Chapter 4.2

I was so thrilled by the cheerful clatter of the typewriter keys under my fingers for the first time in a while that I sped up. The feeling of pressing the heavy keys was quite pleasant.

Since I was typing mechanically, I didn’t know the exact contents, but it seemed to be a contract to open a sea route to a big merchant in the northern part of the Quinze-Nouais Empire.

After about two hours of work, a third of the work was done.

‘If I keep this up, I should be done by tomorrow morning.’

Just as I was putting the next sheet of paper into the typewriter with a proud smile, the door burst open, and two men came into view at once.

For a moment, I was so startled that I took my hands off the typewriter and stepped back. A chair fell over with a crash behind me, but as soon as I regained my balance, I grabbed whatever I could get my hands on.

“You… who are you? Are you a ghost or a person?”

“Huh?”

I slowly looked at them in the light and saw the faces of the two men. One of them was someone I knew, and the other was a complete stranger.

And the familiar one spoke to me first.

“Oh, Lady Taylor.”

“Huh? Chamberlain?”

He knew me. It was because I would sometimes visit with Sally when the laundry was too heavy for her to carry by herself. Sometimes, when there was a lot of laundry at once, the chamberlain would come out to the back door himself and assign a person in charge.

The Chamberlain was also a nobleman, but in this culture, even nobles who had no money worked without hesitation. This was also one of the reasons why Quinze-Nouais looked down on the Eastern Continentals as barbarians without a foundation.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh… well.”

But before I could finish my sentence, the man standing next to him walked up to me with a nervous look.

“Lady Taylor? Who on earth are you and why are you in my house? And what are you doing with my things?”

From the words “my house,” I realized he was the owner of this Duke’s mansion.

“Oh, Your Grace. My apologies for the late greeting. I am the maid named Sally’s…”

“And what’s with that outfit?”

He interrupted me again and snatched the paper from my hand.

“What?”

‘What is this? Is this a parody of a novel? I feel like I’ve heard that before…’

I looked down at my clothes. I was wearing a dress I wore at home and a simple shawl, so it probably didn’t look very good.

“Your Grace, she may look like that, but she is a noble lady. Watch your words.”

The chamberlain even added to it.

According to Sally, Duke Kabyl was very particular about the way his maids and servants dressed.

The Duke looked me up and down. And a scene from the past flashed in my mind.

The day I went in to greet Han Hyuntaek.

<What’s with that outfit? This is a company. Did you come to play?>

And he looked me up and down.

I gritted my teeth. The epitome of a nagging boss. That was my first impression of the Duke. And to deal with such a person, you should never take a submissive stance.

I straightened my back and looked at him.

“Your Grace, I am the owner of the maid named Sally, who ruined these documents.”

“So what!”

“No, don’t interrupt me. I am here to make up for my maid’s mistake. I apologize for using the typewriter without permission, but the situation was urgent, and it was late, so I couldn’t ask for permission in advance. I ask for your understanding.”

I spoke without a break so that the Duke couldn’t interrupt me.

“You mean… that maid named Sally who ruined my contract?”

“That’s right.”

The butler, Gary, answered the Duke’s question for him. The Duke was silent for a moment as if he was thinking, and I quickly added.

“And please apologize for speaking informally to me.”

“…”

“I am not your employee, Duke. So you should not speak informally to me.”

Of course, it was true that I was doing his laundry, but he didn’t know that, and unless one was an employer, it was a principle among nobles not to speak informally to each other. Still, he didn’t apologize.

It was a clear battle of wits. He walked up to me without a word. And he snatched the contract I was in the middle of writing.

Unlike the one written by hand, it was very neat.

“How can you operate this thing?”

I didn’t answer. He then raised one of his eyebrows at me.

“If you want an answer, apologize for speaking informally first.”

The Duke did not hide his displeasure at my words, but his displeasure did not outweigh his curiosity. After a moment of moving his lips, he straightened his posture with a polite attitude.

“…I apologize. I was rude to you for wearing clothes you would wear at home in my separate building in the middle of the night.”

He was just like Han Hyuntaek. He was a nagging boss, but not a hopeless one.

“Yes, then I’ll accept your apology.”

“Then, please tell me how to operate this machine.”

“First, please tell me where you got this thing, and then I will answer you.”

“Hmm… It was a gift from a merchant from Quinze-Nouais.”

I felt relieved knowing it was from a merchant from Quinze-Nouais.

“I also only learned it from an acquaintance in Quinze-Nouais.”

He looked at me slowly as if to dig me up. When I saw him up close, his dark circles were immense, and his eye sockets were deeply sunken. But his bluish-green eyes shone clearly, giving a hint of his age.

“You learned it from an acquaintance in Quinze-Nouais… Are you a person from Quinze-Nouais?”

“…No.”

Even with my answer, the Duke did not stop his suspicious gaze, but even if he were to find out about me, he wouldn’t be able to find anything.

“Then, please continue typing.”

“Are you going to stay here?”

He moved to the sofa in the room without an answer.

I didn’t argue with his actions anymore and sat down to start my work again.

The Duke kept watching me as if he was studying me.

Clack, tat-tat-clack, tat-tat-clack.

The rhythmic sound I made with my hands was a strange comfort, as if there had never been any commotion.

“It’s like magic.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

The butler, Gary, was also looking at me with wide eyes for a long time.

But I was soon able to concentrate on my work. As a secretary, I had to do a lot of work in front of my boss, so the atmosphere was quite familiar to me.

Just as I finished the second chapter of the contract, I saw Gary yawning.

“Chamberlain, if you’re not here to watch me, why don’t you go and get some rest?”

Gary’s eyes lit up at my words. The Duke glanced at him and frowned slightly.

As if the rumors of his insomnia were true, Duke Kabyl did not look like he was going to sleep at all.

I looked at him again. The Duke reluctantly nodded to Gary.

“Sleep in the next room. So I can call you at any time.”

“Yes, yes. Is there any question about that? Thank you, Lady Taylor.”

The butler, Gary, smiled at me and left the room. And I focused on my work again. How many hours had passed? When the work was almost finished, I stretched my body and yawned, and I saw the Duke sleeping soundly on the sofa.

‘Didn’t they say the Duke has severe insomnia?’

I put the last sheet of paper into the typewriter, and as soon as I typed the last letter, I pulled the typewriter from right to left. Then, I pulled out the last page of the contract.

‘Should I wake him up?’

Looking at the Duke sleeping with a peaceful expression on his face, I felt a little guilty about waking him up. His sharp-looking face had softened.

But I couldn’t do that. If I just left the contract and disappeared, I didn’t know what he would find fault with later.

“Your Grace!”

My hesitation was short.

The Duke, startled by my voice, jumped up from the sofa.

“Did… did I fall asleep here?”

“Yes. You slept very deeply and comfortably. And here, it’s finished.”

I tapped the documents to straighten them and brought the neatly organized contract to him. He ran a hand through his hair and took it from me.

For a long time, the Grand Duke didn’t say anything. Then he finally spoke.

“It’s good.”

Hearing his words, an old feeling came back to me.

‘I was so good at my job.’

“Then I’ll be on my way now, right?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Just in case there are any typos, please review it.”

“And if there are typos?”

“If it’s not a typo that would cause a problem with the contract, I’ll leave this correction paper here. You can stick it on and write over it by hand. It might be a little bothersome, though.”

“What if it’s a typo that would cause a problem with the contract?”

“Then send someone to call me back. I’ll type that part again for you. You said it was due tonight, right?”

“That’s right.”

“I was supposed to do that, but I’m worried about my child, so I have to go quickly. I apologize once again for my maid’s mistake.”

I apologized again, but the Duke was already buried in the contract, concentrating as if he was going to enter it. I hesitated for a moment, looking at him.

“Excuse me, but… about that amount.”

I finally said what I had been debating on saying. The Grand Duke finally turned his gaze to me.

“You could ask for double.”

“What?”

“I mean the amount. I think it would be okay to ask for double.”

“What is your basis for saying that?”

“Well, you don’t have to, but I know a little about their situation. That merchant will probably have to give you double to get that sea route.”

The reason I could say this was because I had transcribed the entire contract and remembered the merchant’s name at the very end.

When I left Quinze-Nouais, a cosmetic with a good scent was popular among the women in the north, and people called that cosmetic by the merchant’s name. McTivy Cosmetics.

And the distribution of that cosmetic had spread to the capital.

One day, I went into the Count’s mansion’s dining room and overheard the maids talking about how that merchant was trying to get the ingredients for the cosmetics and make and sell the products himself.

The scale of it was immense.

But the raw materials existed only in a tree that grew wild on the Northern Continent, and the fastest route from the northern part of the Quinze-Nouais Empire to the Northern Continent was the sea route through the Bay of Carka.

If Duke Kabyl’s reputation hadn’t been so good, I wouldn’t have been so nosy. Still, I couldn’t tell him too much detail. The judgment was his to make.

I didn’t expect an answer, so I paid my respects and returned home. Sally would take care of my shoulders, which were sore from working overtime for the first time in a while.

 

***

 

On the way to the north, rugged mountains and dense forests appeared frequently. As soon as Adrian left the capital, he immediately reorganized the knights.

To move over a thousand knights through mountains and forests at once, it was inevitable to divide them into several groups.

As they were passing through the forest in groups of about 300, arrows began to fly from somewhere.

It was a surprise attack.

Adrian and Owen jumped off their horses and crouched down. Since they were elite knights, they skillfully blocked the arrows flying from all directions with their shields.

Since they hadn’t even reached the north yet, the situation was clearly much more serious than what they had been told in the capital.

This place was only a day’s journey from the capital.

At the same time as the arrows flew, hundreds of movements were felt in the forest.

The news that Aurelian Quinze-Nouais had left the capital must have already reached the north, so they must have also been in a hurry to stop the new Emperor from coming.

As a warrior, Adrian’s reputation was actually more famous in other continents than in Quinze-Nouais.

Adrian began to cut down his enemies with a blank expression.

There was no hesitation or calculation. He just moved forward, as if he didn’t care if he died here.

And with his momentum, the enemies’ movements noticeably shrank.

In the end, the surprise attack failed.

Although they had been away from the north for a while, the army Adrian was leading was the best knight order in the north.

Adrian, who had plunged his sword into the last enemy’s neck, pulled out his sword and looked around.

“Thomas, inform the following knight orders of this fact and identify the casualties.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“James, check if there are any enemies still alive, and if so, handle them well and bring them back as prisoners.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Your Majesty.”

At that moment, Owen appeared holding a sword that was a little shorter than theirs.

“It seems there are not just Eastern Continentals. This is the crest of a Northern Continental mercenary.”

Adrian examined the sword he was handed and then threw it into the ground, embedding it.

“It doesn’t matter who they are. We will regroup at the end of this forest and then proceed.”

 

***

 

It became a hazy evening, and soon a decent tent base was set up. Fortunately, there weren’t many casualties, but Adrian had them identify each one and inform the capital of the facts.

It was late at night when the knights’ meal was prepared.

Owen personally took Adrian’s meal and went to the tent where he was staying.

“Your Majesty, I have brought your meal.”

There was no answer, but Owen entered. Inside the tent, Adrian had taken off his top and was bent over a wooden tub, washing off the blood stuck to every corner of his body.

“Just leave it there.”

Owen was about to place the food on the table Adrian had mentioned. But his actions stopped there.

“Your Majesty…”

When he raised his body at Owen’s call, the Emperor’s chest was completely bruised, blue, yellow, and red. As if to show that the bruises were not from one or two days, all the colors on his chest were different. It was the kind of bruising that could only be made by hitting and hitting without time to heal.

“Why is your chest…?”

But Adrian only looked down at his body with an impassive look. It was clear that the Emperor had not even thought of looking at his own body until Owen had spoken.

“Oh, I couldn’t breathe… It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Owen closed his eyes tightly. His master, who seemed to be broken, was alive, but not living.

“Your Majesty!”

“Don’t make a fuss. It’s nothing.”

“But, if you can’t breathe well, please find a doctor.”

At the mention of a doctor, Adrian let out a small laugh.

“Owen, it will be a longer war than we thought. Prepare yourself.”

It was a command not to mention this matter again. Owen imagined his master constantly hitting his chest, unable to breathe. But what could he do?

“Yes… Your Majesty.”

He put down the meal he was holding and left the tent. Owen knew better than anyone that this was not an illness that could be cured by finding a doctor.

It was clear that there was not a single person in this world who could save him right now. No, there was exactly one missing person who could.

 

***

 

I came back home from the Duke’s mansion and reassured Sally that everything had been resolved, but her face was still full of worry. I ate dinner and fell asleep with the baby in my arms.

I had been asleep for quite a while during the day. I thought I was fine, but I guess I was more stressed than I thought.

When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t see the baby who should have been squirming in my arms.

“Leo?”

When I called Leo’s name loudly, Sally came into the room holding him.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“About five hours. Are you okay?”

“Of course. Do I die just because I worked overtime?”

“Overtime?”

“No. Sally, don’t look so worried anymore. I told you everything’s fine.”

“Yes… I’m not worried anymore. Since there hasn’t been any word, it seems like everything was resolved well.”

But just then, as if to prove our words wrong, someone knocked on the door roughly.

“Is anyone there?”

I stopped Sally from going and went to the door myself.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me. Gary, the chamberlain of Duke Kabyl.”

At the word “chamberlain,” I quickly opened the door.

“Oh, were you surprised?”

“Did something go wrong?”

“No… it’s just that our Duke asked me to bring Lady Taylor to him urgently…”

“And you came yourself?”

“Yes, the matter is urgent… It’s not a bad thing.”

“Then please wait for a moment. I’ll just change my clothes and go.”

I was still in the same clothes I had been wearing when I came back home, so I quickly went inside and got ready. I had gained a little weight after giving birth, but the dress I had worn before still fit well.

When I stepped outside the door, Gary opened the carriage door.

“You can hear the explanation on the way.”

This is what Gary told me. The Duke had asked for double the amount from the Eastern Continental merchant as I had told him to, and the merchant had seemed to hesitate for a moment but then accepted the offer.

So, the main point was that they had to write a new contract.

“Hmm… I understand. But you know that I’m not obligated to do this again, right?”

“Of course. There will be appropriate compensation for it.”

The Eastern Continental merchant looked very surprised to see me, who had appeared to write the new contract.

It was unimaginable in Quinze-Nouais, but even more so in the Eastern Continent, for a woman to enter an office where men worked and handle business with them.

In that regard, Duke Henry Kabyl seemed to be the type who didn’t care about what others thought. He was also similar to Han Hyuntaek.

“So, in the East, you even let women handle important contracts?”

Why did he have to say such things? Whether merchant, official, or even low-ranking noble, they all seemed to share this habit of making unnecessary jabs. He muttered about women disrupting serious business, and just as I was about to speak up—

“I let merchants into my office, so why would I not let a woman in? I have no intention of making a contract with someone who mocks what happens in my house.”

“Oh, no. I’m sorry. I had no intention of mocking you.”

McTivy, the merchant, apologized with a fawning smile on his oily face. It seemed he couldn’t make a cosmetic to remove the oil from his own face.

I just sat down and started typing.

“You said it was double. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, since we have an agreement, let’s write a new contract.”

I looked at the short memo for the contract revision and thought for a moment.

If the person were to dock his ships without a limit on the number, it might become difficult for other ships to dock in the future.

I quietly approached Henry Kabyl and whispered in his ear.

“Limit the number of ships.”

“What?”

I wrote a memo.

<Five ships a day, additional fees for more.>

Henry Kabyl looked at the memo for a moment, then seemed to make up his mind and looked at the merchant.

“I will add some detailed conditions to the contract.”

“What… is it?”

“The port you want to use in the Bay of Carka is the busiest one. If your ships come and go without any restrictions, there could be a lot of chaos.”

“So?”

The merchant looked at me while answering him. It seemed he thought the contract was getting more unfavorable because I had appeared. I pretended not to know and continued writing the memo.

“Let’s say five ships a day, and after that, you’ll pay an additional fee for each ship.”

“But, wasn’t that not in the original deal?”

The raw material he was trying to bring was a large wooden log. Since it took up a lot of space, large ships would come and go frequently.

“You should know better than anyone that what was said before the contract doesn’t matter, don’t you?”

The merchant was silent for a moment, but he had no other choice. So, he soon nodded.

And while they were discussing the details, I moved to the next room and wrote the new contract.

By the time I finished my work, it was already night.

“Ahem, ahem.”

As I was getting ready to go home, I felt someone’s presence and looked up.

“Oh, Your Grace.”

“Lady Tess Taylor, thank you for today.”

“Don’t mention it. No, wait, you’re right. You made a huge profit thanks to me, didn’t you?”

“…You’re right. This winter, I will be able to provide the people of my territory with twice as much grain of a better quality.”

“Wow, that much?”

“Of course. So, I would like to reward you… Please tell me if there is anything you want.”

I fell deep in thought. I didn’t need anything right now, but this person was the lord of the territory and the Duke of the Turk Empire.

“Perhaps, can I put that on hold?”

“On hold?”

“Yes, if I need something later, I’ll tell you then. Is that okay?”

“…Do so.”

I left the Duke’s mansion feeling refreshed. When I went to the front gate of the main building, a carriage was waiting to take me home.

Compared to other territories, the security in the Kabyl territory was good, but I didn’t refuse and got into the carriage that the chamberlain Gary opened for me.

“Thank you so much for today, Lady Tess Taylor.”

I was still unfamiliar with my new name because I didn’t get called by it often. As I was about to give an awkward smile and say goodbye, Henry Kabyl appeared.

“Your Grace…?”

The chamberlain was more surprised than I was.

“I will take you home myself.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

I sincerely hoped that he would put his kindness away, but he slowly sat down in the seat opposite me in the carriage.

He didn’t say a word on the way home, even though he had said he would take me. It was a relief that the distance between the Duke’s mansion and my house wasn’t that far.

Then, the carriage suddenly rattled and shook violently. The horse must have raised its front legs, as Henry Kabyl was thrown toward me.

Thanks to him instinctively spreading his arms, he barely avoided falling on me. But we were still very close.

The carriage managed to return to its original position, and although there was a slight shock, fortunately, it hadn’t collided with anything. The Duke nervously ran a hand through his hair, opened the carriage door, and stepped outside.

“What’s going on?”

The coachman was already off the driver’s seat, trying to calm the horses.

“Your Grace, a lady suddenly…”

“Please save me!”

I opened the curtain covering the window at the urgent voice of a woman. But since it was dark, it was hard to figure out the situation properly. Unable to contain my curiosity, I also quickly got out of the carriage.

“Please, please save me!”

The woman came almost crawling and clung to the Duke’s legs.

“Stop right there! You’ll die if I catch you.”

Then, a man’s rough voice was heard. Startled by the voice, I moved toward the woman.

And when I shone the lamp from the carriage on her face, I was horrified. Her face was covered in blood. In this state, I couldn’t even guess how badly she was hurt.

The man who had been running and shouting noticed the crest on the Duke’s carriage and bowed down in front of the Duke.

The knights who had been following our carriage from behind came closer to the Grand Duke.

“What is it?”

At the Duke’s question, the man roughly pulled the woman who was covered in blood.

“It’s nothing. It’s not something a noble Duke needs to know about.”

The Duke scrutinized the man’s face as if to assess the situation, but all I could see was the woman trembling, her wrist held by the man.

I went over without a moment’s hesitation and grabbed the man’s wrist. There’s a saying that you shouldn’t even hit a person with a flower.

“Let go of her hand.”

“Who are you?”

The man looked at my appearance and didn’t hide his growling look. Then, Henry Kabyl stood between me and the man.

“She is my guest. Watch your words.”

“Oh, yes, yes. I didn’t know you were a noble… This woman is my wife. She wouldn’t listen to me, so I hit her a few times for her education, and she ran away without knowing her place, and I was chasing her.”

My insides were churning with anger.

“I will take her and educate her thoroughly. She dared to block the path of the Duke, so I will educate her even more thoroughly.”

I couldn’t stand it anymore. So I pushed Henry Kabyl aside and stood right in front of him.

“I said, let go of her hand.”

The man glared at me for speaking so harshly but then laughed and tried to appease me.

“A noble lady like you should just go on your way. This is a family matter, so no matter how high-ranking you are, you cannot interfere.”

“No, I can’t go on like this. So, let go of this woman’s hand.”

Just then, Henry Kabyl grabbed me and pulled me to the side of the carriage.

“No matter how noble you are, you should not get involved in other people’s family matters.”

“If a person is this hurt, this is a criminal case, not a civil case.”

“In the Turk Empire, even if a husband kills his wife, he is not punished if there is a proper reason. Don’t get involved for no reason.”

“Does that make sense? That means you can get away with murder.”

“That’s when there is a proper reason.”

“Proper reason, my foot. Let’s hear what that reason is that allows you to kill a person.”

“Are you trying to argue with me here and now?”

He was right. This was not the time.

“Then… what if a commoner hurts a noble?”

“Of course.”

There was no need to hear any more from the Duke. I grabbed my skirt, took a step back, and looked at the man. His face became triumphant when he saw me stepping back.

I took a deep breath and started counting in my head. One, two, and at the same time I counted one again, I lunged at him.

When I charged like an angry rhinoceros, the man instinctively put both hands out.

I didn’t miss that moment and rammed my shoulder hard into his hands.

“Augh.”

And I put on a big Hollywood act, stumbling backward and hitting the carriage a second time, then falling to the ground and lying down spread-eagle.

“Oh, my, a commoner is attacking a noble. Oh, my.”

It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, but I cried out in pain as hard as I could.

“Your Grace, you saw it, didn’t you? That man shoved my shoulder hard with both hands. So, please take him away now.”

The Grand Duke looked at me lying on the ground, shook his head, and gestured to the knight standing next to him.

Soon, the man who had hit his wife knelt in front of me.

“I… I didn’t do it on purpose. Your Grace, I am being wronged.”

I stood up and faced him as he pleaded, terrified.

“Oh, really? You beat up your wife because you’re a man, but I can’t wrong you because I’m a noble?”

“Why are you arresting me? That was an accident.”

“No, you retaliated against me because I was trying to take your wife. With that very hand!”

The man looked at the Duke, but the Duke turned away. Realizing that things had gone wrong, he suddenly began to beg me.

“I’m so… sorry, my lady. Please forgive me just this once.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize to me. I’m going to follow the law. Your Grace, I think my shoulder is dislocated, so I should go now. This man won’t be coming home for a while, will he?”

“That’s right.”

 

***

 

The Duke, inside the carriage heading back home, recalled the conversation he had with Lady Tess Taylor.

“Are you… always like that?”

“Like what?”

“I mean, are you always so nosy about strangers’ business?”

A clear look of displeasure appeared on Lady Taylor’s face. He had felt it since the first time he saw her; this woman simply couldn’t hide her emotions.

“Not always. But this isn’t right. What did she do so wrong that he would hit her? He needs to get a taste of his own medicine.”

The Grand Duke was lost in thought, not even realizing that the carriage had arrived at the mansion. The carriage door soon opened, and he entered the manor.

Someone took his coat, and he handed over his hat and cane. As usual, he washed himself in his preferred temperature, picked up a glass of the strong liquor he drank every night, and his favorite book.

It was a night no different from any other.

But he couldn’t remember who had received his hat and cane. Nor could he remember who had served him while he was washing.

“Heh.”

Henry Karvil couldn’t help but laugh as he held his glass of liquor. He had been thinking only of that woman who, a moment ago, had been clinging to his clothes and snorting like a bull.

And the sight of her back as she ran toward the man.

“Hahahaha.”

Henry Karvil laughed out loud for the first time since his wife’s death.

“What is it, sir?”

His friend and butler, Gary, rushed to the bedroom.

That was because Gary had never heard such laughter in this house before.

And when he opened the door, he saw his friend, Grand Duke Henry Karvil, with the mask of that dreaded fatigue removed, laughing brightly with a face flushed just like it was when he was a boy.