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Chapter 16
Chirp chirp!
I opened my eyes to the sound of birds chirping louder than usual in the morning.
‘I feel unusually light today?’
I could roughly guess the reason.
‘Is it because of what I pulled off yesterday?’
Yesterday, I went out to Fortrum Street for the first time and got quite a lot done.
Shopping for clothes with Belle, getting rid of the bullies, picking up Tev, and even getting the ingredients for processed sorghum herbs!
Maybe because I had been stuck in the west wing doing the same routine every day, but all of a sudden I accomplished so much?
It felt great to have such a productive day yesterday.
“Huff.”
As always, I finished mana breathing and stretched, thinking to myself.
‘I should go find Tev in the guest room, check if he’s doing okay, and then come back to process the sorghum herbs.’
When I pulled the bell rope, Belle brought me some lukewarm water as usual.
“Belle, what’s Tev doing right now?”
“That kid?”
I thought I would hear that he was sleeping or resting.
However, Belle’s fuming response was completely different from what I had expected.
“He rose not so long ago and has been standing motionless in the hallway ever since, my lady.
People have been grumbling about him obstructing the way, but he hasn’t budged an inch.”
“… Standing still in the hallway?”
“Yes, my lady!
He is right in front of you.”
As I opened the door, I saw Tev standing there just as Belle had described.
“Tev?”
Upon hearing my call, Tev’s gaze shifted from the void to me.
“…”
His eyes, which were previously unfocused, found a target.
“What are you doing here?”
“… It wasn’t.”
“Huh?”
“No, never mind.”
Muttering to himself, Tev approached me with large strides.
“What should I do now?”
The look in his eyes were like he didn’t care what I would ask him to do.
‘He doesn’t even know what I’m going to make him do, does he?’
I hadn’t given him any explanation since I brought him here to hire him, but Tev’s attitude was too docile.
“Well, what do you think I’ll make you do?”
“…”
Instead of answering, Tev furrowed his brow.
Along with that, the faint scar near his eye also twitched.
As I stared at the scar, worried, Tev, who had been silent the whole time, mumbled.
“I can do any kind of physical work.
And… my face too.”
“…?
Your face?”
As I asked back, Tev’s ears turned red.
“I’ve heard that among noblewomen, some like to have good-looking boys as their attendants.”
Ah.
That was when I finally understood what Tev was talking about.
Just as he said, there were indeed some women who took good-looking young men around like accessories.
But those women were usually middle-aged noble ladies or people with unique tastes.
No, but anyway, how did he know about that?
“That’s not what I meant.
And even if it were, I couldn’t take you anywhere with that face.”
“What?
What’s wrong with my face!”
Tev snapped angrily.
His confident voice carried the nuance that he knew he was handsome.
“… No way, do you have a preference for––”
“Taking around a kid with a bruised and scarred face would only lead to strange rumors, you know.
Well, in any case, taking a young boy around is already kind of weird, though.”
“Oh.”
Tev rubbed the scar on his face.
I asked him, “What about the medicine you got from the herb shop yesterday?
Where is it?”
“In my room.”
“Did you apply it?
You know it heals faster if you apply it morning and evening.”
“… No.”
Hmm.
Could he not apply the medicine by himself, just like yesterday?
“Let’s go to your room.”
“What?
Why?”
Why was he so flustered?
To apply the medicine.”
***
Feeling the warmth of the fingers touching his eyelid, Tev was lost in thought.
‘I thought it was a dream.’
When he woke up this morning, he saw a high and splendid ceiling.
At first, he thought he had been kidnapped.
However, as he regained his senses, he remembered that Sylvia had brought him to the Atlante ducal house yesterday.
Upon arriving at the mansion, he followed Sylvia’s instructions to clean himself up and change into new clothes.
Afterwards, he enjoyed a rich and delicious meal.
Since he was instructed to stay for a while, he was led to a spacious room where he could also rest on a comfortable bed.
Throughout these experiences, Tev had pinched his cheek, wondering if it was all just a dream.
Right before falling asleep, he felt a stinging sensation on his swollen cheek, but it still didn’t feel real.
Maybe that was why he felt uneasy as soon as he woke up this morning.
‘What if this is a dream?’
If everything that happened yesterday was a dream and meeting Sylvia was nothing but an illusion…
So, he rushed outside without thinking.
He overheard the servants’ conversations and found out that Sylvia’s room was on the second floor.
However, he didn’t dare to enter her room, so he waited for her quietly nearby.
His persistence paid off, and he was rewarded with a gaze of Sylvia’s face.
As he saw her dazzling beauty, a mixture of relief and satisfaction swept through his chest.
‘It wasn’t a dream.’
After that, Tev exchanged a brief conversation with Sylvia, calming his restless heart, and somehow found himself back in the room where he had woken up.
Still a high and splendid ceiling.
Dark-colored wallpaper.
Large and luxurious furniture.
It was an unfamiliar and intimidating room that seemed like it would break if touched.
‘This place doesn’t suit me.’
But for Sylvia standing in front of him, it looked like a picture-perfect setting.
“It doesn’t hurt, right?”
“… No, it doesn’t.”
“You have to apply it diligently for these to heal quickly.
Once they are all better, I’ll tell you what you need to do here.”
‘What on earth does this girl want from me?’
Tev quietly stared into Sylvia’s blue eyes.
Her blue eyes, like a clear sky, seemed to feel his gaze and met his.
“Why?
Do you have something to say?”
“…”
“Is there something on my face?”
“No.”
“Then what?
Why do you keep staring?”
“… When’s breakfast?”
“Breakfast?”
Sylvia, tilting her head, showed a flickering grin.
“You’re good at taking care of yourself, huh?
Smart.
Don’t worry.
I told the chef yesterday––”
Knock, knock.
At the heavy knocking sound, Sylvia’s head turned toward the door, and at the same time, Tev reflexively furrowed his eyebrows.
“Come in.”
“My lady.”
A middle-aged man whom Tev had never seen before entered.
He had graying hair and gentle wrinkles on his face, but the man looked tidy and strong overall.
He bowed elegantly but neatly toward Sylvia.
“…Butler?”
At Sylvia’s murmur, Tev could tell the man’s identity.
‘So, he’s not Duke Atlante.’
Well, upon closer inspection, the man didn’t resemble Sylvia at all.
Tev lost interest in the man who had just entered when he realized he wasn’t a member of Sylvia’s family.
Meanwhile Butler Bent kept a close eye on the unfamiliar boy whom Sylvia was treating personally. Get faster updates on g.com.
‘Is that boy the one her ladyship brought yesterday…?’
The mansion was turned upside down by the news that Sylvia, who had secretly gone out, brought back a dirty commoner kid.
Moreover, the fact that the kid was a boy and had an especially handsome appearance added to the surprise.
Every servant in the mansion wondered why Sylvia had brought a commoner boy home.
The butler guessed, based on the information he had received from informants, that she had taken pity on the boy being beaten by thugs.
If it were the old Sylvia, she would have been annoyed by a dirty commoner boy on the street, but the recent Sylvia was different.
Considering Sylvia’s recent generous and benevolent behavior toward the servants, it was plausible that she felt sympathy for the boy being beaten in front of her.
Upon seeing the two of them together, the butler felt that his conjecture was correct.
‘Judging by her ladyship’s eyes and demeanor, it doesn’t seem like she brought him here with impure intentions at all.’
Feeling somewhat relieved, the butler conveyed the purpose of his visit.
“My lady, the master has requested your presence.”
“Now?”
“He instructed me to inform you to come as soon as you wake up.”
“… Alright,” Sylvia replied reluctantly and then let out a small sigh, wrinkling her nose.
Tev also frowned, noticing the sudden change in Sylvia’s expression.
“Here.
You’ll have to apply the medicine yourself now on the rest of the wounds.
There’s a mirror in the room, so don’t forget to apply it every day.
Got it?”
Bothered by her patronizing tone, Tev accepted the medicine without responding.
“Let’s go, Butler Bent.”
Without any hesitation, Sylvia turned around and left the room.
Tev held the medicine in his hand, staring at the door where Sylvia had disappeared.
The butler eyed Tev with an enigmatic look, then quietly closed the door and followed Sylvia.
***
This was my second time in the Duke’s office.
I had been here a few more times in Sylvia’s memories, but being too nervous to notice the surroundings at those times, there was nothing memorable about those visits.
When I first came here, I wasn’t in the right state of mind to take in the office surroundings either, so it was like my first time seeing it properly now.
Thus, I was taking a closer look around…
It was a bit strange.
The bare walls without a single painting, the bookshelves neatly arranged according to book size and color, the floor so smooth that not even a speck of dust could be found, and even the desk with every object meticulously placed.
Everything was excessively clean and perfectly organized––to the point of overkill.
‘… Does the duke have some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder?’
I was briefly curious but soon dismissed the thought.
Whether the Duke had OCD or not, it had nothing to do with me.
If there was anything that concerned me about the Duke, it was his habit of summoning people and then leaving them standing as if punishing them.
“You didn’t need to call me here if you were just going to make me stand,” I remarked sarcastically.
Only then did the Duke, who had been engrossed in his documents, react.
“I told you to behave, but you disobeyed.”
“Behave… As I recall, the condition was clearly until Eileen’s arm heals.”
The duke’s hand, which had been flipping through the documents, stopped.
“Eileen’s arm is fully recovered.”
The Duke looked up from the documents and gazed at me with his characteristically cold and emotionless eyes.
There was no contempt like in our first encounter, but neither was there any warmth or goodwill.
‘If Sylvia had received that look, she might have been trembling with fear.’
However, instead of being afraid, I looked back at him without averting his eyes.
Then, the Duke slightly furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth.
“What was your reason for shielding Eileen in Fortrum Street?”
“… How did you know?”
“Answer first.”
It looked like he had no intention of revealing how he found out.
But I had a rough idea.
‘He probably has a direct intelligence organization.
Other nobles have them secretly, so there’s no way Duke Atlante, the noble among nobles, wouldn’t have one.’
And if the source of the information was his own intelligence organization, the Duke would never disclose it.
The value of an intelligence organization could only be realized when no one else knew about it.
So, even if I continued to inquire about the source of the information, I wouldn’t get an answer.
That was why I changed my approach.
“Now you finally seem to be curious about me.”