! Need a pat on the back?〉  

〈Logan, mister! I’ll share some Lettia cookies with you! Enjoy them with someone good and nice!〉  

I recalled how I had tirelessly built up my favor with Logan through various acts of charm and affection.  

‘Ah, my past self…’  

You really worked hard!  

“I’ll look into what happened first, so please don’t worry too much, Miss.”  

By the book, Logan should have reported this incident to the Duke immediately.  

However, he was considering my feelings by offering to investigate the situation first.  

I was genuinely grateful, but there was absolutely no need for that right now.  

“No, Logan. It’s my belongings that went missing, so I should be the one to figure out the situation.”  

“But…”  

Without hesitation, I approached Veronica.  

I then extended the hair I had just picked up from the floor toward her—or more accurately, toward the group of maids that had followed her.  

Their expressions clearly questioned, *What’s this?*  

I smiled as I recalled the analysis data that the ‘All-Seeing Magnifying Glass’ had shown me earlier.  

[Hair of Maid Anne]  

Protein 78%  

Moisture 12%  

Pigment 1%  

…  

There were various details, but the important part was the name attached to the hair.  

“Who’s Anne?”  

The moment I mentioned the name “Anne,” the maid standing right next to Veronica flinched.  

“Oh my. It’s you, isn’t it?”  

I placed the strand of hair back into Anne’s palm with a smile.  

“You left your hair on the floor over there. Don’t you think it’s a bit too cheap as payment for the painting you took?”  

‘Probably…’  

Even if I plucked out all your hair, it wouldn’t be enough.  

“Gasp!”  

Whether she sensed my thoughts or not, Anne quickly covered her head with both hands in a panic.