Chapter 131

“Haah. I have no idea what you’re trying to pull, but fine. I’ll help you. I’m leaving anyway, and it’s been a long time since I let go of any lingering attachment to Robert, after all.”

The Duchess nodded toward Noah and continued.

“Noah, you probably know a lot, too.”

“…Compared to the Duchess, it’s pitifully little.”

Seeing the resignation coating both their faces, I fought back the corners of my mouth from curling upward.

“You two did promise to tell me everything, right?”

Both of them nodded.

Good. Thanks to Robert unexpectedly blowing himself up, today turned out to be a day with plenty of gains.

Well, I can put the sense of fulfillment on the back burner for now.

First, I needed to figure out what to do with the mud-stained clothes of the three of us.

The eventful day passed, and a new day arrived.

Right from the morning, Robert called me out to the terrace attached to his bedroom.

The breeze rustled my hair pleasantly.

Below the terrace, the waves crashed and churned against the steep cliff.

“Hmm, the tea tastes wonderful.”

Leaning against the railing and looking down at the cliff, Robert leisurely sipped his tea.

“Isn’t it beautiful?”

Ding!

“…It’s freezing.”

“Hahahaha! As expected, you’re always so amusing.”

What is this guy even saying?

Well, as long as affection went up, that was all that mattered.

That aside, the one who was amusing was Robert.

If things had gone according to Robert’s plan, the Duchess’s corpse would be resting at the bottom of the sea right down there.

For a guy who knew that to ask if the ocean was beautiful.

I really had to wonder if he was a psychopath.

“It’s a view you can only see from here, so take a good look. When our ancestors built this villa, they blocked up the spots for windows in all the other rooms with walls just to monopolize this beauty. Ah, they’ve been unblocked again now, though.”

“…….”

A thought crossed my mind… is this guy out of his mind? but I didn’t voice it out loud.

“Isn’t it selfish? If it were me, I think I’d find it a bit of a waste to keep it all to myself.”

“I suppose so.”

“So dry. Come on, there was an interesting thing that happened at the meeting yesterday, you know.”

“I suppose so.”

“Aren’t you going to ask what was interesting?”

Ah, nuts. Because a chat message came in from Mo Je-won, I got distracted and answered far too perfunctorily.

“…What was interesting about it?”

“Well, you see, Marquis Pland…”

Knock, knock, knock!

“My Lord! It’s an emergency!”

An early morning nuisance, of all times. Grumbling, the Duke narrowed his brows.

“Come in.”

The one who knocked on the door was Sera. Closing the door the moment she stepped inside, Sera bent her waist so low her forehead nearly touched the floor.

“I am sorry! Um, the Duchess hasn’t been seen since yesterday evening…!”

Judging by how out of breath Sera was, she must have been running all over the place looking for the Duchess.

“We are searching every possible place, but not yet… I am sorry! This is entirely my negligence!”

“My, what a big deal.”

“Pardon?”

Palely pale and repeatedly bowing her waist, Sera looked uncharacteristically flustered.

“How many places could Rachel possibly go in this villa? You’ll find her in no time. Villero!”

“Yes, My Lord.”

“Tell the entire knighthood to mobilize for the search.”

“Understood!”

Ding!

[ Mo Je-won: So where on earth is the Duchess right now? ]

Well, as for the Duchess.

She’s actually in my room.

They say the darkest place is under the lighthouse, right? I figured they wouldn’t even think to search my room, which was right next to Robert’s.

‘I really hope so.’

If discovered, it would probably end as a mere hassle, but there was a high chance Robert would start keeping his guard up against me.

He might conclude that I had joined hands with the Duchess.

I had no choice but to hope the knights weren’t overly thorough.

Sip!

“Honestly. Making such a fuss early in the morning.”

Bang, bang!

“What is it again?!”

Clicking his tongue and taking another sip of tea, Robert snapped irritably at the door being hammered on yet again.

A man beyond the door shouted in a frantic voice.

“My Lord. It’s Darian!”

Darian.

That name was in my memory.

He was definitely the commander of the Rubel Knights.

In the first run, he readily accepted our request for reinforcement in the marquisate, leaving a deep impression on me.

“Darian? Why are you here…? Just get in!”

The moment Darian opened the door, he bent one knee and arm to show respect.

Before I could even feel glad about seeing that stiff, lawn-like brown hair I hadn’t seen in a while, Darian delivered truly shocking news right off the bat.

“My Lord. We have a crisis! The defensive wall near the Dark Forest has collapsed due to a magic beast attack…”

“What?”

Robert’s jaw dropped wide open, causing him to drop the teacup he was holding.

I nearly dropped the kettle in my hands, too.

The defensive wall collapsed. This wasn’t the kind of event that should be happening right now.

‘Isn’t this still the very beginning of the story?’

The protagonist was still dealing with the affairs of the county.

In no route had a catastrophe like the ducal domain’s defensive wall collapsing ever occurred in the middle of the county incident.

Then, this had to be a change brought about as the fallout of Robert surviving.

‘Was it Jeffrey’s doing?’

To kill Robert, of all things? Did he intentionally use magic stones to lure magic beasts into the ducal domain?

…That thought crossed my mind, but I immediately shook my head.

‘That makes no sense.’

Assassination would be far easier. Mobilizing magic beasts just to take out a single Robert was way too reckless.

It was also completely contradictory to the behavior of planting a spy in the mansion to look for an excuse to drag Robert down.

If it wasn’t Jeffrey’s doing, then why on earth did something like this happen?

“What’s the situation?”

“Not good. Because we reorganized the knighthood recently, inexperienced knights were sent to the front lines, and they allowed magic beasts to breach us in an instant.”

That carried some heavy underlying meaning. Robert’s expression instantly twisted into a scowl.

“What about the damage to civilian areas?”

“The surrounding area has already been reduced to ruins… You must convene a vassal meeting right now and devise countermeasures…”

“Call them together immediately!”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

The moment Darian hurriedly left, Robert roughly swept the items off the table.

Clatter!

Tableware made of precious pottery imported from exotic lands crashed against the marble floor of the terrace and shattered into pieces.

Finding no release for his rage even in this, Robert began stomping on the already broken shards.

Until the pieces were crushed into mere dust.

“How could this!”

Bam!

“Of all times, why now!”

Bam!

“Incompetent bastards!”

Bam!

“…….”

Now he was even hurling chairs.

Naturally, with no way for me to calm him down, I had no choice but to stay still, and the atmosphere instantly plunged into a heavy silence…

“Belita.”

“Ahem, yes.”

“Get out.”

‘Thank goodness…’

Secretly hoping to be kicked out, I gladly followed the order.

“Why are you back so early?”

…Returning to my room, the Duchess—having no earthly idea what was going on outside—was rolling around quite happily on my bed.

For your reference, having been robbed of my bed last night, I had slept on the cold floor, not only leaving my back aching, but nearly paralyzing my jaw from the cold.

The seaside breeze was no match for the heat of a small heater, let alone anything else.

“What did Noah say? I’m wondering when preparations to leave will be finished. I don’t want to wait endlessly in this cramped place without a timeline.”

This was hardly the time to be whining about minor discomforts like that.

With the defensive wall having collapsed…

‘Wait, is this actually an opportunity for us?’

As a stopgap measure, we had decided to hide the Duchess in my room while Noah and I figured out a way for her to escape the villa safely. We hadn’t strictly finalized how to do it yet, but we could use the current situation to our advantage.

Once word spread that magic beasts were attacking from the Dark Forest, the villa would soon fall into a state of chaos.

Piggybacking on that confusion might make it easier to slip past everyone’s notice.

Like blending in with the servants leaving for evacuation, for instance.

“An incident has occurred in the ducal domain, so the departure schedule from the Edin villa is likely to be pulled forward.”

“Oh? Why? It couldn’t possibly be because of me.”

“They say magic beasts have breached the frontline defensive wall of the Dark Forest.”

At my words, the blanket suddenly heaved upward in surprise.

Leaping hastily out of the bed, the Duchess opened her mouth to shout something, only to clamp her hand over it.

Raising her voice right now wasn’t a smart choice, so that was some impressive self-restraint.

I really should have warned her not to be startled beforehand—that was my mistake, too.

“Ah… Good grief. This is going down as a permanent dark stain in the history of a ducal house with a thousand years behind it. Is the damage severe?”

Aside from her abhorrence for Robert, the Duchess wore a conflicted expression at the tragic news regarding the ducal domain where she had spent nearly her entire life.

When I nodded, the Duchess let out a heavy sigh.

“Since the head of the ducal house can no longer afford to leisurely enjoy a vacation, an order commanding everyone to prepare for a swift return will be handed down shortly.”

“Mmm, I suppose so.”

I informed the Duchess of the escape plan I had in mind.

She wore a skeptical look in response.

“I’m not very confident in disguising myself as a servant. It probably wouldn’t work with the servants around your circle who handle personal tasks, and besides, the Head Maid’s eyes are too sharp…”

True. Personal-attendant servants were relatively few in number and easily caught the Head Maid’s watchful gaze.

The kind of servant who drew the least amount of attention would be…

‘Logistics personnel, maybe?’

And I happened to know a servant in charge of transporting supplies who could be persuaded to grant such a favor.

‘Evan is the absolute best fit.’

Since he was a fellow spy, I didn’t have to worry about him blabbing to Robert about my request.

All the more so because, for some reason, he seemed utterly terrified of me.

Though the slight possibility that he might mention it to Sera was a bit bothersome. Plus, his affection point toward me was a mere 3…

If it were Sera, there was a very high probability she’d pull something to make things difficult for me.

“Mmm, never mind. I’ll just stay behind here.”

“Here, you mean the villa?”

“Yes.”

‘Did my ears go bad?’

I was completely dumbfounded. Magic beasts were currently in the middle of invading.
Meaning this place wasn’t safe either.

And yet she wanted to stay behind?

“I know the geography of this villa like the back of my hand. If an incident like that has blown up, there won’t be anyone spared to search for me, so I reckon I can hide quite comfortably. Ah, once all the mansion’s staff set off on the evacuation path, just send a separate carriage for me afterward. Won’t I be able to slip away comfortably then?”

So she intended to escape the villa with a delayed time difference?

Well, to be fair, the probability of magic beasts swarming the villa the moment we left was low.

It seemed the Duchess’s train of thought was that she’d rather slip away safely and—above all—comfortably, than risk getting caught.

I nodded.

“Understood. Then I will make arrangements to send a carriage to you later.”

“Very well, I’m counting on you. Ah, let this serve as payment for the carriage.”

The Duchess slid off her earring and handed it to me. I accepted it in a daze.

It was a teardrop-shaped earring adorned with a whopping five large diamonds.

“That is the most precious thing I own. It must be worth at least a hundred thousand gold. Ah, that’s not just payment for the carriage, but also a reward for saving my life.”

A-A hundred thousand gold?

“I received it as part of my wedding trousseau, you see.”

“Wait a minute. An amount like that isn’t easy to fence off. Unless sold to a black-market dealer…”

Ah. Hang on a second. Now that I thought about it, there was one.

A black-market dealer I knew.

“Is that so? I suppose finding a buyer for something so expensive would be a hassle in itself. In that case, how about this ring? It’s much less…”

“There is one! A way! I think I can fence it safely, haha.”

“…? Well, that’s a relief.”

In a situation where my social status had plummeted and every single coin was precious, I couldn’t possibly miss out on an opportunity to pocket a hundred thousand gold.

Was it during the Princess chapter? There had been a time when the protagonist, upon Frederick’s introduction, secretly sold expensive magical jewelry to a black-market dealer.

The storyline had shifted so much that I had almost forgotten the fact that I was a transmigrator who had the game’s plot completely memorized.

I was in the middle of carefully cradling an earring worth as much as a salary one could only earn after working as a Saintess for over eight years.

Knock, knock!

Startled out of my wits by the sudden knock, I hurriedly tucked the earring safely into my inventory.

Surely these weren’t the knights coming to inspect my room, were they?

Staring toward the door while holding my breath…

“Belita? It’s me, Sera. Can we talk for a second?”

The unwelcome visitor was none other than Sera.