Episode 7
The duke’s office was as quiet as always.
Gerald was fighting unbearable pain within that silent space.
The black curtains hanging in the hallway served as a warning to keep people away. But there was no way to block out all the noise from the castle grounds.
The sound of servants hurrying along the dirt paths.
The sound of dishes falling and breaking.
The loud chatter of conversations.
The chirping of insects.
The neighing of horses.
The sound of the wind.
Even Kay’s quiet breathing.
Every noise sharpened into something as thin as needles and burrowed into his ears, tearing through his head.
A terrible headache washed over him.
Gerald picked up the long, thin silver letter opener lying on his desk and, without hesitation, stabbed it into his ear.
“My lord!”
Because of Gerald’s condition, Kay usually avoided speaking whenever possible, but now he called out urgently.
“I only pierced my eardrum.”
Only after deliberately injuring his ear did the headache ease slightly.
But now that his hearing had been dulled, his sense of smell became even stronger.
The smell of Kay’s sweat made his head pound.
“Kay. Step away for a while.”
Gerald could tell from the movement of the air that Kay was shaking his head.
Gerald spoke firmly.
“Now.”
Without a word, Kay lowered his head and disappeared.
The stale air floating around the office stung his nose.
He had to hold back a wave of nausea.
“Damn it.”
Closing his eyes, Gerald tried to suppress his senses, which were running completely out of control.
“What? Go home?”
The determination Marin had made yesterday immediately became meaningless as she faced a sudden employment crisis.
Her light green eyes trembled at the shocking words.
She had arrived exactly on time for work, only to be told to go home.
“I’m sorry.”
“You really mean go home?”
“Yes. Please go home for today.”
Olive awkwardly avoided her gaze.
“Just today, right?”
Marin asked, wanting reassurance.
“Well…”
Olive glanced at the office door with a troubled expression.
“I can’t leave! Do you know how hard it was for me to get this job? How can you throw me out after just one day? Even if I die, I’ll die right here!”
Marin plopped down onto the red carpet in the hallway.
Grabbing the carpet tightly, she entered full stubborn resistance mode.
“M-Miss Marin, I think you’ve misunderstood. We’re not throwing you out…”
A flustered Olive held out his hand, trying to help her up.
“But you told me to go home!”
Marin looked up at him with eyes full of resentment.
She couldn’t lose a job she’d worked so hard to get after only one day.
“No, that’s not what I meant. Let’s talk somewhere else first.”
Olive kept glancing nervously toward the office door.
Then.
“Come in.”
A heavy voice carrying a chilling coldness drifted out from inside the office.
The unexpected voice of the duke made Marin’s eyes widen like a startled rabbit.
“His Grace was inside? Was my voice really that loud?”
Olive narrowed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
“Let’s go inside first.”
Marin got up, looking like a frightened puppy.
Olive lit a candle and entered the office.
Marin stuck closely behind him, trying to hide behind his back as much as possible.
Then suddenly her footsteps stopped.
Olive continued walking ahead, and his back—the only shield she had—grew farther away.
Yet she couldn’t move.
Her instincts were warning her.
Danger.
With a tense expression, Marin slowly looked around the office.
Thick black curtains cover every window.
The mahogany desk.
The thick red carpet.
The duke, whose presence dominated the darkness.
Just like yesterday, the office was still dark and lifeless.
Yet something felt strangely off.
Then she realized what was different.
Her shoulders instantly stiffened.
A faint smell of blood lingered in the stale air.
The moment she noticed it, her head spun, and nausea hit her.
The sound of horses crying.
The smell of dusty earth.
Drops of blood falling before her eyes.
No.
I can’t collapse here.
Marin took several deep breaths and forced the old memories out of her mind.
She clenched and unclenched her cold fists to bring warmth back into her hands.
Thankfully, the dizziness gradually disappeared.
Forcing strength into her trembling legs, she hurried back behind Olive.
Why does it smell like blood?
Because of her past trauma, she could detect the scent of blood instantly.
It was faint, but it was definitely blood.
Her green eyes darted around the room.
Did someone die here?
Her imagination ran wild.
She had thought all she’d be doing was reading reports to the duke, like reading a book.
Was this a life-threatening job?
Should she run away while she still could?
She desperately wanted to turn around and flee.
But fear had frozen her body in place.
“That was quite dramatic.”
A predator-like voice emerged from the darkness.
“S-Sorry.”
Marin apologized with trembling lips.
“You said you’d die here if necessary?”
“N-No.”
She quickly denied her own words.
She absolutely did not want to die.
With the faint smell of blood, the office felt less like an office and more like an execution chamber.
The swords displayed on one wall reflected the candlelight, making them appear larger and sharper.
Marin forcibly looked away from the swords and focused on the duke hidden in the darkness.
“So… you really are a spy?”
“What? H-Hic! No.”
A chill ran down the back of her neck.
Marin stopped herself from reaching for it and answered in terror.
“Then why are you so eager to die here?”
The duke’s emotionless tone somehow sounded even scarier.
“Th-That’s not what I meant. Hic. You’re misunderstanding. Hic. I just meant that I really want this job. Hic. I truly don’t want to die. Hic.”
Her hiccups always appeared whenever she got nervous, making her explanation sound even more suspicious.
If she got executed as a spy because of this misunderstanding, she’d die feeling wronged twice over.
“Olive.”
The duke shifted his attention.
Olive lowered his head with a gloomy expression.
“I’m sorry. Because His Grace’s condition isn’t something we can discuss openly, I couldn’t explain the reason and simply told her to go home. I think she misunderstood and thought she was being fired.”
Marin’s green eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck them.
Seriously?
If that was the case, he should’ve explained it better instead of telling her to leave the moment she arrived.
“Miss Marin, I’m sorry. His Grace’s condition is something only a few people should know about. Since you’d only just started working here, I couldn’t quickly decide whether I should tell you or not.”
“Ah… I understand.”
After hearing Olive’s explanation, it made sense.
Who was the duke?
He was practically the king of the western region.
The health and condition of someone that important would naturally be highly confidential.
“So that’s why you caused such a disturbance?”
The duke’s voice echoed coldly.
“I’m sorry.”
Olive bowed deeply.
“I’m sorry.”
Marin also apologized in a tiny voice.
“The report.”
The duke spoke briefly.
“Are you sure you’re alright? You haven’t even received treatment yet…”
Worry filled Olive’s voice.
Treatment?
Marin blinked and looked back and forth between Olive and the duke.
So the smell of blood wasn’t because someone had been killed.
The duke himself was injured?
“Olive, are you a doctor?”
The duke asked lazily.
“I’m your aide.”
Olive corrected him calmly.
“Then do your job. The report.”
“I’ll go get it.”
Olive gave a small bow and left the office.
Now only Marin and the duke remained.
Knowing no one had died there helped her relax a little.
She cautiously glanced toward the duke, but his face remained hidden in the darkness.
Marin hesitated before carefully speaking.
“Your Grace…”
The duke didn’t answer.
“I’m really not a spy.”
Marin squeezed her eyes shut and gathered every last scrap of courage she had.
“Have you ever seen a spy say, ‘I’m a spy’?”
There was a faint trace of mockery in the duke’s low voice.
