Chapter 31
With Gorgo leading the way, Lucy arrived at the library and searched for books about dragons, rituals, and holy power.
She gathered as many books as she could and started reading.
She needed something to focus on to calm the anxiety growing inside her.
One of the books explained that using too much holy power at once could make someone faint.
“So that’s why. I knew something felt strange.”
Now she finally understood why she had suddenly gotten a nosebleed and fainted in the bathtub.
It wasn’t just because she got excited.
Edward had also absorbed a huge amount of her holy power.
“If you think about it, it wasn’t only because my stamina is weak.”
Honestly, she felt Edward was partly responsible too.
Yet she was the one being blamed for being physically weak, which felt unfair.
“He could have… enjoyed it a little less.”
Of course, she couldn’t actually say that.
She had enjoyed it too much herself.
“First, figure out the limits of your holy power… I’ll remember that.”
She kept reading.
“When using it for healing… Oh.”
She kept reading.
“Hmm… sealing monsters…”
After sitting still and reading everything she could find, Lucy was lucky enough to discover several clues about the ritual.
They weren’t enough to solve everything, but it was still a huge achievement.
“As expected. The library of the place where a Dragon Incarnation is born really is different.”
There were many rare books that would be difficult to find anywhere else.
It also seemed that someone before her had researched Dragon Incarnations and dragon rituals because those books were cleaner and had much less dust than the others.
Now all she had to do was find the missing pieces, combine them with what she had read in the original novel, and recreate the Dragon Incarnation ritual.
“But I won’t tell him until the contract is officially signed.”
“I think that’s enough for today.”
She had been so focused that a lot of time had passed.
Lucy stretched her stiff body.
“Um…”
Someone called her timidly.
“W-Would you like to have your meal…?”
She turned around and saw several maids looking at her awkwardly.
“This feels familiar.”
The knights she met while training with Edward always looked at her with the same expression.
As if they had no idea how they should treat her.
“If you want… I mean, if you would like… your meal has been prepared in the dining hall…”
“I mean… the servants’ dining hall… no, the main dining hall…”
Their speech was awkward, switching between formal and informal language.
It was obvious.
“They don’t know how they’re supposed to treat me.”
She understood.
Lucy didn’t really belong anywhere in the mansion.
She wasn’t exactly a guest because she had come for a contract, and Edward himself didn’t treat her like one.
But she wasn’t a servant either because the contract still hadn’t been signed.
Naturally, the maids and knights didn’t know what her status was.
Lucy also felt awkward.
“Um… I can eat later…”
“The Duke told us to make sure you eat properly…”
The conversation continued awkwardly.
“Anyway… if you decide to eat, please come to the dining hall…”
The maids quickly left after delivering the message.
Lucy watched them go with an embarrassed smile.
“I’ve been starving anyway.”
She decided she might as well eat.
She couldn’t stop thinking about how Edward had told everyone to make sure she ate properly.
“He won’t sign the contract, and he doesn’t tell me important things…”
“But he still makes sure I eat.”
“He really knows how to make people lower their guard.”
Grumbling to herself, Lucy walked out of the library.
Or at least she tried to.
She suddenly stopped.
“I forgot to ask where the dining hall is.”
She still didn’t know her way around the enormous mansion.
She had tried to memorize it, but it was simply too large.
Her stomach growled loudly.
Lucy sighed.
“…Maybe I should just go back to my room and sleep.”
She was used to enduring hunger after living in the shelter.
This body had often gone without food too, so skipping one meal wouldn’t hurt.
Just as she turned around…
“Ah!”
A young maid carrying a basket ran into her.
The basket rolled across the floor.
The maid’s face immediately turned pale.
Feeling guilty, Lucy picked up the basket.
“Are you okay?”
The maid hesitated before taking it back.
When she opened it, her face fell even more.
“If it was something important…”
Lucy wondered how she could make up for it.
Then the maid carefully spoke.
“Um… then…”
“Yes?”
“It got a little damaged… but… would you eat it?”
She opened the basket.
Inside were sandwiches.
They had shifted around from falling, but they still looked carefully made.
***
“I’m so glad someone can eat them!”
“No, thank you, Clara. You saved me.”
A little later, Lucy was eating the sandwiches while walking with the maid.
The maid’s name was Clara.
She had also joined the mansion only recently.
“I worked hard making these for the knights, but when I got there, they had already finished eating.”
“That’s a shame. They’re really delicious.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. It’s a pity they didn’t get to eat them.”
The sandwiches really were delicious.
They were large and made with good ingredients.
“But why had they already eaten? Did someone give the same order twice?”
Clara smiled bitterly.
“It was probably hazing.”
“Hazing?”
Lucy blinked in surprise.
Clara sighed.
“There are many servants here who have worked in the mansion for a very long time.”
“That makes sense.”
Lucy already knew from the original story that many servants, including the butler Rosendal, came from families that had served the dragons for generations.
“I’m an outsider.”
“I see.”
“And after the previous Duke passed away, even the servants ended up divided into factions.”
“Factions?”
Lucy was surprised.
“Can there really be factions when Edward is here?”
Seeing her confusion, Clara nodded.
“Yes. Those who support the previous Duke’s wishes, and those who support Duke Edward.”
“I see…”
“The Dowager Duchess is still alive too.”
“Oh.”
Lucy understood the explanation, but she became even more confused.
“The Dowager Duchess?”
She barely appeared in the original novel.
She wasn’t completely absent.
She was just a minor villain who disappeared after only a single line.
The Dowager Duchess and the previous Duke’s supporters had tried to control Edward, but he crushed them almost immediately.
They never appeared again.
The novel had never mentioned that they had enough influence to divide even the servants.
“Well… maybe the original story just never mentioned it.”
Edward would probably handle everything himself.
“There isn’t much for me to worry about.”
“But if she’s the Dowager Duchess…”
“Isn’t she Edward’s mother?”
A mother who fought her own son for power and ended up defeated.
She probably wasn’t an easy person.
Then again, Edward wasn’t exactly normal either.
He was the kind of man who wouldn’t even spare his own mother and locked her away.
Still, one admirable thing about him was that he never mistreated ordinary commoners.
Even if it was because of the way he had been raised.
“Though he still says annoying things sometimes.”
While Lucy was thinking about Edward, Clara continued.
“The servants are eventually forced to choose a side.”
“Choose what?”
“Which faction they’ll support.”
“So the Dowager Duchess’s faction is really that powerful?”
Lucy honestly replied,
“That must have been difficult.”
“…”
“It’s upsetting to go through something like that.”
She remembered her own time living in the shelter.
People there had also formed groups and fought among themselves, and innocent people always suffered.
Clara flinched before giving a bitter smile.
“Yes. It was really difficult.”
“I didn’t want to take anyone’s side.”
“Hmm.”
“So I ended up dealing with things like this.”
“Recently, the servants who are loyal to Duke Edward…”
“To the Duke?”
“…I wasn’t planning to say this.”
Clara looked around nervously.
“They become very cold whenever someone new arrives because they’re afraid that person might bring trouble to the Duke.”
“I…”
“Just look at today.”
“They even let you go hungry.”
