Proofreader: somnium

Oh? Could it be……!

In the dark study room where the candles flickered softly, there were now only the two of them, Lena and the Duke.

Kahel, sitting with his legs crossed in a luxurious chair, didn’t have a particularly frightening expression on his face, but to Lena, he felt like a predator waiting for its prey. Still, it was right in front of her eyes that the man beheaded the barony couple without any emotion. A terrifying fear climbed again from her toes and shook her whole body.

But just before the tears welled up in Lena’s eyes, Kahel’s low, soft, but somehow menacing voice moved her.

“Did you say Lena? Don’t stand like that, come and sit in front of me.”

It was a voice that made her shudder in such a bizarre way. It’s not angry or cold, it’s definitely meltingly sweet, but it’s not friendly…….

Lena felt a fear there, as if a sword was under her neck. At the command, which she could not disobey, she flinched and sat down on the chair in front of him. In the meantime, of course, she gently pulled the chair to widen the distance between him and her.

Kahel was silently watching Lena do everything she did. He had Calia taken off a long time ago. If the devilish energy emanating from him was a scent, now this room would be filled with a dizzyingly strong scent.

It was also the reason that the knight who had brought Lena hurriedly pushed only her into the room. Although the knight has a powerful aura, the Duke’s devilish power was spreading enough that even the knight could sense the danger.

But still nothing had changed for this peasant girl Lena.

In Lena’s eyes there are no other positive emotions than worries and fears of what would happen in the future. Perhaps the Queen or the people of the Santella family weren’t involved, it was the first time that anyone was so insensitive to the devilish power.

Kahel decided to approach from another route. It wasn’t just his devilish powers that helped people to be attracted to him. His appearance was also so seductive that it was rumored that he resembled the image of a god, so no matter how much he suppressed his devilish nature, he could not stop people from falling in love with him.

Recalling that troublesome past, Kahel gave Lena a strange smile. This kind of service was not given to anyone. It was also something he would never normally do even to young children. But…….

“Sa, save me, please…….”

It seems that his attempt was rather taken as a threat. Lena, who was barely holding back her tears, started to beg for her life again, dripping with her tears. She didn’t even dare to get up from her seat and run away, only begging for her life as she clasped her two hands on her lap. It was the moment when the law of ‘even the gods will fall in love’ on his smile faded away.

‘It’s not normal. As expected, it’s suspicious.’

Until now, there was no ordinary person who did not react to his devilish powers or appearance. Even the Queen used to look at his smile with delight, and it was absurd that the peasant girl, who only worked as a maid, didn’t respond. It was more plausible that she had been training for this day since she was young.

She further fueled his suspicions, in particular, perhaps that she belonged to a group of people who were trying to attack him. Maybe Viscount Delroins or Viscount Horace were deceitful, and planting this woman by Kahel’s side was the end goal of the House of Santella.

“It seems that you were taken instead of the Baron’s real daughter, but you haven’t benefited from the Baron’s bloodline so far, so I thought it was unfair to apply the kin punishment to you. But the fact that you inherited the blood of a sinner cannot be ignored. So, depending on your usefulness, I will decide whether to keep you alive or not.”

Again, Lena’s face immediately turned pale, and her big eyes widened even more. Kahel thinks that those eyes, which twinkle in the candlelight, are strangely pleasing to look at. Kahel felt half-way entertained.

“Please answer my questions honestly and without even the slightest lie.”

“Yes, yes!”

Lena replied with a desperate nod. As her head shook up and down, the tears that had formed from the corners of her eyes fell.

“Did you say you were Baron Fidelia’s illegitimate child?”

“Yes.”

“Who was your mother?”

“Uh, my mother was an outsider, and she ran away from bandits, and then she got stuck in Kerouac. She made a living reading people’s letters and doing tapestries for the Barony. She died when I was ten…… She was a very, very pretty and kind person…….”

Lena’s eyes twinkled for a moment as she talked about her mother. Kahel seemed to know what she was talking about without even asking in detail. Although the kingdom was a monogamous state, wealthy and powerful nobles alike coveted anyone other than their spouses. If they had money and power in the kingdom, the probability of being a noble was very high, and those nobles took the powerless as a thing to play with for a while.

If Lena’s mother was very beautiful, as she said, and her mother made a living on the job doing the Barony’s tapestries, it would have been difficult for her mother to escape from Baron Fidelia’s grasp. Of course, on the premise that everything she said is true.

Interrogating the people of Kerouac will reveal the facts about Lena’s mother. But she may have been the mistress of the Duke of Santella, and Baron Fidelia may have been a very small victim of this grand scheme.

The reason for such suspicion is that Lena was living with the Baron’s family, too well for a child born so unclean. Lena said she was the maid, but the knights said she was hiding in a room on the second floor with the Baron’s family at the time of her arrest.

“Did you say you worked there as a maid?”

“Yes…….”

“But from what I heard, you were living like a real baron lady in a nice room?”

“Actually, th, that…….”

“You better not think about lying in front of me.”

As Kahel fiddled with the handle of his sword that stood beside him, he warned. His voice wasn’t particularly cold, but Lena was trembling with her eyes fixed on his hand as he gripped the handle of the sword.

“Vis, Viscount Delroins asked the master for a daughter, but Miss Elliot said she didn’t like it, so I, I am also Baron Fidelia’s half daughter, so he registered me and sent me to the Viscount. Bu, but I haven’t lived like that for more than three months! It wasn’t even what I wanted! I never meant to insult the noble!”

Without withdrawing his hand touching his sword, Kahel pondered the truth of the excuse. If the Duchy of Santella were trying to attach a spy with a rare condition to him, he should have foreseen that Viscount Delroins would ask Baron Fidelia for his daughter. Of course, there were a few priests in the family who predicted the future like a trick, but could such a thing be predicted? That possibility was slim.

No, in a way, this reasoning is also ridiculous. Because everything this woman said could be a lie. Since Viscount Delroins and Baron Fidelia were dead anyway, there was no way to confirm them no matter what she said.

But strangely enough, seeing those desperate eyes staring at him made him want to believe her.

‘If that’s true, then Baron Fidelia is more daring than he looks.’

Besides, if he followed the story, he can see why they raised Lena beautifully. They must have thought someday Lena will be able to put it to good use. However, it would be easy to find out if they tried to proceed with the fraudulent marriage by turning their illegitimate child, who was a maid, into a noble maiden.

‘Actually, Viscount Delroins didn’t want the titled lady. With that in mind, Baron Fidelia doesn’t really understand the situation.’

It was quite logical and Lena’s fears are transmitted without question, so Kahel decides to believe her story for now. From the moment he realized that his devilish powers didn’t work, she was something he couldn’t kill anyway. Because he had to find out who this woman was, whether she was a spy of the House of Santella, a really rare condition, or had another mastermind.

“Yes, I understand. But if you worked as a maid, what did you mainly do?”

Lena, not knowing Kahel’s calculations and her situation, could not understand why he was asking such a question. What did this nobleman, who was high-ranked, wanted to know what a maid does? Unless he’s looking to hire a new maid…….

‘Oh? Could it be…… ! Could it be that he’s letting me work as a maid?’

It was a convincing assumption. The duke said that he would not kill her earlier. If so, what would he use the girl he saved for? The most common was a maid. To focus on her punishment, she’ll be the toughest laundry maid, and with a little luck, she might end up doing something else. Lena gulped down her dry throat and plucked up a little courage.

“Uh, I have been working since I was young, so I can do pretty much just about anything. I learned not only to work in the laundry room, but also to help with cleaning the castle and the kitchen. I can even dress up a noble lady. I know about twenty different hairstyles that I can make, and I know how to handle the iron. I know how to read letters!”

Lena, who suddenly spoke faster, surprised Kahel for a moment, but then he smiled. This woman was desperate in her own way too, she wanted to live. When she talked about maid work, she guessed it was a way for her to survive.

But her look of servility seemed a little sad. If it were a real Baron Lady, it would have been an obvious ‘punishment’, but it became a lifeline that she must hold on to.

But this was something that could be a lifeline for Kahel as well.

“Have you ever had a male master by your side?”

“That’s, that’s none, but if you teach me, I can do it well. Then…….”

Lena, who had thought that she would show a sign of joy at the sight of hope, clouded her words and looked into Kahel’s eyes. Kahel sighed deeply in frustration.

‘Does this woman have to rehearse every time to get her to finish her words? If so, I’d be very bothered…….’

But Lena was frightened again by Kahel’s sigh, so she hurriedly continued talking.