Chapter 11
…Once again, I look forward to your brave service.
It was an Imperial decree.
Elliot crumpled the expensive parchment bearing the Emperor’s signature and threw it into the corner of his desk without hesitation.
Daniel picked it up and smoothed it open.
His frown became as wrinkled as the decree itself.
“You only returned from your last campaign less than a month ago.”
And now…
The Emperor was ordering him to eliminate monsters along the eastern border.
He had only one week before he had to depart.
“They say doing your job too well becomes a problem.”
“Perhaps the real problem is that I keep coming back alive every time.”
Daniel gave a bitter smile.
Across from him, Elliot covered his forehead with one hand.
How many deployment orders has this been already this year?
Simply refusing wasn’t an option.
No matter what…
The Emperor would certainly take revenge.
He had even considered intentionally losing a battle.
If he kept failing…
Perhaps the Emperor would finally stop calling on him.
But whether it was war or monster subjugation…
If he lost…
The innocent people of the Empire would suffer.
He couldn’t sacrifice others for his own personal benefit.
Yet every time he left the Grand Duke’s estate…
His younger siblings were placed in danger.
No matter how important the Empire’s interests were…
That was one thing he could never compromise on.
What should I do this time?
As Elliot leaned back deeply into his chair, lost in thought…
Daniel handed him another rolled-up document.
“And here are the reports from the alchemist and the pharmacist.”
This…
Was what Elliot had truly been waiting for.
He immediately opened it.
As he read through the report…
The sharpness in his eyes gradually softened.
“They found nothing?”
“No.”
“They said it’s simply an ordinary… delicious cake.”
The famous mage who had examined the cake earlier had reached the same conclusion.
There were no curses.
No poison.
No magical potion.
That was a relief.
As soon as Elliot brought Luna and Luka back to the mansion…
He had called both mages and physicians to examine them.
Their conclusions matched the report about the cake.
The mage said he couldn’t detect even the slightest trace of dark magic or curses on the children.
The physician had even admired how healthy and well-nourished they were.
But…
The more reports Elliot received…
The more questions he had.
Not fewer.
“Hm…”
“So it was really just a normal cake?”
“That can’t be.”
Daniel shook his head firmly.
“That witch must have used some evil spell that no one knows about.”
“But they said they couldn’t sense anything.”
“They did… but…”
“I couldn’t sense anything either.”
At the witch’s cottage…
Elliot had been too worried about his siblings to think calmly.
But now that he looked back on it…
That witch had been suspicious…
Because she wasn’t suspicious at all.
“An evil witch carefully taking care of children…”
“There’s no way she didn’t have some hidden motive.”
“Exactly.”
“But she didn’t ask for money.”
“She didn’t try to assassinate anyone.”
“She didn’t even try to eat them.”
“But everyone knows the rumors that she bakes people.”
“Those are only rumors.”
“No one has ever claimed that a family member was actually eaten.”
“But plenty of people say they’ve suffered because of the witch’s tricks.”
Daniel began listing Hazel’s past misdeeds one by one.
She once turned a villager into a frog…
Simply because she didn’t like the way he looked at her.
During the annual grape-stomping festival…
She supposedly turned the crushed grapes into mice.
There was also a witch who had never gotten along with the Witch of the Black Forest.
She mysteriously became sick and eventually died.
There was no proof Hazel was responsible…
But the rumor still spread.
Even more surprisingly…
A few years ago, Hazel had completely changed her appearance.
That magic was normally reserved only for Imperial court mages because it was useful for espionage.
Still…
She never used her new face to hide her identity.
She openly walked around as herself.
Since there was no sign of any evil intention…
No one made an issue of it.
“But what’s strange…”
Daniel continued.
“She suddenly stopped doing all those evil things a few years ago.”
In other words…
Right around the time her appearance had changed.
“How suspicious.”
Elliot frowned.
That woman…
Didn’t feel like the witch he had heard so many rumors about.
“Maybe she’s only pretending to be kind because she has a more approachable face now.”
“To fool people.”
Elliot smiled faintly.
“If someone’s beautiful enough to fool people…”
“Do they really need to pretend to be kind too?”
Daniel immediately understood he was talking about someone in the Imperial Palace.
He gave a bitter smile and nodded.
“They wouldn’t even need to be intelligent.”
The corner of Elliot’s mouth lifted slightly.
Then…
The smile disappeared.
Now wasn’t the time to joke.
He only had one week before leaving for another campaign.
There was no way to avoid going.
Before he left…
He had to stop Luna and Luka from running away again.
The Grand Duke’s mansion already had such a terrible reputation…
That there wasn’t even another nanny willing to apply.
Finding someone who could win the children’s hearts in only one week…
Was almost impossible.
The servants were loyal.
But…
Elliot no longer trusted them to keep watch over his siblings.
Last time…
Even with the Imperial Guards watching them…
The children had somehow slipped away.
“We don’t mean that nanny! Bring Hazel back!”
Luna’s words echoed again and again inside Elliot’s mind.
Should I trust my instincts?
His instincts had rarely been wrong.
Besides…
Elliot wasn’t someone who hesitated for long.
Once he made a decision…
He acted immediately.
He raised his head.
“Sir Daniel.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“You used to be a Holy Knight, didn’t you?”
Elliot smiled brightly.
Daniel immediately felt uneasy.
Actually…
The moment Elliot had addressed him as “Sir Daniel” instead of simply “Daniel,”
He had already sensed trouble.
And sadly…
His instincts about his superior…
Had never been wrong.
At this rate…
Autumn will be over before I know it.
I quickly finished getting ready to leave and picked up my empty basket.
If I didn’t gather the mushrooms before they became too soft and dry them…
I wouldn’t get to eat mushrooms again until next autumn.
“I’m heading out.”
I picked up Daisy, who was wagging her tail on the table, and waved at Lady.
Lady was lying lazily on a sunny patch of the floor.
The moment I grabbed the doorknob…
She chuckled quietly.
[Tell him to get on his knees and beg.]
“Who?”
[You’ll find out soon enough.]
I tilted my head in confusion.
Then I opened the door.
And froze.
The man standing outside…
Also froze the moment our eyes met.
The Grand Duke?
A man with silver hair…
And purple eyes.
The Grand Duke of the Blaine family.
I blinked several times in disbelief.
Then I looked behind him.
Where are my little chestnuts?
Well…
Of course he hadn’t brought them.
There wasn’t even a carriage.
Not even any guards.
Only a single white horse stood outside the fence, snorting impatiently.
Then why is he here?
As I looked back at him…
Something caught my eye.
Because of the rain that morning…
The front yard was still damp.
And it was covered with footprints.
Only one person’s footprints.
Judging from the way they wandered back and forth…
He must have been standing there for quite a while, thinking.
I stared at him suspiciously.
The Grand Duke awkwardly lowered the hand he had raised to knock.
Then he spoke politely.
“Miss Hazel.”
“Could you spare a little of your time?”
Not long ago…
He had called me an evil witch.
A kidnapper.
Now he was politely calling me “Miss Hazel.”
At that moment…
My suspicion became certainty.
He came because he wants to ask me for something.
People who once pointed fingers at me and called me an evil witch…
Always changed their attitude when they wanted a favor.
Please curse someone.
Please kill someone.
Please make someone fall in love with me.
I had heard those selfish requests countless times.
Is the Grand Duke the same?
How shameless.
“I’m busy.”
I walked right past him without stopping.
As soon as I stepped into the yard…
I flicked a finger.
Bang!
The cottage door slammed shut behind me.
The Grand Duke remained where he was.
He simply watched me with slightly displeased eyes.
[That man smells like the little ones!]
Daisy panted happily in my arms and wagged her tail wildly.
[Don’t wag your tail for him. He’s a bad man.]
I covered Daisy’s eyes before she could lean over my shoulder to look at him again.
Then I walked out through the gate.
Judging by how calm the Grand Duke looked…
Nothing serious had happened to Luna and Luka.
So there was no reason for me to talk to him.
…What?
As I walked deeper into the forest…
I suddenly stopped.
At the exact same moment…
The footsteps behind me also stopped.
Only then did I turn around.
The Grand Duke stood on the narrow forest path about three steps away.
His arms were crossed.
Out of habit…
He smiled slightly when our eyes met.
But…
His eyes weren’t smiling at all.
“Why are you following me?”
“To make this conversation quicker.”
“I’m a busy man.”
“If you’re so busy…”
“Wouldn’t it be better if you went back?”
It wasn’t like me to answer so coldly.
But…
Thinking about how he had mistreated the children…
I simply couldn’t smile at him.
Besides…
If he had abandoned them before…
Why had he suddenly taken them back?
What is he planning?
Grumbling to myself…
I started walking again.
Behind me…
His footsteps followed once more.
“Where are you going?”
“To the forest.”
“Aren’t we already in the forest?”
“…”
“Fine.”
“Let me ask a different question.”
“What are you going there for?”
I answered without even turning around.
“I’m taking Your Grace deep into the forest to offer you as a sacrifice at a secret altar.”
