Chapter 22
“Thank you.”
For some reason, I felt like things were going smoothly, so I smiled brightly. I had just turned around when the shop owner suddenly called out.
“Are you perhaps someone from the Duke’s side?”
“Yes. I work there as a mercenary.”
The flower shop owner looked surprised, then hurriedly put several dried flowers into a small sack and handed it to me.
“It’s not much, but please accept it. And if you can tell the Duke, please let him know about this situation. We can’t endure it anymore.”
I understood her words completely. I had experienced similar injustice before in the Kingdom of Lukru. Back then, I had solved it with the sword skills my mother taught me since I was young.
“Leave it to me. I’ll make sure something is done.”
If I couldn’t solve it on my own, I planned to tell Calyx. If the royal family was acting so unjustly in his territory, Calyx definitely wouldn’t stay quiet.
I walked forward with long strides.
After passing through the market street, rows of well-built mansions appeared. It seemed to be an area where fairly wealthy people lived. Among them, one mansion stood out the most. It was so much larger and more extravagant than the others that it was impossible not to notice.
Above all, it was vulgar.
Gold-plated statues were placed everywhere without order, and fountains were bursting up in cramped spaces, as if someone had heard they symbolized wealth and decided to cram them in.
‘Just looking at the garden tells me what kind of person lives here.’
A nouveau riche, no doubt. Someone who decorated a garden so tastelessly couldn’t be anything else.
Back when I guarded nobles in Rollend, I had seen many townhouses. They had been educated from birth, so their gardens were never excessive and always carried a refined elegance.
As I was absentmindedly scanning the garden, loud voices rang out behind me.
“Hey, I’m telling you, she’s dead.”
“No, I’m saying she’s not!”
The voices were fairly loud. When I turned around, I saw two people standing in front of a wooden board nearby. They were pointing at a child’s drawing and arguing.
“If she hasn’t shown up for twenty-five years, she’s dead. Her portrait is posted all over the kingdom—how could she not know?”
“She left this place when she was one year old. She might not know. I think she’s living without even knowing she’s a princess.”
“No way. The princess already died while fleeing with a knight!”
“How do you know that? I heard only the nanny’s body was found.”
“Then could a child survive that blizzard? If she hasn’t been found by now, she’s dead.”
I looked at the drawing of the child. A small mole under the right eye stood out.
‘It’s similar to the one on my face.’
Calyx and that old man had both said the same thing. That the mole was in the same place as the princess’s.
“And with royal blood, there’s no way she wouldn’t notice her abilities. Do you really think she’d live thinking she’s normal? There’s no news because she’s dead.”
“She could live without knowing if she never got sick. Do you think it’s easy to meet someone like the Duke of Demerut?”
At that moment, they stopped talking and glanced around. Our eyes met. One of them cleared his throat and quickly looked away.
I stepped toward them. I needed to ask about Drop anyway.
They flinched slightly, then spoke after seeing my cloak.
“What brings someone from Duke Demerut’s side here?”
They already knew I was Calyx’s man. Even in the southern market, wearing this cloak had earned me good treatment.
I spoke naturally.
“I’m here on the Duke’s orders.”
He hadn’t actually ordered me, but this was his territory. And I also had the flower shop owner’s request.
“That way of speaking sounds familiar. Are you from Rollend?”
“Yes.”
One man’s face brightened.
“I’m from Rollend too. I lived there as a child before moving here. It’s nice to see someone from there.”
Then a cough was heard. It was one of the men who had been arguing earlier. He looked quite old, but his clothes were fine, giving him an air of status.
“At least it’s fortunate you’re the Duke’s man. Otherwise, the owner here has a nasty temper. If you linger around, the guards would come right away.”
I was speechless.
“That’s right. Drop hates people loitering around here. The only people he likes are those bringing money or the Royal Knights.”
“Yeah, he bows deeply to that knight commander.”
As they exchanged words, I slipped naturally into the conversation.
“By the way, can I meet this person named Drop? I need to see him for the Duke’s business.”
The younger man checked the timepiece and said,
“We’ve already been waiting an hour, so he should arrive soon. That’s why we’re waiting too.”
He lifted the sack he was holding.
“We have to pay the congratulatory fee for today’s festival.”
Now that I looked, the older man was also holding a sack. It was absurd, so I asked,
“You even have to pay a fee to celebrate a festival?”
“It didn’t exist before, but it was introduced recently. It’s unfair, but if we don’t pay, we’ll be kicked out of the market immediately.”
The older man nodded. The man beside him continued.
“If we were only searching for the princess, we wouldn’t be waiting here to pay money. We would’ve left for Rollend already.”
Ahem. The older man coughed.
“You still think the princess isn’t dead?”
“She just hasn’t been found yet. No body was discovered.”
The older man shook his head, looking fed up.
The princess. If someone found her, they would receive five billion, gain unlimited access to the royal palace, and even join the Royal Knights if they wished. Money and honor, all at once.
Then the older man gestured to me.
“Hey, let me ask you something. Do you believe the princess is still alive?”
Calyx’s actions, his reactions, his words—you—came to mind.
But I couldn’t accept it. Even if Calyx had recovered, did that really mean I was royalty?
I might have just had a bit of magic by coincidence.
“I don’t know.”
“See? Even this man doesn’t know. So the princess is—”
“But I don’t think she’s dead.”
For some reason, the child in the drawing felt too pitiful to think of as dead. I used to think she was, but now I felt differently.
Hearing that the nanny died, and even the knight with her—it made it feel worse.
Silence fell for a moment. Then the younger man spoke kindly.
“Anyway, would you like to wait with us? Drop should arrive soon.”
The older man cut in.
“But you probably won’t be able to meet him. These days, he doesn’t meet strangers. He just takes the money.”
“Then can’t you just leave the money at the mansion and go?”
I didn’t understand why they had to wait like this.
“Drop is peculiar. When he takes money, he checks the person’s face and counts it himself before sending them away.”
“So you have to wait until he finishes counting?”
“Yes.”
Unbelievable. Making people wait like this.
“Well, since you’re wearing the Duke’s cloak, Drop might treat you as a guest.”
“He’s scared of Duke Demerut, after all.”
“He’s scared of the Duke?”
“That’s why he never touches the southern market. Not even the Duke’s people.”
Calyx’s power was certainly convenient in that regard. I organized my thoughts. To see if Drop was the scammer, I planned to ask whether he had once run a leather shop and supplied goods to the royal family.
If his answers matched, I would grab his throat immediately—for scamming me, and even scamming Calyx.
My grip tightened on the sword. Normally, I didn’t hold a sword like this just thinking about someone.
‘This is all because of that damned scammer.’
A rough curse bubbled up inside me.
“Sir mercenary?”
It was a cautious voice. I flinched and looked up. The younger man stepped back slightly and asked,
“Why are you gripping your sword like that?”
“Oh. I suddenly remembered a case I need to deal with. Someone threw an enormous pile of filth at me.”
At that moment, the sound of a carriage approaching roughly filled the air. Dust flew everywhere. They shouted,
“He’s here.”
They ran toward where the carriage was headed.
The carriage’s smooth surface made it look expensive at a glance.
It stopped in front of the lavish mansion. The door opened, and a short man stepped out. His clothes were excessively flashy and cumbersome—just like the garden.
It had to be Drop.
Then Drop casually lifted his head. Even though he was far away, our eyes met. He froze for a moment, then quickly slipped into the mansion.
‘What was that?’
With a strange feeling, I walked quickly toward the mansion gate. A gatekeeper blocked my way. The two men I had spoken with earlier were heading toward the garden.
“What is your business?”
I thought of the cloak on my back and spoke.
“I’m here on Duke Demerut’s orders.”
I deliberately showed the cloak. Their faces stiffened for a moment, then they opened the gate.
“You were supposed to make an appointment. But since it’s the Duke’s business, we’ll let you in.”
“The Duke gave the order urgently.”
I smiled lightly and stepped into the garden.
“On Duke Demerut’s orders.”
