Volume 3 Chapter 4: My Life as a Captive Continues Part III

The more we talk, the more I realize how suited Katarina is to be my girlfriend.

The bread I gave her for her light meal was actually bought in the outskirts of town. It was intended as a sardonic insult towards a young noble lady, but Katarina just excitedly asked where the bakery was located.

“What? A bakery in the outskirts of town!? Where is it!? It was really good, so I want to go buy it myself sometime if I can!” she exclaimed.

It looks like she doesn’t have that strange sense of pride characteristic of nobility.

She also likes taking care of her field for fun – but not a flower field, a vegetable field. And apparently her special skills are fishing and climbing trees. To be completely honest, I wondered if she was actually a mischievous little street urchin or something.

Then, Katarina asked me about the various countries I had passed through.

However, in every country, I lived in the dark underside of society, and so I can’t talk about the lovely places and things she probably wants to hear about. But since she still begs me to talk about it, I tell her everything, omitting nothing. I even talk to her about that time I got involved in a gang war.

Normal girls would be scared or turned off of me, but Katarina just listens with sparkling eyes, exclaiming ‘Amazing, amazing!’

Seriously, this girl is different from the all the other girls I’ve met up until now.

************

Engrossed in our conversation, I failed to notice the time. Before I realized it, the sun had already begun to set. That was when Katarina suddenly asked me a question.

“Wait, if you aren’t actually a butler, does that mean that Rufus is a fake name too?”

“Yeah, what would be the point my infiltration with dark magic if I used my real name?”

“Then what’s your real name?”

“I have plenty of names. I use whichever one suits me best at the time.”

I have so many names that I don’t have enough fingers to count them.

“What’s your original name?”

When she asked me that with her direct gaze, the name ‘Sora’, which that man had given me, floated up in my mind. But…

“I don’t have an original name. After all, I’m not like you people – I don’t have parents. The first memories I have are of scavenging through garbage in the slums.”

I haven’t used the name that man gave me since then. And yet still, whenever I’m asked about my original name, I recall the name that man gave me.

Feeling myself beginning to sink into my thoughts, I drag myself back to reality. When I look at Katarina, she looks troubled.

“He-e-y. Why are you all frozen? Was it too shocking of a story for a young noble lady?”

I talked about things that were a lot more shocking earlier, but perhaps not having parents and not having a name was shocking in a different sense?

But Katarina’s response was completely off from what I had expected.

“… Really pretty…”

“… What?”

What is this all of a sudden? I don’t understand. Katarina meets my distrustful gaze with her sparkling light blue eyes.

“Your eyes! Your eyes are really pretty, they’re the colour of a clear sky.”

“…”

That man had said before that he gave me the name ‘Sora’ because my eyes were ‘beautiful, like the blue sky’. Considering her earlier comments on how cool my thinking was, her thought processes are really similar to that man.

I feel like I’ve met someone I thought I’d never meet again.

Almost unconsciously, I embrace Katarina and push her into my chest. Feelings I had never experienced before well up in my chest… she’s precious to me.

When I caress her soft cheek, she opens her mouth like it’s ticklish. I’m naturally attracted to those pink lips…

I returned to my senses when her stomach suddenly gave a gurgle. In front of me is Katarina, looking a little embarrassed. I begin to laugh.

“Shall I have people bring up dinner?”

************

Dinner had been in a separate room yesterday because Selena had really wanted it to be, but today I’ll have dinner be brought up to the room.

Since Katarina is technically a prisoner, I can’t have her walk freely around the mansion.

I give the orders to have the servants bring dinner to the room. Then, Katarina says that it’s dull to eat alone again and invites me to eat with her.

Gradually getting used to her antics, I feel like it’s stupid to argue and agree readily.

“Oh yes, what is Lana doing? I don’t see her.”

“Ah, I’m just having her do a different job. Nothing to worry about.”

Lana is a maid I hired a little while back to help out with this plan. I figured she was convenient because she didn’t have any family – if it came down to it, I could easily silence her.

But even though I only hired her for a reason like that, she actually turned out to be pretty good at her job. She was tight-lipped and very easy to use. Right now, she’s taking care of Selena, who is in a complicated situation right now.

After we begin eating, Katarina begs me to talk more about other countries again. I obediently start talking.

“Ah, your stories of foreign countries are really interesting,” says Katarina near the end of our meal, finally having her fill of my stories.

“Your stories are interesting too. It’s a total waste that you’re a noble lady.”

I’m speaking from my heart. I even think that it must be tough being a young noble lady with a personality like hers.

“I’ve never travelled abroad, but hearing your stories makes me want to.”

“Ha ha, I’m starting to feel like I might like travelling around to all those different countries again, if it’s with you,” I say casually, not really meaning much of it. I didn’t really expect a response. But…

“Really!? Then please, bring me with you next time!”

I widen my eyes in surprise. Just what is this woman saying…?

“I’m from a different world than you. There’s no way we could go together.”

I’m not embarrassed about the circumstances of my birth. However, I understand perfectly well my position in society. That’s why I know. When this whole charade is over and done with, I won’t be able to stay with this woman… and yet…

“A different world? What are you talking about? You’re right in front of me,” Katarina says, looking at me with a direct gaze, “We’re talking together and eating together. We’re in the same world, aren’t we?”

A smile naturally spreads across my face at her reaction. She’s acting like I’m the weird one here.

“You’re really a strange person. Alright, I get it. I’ll bring you with me next time.”

At my words, Katarina smiles happily.

“Alright, it’s a promise. Pinky promise!”

Pinky promise? Is that some cultural custom of this country?

Katarina seems to suddenly realize something after seeing that I’m confused. She runs to a corner of the room and ruffles around in a dress in a box.

“Here you go. I’ll give this to you as a symbol of our promise,” she says, putting something on the palm of my hand.

I knew about symbols of promises. They were someone’s objects you held onto until your next promise with them.

The custom existed in most countries, but nowadays, I feel like the only people who do such things are merchant’s daughters and children… and right now, Katarina probably falls under the latter category.

A little exasperated, I look at the object that had been placed in my hand.

“… This is a brooch?”

It seemed to be a brooch adorned with a stone.

“It’s a very pretty colour right? It’s even similar to your eye colour. The colour of a clue blue sky,” says Katarina, taking the brooch from the palm of my hand, “And see, if you make the light hit it like this, it turns light blue. Just like my eyes.”

It’s true, the colour of the stone changed when the light hit it – and that new colour was identical to the colour of her eyes.

“It becomes both your eye colour and mine… I think it’s perfect as a symbol of our promise,” says Katarina, smiling.

Since I was born with a fairly handsome face, lots of women have approached me. And so, I’ve never had any lack of women to choose from.

Many different women have approached me. There were some professionals among them, with pick-up lines naturally falling from their lips… but Katarina’s words are much stronger than their lie-laced lines.

What an incredibly amazing pick-up line. ‘I’ll give you a stone that becomes both your eye colour and mine’?

We live in different worlds… so it’s not right for me to want her. My heart had been desperately struggling, but with that one line, I stopped struggling. I lift up Katarina and move her to the bed.

“When I’m with you, for some reason, my chest grows hot. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this way.”

I thought that I had lost the ability when I was just a brat. But when I’m with this woman, my chest grows strangely warm.

I smoothly remove my glasses before pushing Katarina down on the bed. I’ve humoured many women who’ve approached me up until now, but it’s the first time I’ve wanted a woman myself.

“Hey, won’t you become mine?”

For some reason, after pushing her down onto the bed, Katarina stares at me with sparkling eyes. It’s the first time anyone’s looked at me like that in bed. Her gaze is so different from the other women, who looked at me with sickly sweet gazes. It makes my heart race.

“If you look at me with those sparkling eyes, I won’t be able to complain no matter what you do to me,” I murmur, burying my face in her neck. A sweet smell wafts up into my nose and I can’t hold back any longer.

“Um, Rufus… wait a second… ow.”

I press my lips against her soft white skin and leave a mark.

I realize that my heart is beating unbelievably fast. Ah, my heart’s never beat this fast with any of the other women I’ve bedded.

If I could make this woman be mine, I would…

************

Someone knocked loudly on the door.

“Rufus-sama, are you there?” Lana says loudly, her voice reverberating.

I click my tongue in irritation. She interrupted right at the absolute worst moment.

“I’m busy,” I say, but she doesn’t give up.

“It’s a very urgent matter,” she insists loudly. I could tell from her tone of voice that she wouldn’t give up.

So I give in, take my hands off of Katarina, and head to the door.

“It was just getting to the good part,” I sigh, opening the door.

“An urgent letter has arrived for you,” says the maid that should’ve been serving Selena, smiling.

“Where is it?” I say, making no effort to hide my annoyance. But the maid just smiles meaningfully.

“I’ve prepared it in your room. I believe it’s for the best if you verify its contents as soon as possible,” she says.

At her words and her meaningful smile, my eyes widen.

“… You… could you be possibly…”

I thought she was a little too good at her job for a maid with no family… but she was probably planted in this household from the very start as a governmental official or something. I can surmise that much from her meaningful words and smile.

I haven’t worked in the dark underside of society for nothing. My intuition is usually pretty good about stuff like this.

So in that case… this plan has already failed.

“…Well, I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.”

The plan was full of holes from the very start. I let out another large sigh and leave the room.

************

When I head to my room, a letter had arrived, just like that maid had said, and it was from Mason.

Apparently Mason’s household was under investigation. So the higher-ups have finally turned their gaze towards small-fry villains… though, I suppose it may also be because this plan was a bit too ambitious for a small-fry villain.

In that case, this plan will all be revealed soon enough – he’s not really good at hiding evidence. Officials will probably come here soon, holding proper proof of misdeeds.

So then I have two options.

My first option is to hurry up and escape from this place.

However, since I have dark magic, I’ll probably be pursued fairly heavily. It’ll be a pain to be always trying to escape.

My second option is to reveal everything about Mason’s sins, and cry about how I was forced to do it to the officials. Considering my childhood and my handsome face, I could probably pull it off… but my freedom would probably be limited after that, which I don’t really like.

Now then, should I accept the annoyance of running about, or the restrictions on my freedom?

************

“Katarina, Katarina.”

“Ah!”

At my sudden voice in the middle of the night, Katarina jerks up from the bed, surprised.

“Ha ha, you really do sleep a lot.”

“Wha – what do you want?”

“I see that even you’ve being a bit cautious. But I won’t do anything anymore. After all, things are coming to a head.”

The officials will likely be here any second now. I haven’t seen that maid Lana for a while too.

“To a head?”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t have minded running off to another country with you… but that’s a bit reckless, so never mind. We’d probably run into a lot of trouble thanks to my magic, so I figured I’ll just be a good boy and put you under protection instead.”

That’s right, I decided not to run. My intuition is telling me that I’ll be able to live more freely if I turn myself in, even if I have to deal with a few restrictions.

“What?”

“But then I won’t be able to see you anymore, so I came to see your face one last time.”

I’ve made a number of mistakes in the past and gotten myself captured. So I’m pretty confident that I can make it through this time as well.

But if I’m in jail, I can’t see people from the outside world for a while. Until now, that hadn’t bothered me. Everyone I’ve known up until now were just casual acquaintances or women I slightly knew. Even if I wasn’t able to see them anymore I never thought to see them one last time… but it seems I’ve gotten a little weird since meeting this woman.

I caress Katarina’s cheek. I enjoy the feeling of her soft white skin like I’m tasting it.

“… What do you mean by ‘one last time’…?”

I hear a very loud noise from outside the room.

“Hm, faster than I expected.”

I take my hand off of Katarina’s cheek and put a little space between us. If those lovestruck princes saw me like this, I’d probably be cut down on the spot.

Immediately after I moved back, the door opened with a large bang. There stood a line-up of fairly good-looking people. Standing in front of them all was…

“… Lana?” Katarina exclaims. The woman smiles at her.

“Ah, I was calling myself that, but I’ll re-introduce myself now. I am Lahna Smith, of the Ministry of Magic. I am Rafael’s superior – I look forwards to working with you from now on.”

Ah, so this woman was from the Ministry of Magic. But more importantly, she’s acting really differently from before.

When she was acting like a maid, she was dull and demure, but even though she’s wearing the exact same clothes, she seems very vibrant now. She’s no ordinary person to be able to even change the way she feels.

That extraordinary woman turns her gaze towards me.

“Since you’re still here, I suppose you’ve made your decision?”

“Yes. I’ll go with all of you and reveal everything,” I say agreeably, faking a meek expression. I’m going to be acting the part of a poor young man from now on, after all. Image is everything.

“Yes, that’s a good attitude to have. Very well. Rufus Brode, you’re under arrest for the kidnapping of Lady Katarina Claes. For now, I’ll have you come with me to the Ministry.”

At her signal, people, likely from the Ministry, run up from behind her. They surround and restrain me.

As I was being led out of the room, that girl of all people calls out to me.

“U – um!”

“I’ll keep this until I keep my promise,” I say at Katarina’s desperate gaze. I lift up the brooch in my hand.

“Yes!” she responds cheerfully.