Chapter 41

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Chapter 41

As Seth strode out the library door and crossed the hallway and stood in front of the stairs leading up to the office, he could see Gawin, who looked as if he was waiting.

Seeing him smiling slyly, Seth opened his mouth with a frown.

“Why are you still here?”

“Oh, my. Why is that? How dare I enter the Master’s office without the Master’s permission?”

Seeing him skillfully answering his question, Seth let out a short sigh. He then glanced at Gawin, who was still leaning on the stairs, and spoke as he walked up.

“If you had something to say to me, you could have said it a little while ago.”

“Haha. Because this issue is a private matter.”

As expected.

Seth briefly clicked his tongue at his visible action. He wondered if Gawin, who liked jokes, was trying to say something nonsensical. Nevertheless, he thought there must be something else he wanted to say while waiting like this, since he must be busy with work inside and outside the castle.

In the end, he said as he glanced at Gawin following him.

“So, what’s the story you and I should talk about?”

“As expected, the Captain simply understands what I’m thinking, like I know the Captain well.”

“….”

At his question, Gawin laughed and muttered something else. When Seth slightly frowned at the sly smile that seemed to have no intention of getting to the point, he then had a more witty smile.

Finally, with a calm expression, he spoke in a low voice.

“Actually, me and Sir Bediviel knew that the Marquis of Loengram was going to send the Madam an invitation. Forgive me for not reporting in advance, Captain.”

“Isn’t it something everyone would know the moment Duchess Blaine was on the invitation list?”

“Yes. So, I wondered if it would be right to be honest with the Madam about this invitation and take her to Loengram Castle. After properly disposing of the envoy from Loengram Castle, who had delivered the invitation outside of Persen Castle, I tried to say that I couldn’t tell her because the Madam didn’t receive the invitation.”

“You explained the contents of the letter in too much detail for that.”

“Well, it was a gamble. How will the Madam react when she hears the names of Rupert Guinivis and Duchess Blaine?”

“….”

“However, I was a little relieved because the Madam gave me a completely different answer than I had expected, Captain.”

“….”

“Actually, what we were worried about wasn’t anything else, but that part. That maybe, she secretly had a secret meeting with Rupert Guinivis, taking advantage of the situation, and leaked the information in the castle to them like before.”

“If it was the person she was before, it would have been like that.”

“Well, that’s right. That’s why I like the current Madam. Doesn’t she seem like an innocent person who doesn’t know anything about royal battles where gutter rats in fancy dresses fight over the prey of power?”

“Innocent… It’s a word that doesn’t go well with ‘Minase Persen’.”

Even as Seth replied that way, he agreed with Gawin’s words.

Recently, Minase Persen refused to wear fancy dresses and tight corsets. Instead, she would wear comfortable clothes and shoes that ordinary people would wear.

That was not all. The person who had been living as a noble all her life, ignoring even the gentry class’s servants in the mansion—was now happy to work and clean to get paid.

On top of that, she smiled while holding Noah and the commoners’ children, whom she had only treated poorly and casually ate the food made by the commoners at the market…

It seemed that the high-nose lady who returned favor to hostility and hostility to greater hostility was no longer to be found.

With those appearances, he thought everything was a facade and changed his mind, which was suspicious of her actions one by one. Seth naturally smiled affectionately as he recalled the appearance she had been showing after ‘the day’ when she suddenly collapsed.

Nevertheless, it was not that there was nothing that bothered him whenever he thought of her. It was the previous experiences of bitter betrayal that once disturbed one’s eyes.

The friendly smile on Seth’s face faded as an image flashed in his mind.

Gawain, who saw that, softly chuckled at the sound of the wind blowing and said in a witty voice.

“But, doesn’t the Captain get along very well with the Madam now? Such a word was never compatible with how things were a few months ago.”

“…What?”

“If Mrs. Pompa, who looked at the Madam’s face and body, hadn’t confirmed that she couldn’t find any physical characteristics that differed from ‘the previous Madam,’ I would never have thought she was the same person.”

“….!”

“Didn’t the Captain think so, too?”

At Gawin’s words as if he had read his mind, Seth lost his words and looked back at him for a moment. But soon, he laughed out loud and said, “Nonsense.”

“Well, if they were twins and secretly raised one of them, wouldn’t that be possible? How else could they get the same person with that face and naturally infiltrate this mansion.”

“That’s true. If there were another person as beautiful as that, it would have been a headache enough to cause trouble in the social circles of the Empire. In many ways.”

“…I thought it was unfamiliar to see her change suddenly as well, though I can’t think of it as a different person.”

“Isn’t it something like, by using an ancient witch’s half-soul magic to change her soul?”

“That’s too much of a joke. Do you really think that is possible?”

“I know it’s impossible. Still, isn’t it strange in many ways? The current Madam is only her shell, but her soul is like a different person.”

“….”

“Haven’t you seen it too, Captain? The face of the Madam when she heard the name of Duchess Blaine a while ago.”

However, Seth’s face, which had been smiling lightly in denial, hardened the moment he brought up the name ‘Duchess Blaine.’

Gawin continued his words with a low sunken face.

“Rupert Guinivis, she hasn’t had a secret meeting with him for more than a couple of days already. He’s waiting and watching for a chance when Captain and the Madam divorce. It is said that when the Madam came out after receiving a great amount of alimony, he was overflowing with the shady thought of starting over with her. The Madam was walking a tightrope between the Captain and him.”

“….”

“By the way, when such a man persuaded the Madam, ‘It is better to choose him than the Captain,’ he couldn’t not mention Duchess Blaine. Where would there have been one or two correspondences and secret meetings between the two of them? The face of the Madam today was the face as though she had never heard it before.”

“…That part was strange to me, too. However, the premise of that statement, in the end, must be the belief that she has a constant value for that person or loves the other person enough to be responsible for the person?”

“…What?”

At his words, Gawin asked Seth back with a face as if he had not thought of it.

Recalling the face of ‘Rupert Guinivis,’ he raised one corner of his mouth and answered.

“He’s the person who’s likely to abandon ‘Minase Persen,’ who returned to ‘Minase Florence’ after receiving only the alimony from me, and chose another noble girl.”

“….”

“If that’s how he feels, there’s a possibility that he wouldn’t have talked about Duchess Blaine in detail. So, it’s not strange if she didn’t know. Still, that doesn’t mean the maids around her would have talked about this lightly in front of her.”

“…I see. As the Captain said, if he were only aiming for the Madam’s alimony, he wouldn’t have dared to talk about it with his own mouth. Nonetheless, I would have been able to infer enough just by hearing that the Duchess Blaine’s name before marriage was ‘Resitia’.”

“It was only a year ago that Blaine made her social debut a year ago, and it wasn’t until she and her twins were recognized by His Majesty that she came to her current prestige. She wouldn’t know if he hadn’t told her.”

“…Well, it might be. Before marrying the Captain, the Madam was treated like a cartwheel away from social circles, so it can be said that she has virtually no acquaintance with nobles other than Rupert Guinivis.”

“….”

“…I’m sorry, Captain. I must have been too imaginative.”

“No. It’s not unreasonable that you thought like that.”

Seth passed over Gawin’s apology as if it was nothing.

Hearing that, his face returned to a smirk again. Gawin stood in front of the door of the office where he had already arrived before bowing over and opening the door, like a knight escorting the lady.

As soon as they got away from the serious topic, Seth looked displeased with him joking around. Nonetheless, Gawin just grinned and shoved him into the office.

“Well then, that’s a relief for me. If it’s the current Madam, you don’t have to waste much manpower just to keep an eye on her. Fortunately, Rupert Guinivis is not on the invitation list.”

“When did that guy ever come in proudly according to his name being invited? He was the guy who came up with all sorts of means to meet her in the first place.”

“I know. But, would he dare enter the imperial government party as an unlisted trespasser? …And, well, even if he enters—”

“Yes. If we take care of him, that’s enough.”

As they spoke, Seth and Gawin exchanged strange smiles with each other. On the contrary, they would have been grateful if this person actually did such a thing. With rebellion, they can push it to the end and make it a summary judgment.

Moments later, Seth eventually opened his mouth with a stiff look as he imagined cutting down Rupert Guinivis, who had been hiding like a rat.

“It’s okay to reduce the number of escorts you have with her, though make sure not to leave out Bediviel and Lancelot.”

“Yes, yes. I know. Are you worried? I was afraid that, by any chance, the other nobles would go through rough times.”

“….!”

“Why do you look so surprised? Did I hit the nail on the head?”

“…Gawin. Don’t you think your rudeness has gone too far these days?”

“Hey, why are you making such a cruel face like that?”

“….”

“Now, now, Captain. Let’s get to work now. Here is today’s report.”

After pointing out his stiff expression, Gawin then smiled deftly as he seated Seth, who immediately changed his expression bluntly before quickly grabbing the papers on the desk and placing them in front of his Master, who was still wearing a grim expression on his face, with a smile.

Seeing that Seth had forgotten how angry he was as he was now concentrating on the word, he spoke up again.

“By the way, Captain.”

“…What?”

“A little while ago, jealousy was a bit unsightly, even if it was the Captain. When it comes to the Madam, you become a foolish ma―”

“Gawin…!”

“Ah, my stomach! I’m suddenly hungry! I’ll come and see you in a little while!”

Finally, Gawin, who had been irritating Seth’s heart with his teasing words to the end, gave a nonsensical excuse and hurriedly left the office. So, even though he was frowning again, he just sighed as if he could not help it because at least, his office was now neatly organized.

Seth, who was examining the reports he had seen a while ago, clicked his tongue briefly at the thought that came to him as the surroundings became quiet.

‘She might be a different person.’

Even though he thought it was odd at times, he never doubted it until Gawin pointed it out. However, once such a possibility came to mind, the thought of ‘if so’ did not leave his mind.

…If Minase Persen was a completely different person.

What if ‘that day,’ ‘the dream of the person with black hair’ in front of him was not a simple optical illusion…? What if it was as though the person had changed?

If so, who was this “person,” and why was she in this mansion? What should he do if he was attracted to her like that? As Gawin expressed, if the woman she is now is not Minase Persen, but instead a completely different person, what should he do with her? Should he let her go? To her original life, not Minase Persen…?

As he thought about it, he suddenly felt a tingling pain in the corner of his chest.

‘No, this is an illusion. If that person is not Minase Persen…’

At the thought, the chest pain grew quite painful. And, as his thoughts deepened, the desire to deny the possibility itself became an illusion in one side of his head.

In the end, Seth pushed back the uncomfortable thought that was in the corner of his heart and denied the doubts in his head. Then, little by little, the tingling on the nerves in his chest disappeared, and he was only able to return to his usual blunt expression.

‘…Yes. It is all nonsense.’

It would be just a delusion and an illusion.

Confused by her amazingly changed look and the attraction he has towards it, he must somehow have had the absurd idea.

Seth desperately thought so.

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