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“Have you returned, Your Grace.”
The Grand Duke’s office.
After a week away, Cardian returned to the Grand Duke’s manor, removing his cloak as he entered the office.
Norbert Millard, a count and vassal of House Vallot, received the cloak and spoke.
“Was your errand well handled, Your Grace?”
Then he glanced around.
“Come to think of it, I don’t see your aide?”
Cardian pulled out a chair and sat down.
“The matter isn’t finished yet. So I left Ed there.”
“Ah.” Norbert sighed, sounding sympathetic.
“So you hurried back alone because of the newly found survivor.”
Cardian nodded.
“They were found on the coast of Teridana.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Norbert poured tea into a cup he had prepared in advance, set it in front of the Grand Duke, and stepped back. His movements were clean and precise.
“I gave the order to bring them to the manor, but… what do you intend to do?”
“…”
Cardian rubbed his forehead.
“It’ll be one of two things. Either they’re connected to black magic… or they’re a monster.”
Either way, it meant death.
At the sudden edge in Cardian’s voice, Norbert swallowed dryly.
Black magic. And the black mages who wield it.
A year ago, after centuries in hiding, black mages resurfaced—
For the first time in 400 years.
Armed with even more insidious magic, they began their assault on the entire continent, starting with the Lemart Conflict Zone.
At the time, the Kadea Empire and Tenasis Empire were at war there.
“They must have targeted the place because everyone’s eyes were on it.”
Perhaps they saw it as the perfect stage to announce their return to the world.
Because of that, countless knights perished in the conflict zone.
Among the casualties from the enemy side was a knight Cardian often spoke of.
Sia, was it?
Having witnessed Sia’s death firsthand, Cardian had spent many days afterward staring blankly out the window, lost in thought—
Like a man who had lost a comrade.
And in the end, the Lemart Conflict Zone fell to the black mages.
Exactly one year later to the day, Trensha Village, beside Teridana Beach, was attacked and reduced to ruins by black mages.
That was a week ago.
The casualties were staggering.
Cardian dispatched knights to search the ruins for any possible survivors.
While the clean-up was underway, something else seemed to have shaken Cardian personally.
“I’ve never seen His Grace that unsettled before.”
He left Norbert in charge of the aftermath, took his aide Ed with him, and disappeared.
Fortunately or unfortunately, no survivors were found for a while, so Cardian’s absence didn’t cause major issues, and Norbert managed the situation on his own.
But today—of all days—a survivor had appeared.
The moment that news arrived, Cardian, who had been away, rushed back.
Norbert spoke.
“I thought Your Grace was dumping work on me just to keep me from retiring.”
“As if.”
Cardian gave a quiet laugh, and Norbert replied in a subdued tone:
“…If you intend to interrogate them, perhaps the dungeon under my estate would be more appropriate than the manor, Your Grace.”
House Vallot already had a fearsome reputation for cruelty and ruthlessness—
Even if that reputation wasn’t entirely deserved.
“It would be best to avoid unnecessary bloodshed,”
Norbert muttered, worry creeping into his voice. Cardian replied:
“You’d have this old count doing interrogations now?”
Norbert puffed his chest out.
“I’m still spry.”
“You said you were going to retire and travel.”
“Indeed. And of all days, a survivor had to appear today.”
“Then pack up and go. We’re not so short on hands that we need to exploit a retired old retainer.”
At Cardian’s amused remark, Norbert pouted.
“How hurtful, Your Grace. Even in my dying breath, I am your man.”
“Oh? Then why don’t you take the vacant position of butler at the manor?”
Norbert, who had just been looking at Cardian with teary sincerity, immediately turned serious.
“Ah, no. Spare this old man. I need to stay alive if I’m to serve you.”
“Anyone listening would think I was sending you to your death.”
“Well… you kind of would be.”
It had been over five years since butlers at House Vallot started dying.
Assassins constantly targeted Cardian, and butlers got caught in the crossfire.
House Vallot had many enemies.
Because Cardian himself lived in constant danger, the butlers protecting the manor were often killed as collateral.
More than fifty butlers had died this way.
Normally, butlers for high nobility came from good families, were well educated, and graduated from prestigious butler academies.
“Few of them are skilled in swordsmanship or magic.”
Those with sword talent usually became knights; those with strong mana became mages.
A butler who excelled at both was almost unheard of.
“We’re lucky it’s the butlers dying, not His Grace himself…”
Professional butlers lured in by high salaries ended up leaving as corpses, rarely lasting a month.
What was once considered a prestigious post had become known as the butlers’ graveyard.
“The manor won’t collapse just because the butler’s seat is empty.”
But still—
A mansion can’t run without staff, and a noble house can’t be managed by its lord alone.
“The longer the position remains vacant, the more unstable the house becomes.”
And the workload on Cardian and his aide only increased.
“We need to find a new butler soon…”
Norbert sighed.
“I’ll handle finding one, Your Grace.”
His voice was calm but brimming with confidence.
“I’ll either teach swordsmanship to a butler academy graduate— or teach butler work to someone good with a sword. One way or another, I’ll fill the post!”
Cardian chuckled.
“I look forward to it.”
They both knew it was basically a hopeless promise, so Norbert laughed bitterly as well.
Training a butler in swordsmanship or a knight in butler duties would require significant time and effort—
And it was even harder to find someone willing to start from scratch outside their specialty.
“You’d need someone trained in both from the start… but who’d be foolish enough to do that?”
Mastering even one field took immense time and patience.
Norbert’s headache deepened.
Just then, Cardian pulled out a pocket watch.
“They’re late.”
“I ordered them to wash and dress the survivor properly first,” Norbert said coolly, glancing toward the door.
“We don’t know what they might have brought with them from Teridana Beach.”
Cardian nodded.
Right on cue, someone knocked on the office door.
Knock, knock—
“Your Grace. The Teridana patrol has arrived.”
“Enter.”
The door opened.
BZZT. Goosebumps ran down my arms.
Just that single word—“Enter”—from the Grand Duke made every hair on my body stand on end.
Whoa, is this real? Is that really the Grand Duke?
“You may go in, milady,” said the knight who had escorted me politely.
I nodded and stepped into the office.
A large man sat with his back to the sunlight streaming through the window.
His entire figure was cast in shadow, but even in the darkness, his purple eyes gleamed brightly.
Those eyes.
I knew those eyes.
The cold glare I had often faced through the narrow slit of a steel helmet.
Cardian Vallot…!
It really was him. The Grand Duke himself.
My fingertips trembled slightly.
It was like facing a predator of unfathomable strength in a misty forest at night.
This wasn’t the static face from portraits—this was the living, breathing Grand Duke.
Wow… who painted those portraits?
I thought maybe the artist had been threatened into exaggerating his looks, but—
The artist did him dirty.
The real Grand Duke made the portraits look laughable; the painter deserved to be executed for not doing him justice.
I almost died without ever seeing his face under that helmet. Glad I lived… or rather, came back to life.
But then—
Why is he looking at me like that?
His gaze was strange. Not merely suspicious.
His eyes were slightly widened, his brows furrowed faintly, and his jaw clenched tightly as if grinding his teeth.
No way… Is this face his type?
Well, he is a man, after all.
And this body’s face isn’t exactly something you stumble across every day.
While I nodded to the knight’s report, more details were delivered: the date and time I was found, who found me, where on the northeast coast of Teridana Beach, and in what condition.
But even as the knight spoke, Cardian’s eyes stayed locked on me.
Why won’t he say anything?
I stood a few steps away, waiting for him to speak.
“…”
“…”
The report ended, but silence stretched on.
What’s going on?
The old man beside Cardian and the reporting knight both looked uneasy.
So did I.
Given my situation, the silence made me feel increasingly nervous.
Did he already figure it out?
At first he’d looked surprised, but now his gaze was heated—almost devouring.
I’d already dismissed the idea that he was just staring because I was pretty.
No one would associate this current appearance with who I was in my past life.
Don’t panic.
I am not the Sir Sia that this Grand Duke knew.
Then—
The Grand Duke slowly rose from his chair. A dangerous aura seeped from his once-watchful gaze.
He looked toward the knights outside the door and spoke:
“Shackle her.”
…What? Shackles?
I raised a brow just as knights rushed in from behind.
“Excuse us.”
CLANK, CLANK!
Heavy shackles snapped around both my wrists and ankles.
