Chapter 9
“So that’s why I call you a piglet, Pipi. You don’t even think sneaking food is a bad thing, do you?”
“Eeeek! If you keep calling me a piglet, I won’t let you call me Pipi anymore!”
“You mustn’t trample on free will! That’s the truly bad thing, Pipi.”
“F-free… will, what! Eeeek!”
Even with her twenty years of memories, Penelope knew far too little to win an argument against the silver tongue of a sword that had lived for centuries.
I’ll practice hard and laugh at Demonia someday!
Just like the Duke Calix—annoying and smug!
Whether Penelope was thinking such things or not, Demonia was happily chattering away. Mostly nagging.
“Oh dear. Once you get back to your room, you’d better brush your teeth so they don’t rot. Did you know? If your teeth rot and rot again, the decay will spread up into your head and eat away at your brain?”
A bit too gruesome to be called simple nagging.
“Eeep.”
Penelope shuddered in fear at the scary story.
Seeing this, Demonia became even more excited, unpacking more and more of his tales—of course, without the slightest regard for the listener’s feelings.
“About twenty years ago, in the western wing of a castle in the duchy, a woman hanged herself. On rainy nights, they say her ghost wanders the castle. Wearing a white nightgown, her neck twisted, shambling along…”
“Waaah! I don’t want to hear this! I’m leaving! If you’re just going to tell stories like that, I’m never coming here again!”
“Hey! Pipi! Don’t go! I’m bored! Who else am I supposed to tell these things to if not you?”
“I don’t care! I’m not coming to see you for ten whole days!”
Thanks to that, Penelope couldn’t sleep at all that night, lying in bed wide awake until dawn.
“Hey, Anna. What’s the ducal castle like?”
At Penelope’s question, Anna, who was changing the water in a vase, turned around.
“I’ve heard it’s more than ten times larger and grander than this townhouse in the capital.”
“Heard? You haven’t been there?”
“No, miss. Ever since the young master inherited the title of Duke, he hasn’t gone down to the duchy even once, so there hasn’t been an opportunity.”
“Really? Is that normal?”
At her innocent question, Anna hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
“Usually, other nobles only come up to their townhouses in the capital during the social season.”
“But the Duke’s been here all the time, hasn’t he?”
“We mere maids can hardly presume to know the depths of our master’s intentions.”
Anna deftly changed the subject.
Penelope let it go just as easily. She’d only been curious because of that story Demonia had told about the woman’s ghost.
“Anna, can I go visit the east wing of the townhouse today? I’ve never been there, and I’m curious.”
For the past month, Penelope had only explored the main building. Just touring all the guest rooms there had taken her a whole month, since the place was enormous.
“The east wing is mainly used by the knights. It could be dangerous, so you should take two maids with you.”
“Are the knights that scary?”
“The Calix Ducal Black Hawk Knights are famous for their bravery. In reality, they’re… well, not exactly—but that’s the rumor.”
Anna sounded distinctly unenthusiastic as she described the Duke’s knights.
Penelope recalled the knights she’d seen in her previous life—riding great horses in shining silver armor.
They had seemed as distant and lofty as the nobility, people whose lives had never once overlapped with hers.
And then, someone popped into her mind. Penelope twisted around.
“Oh! Derrick! Derrick’s a knight too, right? What kind of person is he?”
He seemed a little absentminded but not a bad person. After all, he’d taken her in when she had nowhere to go, even making her a lady of the house.
“Yes. Sir Derrick Portney is the vice-captain of the knights. Young, but very capable.”
Penelope’s eyes went round like a startled rabbit’s. Vice-captain? That was incredibly high rank.
He didn’t seem that amazing, though!
But Penelope was polite enough to keep that thought to herself.
She nodded with an “I see” and declared that she would tour the east wing with her maids after lunch.
Today again, life in the Black Hawk Knights was hell.
…Or so thought the common knight, Frederick.
Training was so brutal that every second felt like a thousand years.
“Damn it. Got my ass handed to me again today.”
Cursing, he sprawled out in the middle of the training yard, limbs splayed. Then water dripped down onto his head.
Too exhausted to move, Frederick just took the soaking.
“Pfft—hey, you little—!”
He flailed his arms, grabbed the leg of the culprit, and yanked them down.
“Waaah!”
From the voice, it was his fellow knight and peer, Ben.
“You little—!”
Soon, the two were grabbing each other’s collars and rolling across the yard, their comrades laughing as they watched.
“Let go!”
“You let go first!”
“No, you!”
“Not a chance, you bastard!”
They rolled around like tumbleweed in a gale, so wrapped up in their scuffle they didn’t even notice approaching footsteps.
A little later—“Kyaah!” A small scream rang out, followed by a frantic voice.
“My lady! You—these little punks—!”
Then—wham!—Frederick felt a sharp pain in his side as someone kicked him.
It hurt so bad he thought he might die—must’ve been steel-toed boots.
“Ugh!”
From the feel of it, Ben had been kicked too.
As the pain faded, both leapt to their feet to see who’d dared kick them.
And what they saw was…
“My lady, are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Just… something jumped out suddenly and I fell on my bottom.”
“Oh no! Your hand’s bleeding! Get clean water and a handkerchief! And a healing potion!”
“Hailey, I’m really fine. Things like this heal if you just put spit on them—”
“No spit!”
“Those bastards should just be—”
“Anna? What was that?”
“I didn’t say anything, my lady.”
“I’m pretty sure you did!”
It was a little red-haired girl and two women in black maid uniforms.
Frederick and Ben weren’t stupid—they quickly realized what was going on.
If a girl inside the townhouse had two maids with her and wore fine clothes with that red hair, there was only one possibility.
The Duke’s newly adopted daughter.
They exchanged glances.
We’re screwed.
Totally screwed.
And their bad luck didn’t end there.
“What’s all this noise?”
From the rear gate of the training yard, Duke Calix himself appeared—and saw the scene.
“Oh! Your Grace!”
Penelope jumped to her feet, brushing dirt off her backside.
“Hello!”
She beamed, but Duke Calix didn’t even acknowledge her greeting—a truly villainous display of manners.
As expected of the Duke!
Penelope mentally added “completely ignore someone right to their face” to her list of evil deeds.
The Duke jerked his chin at Anna.
“Explain.”
“My lady Penelope was startled by these two knights and fell.”
His brow twitched.
“My knights frightened my daughter? Weren’t you the one who fainted alone in the garden the other day?”
His expression all but said: A weakling coward like that could never be my daughter.
No! I don’t want to be disowned!
Penelope frantically waved her hands.
“No, it’s not like that! I’m not a coward! I’m perfectly healthy! That day was just… weird!”
“So there’s no problem, then?”
“No! I just thought something was attacking me and tried to dodge, then fell!”
“For example?”
“Uh, like… a stray dog from the back alleys!”
It wasn’t a lie—something had jumped out and startled her, and there really were stray dogs in back alleys sometimes.
“I see. So the knights acted like dogs and frightened my daughter.”
“Gasp—that’s not what I meant!”
The Duke’s neat little “summary” made Penelope wave her hands in panic.
Dogs? Acting like dogs? That was quite a leap in logic.
Meanwhile, the Duke’s gaze lingered on Penelope.
Every time she waved her hands, the bloodstained handkerchief tied by Hailey swayed with them.
“And these dog-like creatures even injured my daughter.”
At this, the stunned knights Frederick and Ben dropped to their knees.
“We have committed a grave offense!”
“We will accept any punishment!”
The Duke looked down at their bowed heads, then asked:
“Penelope.”
“Yes, sir!”
“What shall we do with them? What do you think?”
“Uh, well—”
Penelope glanced between the Duke and the knights. She wanted to say it was fine and move on, but…
No! If I act like a softhearted pushover, I might collapse in front of the Duke someday!
Demonia had told her:
You’re too small-minded. If you slip up, you’ll just be laughed at—so push through boldly, no matter what!
Boldly, boldly, boldly!
Duke—boldly. Knights—boldly. Dogs—boldly!
With the Duke’s intense gaze on her, her heart thumped wildly.
She repeated “boldly” in her head, organizing her words.
The knights acted like dogs and startled me a bit. So I’ll take responsibility and punish them myself.
In her head, it sounded perfect. And so, Penelope spoke out loudly:
“I’ll take responsibility for these knights and treat them like dogs!”
