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Chapter 5
Partners. In the same boat.
It was a direct yet strangely awkward combination of words.
“As I said before, I’m your backing now, Miss Janette.”
“But then Vice-Captain, you’d be losing too much…”
The man cut off Janette’s hesitation with a firm reply.
“Of course, Miss Janette will also have to do her best to fulfill the contract.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I’m confident when it comes to doing my best.”
Theo let out a small chuckle at Janette’s spirited response.
“This is your letter of recommendation.”
“My recommendation letter?”
Curiosity flickered in her dark blue eyes.
“May I open it?”
“Of course.”
Janette carefully unfolded the letter. The very first thing that caught her eye was the name Liam Ortea.
That name was definitely…
“Isn’t he the Margrave of the North?”
“That’s right. So you know about the Margrave?”
Theo sounded slightly surprised, making Janette blink.
“Ah, well…”
…Come to think of it, how do I know that?
Janette was far removed from high society. Naturally so, considering she had been adopted merely as a substitute servant.
There should have been no opportunity for her to hear stories about the Margrave.
‘Or maybe…’
Janette swallowed lightly, her gaze slowly sinking.
‘Maybe it’s a name I heard during the time I lost my memories?’
In truth, Janette had absolutely no memories from before the age of fifteen.
Fifteen years old.
When the war orphan Janette had been adopted into the Graham Viscount family, she had already been suffering from amnesia.
She could barely remember her own name and age, and nothing else.
Where she was born, who her parents were, how she got separated from her family…
‘The war probably wiped my memories away.’
Ironically, the viscount and his wife had liked that about her.
They said it was better that she had no messy memories from the past.
Well, Janette had tried at first to recover her lost memories, but—
‘Eventually, I stopped caring.’
She couldn’t even bring herself to believe her parents were still alive, nor did she think her past memories would necessarily have been happy ones.
‘So what if I never recover them? What matters is the present and the future.’
And even now, she was moving forward to protect that important future.
“I just happened to hear about him somewhere, that’s all. More importantly…”
Janette tilted her head naturally as she asked,
“To think Count Ortea would write me a recommendation letter… Is Count Ortea also part of Illinia?”
Instead of answering, Theo simply smiled in silence.
‘So it’s a secret.’
Janette tactfully kept her mouth shut.
She wasn’t tactless enough to pry into someone else’s secrets.
“If anyone asks about your relationship with Count Ortea, just answer according to what’s written on the inner sheet.”
“You even prepared something like this?”
“We should avoid attracting unnecessary suspicion wherever possible. It would be best if you memorized the contents beforehand, just in case.”
“I will.”
The conversation ended there.
Taking advantage of the brief silence, Janette began memorizing the note’s contents.
It would be better to have it memorized before arriving at the Grand Duke Ludwig’s estate.
Theo quietly leaned his head against the carriage window and watched her.
‘Won’t she get motion sickness?’
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to show any signs of it. Her cheeks looked a little pale, but they had been like that since the first time he saw her.
After staring at Janette for a while, Theo suddenly spoke.
“If there’s something you want to ask, feel free to ask.”
“…Pardon?”
“You keep glancing this way. Isn’t there something you want to say?”
Janette’s cheeks flushed slightly at having been hit right on target.
‘Oh no. Was I really that obvious?’
But her embarrassment only lasted a moment.
“There actually is something I’m curious about.”
Janette decided not to miss the chance to satisfy her curiosity.
“Why did you suddenly start speaking to me so formally?”
Hm?
Theo’s eyes widened at the completely unexpected question. Seeing the rare look of surprise on his face, Janette’s eyes widened as well.
Theo was the first to burst into laughter.
“As I said earlier, we’re partners now.”
“So it’s out of respect for your partner?”
“Exactly.”
Oh. So that really was the reason?
Nodding in admiration, Janette murmured in surprise,
“Vice-Captain Theo… you seem to be much more considerate than I expected.”
Considerate?
Theo let out a disbelieving laugh at hearing something he had never heard in his life.
If the people around him heard that, they would protest that it was absurd.
At that moment, the carriage slowly came to a stop. Looking out the window, Janette saw towering trees.
“It seems it’s time for the uninvited guest to leave.”
“You’re getting off first?”
“If I get off around here, there won’t be any eyes watching.”
Click.
The carriage door opened.
Fresh morning air rushed inside. The dim predawn light from when they departed was long gone, and the world was bright.
“If you ever need anything or have questions, contact Illinia anytime. Or you may come in person.”
“Yes. I’ll do that.”
“And…”
“…?”
The man added another word as he stepped down from the carriage.
The morning sun illuminated the side of his face. His flawless profile looked like a painting.
“From now on, you may just call me Theo.”
“I dislike sounding distant.”
He curled up the corner of his lips into a grin and added playfully.
Before Janette, who had missed the timing to reply, could even blink—
the carriage door closed.
‘Ah.’
Only after the carriage began moving again did Janette come back to her senses.
After fumbling briefly, she hurriedly opened the carriage window and leaned her head out.
But—
‘He’s gone?’
Theo was already nowhere to be seen. Janette darted her eyes around searching for him, then inhaled sharply.
And then—
“Alright! From now on, I’ll call you Theo too! I also hate sounding distant!”
Behind her energetic shout, it almost felt as though she could hear a man’s laughter from somewhere.
“Lady Graham’s voice is louder than expected.”
Behind the departing carriage—
Hobbs muttered while standing beside Kendrick, who was hidden among the thick bushes.
“Indeed. It’s nice to see her so lively.”
“You somehow seem pleased?”
“Hobbs.”
“Yes?”
“You really do talk too much.”
Hobbs stared in disbelief at the sharp criticism delivered alongside a bright smile.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that!”
The first time, huh.
Mulling over the words, Kendrick added teasingly,
“Miss Janette said I was a considerate person.”
“…That’s also the first time I’ve heard that.”
No way. How on earth did she come to that conclusion?
At Hobbs’ exhausted muttering, Kendrick shrugged.
His deep gaze lingered on the place where the carriage had disappeared.
“Hobbs.”
“Yes, Vice-Captain.”
“Send clothes and accessories to Miss Janette.”
He recalled Janette’s tiny luggage bag.
It was so small that it was hard to believe it belonged to someone moving to a new residence.
The same applied to the clothes she wore.
The sleeves and hem were subtly too short for her body.
They had been washed neatly, but the worn-out traces here and there could not be hidden.
He had probably bought her clothes when she was first brought into the household at fifteen, and never properly bought her another outfit afterward.
“She’s my partner, and also my younger sister’s only maid. I can’t allow her to be looked down upon wherever she goes.”
The moment she became Julieta’s maid, attention would naturally fall on her.
A polished appearance was one of the best weapons for deceiving people.
“On a battlefield, weapons are important.”
Janette arrived at the Grand Duke Ludwig’s residence well past noon.
At the coachman’s notice that they were nearing their destination, Janette looked outside.
“Wow.”
An irrepressible gasp escaped her.
The gates of the Ludwig estate towered high into the sky.
To think a gate could be built this tall.
But the breathtaking sight was only beginning.
As the enormous gates slowly opened, the vast Ludwig estate revealed itself.
An endless garden stretched before her, with a long enchanted roadway cutting through it.
Far in the distance stood a massive mansion, surrounded by various buildings scattered around it.
‘Does that forest belong to the Ludwig estate too?’
The grounds were so enormous that she couldn’t tell where the family’s borders even ended.
“We have arrived, Lady Janette.”
