Episode 18
“Crazy is you.”
Lea said.
“You’ve been treated like a divine agent in some mountain village for so long that your sense of reality must’ve dulled… Does your order really cover for a low-ranking priest who lays a hand on a noble lady of the Piatt family?”
The priest, who had already turned ashen, grew even paler.
Lea was right.
If this incident became known, the order would undoubtedly cut him off immediately.
Watching the priest tremble in fear, Lea continued.
“They’ll definitely claim it has nothing to do with their organization. They’ll probably welcome the idea of branding you a demon. How convenient would that be? If they execute you as a heretic, everything gets neatly resolved.”
“I-I’m… not a demon!”
The priest shouted as if forcing the words out.
In that moment, Lea gestured for Janet to come closer. Janet rushed over, but the priest was faster.
“No!”
“Eek!”
Grabbing Janet by the hair, the priest swung his knife like a madman.
“I said I’m not a demon…!”
“Janet!”
Crack.
A strange sound rang out as the hand holding the knife twisted in the opposite direction.
“Aaaagh!”
As the priest screamed in pain, Helix held onto his arm and spoke.
“A man who knows no remorse.”
“Helix!”
Relief flooded Lea’s face at his timely arrival.
While Helix restrained the priest, Janet ran over to Lea.
“Lady!”
“Janet, are you hurt? Are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine!”
Janet said, trembling.
But both the one asking and the one answering knew the truth.
She was only “relatively” fine.
After experiencing something like this twice at the hands of a single man, how could she truly be okay?
Lea pulled Janet’s trembling shoulders into an embrace.
Feeling the tremors spread through her own hands and arms, she glared at the priest restrained in Helix’s grip.
In a low voice, Lea said,
“You really are a demon.”
The anger in her voice made the priest flinch.
“At the very least, you were a demon to Janet and Luigi.”
“T-That’s because those witches—!”
“Still saying that?”
Lea let out a disbelieving laugh and reached out her hand.
“If that’s what you want so badly, I’ll act like a witch for you. Fireball!”
From her fingertips, a bright red flame burst forth.
Whoosh!
The fire ignited what little hair remained on the priest’s head.
“Aaaagh!”
As he screamed, Helix knocked him to the ground.
Splash!
He kicked the knife out of the priest’s hand, sending it tumbling into the stream.
Helix pushed the writhing priest away with his foot, increasing the distance from Lea, then cautiously approached backward.
Shielding Lea and Janet behind him, he said,
“From now on, until we reach the villa, I’ll stay behind you.”
Standing like a solid wall, Helix received a nod from Lea.
“Thank you. I was a bit startled…”
“Being startled and afraid is only natural.”
A hint of apology flickered in his gray eyes.
“I should have arrived sooner.”
“You had your own matters to attend to.”
“Your safety comes first, Lea.”
Helix said firmly.
“Now, rest easy.”
At his words, the trembling that had carried over from Janet gradually subsided.
Helix took Lea’s still-shaking hand and channeled mana into it.
Pling.
A familiar, refreshing surge of mana.
Helix’s body heat.
His careful touch.
The fear and anger that had spread through her stomach like flames slowly faded, like fire extinguished by a gentle drizzle.
Lea responded by gripping his hand tightly in return.
“…Yeah.”
Helix smiled.
“Then let’s go.”
As the three of them departed, the priest pleaded in a scream-like voice.
“Spare me! Put it out!”
“Why would I?”
Lea turned her back without hesitation.
“Helix, Janet. Let’s go.”
❀ ❀ ❀
“It’s h-hot! Please, gods, save me…!”
The priest writhed in agony, rolling across the ground.
The fire clinging to his head showed no sign of going out, no matter how much he rolled.
“Agh!”
Flailing like a madman as he moved toward the stream, he tripped and fell.
Thud.
A rough hand that had tripped him forced his head underwater.
“U-ugh!”
Bubbles rose to the surface as the priest struggled.
But the hand pressing his head down did not move at all.
“Gah!”
Only after the priest went limp did the man finally release him, letting the body drift into the stream before turning his head away from the riverbank.
He wanted to catch one last glimpse of Lea as she left.
“Lady Lea Piatt.”
He had never regretted his position as a spy for Count Trow as much as he did now.
Last night, when a witch hunt had broken out in the unfamiliar village square, she had bravely stepped forward.
For a moment, he had forgotten his own situation and nearly rushed out, clinging to her leg and begging to be taken in.
Her long platinum hair fluttering in the night breeze.
Her pale face standing out under the light.
With those lips, she had firmly told the girl:
“Become my maid.”
After taking the elixir, his heart—one he had thought long dead—had begun to beat again.
If that gaze were to turn to him and those red lips were to say the same words—
“Become my dog.”
Even the thought sent a thrill down his spine.
His lips moved slightly.
“…My lady.”
The man’s name was Karai.
He was a spy raised by Count Trow since childhood.
As a beggar orphan drifting through the streets, he had been taken by thugs and sold as material for human experimentation.
Children were gathered and forced to consume an elixir.
Among the many test subjects who drank it, he alone survived. Count Trow, who had led the experiment, had cherished him for a few days after he woke.
But that attention was brief.
Once it was determined he had no special abilities, the count immediately began treating him like a useless burden.
Having survived by drinking the elixir, he had been expected to be special—but when he wasn’t, he was scorned and often starved.
“Completely useless.”
“His face isn’t bad, though. He has a cute look that women like. Why not send him to noble ladies with that kind of taste? As a night attendant and a spy.”
But Karai had no talent for that either.
After surviving the elixir, he had become indifferent to everything, with no excitement in his heart.
Pretending to love someone, or pretending to obey—both were difficult performances for him.
“This is your last chance.”
Count Trow had said when sending him to infiltrate the Piatt ducal household.
It was simply because Lea was someone who had survived the elixir, and Karai—who had also survived it—was being given an opportunity.
But the count likely did not know how Karai truly viewed himself, nor what abilities he concealed.
Watching the direction where Lea had gone, Karai murmured as if dreaming,
“My lady.”
The word he had never expected to say felt strangely sweet.
Count Trow had always said:
Act like a dog if you’re a dog. Guard the house or perform tricks—prove your usefulness.
What a ridiculous statement.
Whether he lived as a dog or as a human, he had never cared about living or dying.
But if his master were someone who stepped forward before villagers with her back to the flames, someone who gestured for a man wielding a knife to come closer—
“Woof.”
Karai gave a small bark.
If it were such a master, he would gladly become her dog.
“Woof woof.”
His brown eyes curved.
If he obeyed everything she commanded and received her praise, how sweet would that feel?
How much more would his heart race?
With a grin, he followed after Lea’s group.
❀ ❀ ❀
Back at the villa, Lea made an excuse.
“I went out early thinking it might be more effective to train with Helix at dawn, but I ended up getting lost.”
At her words, Lord Biden and the head maid sighed.
“Please inform us before you go out…”
“I’ll be more careful.”
Lea felt a bit guilty, but it couldn’t be helped.
She couldn’t exactly say she went out to hunt monsters with fire magic.
“And this child you’ve brought?”
“We happened to meet by chance, and I liked her, so I plan to raise her as my personal maid. Janet, greet them.”
Janet bowed politely.
“My name is Janet.”
“Experience? A recommendation letter?”
“…I don’t have one.”
The head maid glanced cautiously at Lea, who said confidently,
“She has my recommendation.”
“…We will train her to be worthy of serving the lady.”
“Good. After her probation period, assign her to me directly. For now, her lodging will be the room next to mine…”
“No, my lady. I would like to share a room with the other maids. I need to learn from my seniors.”
At that, Lea glanced at the head maid’s expression and noticed she seemed pleased with Janet’s attitude.
‘Well, if the employer shows too much favoritism, she might get isolated.’
Lea nodded in understanding.
“Do as you see fit.”
Leaving Janet in the head maid’s care, Lea washed up and returned to her room.
On the table in the private sitting room sat a small, beautiful plate.
“What’s this?”
The plate was filled with unfamiliar purple fruits. Lea picked up a note placed beside it.
<These are Tigone fruits. They can upset your stomach if eaten too much, so have only two or three at a time.>
The elegant handwriting didn’t match the round, cute fruits.
Lea smiled without realizing it.
He must have brought these because she had been curious.
“He didn’t even mention it… When did he go and pick these?”
She had thought he only went to check the barrier and contamination, but it seemed he had brought back fruit as well.
Feeling a warm, fuzzy sensation, she stared at them for a while before picking one up and rolling it on her tongue.
“Ugh, it’s bitter.”
The first bite was strongly bitter, but as she held it, a subtle sweetness gradually emerged.
Summoning her courage, she bit down.
A surprisingly soft sweetness spread through her mouth.
“It’s like red ginseng. Just like the person who brought it.”
Thinking of Helix, Lea chewed the Tigone fruit.
He seemed rough and inflexible, but in reality he was firm yet fair, attentive, and beneficial to both body and mind—like a medicinal herb the more one got to know him.
‘And he’s incredibly handsome. Why is a man like that single?’
Maybe because he had been sealed away for so long?
She nodded, accepting the thought.
‘Like wild ginseng buried underground.’
She’s struck gold.
She, the ultimate “ginseng hunter,” had dug up someone like wild ginseng as her contractor.
Humming softly, Lea took out a sheet of paper.
‘Since I’m at it, I should handle the real ginseng field matter. I’ll contact the family to send a medicinal herb expert and an escort.’
She planned to see them herself and then send them to Luigi.
‘Wait a second.’
She paused mid-writing.
‘The herbal expert needs to come from the capital, but the escort can be dispatched directly from here, can’t they?’
