CHAPTER 18………………………………………………..
However, the duke’s reply came half a beat late. Huh? Wasn’t that the signal to start acting?
“…It seems I’ll need to go deal with some uninvited guests.”
Uninvited guests? At the Northdian ducal estate?
“Should I come too?”
If there were guests, it would be a good opportunity to make the presence of his fiancée known.
“No, it’s fine for now. Let’s put off Eloah stepping in until later.”
“…? All right.”
I didn’t know why, but his smile had been dazzling since earlier—so bright it almost seemed to glow.
‘He looks like he’s in a really bad mood.’
After spending about a week together in the same carriage, I’d learned one thing: when the duke was angry, he smiled beautifully. Of course, his eyes didn’t smile at all.
“There. Escort Miss Eloah to her room.”
“Yes, my lord.”
At his call, a young maid approached and greeted me with a slight curtsy.
“My name is Sina, my lady. I’ll show you inside.”
She looked a little excited, her eyes sparkling with curiosity and goodwill. It felt awkward—this was the first time servants had treated me with kindness rather than hostility or disdain.
“Then I’ll go in first.”
I was about to follow behind the maid when—perhaps because I’d been riding in the carriage for so long—I suddenly misstepped.
“Ah!”
Just as my body pitched forward and I lost my balance, someone wrapped an arm around my waist and caught me.
“Oh dear. Are you all right?”
“Th-thank you.”
Before I knew it, I’d ended up in the duke’s arms.
“Oh.”
A small exclamation sounded, and suddenly all eyes were on us. Flustered, I hurriedly tried to straighten myself and grabbed the arm around my waist.
But the moment my hand touched his arm, he flinched as if startled and sharply knocked my hand away.
“Ah….”
“Ow.”
Exclamations escaped us both at the same time.
Thinking I might have done something wrong, I stepped back, clutching my stinging hand. The duke looked flustered as he quickly hid his own hand behind him.
When our eyes met, he abruptly turned away.
“…Please go in and rest first.”
“…Yes. Take care.”
The person who had grabbed my waist first was the one who swatted my hand away. I couldn’t make sense of it.
‘What, does my hand carry some kind of virus or something?’
He said he wouldn’t touch me—was this what he meant?
A little sulky, I followed behind the maid, watching the duke’s back as he headed off somewhere without even changing out of his travel clothes.
For some reason, his flustered expression lingered in my mind for a long time.
A little later.
The place I was led to wasn’t a bedroom, but a second-floor reception room. Reception rooms on the second floor were usually reserved for private guests; they were smaller than those on the first floor, but more comfortable and luxurious.
‘This place is lovely too.’
I’d already thought so when I saw the clothes the Duke of Northdian had prepared for me during the journey—he seemed to have good taste in this area as well.
I didn’t know much about the latest fashions, but unlike the Uberis estate, which seemed decorated purely to flaunt extravagance and luxury, this mansion blended antique charm with refined modern sensibilities.
As I was looking around the reception room, I realized that Sina and the head butler had entered at some point.
“My apologies, my lady. We weren’t informed of your arrival, so we haven’t yet prepared your room. We’ll make arrangements quickly, so would you please wait a little while?”
It seemed the duke had brought me here on impulse, leaving no time for preparation. I knew well how much effort it took to prepare for a guest, so I had no desire to rush them.
“I’ll look around the reception room, so please take your time.”
“Thank you for your gracious understanding. In the meantime, we’ll bring you some tea. What kind would you like?”
Tea? I thought for a moment.
“Um, what do people here usually drink?”
“By ‘here,’ do you mean the people of the Northdian territory?”
“Yes. Since I’ll be living here now, I’d like to know.”
“I see.”
The head butler smiled a little more gently than before and answered kindly. It was a small trick born of my ignorance about tea, but my question seemed to please her.
“One of Northdian’s local specialties is a tea called Idera. It revitalizes you and warms the body.”
“Then I’ll have a cup of that, please.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Oh, and—”
“Yes. Please speak.”
After a moment’s hesitation, I brought up what had been bothering me.
“About the way you address me… Since we haven’t held the wedding ceremony yet, I’d prefer it if you called me by my name.”
“Then may I call you Miss Eloah?”
“That’s much more comfortable. Thank you.”
“Not at all. I’ll have Sina bring the tea shortly, so please rest for now. If you need anything else, you can ring the handbell on the table.”
“I will.”
The head butler bowed with Sina and left the reception room.
‘A handbell, huh. How old-fashioned.’
In most noble estates, servants were summoned by ringing a magic bell. The attendants wore magical devices on their wrists that reacted to the bell’s sound, so they could hear it even from far away.
They probably used a handbell because the duke was sensitive to mana.
Once they left, I was finally alone in the room. Only then did I feel like I could breathe freely.
“…I really left that house.”
The past week had been so hectic that I hadn’t had time to feel much, but when I came to my senses, I was already at the Northdian ducal estate.
‘I expected every day to be like walking on thorns since I have to hide my identity…’
But now that I’d arrived, the ducal estate was more peaceful than I’d expected—completely different from the Uberis estate, where it felt like thorns pierced my throat just to breathe.
I walked over to a sunlit window and looked out at the garden.
On both sides of the central path leading to the mansion’s entrance were neatly trimmed trees and clusters of bright yellow spring flowers. It was a beautiful garden, full of spring, breeze, and sunlight. The scenery reminded me somehow of a cabin in the Barun mountain range.
‘I wonder what kind of room they’ll give me.’
The room I’d always used at the Uberis estate faced north, had poor ventilation, and was always dark and moldy. It wasn’t much different from the semi-basement studio I’d lived in during my previous life.
Compared to that, this place felt comfortable and peaceful, and a small sense of anticipation welled up.
I’d only be staying for a year, but since I planned to avoid contact with the duke as much as possible, I’d likely spend most of my days in my room. If possible, I hoped it would be a bright room with plenty of sunlight.
Come to think of it, it wasn’t just the people of the ducal estate who were unexpected.
I’d thought the Duke of Northdian was simply terrifying, but that didn’t seem to be the whole story.
I didn’t know why, but he’d stopped Count Uberis when the man grabbed me by the collar. He hadn’t acted threatening in the carriage on the way here, and even at the estate, he hadn’t tossed me aside—he’d introduced me properly.
And whatever the case, he had caught me when I nearly fell.
For the first time, I felt like I was being treated like a person.
By the very person I needed to be most careful around in this world. The phrase the duke had once used—“an unpredictable person”—was something I should have said about him.
“He doesn’t seem like a bad person…”
If only it weren’t for what was on his back. Just thinking about the human magic circle there made me sigh.
“Hm?”
That was when I noticed something on the mantel above the fireplace.
‘Huh? Why is this here…?’
What caught my eye was a gold clock, exquisitely crafted and ornate. A clock face entwined with plants rested atop a sculpture of a beautiful woman cradling a large blue gemstone—so refined it could be called an art object.
“This gemstone is…”
A magic stone. I didn’t know what kind of magic was imbued in it, but I could tell at a glance that carefully organized magic formulas were hidden within. A strange blue mana flowed over the surface of the stone.
Even in the Uberis estate, filled with every imaginable luxury, it was rare to see a magical artifact made this well. Curious, I stepped closer and reached out toward the clock to get a better look.
Bang! The reception room door flew open roughly.
“[Rerka Aman Te!]”
In the next instant, a powerful impact slammed into my shoulder. Before I could even process what was happening, my body was sent flying, and I crashed to the floor. I must have hit my head on something, because my vision flickered.
“Ugh!”
I was used to sudden attacks, so I wasn’t too shocked—but it hurt. A lot.
‘Of all places… right where Cosette stepped…’
I’d been applying the ointment the duke gave me every day, but perhaps the wound had reopened, because it was healing slowly. On top of that, the fatigue from the long carriage ride right after being confined in the basement had built up. My already exhausted body had taken a decisive blow.
My vision rapidly darkened.
“How dare a mere notch touch the family treasure!”
‘I wasn’t going to touch it!’
I just wanted to look at it up close.
Setting aside the unfairness of it all, the pain was unbearable, and my consciousness began to fade. Then I heard a voice, low and terrifyingly calm.
“Did you just use magic in front of me, Viscount Royster?”
It was the Duke of Northdian.
About ten minutes earlier.
Upon arriving, hearing that an uninvited guest was waiting for him sent Lektarion’s mood straight into the depths.
“Where is he now?”
As if he’d already forgotten how flustered he’d been in front of Eloah, Lektarion’s expression hardened the moment he was away from her.
“He’s been shown to the west wing reception room.”
“I’ll go at once.”
The west wing was mainly used for guests and had seen little use recently.
He didn’t like nobles much, but among them, the ones he despised most were those with Northdian blood in their veins.
Madmen obsessed with lineage and magic more than anything else.
The uninvited guest was the head of the Royster viscountcy, a collateral branch of Northdian—an absolute degenerate among degenerates.
Ruth hurried after his master toward the west wing, panting.
Only when he heard Ruth’s labored breathing did Lektarion finally slow down. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh.
“When did he arrive?”
“He arrived at dawn today. He said that if we didn’t let him in, he would use magic…”
To Notch, that was the most threatening kind of coercion.
Aside from the annual New Year’s banquet, this Northdian estate officially never allowed mages to set foot inside. Its owner was often away on imperial orders and didn’t enjoy socializing, so he never hosted private banquets.
Thus, even for a collateral relative, visiting the estate without an appointment while the master was absent was extremely rude—an act of blatant disrespect.
With a grim expression, Butler Ruth carefully reported what had been happening.
“In fact, over the past few days, collateral nobles have been coming one by one without appointments, insisting on seeing you, my lord.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“About five days.”
“Five days…”
Lektarion’s dark crimson eyes narrowed.
Exactly six days ago, he had departed from the Uberis estate with Eloah. And just five days ago, collateral relatives began appearing at his estate.
A familiar stench hung in the air.
