Chapter 14

There's a limit to how much this brat can treat people like fools.

I felt like I should burst out in anger, but I couldn't. Because I didn't see any malice from him.

If someone like me who is well-accustomed to malice can't sense it, then there is none.

He just flustered me enough to be close to malice.

'Please make me understand, you brat. You are the empire's young lion.'

There's no obligation like that to make me understand to the empire's young lion. But my mind forced it that way.

He stopped laughing and stared at me with a crooked smile.

"I've ruined my speech while wrestling with soldiers in the Tunbar Mountains, but it's strange to hear it from the noble young lady, so I must have gotten too excited."

What kind of pervert is this? Who, who tells you to get excited? I'll twist something for sure…

For a while, my inner self, which had been calm and peaceful, turned into a mud puddle due to the waves caused by Duke Rocard Caidel. The cloudy anger that had sunk to the bottom bubbled up.

In hindsight, the problem was me. I should have just held on once and dealt with it hypocritically. But strangely, it was hard with this man.

Duke Caidel said with a smile,

"People make you curious. What their identity is."

I said, putting strength in my stomach,

"If you need herbs, just say so. We only deal with high quality."

"Did the Count open a store for you?"

I asked what kind of foolish talk that was.

"If it's my store, I will do the delivery, right?"

"Hmm."

Duke Caidel made a slightly embarrassed expression and then said solemnly,

"But don't you have something to apologize for, Miss Roar?"

"...."

I slowly stepped back, but he took a big step forward and eliminated the distance.

"I've checked Miss Roar's running skills that day, but if you want, I'm willing to show you my running skills too. Miss Roar."

It's also annoying to call Miss Roar over and over again. Is Roar my name, or his name?

Anyway, the fact that the youngest knight of the empire warned me not to run away was clearly conveyed.

"I haven't had the chance to bring this up, but if this is such a coincidence, isn't it a chance given to me by the heavens?"

"At that time, I was…, I think it wasn't unreasonable to misunderstand...."

My voice, which reached my ears, was small, pathetic, and servile.

He opened his eyes wide and asked,

"So, Miss Roar is not guilty now?"

"No, that's not it...."

I didn't know why I was holding on like this.

But the guess wasn't difficult. The memory of that day. The terrible feeling of wandering the streets at night after giving up the academy exam. I didn't want to remember.

But that's my problem, and I owed an apology to Duke Caidel.

I spoke with strength in my throat,

"I'm sorry, Duke. I've treated you as a suspicious person and even after realizing it was a misunderstanding, I was wrong to run away without apologizing!"

I was sincerely acknowledging my mistake. But unlike my heart, my voice was shrill and squeaky. It sounded like cursing.

Duke Caidel seemed to feel the same way, and he was making a face as if he didn't know what expression to make.

I screamed,

"Really, really, I'm sorry!"

He answered with his eyes narrowed,

"I understand.... I accept the apology."

What's this feeling? Whether he couldn't bear to see me anymore and reluctantly accepted the apology, it was also unpleasant.

I had to leave quickly. This man was like a quagmire. A dark swamp, rippling with my mistakes and dark history.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion, Duke. I hope we don't meet again. For your sake as well."

"Where are you going?"

As I was about to turn around, my foot twisted, and I turned back awkwardly.

"What?"

"That herbalist, where is it?"

"...."

He leaned towards me, bending his waist slightly. So I could see his face well, and hear his rather coy voice up close.

"Should I track down the person? I'm good at that."

On the day of the academy entrance exam, images of knights surrounding his carriage suddenly came to mind. Even if only half of them were mobilized, it was no task to find me in the city.

After smoothly threatening me that way, he bowed his waist. As he bent and straightened, his posture seemed even more upright.

A damned noble brat.

I then realized the real reason why I couldn't apologize to him obediently.

Because he seemed like a noble. Because he was the first real noble I had met besides our Count.

A pure and perfect state that I could never reach.

I stared into his deep and mysterious colored eyes with my mouth open and then sighed.

"Will you keep it a secret?"

He looked down at me and smiled faintly.

"Do you think someone will come asking me where Lorisha Loar works at the herbalist's shop?"

"...."

As expected.

A damned kid.

"The herbalist's shop is at the end of Baloa Street! I hope I never see you again."

I spat out quickly and spun my body fast enough that the basket almost floated due to centrifugal force.

"...!"

I suddenly stopped as if I had broken down.

As I gasped for rough breath, my shoulders twitched. Then the basket bounced up and down with them.

I was too embarrassed to speak. It felt like death.

But I had to go back today after receiving my first payment for the deal I had made.

I turned my body back towards him and shouted.

"Hey! Please take me to the waiting room for the third Imperial Palace guests!"

Duke Rocard, who was about to enter the building, returned to me and smiled like a naughty child.

How loathsome his suppressed grin was!

He bowed his upper body towards me and whispered into my ear.

"You owe me, Miss Loar."

And then he strode past me, taking the lead. As he passed me, he didn't forget to snatch the basket from my arm.

He looked surprised that the basket was unexpectedly light, lifting it to check the weight and then went on cheerfully.

I twisted the side of my skirt all the way.

'Oh, oh, oh!'

(This is a time delimiter.)

Misha went home for the first time last weekend. It was over a month since she had entered the academy.

The Countess prepared various dishes and changed the house's decorations to welcome her proud academy student daughter. The mansion was in a festive mood.

As everyone waited, the carriage arrived, and Misha stepped out in her academy uniform. The Countess cried tears of joy at the sight.

...The academy uniform looked splendid to me, too.

In contrast, the Count seemed no different than usual, and even appeared a bit subdued. It was a subtle thing only I felt.

It didn't seem like it was because she had been away for so long, and I wondered if there was a rule that one couldn't wear the uniform outside the academy, but I couldn't be sure.

I also realized that it had been quite some time since I had taken comfort in teasing Misha and feeling irritated at the sight of her. Misha did not stop talking from the moment she got out of the carriage until dinner.

The academy this, the academy that. She seemed to assert that even the dust floating in the air at the Imperial Academy was made of gold.

According to her, unicorns and dragons should live in the Imperial Academy.

But the Countess, excited to see her after a long time, responded to every word with agreement.

I was now somewhat settled in my life path, so Misha's endless boasting was not unbearable.

If it were Misha, she would say that taking over Loar's castle and being an herbalist was some vulgar act.

I was so bored with Misha's bragging that I imagined unicorns running around the dining table in front of me. The Count quietly ate his meal.

Only when Misha stopped her chatter for a brief moment to take a breath did the Countess speak.

"But isn't the food quality at the academy poor? Your skin seems to have gotten rough."

"I'm tired from studying."

I snorted. My very, very soft laugh was heard only by the Count next to me. I sneaked a glance and buried my nose in my plate.

On the other hand, the countess's eyes became as big as lanterns, and she stood up with a napkin. Then she went out, dabbing her tears with the napkin.

The news that Misha Roar was studying was enough to make one person cry.

Then the count asked in a calm voice,

"Is the studying going well?"

"Fair enough. I'm working hard. Father, can you get me a home tutor? Someone who can come home on weekends."

The count looked at Misha with a subtle expression and did not answer right away.

"I think it will help with the grades. The academy is… everyone is working so hard, so I think I need to put in more effort to keep up."

"Very well."

Only then could I see the count's expression brightening a little.

Even a centipede has the skill to roll, and Misha Roar is studying.

And he wants to get ahead? It's something I've seen for the first time in a long life.

Hmm, isn't this an example?

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This novel has been translated up to chapter 100.

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