Chapter 06
There was something my mother, who ran a large merchant company, once told me.
“Cute Eustea, listen carefully. Life is tricky. If you try to live easily, you’ll end up living a much harder life.”
“Like when Mommy tried to save taxes and got beaten up for tax evasion? (Like when Mom tried to avoid taxes and got hit with tax evasion charges?)”
“…That was just failing at tax optimization. Those damn tax office bastards clung to one obsolete regulation clause and made a huge fuss about it… Pretend you didn’t hear that.”
Ah, that wasn’t the point.
“But there is an unwritten rule that prevents you from making your life harder.”
“What is it?”
Mother smiled like sunlight and said,
“If someone slaps your cheek, repay them with a skull fracture.”
That way, they wouldn’t even think about hitting you again.
She said people’s hearts were like blank sheets of paper. Once ink splashed onto them, it spread.
Just like how Marina hit me once and I let it go, only for her to hit me three more times this time.
So I…
“Want to bite down hard?”
“What?”
“You might bite your tongue.”
I grabbed her by the collar and threw her away.
BAM!
Marina, sprawled on her back, burst into tears.
I watched Marina run away crying loudly.
Maybe my threat worked because she didn’t call anyone and just hurried away.
I picked up the scattered assignments and muttered.
“It was just intimidation…”
“Probably.”
“…!”
Startled, I turned around.
The vice commander was standing there with his arms crossed, staring at me.
I quickly straightened up and bowed my head.
“Hello.”
“I’m fine, but I don’t think you are.”
“Pardon?”
“You threw the lord’s niece away and thought you would be safe?”
Did he see that?
From where?
While I swallowed nervously, he slowly approached me.
“Would it help you understand the situation if I told you that I had been watching the lord’s niece before you did?”
“…You knew she brought in a dark sorcerer?”
“There is nothing in this castle that I do not know.”
I couldn’t help but let out an exclamation.
He had predicted from the beginning that Marina would bring a dark sorcerer into the castle and had been monitoring her.
Truly, he deserved to be called the right-hand man of the commander.
“Do you think you can look down on the lord’s niece just because you caught my attention? Is that the kind of personality you have?”
The vice commander asked, and I tilted my head.
“No?”
“Then what gave you the confidence to throw the lord’s niece away? You seem to know that you cannot use the fact that she brought in a dark sorcerer as a threat.”
“Yes, because there’s no evidence.”
The dark sorcerer ran away.
Meaning, I had absolutely no proof to report Marina.
“But Miss Marina probably didn’t think that far.”
“Why?”
“Because if she was someone who could think that far, she wouldn’t have been scared in the first place.”
“…”
“Even if someone tells her that I’m actually the one in a disadvantageous position, she won’t be able to run to the lord and tell him. Miss Marina also has no proof that I flipped her over.”
The vice commander stared at me.
Then…
Heh.
A quiet laugh escaped through his teeth.
“That’s correct.”
“But shouldn’t we tell the commander quickly that a dark sorcerer whose specialty is brainwashing came to this castle?”
There were three elite members in this castle.
The commander, the vice commander, and Antonio.
Apparently, the remaining elite members were outside handling other matters.
‘Then there is only one person Marina wants to brainwash.’
The commander.
She was willing to do anything to become his adopted daughter.
The vice commander ran a hand through his hair and sighed.
“We don’t need to tell the commander.”
“Why…?”
“The person the lord’s niece tried to brainwash was me.”
What did he mean?
Why try to brainwash the vice commander instead of the commander?
‘Could it be…’
The puzzle pieces clicked into place in my head.
The vice commander was the one deciding the commander’s adopted daughter.
That meant his influence was enormous.
‘Wait. Then…’
I hurriedly looked over the vice commander.
I carefully examined him from his face to his feet, and the vice commander flinched.
“…What are you doing?”
“Didn’t you get something like a spot? Did your stomach feel strange or anything? Dark magic doesn’t necessarily require contact to be cast. It can also be done through scent.”
The commander’s barrier was as powerful as the emperor’s barrier, which was managed by countless mages and priests.
Of course, the other elite members were extremely strong too, but the commander was on another level.
If she had targeted the vice commander, she might have succeeded.
“Could you lift your bangs a little? I need to check your forehead for spots…”
“What exactly are you?”
“Huh?”
The vice commander removed my hand and stepped back.
Then, with an awkward expression, he said,
“I know I was excessively cold toward you when we first met. But why…”
“…?”
“If I had acted that cruelly toward you, it would be natural for you to dislike me. Why are you worrying about me that much?”
What?
Rather than worrying about him, I was worrying about my future.
Imagine the vice commander being brainwashed and suddenly choosing Marina as the adopted daughter.
I would be kicked out by Marina immediately.
I was about to say that, but the vice commander spoke first.
“Don’t be kind beyond reason. It makes people concerned.”
With those words, the vice commander walked away.
“…?”
I was worried about my own situation though?
I wanted to say that, but the vice commander had already left.
The vice commander stared blankly at the papers on his desk.
Although they had been soaked once, the papers had been cleverly dried, so the contents were still readable.
That’s right.
These were the assignments Eustea had given, and Antonio and the other members had written while wetting their pen tips with saliva.
“She works… too well.”
When the vice commander muttered that, his adjutant looked puzzled.
“What do you mean?”
“These assignments.”
“Ah. Everyone has improved a lot.”
The member smiled.
Except for the commander, the six elite members each led their own units.
And coincidentally, the soldiers reflected the personalities of their leaders.
The ones currently guarding the castle were Antonio’s unit.
Their offensive power was among the strongest of the six units.
But the problem was…
‘They’re hopeless when it comes to using their brains.’
That was why the vice commander kept Antonio’s unit nearby.
The member looked at the crooked handwriting in Antonio’s unit’s assignments and said,
“They even learned how to write diaries. The entire unit has been positively influenced.”
“Is that all you see?”
“Excuse me?”
When he looked more closely at the contents, he noticed something else.
[Someone suspicious approached the castle gate]
[Antonio-nim took my meat and ate it. It’s been three days since I had meat, but I won’t let this go.]
“…!”
The member looked at the vice commander in surprise.
“Isn’t this information from inside the castle?”
Antonio’s unit was responsible for guarding the castle.
From this diary alone, Eustea had been able to gather information.
The member’s expression hardened.
“What is she thinking?”
“Making the purpose of learning clear. What I want from Antonio’s unit is simply reports.”
And this was serving as a sufficient report.
“Could she be trying to leak information to another faction?”
“She gives me performance reports every week. If she intended to leak information, she wouldn’t have done this.”
“She is an incredible child…”
“That’s not all.”
The vice commander tapped one member’s diary with his finger.
[Antonio-nim took my meat and ate it. It’s been three days since I had meat, but I won’t let this go.]
It was the complaint diary he had just read.
The member frowned.
“Are you saying Antonio’s unit has been receiving insufficient meals?”
“It could mean Viscount San Miguel has been embezzling the military funds for the barracks.”
By reducing expensive ingredients like meat.
The vice commander never spared money on the members’ meals.
He couldn’t feed them as luxuriously as a great noble family, but for muscle growth and mission rewards, he made sure meat was included at least once a day.
The members, unaware of the vice commander’s thoughts, probably never noticed.
But Eustea did.
She realized that the meals given to the vice commander’s soldiers and Antonio’s unit were different.
‘But if she raises an issue about something uncertain, it would only put her in an awkward position.’
So if there really was a problem with the meals, she used the diary so the vice commander could notice.
The member clicked his tongue.
“She is unbelievably clever…”
But someone too clever was difficult to control. If they betrayed you, the damage would also be greater.
‘So is he thinking of driving her out?’
When the member carefully looked at him, the vice commander suddenly frowned.
“But she’s kind too.”
“…Pardon?”
The vice commander let out a deep sigh.
Eustea was from the Marquis Andres family.
Even though she had been abandoned, if her father called her back, she would probably go.
What fool would give up the position of a great noble’s daughter?
But…
‘She’s tempting.’
The vice commander sighed.
