Today was the day when the exhaustion of overworked servants was neatly washed away.
“Ahh, finally, payday!”
Ruelia smiled brightly as she counted the gold coins inside the pouch placed at her seat.
Others often pitied Ruelia for working at the Avere Ducal House. The nickname attached to her superior was infamous for a reason.
The Righteous Ice.
A hero with a heart as cold as ice instead of warm blood.
A man stricter than the legal code itself.
And the “Resignation Letter Collector.”
People in the capital even joked that everyone knew at least one servant who had been fired from the Avere Ducal House.
But that was all ignorance.
The Avere Ducal House was undoubtedly a dream workplace.
High salary, short working hours, a respectable master. The duke was a bit meticulous and picky, but for Ruelia—who worked efficiently—it was not a problem at all.
Which idiot among those 13 people had given up such a sweet job?
While humming and counting her gold, Ruelia suddenly widened her eyes.
“Oh? Head butler?”
“He said the Vice Aide worked hard last week, so he ordered an additional reward.”
So even the welfare was perfect.
- If you become my vice aide, your crimes will be pardoned. –
If she had rejected the duke’s offer back then just because it felt suspicious, who knew what would have happened?
She was now receiving a heavy pouch of salary—100 times better than her previous job—every week.
Ruelia carefully stowed away the large sum.
Then the elderly head butler, Senior, placed some tea on her desk.
It was one of the reasons she felt glad she came to the ducal house.
All the other servants were kind to her. The food was delicious too.
“The Duke has instructed you to organize the documents on the grain storage candidates by tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, understood. By the way, the Duke is late?”
Her master, Kailles, was attending a scheduled knight-family council meeting.
As his administrative aide, she had no role there, so she stayed at the mansion.
“We have not received any word, but perhaps he will return after the evening banquet.”
“Alright. Then I’ll finish quickly and go home.”
Once she finished her tasks, she could leave freely!
For Ruelia, who often had to take care of her sickly older sister, time was always valuable.
‘Good. I should stop by the herb shop on the way home.’
Since it was payday, she planned to buy medicine and nourishing food for her sister.
But unfortunately, her concentration was soon broken.
“A message has been delivered to the Vice Aide.”
A servant who came into the office handed her a black envelope.
A disturbing black envelope.
Ruelia stared at the envelope with no seal for a long time, then carefully opened it and read the contents.
“Two years ago, I found confidential documents of the Bellona Trading Company in the attic of your old home. If this is handed to a rival company under your name, it would be disastrous, wouldn’t it? I would like to meet and resolve this matter.”
It was a polite threat letter.
Ruelia immediately visited the common district where she had lived two years ago.
It was still lively.
Unlike the narrow and cramped noble districts, this place felt wide due to its vibrancy.
It should have been a nostalgic visit—but her heart was heavy as she stepped down from the carriage.
“Vice Aide, please be careful.”
Senior had prepared a carriage bearing the ducal crest, accompanied by knights as escorts.
“Where are we going?”
“The third floor. It’s the house I used to live in.”
“We will escort you.”
Knights formed around her front and back. It was such a thorough escort it looked as if assassins might be hiding nearby.
This level of protection was all thanks to Kailles.
- Attacking someone from the ducal house is the same as attacking me. –
Ruelia lifted her head confidently as she climbed the stairs.
Her status had changed greatly from two years ago.
Now it was time to meet the face of the blackmailer.
Standing in front of her old home, she took a deep breath and knocked calmly.
“Who is it?”
A disheveled man limped out.
The moment he saw the knights beside her, his face turned pale.
“I am Ruelia, Vice Aide of the Avere Ducal House.”
“Aaaagh! I’m sorry! Please spare me!”
Unexpectedly, the blackmailer looked pitiful.
He had been so bold before—how had he collapsed so easily at the sight of just two knights?
“….”
“I’ve been unable to work for over ten days due to a leg injury. My children haven’t eaten in three days… I’m sorry. I was foolish.”
It was disappointingly anticlimactic. Even the knights who had come along looked confused.
Ruelia glanced inside the house.
In the corner, two small girls huddled together in fear, holding each other’s hands tightly.
A familiar sight.
Just like Ruelia and her sister Melisa used to be.
How could this man have even considered doing something like this with children at home?
- Ruelia, don’t worry about home. Just study. I’ll protect you both. –
Her adoptive father had never been like that.
He had worked himself to death trying to feed his daughters. Thanks to what he left behind, Ruelia was able to attend the academy and later join the Bellona Trading Company.
Those experiences shaped who she was now.
Ruelia took a deep breath as old memories resurfaced.
She needed to finish this without bringing shame to the Avere Ducal House.
Her gaze turned cold.
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Didn’t you call me saying you found something I lost when I moved out? And asked for compensation?”
Perhaps showing mercy here was just her own self-satisfaction.
But as far as she knew, this man’s so-called blackmail could not harm her.
‘I’m not stupid enough to bring confidential documents home.’
That was her rule as an aide.
So maybe she could let this go.
The man had already shown remorse.
“Th-that’s not—!”
The man met her eyes and swallowed hard. Ruelia casually shrugged and glanced toward his daughters.
At that, the man swallowed his tears and bowed deeply.
Then he signaled the child inside.
“Quickly, quickly give it to her!”
A small girl ran up to Ruelia.
She was extremely thin from hunger.
Just like Melisa had once been.
“This is it. I found it in a crack in the attic.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry, but I looked inside while searching for the owner. There were strange scribbles everywhere. Our family couldn’t read any of it.”
Ruelia looked at what the girl held.
A thin book.
It was a cheaply made notebook bound together loosely—something she knew very well.
Now she understood why the man had thought it was a confidential document.
“It’s a diary. I wrote it when I was young.”
A coincidence dropped from the sky.
Ruelia had once met a girl like an angel—Melisa—after falling from a tree. Her adoptive father, a wandering mercenary, had taken in Ruelia, who didn’t even know her real parents.
She owed them everything.
‘I wrote this trying to repay them. Back when I still clearly remembered my past life.’
Memories she had forgotten due to her busy life brushed the back of her mind.
With a faint smile.
The little girl tilted her head in confusion.
“A diary? But this isn’t writing.”
Ruelia took a small pouch from her pocket. It was the reward Kailles had given her today.
“Of course not. Because it’s not a diary.”
Something far more secret, far more important. Something written in a language no one could decipher—notes for her future self.
She exchanged the pouch and the diary.
“Use the money in the pouch to buy medicine for your father and anything you want to eat.”
“Yay! Thank you!”
Ruelia smiled back at the cheerful girl and gently patted her head while holding the heavy pouch.
“But aren’t you going to check it?”
At the girl’s words, Ruelia opened the diary.
“…I knew it.”
It was the language she used in her past life.
She thought she had forgotten it as she grew up, but she could still read it perfectly.
And what was written there—
It was the plot of the novel she had once read in her previous life.
And this world she lived in… was that very story.
“What… is this?”
“How did I forget something like this?”
Her perfect world began to collapse.
“Kailles Avere, the duke. He is destined to fall after plotting a rebellion because of the woman he loves. Do not approach him under any circumstances.”
