Chapter 15
“This is really the last question.”
“Yes~!”
“If you work as my assistant, what value will you put first?”
Rita lifted her head quickly and answered with a strong, serious face.
“Loyalty!”
“Hmm.”
“I don’t betray people. I’ll give you all my loyalty. Even if I get pushed around or made to do hard work, I can handle it. With loyalty toward the Grand Duke, I’ll help make this Grand Duchy a better place!”
After she said that, she looked at him with proud eyes.
She looked very satisfied with her answer.
But sadly, that was the last thing Cedric wanted to hear. He smiled politely.
“I see.”
He was sick and tired of hearing about ‘loyalty.’
“Was it betrayal?”
“No… It was just a way to prove my loyalty…”
“I’m tired of it. Seriously.”
As the unpleasant memory came back, a headache hit Cedric. Today had actually been a good day, until now.
His mood dropped.
Cedric put the papers down on the desk and pushed them aside.
“Harun. What are you doing?”
“Eh?”
“Throw her out. Now.”
“Yes!”
Harun had been looking at Cedric with worry, but now his face lit up and he signaled. Knights who had been hiding around the room started walking toward Rita.
Cedric didn’t know if Rita was a spy or not. But based on his past experience…
Most spies said the same kind of things she just said when applying.
It was silly, but that question about values always worked. It helped him spot spies or people who just weren’t a good fit.
Clearly, Rita wasn’t the person he was looking for. They didn’t share the same mindset either. So the only choice was to remove her.
Cedric, still smiling, said:
“Send her somewhere very, very far from the Grand Duchy. So far she won’t even think about coming back.”
“Unfortunately, Your Grace, there’s nowhere that far in our country.”
“That’s too bad.”
The country was large, but not many areas were livable. Cedric made a note to think about how to fix that later.
Crash! Loud footsteps. Rita was running to escape the knights.
Then—suddenly—
“Hey! You have to repay me for saving your life! Do you even know how hard it was to save you? That medicine I used wasn’t cheap! Just because you’re a Grand Duke doesn’t mean you get to step on normal citizens! Shame on you!”
Cedric’s head snapped up. He saw a curly-haired woman with pink hair.
He raised his hand, signaling the knights to stop.
“Haa… Huff… Ugh, I’m dying here…”
“Explain in detail.”
Cedric’s eyes turned sharp and serious.
Even Harun, who had looked annoyed the whole time, now widened his eyes and looked between Cedric and Rita.
“What’s there to explain? You collapsed in front of my house near death. I saved you. Do you know how hard that was?”
Cedric had only collapsed once before in someone’s yard.
In the forest hut.
“You acted like you were dying when you clung to me, and then ran away when I left for a bit. You promised to give me a job, to treat me well! What happened to all that, huh? So unfair!”
Rita let out a dramatic sigh and dabbed the corners of her eyes. Of course, there were no actual tears.
But Harun didn’t seem to notice her overacting. He covered his mouth in shock and looked at Cedric.
“Harun. Your eyes look disrespectful. Fix it.”
“But, Cedric. If she’s telling the truth, then that makes you the bad guy.”
“You’re right. Maybe it’s time to get a new assistant.”
“But… there are no other applicants.”
Even while Cedric and Harun bickered meaninglessly, Cedric’s thoughts were spinning.
If Rita really was that person, why didn’t she come to him right away? He had even left a handwritten note there.
Since Cedric wasn’t saying anything, Rita grew more confident.
“About three weeks ago, you went into the forest and collapsed from pain, right? When you woke up, it was inside an old hut.”
Could she really be the one?
Cedric stepped closer to Rita.
She rolled her eyes once and slowly took something out from her coat.
“Ah.”
“I brought the note you left. You know, the one that said something about ‘Wintergarten’ or whatever. It got messed up on the way here, but…”
It wasn’t just messed up—it looked like trash. But the paper seemed familiar.
Cedric carefully took it.
“It’s a bit—okay, a lot—damaged. But if you look closely, you can still see your signature.”
Rita pointed to a corner with her finger.
“…”
Cedric wasn’t someone who believed in coincidences. He looked down at the paper, then slowly at the woman who gave it to him.
Was this a coincidence? Or something else?
He muttered,
“This is—”
“Just trash, right, my lord?”
“No, it’s not!“ Rita answered instead of Cedric.
Cedric didn’t reply. He started carefully opening and checking the paper.
He didn’t remember that day very clearly. Sometimes he wondered if it was just a dream.
Everything about that day had been strange, too strange to feel real.
But ever since then, his health had gotten much better.
That’s why he could never fully decide if it was a dream or not. He just kept remembering it again and again.
But now, the woman in front of him, Rita, was claiming she had saved his life.
And she gave very specific details.
Cedric recalled the events again.
The person he was chasing had run into the forest on the east side of the country.
Cedric knew that area well, so chasing them wasn’t hard. After finding the trail and working with a few knights, they finally caught the criminal.
But that’s when something strange happened.
“Your Grace! Your Grace!”
Cedric suddenly moved, like he was under a spell. It felt like something was pulling him.
Even though he heard the knights calling for him, he felt like he had to go.
Then their voices faded. He thought it was strange but didn’t stop walking.
That’s when he saw an old piece of cloth tied to a tree branch.
The moment he saw it, he felt dizzy and sick.
It was a sign of a curse.
After that, everything became blurry.
The pain was worse than ever before. He thought, “This curse is really going to kill me this time. I hope they collect my payment before I die…”
He barely walked a few steps before he collapsed.
Then something hit his forehead—hard.
“Hey! Don’t die on me!”
With that loud voice, warmth returned to his cold body. The pain disappeared in an instant.
“See? My medicine works so well. Don’t you dare forget me. I saved your life. You better pay me back someday.”
There had been a loud, warm voice next to him. It sounded like a wild, kind brown bear.
It felt unreal.
But it really happened. He didn’t die.
He had clung to that moment. It made him feel alive again.
The comfort and warmth were something he hadn’t felt in a long time.
The brown bear voice kept talking. She sounded a little crazy, but that was okay.
Cedric fell asleep to that voice, like a lullaby.
“Wait… so it wasn’t a dream?”
And when he woke up…
There was no one there.
