🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 5
“Sir Chandler.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Chandler replied while moving a chess piece with a bored expression.
It was an attitude so indifferent that it was hard to believe this was a conversation between a lord and the captain of the knight order.
However, no one present seemed to mind it much.
Deus and Chandler were bound as lord and knight, but before that, they regarded each other as friends and family.
“I don’t think this will work.”
“Oh? Have you finally made a decision?”
The two men, each looking in different directions, wore unexpectedly solemn expressions.
“I’m talking about the villa in Catherine…”
“Ah! Miss Emma! Wait, wait! If you place it there—!”
But before Deus could finish speaking, Chandler let out a panicked cry.
Deus frowned and turned away from the window. Only then did he notice Emma and Chandler deeply focused on their chess game.
“Checkmate.”
“Ah! Just one move, just one move back, Miss Emma!”
“Is that really what matters right now?”
Deus’s voice turned cold without him even trying.
“Of course it matters! My punishment is at stake here! Do you think cleaning the main staircase alone is easy?!”
Only then did Chandler realize the situation. He slowly turned his body. A pair of piercing blue eyes, sharp enough to freeze everything they looked at, were fixed entirely on him.
“Your Grace, I, well…”
“So the stakes were staircase cleaning, was it? How unfortunate, Sir Chandler. Perhaps I should promote you from knight captain to cleaning captain instead?”
There was no room for excuses. Chandler glanced around helplessly before quietly clasping his hands.
“I apologize, Your Grace.”
As the atmosphere grew heavier, Emma quickly stepped in.
“Your Grace, weren’t you talking about the Catherine villa earlier?”
After giving Chandler one last sharp glare, Deus turned his gaze away.
“Yes. How many people can it accommodate?”
“Well… that’s something the head steward would know…”
“It can comfortably hold about a hundred people.”
Emma cut in brightly, joining the conversation with a cheerful tone. Deus’s gaze toward Chandler grew even colder.
“Just in case, the entire household staff and all knights can stay there comfortably.”
As if she had read his thoughts, a faint surprise appeared in Deus’s eyes.
“And if we depart now, we’ll arrive around dawn tomorrow.”
Deus stared at Emma for a moment. An unspoken exchange passed between them. Chandler shifted his gaze uneasily before speaking up.
“Miss Emma, what exactly are you talking about?”
“All knights will be on leave for two days starting today. Prepare to depart for Catherine immediately.”
But the answer came from an unexpected place. At the sudden order, Chandler stood up abruptly.
“Your Grace! The knights are your sword! How can you command us to leave our posts?”
Rarely, his tone was firm.
Emma raised an eyebrow as she looked at him.
“That’s a nice way to put it. But, Sir Chandler, it seems that sword also does cleaning, doesn’t it? Or am I mistaken?”
“That is—!”
Chandler struggled to find a rebuttal, his face twisting. It was true that, except for training, the knights had little to do lately.
“…At least tell us the reason!”
Emma looked at him as if he were unbelievable. Did he truly not know? Did he really not understand why Deus had been standing silently by the window all this time?
“If there’s no valid reason, the knights cannot leave their posts!”
“…”
“Not only me, but all the knights will refuse this.”
Chandler stared at the silent Deus with intense eyes, as though he would devour him whole.
“Honestly, both of you have absolutely no flexibility.”
Emma sighed deeply and stepped between them.
“At this rate, there’s a good chance that person won’t even come to the ducal estate. It might be better to set the stage properly and willingly become the prey.”
“Prey?! What are you— ah…”
Only then did Chandler understand the situation and looked at Deus, mouth agape.
Despite his expression of forced indifference, the tips of Deus’s ears were faintly red.
Chandler found himself unable to speak in the face of his lord, who was clearly mad with love.
He looked at Deus in stunned silence.
“…Then I will stay behind with a few elites. Please allow at least perimeter security. If something goes wrong and unwanted flies gather, she might be in danger.”
Barely managing to find a compromise, Chandler spoke with desperate eyes.
After a brief pause, Deus slowly nodded.
Chandler let out a breath he had been holding. At least he could remain at the estate.
“Alright, now that that’s settled, shall we prepare, Sir Chandler?”
Emma smoothly pushed Chandler from behind. Chandler reluctantly allowed himself to be led away.
Left alone, Deus roughly rubbed his face.
Embarrassment and shame washed over him.
But something far stronger than that overwhelmed him.
An intense longing for the person he wanted to see by any means necessary.
* * *
“This is wrong.”
Even after generously considering it, the fact that the estate lights were off could be understood.
The fact that there were few guards and she had slipped in easily could also be explained.
But a completely empty mansion could not be explained by any logic.
Rosalyn bit her lip tightly.
She had considered the possibility of a trap.
But at the same time, she had thought this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The duke’s estate—there was only one in the entire empire—and even for someone like her who had spent years in the underworld, it was not an easy place to infiltrate.
‘It feels like I’ve already slipped at the first step… but I can’t turn back now.’
The glass greenhouse shimmered beautifully under the faint moonlight, unaware of her thoughts.
Naturally, the image of a snow-white-haired boy came to mind.
‘That guy was useless then, and he’s still useless now.’
But once she had already stepped in, there was no choice. Whatever trap lay ahead, she would have to break through it.
After walking a few more steps, she clicked her tongue at the bright light shining from the second floor in the center of the dark estate.
‘It’s practically inviting me in.’
It was clearly the location of an office.
‘Leaving the estate empty like this but keeping only that one light on… obvious.’
Rosalyn touched her chest. She felt the thin envelope she had tucked inside.
Two hundred gold. Was it worth risking her life?
Not an easy question.
Maybe what awaited her was a carefully staged scene of revenge.
But if it were a thousand gold, that would be different.
‘No… come to think of it, I technically saved that kid. Revenge feels… a bit wrong. …No, to him I was probably just a murderer anyway.’
She swallowed a bitter sigh and looked up at the lit second floor.
If this was truly a setup for revenge, then even if she escaped tonight alive, conflict would be inevitable in the future.
That meant he already knew where she was.
But then another thought occurred to her: if he truly knew her location, there would be no reason to lure her here like this.
Rosalyn’s mind began to spin rapidly.
Through various noble requests, she had learned that their world was far more complex and secretive than she had imagined.
What if this letter was one of those cases?
The possibility was strong.
‘That brat really grew up… even exchanging love letters now.’
After a brief hesitation, Rosalyn pushed off the ground and leapt lightly upward.
Clutching the brick wall, she began climbing steadily into the darkness.
* * *
Deus absentmindedly nodded as Emma reported that all servants of the ducal estate had departed for Catherine.
He vaguely remembered hearing something about where she would be waiting, but it didn’t stay in his mind.
His thoughts were entirely elsewhere.
Even standing still, his legs trembled.
Anyone seeing him would have been shocked.
Deus Cervellion.
The only duke of the Fehl Empire, and the owner of “Maceland,” the empire’s largest trading company.
A man standing at the peak of wealth and power.
A man who could rival the emperor—or perhaps even surpass him.
No one could imagine such a man being driven into such a state.
“…Not yet?”
At his unintended mutter, he quickly covered his mouth in surprise.
He couldn’t even remember the last time he had been this nervous.
Deus looked toward the door with anxious eyes.
There was no sign of the guest he so desperately awaited.
‘Could it be a false alarm?’
A dark thought surfaced. He clenched his empty fist tightly.
Pacing around the office with a distorted expression, he finally opened the large window and let the cold wind rush in.
It cleared his mind slightly.
Then—
He felt it.
A foreign presence.
Deus instinctively turned his head.
“…H-hello?”
“…”
“Nice… weather, isn’t it?”
It felt like his breath had stopped.
The figure was wrapped head to toe in black cloth, but he recognized her instantly.
This intruder clinging to the outer wall was the very person he had been waiting for all this time.
“Oh wow, there’s a lot of moss on the bricks. You should really get that cleaned.”
“…”
“No, I’m so nervous I’m just saying anything. Anyway… good evening?”
A casual greeting completely out of place for the situation.
Deus tightened his grip on the window frame.
Her unchanged behavior almost made him laugh.
He forced his expression down, fighting against the urge to smile.
Misreading his twisted expression, the intruder hurriedly spoke again.
“Uh, if you don’t feel like talking, should we do this by writing? I can’t really write while hanging here, but I should be able to read what you write.”
She waved one hand awkwardly while hanging in a dangerously unstable position.
Deus’s expression darkened further.
He could not leave her in such a dangerous place.
“Come inside.”
Deus stepped back.
Thinking about what to say, how to express what he had waited for—those could come later.
Right now, ensuring her safety came first.
