Chapter 04
Billein froze stiff when he saw Kylas’s true face.
He had forgotten.
Ever since Ruelia joined the ducal house, he had almost forgotten that the only word that could never be removed from the duke’s nickname was “righteous.”
“Wasn’t it… Lady Ruelia, the aide…?” Billein asked cautiously.
Kylas slowly opened his mouth.
“Billein. Is that how I taught you?”
Billein dropped to his knees at once.
He lowered his head so deeply it looked as though he might slam his forehead into the floor.
This was nothing unusual in this office. Two years ago, knights and aides alike had knelt here regularly.
Ruelia alone remained unaware of that reality.
“No, sir.”
“Then shall I explain what you did wrong?”
The reason was simple: Ruelia’s position was different from that of the knights.
Almost no one wanted to work as the duke’s aide. More precisely, there were no aides who truly satisfied the duke.
On the other hand, knights lined up to enter House Aber. The only way to learn the sword from the greatest swordsman on the continent was to become his knight.
Naturally, their treatment differed.
“You were told never to presume your lord’s heart.”
At least Billein was used to this.
He also knew how to calm the duke’s anger.
“Yes. And?”
Veins bulged on the back of the hand supporting Kylas’s chin. Normally, that hand would have dragged Billein straight to the training grounds.
Yet he was enduring it.
Billein calmly guessed what lay beneath his lord’s irritation and answered.
“Someone meant to share in your future ambitions spoke carelessly. I forgot that such loose talk could lead to leaking confidential matters.”
Was that wrong?
When Kylas sighed, Billein quickly corrected his posture.
“What I meant is this: never speak of your lord where he is absent. Especially alone with Ruelia.”
“I apologize. I will not speak with her alone again.”
Kylas still looked dissatisfied. Frowning, he reached out and picked up the documents again.
Attached to them was a note Ruelia had left behind.
Your Grace, I’ve organized the grain production by region into a bar chart for easier comparison. Please review it and decide where to build the new grain storage facility.
He traced the neat, rounded handwriting—so much like its owner’s—with his finger.
And the memory from earlier resurfaced.
You don’t have anyone in mind as a future duchess… do you?
When Ruelia had asked that strange question, his father’s words from long ago had come to mind.
Words spoken sincerely by a man who had been a good father, yet a husband constantly resented by his wife.
House Aber needs someone with humanity. Find a woman like that—love her and cherish her. Don’t marry for politics like I did under the imperial family’s thumb.
Those words had troubled him since childhood. They had influenced his idea of a partner more than anything else.
The problem was, he didn’t believe he could love someone.
And so he’d reached a conclusion.
Wouldn’t Ruelia be… suitable?
She had no powerful family to interfere with ducal affairs, no ties to the imperial court, and was intelligent, independent, and compassionate.
She was also bright enough that everyone in House Aber liked her.
But there was a problem.
She was a commoner. Any talk of marriage with her would never receive the Emperor’s approval.
And the woman herself—who never even considered that she might be the target of such a proposal—would hardly accept it.
Above all, he didn’t want to lose a capable aide.
What he needed now was not a duchess, but an excellent aide.
“Billein. Get up.”
“Thank you, my lord!”
Yet for some reason, his mood remained twisted.
He’d been fine even after hearing about Ruelia’s strange plan.
It seemed Billein had pressed some hidden nerve today.
She was innocent. It was nice.
Kylas replayed Billein’s words in his mind—conveniently removing a part of them.
He’d done it at least ten times by now.
Something was clearly wrong with his head.
His fingers, which had been idly tracing Ruelia’s handwriting, suddenly stopped.
“For the time being, assign someone else to Ruelia’s escort.”
The vague discomfort finally eased with that order.
And then, immediately, confusion returned.
What was this petty, narrow-hearted feeling?
In truth, he already knew the answer.
Jealous of my own subordinates getting along… How pathetic.
Jealousy.
Few words made a person more childish—and none clouded judgment so effectively.
That was why he’d done something this foolish.
Was he bothered by the two of them being close? Or by them talking alone?
Or was it simply that Ruelia confided in Billein rather than in him?
Either way, he had made a fool of himself.
An aide trusting the lord’s subordinate more than the lord himself—that was something he should be ashamed of.
“No—cancel that order.”
His pride as a noble cracked. Shame flushed his entire body.
So he erased the petty command.
Even though going back on his word was also something a lord should never do.
“I will obey—… pardon?”
“You will continue to escort Ruelia. Among the knights of Aber, you are the most skilled.”
Personal emotions must never interfere with official matters.
That was a principle he had struggled to uphold his entire life as the head of a noble house.
He could not break it over a single side.
“However…”
Today’s foolishness required reflection.
“Give the order. I will obey anything.”
“For the next ten days, your punishment will be this: every morning, you will run one hundred laps around the training grounds with me, followed by drills.”
For a split second, Billein thought exile might be preferable.
Or perhaps running two hundred laps alone.
The next morning, Ruelia arrived early at the ducal estate and went to find the duke, heading toward the training grounds.
She looked nothing like her usual self.
Her eyes were red, her skirt wrinkled, and her hair untidy. The confident Ruelia from yesterday—who had trusted the diary completely—was gone.
Past me… Did you really love money that much?
There was no information at all about why Lady Emil chose the Crown Prince.
The diary contained only methods to earn money and the duke’s final fate.
Sighing softly, Ruelia pressed a hand to her chest. The thick resignation letter she’d prepared “just in case” felt like it was yelling at her.
Run. Right now.
She couldn’t bring herself to do it and instead ruffled her hair.
“Aaah! That would be way too cowardly!”
How much kindness and consideration had she received from the duke so far?
A person who doesn’t repay kindness has no value.
Her adoptive father had raised his daughters to live by that principle.
If things go wrong, even Melissa will be dragged down with him… Would you still stay, Father?
According to the diary, when the duke died, the families of his retainers and servants were slaughtered as well.
Having spent the night rereading the diary and forcing her memories back, Ruelia’s eyes were hollow as she looked toward the training grounds.
Loud shouts echoed from within.
His Grace said it was time for him to train his body again.
The first sign of unrequited love.
When people fall in love, they usually start by fixing their appearance. For a man raised as a knight, that meant his body.
The duke was already this serious…
If she ran away now, she would feel like a cowardly traitor.
After much hesitation, Ruelia pulled out the resignation letter.
“If I submit this… when would it hurt the least?”
She tried to calmly calculate the pros and cons—even factoring in her guilt.
But the sight before her wiped her mind blank.
A sudden gust of wind tore the resignation letter from her hand. It spiraled upward around her before drifting away.
“W-What is this? Why does everyone look like that?”
She hurriedly covered her eyes.
The knights—barely clothed, wearing nothing but thin fabric that could barely be called underwear or shorts—were clashing swords as they trained.
Kylas was among them, dressed the same way.
“Block!”
“Ugh! That way!”
It was too raw.
For Ruelia, who had never once seen naked men despite working in a house full of knights, the sight was overwhelmingly stimulating.
Especially—
Kylas.
His figure burned itself into her vision.
What is he, a glutton?
Even the statues of gods in temples weren’t as perfectly built as him. Every curve that shouldn’t stand out did—almost indecently so.
“With skills like that, you couldn’t even catch a fox. Have you forgotten who our enemy is?”
Kylas’s voice rang out, and the men’s breathing grew harsher.
“Hey! Why are you taking your pants off?! You shameless bastard!”
“In real combat, protect your life—not your pants!”
The knights were completely serious.
At this rate, she was going to see something she shouldn’t.
Ruelia bolted toward the office at full speed.
Behind her, a single sheet of parchment fluttered down gently to the ground.
