Avril stepped forward to protect Lynn.

“This girl said that Lady Kathy threw things at her. Lady Kathy sounds like a wicked woman with no morals. What is happening here?”

“What? Morals? A wicked woman? Well, she was making a fuss, what else would you expect me to do? All the women here are going to be sold to foreign brothels or to curious nobles, you know? We’re trying to hide and transport them so they don’t get caught, so we can’t have them making a fuss.”

“‘The women here’?”

“Hehe, this way.”

At that moment, Kathy moved to the side and led the way. When she followed her, she saw the figures of unknown women locked in an empty room.

This is—

Lynn was probably the youngest, but a woman who looked to be in her teens or twenties was looking at her with anxiety.

They were all probably town girls. Some were huddled up, some were lying down because they were feeling sick, and some with swollen eyes were being comforted.

The word ‘human trafficking’ came to Avril’s mind. Slavery was abolished long ago in her country, and anyone who went against it was punished severely. Not like it mattered to criminals, though.

Drug trafficking is a serious crime, but human trafficking is even more so. In some cases, it can result in the death penalty. Isn’t this exactly what Thomas Edgar wanted to hide…?

On the day they infiltrated the masquerade ball, she had always wondered why Thomas Edgar readily handed over the information he had obtained—information about the ‘rigged bids.’

At that time, she thought he most likely wasn’t able to continue on his own, so he entrusted it to Avril and the others, but there were many things that didn’t quite fit.

Perhaps the information about the rigged bids was just bait to lure us in. By coincidence, we managed to get a hold of information regarding drug trafficking and escape.

Incidentally, the reason they were able to escape that day was because Avril had become fascinated by lockpicking. She was into detective novels with villainesses as the protagonists. Not to mention, she also saw the map of the building and memorized it instantly.

Under normal circumstances, there was no way things would’ve been that easy. They only managed to escape safely thanks to a series of fortunate coincidences.

We may have unknowingly avoided a trap set by Thomas.

She wanted to ask Kathy about Thomas, but for her own safety, pretending that she hadn’t yet realized the full extent of the incident seemed like the better option. Then, she recalled something else.

Now that I think about it, the former duke’s mistress, Lucy, said on the day we first met that the port town isn’t safe, so I should avoid going out alone. I think she was referring to the frequent cases of women being kidnapped and going missing in the city.

…As for where those women disappeared off to—

As Avril stood there in a daze, Lynn, who seemed to have found something, jumped on a certain woman sleeping on the floor.

“Clarissa! You’re awake! I’ve brought a replacement for Clarissa! Now you can leave this place!”

“…Lynn…? where have you been…? I was worried… because you weren’t there.”

…Clarissa?

Avril blinked at the familiar name. Shifting her gaze, she saw a fragile-looking young lady in a cream-colored dress.

---

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***T/N: Lynn has brought your lord and savior

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