TSSAH 14

Chapter 14

It couldn’t be helped, even if it was crude and rough.

Right now, I had nothing—no well-laid information network, no skilled informants.

*’And Senior Jake seems like he might know something, too.’*

As if sensing my expectant gaze, Senior Jake crooked one finger, signaling me to come closer.

I quickly leaned my head toward him and pricked up my ears.

“Rookie.”

“Yes?”

“If you know, you get hurt.”

“…If I don’t know, then just forget it.”

I was an idiot for expecting anything.

“You always act like you know all the rumors floating around Knox.”

“This is all advice for your own good! Words that will become bone and flesh!”

Senior Jake raised his voice instead.

“This isn’t just any place—this is Knox! It may be a proper ducal house now, but until recently… Anyway, it’s a far more lethal place than you think.”

And I need to uncover that lethal place’s ‘darkest secret’ to survive.

“Ugh.”

When I let out a frustrated sigh, mistaking it for disappointment, the other seniors took my side.

“Don’t be so hard on him, Jake. The maknae’s bound to be curious!”

“Right. Let’s see, interesting rumors…”

“Wasn’t there that story from a while back? You know, around the time the former Duke passed away…”

“Why are you bringing up that business!”

The senior with the cigarette snapped at the close-cropped senior’s offhand remark.

*’Former Duke?’*

Killian Knox had definitely told me to uncover ‘Knox’s darkest secret.’

No matter what kind of monster he was, when it came to his own father, it would certainly qualify as ‘dark,’ wouldn’t it?

Not wanting to lose this thread I’d finally grasped, I jumped on it immediately.

“If it’s about the former Duke, shouldn’t I know about it too?”

I asked with a serious attitude that made it clear this wasn’t just idle curiosity, and the seniors’ smiling faces gradually faded.

“Hmm, well, I suppose you should know so you can be careful too.”

Eventually, the smoking senior scratched his head and began.

“It’s nothing much. You know that the former Duke passed away very suddenly, right?”

The death of Killian Knox’s father, Leonard Knox, was a shocking event that shook the entire continent.

He died in a mana train accident while on a routine territorial patrol.

Even then, the Knox ducal seat—which had made even the Emperor tremble—was suddenly left vacant without any preparation.

At the time, Killian Knox had just come of age at 18, and he had a younger brother, Elias, ten years his junior.

But the problem was that Killian and Elias had different mothers.

The first Duchess, who bore Killian, had died of illness when he was only three, and after his father remarried a few years later, Killian Knox and his stepmother had never gotten along.

“The rumor that the Duke was involved in his father’s death?”

“Shh, shh!”

Though he’d spoken in a low voice given the sensitive topic, the smoking senior put his finger to his lips and frantically scanned the surroundings.

But there was nothing outside the Knox castle walls in the middle of the night but darkness and trees.

“There’s only us here, though.”

“Don’t you know that in Knox, there are always ears listening? Anyway, the problem was what came next. Killian took over as acting Duke for several months, leading the ducal house in the interim. Isn’t that strange? A perfectly grown eldest son, yet he didn’t immediately inherit the title?”

“Usually, they try to minimize any vacancy.”

Especially in cases like the former Duke Knox’s sudden death.

Showing both externally and internally that the house remained strong was the top priority.

“At that time, the Duchess Reneta—the former Duchess—tried to make her own son Elias the next Duke by rallying the vassal houses to her side…”

“Ah, damn, so much talk! Why is this introduction so long!”

The close-cropped senior snapped irritably.

He seemed uncomfortable speaking at length about the Knox family’s secrets.

“To put it simply, after that, the still-young Elias also died, and people whispered that our Duke had killed not only his father but also his brother. But the rumor that the real culprit was actually Reneta spread thickly.”

“His own mother?”

“Yep. She was quite a unique woman in many ways. Though she was the lady of the house, she also meddled in various Knox businesses.”

Senior Jake, who had been silently listening to the close-cropped senior’s words, hastily added toward me.

“Anyway, since then, the name Reneta has become a kind of taboo, so Rookie, you watch your mouth too.”

“Come on, if it were something that happened recently, maybe. This is old news from ages ago.”

“Right, you’re a sharp one, so I’m sure you’ll handle yourself well.”

Senior Jake, who nagged me until the end as if keeping me in check, quickly changed the subject.

True to form as a drinker, the new topic was alcohol.

“Have you tried the new wine that came into Peter’s Tavern? Not too sweet, with a nice kick—absolutely killer!”

“No matter what, Uncle Yannick’s beer is the best!”

Both Peter’s and Uncle Yannick’s were names of small taverns inside the Knox fortress.

As they each mentioned their regular spots and argued with veins bulging in their necks, I even learned the names of the main dishes and the alcohols that paired well with them at each tavern.

I threw in appropriate interjections while organizing the seniors’ stories in my head.

Killian Knox killed his young half-brother and stepmother to clear the way, then inherited the ducal title.

That was the information I’d gathered during my time at Wickers, and it was the accepted version.

*’But internally, Knox people are saying something different.’*

When collecting information on noble houses, the starting point was always the employees—maids, coachmen, and the like.

The stories they’d seen and heard firsthand, though possibly exaggerated, were fairly accurate.

*’Worth investigating further.’*

This was the first mission that bastard Killian Knox had thrown at me, with my life as the stake.

I was determined to see that smug face of his—so certain I could never find out—twisted in defeat.

With that resolve, I threw a few more heavy logs onto the fire, which had shrunk in size.

*Thwack!*

“Ow, that burns! Rookie, watch what you’re doing?!”

The close-cropped senior, hit by sparks that flew up as the logs dropped onto the fire, snapped irritably.

Ah, my bad.

The thought of Killian Knox’s shameless face had made me unconsciously put too much force into my hand.

Fortunately, no one seemed to have noticed the handprints I’d left on the logs that had fallen into the fire.

I sheepishly bowed my head.

“Sorry, Senior.”

The night shift, which had felt like it would never end, finally finished as dawn broke.

Senior Hartmann stretched luxuriously.

“Ah, I’m dead. Worked so hard my whole body aches.”

Worked, my ass—you just played cards the whole time at the post.

As I grumbled inwardly, the seniors patted my shoulders one by one and took their leave.

“We’re heading out. Make sure to hand over properly when the day shift arrives.”

“Yes, go on in.”

Cleaning before the shift change was, of course, the maknae’s job.

After tidying the post the seniors had left in disarray and finishing the handover to the day shift, it was already fully morning.

“Rookie!”

“Rookie, we’re here!”

The ones calling my name cheerfully as they ran over were the maids who worked in the annex.

“Long time no see.”

“Rookie, have you been well?”

“I heard from my colleague that you were hospitalized!”

“There’s a rumor going around that you’re the hero who stopped yesterday’s commotion—is it true?”

In their maid uniforms, their chattering voices like chirping birds suited the clear morning well.

“The rumor’s already spread that far? It was me, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

As I said with an embarrassed face, they shook their heads so vigorously that their tied-up hair swayed.

“Rookie, you’re still so young! Just the fact that you gathered courage in such a scary situation is amazing!”

“But is it okay for you to be on night duty already?”

“Yep, I’m perfectly fine. A little tired, though.”

“When you’re tired, sweets are the best medicine!”

A small paper bag was thrust toward me, releasing a sweet and nutty aroma.

These were the people who, ever since I first joined Knox, would occasionally visit and gift me homemade desserts—truly grateful souls.

“As news of Rookie’s exploits spread, applications to join our Rusa-mo have been exploding… *mmph*!”

“Haha. She must have eaten too much sugar while making cookies at dawn—she’s talking nonsense.”

“These were just baked, so they’ll be delicious. Rookie, you eat all of them yourself!”

While the other two desperately covered the mouth of the one saying incomprehensible things, they pressed the bag into my hand and escorted their colleague away.

“Mmgh! Mmmgh!”

I waved back at the maid who was doing something presumably meant as a farewell even with her mouth covered, but among the fading footsteps, I heard one unusual sound.

*Clink, clink.*

It was coming from the blonde-haired maid on the far right.

“Hmm.”

I opened the bag and took a bite—indeed, freshly baked cookies were delicious.

“That gentleman really likes sweets, didn’t he?”

A piece of information I’d obtained long ago and tossed into a corner of my mind suddenly surfaced.

“I can use these as an excuse.”

I closed the paper bag, held it in one hand, and chewed on the remaining cookies as I headed toward the main building.