TLDWAE 23

Chapter 23

“I can’t just let it go, but killing it feels wrong… what should I do?”

“Kill it! Kill it!”

“-Alice, you’re rather extreme.”

Alice grabbed Karia’s hand and echoed what Red Wise had said, giggling. Having received a new body and outfit as gifts, she felt happier than ever today.

Karia adjusted the sleeves of Eddie’s magically restored clothes to fit Alice’s small frame, holding Alice’s flailing arms steady.

Even hearing such fierce words, Karia smiled kindly at the girl, and Red’s expression rapidly darkened.

“Y-you’re really going to kill it?! You barbarian!”

“-Master, shall I make it shut its mouth?”

Andion frowned, clearly displeased that some elf dared to insult Karia. Though only a toddler’s face, the sinister shadow over it made him utterly terrifying. Red trembled in fear, but Karia’s gentle voice addressed him.

“Do you think I would hurt my ears? How kind of you. But there’s no need to actually sever its neck.”

“Hey, hey! You never said you’d cut its neck off?!”

“There’s a prison in the basement. Toss it in there. We’ll decide what to do with it later.”

“A-a prison?!”

What was a prison? Karia had only heard of it in old tales.

In days when wizards roamed the world like delinquents, elves who resisted to reclaim their rights were captured and dragged into the ‘Wizard’s Prison.’

The cruel wizards tortured them, oppressing the elves, and the blood of those who died dyed the forest springs red.

Red Wise, who had once demanded it be killed, now screamed, “No! No!” in rebellion, forgetting when he had said that.

But he could not withstand Andion’s power. Seeing Andion effortlessly subdue the elf, Karia nodded, thinking, “It was right to make him human after all.”

“Afterwards, we can tour the castle together. You don’t know the layout yet, so I’ll guide you.”

“Yes, Master.”

“No!”

Red was dragged away by Andion’s hand with a final scream. Karia waved her palm, signaling Andion to take him, and Alice, seeing this, awkwardly swung her fists.

To Red Wise, their figures resembled demons escorting him to the afterlife. The weak-willed elf passed out from foam before even reaching the underground prison.

“Ah, my back hurts.”

With Andion in the castle, there was clearly more that could be done. Unlike Alice, who solved things intuitively, Andion understood the relationships between tasks and could deduce how to handle unfamiliar objects without breaking them.

Karia led him through the laboratory and library, explaining in detail how to handle the materials carefully. Time passed, and she ended up spending the night in the castle.

Even though it was better than before, lying on a bed frame alone was the worst feeling.

“I need to buy a proper bed.”

She also needed carpets, blankets, curtains, paper, ink, and quills for the laboratory. And since she couldn’t keep restoring Eddie’s clothes constantly, she would need outfits and shoes for both Andion and Alice.

“One hundred sets each should be enough. Shoes… maybe twenty pairs?”

“Milady!”

As Karia calculated whether thirty thousand gold would suffice, someone’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

Standing right in front of the main gate of the Pandeon Duke’s estate, Karia frowned, thinking it might be someone from there. A large figure in a robe suddenly appeared before her, and the faintly visible gentle face belonged to a man she recognized from the ‘Black Night.’

“You walk so fast! I thought you had wings on your shoes!”

“Ah, as expected. What is it?”

“I’ve organized the contents of your request and brought them. You must have been eagerly waiting—uh, the captain asked me to deliver it to you.”

Her bodyguard, Ansen Miller, who had been scolded by Noah yesterday, returned to the duke’s estate and brought reinforcements. But by then, Karia had already left the mercenary base.

‘Where’s the lady of the house?’

‘The lady? Why would she come here? Is there any reason for her to come to such a shabby place?’

‘Looks like that great family doesn’t even have a knight to ease her troubles!’

Someone’s mocking voice caused laughter in the tavern, but the Pandeon knights frowned.

It was clear that the lady of a powerful noble family commissioning a mercenary unit implied distrust of her own knights.

However, Jurin Baltos, captain of the Pandeon mercenaries, did not fall for the mercenaries’ provocation. He ordered his men to search the tavern, and when they did not find the lady, he quickly reorganized the knights.

“All units, disperse from the plaza and search.”

“Aren’t you curious about what task the lady commissioned?”

“…”

“If she adds more than what she provided, our mouths might open a little wider.”

Shagal, smiling mischievously, rubbed his fingers together in front of Jurin Baltos’ face. He had no intention of revealing Karia’s information—it was just provocation.

After all, no way would the lady of a noble family give more money than she intended to a mere mercenary unit. The evidence was clear—Jurin Baltos’ knight uniform matched the regular soldiers, aside from the cloak.

‘It’s not a knight’s role to pry into what the lady doesn’t want known.’

‘Well, the words sound fine…’

But perhaps out of pride or rigid honesty, Jurin Baltos remained unmoved, giving only rehearsed responses. He did not react to Shagal and acted mechanically.

‘Why does no one call the lady of the house “milady”?’

Yet at the last comment, he flinched, slowly turned his head, and shot Shagal a cold glance. If he had drawn his sword, one could see the skill of the Pandeon mercenary captain commanding the ‘Blue Wolf.’ Instead, he simply led his men away.

And after witnessing the rudeness of the Pandeon knights yesterday, Noah had used all available intelligence to complete Karia’s request. He seemed rather displeased.

Shagal, with raised eyebrows, presented the results painstakingly gathered overnight by dozens of agents.

“This is impressive. I thought it would take at least a week. And there’s additional embezzlement… The lady must have had a field day above her son’s head.”

Karia’s admiration made Shagal want to complain that even a week wouldn’t have been enough, but he restrained himself following Noah’s order to stop talking.

Still, he couldn’t help sneaking glances at Karia’s face.

Knowing the Pandeon duchess lived oppressed was one thing, but seeing it firsthand was unpleasant. Judging by this investigation, it seemed she had resolved not to tolerate it any longer…

“Is she planning a divorce?”

“-What?”

“Oh, sorry! That was unnecessary speculation!”

The thought had escaped his mouth, and Shagal reflexively snapped to attention, startled.

He usually appeared lazy and sluggish, so Karia’s observation caught him off guard, leaving her with a subtle expression.

“Never mind, it’s fine. It’s not something to hide. Actually, if possible, I’d like this news to spread far and wide.”

“Then she really is getting a divorce?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Could it be…?”

Shagal briefly considered Noah’s absurd comments. No way she’d divorce because of a man she had only seen once. He shook his head.

Karia, staring at his half-spoken words, made it impossible for him to remain silent.

“You haven’t fallen for our captain, have you?”

Karia’s face remained expressionless. Normally, if untrue, one might scoff or show displeasure, but she showed nothing. Shagal grew slightly concerned.

Of course, the captain might marry someday, but he couldn’t morally recommend such a man to women.

“If that’s the case, you should stop. He’s fine as a captain, but as a man… his pride in his face is so strong that if he speaks, it shatters everything. Yes, shatters.”

Even his subordinates had lamented why their master, born a man, was called ‘princess.’ He was known as the ‘princess,’ or ‘fearsome mouth,’ in his homeland. Even on the day he was expelled from the palace…

“Brother, this is too much! Even if you have a face my father’s age, aren’t we siblings? I curse the god who gave you an ugly face and ugly heart at the same time!”

If Noah had only kept quiet, he wouldn’t have been chased by the flustered McDuff until dawn.