Chapter 14
He was clearly trying to test how gluttonous I really was.
I hurried to add, “I don’t want to eat that badly. I’m fine.”
Because I was nervous, I swallowed hard. In the silence, the sound of me gulping echoed loudly—like someone desperate to eat an apple but pretending otherwise.
The duke burst into laughter.
‘Ugh, how embarrassing.’
I could feel my ears burning red.
The duke chuckled and said, “If you want to eat it, you can just be honest.”
“N-no, I really don’t want to.”
“You’re terrible at lying, aren’t you?”
That’s not true. I’m actually really good at lying.
But even I had to admit—this time, the timing was just awful.
He picked up an apple and, in a blink, peeled it and placed it neatly on a plate.
As always, it was cut into the shape of a rabbit.
“Here. Try it.”
I glanced at the duke as I picked up a slice of apple.
To emphasize that I wasn’t a glutton, I just nibbled the tip of the slice.
“What, are you trying to eat like a rabbit just because I cut it like one? Or is it not to your taste?”
“No! It’s delicious! Really!”
When I heard this apple cost 10,000 gold, I thought that was absurd—but after taking a bite, I understood.
The crisp texture, the fragrance, the sweetness—everything was perfect.
‘What if I can’t enjoy other apples after this…?’
“Then eat up like you usually do. There’s plenty.”
Weren’t you going to scold me for eating too much?
I tilted my head.
I’d thought that was the reason he’d called me here.
But since the duke said to eat as much as I wanted…
Just as I opened my mouth to take a big bite, the duke suddenly grabbed the hand I was holding the fork with.
“Your hand…”
I looked down, following his gaze—and saw my chipped and cracked nail.
“What happened to your hand?”
His golden eyes turned cold.
It was a wound I got while following the head maid, climbing walls and crawling across the ceiling.
This body really was too delicate.
But there was no way I could tell him that honestly. I made something up.
“Um… I think I got hurt during sword training.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes.”
The duke looked unconvinced, but he released my hand and leaned back against the sofa.
“How are things at the castle these days? Everything okay?”
“Yes.”
The meals were good, the bed was warm—there was nothing more I could ask for.
“Anything troubling you? I heard your room was a mess.”
“How did you know?”
I thought he wouldn’t know since he had no interest in me.
“Owell told me. He may look like that, but he really hates bugs.”
Well, I guess for people who hate insects, it really would’ve been horrifying.
“So… you’re really fine staying at the castle?”
“Yes!”
I answered extra cheerfully on purpose.
‘Don’t worry. I won’t bother you, and I won’t die early in this castle either.’
“I see.”
But the duke looked more displeased than any expression I’d seen on him today.
He looked like something was bothering him, but he couldn’t put it into words.
“The sparring with Denson is scheduled for three days from now.”
“If I lose, does that mean Denson becomes the heir?”
“No, but people will start saying I should kick you out.”
After a moment of silence, the duke asked, “Are you okay with that?”
“I’m fine.”
So that’s what that bad mood was about.
He must’ve been worried that if I lost, he’d have to go through the trouble of finding a new heir.
“I’ll win and come back so you won’t regret contracting with me, Duke. You won’t have to deal with any annoying situations, so please don’t worry.”
Our relationship was built on a contract.
The kind maid Mary, the warm bed, the clothes I was wearing, even the apple I was eating right now—
All of it was the price I received for taking on the role of the duke’s heir.
So now it was my turn to pay up by defeating Denson.
“Ah, right.”
The duke looked at me with a strange expression.
His lips curled into a slow smirk.
“…It was that kind of contract, wasn’t it?”
After sending Ariel out, Duke Clasta slumped onto the sofa.
He knew if he didn’t deal with his paperwork now, a parade of administrators would soon come knocking—but he couldn’t bring himself to do anything.
Owell entered the room and asked as he looked at the duke, “Why the long face, sir?”
“What kind of face?”
“Like you’re about to kill someone. It’s terrifying when someone as powerful as you makes that face. A lowly citizen like me can’t work under those conditions.”
“So what? Should I smile brightly while feeling like crap?”
Startled by the duke’s prickly tone, Owell asked in a timid voice,
“Did someone come and tell you to get married again or something?”
“Shut up. Be quiet.”
The duke covered his face with his arm.
Owell fell silent and moved carefully, reducing even his footsteps.
That was one of the reasons the duke kept Owell around.
He talked endlessly like a bird, but he knew where the line was.
The duke had thought silence might help his mood—but with the quiet, thoughts of Ariel only grew stronger.
‘I’ll win and come back so you won’t regret contracting with me.’
Even after hearing those words, he couldn’t stop thinking about her injured hand.
She said she got it from sword training, but the wound looked more like it came from scraping against something.
‘Her nail was broken, too. Did someone hurt her? It’s not easy to injure just your hand like that. Could she be hurt elsewhere, too?’
The Clasta estate was vast.
He hadn’t paid attention, so he’d never asked for reports.
Of course he didn’t know anything about Ariel.
“This is all your fault, Owell.”
That damn guy had to bring up how someone released bugs in Ariel’s room—and now here he was, tormented with thoughts.
The more he tried to brush it off, the more it stuck in his mind.
‘If only she acted more like girls her age.’
If she’d just cried and clung to him.
If she’d said she was scared and asked for help just once.
Then, even if it was just on a whim, he might’ve helped her.
But Ariel had acted like she didn’t believe he would help—stepping back and drawing a clear line.
She didn’t say she was afraid or struggling.
She just said she’d do her best and come back.
That’s the kind of child he’d brought in.
‘There won’t be any trouble for you, Duke.’
He should’ve been happy to hear that. But strangely…
“This feels like crap.”
He wasn’t even sure—what did he really want from that girl?
As I walked down the hallway, I heard the maids chatting.
“Ugh. Don’t you smell something weird?”
“Like sewage or something?”
“Girl, please! Why would something smell in the castle? Maybe in an orphanage, sure…”
Their gazes shifted toward me.
‘Talking trash about me right to my face. A psychological tactic to shake me up. Still not giving up, huh?’
I could’ve gone up to them and confronted them—but I decided not to.
The captain would already know I was so stressed from the gossip that I could barely hold a sword.
‘Sometimes, you have to endure for a greater goal.’
Some mean words from a couple of maids were just irritating noise—but if the captain got involved, things would become a real headache.
I dropped my shoulders and walked with my eyes on the ground, like I was crushed by everything.
“She looks so down lately. She used to storm in and cause a scene.”
“She’s probably scared she won’t even get to eat if she acts up.”
The maids giggled loudly.
Just then, the head maid appeared from the far end of the hallway.
Wanting to earn points with her, the maids raised their voices even more enthusiastically.
I stared silently at the head maid.
Perhaps feeling guilty, she gave the maids a sharp glare.
“You two.”
The giggling stopped, and they turned toward her.
“I believe I assigned you both to clean the annex. Is it finished?”
The head maid’s cold voice made them shrink.
“Um… you said it had to be done by tomorrow, so we haven’t…”
“If I said it had to be done by tomorrow, that means starting today so it’s perfect by then. You’ve been here for years—must I really teach you such basics?”
Faced with the scolding of someone they thought was their ally, the maids looked completely lost.
“We’re sorry. We’ll go clean it right away.”
“No need. If you two can’t grasp the basics, you’ll just ruin it again.”
“S-sorry…”
“From today, for the next week, you’ll be cleaning the pigsty. That should help you relearn the fundamentals of cleaning.”
“W-what?!”
They looked up at the head maid in shock.
The pigsty was notorious—it stank so badly, you couldn’t get the smell off for a week.
Now that the weather was warmer, it reeked even worse.
It was considered the worst punishment a maid could receive.
And they were to do it for an entire week?
“Do you have a problem with my punishment?”
The head maid was infamous for being strict and domineering.
If they complained, a week could turn into a month.
“N-no, ma’am.”
“Good. Then get started now. As for you, miss—please come with me. You need to take responsibility for causing this disturbance.”
Once we entered the room, the head maid let out a deep sigh.
“Haah… I wonder what the other maids will think of me now.”
Honestly, she wasn’t exactly popular before either.
“I didn’t expect you to scold them so harshly. Won’t the captain start getting suspicious?”
“That’s my problem. You don’t need to worry. In fact, if I hadn’t handled it like that, wouldn’t you have taken it out on me instead?”
I wasn’t planning to—but I didn’t bother saying that.
“Anyway, take this. Lord Owell asked me to give it to you.”
“Owell? What is it?”
I took the box the head maid handed me and asked.
