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Chapter 9
“Your Grace! The knight order and all servants have returned… no, wait—what is going on here?”
Skipping the knock entirely, Chandler burst into the office and froze in place.
He had assumed everything would go smoothly since they had prepared so thoroughly.
He had rushed over expecting to see Deus smiling for once—but what greeted him was a far more exhausted, hollow-faced man than before.
“E-Emma… as well?”
Emma, who stood beside him, also looked completely drained.
Chandler’s eyes darted around as he tried to assess the situation.
Realizing something serious had clearly gone wrong, he quietly closed the door and approached Deus.
“Your Grace. What happened?”
Deus let out a deep sigh. He could not even find the words to explain.
“Emma, what on earth is going on here?”
Impatient, Chandler turned to her instead.
“Short version? Everything turned into a total mess.”
“A mess? What exactly happened?”
The more he heard, the more confusing it became. Chandler thumped his chest in frustration.
“Well, the person did show up, but things got complicated. Let me explain…”
Emma briefly summarized everything that had happened in Deus’s place.
After listening, Chandler looked back and forth between Emma and Deus with a dazed expression.
“So… it’s really a complete disaster?”
“Right? A total disaster.”
Deus rubbed his tired face roughly. “Disaster” was the only word that truly fit.
“Is there no way to fix this?”
His voice was filled with despair. Emma and Chandler looked at him with sympathy.
They both knew how long he had waited for this moment, and how much effort he had poured into it.
That was why neither comfort nor advice came easily.
The three sat in silence, staring into empty space.
Just then, Emma suddenly clapped her hands.
“Oh! That’s it!”
“What is it, Emma?”
“You said it yourself, Your Grace—you can use a reply to the reply! We just do that! We send another request through the reply!”
“But how are we supposed to do that? If we spend 200 gold every time we request a reply, House Cervellion will end up on the streets!”
“Actually, it was 1,000 gold.”
Emma casually corrected him.
Chandler’s face froze at the astronomical number.
“Emma… do you think 1,000 gold is a dog’s name from next door?”
“Who names a dog that?”
Emma shot him a look of disgust.
Chandler pressed a hand to his forehead.
“The success fee was 1,000 gold… If we extend the request, we might reduce the cost. But I doubt she’ll just go along with it.”
Deus’s face was cold as he analyzed the situation.
But Emma remained unusually bright.
“No. She has to accept another request to get her payment.”
She sounded completely certain.
A faint spark of hope flickered in Deus’s exhausted eyes.
“How?”
Emma smiled and explained her plan.
The so-called “Clink Strategy.”
“Ooooh! That could actually work! As expected of Emma! The most capable talent in House Cervellion! The hope of the estate! The light of the estate!”
Chandler showered her with exaggerated praise.
Emma ignored him completely and turned to Deus.
“What do you think, Your Grace?”
Deus stroked his chin, deep in thought.
It was an appealing proposal.
“If everything goes according to plan, she would accept a second request… but…”
He trailed off, looking at Emma with concern.
“That might put you in danger, Emma.”
Emma blinked in surprise.
“Oh my, Your Grace. I’m not exactly someone who gets caught off guard easily.”
But Deus still looked unconvinced.
Chandler, who had been listening quietly, muttered sincerely:
“Ah… is this a fated duel between the strongest of the old era and the strongest of the new?”
“Ha, Sir Chandler.”
Even Emma, who had been patient until now, turned to him sharply.
“Do you want to get your back kicked in by stepping into that ‘duel’?”
Her voice was icy.
If words could kill, Chandler’s head might have rolled right there.
“Ah—no! I just mean I’m worried about you! That woman seems experienced and ruthless compared to you…”
“Sir Chandler really thinks everything has to be solved with fighting. Why not just run away if things go wrong? It’s not like she can chase me forever, and I can lose anyone else easily enough.”
Chandler fell silent.
She was right.
He had no rebuttal.
He sent Deus a pleading look for help—but Deus, deep in thought, ignored him.
They had to make this second chance work.
Slowly, Deus closed and opened his eyes.
A spark returned to his once-dead blue gaze.
* * *
Rosalyn returned to No. 44 Perbet Street just before dawn.
She didn’t even make it to her bedroom and collapsed onto the reception room carpet.
Throwing off her mask carelessly, she let out a long sigh.
She had managed to retrieve the reply, but unanswered questions still piled up endlessly.
“Maybe I should’ve just opened the letter myself instead of all this nonsense.”
Her hand brushed against the letter in her coat as she muttered.
Maybe reading it would finally explain Deus’s strange behavior.
“No. I suffered for this money. I’m getting paid.”
She quickly corrected herself.
Thoughts weren’t useful. Money was.
“Making money off others is seriously exhausting.”
Her voice was drained with fatigue.
Her eyes slowly began to close.
‘Martini is going to yell at me in the morning…’
In her fading consciousness, she imagined Martini’s annoyed face.
And the fact that he was probably sleeping comfortably while she worked.
‘Just wait till tomorrow morning… I’ll deal with him then…’
With that thought, she drifted off to sleep.
How long had passed?
Rosalyn suddenly snapped her eyes open at a presence beside her head.
“Gah! You scared me, Master!”
Martini, who had been crouching nearby, fell backward.
“What are you doing here?”
“Why are you in the living room instead of your room?!”
Martini shouted from the floor.
“Why are you watching me sleep like that?”
“I wasn’t! I just sat down and you woke up! I was worried you might be sick or something!”
His voice was full of indignation.
Rosalyn looked at him skeptically.
“You… were worried? About me?”
“Master, that’s so mean!”
Martini pouted.
Rosalyn frowned as if she had seen something unpleasant and stood up, brushing him off.
Martini, already used to her attitude, quickly followed her anyway.
“Master, did you get the reply?”
Rosalyn nodded briefly.
Martini lit up instantly.
“As expected of Master! You’re amazing!”
If left alone, he looked like he might start jumping in place.
“I always believed you could do anything!”
Hearing praise she would normally never receive, Rosalyn let out a short laugh.
He was far too easy to read.
“So once we return the reply… and get paid… we’ll finally—!”
Martini’s eyes drifted into a dream of happiness.
“We’re going to make it big.”
“Master!”
Overcome with emotion, Martini looked ready to hug her.
Rosalyn quickly pulled the letter out and handed it over.
“Keep it safe. This is the letter that will change our lives.”
“Yes, Master! I’ll protect it with my life… wait a second, Master.”
Martini suddenly froze.
A bad feeling crept in.
“Uh… how exactly do we deliver this reply?”
A question she had never considered.
Rosalyn’s expression stiffened.
“We have to deliver it to get paid. But… we don’t even know anything about the client.”
Confusion and frustration twisted Martini’s face.
Rosalyn swallowed dryly. She probably looked the same.
“So… we’re not actually going to get our 200 gold?”
“Technically it’s 1,000 gold.”
Rosalyn corrected him automatically, then racked her brain.
Had she missed something?
How had she been so careless?
After a long silence, she finally admitted it.
“Martini.”
“Yes, Master.”
“I think… we might be idiots.”
Both of them.
The biggest fools in the world.
