🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 15
Hider’s eyes widened, and I completely toppled forward—landing right on top of him.
My head slammed straight into his chest.
Still, he’s been training, huh? Feels pretty solid. Ow, my head.
Rubbing my throbbing forehead, I got up from him.
Tears nearly welled up from the pain.
“Are you okay, Young Master? You suddenly dodged, so…”
At that moment, a status window popped up in front of me with a plop.
[Detox Skill Points +20]
What the heck?
Did my skill points just go up by 20? I had to peel mountains of herbs until my hands blistered just to maybe gain 10!
Detox was considered a high-tier skill, so the point accumulation was excruciatingly slow. I’d mentally prepared myself to wrestle herbs every night, and now this?
What did I just do?
I slammed my head into Hider’s chest.
Was it that? No way. That can’t be it.
Then what… oh, maybe because I applied the medicine? Healing a wound boosts detox skill?
…This is a total jackpot.
“Young Master, are you okay?”
“Does your chest hurt? I’ll apply some medicine. Let me just unbutton your shirt for a sec—”
“What?!”
Hider clutched his shirt, horrified. He dodged away from me like I was some kind of threat, wrapping himself tightly in his shirt.
“I swear I’m not dangerous, Young Master! I’m just trying to apply some medicine. Did you get hurt anywhere else? Huh?”
I’m not scary! Come on, get over here!
* * *
After kicking Lani out of his room, Hider let out a long sigh.
“Phew…”
The face in the mirror was red as a tomato.
He couldn’t get Lani’s tiny face out of his mind—hovering close, blowing warm air gently across his skin.
Every time her breath touched his face, he felt like his skin was burning.
He probably needed to wash up with cold water.
“She’s seriously weird…”
He’d never met a maid like Lani in his life. On top of that, she was strong. No matter how hard he tried to push her away, she didn’t budge.
That was probably because Lani handled all the manual labor in the ducal house.
She’d gotten stronger through hard work—for his sake.
That thought made his chest ache. The reason she was so ostracized in the mansion had to be because of him.
All the things he’d thoughtlessly accepted… Lani had taken the burden in his place, working tirelessly.
If I get stronger, things like this won’t happen again.
Hider clenched his fists.
He still had a long way to go if he wanted to protect her.
Tyburn had started taking him seriously.
“Your fundamentals are solid. Did your stepmother assign you a tutor?”
“…No, Grandfather.”
“Then you must be naturally talented?”
“I learned from someone I know.”
“Whoever it was, your basics are excellent. But this alone isn’t enough. Hider, is there someone you want to protect?”
Someone to protect. When Tyburn asked that, Lani immediately came to Hider’s mind.
The girl who sacrificed so much because of him. Her smiling face flickered in his mind, making his chest ache.
Tyburn didn’t seem to expect an answer, and continued.
“With your current strength, you won’t be able to protect them. If danger comes, you’ll lose them. But when you have someone to protect, you can become stronger. If you want to protect that person, get stronger for them.”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
To protect Lani.
That aligned perfectly with Hider’s own goals. He resolved to give everything he had to training. He didn’t know how long Tyburn would stay, but…
Once he got stronger…
Lani naturally came to mind again.
Hider rubbed at his chest. It still carried her scent.
Did we bump too hard?
That had to be it—there was no other explanation for how his heart was still pounding like crazy. His chest ached from how fast it was beating.
He took a deep breath. He could endure this much pain.
He had to become stronger.
* * *
I hadn’t slept for days, spending every moment trimming herbs. As a result, my detox skill level was slowly inching up—now it was at Level 3. Still not enough to cure Tyburn’s poisoning.
The status still showed Untreatable.
I’d even tried sneaking in to treat Tyburn directly, but all I got was a red message.
Ugh. How long do I have to keep trimming herbs for this? There’s no way I’ll be ready in time to treat him if this keeps up.
Sure, healing injuries gave the fastest results—but Hider didn’t injure himself daily, and I couldn’t exactly wish for him to get hurt.
The only option left was hard labor. If only someone could take over for me. Even though my skill sped up the work, experience points barely trickled in.
At this point, I’d trimmed almost every herb in that vendor’s shop.
“Yaaaawn…”
“You look tired, Lani.”
Dania sidled up to me and struck up a conversation. I gave her a quick side glance.
Lately she’d been hovering around me a lot… what are you, a spy?
With her sticking to me like this, I couldn’t get anything done. I could feel that suspicious vial burning a hole in my pocket.
I needed a moment alone to drop a few drops into the duchess’s medicine… but thanks to Dania, no such chance.
Could the duchess be suspicious of me and have planted Dania to watch? No way. There’s no way she saw through my flawless acting skills.
“Why are you following me around? If you’ve got something to say, spit it out.”
She hesitated, so I gave her a sharp glare. That made her finally speak.
“…Ahem. It’s just, something feels off. I mean, all the maids here get paid more or less the same. Even if the duchess gives you a little extra, it’s not by much. But you gave me half your pay, and you still act like you’ve got money to burn.”
Oh. That was actually… a pretty smart deduction.
“That’s what’s bothering you?”
“Not exactly. I just think it’s weird. You used to always go on about saving up to buy a house. But now you’re…”
She narrowed her eyes at me. My pulse spiked a little. What was she about to say?
“You’ve got another way of making money, don’t you?! Tell me! Come on, Lani, let’s do it together. If you don’t tell me, I’ll snitch to the duchess!”
She grabbed my arm.
This little runt… is she threatening me? Unbelievable.
At first I was furious, but then I started thinking—maybe this wasn’t such a bad opportunity.
I narrowed my eyes at her.
Even going to the market to buy herbs was a pain. I had too much to do and only one body to do it with. If nothing else, she could at least handle the shopping.
“Alright, I’ll tell you.”
“Really?”
“Yup. I’ve been processing herbs and selling them. I buy them cheap at the market—the wild ones people just yank from the hills. Then I clean them up and sell them to merchants or take on personal requests. It pays pretty well.”
“I knew it! That’s what it was!”
Technically, the money was just a side benefit—the real goal was skill points. But it was still income.
“Thing is, I’ve been busy keeping an eye on Hider. You know how the duchess has been acting ever since Tyburn showed up, right? Super edgy.”
Dania pouted.
“Tell me about it. I’ve seriously been thinking of quitting lately. If I can make big money, I’m out of here.”
So that’s why she’d been sniffing around me.
I glanced at her status window.
Betrayal Points: 4
Not bad. She could be useful.
“Anyway, I need to stick close to Hider, so I don’t have time to do all the buying and selling.”
“So?”
“You still wanna do it?”
“Well, yeah.”
“I’ll give you a cut of the profits. Just help me buy and sell herbs.”
Dania’s eyes sparkled. Honestly, dreaming of saving up and buying a better life wasn’t just my dream. It was everyone’s.
She gulped and gave a firm nod.
Nice.
Yep—this is how you recruit useful allies.
