I tried not to look at the junior royal physician’s face as I spoke.
“Hahaha. Some herbs are arriving this evening, so I think I’ll have to sort them. I’m sorry, Attin.”
“That’s a shame. I wanted to treat our flower-like Ailette to something delicious.”
Ugh. So greasy.
Though he was called the “junior,” this thirty-two-year-old man had been hitting on me ever since I started supplying rare herbs to the imperial palace.
I had been rejecting him for six months now, yet like a typical romance-fantasy heroine, he was completely oblivious and still didn’t realize that I disliked him.
Seriously. Save the ‘dense personality’ setting for the female leads in romance novels, dear authors.
After mentally shouting at the creators of this world, I quickly held out the boxes of rare herbs.
“I can leave them in the usual storage, right?”
“Yes, yes. Thank you for your hard work. Next time, make sure to free up some time. If you live too busily, your skin will age, Ailette.”
“Haha. Yes, yes.”
What does it matter if my skin ages or my hair turns gray, you greasy jerk?
Winking awkwardly at me again, Attin made me want to run. I escaped from him and rushed into the storage area inside the palace.
Huff, huff.
It honestly felt like I might slip on butter at any moment.
I need to cleanse my eyes. I should hurry back and make Ain turn into a fox.
Avoiding Attin’s relentless advances, I entered through the back gate of the palace and went to the storage reserved for precious herbs, stacking the boxes I brought one by one.
These will all be used for the Emperor now.
Rare herbs used whenever the Emperor fell ill.
But then, Serbil’s words suddenly came back to me—about the Emperor trying to poison the Duke’s secretary.
No way.
It was hard to believe, but honestly, Serbil wasn’t someone who lied.
Of course, that might be different since he was a villain, but at least as “Seite,” the man I knew, he never lied to me.
The Emperor—the male lead’s true nature.
Which one is the real him?
Even the title of this book was <His Majesty Is Hiding Something>.
And honestly, original stories were often unreliable.
As I started doubting the original more and more, I shook my head and stepped out of the storage—when I heard a whining sound from behind it.
“Whine… whine…”
“What is that?”
Curious, I followed the sound around the back of the storage—and was startled.
There, a sleek black Doberman was trapped in a sharp rat trap, whining in pain.
Doberman (dog) (3 years old): Caught in a rat trap. If left like this, death is imminent (Gauge 80/100)
The trap wasn’t an ordinary one.
The rats in this world were cunning and quite large, so traps had to be this big and sharp to catch them.
If caught in one, even a dog like a Doberman could die. I hurried over to remove it.
But the Doberman, agitated, bared its teeth as if to bite me.
“Grrr…”
“Calm down. I’m trying to help you.”
After soothing the wary Doberman, I managed to remove the trap.
Even then, it kept trying to stand and kept collapsing, so I struggled to make it sit.
“Sit, please. I need to treat you. Hurry.”
“Grrr!”
“Please, I’m begging you. You won’t be able to use your leg like this.”
“Grrr!”
“Please!”
No matter how much I pleaded, the Doberman wouldn’t listen.
“Shuman, sit.”
At that moment—
While I was arguing with the dog, a gentle voice came from behind, and instantly, the dog obediently sat down.
When I turned around, I saw a handsome man with platinum-blond hair and golden eyes.
“Are you this dog’s owner?”
The man nodded.
“That’s right. Oh dear, it got caught in a trap.”
“Yes. I’ll treat it, so could you help calm him down?”
At my hurried request, the man soothed the Doberman and asked,
“Are you a physician?”
“Not exactly. I run an herbal shop.”
After answering, I took out herbs from my bag, crushed them, applied them to Shuman’s leg, and wrapped it with a bandage.
The man seemed surprised at my swift movements.
“You seem skilled. Are you really just an herbalist?”
“Of course. The emergency treatment is done now, so please take him to a veterinarian. Make sure you do.”
“I will.”
The man picked up Shuman and stood facing me. Smiling with his eyes, he said,
“What is your name, miss? I’d like to repay you somehow.”
“That’s not necessary. As long as Shuman is okay.”
I waved my hands, but the man looked regretful.
“I’d like Shuman to thank you properly if he sees you again someday. It’s only right to show manners.”
“To Shuman? Hahaha!”
I burst out laughing at the idea of making a dog express gratitude, and the man smiled warmly.
“You have a beautiful smile.”
“Well… you’re beautiful too.”
I said it sincerely. For a man, he was genuinely pretty—he had a gentle, almost angelic appearance.
“I’m Ailette. If I come to the palace again and meet Shuman, I’ll accept his thanks then. Please take good care of him.”
“I’m Ed. See you again, miss.”
“Yes.”
I waved goodbye and left the palace. He really was someone as warm and bright as sunlight.
But a man that bright and handsome—what role would he play in a romance fantasy?
Usually, wouldn’t he be the protagonist?
Then… is he the Emperor? No way.
Ignoring the old saying that such assumptions can get you into trouble, I headed home.
“What? Ten boxes of rare herbs were ordered by the Berriot Duke’s estate?”
“Yes. Is there a problem, Ailette?”
Madam Sola tilted her head in confusion as she held up the invoice.
Today was her shift instead of Ain. Ain had to go to the mountains once a month, though he said it was hard to explain why.
And of course, this had to happen today of all days.
Ah… if Ain were here, he wouldn’t have accepted this order.
Of course, our Rabbit Herbal Shop made most of its income from selling rare herbs, so receiving such an order was usually a great thing.
But seeing me react in shock confused Madam Sola.
Serbil… that man.
Ordering rare herbs on purpose. Rare herbs were extremely expensive, and there were many counterfeits, so an expert had to personally handle them.
Madam Sola was just a shopkeeper, not a specialist, which meant I had to make the delivery myself.
Which meant—
He knew that and deliberately placed the order to lure me in.
This is insane.
Refusing was also a problem. Who knew what consequences would come from rejecting an order from Duke Berriot?
Damn it. Let’s just deliver it quickly and leave.
Muttering a mix of proverbs about facing what you can’t avoid, I carefully packed the rare herbs.
Then I headed toward the Berriot Duke’s estate—a place I thought I’d never set foot in again.
As the estate came into view, my throat went dry.
Getting involved with that place meant a gruesome ending.
Please, let our troublesome boy live kindly from now on. Nothing bad has happened yet, so maybe it’ll be okay?
Suddenly filled with hope, I stepped out of the carriage and entered the estate.
Wow.
It was as large as the imperial palace, with a long waterway running through the garden and a mansion with hundreds of windows.
The estate consisted of a main building and three annexes, all pure white and dazzling under the midday sun.
They said the Emperor had left immense wealth to his second son—this mansion proved it.
As I stood there in awe, a butler spoke,
“Follow the central road straight, then turn left. You’ll see an annex. The personal physician is there—give it to them.”
“Oh, I’ll be meeting the personal physician!”
“Who else would you meet?”
The butler looked dumbfounded, and I awkwardly laughed as I walked down the road alone.
A vast garden spread on both sides—it was beautiful.
He used to live in a place like this, then stayed in a log cabin annex doing chores like cleaning, cooking, and laundry… that must have been humiliating for a Duke.
I suddenly felt guilty.
So rather than apologizing for running away, I decided I should at least apologize for… exploiting his labor(?).
Turning left, I spotted someone in a pavilion.
It was Serbil and—
Saintess Yurvella?!
I instinctively hid behind the bushes and listened to their conversation.
Serbil spoke in a languid voice,
“What brings you here, Saintess?”
“‘Saintess’? When it’s just the two of us, call me by my name. Like when we were young, Serbil.”
I hate this. I’ll come back when more chapters are unlocked and then read the latter chapters and skip all these.