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Chapter – 05
How a Mercenary Accepts a New Request (1)
“My apologies. Madam Bayman, please leave the room.”
“Get out! Before I kill you all!”
As Finet bowed her head, a flower vase flew over her and smashed against the floor in a perfect arc.
Had she bent even a little less, the vase would have shattered against her face. The thought made her tremble.
“If you would just take this medicine, we’ll leave immediately. It’s the same sedative you always take. You should be able to sleep right away.”
Thomas held out a palm-sized glass bottle toward Valentin.
Finet carefully examined the bottle filled with yellow liquid, but the moment Valentin picked up another vase, she hurried out of the room as if fleeing for her life.
‘So he really is insane.’
Finet had once served the Countess of House Renzienre—the family of the Empress Dowager and legal mother of the prince.
Personally recommended by the countess herself, she had been sent here as the head maid of the ducal estate.
Usually, head maids of new castles or manors were appointed through recommendation letters like this, so the process itself wasn’t unusual.
The only difference was that Finet had been given an additional task:
To spy on House Julius.
‘I’ve been watching this whole time, but there’s barely anything worth reporting. Sometimes he seems lucid, but every day he suffers violent episodes and sleeps like he’s unconscious. I should report that to him too.’
It would probably be faster to find people in this castle who weren’t influenced by the count’s family.
Listening to the continuing chaos inside the room, Finet shuddered.
The safety of Valmen—the Julius Duchy ruled by a mad lord—meant nothing to her.
The only thing that mattered was how much profit she could squeeze from this poorly managed castle under the excuse of “renovating an abandoned estate.”
She was so busy suppressing the grin creeping onto her face that she failed to notice Alan, Valentin’s personal physician, approaching.
“Madam Bayman, is something wrong?”
“Ah, Healer Roten. I was simply worried about His Grace…”
Finet quickly lowered the corners of her eyes into a pitiful expression and gestured toward the room.
Alan responded with a friendly smile and gently nudged her away.
“I’ve brought a stronger sedative, so there’s no need to worry. Please attend to your other duties. I’m sure you’re busy.”
“Ah… then please ring for me if needed. We don’t have many maids yet, but I’ll come as quickly as possible.”
“Of course.”
After giving her a brief nod, Alan adjusted his glasses, and the smile instantly vanished from his face.
He had heard the sinister laughter she let slip moments earlier.
He already knew she was one of the Empress Dowager’s people, but she was even greedier than expected.
Pushing a tray filled with medical supplies, he knocked on the door.
If Finet had still been there, she probably would have remarked that knocking was pointless—but Alan knew the people inside had heard him.
“I’m coming in.”
“Your Grace, you seem very healthy today as well.”
Those were the first words spoken by Alan Roten, the healer praised as a genius, upon facing the madness-ridden Valentin.
Sharp medical instruments and medicines were arranged openly on the top shelf of the tray.
“Please don’t mock me. Pretending to roll my eyes around like that is exhausting.”
Alan knew this man—Valentin Al Font Dechare Julius—was perfectly sane.
Well… perhaps it was difficult to call a man pretending to be insane “normal.”
“You’ve been doing it for thirteen years. Hardly anything new.”
“Ha… Alan, even I get tired from all the screaming.”
Alan took brown glass bottles from the lower shelf of the tray and handed one each to Valentin and Thomas.
It was medicine meant to relieve fatigue.
“As expected, only Alan understands us.”
“It should also help with the dryness in your throat from all the yelling.”
Moved as though his efforts had finally been appreciated, Thomas nodded vigorously.
Then his expression darkened in irritation as he remembered Finet, who had clearly been frightened yet stubbornly refused to leave the room.
“There are too many eyes watching us. First assassins, now rats.”
“Last night, I found signs that someone tried to open my locked cabinet. It contains medicines that could easily become poison if prepared differently.”
“If the people in this castle attempted poisoning now, it would actually be rather easy.”
Thomas and Alan’s worries piled up thicker than the dust on the window frame.
Even without Valentin’s performance earlier, the room had already been poorly maintained—as though no head maid existed at all.
“Your Grace, besides us, there’s no one in this castle truly on your side. But unless you continue pretending to be insane, neither Thomas nor I have a natural way to drive them out.”
“That’s true. What this castle needs is a mistress of the house.”
Valentin tilted his head slightly after handing the brown bottle Alan gave him to Thomas instead.
Even though the medicine came from Alan personally, Valentin never carelessly consumed anything.
Knowing that already, Alan didn’t feel offended.
“We came here hoping to gain some freedom from the Empress Dowager’s eyes, yet this place has become another prison built by that disgusting woman. At this rate, our plans will be affected.”
Thomas drained the medicine like alcohol and let out a frustrated sigh.
Valentin gazed out the window, where night had already fully fallen.
“Your Grace, what we feared has happened.”
“Then I suppose I need a wife after all. One who can kick these rats away.”
“But what noble lady would willingly accept this situation? The moment we bring in some foolish or weak young noblewoman, things will only become worse.”
Alan finally seemed frustrated enough to take out his own bottle of medicine.
At this point, both men were probably wishing they had alcohol instead.
“Does she necessarily have to be a noblewoman?”
“…What?”
At Thomas’s question, Valentin slowly curled his lips upward into a wide grin.
It was clearly a pleasant smile.
Yet both Thomas and Alan found it unsettling.
Whenever Valentin smiled like that, it usually meant he was about to do something outrageous.
“What we need is a strong and reliable woman. One who understands her own value, does everything she can to fulfill it, and is intelligent.”
“That’s true…”
Suddenly, Valentin burst into laughter.
Whenever moments like this happened, Alan and Thomas genuinely thought Valentin might actually be insane.
No—he had been insane from the moment they first met.
Because he had needed to survive.
“Alan, you said Persona contacted us demanding payment.”
“Yes. It seems that female mercenary finally woke up, judging by the message.”
“She recovered faster than expected.”
“She truly seems like a strong woman.”
Valentin rubbed the wound where he had personally sliced open his own skin with the sword.
A dull ache spread through it.
The wound still hadn’t healed enough—if squeezed tightly, it might burst open again.
“Then tell them to come collect it in person.”
Normally, Regina would spend her mornings leisurely reading after breakfast or doing personal training.
But today, she had come to visit the guild members hospitalized in the clinic.
Though honestly, her true purpose was to smack the idiots who had somehow started a push-up competition in the hospital room despite most of them suffering fractures.
“Ah, that seriously hurts!”
“Don’t you know you’re supposed to stay quiet in a clinic? I told you to behave.”
The last mercenary Regina smacked grumbled that her hands were vicious.
At that moment, a healer who had been watching from outside quickly approached her.
“Excuse me… are you perhaps these men’s guardian?”
“Yes, I am.”
“They’re all patients, so why do they behave like enraged bulls? Please tell them to get absolute rest.”
Ah. As expected.
Though she had anticipated complaints, the exhausted appearance of the healer made Regina press a hand to her forehead.
“The other day they claimed their bodies felt heavy and started jumping around the courtyard like monkeys! Of course their bodies feel heavy—they have fevers! If those fevers get worse, they’ll die! They’ll go meet the gods themselves! Please—please make them rest!”
“…I’ll make sure they behave.”
Just how much nagging had these idiots ignored for the healer to cling to her like she was a savior?
Regina bowed apologetically to the agitated healer, who continued muttering “absolute rest” all the way out the door.
“You idiots.”
The men avoided Regina’s furious gaze, sweat dripping down their foreheads.
At this rate, their hospitalization might get extended today.
“M-Miss, didn’t you get poisoned too? And injured? Shouldn’t you also be resting instead of walking around?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“You want to get hit?”
Why did these men constantly invite violence upon themselves?
Regina raised her fist again toward the mercenaries fidgeting like monkeys.
The effect was immediate.
“The poison’s gone. My blood’s clean now.”
“So who exactly were those assassin bastards?”
The joking mercenaries instantly sharpened their eyes at that single question.
One man in the corner even ground his teeth audibly.
The atmosphere turned dangerous so quickly that the healer, who had been about to return for another lecture, quietly backed away instead.
“Our lady owes them now. Feels like we ought to repay the favor.”
“They left a scar on your shoulder, didn’t they? We should at least take one arm in return before I calm down.”
“Forget it. I survived, and the mission succeeded.”
Regina grabbed Shanro—who looked ready to leap up immediately—and shoved him back onto the bed.
Our lady’s strong as hell.
Even though Shanro possessed shoulders broad enough to easily carry a grown woman, he didn’t resist any further.
“But Miss… I heard the boss robbed the vault and ran off again.”
As expected of the boss, the mercenaries burst into laughter.
The fury Regina had momentarily forgotten instantly resurfaced.
Grinding her teeth, she unconsciously tightened her grip on Shanro’s shoulder.
“Ow! That hurts!”
“Ah, sorry. I got angry.”
Shanro glared at Regina resentfully—
Then noticed the gloom quietly sinking into her expression.
