TMLYSISAT CH 05

Perhaps Peter was worried about me, because he started telling me some funny stories from his time working at the ducal household to lighten the mood.

Thanks to him, I felt much better.

As we walked and talked, we reached our room before I knew it. Before entering his own room, Peter spoke to me.

“Don’t worry too much about what happened today and get some good rest. Everyone’s like that at first.”

“Yes…… Thank you.”

“Alright. Get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Only after watching Peter enter his room did I turn the doorknob to mine.

At the same time, the door suddenly flew open.

The person who had opened it was none other than Abel.

I ended up bumping my face into his body, so I rubbed my nose and asked him,

“Where are you going?”

His hair was still wet, so it seemed like he had taken a bath…… Was he going out again?

I looked up at Abel questioningly, and he spoke.

“I was feeling restless, so I was going to take a walk. Want to come?”

Despite what he said, his expression looked like he had something important to tell me.

I nodded.

The moment Abel saw my answer, he quickened his pace.

The place where Abel finally stopped was behind a building where hardly anyone passed by.

“Is something wrong?”

Concerned by his behavior, I quickly spoke the moment he stopped walking.

But despite having walked so fiercely just moments ago, Abel wore an unexpectedly casual expression.

“It’s nothing…… It’s just that our room is the only one without a soundproofing spell.”

……Why was he suddenly talking about magic?

Wasn’t it normal for our room not to have one?

Magic that could be applied to objects was incredibly expensive. It was much stranger for them to put a spell on a mere servants’ room.

Abel tilted his head slightly and continued.

“Roel needed my help with something, so I stopped by her room earlier. But there was a soundproofing spell on the walls of Roel’s room.”

“……And?”

“I checked our room just in case, and the structure of the magic circle in our room was a little strange.”

I had never learned anything about magic circles, so I didn’t really know what he was talking about.

When I looked at him with a puzzled expression, Abel added,

“To put it simply, we can’t hear anything from the room next to us, but sounds from our room can be heard in the room next door.”

Hmm.

That was pretty strange.

“……Why?”

“I’m not sure, but…… maybe the magic circle is structured that way because the room had been vacant until we started using it. The magic circle in our room would function just like the others if we changed just one formula.”

“……”

“It’s nothing serious, but it feels unsettling, so let’s be careful about what we say even in our room.”

Abel smiled as though it were nothing important.

The problem was that his expression only made the whole thing feel even more suspicious.

Regardless of the uneasiness I felt, several days passed without anything particularly happening.

Of course, the reason things had been so peaceful was because the Duke had gone away on a business trip.

Still, I thought that even after the Duke returned, I would be able to get along with him just fine.

Because I thought he would have completely forgotten everything!

He wasn’t the kind of person who had enough free time to pay attention to a mere servant, and he came from a bloodline far more prestigious than mine.

“Charles!”

The Duke’s voice, which I hadn’t heard in a while, echoed throughout the mansion.

His voice was so loud that I wondered who on earth he was calling.

It seemed that one of his friends had come to visit the estate.

At the thunderous sound of his voice, Flynn, who was helping me clear the table, flinched and his eyes widened like a startled rabbit.

I was afraid the Duke might approach us, but judging by the fact that he was calling a name I had never heard before, I didn’t think he was coming our way.

I lowered my head and focused desperately on spreading the tablecloth, determined not to make eye contact with him even once.

But Flynn, who was standing in front of me, gradually became more and more restless.

Eventually, he half-bowed and greeted someone behind me.

Only then did I realize something was happening and began to turn around.

At that exact moment, the strong scent of musk suddenly filled the air, and someone placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Charles, how can you pretend not to know me when you’re making me feel so disappointed?”

When I turned around and saw the Duke, my eyes began darting around.

Am I Charles……?

I desperately tried to figure out what the Duke was doing, but I couldn’t remember causing any trouble since that day.

Of course, there was no way I could voice my confusion.

Instead, I put on a bright smile and greeted him.

“It’s been a while, Your Grace.”

Ridden didn’t answer my greeting.

He simply stared at me intently from up close.

I turned my gaze away as much as possible to avoid making eye contact with him.

With nowhere else to go, my gaze naturally fell upon the Duke’s arm draped over my shoulder.

On his pale wrist, dangling right beside my face, was an expensive-looking wristwatch that was obviously worth a fortune.

The moment I saw the watch sparkling beautifully in the sunlight coming through the window, my entire body stiffened with tension.

That watch probably cost as much as a car, right?

Whatever the case, if I broke that thing, there was no way I could earn enough money to pay for it even if I worked for the rest of my life.

So I had to be extremely careful not to let my pathetic body touch that watch.

But the Duke, completely unaware of my concerns, continued speaking.

“Have you learned a lot since you started working?”

“……Yes, yes! I’m learning very diligently!”

Every time that damned watch came close to my body, I twisted and shifted in all directions while imagining every possible disaster that could happen if it broke.

But instead of letting me move away from him, the Duke simply tightened his grip on my shoulder.

“My whole body still hurts because you threw me with all your strength last time. So you’ll have to make sure something like that never happens again.”

The Duke whispered softly beside my ear.

His voice was incredibly ominous.

On top of that, the scent coming from him combined with his voice and sent chills all over my body.

Why was even his natural scent so terrifying?

“Y-Yes, of course!”

I hurriedly answered the Duke.

“Good. Keep working that hard from now on.”

After lightly patting my shoulder a few times, the Duke gave a small chuckle and finally let me go.

Anyway, judging by what he said, it seemed that I had even left bruises on his body.

To think that I, a mere servant, had actually injured the Duke…… I felt dizzy just thinking about it.

The Duke also said something to Flynn, who was standing beside us without knowing what to do, in what was presumably a polite way of saying, You work hard too.

The problem was that the way he said it sounded less like encouragement and more like a death sentence.

Work hard, or you’ll die too.

We kept bowing nervously until the Duke disappeared from sight, then finally raised our heads.

“Chase, d-did something h-happen between you and His Grace?”

The moment the Duke was out of sight, Flynn cautiously asked me.

I rolled my eyes around, then realized I had nothing in particular to say, so I simply shook my head.

If I carelessly said something without thinking and it somehow reached the Duke’s ears……

Oh, my goodness.

Just imagining it was horrifying enough.

Fortunately, Flynn was quick-witted and didn’t ask me any more questions about it.

Instead, perhaps feeling sorry for me, he brought some snacks from the kitchen.

Flynn was a friend I had become close to while helping out in the dining hall when they were short-staffed.

He had a gentle appearance, and we had many things in common, so we quickly became friends.

On top of that, Flynn’s parents had worked at the ducal household, so he had lived here ever since he was born.

Thanks to that, he knew a lot about the place.

Apparently, he had even seen the Duke when he was young with his own two eyes.

Of course, that didn’t mean they had ever been close.

Flynn currently worked in the ducal household’s kitchen, but his dream was to run a restaurant under his own name.

He said that as soon as he saved enough money to open one, he planned to leave this place immediately.

Whenever Flynn talked about his ambitions, his eyes seemed to sparkle.

People with a light like that had a certain power that naturally drew others to them.

That was probably why I had become close to Flynn so quickly.

He had a clear goal in life, and honestly, I envied him for that.

Did I say before that Ridden Akarut was better than the rumors made him out to be?

I take that back right now.

That man was more incomprehensible than anyone I had ever met.

This happened just a few days ago.

I had no idea Ridden had so many enemies.

Of course, considering his personality, it would have been stranger if he didn’t have a single enemy.

But regardless, Ridden was the only Duke in the kingdom.

I never expected anyone to be bold enough to actually try to kill him.

I blinked several times as I looked at the man tightly bound to a chair.

Had I actually been hired as an executioner rather than a servant?

I couldn’t understand why there was a gun in my hand.

Unlike me, however, Ridden Akarut didn’t even bat an eye.

He simply urged me on from beside me.

“Charles, what are you doing?”

“……Your Grace?”

Ridden lightly nodded toward the gun in my hand.

“Should I pull the trigger, or should you?”

Wasn’t it obviously supposed to be you who pulled the trigger rather than me?

I had never felt a handgun so heavy in my hand before.

“Charles, answer me. You’re my person, aren’t you?”

“……Yes, I’m Your Grace’s person.”

Perhaps he liked my answer, because Ridden smiled brightly.

“Then pull the trigger.”

But despite his cheerful expression, there was an enormous sense of dissonance in the words he casually uttered.

The man with a gag in his mouth was making muffled noises.

When I met his completely bloodshot eyes, I instinctively hurriedly looked away.