Chapter: 23
“…That’s enough. I understand that you have no attachment to the treasury.”
The Duke let out a dry laugh.
He looked completely dumbfounded.
But soon he raised an eyebrow and stared directly into my eyes.
“Why would you tell me this information instead of using it yourself?”
“Because knowing the information alone has no meaning.”
“No meaning?”
“I’d need companions capable of getting past the guards, breaking the code, and carrying away a mountain of treasure. I’d also need enough strength to keep anyone from taking it after I got it.”
Besides, the moment I touched that place, my family would realize it was me and kill me.
But the Duke was different.
Without avoiding his gaze, I continued.
“It has no value to me, but it has value to you, Your Grace. And I know many other things like this.”
So please don’t drive me away. Please.
I pressed my trembling hands against the floor and bowed my head deeply.
“Please let me live in San Miguel.”
“Hmm.”
“I’ll work hard at anything—”
“Very well.”
‘…Huh?’
Just like that?
Wondering what had happened, I looked up.
The Duke’s face remained perfectly calm.
“Information manipulation, illegal fishing, fraud and extortion, loan sharking, nursing the defeated soldiers of an enemy nation… and many others.”
One after another, he listed everything I had done after being expelled from Andres.
The Duke chuckled quietly before speaking again.
“If your father had intended to let you return to Andres, he wouldn’t have deliberately given you the stain of working for criminal organizations.”
“…”
“Don’t touch the camellia.”
“…”
With those final words, the Duke left.
But I remained frozen in my kneeling position.
It wasn’t because I felt relieved.
It was because I was terrified.
‘He’s frightening.’
He knew even the things I had never told anyone.
Even that I had spent only four days nursing the defeated soldiers of an enemy nation.
My whole body pounded as though it had become one enormous heart.
His title came to mind.
The Conqueror of the North.
He was a terrifying man.
‘Still… I have to do this.’
After working all day and returning to the servants’ quarters, that was the very first thought that crossed my mind.
Only people who have somewhere to run can afford to flee because they’re scared.
“Right. I’ll work hard.”
And any job required thorough preparation.
Which meant I had to prepare thoroughly…
‘I should make some snacks.’
I planned to make candied Margust herbs.
Among the elderly in this world, Margust was about as popular as red ginseng.
People believed it improved blood circulation, strengthened bones, helped build muscles, boosted immunity, restored energy, benefited the liver, helped the lungs, reduced wrinkles…
Basically, they claimed it was good for everything.
Of course, it was just the placebo effect.
It wasn’t actually some miracle cure.
Still, there wasn’t a single elderly noble who disliked candied Margust.
It was considered healthy, and it paired perfectly with the tea nobles drank as obsessively as office workers drank coffee.
‘I should dry the Margust first.’
Margust had to be dried in the shade so its cells wouldn’t be damaged.
I searched for somewhere dark, quiet, and rarely visited.
Eventually I found a storage room deep inside the residence.
Then…
“Don’t you understand? This is our only option.”
A whisper came from inside the warehouse.
‘Huh? That voice…’
Before I could react, another voice answered coldly.
“You’re insane. The person I knew no longer exists.”
“Sister…!”
After the sound of an argument, two familiar faces burst out of the storage room.
‘As expected. Ayabel and Asta.’
The moment they saw me standing outside, both froze.
Ayabel’s expression turned icy.
The gentle smile she’d worn when we first met was nowhere to be seen.
“How much did you overhear, you little rat?”
Judging by her tone, I had already guessed it was something important.
“I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was coming to this storage room too.”
“There is absolutely no reason for a page to come to a run-down warehouse like this!”
Ayabel raised her voice.
“That’s enough.”
Asta stepped between us.
Turning her back toward me, she blocked Ayabel.
“It was our fault for discussing something important in a residence everyone uses. This isn’t Miss Yustea’s fault.”
“You actually believe her?”
“Come with me, Miss Yustea.”
“Sister!”
Asta grabbed my wrist and walked away in long strides.
Ayabel’s gaze toward me remained ice-cold.
But something else mattered much more to me.
‘But I need to dry the Margust…!’
Asta looked so tense that I couldn’t find an opportunity to say anything.
In the end, wearing a miserable expression, I let her drag me away.
Ayabel returned to the pages’ residence.
The moment she stepped into the central courtyard, the other girls rushed toward her.
“That girl was behind the residence with Miss Asta!”
“Are you really just going to leave it alone? She’s getting more and more full of herself.”
The girls all looked furious.
There wasn’t a single young noblewoman in Esgarot who didn’t know Asta.
It wasn’t simply because she was the only daughter of House Shintes, the most prestigious family in Esgarot.
She was tall and beautiful.
Her martial skills ranked among the very best of her generation, regardless of gender.
She had a bold personality.
And she possessed remarkable fashion sense—anything she wore would sell out in the markets the very next day.
In short, Asta Shintes was popular not only in Esgarot but even in the Imperial Capital.
“Please go stop her. It’s beneath your dignity to associate with some San Miguel girl. Surely she’ll listen to you, her sworn sister, Miss Ayabel?”
One of the girls grabbed Ayabel’s arm pleadingly.
Then—
Ayabel violently shook her hand off with a harsh scraping sound.
“M-Miss Ayabel…”
It was impossible to believe this was the same gentle Ayabel everyone knew.
The girls froze in shock.
Without a trace of emotion, Ayabel said,
“I’m tired. Leave.”
“Yes…”
The girls quietly backed away.
Afterward, Ayabel returned to her room.
Since she shared it with Yustea, the bed across from hers was piled high with the girl’s belongings.
Things no one would ever imagine belonged to a noble lady.
An old handkerchief.
A fountain pen crudely repaired by wrapping cloth around its broken shaft.
Containers so worn from use that no one could guess what they were even for.
‘That kind of person…’
Someone only worth that much.
“In comparison, you are disappointing.”
The words spoken by the retainer echoed endlessly in her mind.
Outside the window, Asta and Yustea sat together on a bench.
Asta looked at Yustea’s sad face with unmistakable affection.
…Just as Luciano had looked at Yustea during tea.
Grinding her teeth, Ayabel muttered,
“They’re not yours…”
Everything that should have belonged to her.
Behind the pages’ residence.
Sitting beside Asta, I stared into the empty air.
‘This is awkward…’
Why did she keep looking at me?
Her unwavering gaze was making me uncomfortable.
‘All I did was answer her question.’
When we arrived behind the residence, Asta had said,
“What should I have done…?”
“…?”
“She wasn’t always like that. Ayabel, I mean. She used to be such a lovely child. If only I’d been wiser, maybe she wouldn’t have gone astray.”
“…??”
“I was her sworn sister. I failed to fulfill the role of an older sister. Pathetic, isn’t it? I wonder what you think of someone like me, Miss Yustea.”
“Well… how should I put it…? You’re overthinking it?”
If someone would only go astray because their sworn sister failed them, then they must have had problems from the very beginning.
Thinking everything was your own fault seemed strange.
Asta froze at the words “overthinking it.”
She remained silent for quite a while.
Then, all of a sudden, she burst into laughter.
“You’re the first person who’s ever comforted me by saying it isn’t my fault… like this.”
It wasn’t comfort.
It was simply my answer.
“I’ll invite you to my flower garden. Come whenever you’d like.”
Honestly, I’d rather dry my Margust than admire a flower garden.
And I wished all the pages glaring at me from the windows would leave too.
“A flower garden? Did Lady Asta just say a flower garden?”
“Why would she invite someone like her…?!”
Judging by the reactions, Asta’s flower garden must have been an extraordinary place.
The girls looked ready to bite through their handkerchiefs in frustration.
Asta could surely hear them, but she ignored them completely, smiling brightly at me.
I quietly looked away.
“Uh… I have something I need to do.”
“Really? Shall I help?”
“No. It’s dirty work.”
“If it’s something I’m doing with a friend, getting my hands dirty hardly matters.”
“A… friend?”
“You didn’t realize? I’ve been trying to become your friend.”
“…?”
“It won’t be so bad. I treat my friends very well.”
Only then did she finally turn toward the windows.
She looked at the girls with an icy gaze.
“And when something unfair happens to my friends… I get angry.”
“…!”
The girls flinched and lowered their heads.
Little by little, they backed away until they disappeared from the windows entirely.
Asta smiled and shrugged.
“That’s how I feel.”
“Uh… I’d rather do the work by myself…”
“Well, then it can’t be helped. At least use these.”
She placed a pair of gloves in my hands.
At a glance alone, they looked unbelievably expensive.
Apparently they were custom-made.
An embroidered name decorated the wrist.
Asbellata Shintes
“Asbellata…?”
“My true name. Asta is just a nickname. If you like them, you can keep the gloves.”
Asta stood.
Then she cheerfully walked away.
I remained seated there for quite some time.
Not because I’d been given expensive gloves.
Asbellata.
‘That’s a name mentioned in the game.’
Originally, the one who came to Esgarot Castle to carry out the Guild Master’s mission had been Nicola.
Nicola failed.
She was poisoned and died inside Esgarot Castle.
And the person who confessed to poisoning her was…
‘Asbellata.’
Her.
Early the next morning.
As I walked through the head steward’s corridor, I pondered.
‘But why did Asta poison Nicola?’
The game never explained the reason.
It only mentioned that Asbellata confessed.
“Hmm… Should I just ignore it? As long as it isn’t me…”
“What should you ignore?”
“Ahh!”
Startled by the sudden voice, I looked ahead.
Ain and Luciano were standing right in front of me.
I blinked in surprise.
“What brings you here?”
Yawning, Ain answered,
“We’re heading outside the castle.”
“Why?”
“They say Yeppi’s acting strange, so we’re going to check.”
Yeppi was the Death Servant Ain had created as a tracking tool to find the Saintess.
“Is Yeppi sick?”
“They say it refuses to move away from the castle. It’s even digging underground trying to get inside.”
“Inside the castle…?”
I stiffened.
If it was trying that desperately to get in, then Yeppi had undoubtedly detected me, its target.
With a sharp expression, Ain said,
“Yeah. It seems that inside the castle…”
“I-Inside the castle?”
“…It’s probably trying to find a mate.”
“…”
“Stupid mating season.”
Come to think of it, hadn’t they said a Death Servant guarded Esgarot’s underground prison?
That Death Servant must be male.
Thank goodness Yeppi happened to be in mating season.
I secretly sighed in relief.
Just as Ain muttered, “I even let her meet a male before we came to the castle. Animals…”
Luciano asked,
“Where are you going so early?”
“I’m not going anywhere. I’ve already been out. I went to make candied Margust.”
I showed them the box filled with candied Margust.
Ain shrugged.
“You really keep yourself busy from dawn. Anyway, good work.”
With that, Ain walked past me.
But Luciano remained standing before me.
‘Hm?’
I wondered if he had something to say.
Then, without warning, he placed a hand on my forehead.
I froze.
Narrowing his eyes, he said,
“You have a fever.”
“Huh?”
“Go see a doctor. Your condition looks very bad.”
Only after saying that did Luciano walk away.
‘Do I really look that sick?’
Well…
My condition hadn’t been normal.
Normally, I would never have failed to notice someone approaching me.
After everything I’d done over the years, I’d become an expert at sensing people’s presence.
Yet yesterday I hadn’t noticed the Duke’s arrival.
Nor had I sensed the princes approaching today.
I’d probably become exhausted after everything that had happened.
And the burden of my mission didn’t help.
‘I’ll finish the morning chores quickly and get some rest.’
Having decided that, I headed straight to work.
Thanks to the thorough job I’d done yesterday, most of the tasks were finished before sunrise.
‘And unlike yesterday, they’ve even fixed the stones in the garden.’
The gardeners must have rushed to repair everything after the Duke’s visit.
They had spread large gravel across the ground so the fierce northern winds wouldn’t kick up dust.
Every plant with even slightly damaged leaves had been replaced.
“Yet they left this camellia alone.”
The same withered camellia the Duke had ordered everyone not to touch yesterday.
Why had he insisted this one tree remain untouched?
As I gently stroked its trunk—
Flash!
A pale white light spread from my fingertips where they touched the camellia.
At the same time, dizziness overwhelmed me.
Grabbing my forehead, I staggered.
‘What is this?’
My body suddenly felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton.
My condition deteriorated in an instant.
Just like…
‘Mana exhaustion… like the books described.’
Could it be that because I was a Purifier, I was purifying the camellia’s disease?
But could curing a plant really consume this much mana?
I’d absorbed an enormous amount of the Guild Master’s mana not long ago.
‘Wait…’
I hurriedly dropped to my knees and began digging the soil with my bare hands.
Even without a shovel, the earth came apart easily.
Someone had already dug here before me.
Certain I was right, I kept digging.
Eventually, I found a pouch buried in the dirt.
The pouch was soaked in a turquoise liquid, as though whatever had been inside had melted away.
I couldn’t see the original contents.
But I immediately knew what it had been.
Ingu
A forbidden poison.
After infecting an object, it disappears, leaving behind a turquoise liquid.
Any contaminated object must be burned immediately. Touching it exposes one to the poison. (More)
It was an item from the game.
‘This is bad.’
The poisoned camellia was the Duke’s treasured tree.
Which meant…
‘The Duke has been poisoned.’
Groaning, I buried my face in my knees.
‘This is a disaster.’
If the Duke died, the Duchess’s son would inherit the title.
The Guild Master would be completely abandoned.
Fortunately, as a Purifier, I could cleanse the Duke’s poison.
But to do that…
I’d have to meet him.
And the Duke wasn’t someone I could simply request an audience with.
‘Then there’s only one way.’
Letting out a long sigh, I stood up.
That night.
At the Irregulars’ headquarters within Esgarot’s direct territory.
One of the Irregular members hurried toward Guild Master Aslan carrying a communication device.
“An urgent message from headquarters.”
Aslan connected the communication.
Immediately—
“Little Teacher—no, Yustea—no, Miss—!”
“Move aside!”
“Guild Master! Miss…!”
The Vice Guild Master and Antonio shouted over each other in complete chaos.
Aslan’s eyebrow twitched.
“What happened?”
Apparently the Vice Guild Master shoved Antonio aside because a loud thud echoed through the communicator.
Then the Vice Guild Master’s voice came through.
“Miss is in the underground prison.”
“She was captured?”
Aslan’s voice turned cold.
Then Antonio hurriedly interrupted.
“No! She went to the underground prison herself!”
“So she was captured.”
“No, no! She wasn’t captured! She just went there!”
“That’s right, Guild Master!”
Even the Vice Guild Master chimed in.
Aslan frowned.
“…What?”
The Vice Guild Master shouted,
“She said she’d ruined the Duke’s camellia, held out both hands, and told them to arrest her!”
“…?”
‘If someone is too important for me to meet whenever I want… then I’ll simply make him come to me instead.’
