Chapter : 05
Kaisha spoke.
“You kept heading into unknown paths. I thought I might lose my way too. I even thought I might never be able to come back.”
A bitter smile touched Kaisha’s lips. He had always been a straightforward character. He never hid his feelings or thoughts.
It was the same when he apologized. And Kaisha’s honesty always proved decisive at critical moments.
For example, when the heroine struggled between the main male lead and the secondary male lead.
Even in the original story, Kaisha’s direct confession as the male lead was often talked about. He revealed everything about himself and begged to be loved.
And now, that same honesty worked on me.
My heart tingled.
“……I can imagine.”
Kaisha must have been just as scared as I was. At least I could speak, but Kaisha couldn’t communicate at all.
“Besides, he demanded double the originally agreed fee.”
“Who?”
“The carriage driver. He said it was compensation for the detour I caused. He claimed he lost a day himself and deserved to be paid for it. That’s what he seemed to say, constantly holding up two fingers and showing me his palm.”
The moment I heard that, the tender, affectionate atmosphere between us evaporated.
That damned carriage driver.
I should have torn that goatee off him! I’d been tricked by his malicious tactics!
It seemed obvious that, knowing Grand Duke Kaisha couldn’t understand him, he deliberately steered the carriage in a strange direction to charge extra.
How do I know that?
Thinking about it again, it was strange. The departure point and the return point were the same—how could one get lost?
Carriage drivers in this era were practically people with navigation systems installed in their brains!
Once I regained my rationality, I understood the situation. He had scammed us, counting on Kaisha not understanding a word.
I clenched my teeth.
“I think we were definitely tricked, Your Grace. This is absurd. We need to find that scoundrel immediately…!”
“I actually thought the same. There was a set return point; getting lost that much didn’t make sense to me either.”
“Ugh!”
Grand Duke Kaisha grabbed my shoulder. I had to stop myself from charging off like an angry bison.
“Why! I feel like I should tear that goatee off right now!!”
“I already handled it in a way he could understand.”
“Then why did you pay double? You shouldn’t have given him anything!”
Kaisha awkwardly scratched his cheek, then slightly turned his head to avoid my gaze. What was this reaction?
Wait. Kaisha “handled it verbally”? That shouldn’t have been possible.
Kaisha cleared his throat and steadied his voice.
“……I actually made a small mistake while admonishing the driver.”
“A mistake?”
“Two of his molars broke.”
“…….”
“I only grabbed the shoulders of the driver who couldn’t understand a word, that’s all.”
Kaisha spoke with a face that conveyed absolute innocence.
So, he caught the cheat but still ended up paying him. I stared at Kaisha in disbelief.
“It really was a mistake. I thought he would escape when he realized he was caught, so I grabbed his shoulder. He had to come back. But the moment I touched him, he struggled and hit his face against the hilt of the sword I was holding, breaking two molars.”
In truth, Kaisha was one of the top knights in the Luikaron Empire, his entire body solid muscle. You could call him a human weapon.
He also had exceptional physical ability—strong grip, excellent stamina.
And the sword he used?
It was made of mithril, a sword personally bestowed by the Emperor to Kaisha. Even the hilt was said to be made of mithril.
I had clearly warned him to be careful—hands, feet, body—especially since mercenary work was dangerous and the people around here were rough.
He wasn’t even a duke at the time and didn’t own much, so if he messed up, I could have gotten in trouble.
Yet…
Kaisha avoided my gaze. He probably wasn’t lying; he was just embarrassed.
“Hmph. At least we caught four wyverns today and earned extra pay. I suggest we have dinner before heading in. I’ll pay.”
Kaisha said bluntly, glancing at me awkwardly, clearly aware of his mistake.
“No.”
“Why not? We earned extra pay…”
“I already paid a ransom bigger than that. What does it matter? Let’s go home quickly!”
I pushed the reluctant Grand Duke Kaisha, slapping his arm.
“I told you multiple times, I am a walking muscle mass—be careful with your hands, feet, and body!”
“……It’s not my fault. I was only trying to admonish someone in the wrong. I could have ended up losing more money to that scammer!”
“Nope. No more eating out for a while!”
Kaisha followed me with a dog-like, dejected expression. Seeing that, my heart softened a little, and I sighed.
“……I have a piece of meat left from yesterday. Make tomato stew. There’s bread from the bakery too; it’ll go well together.”
“I can handle that.”
I couldn’t help but smile at Kaisha’s words.
Yes, it’s fine now that we’ve returned safely. The real danger wasn’t Grand Duke Kaisha—it was that damned scammer.
Next time I see him, I’ll shave off his entire goatee.
At that time, in the Luikaron Empire.
Roela slammed her office desk loudly.
Lubert Grayson, who had been pretending not to notice her, avoided her gaze. Roela’s eyes followed him, growing cold. Lubert owned the company that operated the sunken Blue Pigeon ship. The families of the victims and the public were already furious.
‘What do you expect me to do? Did you think a kraken would just appear?’
The accident had been unexpected even for Lubert. He had thought he had prepared adequately. It was within the safe range. The kraken shouldn’t have been able to appear.
Exhausted as he already was, Roela’s anger only worsened his fatigue.
“How can I have spent so much money and still fail at the search? Why?”
Lubert sighed and reluctantly met her gaze.
Roela was the only heir of the Marquis family and, privately, the niece of the Empress. Her backing was formidable enough that she couldn’t be ignored.
Moreover, the Emperor, having no princess, raised Roela as if she were a princess. Lubert cleared his throat and spoke.
“It’s been over three weeks since the search began. You saw it yourself—the enormous shadow. At this point, it’s reasonable to assume they’re dead, Lady Roela. Rather than waste more money and time…”
“Are you joking with me, Lubert? How much of my investment did that supposedly unsinkable steel ship consume? Was I the only one? Among the missing are Grand Duke Kaisha and Lady Milena. How much did the duke’s house invest? How much did the Count of Elbertan invest? Betraying all that trust and leaving it in this state, and you can’t even conduct a proper search?”
Roela’s cold voice was rational. Eighty-seven people were missing; only fifty-eight had returned over the past three weeks.
Of those, more than half had come back as corpses.
The Grand Ducal family of Lorencia, the Count of Elbertan, and the Marquis of Sersia were all fervently conducting search efforts.
