Villain felt his entire body freeze at the true nature of Kailles.
Thanks to Ruelia’s presence at the ducal house, he had almost forgotten.
The only modifier that could be stripped from the duke’s nickname was “righteous.”
“W-was it not about Vice Aide Ruelia…?”
Kailles slowly opened his mouth.
“Bilein, did I teach you to speak like that?”
Bilein dropped to his knees at lightning speed.
He bowed so low it looked like he might press his forehead into the floor.
In this office, it was a common sight. Two years ago, knights and aides alike would kneel without exception.
It was a reality Ruelia knew nothing about.
“No, sir.”
“Then tell me. What did you do wrong?”
This was different from Ruelia’s position and that of the knights.
Very few aides wished to work beside the duke. More precisely, there were none who met his standards.
On the other hand, knights lined up to enter the ducal house. The opportunity to learn swordsmanship from the Empire’s greatest swordsman could only be obtained by becoming his knight.
Thus, the treatment between the two inevitably differed.
“You said not to assume the master’s intentions carelessly.”
The good thing was that Bilein was used to this.
He also knew how to calm the duke’s anger.
“Yes. And?”
The veins on Kailles’s hand, supporting his chin, stood out sharply. It was a hand that would normally have dragged Bilein straight to the training grounds.
And yet he endured.
Bilein carefully interpreted his master’s mood.
“A subordinate spoke carelessly about a person who will share great future plans with the lord. I forgot that this could lead to the leakage of confidential information.”
Was it wrong?
Seeing Kailles sigh, Bilein corrected his posture.
“It means not to speak of the master when he is not present. Especially alone with Ruelia.”
“My apologies. I will not speak with her alone again.”
Kailles still seemed unsatisfied, frowning as he picked up the documents again.
On top of them was a note Ruelia had left.
“Duke, I arranged the regional grain production data into bar graphs for easy comparison. Please review and decide where to build the new grain storage facilities.”
He traced the neat, rounded handwriting with his fingers.
And then he remembered what had happened earlier.
“Do you… have someone in mind as a duchess?”
When Ruelia had asked that strange question, he had suddenly recalled something his father once said.
Advice from a man who was a respectable father, but often scolded by his wife.
“The Avere Ducal House needs someone human. Find a woman like that, love her, cherish her. Don’t end up in an arranged marriage like I did under the Imperial Family.”
It was a thought that had troubled him since childhood.
The problem was that he had no confidence in loving someone.
So he had reached a conclusion.
Ruelia—wouldn’t she be suitable?
No interfering noble family, no ties to the Imperial Family, intelligent, independent, compassionate…
And bright enough that everyone in the ducal house liked her.
But there was a problem.
She was a commoner. Any proposal would be blocked by the Imperial Family.
And she likely wouldn’t accept something that might involve herself as the target of a proposal she never imagined.
Above all, he did not want to lose a competent aide. What he needed was not a duchess—but an efficient assistant.
“Bilein, stand up.”
“Thank you, my lord!”
But for some reason, his mood kept twisting.
Even when he heard Ruelia’s strange “plan,” he had been fine.
It seemed Bilein had triggered something in him today.
“Pure and good.”
Kailles silently replayed Bilein’s words, removing one part at will.
Ten times already.
His head might be slightly broken.
His fingers, which had been idly touching Ruelia’s writing, stopped.
“For now, assign Ruelia’s escort to someone else.”
The strange discomfort he had been feeling finally eased.
And then, immediately, he fell into confusion again.
What was this petty, childish feeling?
He already knew the answer.
Jealousy.
Nothing made a person more foolish than that word.
So this was what he had done.
Whether he disliked the knight and aide’s closeness, or their conversation, or that Ruelia confided only in Bilein—any of it was possible.
Either way, he looked ridiculous.
A master feeling displeased because his subordinate trusted another more than him—that was shameful.
“No, cancel that order.”
His pride as a noble had cracked. Shame burned through him.
So he revoked his own order.
A behavior unbecoming of a lord.
“Understood…?”
“Continue Bilein as her escort. You are still the strongest among Avere’s knights.”
Personal emotion must not interfere with official duties.
That was the principle he had fought hard to uphold.
He could not break it over one aide.
“However…”
The foolishness of today required punishment.
“Please command it.”
“For the next ten days, you will run one hundred laps of the training grounds with me every morning and train as punishment.”
For a moment, Bilein thought it would have been better to be demoted instead. Or to run two hundred laps alone.
The next morning, Ruelia arrived early at the ducal house and headed to the training grounds to find the duke.
She looked unlike her usual self.
Her eyes were red, her skirt wrinkled, her hair disheveled. The confident Ruelia of yesterday—who had trusted the diary—was gone.
‘Past me… did you really love money that much?’
There was no information about why Lady Emil chose the Crown Prince.
Only information about profit and the duke’s downfall was written.
Ruelia sighed and touched her chest. A thick resignation letter she had brought “just in case” felt like it was scolding her.
Telling her to run away.
But she couldn’t.
“Ugh… that would be too cowardly.”
She had received too much kindness from the duke.
“A person who cannot repay kindness has no value.”
Her adoptive father had raised both daughters to understand responsibility.
‘Father, what if Melisa gets caught up and dies too?’
It was written that when the duke died, his retainers and their families would be wiped out as well.
Ruelia, exhausted from reading the diary all night, looked toward the training ground.
There were loud shouts coming from it.
“He said it was time for the duke to train his body as well.”
The first sign of a crush.
When someone falls in love, they usually start by improving themselves physically. And for a knight, that meant training the body.
The duke was serious about this…
If she ran away now, she would feel like a cowardly traitor.
After thinking for a while, Ruelia took out the resignation letter.
“When would be the least damaging time to submit this?”
She tried to calculate it calmly, including guilt as a variable.
But the sight before her wiped her mind blank.
A sudden gust of wind snatched the resignation letter from her hand. It floated up, carried away.
“W-what the—why are they like that?”
She covered her eyes in panic.
Knights wearing only thin cloth covering their lower bodies—something between underwear and shorts—were clashing swords in training.
Kailles was among them.
“Block it!”
“Ah! Over there!”
It was too raw.
Even though she worked in a ducal house full of knights, she had never seen men like this before.
And especially Kailles.
His appearance was burned into her mind.
‘What is he, some kind of greedy monster?’
Even the statues of gods in temples were not as perfect as Kailles’s body. Everything that should not stand out… stood out.
“With this level of skill, you couldn’t even catch a fox. Have you forgotten who your enemy is?”
Kailles’s voice echoed.
The knights’ breathing grew rougher.
“Who is it?! Who pulled down the pants?! You shameless fool!”
“In real combat, protect your life instead of your pants!”
They were serious.
It felt like something she should not be witnessing was about to happen.
Ruelia quickly turned and ran back toward the office.
Behind her, a single sheet of parchment drifted slowly to the ground.
