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Chapter 5
Someone Died
‘What is the Duke doing over there?’
The person standing in the hallway was the Duke.
Without even turning his head toward me, he went straight into the room.
‘That must be the Duke’s room.’
Since the first day I arrived at the ducal estate, I had never once run into him.
He hadn’t come to see me first, and I hadn’t gone to see him either.
Besides, the mansion was so large that even wandering around, it was rare to cross paths with him.
‘I need to pass through…’
The place I was heading to was the back staircase at the far end of the second floor.
Each floor had a staircase used by servants, and that particular one was especially busy—meaning there were often things to pick up there.
‘Should I just take another route?’
I hesitated for a moment, then quickly changed my mind.
‘I can’t avoid him forever anyway.’
Since I had to stay here for another four years, there was no way I could keep avoiding the Duke.
If anything, it would be better to stay on his good side—for the sake of my goal of becoming independent in four years.
‘He is the master of this house.’
If I made a good impression, it might even become easier to gather emergency funds.
With determination, I began to walk forward step by step, thinking about what I would do if I ran into him.
If I happened to meet the Duke in the hallway, I would politely greet him and pass by!
‘If I behave properly, maybe he’ll look favorably on me.’
Maybe later, if the young masters bullied me, he might even offer a bit of protection.
I stopped in front of the door he had entered. It was wide open, so I could see straight inside.
And then—
I came face to face with a scene I could never have imagined.
My entire body froze stiff.
The first thing I noticed was a shattered teacup scattered across the floor. The expensive rug near the entrance was stained red.
On top of it lay a person, face down, completely motionless.
The Duke stood in the center of the room, casually brushing off his sleeve.
A scream was about to escape my lips when, at that very moment, the Duke turned his head.
‘Gasp.’
I quickly hid myself to the side.
Silence filled the air.
My mind was in chaos, yet only one thought remained clear.
‘I can’t get caught.’
No one could find out that I had just seen that.
I held my breath as quietly as possible.
‘Go back to my room.’
I immediately headed back to my room.
Light footsteps echoed in the hallway.
Just as he began to wonder who it was, Filen appeared at the door.
“Milord! What on earth happened here?!”
The footsteps had been somewhat light for an adult, but Kaylius didn’t think much of it.
After all, at this hour, it was rare for anyone to be wandering the second floor aimlessly.
After taking in the situation, Filen hurriedly brought in a few servants and ordered them to clean the room.
The servants he brought were also relatively accustomed to such incidents.
Having worked in the ducal household all their lives, they clicked their tongues but silently cleaned the room.
“Are you alright?”
Kaylius casually tilted his head toward the corpse.
“Check it.”
Filen examined the tea in the pot. He took out a pen he carried and dipped it into the tea.
The pen was wrapped in dyed sheepskin. The moment it touched the liquid, the color faded to white.
“Is it Hydra?”
Hydra was a colorless poison with a sweet scent. That’s why it was usually mixed into strongly scented tea.
It had only been discovered recently, so they wouldn’t have known about it if not for the Grand Duke Constar.
Hydra didn’t discolor silverware. The only way to detect it in tea was through dyed animal leather.
When placed in liquid containing Hydra, the dyed leather would lose its color and turn pale.
That was why Filen, after hearing about it from the Grand Duke, had replaced all the carpets in the mansion with sheepskin.
A tiny section of the carpet had turned pale—likely from Kaylius spilling the tea to test it.
“Most likely.”
“What happened to this man?”
“Check his mouth. There should be poison.”
Inside his mouth was a broken capsule.
It seemed he had chosen suicide rather than be captured after being discovered.
After confirming the corpse’s condition, Filen stood up.
Though further investigation was needed, there was only one group in the empire whose members would go this far for a mission.
“If he’s this well-trained, it must be them.”
“They must have accepted a contract.”
Unlike Kaylius, who seemed unconcerned, Filen clenched his teeth.
It wasn’t hard to guess the assassin’s affiliation.
That was precisely the problem.
If it was that group, even his information network had limits in identifying the client.
“I’ll narrow down the suspicious families and plant informants.”
Meanwhile, the servant’s corpse was carried out.
Kaylius briefly glanced at the blood-stained rug before looking forward again.
“No. Leave it for now.”
Filen was startled.
“Leave it? They’ve already made one attempt. Unless the contract is canceled, they’ll keep trying.”
“We need to observe the situation. There’s nothing more to get from him anyway.”
Filen closed his mouth.
Kaylius was right—searching the body wouldn’t yield anything.
Watching and waiting might be the better approach.
“Aren’t you curious how far they’ll struggle?”
At that moment, Filen felt a chill run down his spine.
For some reason, the attacker’s life felt more precarious than Kaylius’s, who had almost been poisoned.
‘If they want a painless death, they’d better stop now.’
This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
Filen also agreed that leaving it alone could be more effective than exposing it immediately.
After all, to Kaylius, the threat wasn’t even more than a wriggling worm.
Still, as someone responsible for his safety, Filen thought Kaylius should be more cautious.
“Still… you are no longer alone, milord. If something were to happen to you, the young masters could be in danger.”
Kaylius smiled faintly.
“Them?”
“Yes, of cour—”
Filen stopped mid-sentence.
Even if Kaylius were in danger, the young masters weren’t the type to cower.
‘They’d cause a scene, if anything.’
If anything, the enemy should hope Kaylius didn’t fall easily—unless they wanted to provoke the young masters.
Filen cleared his throat.
“Anyway, they’re still at an age where they need to grow. They should remain safely under a guardian’s protection.”
“Right. I’ll make sure they don’t cause trouble.”
“Yes, yes. In any case.”
As Filen tidied up, he suddenly remembered the child who had recently arrived.
“Come to think of it, wouldn’t the young lady be in real danger?”
At that, Kaylius’s brow twitched.
“Word hasn’t spread outside yet, but once the servants talk, it will be fast. If they learn of her existence, what will you do?”
“I doubt they’ll pay her that much attention.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because I won’t give her that much attention.”
Kaylius spoke coldly.
“I’m only keeping her for a short while. I’ll send her to the monastery in Rosen soon.”
“Oh, so you don’t intend to keep her?”
Kaylius looked at him as if it were obvious.
“But wouldn’t she help with Lord Clemens’s succession issue?”
Kaylius nodded.
“I’ll show her face to the vassals, then send her away. The children will be returning home soon anyway. She needs to be gone before that.”
“That makes sense. The vassals wouldn’t stay quiet if they heard.”
“Exactly. Better to show them first. Otherwise, suspicion would be troublesome.”
Filen recalled the girl—her skin now fair and plump from Sophia’s care.
Her once messy black hair had become soft and glossy.
No one would doubt the blood relation.
His gaze drifted to Kaylius’s black hair.
‘…Could it really not be?’
The thought quickly faded as Kaylius spoke again.
“Until then, make sure she doesn’t do anything unnecessary.”
* * *
‘Someone died.’
Only after returning to my room did I finally breathe properly.
The scene replayed endlessly in my mind.
Someone died. The Duke killed someone.
‘Why?’
But the answer was obvious.
He was the Duke of Crustel.
He felt no guilt in killing people.
Even in the original story, he discarded loyal followers without hesitation if they became useless.
‘This must be the same.’
That was also why he adopted three children.
Clemens could read ancient languages, and the twins, Mikael and Deivan, had exceptional magical talent.
And then a horrifying realization struck me.
‘I have nothing.’
Unlike them, I had no talent.
He may have brought me here for now, but once I became useless, I would be discarded.
The young masters had value—but I didn’t.
A terrifying image flashed in my mind.
The servant lying dead… replaced by me.
I had no choice but to completely change my plans.
‘I need to leave.’
There’s no way I can survive here for four years.
