The wardrobe
Five days until the shady brainwashing operation.
Embarrassing as it was, Map Master was useful, especially for someone like Adelaide. She needed a map of this world, so she thought she should intrude Baron James' office.
Baron James' office was as big as two master bedrooms, with guards guarding and patrolling it 24/7. There were security devices installed on doors and windows. The Baron usually stayed in the room in the daytime, so Adelaide thought she should infiltrate at night.
Those devices were all useless to her anyway since she could just teleport there.
To test out the limit of teleportation, Adelaide used one day to teleport around the big mansion using the map that her skill generated. It was convenient: with the map in use, teleporting was easy. The blueprint even had coordinates on it, so she could just keep the coordinates in mind as destination.
'Fortunately, I know how to read coordinates on maps.'
Since teleportation to Adelaide was disintegrating her own body into particles, one could say she ran at supreme speed every time she used the skill. Therefore, using it excessively would put a toll on her stamina.
She was even a little out of breath after a while of moving constantly. Her little 6-year-old body had its limits after all.
'I hope Alfred's school isn't too far from here. If not, I won't be able to teleport there in one go.'
Adelaide sighed while taking a final look at the mansion's blueprint in her room of subconsciousness, or study hall for short.
Pieces of paper were scattered across the big table. A fountain pen was lying next to her right hand. Adelaide thought she would need to take notes after today; the study hall recorded what she experienced, not what she thought, so she was prepared to note down ideas.
It was a bit inconvenient, but she had no problems with it. This meant that her thoughts were still independent of the room in case of 'intruders'.
Not that she saw one so far.
'The study hall has a door. I should check it out when I'm safe.'
After one last look at all the countdown timer, which now served as her only time measuring instrument, Adelaide closed her eyes and got back to the real world. She quickly teleported out from the bed to the room door to leave the bracelet behind like usual, then activated the skill again with the coordinates of Baron James' office in mind.
The familiar 360-degree view with no blind spots came, then with a speed unperceivable even to her enhanced vision, she reappeared almost instantly at the Baron's office.
The entire room was bathed in moonlight, which made the wooden furniture look like it was glowing. Although the title of Baron could not be considered high-ranking, a noble is a noble. The entire office was elegant with an antique feel to it.
It's a full moon today. Despite teleporting to various places within the mansion the day before, Adelaide did not dare get close to anywhere near windows or had transparent glass it in for the fear of being discovered.
It was only around three weeks since she was transmigrated, yet she stared at the sky in a daze.
She felt as if it had been forever.
She missed being outside. She wanted a peaceful, comfortable life, yet she was mentally exhausted as a child in her past life. Her seemingly harmonious family was nothing more than a façade of fragile glass that would shatter with a knock.
'Yet I am finding a way to go back to an even more complicated "family".'
The grandfather clock in the Baron's office announced the current time with a melody followed by eleven strikes. The strikes' echoes made the little girl flinch slightly and regain focus.
Adelaide shook her head to get rid of all the miscellaneous thoughts before going around the room in light steps. Her first objective was quite clear: she needed to see a map.
She found it pretty quick, as any lord would have a map of their land in their office.
'Bingo. And there are coordinates too.'
The girl smiled as she stood in front of a big board. A detailed map of Baron James' land was nailed on said board, with several small pins on it.
Even though the full moon was bright that night, the room itself was still quite dark. Fortunately, her eyesight was extremely good, perhaps due to this body's mother being an elf. The insufficient light to other humans was more than enough to her.
Adelaide took several steps back so that her eyes could see the whole map so she could 'save' and use it later on. She then closed the distance again to examine the details. Her body was still small and undeveloped, so she had to stand on her toes.
Her eyes lit up in delight at the phrase "Western Imperial Academy" with a red pin. It was not unusual for the place to be marked since it hosted the Empire's future leaders. As the lord of the land where the school was located, the Baron must take special care of it.
Baron James' governing area was a city called Portola. His city was considered prosperous since it connected Winford's vast land and the Empire's capital. There were two different gates, one reserved only for nobles while the other one was for normal transportation and trade. Adelaide suspected the reason for two separate gates was because of the Western Imperial Academy's existence.
'Then perhaps the city where Eastern Academy is located also had two gates? I think Alfred once said that the Eastern one was in the other ducal family's jurisdiction. I've never participated in politics, but I feel like the relationship between Winford and the other one's a bit sour. Well, it's obvious. The two families have their own force, with benefits and interests in the way.'
'Should I check out the Baron's table?'
Adelaide's eyes rested on the big wooden table in the middle of the room. She walked to the bookshelves behind it first. At a glance, there wasn't anything special aside from books, so she had one of her left hands leaned on the wall next to the shelves to make sure she was still undiscovered.
She thought no one would be near the head office at night except for patrolling guards, but it never hurt to be a little cautious.
'….huh?'
However, Adelaide saw something moving very fast towards the head office at the end of the corridor. She was pretty sure that this person was heading to the office even though the dot had no name on it.
It was because the dot had a bright red color, the only red dot in the entire mansion. The only dot that stayed in the head office the entire time during the day.
Baron James.
'Holy shit, did they find out that I'm not in the confined room? But it's still peaceful down there, so that's unlikely. Then again, why would he run to his office in the middle of the night?'
'If he's sleepwalking, then that speed is incredible.'
Adelaide was both panicked and surprised when she saw the dot representing Baron James running towards where she was with full speed as if he was heading towards the toilet to solve his bowel issues. She thought about teleporting back, but it was a pity to end things so fast when she was making progress. Plus, she could sneak on him to see what he was up to.
If things went awry, she could just flee immediately without a trace.
According to Map Master, there was no one in the office. Her body was still that of a child's, so she decided to hide in the big wardrobe.
However, when Adelaide quickly opened the wardrobe doors to get inside, she was met with another surprise.
What greeted her was a pair of beautiful dark purple eyes.
A little boy was sitting and hugging himself in the wardrobe. He was pretty, with smooth silver hair that shone under the exposed moonlight.
The boy blinked and looked at her. His features were exquisite. His eyelashes were long, and he was biting his lips lightly, as if scared. The kid looked even younger than her.
Adelaide was shocked. The boy was not shown on her map skill. She thought of the possibility of him being too small for the map to recognize, but even Baron James' newborn baby was included just fine.
Maybe it was because he was too strong? Or there were ranks amongst skills, and his was above hers?
'Should I run away? But what if he tells the Baron? Wait, are his intentions even bad?'
Adelaide thought of teleporting once again, but she gritted her teeth. Her thoughts were like a roller coaster, but her face was calm.
The Baron was only several steps away from the door.
Clomp. Clomp. The heavy sound of footsteps grew closer.
She should really teleport, but her curiosity and an unknown excitement made her hesitate.
Clomp. Clomp.
Curiosity killed the cat, they said.
'Screw it.'
"Hi" Adelaide smiled weakly. She could hear her soft voice as well as her heart beating rapidly in her chest as if it was fighting to get out. "Can I come in?"
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Proofreader: krissaira