IPTD 19

Chapter 19

Unlike earlier, the Duke was surprisingly quiet.
What’s going on?
Just as I was wondering about his unusual behavior,
the Duke irritably tugged the hood of his cloak down over his head.
Only then did I realize the reason.
Beneath the hood, his face was pale as death.
This person… must be completely drained.

Seeing him like this, it was clear he was an introvert through and through.
His empty, glassy eyes immediately revealed the ‘I’ of someone overwhelmed by the crowd.
Honestly, if he had tried to sneak away while distracted, I probably wouldn’t even have noticed.

I was just considering whether to make a plan when it suddenly hit me:
Oh. Now that I think about it…
I was a beggar.

“……”
I fiddled with the hem of my dress for no reason.
The beautiful dress Garnet had made, of course, had no pockets.
And naturally, as a titular Duchess with no real wealth, I had not a single coin in hand.
I couldn’t even think about buying something to eat; I was just like a racehorse, blindly running in at the festival, dazzled by everything around me.

I quickly faced reality again.
I may have no money, but at least he does.

That left only one answer.
So I stared straight at the Duke.

“Hm?”
Perhaps he felt the intensity of my gaze.
From above, his eyes met mine.
Arrogant, slightly incredulous… yet somehow already familiar.

“What is it?”
His tone was still gruff.
Ugh, how annoying! I didn’t really want to talk to him either.

But with a wealthy patron, one had no choice but to bow gracefully.
Damn it, that’s just how the world worked.
After all, pride was something I had left in a past life.

Swallowing my indignation internally, I forced as much politeness as I could into my tone and spoke.
“…Do you have any money?”

“……”
Xenos looked at Rene with the happiest expression in the world, though tinged with disbelief, as she held a different skewer in each hand.

“This is chicken skewer! Wow, it’s so good. Is this heart?”
She must be eating plenty of meat every day, yet the cheap street skewers delighted her this much?

Muttering to herself, Rene showed the first bright expression Xenos had seen since coming to the Duke’s castle.
Xenos’ feelings were complicated.
Who exactly is she?

No matter how much he tried to guess, Rene consistently defied his expectations.
Contrary to the rumors he had heard, she was vibrant and full of energy.
Even though she was treated almost oppressively at the Duke’s castle.

Is she resilient, or is she just pretending?
In truth, today’s companionship had been a frontal confrontation for Xenos.
He had heard countless reports of her reputation through others.
Still, he could not predict her behavior and had decided to face her directly.
Yet now he found himself even more perplexed.

She had grown up in Blanche’s house, scorned as a lowly illegitimate child.
So she should be small and frail… yet she fearlessly bought a skewer, daring to extort money from someone more threatening than the Marquis’ household?

“Hah.”

Even stranger was Xenos himself.
Despite hating Blanche, why did he find himself helplessly following Rene Blanche’s lead?

“…Why?”
Feeling a gaze on her, Rene narrowed her eyes and asked.
Xenos did not answer.
Then, seemingly reaching her own conclusion, she muttered, “Ah,” and slowly held out the new skewer she had in her other hand.

“You bought two to eat them all yourself, didn’t you? Then why not buy one more…? Anyway, I’m not that shameless either.”

Though she spoke confidently, her hand wavered, clearly unwilling to part with one of the skewers.

“…Fine.”
“Yep.”

Xenos flatly refused, and Rene, as if she had been waiting for this, immediately stuffed the skewer into her mouth.

“……”
Xenos was at a loss for words at her unceremonious action.
Then the woman’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s.

“Kek, kek!”
She started coughing violently, as if she had choked, yet her gaze remained fixed.

At the end of it all was someone even more imposing than Rene.

“Wow, I’ll take everything from here to here.”
“All of this?”
“Yes!”

The man who swept up the skewers the woman had been grilling slid one between each of his fingers like a claw weapon.
With long green hair flowing down his back, he laughed heartily, clearly pleased with himself.

“Crazy….”
Rene’s face twisted in anger as a small curse escaped her lips, then subsided.
This was no mere competitor for skewers—she was genuinely fierce.

Wait a second.
A scene flashed through Xenos’ mind.

“I saw it with my own eyes! Rene Blanche was standing with a mysterious man in front of the annex!”
“Was he a servant sent on an errand from the Duke’s castle?”
“No way! If such a handsome servant existed, I would’ve known!”
“……?”
“Hmm, hmm! No! That’s not the point! The man’s hair was green, long and straight down to his waist. As far as I know, there’s no servant with that hair color in this castle!”

It matched exactly what Katarina had said.
A strikingly handsome man with long green hair.

Xenos’ eyes narrowed instantly.
He quickly checked Rene.
She stood frozen like a statue, skewer in mouth.
So Katarina was telling the truth?

It was hard to fully trust her words, yet Rene’s reaction was undeniably strange.
For a woman usually so confident to suddenly glance at me like that… it was particularly odd.

Just then, Xenos’ sharp gaze met the man’s.
“!”
It was no illusion.

“Ohho.”
The man, with green hair and striking yellow eyes, uttered a sound of amusement as if intrigued.
He smiled lightly and waved his hand.

Though his face was partially hidden by a hat, he clearly recognized Xenos.
Yet Xenos had never met him.
If he had seen this distinctive figure even once… he would not have forgotten.

Then,
…! What is this?
In an instant, the man’s normally round pupils narrowed vertically.
It lasted only a moment, returning to round immediately afterward…
I didn’t imagine that.

Xenos’ senses confirmed it.
His whole body tensed.
This was serious.

Xenos was one of the empire’s top swordmasters.
If even he felt such overwhelming presence,
this was not the kind of intimidation a mere human could project.

This man isn’t human.
He’s a natural disaster.

The overwhelming force one only feels from a calamity that strikes without warning, rendering humans powerless.
He’s no ordinary person.

His tightly clenched fists began to tremble.
Yet Xenos did not avert his gaze from the mysterious man.
Perhaps it was sheer stubbornness.
Xenos Celeste was that kind of man:
unbending, even if he might break.

So naturally, he chose to confront the man head-on.

Xenos strode toward the suspicious figure without hesitation.
Rene, flustered, followed closely behind.

“Uh, where are you going?”
Xenos didn’t answer again.
The crowd parted strangely, letting him pass unimpeded.

He stood directly in front of the man, eyes locked on him.
Up close, the man was slightly smaller than Xenos, yet his presence was no less overwhelming.
If anything, the unknown man’s calmness made him seem dominant.

“Who are you?”
Xenos murmured, low and like he was grinding out a curse.

The man merely shrugged nonchalantly.
Rene, small and hurrying to keep up, grabbed Xenos’ cloak.

“Why are you doing this? To a passerby?”
“Do you know him?”
Xenos finally turned to Rene, his tone sharp and aggressive.

Rene froze, fear evident, her tiny hands trembling.
The green-haired man snickered quietly at the sight.

“So, the so-called lord and duke scares his wife first thing? Praised as a wise ruler outside, yet a complete mess at home, I see.”