Chapter – 16
“If you’re done, leave at once.”
An openly dismissive order to leave was given.
At the arrogant attitude, my eyebrow twitched on its own.
‘Who trained this head butler to behave like this?’
No matter how little business etiquette he had, a head butler was a key figure responsible for a family’s image.
For the sake of his master and the family, he should have led by example.
And yet he dared to look down on guests from a ducal house.
It was so absurd that a dry laugh escaped me.
“Is this how guests are normally treated?”
“What do you mean by that, my lady?”
“Cough—”
“We will be leaving now.”
I was about to say more, but Sophia grabbed my arm and pulled me away.
I wanted to confront him directly.
“Please don’t, my lady.”
Sophia whispered softly as she led me out into the street.
As soon as we left the count’s residence, I immediately asked her:
“Why should the head maid of a ducal house be treated poorly by a count’s butler?”
“The positions of a butler and a head maid are clearly different.”
“But Sebastian treats you with respect.”
“Sir Sebastian respects me, but there are invisible lines recognized by society.”
“Even so, you’re the head maid of a ducal family.”
“Even so, the relationship doesn’t change. I’m in the position of having to ask favors from them.”
It wasn’t about pride—it was about completing the mission.
That was the meaning behind her words.
Worried about bringing disgrace to House Hetis, Sophia smiled as if this level of humiliation meant nothing.
“Would you like to look around the streets before we go back?”
Sophia changed the subject to lighten the mood.
I was still burning with anger inside, but a walk seemed like a good way to calm down.
“Alright.”
I nodded and walked through the plaza beside Sophia.
The closer we got to the center, the more colorful shops began to appear one by one.
As expected of a place rich in dyes, the vivid colors drew the eye.
Perhaps dyes were easy for commoners to obtain as well, because poorly dressed children were pouring red liquid from containers into cups, diluting it with water, and loading it into toy guns.
As I watched them loading carefully, a thought suddenly crossed my mind and a playful smile formed on my lips.
“Hey kids, where did you get that?”
* * *
“Haha! Duke Hetis isn’t much after all. Look at this, father.”
Lord Nordil mocked as he handed a letter delivered by the butler Damon to the former count.
Urged by his son, the former count—who had been receiving a massage from maids on the sofa—took the parchment with an indifferent face.
“‘I would appreciate it if you could return the collateral my father lent during his lifetime.’ Hahaha! After all those flowery words, it ends with asking for the palladium back.”
The former count tossed the parchment aside like trash and dismissed the servants.
“No matter what happens, avoid meeting Duke Hetis. And even if you do meet him, pretend not to know anything.”
“Of course. But father… why didn’t you return the palladium?”
Having suddenly inherited the title one day, Count Nordil still found the situation from back then strange.
[Sign it quickly!]
[What is this, father?]
[A way to protect our source of money!]
One idle day, almost as casually as roasting beans over a brazier, Lord Nordil received the title from his father.
There had been no illness or major issue, yet his father rushed the succession.
At his son’s question, the former count stroked his beard and smirked.
“That was because it was the late Emperor’s command.”
“The Emperor? But the Hetis ducal house—!”
“The imperial princess was the duchess. But what use was that? They displeased His Majesty.”
Cassian’s father, the former Duke Hetis, had been a man of firm principles.
A loyal subject who valued justice over personal power.
But what did that matter?
The emperor at the time wanted obedient dogs, not loyal ministers.
“Tsk. Being so stubborn is what got him stabbed in the back.”
Sometimes one must know how to bend.
But he always spoke blunt truths.
The emperor, who disliked that, created a situation that forced Duke Hetis to hand over the palladium and deliberately drove up its price.
“The current Duke Hetis is more flexible than his father. Also a loyal dog of the emperor.”
The current emperor wasn’t particularly friendly to them, but neither was he hostile.
Knowing what his father had done, he simply chose to remain silent.
He could have told Cassian the truth, but instead he kept quiet.
“Whatever the case, the palladium is ours. We can just give the ducal house some pocket change.”
The contract’s validity period would soon expire.
Like always, they just needed to hold out.
That was what they thought.
“My lord, something terrible has happened!”
If Butler Damon hadn’t burst in with a pale face.
* * *
“Captain… is it really okay to let this continue?”
“I think we should stop her before something serious happens.”
The Valhalla knights assigned to monitor Eveline called their captain Pavel with stunned expressions.
They had intended to simply observe, but things were becoming increasingly absurd.
Standing in a nearby alley while inspecting his sword sheath, Pavel told his subordinates to remain composed while observing Eveline sharply.
‘What on earth is she thinking?’
They had cleared obstacles along the trade route to prevent interference with her supposed contact with a spy.
But after getting off the carriage, Eveline went to Nordil Castle, then came out and suddenly started browsing shops and buying dye.
Thinking the merchant might be the spy, they immediately captured and interrogated him.
[I don’t know anything! Who was that customer just now?!]
They gained nothing.
Captain Pavel tried to remain calm and stayed vigilant.
But instead of a spy appearing, random people began gathering around Eveline.
“Are we really supposed to just keep watching?”
“At this rate the ducal house might get dragged into danger…”
As crowds gathered in the plaza, the Valhalla knights became visibly anxious.
The reason they couldn’t hide their shock was…
“You mustn’t do this! M-My lady, a noble lady shouldn’t be vandalizing walls!”
“Don’t stop me, Sophia. My artistic spirit is overflowing right now.”
Eveline was painting graffiti on a wall.
Not some remote alley wall.
This was the central plaza.
On a massive wall wide enough that ten grown men couldn’t span it with outstretched arms, Eveline freely moved her brush.
Naturally, everyone passing through the plaza couldn’t help but look.
“Is that allowed?”
“Whose daughter is she? She’s got guts!”
Shocked murmurs rose everywhere.
Even mischievous children knew not to touch that wall.
Yet an outsider had not only approached it—but defaced it.
“Mom, it says his hair ran away because he was too greedy!”
“You mustn’t say things like that!”
A child burst into laughter after reading a line written on the wall.
The mother quickly covered the child’s mouth and hurried away.
It may have seemed like an overreaction, but it was wise.
Because the wall Eveline was defacing was a mural of Count Nordil and his father.
“Stop at once! How dare you deface my portrait!”
“Stop her! Stop her immediately! Do you even know what that is?!”
The two men from the mural screamed as they ran forward.
“Ahhhh! Stop!”
“Drop that brush immediately!”
Their furious shouting filled the plaza, but Eveline calmly continued her work.
Only when armed knights surrounded her did she finally stop, wiping paint from her arms with a refreshed expression.
“Done!”
Eveline looked satisfied.
The Nordil father and son looked horrified.
“M-my portrait!”
“My thick hair!”
After seeing the mural, they collapsed to the ground in shock.
Their once majestic poses now looked ridiculous.
Their thick brown hair had been painted over with peach-colored paint, making them look bald like peeled eggs.
Their muscular bodies now had lines drawn across them like slabs of butchered meat.
Stray brown hairs were even drawn running away with the words “We’re escaping!”
Meanwhile, their butler Damon was depicted bending over trying to gather the fleeing hairs.
The former Count Nordil gritted his teeth in rage at the mocking vandalism.
“Do you even know what this is?!”
Three years ago, Count Nordil had commissioned skilled painters to raise the prestige of his territory.
More precisely, he hired artists to paint portraits making them look 100—no, 300 times better than reality.
The painters worked together for over a year.
Their thin hair became lion manes.
Their fat bodies became warhorse muscles.
Their short height became tree-like stature.
Aside from the positions of their facial features, nothing matched reality.
It had cost a fortune.
Some artists even quit painting afterward.
It was a mural that could never be recreated.
And that precious work—
“This crazy bitch! How dare you ruin my masterpiece!”
Eveline had destroyed it.
“Arrest her immediately!”
At his father’s shout, Count Nordil finally came to his senses and ordered the knights.
But Eveline spoke first.
“Which is the greater crime? Privately misusing the Chekupin Wall, or defacing a portrait?”
At her single sentence—
They had no choice but to withdraw the order.
