Chapter 34
The day after the kidnapping incident.
“So, your parents are ordinary people, right?”
“You know my parents well too, my lady.”
I was having a one-on-one consultation with Ruby in the office.
“Yes, they are….”
I knew well that Ruby’s parents were ordinary people who grew grapes.
‘Then what on earth is Ruby?’
I had even considered the possibility that Ruby might be a child they had picked up.
‘Her reddish-brown hair, round eyes, and even those grayish eyes.’
But Ruby looked so much like her parents that it was impossible to say she had been adopted.
Even from a distance, they looked so much alike that one would think, ‘Ah, those people are parent and child.’
In the end, no matter how I thought about it, I could only conclude that she was special.
“I understand. You may leave now.”
“Yes? Understood?”
Ruby left the office after staring at me with a puzzled expression to the very end.
“Phew.”
After she left, I checked the notes I had been scribbling once more.
[Reddish-brown hair, uses two daggers, ruthless in her methods, posing as Esdia’s attendant….]
The paper was covered with keywords about a character described in the novel, and it was clear that they closely matched Ruby’s current characteristics.
“Third Rose.”
In the original, that was the name of the attendant who served Esdia after she came to the North—and who was actually an assassin targeting her life.
‘She definitely said that when explaining her circumstances in the story, she had been raised as an assassin from her mid-teens.’
Her mid-teens… If I hadn’t used the knowledge from my previous life, the territory might have fallen apart around then.
‘Besides, she said the reason she had accepted the assassination contract on Esdia was simply that Esdia was a noble.’
If the territory had fallen apart, the original Alice would have been married off to another noble family as though she were being sold.
Of course, Ruby, the attendant who had known her well since childhood, would have gone with her too.
And… Alice, who had been sold off, surely would not have been treated well.
Finally, there were the dagger skills described as outstanding when she fought Duke Drosselmeyer—a marquess now, though.
Yes, it seemed that Ruby was the same person as Third Rose, who had appeared as a supporting character in the original.
‘A supporting character from the original? Then I suppose talent like that is only natural.’
Generally, named supporting characters in romance fantasies have an area of expertise, except for incompetent villains.
Especially attendants and maids.
…What? With this many similarities, why hadn’t I realized it?
‘How many women with reddish-brown hair are there in the North?’
She had not even been learning swordsmanship for a month.
It was only natural that I had not known!
“Phew….”
I held my head and leaned back in the chair.
‘Whatever the case, it isn’t a bad thing.’
Rose (Ruby) from the original had been ruthless, but she was not a character who killed just anyone.
Ruby would not be cruel to just anyone either.
…Probably.
And right now, there was something more important than that.
After taking a short rest, I left the office and headed to the kitchen on the first floor.
“Oh, my lady?! Hello!”
“Yes, good work.”
Jim and Watt, who had been temporarily brought over from the militia, were standing guard at the kitchen entrance.
As for why these two were guarding the kitchen entrance…
“Are Sir Heter and that fellow inside?”
“Yes, they are.”
“I see. Sir Heter and I have something to discuss regarding what to do with the prisoner, so go take a break for a while.”
“Understood!”
“Thank you!”
After confirming that the two had withdrawn, I entered the kitchen.
“Ugh.”
The moment I entered the kitchen, the distinctive fishy, metallic smell of blood grew even stronger.
This was after much of the smell had dissipated, too.
‘This is why I can’t help worrying about Ruby….’
No matter how angry she had been, she had killed five people and left the kitchen in this state.
As I entered the kitchen, I saw Heter with his sleeves rolled up and a barbarian tied to a chair, his head hanging limply.
“My lady, you’ve come?”
“Yes.”
I examined the condition of the barbarian with his head bowed.
His face was a mess of bruises and wounds, with dried blood smeared across it.
“Isn’t this a bit much?”
I remembered telling him to interrogate the man, not torture him.
“I’m sorry. When I thought this bastard had laid a hand on you, my lady, I couldn’t control my strength.”
“….”
Since he had done it for my sake, it was difficult to get angry at him.
There’s a saying that one kind word can repay a debt of a thousand nyang, and I kept thinking of it whenever I talked to Heter.
“Still, don’t do that again. So, did you find out anything else of note?”
“I’m sorry.”
Heter shook his head.
Even after taking a beating this severe, the man still would not say anything about who was behind it.
He seemed tougher than I had expected.
“I suppose there’s no other way for us to find out more?”
“Yes. Interrogation is a mage’s job, after all.”
“That’s true.”
If there had been a mage, they could have easily extracted a statement about this incident with a single spell.
“But, Heter.”
“Yes.”
“How do you know the language these people speak?”
As far as I knew, relations between the barbarians of the southern continent and the Empire were very poor.
It wasn’t as though I could simply learn the barbarians’ language because I wanted to, and the places where I could learn it must have been limited as well.
“I happened to learn it long ago. The details are a secret, though.”
“You really do have a lot of secrets.”
“If you truly wish to know, my lady, I could tell you, but….”
Heter took a step toward me and bent forward.
“Could you handle it?”
‘Why is he saying something that sounds straight out of an adult advertisement?’
And yet what annoyed me was this.
Thump.
Despite hearing him say that, my heart was pounding violently.
‘Crazy.’
No, why was my heart pounding again and going wild?
‘This is all that bastard’s fault.’
I thought this while glaring at the barbarian.
Ever since Heter had rescued me from that fellow, my heart kept pounding whenever I looked at him.
Whenever I stared into his eyes, I found myself swallowing involuntarily.
Whenever he held my hand, I even started wishing he would touch me a little longer.
“Argh.”
Unable to stand it any longer, I smacked the back of his head with all my strength.
Thwack.
“Ghk….”
Of course, the problem was that the hand I had used to hit him seemed to hurt more.
“My lady!”
Seeing that, Heter hurriedly pulled me away from the barbarian.
“What are you doing, putting yourself in danger?!”
“….”
I had expressed my emotions more violently than usual.
“S-sorry… I just lost my temper.”
Even while apologizing to him, my heart was throbbing more fiercely than before.
Although I was being scolded, the thought that Heter was genuinely worried about me made the corners of my mouth rise on their own….
‘…Crazy. Why am I acting like this?’
Could there be something wrong with my hormones again?
But that day was still a long way off, wasn’t it?
“…Sigh.”
I said that, but honestly, I had a pretty good idea why I was acting this way.
I was not some oblivious protagonist from a novel or comic.
‘Could it be… I’m in love with Heter….’
“You could injure your hand if you hit him like that.”
“…What?”
What had he just said? That I could injure my hand?
“Next time, hit him with this spatula. Your delicate hand wouldn’t even hurt him properly, my lady.”
“….”
When I saw Heter holding out the spatula used in the kitchen, my pounding heart cooled and settled down.
“Hmm.”
Apparently, it had just been a simple case of arrhythmia.
After all, my heart was perfectly calm now, even when he held my hand.
“….”
“Is something wrong?”
Did he genuinely not know why I was staring at him?
“No. I think I’ll go write a report on this incident.”
“Yes, understood.”
After leaving the kitchen and climbing the stairs, I continued grumbling.
“He’s so perceptive normally, so why is he so oblivious only at times like this?”
Honestly, it was ridiculous.
***
The day after I wrote the report and sent one copy each to the South and North.
“Sigh…. I should stay in bed all day today.”
I decided to take a break for the first time in a while.
Normally, I would say that time was money and work even if it meant cutting into my sleep.
‘Magical beasts, kidnapping, and now barbarians from the southern continent all of a sudden….’
I had gone through too much emotionally to start working right away.
Just as I vowed to rest well and recharge today.
Knock, knock.
“My lady.”
‘Oh, please.’
Sir Gold’s voice came from outside the office.
Recently, every time Sir Gold knocked on the office door, it seemed that nothing good had happened afterward.
Still, I could not tell him not to come in just because I was taking the day off.
“…Come in.”
I said this as I staggered up from the bed.
“Excuse me.”
Soon, Sir Gold entered the office and spoke to me with a serious expression.
“My lady. I’ll start with the most important matter.”
“Yes.”
“At this rate, I think the factory is going to go bankrupt.”
Wow.
I smiled faintly and opened the drawer.
Then I took out some stomach medicine and carefully tipped it into my mouth.