Chapter 9.

Was She Always This Kind of Person?

 “What kind of beggar are you to sneak all the way into the kitchen to steal food, huh?”

As Hemos approached threateningly with a knife in hand, Essika extended her hand.

Hemos’s brow furrowed when Essika caught the blade between her straightened index and middle fingers.

Thinking she was making fun of him, Hemos became furious.

“You little rat, what do you think you’re—!”

He tried to pull the blade from Essika’s fingers, but the knife did not budge.

It felt as though it had been wedged between two enormous boulders.

Hemos’s eyebrows twitched.

He tried again, putting even more strength into it.

“…Huh?”

Yet the blade remained completely motionless, despite being held by the delicate hand of a maid.

He would never know that Essika could accomplish this by merely infusing a small amount of internal energy into her fingers.

“L-Let go of this!”

“You’re making quite a frivolous spectacle for someone who merely waved around such an ugly weapon.”

A cold voice emerged from between the maid’s beautiful lips.

“How dare a mere maid!”

Essika stared at the bald chef struggling to free the knife from her hand and applied slightly more force.

Crack!

The kitchen knife split cleanly in half.

“……”

Hemos stared at the pieces of the knife falling to the floor.

His eyes widened, and he took several steps backward.

Shock and fear began filling his expression.

“Y-You… Who are you?!”

Even when she had calmly caught the blade between two fingers, something had clearly been strange.

But after witnessing this, it was obvious that she was no ordinary maid.

“Who are you, and why have you come after me? Were you sent by Herald to assassinate me? I-I’ll just need a little more time to pay off my gambling debts…”

Essika narrowed her eyes.

Hemos had clearly mistaken her for an assassin sent to collect money from him.

Everyone had weaknesses, and Essika was accustomed to seeing straight through other people’s weaknesses.

Hemos’s weakness was money.

And it was one of the easiest weaknesses to control.

“I am Essika Klaus. Is a person who works in the kitchen of the ducal residence really incapable of recognizing my face?”

When Essika uttered the surname Klaus, Hemos flinched.

After staring at her for quite some time, Hemos belatedly frowned and asked,

“Don’t tell me… You’re the Duchess?”

Essika raised her chin slightly and nodded.

Because of her commanding and dangerous aura, he had never imagined that she could be the Duchess.

But if she truly was the Duchess, then things were different.

Hemos ran a hand over the few strands of hair remaining on his head before speaking to Essika with a thoroughly troubled expression.

“Why have you come here, Madam? And why are you even wearing a maid’s uniform?”

Naturally, Hemos looked down on the powerless Duchess.

There wasn’t a single servant in the ducal residence who did not mistreat the Duchess.

If anyone tried to treat her kindly and caught the attention of the Head Lady’s maids, they would obviously be beaten.

“I came because I need your help.”

At the word help, Hemos snorted.

He had absolutely no intention of helping a Duchess who was weaker than a scarecrow.

“Don’t say such ridiculous things and return to your room immediately. If the Head Lady finds out that you’re wandering around, you’ll be severely punished again. And I’m very busy.”

How on earth did she perform that technique just now?

As Hemos grumbled and bent down to pick up the broken knife, Essika took a couple of steps toward him.

“Then…”

Something glittering suddenly cascaded onto the floor in front of Hemos.

There were more than ten precious pearls that Essika had previously received from Sella.

“How about these? Surely you’re not so busy that you don’t have time to pick them up.”

Essika spoke to Hemos, whose expression had changed considerably as he looked up at her.

“I need your kitchen, and I need your help.”

“…Well… if that’s the case, I suppose I have no choice…”

Hemos reached toward the fallen pearls, cautiously watching Essika.

I can just ignore the foolish nonsense of a sheltered Duchess who knows nothing and take the pearls…

“Aaaah!”

But the hand he stretched toward the pearls was immediately stepped on by Essika’s foot.

“What…!”

Essika bent forward and met Hemos’s distorted gaze.

The moment he looked into Essika’s cold eyes, his heart seemed to drop into his stomach.

When she had caught the knife with two fingers earlier, he had brushed it off as some sort of trick.

But the Duchess standing before him now…

“Hemos.”

There was unmistakable killing intent in her eyes, while her lips naturally curved into a smile.

It was not an expression she had merely made once or twice.

It was not something that could be imitated.

When Hemos had once followed the Head Lady around, he had occasionally seen women make expressions like this, and they had always sent chills down his spine.

But what was staring back at him now was an even deeper abyss.

“It wouldn’t be difficult for me to register these pearls as stolen goods.”

“…Yes…? What do you mean by that…?”

“You’ve already sold three of my pearls to pay your gambling debts, haven’t you? They were among the higher-quality pearls from the Brigitte family. And each one has a very small number engraved on it…”

Cold sweat ran down Hemos’s back.

“Which means we can trace who sold the items.”

At those words, a chill ran even deeper down Hemos’s spine.

“Madam… Why are you doing this to me? You gave them to me as a gift, so why…”

“They weren’t gifts. They were currency entrusted to you in exchange for something. But you failed to meet my expectations.”

Hemos felt a sharp, almost unbearable pain in his hand.

Payment.

Sella had given him the recipe, and he had simply prepared something carelessly and served it for breakfast.

After all, Sella wasn’t a maid with any powerful backing. She was merely the maid serving the Duchess, so even if she complained, he could simply ignore her.

“I didn’t want the garbage you made by eyeballing the ingredients. I wanted food prepared with precise measurements and proper proportions, producing the appropriate medicinal effects.”

“M-Madam…”

“So you’ve already effectively stolen my pearls. And furthermore…”

Essika pressed her foot down harder on Hemos’s hand.

“You’re still greedy enough to covet an aristocrat’s treasure right now. That is a serious crime worthy of having both your wrists cut off.”

Cold sweat continued to trickle down Hemos’s back.

Stealing from a noble was punishable by the brutal penalty of having one’s wrists severed.

Previously, he would have relied on the Head Lady’s authority and denied everything.

But the Head Lady had changed her attitude and no longer even bothered dealing with him.

Was the Duchess… always this kind of person?

The Duchess he had glimpsed before had been an innocent woman who seemed completely out of place in House Klaus.

Yet the thick killing intent emanating from the woman currently standing on his hand was enough to make him question his own memories.

“I-I apologize. But what exactly is it that you want from me that made you come all the way to the kitchen…?”

In the end, he asked Essika directly.

Essika moved her lips with an arrogant gaze.

“I am not afraid of the Head Lady.”

“…Th-That’s impossible.”

“Whether it’s possible or not is something we will have to determine by testing our strength against each other. In any case, if you offer me your sincere loyalty…”

Essika lifted her foot from his hand.

Hemos immediately clutched his numb hand with the other.

Contrary to the painful sensation, Essika’s voice was as sweet as rolling jade beads—and equally dangerous.

“You will surely gain more than you lose.”

The pearls rolled around on the floor where she had removed her foot.

There was no great skill required to pick up what had been thrown away.

“But if you choose nothing at all, cutting off the wrists of a chef who has severed his own ties is hardly difficult for me.”

The corners of her lips lifted slightly in a cruel smile.

**

“Keep a close watch on whether Essika is receiving proper meals.”

Leona was on the balcony, having a maid trim her fingernails.

At her words, another maid bowed her head.

“Yes, Head Lady.”

According to the maids, Essika’s complexion had been steadily improving.

How could her complexion possibly be getting better when she was supposed to be living on nothing but rotten bread?

It would be impossible unless someone pitied her and was secretly helping her.

If there was anyone in the residence who dared defy her orders, Leona had no intention of letting them off easily.

Once the maid received her orders and left, Leona gave another maid a command.

“Annie.”

“Yes, Head Lady. What is it?”

“Tell the musician to play something.”

Leona’s delicate brows were furrowed.

“I’ve just remembered a face I don’t want to see…”

“I need to soothe my mood with music.”

The maid immediately bowed her head.

“Understood, Head Lady.”

The maid went outside once more.

She was going to summon the musician Leona had hired at great expense a short while ago.

Soon, a melodious performance began drifting up from below the balcony.

Leona closed her eyes and listened to the music.

The beautiful melody seemed to blow warm steam over her irritated mood, which had been ruined by the face of that vulgar merchant family’s daughter who had wormed her way into the ducal residence.

“Have some dresses prepared. I need to choose something suitable for tea tomorrow.”

“Yes, Head Lady.”

The maid trimming her nails answered.

**

Lesvan’s gaze rested upon a white butterfly in the garden.

Ripples rising from the lake.

Wavering eyes.

Hair gently swaying in the breeze.

And…

A dream that had continued for an extraordinarily long time.

From the day he first met her during his painful childhood, he had wandered for a long time searching for the back of the woman who appeared in his dreams.

At some point, he no longer even knew whether she truly existed in this world or not.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

The adjutant he had ordered to conduct an investigation delivered his report.

“We have completed our investigation into Essika Klaus, Duchess of Klaus.”