Chapter 10
The knights’ quarters, located near the training grounds. As knights passed through the hallway after finishing their training to shower, there was one room they glanced at particularly conspicuously as they hurried past, eager to avoid being noticed.
The room from which the noisy voices of a man and a woman were leaking. It was natural to be curious about the sound, but the knights rushed to avoid the room, afraid of getting involved.
“Ahhh!”
Rohn, who had just finished showering and come out of the bathroom, let out a scream at the sight of a woman casually perched on his chair.
“Rohn, you take quite a long time to wash up?”
Riena, brushing off the scream, stretched her body languidly and waved her hand.
“No, why are you in my room!”
Riena’s eyes, having fled the headache-inducing situation, looked quite weary. At Rohn’s words, Riena recalled the situation from earlier.
“To find mental stability after escaping a situation I didn’t know how to handle?”
“Why are you looking for it in *my* room?!”
“The maid quarters are shared dormitories.”
It hadn’t taken Riena long to find the ointment in the quarters. But just the thought of heading back to that room, where she didn’t know how to act, made her sigh.
“No! Bursting in like this suddenly is workplace harassment or invasion of privacy or something, you know?”
“Oh, you’re quite articulate?”
“It’s not a matter of being articulate!”
Rohn, who had shouted in excitement, roughly rubbed his head and let out a big sigh.
‘Calm down. Rohn Piet. If you get worked up against the Captain, only you will lose out.’
“Captain, you’re a maid right now, aren’t you? Aren’t you afraid of getting caught coming and going like this?”
“Who do you think I am?”
The meaning contained in Riena’s lightly retorted words was anything but light.
“Who are you? You’re the Captain.”
Rohn looked at her with a pained expression, remembering Riena’s power.
The Reston Knights of the North, famed as the strongest even in the Hertia Empire that ruled the continent. It was self-evident that the captain of that order was one of the most powerful individuals in the empire—no, on the continent.
‘To have obtained the position of Knight Captain of the Reston order at just eighteen…’
She was the youngest since the founding of the Reston Knights. Moreover, she was evaluated as the strongest among all previous captains. The problem, if there was one, was that behind that fearsome Riena’s facade lay nothing but formidable martial power—and a lack of tact.
‘Just who could possibly beat a Captain like that…’
As if giving up on further thought, Rohn shook his head.
“Captain, aren’t you almost done now? It seems like you could stop the maid charade.”
“No, one remains.”
Riena, who had been lounging lazily in the chair stretching, straightened her posture.
“Huh?”
“Keep an eye on Emily.”
“Emily…?”
It had been half a year since Emily entered the mansion. She was sociable and got along well with many people in the mansion. She was also skilled at dealing with her superiors and often spoke with the Head Maid.
“That maid who joined the mansion half a year ago.”
“Ah, I remember. You mean the maid with brown hair and freckles? She didn’t seem that suspicious to me?”
“I don’t need your judgment.”
“I heard Emily is from the south, but isn’t that true for most people from the south?”
“She gives off a similar feeling to me.”
“Huh? Similar to you? If I monitor such a monstrous person, I’ll die by her hand… Ow! That hurts, Captain!”
Before his words even finished, Riena, who had grabbed his ear and pulled, made a disgusted face.
‘If it weren’t for the Vice-Captain, I wouldn’t even need to have this conversation with this guy.’
Riena tossed her hair over her shoulder as if brushing off her irritation.
“Can’t you stop that annoying, frivolous mouth of yours for even a day?”
“Well……”
Looking at Rohn, who was avoiding her gaze, Riena sighed and continued.
“There’s a sense that she’s exaggeratedly acting out the demeanor of a maid. Like me.”
Her sharpened eyes gleamed. Truthfully, she didn’t have concrete evidence yet. But whenever she talked with Emily, Riena felt a strange sense of incongruity. It felt like she was mimicking the atmosphere commonly associated with a maid’s personality and speech.
‘Yes, just like me.’
Rohn’s face, which had been acting playful, shifted into that of a knight.
“Understood. I’ll keep an eye on Emily. I’ll also inform the butler separately.”
“Good.”
Having finished speaking, Riena picked up the medicine to leave, but then looked at Rohn and wiggled her fingers.
“You, come with me for a bit.”
“Where to?”
“The room where the Young Lady and Young Master are.”
At Riena’s casual remark, Rohn’s eyes widened in apparent panic.
“Huh?”
The main building of the mansion was where the members of the Grand Ducal family resided. Being armed there was mandatory. Going to where the Young Master is while carrying a sword… Rohn’s head throbbed at the thought of the complicated situation that could arise.
“The Young Lady is fine, but the Young Master will be scared of me, won’t he? Since that incident, he’s been afraid of swords. If he sees me, a knight wearing a sword…”
“You seem to talk with him often?”
“His Grace has given instructions, so I visit him frequently. But it seems hard for him.”
Riena’s mouth sealed shut, her expression complex at the mention of ‘that incident’ Rohn referred to.
“He can’t be bound by the memories of that time forever. It’s not a position the Young Master can afford to be in either.”
“That’s right. He is the Empire’s sole successor.”
“I’d like to watch over him slowly, given he’s still young… but the Young Master must overcome it too.”
Riena’s eyes grew calm, like a predator waiting for the moment to hunt.
* * *
Eloise, who was applying ointment to Kylian’s face, stopped her hand. Feeling her gaze fixed on him, Kylian lowered his head.
“They’re creepy, right? I’m sorry.”
“What is?”
The apology was so sudden that Eloise’s voice was clearly tinged with confusion.
“My eyes are red, like a monster. They’re creepy, aren’t they?”
“What?”
It was obvious who would say such things to Kylian. The very person responsible for the wounds on his body. Heat rose to the top of Eloise’s head, and she raised her voice.
“Kylian, look at my face. I’m pretty, right?”
“Yeah.”
Kylian nodded, bewildered by the sudden question but agreeing nonetheless.
‘Of course. It’s a beauty I’ve never seen in my previous life, unimaginable. With a face like this, she’ll grow up to be even more stunning.’
Eloise shrugged her shoulders and spoke.
“You’re pretty like me too. Your face and your eyes are pretty. That’s why I was staring.”
Her words, uttered as proudly as her highly inflated self-esteem, made Kylian’s face turn red. It was to the point of matching his red eyes.
“By the way, you said you had a request for me when we met today, right?”
Kylian, not knowing what to do, quickly changed the subject.
“Ah! Right!”
Eloise recalled today’s purpose, which had nearly faded from her mind.
‘I decided to explore the mansion today.’
Since nothing was mentioned in the novel about Kylian’s childhood, she had no idea what might happen until he grew up. Unforeseen circumstances during that time could potentially threaten her, so Eloise had decided to embark on a reconnaissance mission under the guise of exploration to familiarize herself with the mansion’s layout.
“Can you give me a tour of the mansion?”
“Sure, but I’ll probably be lacking too. I haven’t been in the North for long.”
“You haven’t been in the North for long?”
“Yeah. I lived in the capital before coming to the North.”
Pretending not to know anything, Eloise continued.
“It’s quite a distance from the capital to the North, isn’t it? You must have been bored.”
“More than boring, it was just really awkward being with His Grace the Grand Duke.”
“You didn’t meet often before?”
“I couldn’t meet him before because he was outside the Empire until now.”
The master of the North was outside the Empire? Feeling something was strange, Eloise stared intently at Kylian.
“Why?”
Kylian tilted his head, seemingly unaware of his slip-up.
“Huh? No, it’s nothing……”
As Eloise shook her head, she remembered Kylian referring to the Grand Duke as his uncle last night.
‘There’s clearly something I don’t know…’
But she hesitated to ask Kylian about it, afraid it might hurt his feelings.
‘I wish something was mentioned in the novel.’
However, the Reston Grand Duke did not appear in 〈The End of Vengeance〉. Wait a minute, isn’t it stranger that the Grand Duke didn’t intervene when the male lead destroyed the Reston mansion? On top of that, the Northern knights helped the male lead…
One step. And then another step. Eloise felt herself getting closer to something she didn’t know. Faint, faded scenes unfolded in the distance.
‘Kyle, I……’
The faint, tearful voice of a woman.
‘Please!’
Kylian’s voice, shouting as he grabbed her shoulders. His voice was thick with pain.
‘Who is that woman? Why does she feel familiar?’
Stretching out her hand blankly towards the memory, which appeared as blurry as an old, worn-out painting, Eloise stared vacantly.
