PAHKE 37

Chapter 37

What is with this guy?

For a moment, my brain completely froze, and I could only blink blankly.

How much does he know about me? Could it be that he even knows I’m Rosemary?

As questions flooded my mind, one fairy’s face suddenly flashed through it.

The Fairy of Wealth, Taro.

Lucian was Taro’s contractor.

And Taro had seen my face when he secretly snuck into my house before.

Which meant Taro could reveal my identity to Lucian whenever he wanted.

What do I do…?

Unconsciously, I glanced toward the fruit basket on the floor.

Wit was peeking only his head out from between the fruits, sending me a look that said, “Should Wit help?”

No. That’s just my assumption for now.

Stay calm and handle this carefully.

I secretly raised my palm toward Wit, signaling him to wait a moment.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Do you remember?”

Just as I tried to play dumb, Lucian asked first.

“When you grabbed my hand at the opera house.”

I grabbed Lucian’s hand?

I frowned and tilted my head.

Seeing my expression saying I didn’t remember, Lucian tapped his shoulder as if giving me a hint.

Shoulder?

At that moment, I remembered shaking off Lucian’s hand when it had landed on my shoulder outside the opera house.

“For a man’s hand, it was pretty small.”

Lucian continued with a faint smile.

“And for a commoner’s hand, it was soft and delicate.”

“…That’s prejudice. Not every commoner’s hands are rough.”

And not every man’s hands are big either.

I answered calmly, and Lucian slowly nodded with his eyes closed as if agreeing.

“Mm. You’re not wrong. There’s always exceptions.”

As I looked at him, I thought:

Is that all he knows about me?

Just fragmentary information he got from a brief touch.

If that was all, then thankfully—

“Then why are you hiding your identity?”

I couldn’t answer immediately.

“I’ve heard there are nobles who want to run businesses but hide their identities because they’re concerned about rumors.”

I silently stared at Lucian as he calmly continued his nonsense.

“But if you’re only a commoner with no title or reputation, then if you have to hide your identity…”

Gulp.

I swallowed nervously, wondering what ridiculous thing would come out of his mouth next.

“Are you perhaps a wanted criminal?”

“…”

…How did you know?

Taking my silence as confirmation, Lucian widened his eyes and pretended to be shocked.

“Oh my. Just what kind of incredible crime did you commit?”

Hey. I haven’t answered yet. And what do you mean incredible crime?

“But this is serious.”

I was sighing when Lucian suddenly put on a regretful expression. It looked incredibly fake.

“No matter how much you’re my friend, I am still the Marquis of the Berto family, tasked with protecting the Empire.”

As he spoke, Lucian walked closer, placing his hand on my shoulder and pressing down slightly.

“I’m sorry, friend. But I can’t simply overlook this matter.”

I quietly glared at him as he wordlessly pressured me.

“I’ll have no choice but to call the guards again—”

“What do you want?”

Enough. Get to the point.

I asked irritably, and Lucian curved his eyes into crescents.

“Continue running the guild here.”

…What?

“Put away any thoughts of leaving.”

Words I couldn’t understand and had never expected came from Lucian’s mouth, making me grimace.

“Why…? How does that help you at all?”

“I told you already. I like you.”

Removing his hand from my shoulder, Lucian naturally walked past me and entered through the open door.

“I’m curious about how you make those toys.”

Toys…

Now that I thought about it, he really had been obsessing over toys every time.

Damn it. Those stupid toys.

“Now come sit.”

Before I knew it, Lucian had already seated himself at the dining table and was gesturing for me to sit opposite him.

“Come on. Aren’t you curious what I bought for you?”

Looking at the wrapped boxes he was placing on the table, I thought:

Let’s just humor him for now. Maybe he’ll leave eventually. It’s not like he’s planning to live here.

“Sigh…”

I sat down across from him with a sigh, and Lucian slid a cake toward me.

“Do you like strawberry cake?”

Suddenly disliking strawberries, I shook my head.

“I don’t like strawberries…”

Then Lucian offered another dessert.

“If you don’t like strawberries, how about blueberry pie?”

“I don’t like blueberries…”

“My toy shop owner has pickier tastes than expected. Then how about this—”

Persistent bastard.

He looked like he wouldn’t stop asking until I said yes to something.

Might as well just eat something and end this.

“Just… give me the one with peaches on it.”

Lucian handed me a peach tart and asked,

“You like peaches?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

I answered halfheartedly and stabbed a peach slice with my fork.

Then—

“Looks like I’ll have to bring you lots of peaches from now on.”

Why would you…?

“Don’t waste your money. I won’t even finish them.”

“It’s fine. I’m not buying them for you to eat.”

If not to eat, then what? Decoration?

I looked at him strangely and was about to put the peach in my mouth—

“D-Don’t eat that, human!”

Crash!

Someone suddenly shot forward like an arrow and snatched the fork from my hand.

Still frozen in the same position, I blinked slowly.

W-What?

Looking around, the dining table had become a complete mess in the blink of an eye.

And in the middle of it—

“Taro?”

There stood Taro in his bird form, wearing the overturned plate that had held the peaches on his head.

“Huff… huff… A-Are you okay, human?”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. I’m okay…”

You don’t look okay, though?

I stared at Taro worriedly as he gasped for breath.

After regaining his composure, Taro suddenly shouted at Lucian:

“Y-You contractor brat! I wondered what suspicious thing you were doing, but why are you trying to kill that human?!”

…Kill who?

Unable to understand Taro’s words, I sat there blankly while Lucian spoke.

“Taro, are you close with the toy shop owner?”

“W-We are clos— I-I mean, what?! I know nothing!”

Taro hurriedly changed his words with the expression of someone who clearly had something to hide.

Judging from his reaction, thankfully he probably hadn’t revealed my identity.

But more importantly—

Didn’t he just say Lucian was trying to kill me?

Slowly, I lowered my gaze.

A fallen peach slice on the floor.

Could it be…

“…Poison?”

I murmured under my breath and looked up.

Lucian smiled mysteriously.

It’s true…?

At that moment, Wit suddenly sprang out from atop the tomato basket.

“Get away from him, Master!”

At the same time, Wit used magic to throw tomatoes at Lucian.

Lucian tilted his body slightly and dodged the first tomato.

Splat—

But he couldn’t avoid the second one.

“…”

Drip.

Me, Wit, and Taro silently stared at the tomato juice running down Lucian’s forehead.

A brief silence passed.

“This is my first time eating tomatoes this way.”

Lucian slowly licked his lips with his red tongue.

“It’s better than I expected.”

Maybe because the red liquid covering his face looked like blood.

Even while smiling, he looked more demonic than an actual demon.

“You dared attack Master!”

“W-Wit, calm down!”

Taro hurriedly stood protectively in front of Lucian.

Watching blankly, I finally snapped back to reality and asked:

“You put poison in the food?”

Lucian, now wiping his face with a handkerchief, looked toward me.

More furious than I’d ever been, I asked again:

“Why…? Why were you trying to kill me?”

Why?

What did I ever do?

No matter how I thought about it, I had never done anything to earn Lucian’s hatred.

No—didn’t he say he liked me?

At my question, Lucian simply smiled innocently.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I pointed toward the peach tart rolling around on the floor.

“Then eat it.”

If there wasn’t poison, prove it by eating it.

Biting my lip, I glared at him.

Lucian pouted.

“You’re telling me to eat something this dirty?”

“You said it’d be fine if you eat it within three minutes.”

“Wasn’t it three seconds?”

Three seconds or three minutes, who cares?

If you want, I can wash it for you too, so eat it and prove your innocence.

I held up the peach slice with the fork still stuck in it.

Lucian chuckled.

“Ahaha. That’s difficult. But if you’re feeding me…”

Before he could finish his nonsense, I shoved the peach directly into his mouth.

“Mmph.”

Lucian’s eyes widened, then he began chewing.

Wait.

He’s actually eating it?

I blinked blankly.

Lucian smiled as if praising me.

“You’re so kind.”

…Ugh.

I grimaced and rubbed my goosebumps away.

But how could he just eat that?

Was there actually no poison?

“D-Don’t be fooled, human. That bastard has poison resistance.”

But Taro’s next words proved me wrong.

Lucian sounded disappointed.

“Taro.”

“W-Why are you pretending? Didn’t you say so yourself? Since childhood, your hobby has been eating every poison in existence!”

Eating poison as a hobby…?

He’s definitely insane.

“S-So now every poison does nothing to you and life has become boring! Y-You said that yourself!”

Taro puffed out his little bird chest proudly.

Lucian let out a helpless laugh.

He stared at Taro for a moment before looking back at me.

“Impressive. Since when did you become so close with Taro?”

You’re not even denying it anymore?

So there really was poison in that peach.

The moment I became certain, alarm bells rang in my head.

Lucian Berto.

The character who seemed the most mentally unstable in the novel was after my life.

“Master, we really need to kill that guy!”

I looked at Wit, who was fuming with rage.

Normally, I would’ve stopped him, but…

“I permit it.”

Go, Wit.