FDND 06

Chapter – 06

What Wish Should I Make?

I looked up at the Duke of Vertier.
In my past life, he was the only high noble the Leviathan failed to subdue.

Until the Duke fell in battle, the North under his rule had been the safest place in the world—beyond the monster’s reach.

Leviathan never lets a traitor live. He kills their children, and their children’s children.

But in this life, Leviathan had only seen my face a few times at most.
So the odds of him recognizing me, fully grown, were almost zero.
If I could just survive until adulthood, I might actually live this time.

So my wish was—

“Please hire me! On the condition that you absolutely, absolutely don’t fire me until I turn eighteen!”

Please, just let me live in this safe haven, Your Grace.

“…Hire you?”

“Yes.”

“That’s your wish?”

“Yes!”

The Duke’s red eyes rolled lazily.

He wasn’t much of a talker, and his silences were so long that I couldn’t tell whether he was agreeing or refusing.
I was the only one fidgeting nervously, clutching at my skirt.

“What should I hire you as?”

“Anything! Umm… a maid?”

“I don’t employ children as servants.”

“What?”

Why not? Most people liked hiring kids—they were cheap, ate little, and fit into tight spaces. Weird man.

“Th-then… an apprentice maid?”

The Duke shook his head slowly.

“Apprentices must be at least fifteen. It seems there’s nothing you could do in the ducal household.”

What a lovely mouth for saying such unlovely things.
Instead of glaring, I forced a delicate smile.

“I’m sure there’s something I can do.”

“Anything you can do, an adult can do better.”

Couldn’t argue with that—but it was still irritating.
The Duke’s perfectly straight lips almost curved, as if amused.

“Looks like hiring you will be difficult.”

“P-poison!”

“Poison?”

“Yes. You’ve seen my skills, haven’t you? I can do something others can’t—something with poison!”

“Hm.”

The Duke’s eyes ran over me, measuring.

“Let me test your meals for poison before you eat.”

The teasing, loose air around him vanished.
He suddenly leaned forward, meeting my eyes head-on.

“You’re saying you can detect poison?”

“Yes.”

The Duke’s face hardened to marble.
No trace of emotion—only the shape of a man carved from stone.

And when he finally spoke, each word was edged with restrained fury.

“You’re telling me to feed poison to a child.”

He let out a low, almost growling sigh.

“I’d sooner die.”

I carefully tried again.

“Y-your Grace, you’re taking it too literally. I wouldn’t actually drink poison—I’d just taste the food. You know, just enough to—”

“Unnecessary.”

“Why not? Everyone can die from poison!”

The Duke rested his chin on one hand, eyes narrowing.

“I’m immune to poison.”

“Then what about your family? Nobles are always targeted for poisoning, aren’t they?”

“My sons are the same. Hardy as bulls.”

“What about the Duchess?”

The Duke’s red eyes fell sharply.

“She’s immune too?”

His mouth twisted. It took him a while to answer.

“No.”

“Then you do need me!”

“The Duchess already has two tasters.”

“…One of them the one who didn’t realize the well water had arsenic in it?”

“……”

“See? You do need me.”

Apparently, the Duke wasn’t good at negotiations.
Or maybe I was just born for it.

Originally, I hadn’t even thought of such an audacious wish as “the Duchess’s poison taster.”

I only wanted to stay in the ducal estate until I turned eighteen.
Even as a stablehand, I’d have been happy.

But if I could be the Duchess’s personal poison taster, there’d be no safer life imaginable.

After all, I wouldn’t die from poison anyway.

And I’d get to taste the finest dishes in the duchy, from appetizers to desserts.

More importantly, I already knew that a Leviathan spy planned to poison the Duchess with mercury.

If I could catch that spy, I’d be handsomely rewarded.

I’d originally intended to enter as a lowly maid and slowly figure out who it was—
but if the Duke himself planted me right beside the Duchess, that changed everything.

With a bit of luck, I could catch the culprit within a week.
Honestly, it was almost unfair how competent I was for a six-year-old.

“Your Grace, please hire me as the Duchess’s poison taster.”

The Duke’s red eyes darkened.
Maybe it was the shadow of his long lashes, but for a moment, he looked almost… afraid.

Could it be—thinking of his daughter?

Black hair and blue eyes.
That was all we had in common, the Duke’s lost youngest daughter and me.

But it had been enough for him to kidnap a stranger’s child once, desperate for a replacement.

Even the bravest warrior could be broken by losing a child.

I gently laid my small hand over his.
To seal the deal, I had to say what he wanted to hear.

“I won’t die. Ever.”

And to earn true trust, you have to offer a secret in return.

So I uncorked the vial of arsenic he’d confiscated earlier—and took a sip.

A lethal dose.

“The Duchess is terribly high-strung,” one of the maids whispered. “She’s got a nervous condition. Never upset her, not even by accident.”

“Yeah. If you value your—uh—job, just do exactly what I told you.”

As the maids warned me in hushed tones, I thought grimly—

Wow. I’m screwed.

There were at least a hundred rules, and I couldn’t remember a single one.
And none of them made sense.

Like: ‘When testing for poison, the spoon must never touch the dish.’

How does that even work? How could that possibly matter?
Apparently, I’d landed myself the worst possible mistress.

Ugh. I should’ve just stuck with the Duke.
What kind of riches was I hoping for anyway?

Even thinking back on his reaction that day, I realized I wouldn’t have had to fear for my life under him.

“See? I really can’t die from poison. Even a lethal dose.”

“A lethal dose… you drank it?”

“Yes!”

The Duke had shot to his feet, eyes wide in shock.
I waved my hands nervously.

“I’m fine! I told you, I’m immune!”

His eyes narrowed again.

“The last time with the well water—you asked me if you’d die from it, didn’t you?”

“Uh… well… that’s…”

Sharp as a knife, this man.
Any excuse I could think of melted under that red gaze.

Wow.
No way I could win against him.

In moments like that, I was reminded—he really was an adult.
In both this life and the last, he’d always been far ahead of me.

He was the kind of man who’d seen everything—interrogations, torture, war.
There was no lying to him.

“…Because otherwise you wouldn’t have believed me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I wanted to prove the well was poisoned. But who would take a child seriously if she just said so? So I had to at least pretend to die.”

The Duke stared at me for a long moment—then suddenly burst out laughing.

“You have a point.”

I nodded eagerly.

“You’re a lot more…”

…More?

“…cunning than I thought.”

Not sure if that was a compliment or an insult.
But the satisfied look on his face told me he’d decided to hire me.

“And be careful,” he added.

That was how I knew—he was more worried for me than he let on.

“And whatever you do, never make eye contact with the Duchess.”

“O-okay…”

Outside the Duchess’s room.

I followed my senior maid, Susan, carrying a tray.
A line of maids stood at rigid attention, waiting.
Every one of them looked deadly serious.

Yikes. She must be terrifying.

Normally, people relax when the master isn’t around.

“Your Grace, we’ve brought your breakfast,” Susan called.

I swallowed hard and stood at my spot by the tray.
Through the opening door, I glimpsed the Duchess’s long cascade of golden hair.