Chapter 5
Somehow, I have to hide the fact that I already know the secret of the ducal family.
Then, three years from now, I will safely leave Winsphere.
“Are you not coming?”
I clenched my fists at the simple and straightforward solution.
“…I have to.”
I jumped to my feet and walked through the door Bael had opened for me.
The terrible interior design I had seen while walking through the mansion earlier came into view.
And then…
“Oh my, nap time is over.”
The moment Bael finished speaking, demons began appearing one by one, stumbling out after finishing their naps.
They didn’t even bother hiding the horns growing from their heads.
They casually flew around using the wings on their backs.
“Everyone, please quietly return to your respective positions.”
Bael’s voice echoed through the hallway, and the demons immediately turned their attention toward us.
I stared blankly into the air and thought.
…If I collapse here, will this count as a workplace accident?
I thought I would be able to meet the Duke immediately, but he wasn’t there, so I couldn’t see him.
“Hmm, His Grace is away.”
Bael said it as though he had already expected this.
He checked his watch and then asked me,
“You don’t have any other luggage with you right now, correct?”
“Ah, yes.”
“There probably won’t be any suitable clothes for you in the nearby clothing shops… And having new clothes made would take several days. Why don’t you go get your luggage now?”
“Now?”
“You’ll be busy learning your work starting tomorrow. If you don’t go now, you’ll have to sleep in those clothes tonight.”
“Oh.”
Only then did I realize what I looked like.
I had been walking around outside while the rain was pouring heavily, so I was a complete mess.
“I suppose I should go back.”
“Then I’ll have the mage prepared, just as when you came here. Mr. Ro…an will escort you.”
Did he hesitate strangely in the middle of his sentence?
Or was that just my imagination?
“Yes. That would be more convenient for me too.”
“Then I’ll leave you to it.”
Only after Bael left did I take a proper look at the room.
After seeing that horrifying hallway and drawing room, I had been worried.
But surprisingly, they had given me a perfectly normal room.
Bael occasionally clicked his tongue and said that he would redecorate it because he didn’t seem to like it, but I did my best to ignore him.
Even though I had lived as a baron’s daughter, I had never actually had a room of my own.
I was leisurely looking around the first room I had ever truly been given when…
“Miss Walker, it’s me.”
I heard a beautiful voice.
Roan was probably a demon too, but perhaps because he had been kind to me when he came to pick me up, I didn’t feel the same sense of disgust toward him as I did toward the other demons.
“Yes, Mr. Roan. I’m coming.”
My steps toward the door gradually slowed.
I slowly repeated the name I had just said aloud.
“Ro…an?”
My face gradually stiffened.
The Duke I was about to meet, and the final villain of this world…
His name was also Roan Winsphere.
“There’s no way.”
But it was a very uncommon name.
Thud.
All the strength suddenly left my legs.
“Miss Walker? Is something wrong?”
“……”
“Excuse me, but I’ll come in.”
The door opened, and he entered.
How had I not realized it?
That unmistakable black hair.
Those red eyes that looked as if they could swallow me whole at any moment.
‘Damn it. It was all a scam from beginning to end!’
Tears welled up in my eyes.
I swallowed the words desperately trying to escape my throat and slowly got back on my feet.
“Are you all right?”
Of course I wasn’t!
I had no idea why that crazy demon had dragged me into this mess in the first place.
“Are your legs all right?”
“Yes, yes. I’ve just had so many things happen all at once…”
The fact that this was a world inside a book.
The fact that all of you were demons.
The fact that you were the final villain.
And so on.
I wanted to glare at Roan, but I forced myself to keep my eyes steady and held back.
I could feel his obvious gaze on me.
But I desperately tried not to turn my head.
“My goodness. Miss Walker, you’re rather weak.”
Roan tilted his head and looked me over.
‘I’m scared…!’
My hands became sweaty, and my throat went dry.
But I couldn’t act suspiciously here.
I tried my best not to make eye contact with him.
How on earth had I managed to look at that face earlier and speak to him so casually?
Perhaps because I now knew Roan’s true identity, my skin felt as though it were prickling.
“Ha ha. Is that so?”
“Now that I look at you, you seem rather thin.”
Thin?
Why was he mentioning that?
Was he planning to eat me or something…?
Fortunately, there seemed to be no deeper meaning behind his words.
Roan merely shrugged.
“I’ll have to make sure to move more slowly. I walk too fast, so I’d better match your pace.”
“Ah, yes. Th-that sounds good.”
“Take my hand.”
“Huh? Yes! Yes?”
I stared at the hand Roan held out to me.
When I didn’t immediately take it, he tilted his head as if asking why I wasn’t grabbing it.
I should have paid a little more attention to our conversation and politely refused.
That thought filled my mind, but I couldn’t take back the answer I had already given.
In the end, I had no choice but to take Roan’s hand.
When we stepped into the hallway together, there was no one around.
Roan and I walked through the silent hallway.
The silence made me nervous, so I forced myself to speak.
“Ah, no… I mean, I don’t see anyone else.”
“Yes, there isn’t anyone.”
His cheerful answer immediately made a warning bell ring in my head.
Don’t ask anything else.
I simply laughed awkwardly and nodded.
“Ah… yes.”
Was my behavior strange?
Roan slowly stopped walking and tilted his head to the side.
“Aren’t you going to ask why?”
I don’t want to know.
I really, really don’t want to know.
But isn’t this what social life was like?
Even when you didn’t want to do something, you had to force yourself to do it.
I held back the hiccup that was about to escape and asked,
“Why… why aren’t they around?”
My voice trembled, but I pinched my thigh and tried my best to keep my voice steady.
“Because they went to do their respective jobs.”
“…I see.”
“Exactly.”
Roan had a talent for making simple things sound terrifying.
Since I had opened the conversation, Roan continued asking questions.
“Is there anything you’re curious about regarding your work?”
“No. Not really.”
I didn’t exactly want to hear about it from the person who had thrown me into this pit in the first place.
“If I have any questions, I can ask Mr. Bael.”
At my answer, Roan made a strange expression before slightly raising the corners of his mouth.
“By the way, Miss Walker. While you’re working as the Duke’s aide, you won’t have to meet His Grace.”
What kind of nonsense was that?
“You’ll be working with me instead.”
My eyes naturally narrowed.
‘But you’re the Duke yourself.’
Was he planning to hide the fact that he was the Duke from me?
Why?
Aside from being afraid of the situation, I didn’t like the way he kept talking around the subject instead of giving me a straight answer.
“Oh, I’m an aide, but I won’t actually have to meet the Duke?”
I even forgot that I was supposed to control my expression and stared straight at Roan.
But he was shameless beyond my expectations.
“There shouldn’t be any major problems even if you don’t meet the Duke.”
“You said you were looking for an aide who would stay here all the time. I don’t need to stay by his side?”
“Miss Walker, you seem very interested in the Duke of Winsphere.”
My expression nearly crumpled at Roan’s question.
I didn’t want to be interested in him.
I didn’t want to be involved with him ever again.
But I couldn’t say that.
So I chose a reasonable answer.
“Well, he’s my employer, and he’s the person I’ll be serving for the next three years. That’s what I understood when I signed the contract.”
“Hmm, that’s understandable. But I’ll deliver most matters to His Grace myself, so you’ll mainly be seeing my face.”
“Oh, are you an aide too, Lord Roan? Then I suppose you were the one who requested additional staff earlier, rather than Mr. Bael? Haha!”
“Well, yes.”
I wanted to ask whether any of this made sense at all, but I desperately suppressed my irritation.
The fact that everyone here was deceiving me was ridiculous and frustrating.
But the man standing in front of me was a demon.
If I said something careless, I might be killed on the spot.
Or I might end up being trapped here for the rest of my life.
Shiver.
‘Oh, Liliana. That was a really terrible thought.’
My body suddenly trembled.
The vibration traveled to Roan beside me.
He tilted his head at my reaction.
“Are you cold?”
“No! It’s just that I’m not used to the weather here.”
“Ah, that can happen. But you’ll get used to it soon. After all, this is your home now, Miss Walker.”
