~Chapter 8~
“Hey, you know Dorothy? Turns out she was a spy for the Pose Duchy.”
“What? Dorothy, the one I know? The Dorothy who didn’t lend adult novels and read them all by herself?”
“Yeah. She was a spy.”
“No way. I never would’ve expected that.”
“Right? The war just ended not too long ago, and now a spy….”
Things were unfolding exactly as I had anticipated.
The moment Dorothy’s maid uniform with the report written on it was discovered, the Crost Duchy went into an uproar.
‘Now, when Calypse visits the Doktia Kingdom, he can bring along his escort knights, right?’
It was only natural.
Even discovering a spy could be a serious enough issue to restart a war. So, the one who would be pleading and crawling for mercy had now become the Duke of Pose.
‘I bet even if Calypse brought along a hundred knights, the Duke wouldn’t be able to say a word.’
Hmph. Tempting.
Boing—
I lay on the bed and raised my victorious big toe.
Everything went so smoothly. If Calypse only brought the duchess along, maybe we could escape from the Duke of Pose?
“Until then… I guess I’ll just take a nap…”
KA-BOOM!
“Aisha, His Excellency orders you to come to the office.”
“…Huh?”
I was about to take a nap…
My one leg raised in the air froze mid-motion.
Following the knight out the door—
A scream pierced my ears from not far away.
“If you’re taking me, take that little Aisha too! She’s a spy too!”
It was Dorothy.
She was being dragged by two knights, but she was so strong she barely resisted in the hallway, kicking up a commotion.
“She says Aisha’s a spy too!? Why are you only taking me!”
Her eyes were bloodshot and completely unhinged.
Normally, she would have been preparing to leave the Crost Duchy by now. The sudden reality of being taken to prison by knights was unbelievable to her.
“Oh, Aisha?”
At that moment, Dorothy’s face lit up slightly upon seeing me.
“You’re coming too, right? Right?”
Could it be… she noticed me too?
I looked up at the knights with some tension, but they pretended not to hear.
“Knights, take that woman away quickly.”
Instead, one of the maids muttered with a troubled expression.
“Lessa. Trust me and dunk the little girl’s clothes in ice water, okay? We were close, after all.”
Recognizing the face, Dorothy suddenly lowered her eyebrows in a mournful expression, pleading in a pitiful tone.
Since things weren’t going as planned, she seemed to be trying to act politely.
“Really. It’s awkward to tell you this, but… until yesterday, the two of us were plotting together. A spy plotting meeting. So, you have to reveal that girl’s a spy too, right?”
Unfortunately for her, the maid Lessa didn’t even pretend to listen.
“Just take her away quickly. I’m ashamed even to be in the same space as her.”
“……”
“No, I’ll just leave.”
Lessa seemed so unwilling to even be near Dorothy that she quickly left the hallway.
‘Wow. That’s the end of a failed spy.’
Regardless of a spy’s intentions, they build connections while carrying out missions. Naturally, when people find out someone is a spy, all the blame and scorn falls entirely on them.
“…Is being a spy always this pathetic?”
The surrounding servants muttered at Dorothy’s misbehavior.
“Exactly. And now she’s even holding on to a little kid…”
“That girl even helped the duchess find her whereabouts. And yet, she’s being called a spy?”
“But how did that girl know? That’s a bit suspicious.”
I nearly flinched at those words but then felt relief at what came next.
“No way, no way. The Pose Duchy wouldn’t send a five-year-old as a spy, right?”
Apparently not.
Feeling their gazes piercing through me, I slightly hid behind the knight’s back.
Still, one thing became clear—the Duke of Pose’s intuition had been correct. A suspicion that a five-year-old child was a spy would fade easily.
“Ignore the nonsense from that woman. Let’s go.”
Even the knight ignored Dorothy, speaking kindly to me.
It seemed the concern was not about the spy suspicion; the Duke really just called me.
Finally relieved, I answered confidently.
“Yes, sir.”
As I followed the knight, brushing past Dorothy, she shouted again.
“You! How long do you think you can hide your identity?!”
The previously quiet Dorothy was yelling once more.
“If you stick to this side or that side like a bat, no one will recognize you and you’ll be abandoned! Decide your course and act!”
“……”
“And you discovered it while doing my laundry, right?! That was on purpose!”
‘…I discovered it?’
Among her insults, there was a remark I couldn’t ignore.
I paused for half a second but continued walking without showing it.
Something felt off.
It was true that my actions revealed Dorothy’s identity. But I never directly showed her report to anyone, nor did I verbally reveal Dorothy’s identity myself.
“……”
That meant someone I didn’t know must have seen what I did.
“Your Excellency. I’ve brought Aisha.”
My mind was in chaos, fists clenched tight.
With a polite knock, the knight spoke, and a low voice answered from the other side of the door.
“Come in.”
I opened the door and entered. There stood Duke Calypse, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Leave the little one here and wait outside.”
“Yes, I’ll wait.”
The knight gave me a silent nod with his eyes and quietly closed the door like a shadow.
When I gathered my senses, the only ones left in the office were Duke Calypse and me.
Okay, calm down, Aisha.
Come to think of it, why did the Duke call me here at this point?
“…Your Excellency.”
I greeted casually, trying to act normal, but my voice nearly split into three from nervousness.
The air surrounding me felt heavy like lead pressing on my shoulders.
I didn’t know why, but somewhere in my heart, a signal went off telling me something was wrong.
As always, I stared at the masked Duke Calypse.
His long, straight fingers tapped rhythmically on the fine oak desk.
A private audience. No escort knights, not even his aide Knox—just the two of us.
His single visible eye locked on me, and tension filled the room.
After what felt like an eternity of this peculiar stare-down, I blinked once.
“!”
A black mask suddenly appeared in my view.
“……”
I flinched at the sudden appearance.
Just one blink, and Duke Calypse had moved in front of me, knee bent, locking eyes with me.
‘When… how…?’
But the question I wanted to ask—
“How?”
Came out of his mouth first.
“How can you stay so calm?”
With that meaningless question.
“An ordinary child would have fainted or burst into tears by now. Even an adult wouldn’t easily meet my gaze.”
And he said it so calmly.
“……”
His blood-red eye shone brightly from behind the black mask, scrutinizing me.
After what felt like ages of looking right through me, he explained the meaning behind his words.
“It means, I’m emitting that much killing intent toward a little child like you.”
We were close enough to feel each other’s breath.
He bent down to meet my gaze, yet his presence was so massive it felt like he could devour me.
His elbows rested on his knees, a crouching predator posture.
“You’re not scared at all, huh.”
A trace of a smile touched his low voice.
I finally managed to answer with my trembling voice.
“I’m scared.”
“So you’re pretending not to be scared even though you are.”
“Yes.”
“Good. That’s what you learned, right? From the Pose Duchy.”
“!”
But the calmness in his words made my pupils shake violently.
‘He already knew everything?’
I couldn’t believe it. I thought no one would ever know.
Duke Calypse couldn’t possibly have any evidence proving I was a spy.
Of course, he could have noticed I was smarter than an ordinary five-year-old, but other than that… what had I shown him?
“Ho… how…?”
My voice trembled.
In front of his sharp gaze, my emotions I had hidden behind the mask were exposed.
“…Now you’re acting like an ordinary five-year-old.”
Duke Calypse murmured softly, observing my frightened state.
Why?
I didn’t know, but he seemed a little relieved that I was acting like a normal five-year-old.
But I was too busy panicking over the fact that my identity had been discovered.
“Y-You’re going to kill me?”
I asked fearfully, my fingers spreading out like spider webs.
“……?”
His cold eyes twisted for the first time.
“Where did a child learn to say something like that?”
“U-Um… from the Pose Duchy.”
“Enough about that cursed, no—the family. Now answer my questions.”
“Yes.”
I straightened up, standing rigidly.
My wobbly legs barely kept me upright.
“How many young spies like you are in the family?”
“I was the first to be assigned a spy mission at five…”
Then—
“Haah—.”
Before I could finish, the Duke suddenly sighed.
What, did I do something wrong? Focus, Aisha!
“!”
I planted my trembling legs firmly, but the Duke, seemingly displeased again, suddenly grabbed my underarm.
I squeezed my eyes shut in tension, feeling myself being moved. My bottom soon touched a soft sofa.
‘This touch… I’ve felt it before.’
‘Children who don’t know gratitude can’t enter the garden. Get out, quickly.’
“…The gardener?”
The Duke and I both widened our eyes.
“…Huh.”
I instinctively blurted it out and quickly covered my mouth, but the water had already spilled.
