CHAPTER 10
As soon as I got that feeling, I took out a pen and a letter just as I had at home.
“To Dylan Banker.
Thank you, I received your letter safely.
I’m very glad to hear that you’re doing well.
Even if you’re busy, please take care of your health.
Oh, and I’m only saying this just in case.
I have absolutely no intention of returning to the Knights’ Order, so if His Highness the Crown Prince brings it up, I hope you’ll make sure to stop him on your end.
I won’t forget this favor.
However, I am willing to summon the Guild Alliance in the event of an emergency.
Take care.
H. LV”
Then I summoned a magical carrier pigeon again, opened the window, and hurriedly sent off the letter.
I had even spent a fortune installing a communication orb in the guildmaster’s office, yet I couldn’t even use it.
But what kind of person was Kailus?
The mastermind of all masterminds!
He might track me down by shaking every last speck of dust loose, so I had no choice but to put up with the inconvenience.
Only after the blue light had completely disappeared did I take my eyes off it.
Good, I had to block off every troublesome thing before it could even get started.
I was already too busy preparing to run away, so there was no way I could let something else come along and hold me back.
I had once sobbed in front of Dylan Banker and begged him to help me quit the Knights’ Order, so there was no doubt he would help even if I only wrote this much.
I felt bad, but it couldn’t be helped.
Knock, knock.
“Guildmaster, it’s Nijella.”
I was airing out the room when I heard Nijella’s voice outside the door.
“Ah, yes, right, come in.”
I waved my hands frantically to get rid of even the lingering smell of smoke, then hurriedly sat down and began flipping through the documents busily as I called Nijella in.
I briefly raised my head as though checking the papers before lowering it again, and Nijella came in through the open door without closing it behind her.
“The new employee has arrived for the interview.”
“Oh, she’s here already.”
“Do you mean she’s right outside?”
“Yes, Guildmaster.”
Noah had told me that morning that he had found someone new to help me with my work and that I should meet her, so apparently she had already arrived.
I knew very well that everyone, including Nijella, was Noah’s person.
But every employee he had sent me so far had been an elite who was quick-witted and exceptionally competent, so I decided to hire her for the time being.
I didn’t want to arouse suspicion, either.
I had employed someone even before I met Noah.
Even after meeting Noah, I had hired an employee of my own.
But none of them had ever been satisfactory, and one of them had even robbed my safe while I was away, so I had given that person a thorough lesson.
She had approached me from the very beginning because she coveted the safe.
“Maybe I really don’t know how to judge people…”
“Pardon, Guildmaster?”
“I’m sorry, I thought I heard you say something.”
I waved my hand at Nijella without taking my eyes off the documents.
“No, I was just talking to myself.”
“Tell her to come in.”
I heard Nijella respond, and soon afterward, I heard someone entering.
“Welcome, you said you wanted to work here?”
I asked while busily flipping through the papers.
I didn’t particularly want to be friendly with her.
After all, she hadn’t really come because she wanted to work here but because she had been ordered to.
I planned to give her a simple job after roughly approving her, so I merely nodded without even properly looking at her.
“Hello, my name is Ginger Perian.”
The woman who introduced herself as Ginger Perian began giving a proper introduction, explaining her strengths and weaknesses.
Her name sounded incredibly familiar, but why?
Perian… Perian…
“Perian?”
“I look forward to working with you… Pardon?”
The woman, who had been repeatedly bowing at a perfect ninety-degree angle, stopped awkwardly at my question.
I immediately raised my head.
In front of me stood a woman with snow-white hair tied neatly into a single ponytail, without even a stray strand out of place.
Perhaps it was because of her pronounced double eyelids, or perhaps because of her very dark light-green eyes, but she looked lively even while standing still.
I stared almost entranced at her mysterious combination of colors and features, and she clasped her hands together and bowed politely.
“Yes, I’m Ginger Perian.”
“I look forward to working with you!”
“……”
I stood up right then and there.
I walked around the desk and approached Ginger Perian so I could get a closer look.
Was she really Ginger Perian?
Why was she here?
She was supposed to work at the capital’s gladiator arena before eventually becoming one of Lily Dayworth’s people.
As I approached, Ginger Perian blinked her green eyes.
They said she was tall, and she really was.
She looked close to 175 centimeters tall.
Ginger Perian.
Unlike Hazel Love, who left the story early on after dying from overwork, she appeared from the middle of the story onward.
Perhaps because she had a greater role than Hazel Love, everything from her appearance to her background was more detailed and distinctive, but unfortunately, she was ultimately a character who died while defeating the final mastermind.
The reason I remembered Ginger even more clearly was that she had been personally taken in by the female protagonist, Lily Dayworth, and was the kind of person who never refused dirty work and always got the job done, with an obsession with money being one of her defining traits.
In other words, Ginger was completely obsessed with money.
She would do anything for money.
She had already been crazy about money to begin with, but there was an event that made her even more obsessed with it.
Ginger fell in love with a man who was working as a slave gladiator at the arena she had entered to make money.
Ginger wanted to free him from danger and be with him.
But the slave gladiator was quite skilled, which meant a huge amount of money had been wagered on him, so she needed an enormous sum of money to buy her lover’s freedom.
So she worked herself to the bone to gain Kailus’s favor, eventually going as far as kidnapping Lily Dayworth.
But who was Lily Dayworth?
She was none other than the female protagonist.
Thanks to the protagonist’s halo, Lily succeeded in persuading Ginger Perian with ease.
After hearing Ginger’s circumstances, Lily Dayworth instead made the generous declaration that she would help Ginger.
The male protagonist, Jade, heard Lily’s request and helped get Ginger’s lover released.
After that, Ginger became one of Lily’s supporters.
Although Kailus’s men regarded her as a traitor and put her in danger, she stubbornly survived.
Her ending was ultimately death, but that was the kind of character she was.
But why had Ginger, who was supposed to be in the capital, come here?
At this point in the story, she should have been completely smitten with her slave-gladiator lover.
Could this also be happening because Kailus had left the capital, where most of the story took place during the early and middle parts?
When I saw her in the original story, she really did everything she was told.
As far as I remembered, Ginger Perian could handle everything from menial chores to wielding a sword, and she had even learned some basic herbalism.
To be honest, I really wanted her.
If the female protagonist could make use of her, why couldn’t I?
She was going to betray Kailus anyway.
And since I knew how Ginger Perian would die, if she helped me safely, I might even be able to tell her how to avoid her death.
As I stared at her, Ginger Perian’s pale face gradually turned red.
Ah, had I been staring too much?
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“You can start working today, right?”
“Yes, Guildmaster!”
“Just tell me what to do!”
“Good.”
“For the time being, Nijella will teach you the work.”
“There’s nothing difficult, so don’t worry.”
“Let’s work well together from now on.”
I smiled sweetly and held out my hand to Ginger Perian.
Ginger Perian hesitantly extended her hand.
She looked extremely shy and nervous.
I knew that in reality she was quite good at using rather colorful profanity and had a fairly prickly personality.
It seemed she was putting on an act so she wouldn’t reveal her true self.
Well, as long as she did her job well, that was all that mattered to me.
I should lure her over to my side soon.
I smiled again and shook the hand I had clasped with Ginger Perian.
—
“Is there a lot of work?”
I had brought several documents from the office and was looking over them for a while in the bedroom.
Noah approached the bed and sat down beside me, then lightly massaged my neck and shoulders.
Warmth spread across my skin, and my stiff neck gradually began to relax into a pleasant, languid state.
Once I realized that all this kindness was merely an act, I had started having the somewhat wicked thought that I might as well use him in return.
After that, I gradually began to feel more at ease.
“There are just a few things I need to check.”
“I’ll be done soon.”
“Now that the new employee has arrived, this kind of work will decrease once her training is finished.”
“I really like the sound of that.”
Noah smiled sweetly and moved farther toward the middle of the bed.
As I gave the settlement report Nijella had organized one final look, Noah lifted the blanket.
“Hazel, your feet.”
“Hm?”
Before I could even react, Noah had taken hold of my foot.
“Ah, it’s okay.”
I felt a little embarrassed and subtly tried to pull my foot away, but Noah noticed and gently tightened his grip around it with a smile.
“I’m your husband, so what’s there to be embarrassed about?”
Noah warmly held my foot in both hands, and my toes curled instinctively.
His hands moved heavily yet gently from my toes all the way up to the back of my knee.
Was Kailus the kind of person who would use any means necessary to achieve his goals like this?
He really was impossible to understand.
I thought I should keep him at least a little distracted.
People tended to overlook small things when they were busy.
“……”
As I stared blankly at his massaging hands, Noah let out a quiet chuckle.
“Hazel, your gaze is awfully heated.”
His hands massaging my foot became even more languid.
I gave him a sidelong glare.
“No, it’s not!”
“I was just looking innocently.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not.”
“I like it when you want me, Hazel.”
Even as he said that, Noah continued moving his hands diligently.
“…Noah, you know.”
“Yes, tell me.”
“I’ve been thinking about something lately.”
“What have you been thinking about?”
“Tell me, my wife.”
Noah asked gently, with an expression that showed he had no idea what I was about to say.
“I’m thinking about expanding my business.”
“Expanding?”
“Yes.”
“Things are good as they are, but I think Ferrarium has reached its limits when it comes to taking on requests.”
“I think it would be better to open branches in other regions.”
“I’ve hired a new employee, too, so I think this is the perfect time.”
“Another region…”
It seemed like an unexpected proposal, because Noah fell into thought.
Sorry.
It was unexpected to me, too.
I had literally just made it up.
“So I’d like you to help me, Noah.”
“Will you do it?”
After everything he had done for me, he couldn’t very well refuse, could he?
Hadn’t he promised that he would do whatever I wanted when we got married?
His goal was right in front of him, so he would do anything for me.
“If that’s what Hazel wants, anything.”
“But won’t it be difficult?”
“You’re already so busy that you barely have time to rest.”
“It’s okay.”
“I have Noah, after all.”
“I want to work hard and become a wonderful wife for Noah!”
The corners of Noah’s mouth, which had stiffened for a moment, soon curved into a smooth smile.
“If that’s what my wife wants, then so be it.”
“I’ll look into it.”
Noah lightly kissed my knee.
“Thank you, Noah!”
Work hard and keep yourself busy, because I need to prepare to run away.
I almost smiled at the thought that I might turn the tables and leave him flustered instead.
At first, all I had felt was betrayal and despair.
Heh heh heh.
“Hazel, then I’ll look into it thoroughly.”
“…Hm?”
“If I’m going to work hard on this, does that mean you’re giving me your precious time right now?”
His large hand pulled me toward him, and before I knew it, I was lying down.
He smiled as though he had been waiting for this.
Damn it, I let my guard down.
