After getting changed in her room and reverting to her original hairstyle, Avril went out onto the balcony while waiting for Grace who had left to fetch drinks and dinner from the restaurant.

It feels nice.

As she was enjoying the night breeze, Avril heard cheerful music coming from below.

Is that…?

It wasn’t the elegant classical music that had been playing in the main dining room earlier, but lively and cheerful music accompanied by singing.

Perhaps a party going on somewhere else… Maybe Lady Teresa is there!?

From Avril’s memory, Teresa’s closet barely had any classic dresses suitable for a young lady. While some did seem to be a few prepared for when she met the former duke, most of them sported avant-garde designs young ladies would prefer.

Perhaps Teresa was more interested in casual parties where youths sang and danced rather than formal parties where the upper classes enjoyed themselves.

Thinking that, Avril returned to her room from the balcony, opened the cabin door and stepped out into the corridor on the other side. No one was present, but when she opened the door to the sunroom adjacent to the corridor, cheerful music greeted her ears just as she had expected.

As most of the first-class passengers were attending the welcome part, no one was in the sunroom. However.

“—Sister, do you have any medicine?”

“!”

Avril was startled at being spoken to in a foreign language.

Turning around, she saw a girl of about 10 years old. Her clothes were so simple that they appeared out of place in that sunroom of a first-class cabin. On a closer look, her shoes were dirty and her hair was disheveled.

Is there a comb somewhere?

The thought occurred almost instantly, but she had to answer the question first. Since the girl was asking if Avril had any medicine, it meant that she was in trouble.

“What kind of medicine?”

“A medicine that makes you feel at ease when you take it. Sister, you can understand me? What a relief. Ever since I got on this boat, I was scared because I couldn’t speak to anyone.”

When Avril responded in the same tongue, the girl smiled with relief. However, Avril couldn’t hide her discomfort because the nature of that “medicine” sounded eerily similar to a drug, so she asked further.

“Where is the person who needs that medicine?”

“Down there.”

The girl pointed to the edge of the sunroom. Looking closely, Avril saw a small emergency staircase sealed with a chain. The lock on the chain was broken, so entering and leaving appeared quite the matter.

That means she came from the second-class cabin area.

As Dylan said, there were two types of passengers on the Victoria: upper-class passengers who had boarded for the sake of enjoying a luxurious voyage, and ordinary passengers who had boarded for transportation.

Furthermore, the areas where each guest spent their time had clearly been divided into upper and lower floors.

I know it’s strange considering the situation, but…

Looking at the girl’s dirty shoes filled with holes and the ribbon tied in a lackluster manner around her disheveled hair, Avril was reminded of her childhood self.

Avril, who hadn’t been blessed with a decent family, was able to become the person she was today because of the adults who reached out to her.

“I have some simple medicine. Can you wait a moment?”

“Yes.”

Avril returned to the cabin and retrieved some regular medicine and a comb. Grace, who had gone to the restaurant, hadn’t returned yet, so Avril left a note. There was only a small piece of paper, so she tore it into two.

On the first sheet she wrote, “I’m going to the second-class cabin area.” On the second sheet, she wrote, “A girl who came out of the emergency stairs invited me. It seems that someone isn’t feeling well.” After leaving the second message for Dylan, she returned to the sunroom.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!”

The girl sitting on the emergency stairs while dangling her legs lit up when she saw Avril and stood up. Then, she pointed down the stairs.

“Hey, it’s this way. Follow me.”

---

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***T/N: It’s most definitely a trap, and Avril is most definitely going to respond in an antimainstream way.

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