Chapter 33
Lander City.
The territory ruled by the Edelheid Ducal House, one of the empire’s leading mage families.
A fortress and holy land of mages, where even passing birds supposedly couldn’t fly without permission.
Its overwhelming majesty had the power to make anyone who saw it bow their heads.
Inside that immense citadel, dinner was in full swing in the dining room.
Duchess Florencia.
Opposite her sat the eldest son, Cassius.
To either side sat the second son, Lowell, the eldest daughter, Idella, and the third daughter, Sylvia.
The seat of honor was empty. It belonged to the head of the house, the Duke of Edelheid.
-Clink.
A suffocating silence made even the clink of silverware feel cautious. Everyone simply continued eating in silence.
“Is Father not eating with us again today?”
Breaking the silence was the youngest, Sylvia. She pouted as she poked at her salad with a fork.
“We hardly ever get to see him these days. He’s shut himself away in the lab and won’t come out.”
“Quit whining, Sylvia. Do you think Father’s just idling around? He’s probably busy with work and magic research.”
As if fed up with Sylvia’s whining, the second son Lowell snapped irritably.
But Sylvia wasn’t about to back down.
“What, am I wrong? We haven’t even been able to see him once this whole week.”
“Try to understand. He’ll come out when the time comes.”
The eldest daughter, Idella, soothed the youngest with practiced ease without stopping her meal.
Even so, Sylvia’s complaints didn’t lessen. She was still at the age when she craved her father’s affection.
“Mother. Please say something to him. He should at least eat with us for family meals. That’s what I was taught.”
“…….”
“Mother?”
“Your sister already said it. He’ll come out when the time comes.”
“Tch. You’re all so indifferent.”
With no one to sympathize with her, Sylvia sulked. She stuck out her lips and jabbed blindly at her salad.
Normally, Florencia, who was more sensitive to etiquette than anyone, would have sharply scolded such crude behavior the moment she saw it, but today she was unusually quiet.
Florencia, too, had not seen the duke for a full week.
As was usual for the Edelheid family, a lot of whom were practically crazed about magic, the duke also often spent time in the laboratory because of his research.
So the duke’s recent absence wasn’t strange at all, yet Florencia still felt an unpleasant knot in her chest.
She first began to sense something was off when he brought a concubine into the family.
A woman with no background.
Even her name was uncertain.
Even now, she still couldn’t understand why a man who, as head of the Edelheid house, valued bloodline and honor so highly would take that woman in.
He built a luxurious villa for her, gifted her all sorts of rare treasures, and, on top of that, even had a child with her.
‘How could he do something so horrible.’
Fortunately, God had brought divine punishment down on that woman who had dirtied the family. She died as soon as she gave birth.
From then on, the duke gradually came to his senses. He left the villa, resumed his magic research, took care of the family, and even had Sylvia, the youngest.
As if acknowledging it had been a momentary mistake, he confined Renoa to the villa and never let her out into the world.
Whatever had been strange before was surely due to a curse cast by that witchlike woman. With the witch’s death, the curse had been lifted.
Everything had returned to its proper course. It had to have.
‘Something…’
Even so, Florencia couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling. It was something she couldn’t explain in words, simply a woman’s intuition.
Of course, it was only intuition.
She quietly hoped it was just a passing feeling, Florencia thought.
“I heard about that. The half-blood took a slave in as a trainee knight. I heard he beat Gerard, too.”
It was Lowell. He had recently overheard the knights of the house talking.
That Renoa had taken a slave on as a trainee knight.
And that the knights stationed at the villa were very dissatisfied about it.
“I heard that too. What on earth is she thinking? As expected of someone lowborn, she only does lowly things.”
Idella sighed and shook her head. Then she remembered that Florencia had visited the villa recently.
“Mother, I heard you went to the villa again recently. Did you meet that slave knight?”
“I did.”
“You threw him out, of course, right?”
“Sis, how can you even ask that? What kind of person do you think Mother is?”
“I suppose so.”
Florencia was the one in the family who valued bloodline more than anyone.
If it had been her, she would have torn that rumored slave knight apart alive.
“He was better than he looked.”
But what came out of Florencia’s mouth was something completely unexpected.
The Edelheid siblings asked in confusion.
“What? What do you mean by that? He was decent? That slave?”
“He had a neat appearance, knew how to show respect to nobles, and had a cheerful personality. He didn’t seem like a slave at all. I rather wanted to bring him to the main house.”
“No way….”
The siblings were too shocked to speak. They exchanged bewildered looks.
Their eyes seemed to ask, “What kind of person could make her say something like that?”
It wasn’t strange that everyone became curious about Leon.
“More importantly, Cassius. How is work going? Is it manageable?”
Florencia changed the subject.
Cassius, the eldest son, who had remained silent even while the others talked, finally spoke at his mother’s question.
“There is no problem.”
“You’ve been working hard. Still, it’s a process you have to go through to become a fine head of the house. Keep at it.”
“Yes.”
Cassius wiped his mouth with a cloth and stood up.
“Already finished? Why don’t you eat a little more? Work must be tiring.”
“I’m fine. I’ll take my leave first.”
After finishing his meal, Cassius returned to his office.
The office was cloaked in deep darkness, with neither a mana stone lamp nor candles lit. Only moonlight streamed in through the window.
Cassius sat down. Leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes.
Soon, a voice drifted out of the darkness.
“What do you intend to do about that slave?”
Cassius answered calmly, without the slightest sign of surprise.
“Well…”
“I hear Sir Jain’s assessment of that slave isn’t ordinary.”
“So it seems.”
Cassius slowly opened his eyes. He opened the lowest drawer and took out a letter.
A loyal knight of Edelheid, Jain now served as Renoa’s bodyguard and reported every move she made.
Recent reports mentioned the name of a slave named Leon without fail.
It was the first type of report he had ever received.
Up until now, it had always been nothing more than a brief line: “Renoa read books in the study all day.”
Yet that same Renoa had gone to the arena, sponsored a slave, brought him back to the manor, and appointed him as a trainee knight.
Jain said that slave’s talent was no ordinary one. Even Florencia, a die-hard bloodline purist, had praised him.
This was an unexpected variable.
“Shouldn’t we deal with him?”
Eliminate the variable.
That had been Cassius’s rule of action and his standard response until now.
But.
“No matter how much he flies or crawls, he’s only one slave. Why would I care about him?”
“Then…?”
“It should be fine to keep an eye on him.”
If signs of trouble appeared, he would deal with it then. That wouldn’t be too late.
Dealing with a slave was no trouble at all.
***
In the forest of Olderin.
The Edelheid ducal villa.
Renoa, playing the role of the forest princess, was engrossed in reading again today.
-Crunch.
For Renoa, who had nothing to do in the manor, reading was one of the few pleasures that could make time slip away.
It wasn’t as if she was going to chat with the maids or train in martial arts.
-Crunch, crunch.
Even setting aside the fact that she had nothing to do, Renoa quite liked reading.
Quietly concentrating, and sometimes just thinking things over alone, was nice too.
Above all, for Renoa, who had never once left Olderin, it was the only window through which she could learn about the world.
Especially on a night like this, her mind was calm, making it the perfect environment for reading.
-Crunch, crunch, crunch.
“…….”
But the repeated noises made it impossible to focus on her reading.
Renoa shot a sharp glare toward the source of the noise. Vivi was sprawled lazily on the sofa, munching on snacks.
“Why do you always eat snacks in the study? This isn’t a lounge.”
“Because I have to be here to carry out your orders quickly.”
“It’s because the maids aren’t assigning you any work.”
“That’s a bad habit, young lady. Why do you always ask when you already know the answer?”
-Twitch.
Renoa’s eye twitched sharply for a moment. A vein bulged faintly on her forehead.
“…What?”
“A joke. I was just kidding.”
“……Haa.”
Renoa let out a long, slow breath. Even she had found that hard to endure just now. Heat rose all the way to her throat.
If Vivi hadn’t been quick on the uptake, one more half-step and she would not have been able to leave the study on her own two feet.
“Hup.”
Vivi hopped down from the sofa. Hands clasped behind her back, she walked to the window.
“It’s Leon and Cadet Helena.”
The manor had long since fallen into darkness.
Leon and Helena were walking around the lake with lanterns in hand.
“Those two seem quite close. They train together, take walks at this late hour, and even buy each other gifts.”
“…….”
“Come to think of it, Cadet Leon is also close with the maids. He calls them ‘noona, noona,’ and the maids dote on him like he’s their little brother. And even…”
Vivi glanced sideways at Renoa.
“He even buys them gifts.”
“It’s just ointment. The same for everyone.”
As if uninterested in whatever Vivi was muttering, Renoa’s gaze remained on the book.
What the maids and Helena received was the same thing, without any favoritism.
By contrast, what Renoa received was a bookmark. It was just as insignificant, but its value was different from theirs, who had received ointment handed out casually in bundles.
Of course. She was a noble lady, and his master. There was no way she would receive the same sort of thing as a mere maid.
He was a slave with at least a basic sense of manners.
“That may be true now. But, young lady, how long do you think that will last?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you know the saying that lovers are closer than parents and children, closer than even friends? A master-servant relationship is even more so.”
“But…”
“As time passes and Cadet Leon becomes close to another woman, you’ll be pushed to the side. Then you’ll get the ointment, and that woman will get the bookmark.”
“…….”
“Looking at the situation now, maybe you’ll be the only one getting ointment and everyone else will get bookmarks. Well, that might be special in its own way.”
Renoa remained silent.
Her gaze was still on the book, but the letters no longer registered. They drifted aimlessly.
Then she turned her head to look out the window. Leon and Helena came into view, laughing and chatting.
It didn’t matter to Renoa what she received from Leon. In fact, she didn’t even need to receive gifts at all.
But she could never accept receiving something inferior to what someone else got.
“Did you call for me, my lady?”
The next day, as soon as morning came, Leon came to the study at Renoa’s summons.
Renoa informed him calmly, without changing expression.
“From now on, after training, come to the study and learn etiquette. If a knight under me can’t even manage basic manners, what would people say about me as his master?”
“That’s true, but…”
“And one more thing. Is it proper for someone aspiring to be a knight of the ducal house to go around calling a maid ‘noona, noona’? From now on, no more noona in front of me.”
“Ah….”
That day, Leon lost one of life’s little joys.