Chapter 44
The problem started when we caught Wolfman and the pirates in the Noksdam Sea.
“This is stolen, so we should return it.”
Wolfman had left the wooden box he took from the trading ship beside his sword stuck in the deck—.
“Why is this here?”
The box was on the shelf in my cabin on the Daedern ship heading to Zendal.
Dark brown with no patterns.
I thought maybe it was just another similar box, but a box that couldn’t be opened, as if sealed, with no keyhole, wasn’t something common.
Did someone take it from the deck when we tied up the pirates?
At first, I didn’t think much of it.
I was more worried about how to return the box.
“Why not mail the box to that trading company? They deal with goods, so even if you send it anonymously, they’ll check it.”
“Oh.”
Shouen’s advice made sense.
So as soon as I arrived in Zendal, I asked Kadiyan to send it, but somehow it ended up back in my basket, when it should have been at the imperial post office.
It was the thing that fell out of my basket and rolled on the floor when I took out my shawl to cover His Majesty’s face.
After that, I tried sending it by mail several times, but the box always came back.
Not only that.
When I buried it deep underground, when I tied rocks to it and dropped it into a pond, when I locked it in the underground prison and came out…!
Even if it were alive, it couldn’t do this.
How does it come back every time?
I always joked that I wanted to become a palace ghost, but I was terrible with occult stuff like this.
“Ugh. What did Wolfman even steal?”
Should I send a letter to the trading company?
“Did a cursed box disappear from your ship? That box is stalking me, is this normal…?!”
“……”
I stared at the box and sighed.
I need to get rid of this thing first if I want to sleep or do anything today.
“Ugh……”
I grabbed two blankets and wrapped them around my hands up to my elbows.
With my arms doubled in size, I stretched out and leaned back as much as possible while trying to pick up the box.
I looked extremely scared. If someone saw me, they’d think I was the biggest coward in the world.
But seriously.
If anyone can touch a cursed box with bare hands, come out and show me!
The box came between my blanket-wrapped hands, and I carefully lifted it.
What if I get cursed just by touching this ominous box…!
“……”
I held my breath and took one step, then another.
The box was quiet like any inanimate object.
Then how does it come back every time?
Is it a goblin or something? Only moving when people aren’t looking.
Speaking of goblins, I remembered old grandmas in my neighborhood saying that living on a goblin site makes you rich.
…Wait.
I stopped walking and looked at the box suspiciously.
Like I said, I’ve been extremely lucky lately.
“There’s no way what Wolfman wanted so badly was a cursed box.”
Even if I were a pirate captain, I wouldn’t rob a trading ship just to get a stalking box.
“Could it be a box that brings good luck?”
You know, like in games where there’s equipment that boosts your luck stat a lot.
Maybe the god Seikan made something like that for fun.
“……But there’s no evidence at all.”
I should’ve asked Wolfman what he was trying to steal when we boarded the trading ship.
I was too busy escaping to think about it.
I asked people in the palace too, but no one knew anything about the box.
Even His Majesty didn’t know.
“Head Priest Hazel Roiken of the Nisephoriel Temple might know…,” Minister Evon said.
So maybe I should take this with me next time I go to the Nisephoriel Temple.
“What are you?”
I muttered to the box in my hands.
Then—
Clunk.
“Ahhh!”
As if it understood me, the box suddenly jumped.
I screamed and fell backward.
Kadiyan, who was in the corridor for protection, knocked on my door.
“Saintess? Are you alright?! What happened?!”
“Y-yes…! I’m fine! I almost fell over!”
I told him I was okay, then stayed sitting on the floor and stared at the box that had fallen.
Clunk. Clunk.
The box was hitting its corners on the floor, moving like a dice about to stop rolling.
“Is the box… alive?”
I joked about cursed boxes and goblins, but seeing this in front of me was terrifying…!
I told you, occult stuff is…!!
I raised my ringed index finger toward the box.
If it jumped at me, I needed to attack or defend myself.
“……”
The tension increased.
Then, besides the clunking sound, I started hearing a faint noise.
“Inside the box?”
I focused my hearing, and the noise became clearer.
“Grrr……”
It sounded like someone whining in their sleep.
After a while, the whining stopped, and the box’s movement slowed.
Then, when the box completely stopped moving—
“Phew……”
Hiss. Hiss.
It sounded like a sleeping child’s breathing.
I lowered my finger and stared at the box.
“What is this thing, really…?”
The box itself wasn’t alive.
Something small was alive inside the box.
“Good morning.”
Who greets a box in the morning?
That would be me.
I spoke to the box on the bedside table.
It hadn’t moved since, and the breathing inside wasn’t loud enough for others to hear, so I just left it there.
Everyone probably thought I gave up on throwing it away.
Well, what can I do.
It seems like there’s a living creature inside, so I can’t just throw it away.
And even if I throw it away, it comes back.
Maybe it’s better for me to keep it, since I can hear its breathing.
The box that jumped so dramatically seemed to be sleeping quietly for a week.
It’s not going to suddenly break open and come out like an egg, right?
“Sleep well.”
After greeting the box, I checked the mirror before leaving the room.
It was me with brown hair, wearing commoner clothes, which I hadn’t worn in a while.
Hehe. Today is not a day to go to the chapel.
I said proudly to the box,
“I’ll earn snack money!”
Antoine Bakery, said to have the most branches on the continent of Auditria.
I was sitting in the luxurious VIP room of its headquarters, reading the contract.
“Pudding, waffles, egg tarts…….”
That dreamy voice wasn’t mine.
It was Olivia, the owner of Antoine Bakery, sitting across from me.
She was eating the desserts that Heli and I made and repeating their names.
“They’re so delicious, Lili. Fantastic.”
“Really? I’m glad you like them, Olivia!”
“Not just me. My employees were drooling when they heard these were Lili’s new creations. They must be targeting today’s desserts too… but sadly, there’s nothing left to give them. I ate it all.”
Olivia smiled in satisfaction and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
The plates were so clean they didn’t even need washing.
“Thank you for coming in person. I was curious since I couldn’t see you for so long. Sending letters to Heli was worth it.”
“Ah, about that. I’d like it if only you knew my face, Olivia.”
I planned to do this contract remotely too, but Olivia wanted to see me in person, so I came.
I could’ve refused, but refusing was… hard.
[Is this contract fee okay?]
It was too much money.
Just thinking about how many zeros were in Olivia’s letter made my heart race again.
“Of course. You’re the only one who knows Lili’s face. Otherwise, Heli would come stab me with a kitchen knife.”
She said something scary so casually.
They must be close, since they worked in the same kitchen for about a year.
“……”
I carefully checked the contract and signed it.
By “carefully,” I just checked if anything changed from the contract Olivia had mailed before.
Minister Evon, Zendal’s top expert, already reviewed it.
He reviewed it while holding the paper far away from me.
He’s always cautious of me. Sob.
“The contract is done, so if you have time, do you want to hang out? I want to get closer to you, Lili.”
“Um, sure…!”
After that, Olivia and I talked for a long time about popcorn popularity, how to sell new menus, her husband, Heli’s younger days, and more.
It felt like chatting with a friend at a café, so I got completely absorbed.
I hope I can go out with Siana next time too.
After three or four hours, I finally left the Antoine headquarters and got into the carriage to the imperial palace.
“Did you have fun?”
“Yes. Sir Kadiyan, weren’t you bored? You were hiding around the building the whole time.”
“Serving the Saintess can never be boring.”
Kadiyan whispered and closed the carriage door.
It looked like he was the only escort, but there were several Zendal knights hidden around.
I saw familiar knight faces when I looked out the carriage window earlier.
The carriage started moving, and I looked out the window to pass the time.
Ah, another knight over there.
They’re so obvious. And they’re hiding such handsome people… what a waste.
“Uh, uh?”
I got up from my seat when I saw something strange near a quiet wall.
I pressed my forehead to the window to look closer.
I thought it was a Zendal knight, but—
I urgently knocked on the window connected to the driver’s seat.
“D-driver! Stop! My friend is being beaten up! Stop! Stop!”
