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Chapter 4
It didn’t take long to find Maddy again.
After preparing a few things, Yulikyan entered the rundown neighborhood and searched a few noisy taverns.
Maddy was playing poker again at the very table where their eyes had first met, in the very tavern where they’d first met.
However, judging by the redness in the whites of her eyes, it seemed she had been playing cards all night.
Yulikyan sat down in an empty seat and looked at her hands gripping the cards.
Why hadn’t he noticed before?
Her hands were covered in calluses here and there, like a soldier who had received extensive training.
“Oh, our new customer is back. You joining in from this round?”
Even knowing he was the Grand Duke, she still spoke informally.
“I suppose.”
Maddy grinned and asked how much money he had brought for the pot.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Who, who? Who are you talking to? There’s Bain, Kal, Audrey, Hail, and what’s that over there, Gilly too, all sitting at this table. Who on earth could you mean? For your information, my name is Maddy.”
“After this round, let’s talk. Maddy.”
“Oh my, what, what. I’m pretty sharp, you know. What is it~”
Laughing heartily and thumping the shoulder of the person next to her, Maddy suddenly stopped laughing.
“If a new customer asks, I should get up. But just let me finish this one round~”
Only after cleanly winning a pile of money with a royal straight flush did Maddy get up from her seat.
When the others at the table jeered, Maddy waved her hand nonchalantly.
“Oh well, what can I do? A handsome man is asking me to follow him, so I have to go. I need to get married too, you know~”
“Aw, come on! Looks like Maddy’s going to earn her whole trousseau playing poker!”
Hearing the catcalls, whether jeers or cheers, the two left the tavern.
“Hey. I have something to discuss quietly. Somewhere private, not out on the street like this…”
Before Yulikyan could finish, Maddy turned around.
“I get the gist, so follow me. Your Highness the Grand Duke.”
As if the whole neighborhood was her own home, Maddy walked briskly, poking through alleys here and there. Yulikyan had to stay alert so as not to lose sight of her brown hair, which bobbed left and right with each step.
Even walking through alleys barely wide enough for one person to pass, Maddy moved without hesitation.
She even entered a building that looked like someone’s house and came out the other side.
“Where on earth are we going?!”
“Shh. Quietly.”
Yulikyan began to regret following Maddy.
Just because she had saved him from the assassins didn’t guarantee she wasn’t on the Emperor’s side.
If he were led to such a deserted place and suddenly kidnapped, there would be no turning back.
As Yulikyan looked around trying to find a way back to the main street, Maddy opened a creaky old wooden door with a squeak.
It was a door hidden in a small gap between walls, impossible to find without looking closely.
“Come in, customer.”
Flustered by the sudden change in address, Yulikyan nonetheless forced a composed expression and stepped inside.
It was a cozy room, smaller than his own bathroom. Without a window, it contained only a table and two chairs.
“Please have a seat, Your Highness the Grand Duke, and we will begin the consultation.”
Her tone was as slick as usual, but polite.
Yulikyan deliberately sat in the other chair, not the one Maddy had pulled out for him.
Maddy chuckled and pulled out a blank piece of paper from her bosom.
“Yes, our customer is a suspicious sort. And I fully understand that you can’t help it, what with assassins visiting you regularly.”
Maddy scrawled ‘Contract’ haphazardly on the paper, then sat down, clasped her hands together on the table, and smiled brightly.
“Alright, let’s see. What our customer wishes to commission from me… Is it personal bodyguard services? Perhaps you’d like me to watch your back every time you make a secret outing? As for the fee, let’s see… I can’t charge per job, so let’s say 100 Dillons per day…”
“It’s not bodyguard services.”
Yulikyan asked with a stern face.
“Are you loyal to this country?”
Before hiring her, Yulikyan had something he needed to confirm first.
“Oh, come on. What country does a drifter have? Wherever I sleep is my home, and whoever pays is my customer.”
“From what you just rattled off, it sounds like you intend to protect me, but before that, there’s something I need to verify. …Whether you’re a spy or not, and whether you truly have the skills to protect me.”
Maddy blinked her large green eyes innocently, flipped up her dress, and rummaged through the pockets inside.
So that’s why she always wore those multiple layers of dresses—she carried all sorts of things around.
Yulikyan’s gaze turned toward Maddy’s dress.
“Oh my. Where are you looking!”
Without even blushing, she fanned her cheek with her hand, then suddenly threw something.
It was too fast to even see.
Yulikyan turned to see what had flown past his face.
A small dagger was embedded in the wall.
The dagger was pinning a centipede precisely through its body.
“I find bugs creepy, so I can’t catch them with my bare hands.”
Her tone was still annoyingly slick.
“…Your skills seem exceptional.”
“And as for whether I’m someone sent by the Emperor… Look here, customer. I’m a woman with my own professional ethics. I don’t flip-flop between sides. Huh? I’m someone who doesn’t even know where the liver and gallbladder are attached. But? If the customer pays? I’ll give you both liver and gallbladder. That’s how loyal I am.”
“And how can I be sure of that?”
“Why do you think that dagger only pierced the centipede?”
Maddy grinned and added.
“Because you’re going to be my customer.”
Her emerald-green eyes, sparkling, at least didn’t seem to be telling lies.
If she truly were the Emperor’s agent, she would have killed Yulikyan the moment he entered this secret room.
“Did you show interest in me from the beginning because you knew I was in need of protection?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Maddy answered casually.
“Because you’re handsome.”
“What?”
“I approached you because you’re handsome. I’ve always liked silver hair. Blue eyes are even better. And if I can get a commission and get paid too, I’ll protect you with my absolute best.”
Feeling dizzy for some reason, Yulikyan held his forehead.
Thinking that looked like he was deliberating the commission, Maddy put down her pen and continued speaking earnestly.
“It seemed like Your Highness the Grand Duke was in a life-threatening situation, so I brought you here today. I can really protect you well. But now, depending on the price, the service changes—whether I quietly dispose of them behind the scenes, or slaughter them right in front of your eyes. I can even just cut off their heads and send them to someone, but that’s a separate delivery fee. Remote mountain regions usually cost double, but since Your Highness is handsome, I’ll waive that. Oh my, I’m such a good businesswoman! Really!”
Talking about human necks as if she were a cheap street peddler.
Yulikyan squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them.
“…I don’t need you to deal with things in front of me. I had people clean up the bodies from last time.”
“That explains it! I went back to clean up and they were gone!”
“What? You should have cleaned up the bodies immediately!”
“I was really hungry, you know.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“I went to eat dinner because I was going to clean up later, since it was in an alley where people don’t go! Do you wash the dishes right after eating, Your Highness?”
“Are you comparing killing people to washing dishes?! How can you have such a lack of common sense?!”
Yulikyan, who had raised his voice without realizing it, decided that this very immorality of hers would be useful for ‘that plan,’ and just shut his mouth.
Meanwhile, Maddy scribbled something else in the corner of the contract.
“Hmm, seems like he washes the dishes right away. ‘Homely.'”
“Why are you writing something like that on the contract?!”
“Why do you keep yelling? This isn’t even a soundproof office, you know.”
Conversation was simply impossible to continue.
Yulikyan let out a long sigh and closed his eyes, then opened them.
“…Where did you receive your training?”
“Don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
Maddy scratched her head with the pen and said.
“Six…teen, or seventeen? I don’t even remember my age. Anyway, I have no memories from before that. But I just happen to be good at things like this.”
In Maddy’s right hand, the dagger Yulikyan always carried began to move dexterously.
Setting aside when she had stolen it, seeing how skillfully she twirled the blade, it seemed like more than just a year or two of training.
“Using a knife like this, modifying guns, loading them, shooting them, using my body… …I guess I must have lived doing this kind of thing even before that.”
“No chance you might be a daughter of a distinguished family?”
Considering the possibility, Yulikyan asked, and Maddy chuckled, rolling up both sleeves.
As if that wasn’t enough, she even lifted her dress up in one swift motion.
In an instant, Yulikyan quickly turned his head away at the sight of her light brown skin, but even in that brief moment, it was clearly visible.
The countless scars that embroidered her body.
“Are your legs a bit much? Then shall I just show you my arms?”
Maddy, having lowered her dress again, stood up, walked into Yulikyan’s line of sight, and extended both arms.
From her wrists to her upper arms, they were covered in old scars.
“There’s no way a daughter from a good family would have been raised like this, right? I’m just Maddy. No background, no parents. Just Maddy, the errand girl.”
Finishing her introduction, Maddy knelt on one knee as if taking a knight’s oath, and gently took Yulikyan’s right hand.
“So if you entrust me with your protection, I’ll make sure our customer doesn’t get hurt.”
“…I wish you’d at least decide whether to use formal or informal speech.”
“We’ll be protecting you from the shadows anyway, so what’s the point? Now, since the verification is done, shall we decide on the price?”
The moment Maddy let go of his hand and tried to get up, Yulikyan grabbed her wrist.
“I believe I told you I didn’t come to you to ask for bodyguard services.”
“Then what. You want to date?”
“No. Marriage.”
“…Excuse me?”
For the first time, Maddy’s face, which had been giggling and tossing out jokes, stiffened in surprise.
“I can give you as much money as you want. Since it’s a job that could put your life at risk, I’ll pay you well.”
Maddy tried to slip her captured wrist free, slowly leaning back, but Yulikyan wouldn’t let go.
Yulikyan continued, his handsome face sparkling.
“I know you’re not the Emperor’s agent. And you don’t seem like you’d die easily either. This isn’t a matter I can entrust to just anyone, and you’re the right person for it.”
“W-wait a minute. I don’t do that kind of thing! Why would I get married! Let go! Won’t you let go?”
Maddy suddenly yelled and kicked one of the legs of the chair Yulikyan was sitting on.
The chair shattered and Yulikyan rolled onto the floor.
Yet the light in his crazed eyes did not fade.
Yulikyan supported himself with both hands on the floor, looking up at Maddy, and said.
“Marry me.”
“Do you think you can buy someone’s life with money! You’re trying to buy someone’s life!”
“100 million.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
“1 billion.”
“Honey, where have you been all this time. I’ve found you.”
“…This isn’t a joke. To be precise, after 3 years, a divorce settlement of 1 billion. If you want to leave the country, I’ll separately prepare the funds for your exile. You just have to pretend to be a married couple outside. I don’t want physical contact either. What do you say, Maddy?”
Maddy swallowed dryly.
It was too much money to refuse.
His sky-blue eyes were flashing with strong will.
And with a hint of madness.
That was when Maddy should have known. That handsome men could be crazy too.
And that clear-eyed madmen weren’t the only ones in the world.
