Chapter 8

“You.”

The bandit—or monster hunter or whatever he was—who had disappeared was now standing perfectly fine right in front of me.

He had cleaned up during that time, it seemed. Instead of the dirty, torn clothes from before, he now wore clean leather pants and a shirt.

His bangs, previously swept back, hung slightly damp over his forehead. That meant he’d probably even washed.

‘Meanwhile, I was covered in dirt trying to recover the embezzled goods.’

Still, his freshly cleaned face, free of soot and mud, was strikingly handsome.

My gaze clung unconsciously to the man’s face before I looked away in search of Beth.

“If you’re looking for the maid, over there.”

I turned my head in the direction he motioned with his chin.

Beth had paused following me and was now conversing with someone who appeared to be the head maid of the ducal estate.

“We’re from the capital. We brought His Majesty the Emperor’s edict… It’s here somewhere. I swear we’re not lying.”

Beth was anxiously rummaging through her handbag.

The head maid glanced between Beth and us, looking nervous.

‘She’s having a tough time.’

Beth was the only servant I brought with me. I felt a little guilty that she had to double as my secretary.

Relieved after confirming Beth’s safety, I returned my gaze to the man.

“You’re…”

“A monster hunter under the Duke’s estate.”

“Oh.”

“I used the servant’s passage earlier.”

I had been about to ask why he was here and where he had disappeared to earlier—but he answered it all on his own, leaving me with nothing to say.

The man raised an eyebrow as if surprised that I was even here.

“I didn’t think you’d get inside.”

“You left me out there even though you knew?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate.”

“I had no obligation to escort an outsider through the servant’s passage.”

He gave that petty reply, then glanced down at the hand I was pointing at him with.

“…”

There was still some dirt under my nails from digging up the buried oak barrel.

I was just about to pull my hand back, embarrassed—

“Are you hurt?”

He suddenly grabbed the fingers I was about to withdraw. It happened so fast.

“Ah.”

My hand, awkwardly caught, was now held wide open in his large hand.

This guy really had a habit of grabbing people’s hands without warning.

If Beth had seen, she would’ve come charging over, shouting that he was a perverted scoundrel.

“There’s a wound here.”

Yet when he said it like that, it sounded so genuinely concerned that I felt awkward pulling my hand away.

Every scar he pointed out had been acquired during my time with the Holy Knights.

“Some of them are pretty deep.”

“They’re not that bad.”

“Well, they’re not the sort of wounds a noble lady would normally have.”

“You’ve already seen that I’m not a normal noble lady.”

He clicked his tongue like he hadn’t even heard me.

And then he said something ridiculous.

“You dug through dirt with these hands?”

“These hands?”

“They’re small.”

“And yet I moved that whole barrel just fine with them.”

Being treated like I was delicate was… oddly new.

He fiddled with my hand, frowning.

“And soft.”

“I think your hands are softer.”

It wasn’t just lip service.

Unlike earlier, the man wasn’t wearing gloves.

His hands were unexpectedly smooth, like someone who actually cared for them.

The contact of our palms felt too smooth, ticklish even. My hands from the knight corps were rougher in comparison.

A strangely tingling sensation flowed between our palms.

Feeling weird, I blurted out a question.

“Do you use oil or something?”

“Hah.”

“Feels like I’m touching snake scales.”

As soon as I said that, his fingers slipped and tangled with mine.

Now that our bare hands were pressed together, the slippery, soft feeling grew even stronger.

“Ugh.”

I quickly pulled my hand back with a short grunt.

He stared at me like he couldn’t believe what just happened, then seemed to remember what he wanted to say.

“Anyway, the wound…”

“It’s not something I got here, so don’t worry about it.”

“What kind of noble lady gets wounds like that elsewhere?”

“I’ve just lived a bit rough, that’s all.”

“Rough?”

“Yes. Rough.”

His eyes followed my hand persistently.

I’d never thought much about my scars before, but now that he was focused on them, I was starting to feel a bit self-conscious.

Clearing my throat needlessly, I deflected.

“Don’t you have anything to do? Go help the soldiers.”

“Why would I help them?”

“Because things are about to get busy. With the embezzlement investigation.”

“…”

“You’re a servant of the Duke’s estate too, right? You can help at least that much.”

I just wanted him to leave, so I said whatever came to mind—but it made me feel even more awkward.

Then he looked me in the eye, like he was trying to read my thoughts.

“Come to think of it.”

“Come to think of what?”

“How did you know there was embezzlement happening?”

“Ah.”

So that’s why he came up to me?

‘You could’ve just asked then.’

It wasn’t exactly a big secret, so I answered honestly.

“Because of the roasted almonds.”

“Roasted almonds?”

More precisely, it was the smell of roasted almonds mixed with tar.

“Looks like the news hasn’t reached here yet.”

“News?”

“There was this banned cigarette that was trending in the capital not long ago… and it had that exact scent.”

“In the capital?”

“It caused a huge stir for a while.”

Earlier this spring—

The knight order stationed in the east returned to the capital and brought back tobacco leaves from the east.

The problem started when someone realized that those leaves contained mild hallucinogens—and figured out they could make a fortune.

That someone mixed roasted almonds and other hallucinogenic substances with the tobacco, adding a savory aroma and turning it into a powerful drug.

It worked like a charm.

Addicts, desperate for their fix, committed all sorts of embezzlement and corruption.

‘Of all things, it had to spread to other imperial knight corps too.’

Even the Holy Knights weren’t spared.

‘Maybe because we were usually banned from drinking or smoking.’

Once they got a taste of something forbidden, they went completely off the rails.

People say doing forbidden things in secret feels more thrilling—well, I guess the taste of corruption really was that sweet.

Thankfully, no one in the 3rd Holy Knight Division became an addict.

‘If anyone had, I would’ve cracked their skull myself.’

Unfortunately, I held the position of vice-captain of the order.

Which meant I had the duty to track down and interrogate addicts even in divisions outside my own.

In short, while everyone else was getting high off drugs—

I was losing my mind pulling ten all-nighters in a row.

“Where are those guys I’m supposed to interrogate?”

“Why do you ask… Vice-Captain?”

Surrounded by sweaty men, unable to bathe or change clothes for fear of my disguise being discovered… the peaceful time after work was my only legal drug.

It was the one time I could toss off the tight cloth binding my chest, roll around in a negligee on the bed—and just breathe.

But because of some idiots doing drugs, even that was taken from me. I nearly lost it.

“What’s that over there in the training yard?”

“Isn’t that just a regular human target?”

“Wait! Those are live bullets—”

“Vice-Captain Elaine!”

In the end, I tied up the dealers and addicts and used them as practice targets… and got demoted.

“From now on, don’t let Elaine Pascal manage people. She’s definitely going to cause trouble.”

Looking back, the commander of the 5th Knight Division, who said that, was scarily perceptive.

‘I proved him right when I helped the enemy princesses escape.’

After that incident, the knight order reassigned me to tracking down missing embezzled goods instead of doing interrogations.

‘I practically killed myself tracking down what those junkies stole.’

So the moment I smelled that familiar scent again, it brought back… nostalgic memories.

‘If the drug has spread this far…’

It must’ve traveled through the same supply chain used between the capital and here.

And those who got hooked were highly likely to be involved in embezzlement and corruption.

“I figured someone had stashed the missing supplies as soon as I heard they were gone.”

“Hmph.”

“I assumed they stole the goods to afford more drugs. And around here, there are only a few places where you could hide things.”

I found them right away by checking near the cracked outer wall.

Thanks to the monsters, no one dared go near it, so it was the perfect hiding place.

The ground, unlike the weed-ridden areas around it, was clean—like it had been freshly dug. That made digging it back up easy.

After hearing me out, the man smirked crookedly.

“You really aren’t a typical noble lady.”

“I already told you that.”

I decided to take it as a compliment and nodded.

“Then… are you a spy?”

…What the hell is he talking about now?