Chapter 58

I lied to save Jacob’s face. As I thought about the swallow’s face, who was trying to cheat me, I slightly admired my own good deeds and ate my cake.

The problem was that Jacob left the contract on the table. The discarded contract fell into Lucas’s hands in a crumpled shape.

Lucas, who stood next to me and read through the paper, grinned.

I thought I would be in trouble to say that I had written and handed it to him, but, contrary to what I expected, he had a satisfied face.

“Didn’t he run away after seeing this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

It seems that I had already been caught, but I kept my loyalty until the end. ‘Watch and learn, Jacob.’

Lucas smiled absurdly and looked at the paper in his hand. Lucas stared at the door through which Jacob rushed out, and then shook his head.

“I’ll go out for a while.”

“As you please.”

As soon as I finished my answer, Lucas tapped Aiden’s arm once and headed outside. Just like a baton touch.

Aiden looked down at the arm that Lucas had tapped, and then looked down at the discarded piece of paper on the table once more.

He wanted to see it, but it seemed that he couldn’t open it easily because of my status. If he just said that he was going to be a wizard, there would be no need to worry about this.

“Aiden, did you eat all the cake I added for you?”

When I suddenly asked, Aiden looked up at me and shook his head.

“No. There is still some left.”

“Really? Then bring it and let’s eat together.”

‘If you leave food, you will be punished.’

Besides, this was a very good cake restaurant. To be honest, in terms of taste, the patisserie of the Duke’s family was much better.

It had been a while since I had been out to eat… A senior at my company once said that cafes were enjoyed for the price of the atmosphere.

“If you leave food, you will be punished.”

There was a sound of wind escaping from Aiden’s mouth as he looked at me in embarrassment.

A bright smile appeared on my face as he turned to me.

“Yes, Miss.”

The voice was pleasant. Anyway, Aiden seemed to agree with my opinion that if he left food, he would be punished.

Aiden soon brought two cakes from where they were sitting. The cakes only had a few touches. Oh my, I almost cried.

The two of us ate the cake together. Suddenly, I thought that this was a very absurd situation. A princess and a servant ate at a teahouse where wealthy people usually went, but they shared food.

I glanced at the whipped cream on the fork, then turned to Aiden. Aiden was steadily eating the portion in front.

He was eating deliciously.

The contract was still on the table. It was moved next to my plate, but… I watched Aiden eat the cake with his chin clenched, and when his plate was almost empty, I shoved the contract with my fingertips and handed it to Aiden.

Aiden saw the contract pushed in front of him and glanced at me.

“You can look at it.”

In fact, it wasn’t a problem for Aiden to look at. He, who was secretly spying on it, was quite interested, so I took a moment to show it.

Aiden, who was looking at it with widened eyes, carefully picked up the contract and read it down. His expression, like Jacob, gradually hardened as he went down the contract.

“Miss… What is this…?”

“A scarecrow.”

When chasing birds away, you need a scarecrow.

It was a contract I made to chase away a swallow named Jacob, so wasn’t the description of a scarecrow a good fit for it?

“What?”

But Aiden didn’t seem to understand my deep meaning. It was a pity… But I didn’t want to explain it to him, so I just shrugged my shoulders.

I’ve decided to protect Jacob’s face, so I had to keep my loyalty until the end.

***

Meanwhile, Lucas went out and walked towards the carriage shelter. Jacob must have come in his carriage, and that was the only place he would have headed.

It had been a while since Jacob rushed out, but he’d probably still be around here as he wouldn’t have sprinted towards a street full of people, as he cared too much about his appearance.

And, as Lucas had expected, Jacob was walking towards the carriage shelter with an angry face.

“Shit! They said she wouldn’t be difficult to seduce, but what… I almost got caught by a crazy bitch and I don’t even get paid, what’s this?”

Jacob mumbled as he shook his head violently. Perhaps because of his agitated state of mind, his voice was a little too loud for a mumble.

A few weeks ago, the heavily drunk Jacob was walking alone on the streets of the capital city at night.

He was dissatisfied with his life.

He was born as the second son and never inherited a title, but his parents were just nagging him when he came of age.

Yesterday, he lost all of his money through gambling, and when he asked his parents for some money, the only reply was the shouts and scolding about the ‘shame of the family’.

‘I have to do well outside. Protect the dignity of the nobility from behind.… This is suffocating me…’

He was just a drunkard on the street, spewing out harsh profanity and hiccupping over and over again.

Reluctantly, Jacob felt compelled to extort some money from the wealthy women he met.

His parents held a fortune but didn’t give him money… So what could he do?

He was dissatisfied with his life, but for him, he was a man full of arrogance beyond pride.

He was a great person, but his environment didn’t keep up with him.

There was no feeling of guilt in that proud Jacob.

He was walking for a while, remembering the faces of the women in his head, and someone stood in the way he was going. Jacob, with his drunken head spinning, had far worse judgment than usual.

He couldn’t even think of the basics of avoiding suspicious people on the road at night.

‘Hey, who are you?’

Jacob chose to fight instead of avoid. As he shouted in an astringent voice, the figure clad in a black robe slowly turned to look at him.

Hiccup.

In an instant, a strange fear overcame the drunkenness. However, the body of the other person who was wearing the robe was completely directed towards Jacob.

‘What… What. Who… Hey, you…’

He opened his mouth in fear, but there was no answer from the other party. Then, as if in response to his words, he slowly began to walk towards Jacob at a quiet pace.

Jacob stood as if his feet were stuck on the ground and looked at the figure. Normally, he would have run away early, but because he was drunk and his legs were shaking, standing still or staggering was the best thing he could do.

For the first time in his life, Jacob made up his mind to cut back on drinking.

Even while he was thinking about it, the person wearing the robe kept moving. The person stopped when he was only a few steps away from Jacob.

‘Are you Jacob Cooper?’

Jacob blinked after hearing his name from a stranger. Apparently, this character had been waiting for him here from the beginning.

No, how did he know Jacob would come through here?

Jacob nodded his head.

He thought for a moment that he shouldn’t say he was Jacob Cooper and just run away, but it didn’t seem like lying would work to the person who appeared in front of him and called his name.

‘Jacob Cooper. I have a favor to ask of you.’

‘A favor…?’

‘Yes, it’s a very easy and simple favor. It’s not going to hurt you either.’

The next day, Jacob woke up in an unfamiliar place. Grabbing his aching head with a hangover, he slowly looked around him. The place he woke up was the best hotel in the capital.

A hotel that only wealthy nobles could afford. Why the hell was he here?

But he couldn’t think about it for long. Because the hangover headache caused Jacob to pick up a nearby glass of water and pour it straight into his throat.

After emptying the entire pitcher, Jacob got up from his seat with a full stomach. Jacob looked around the room carefully to grasp the situation, and soon found something familiar on the tea table in the room.

‘This is definitely…’

A rectangular bag made of solid material. This must have been handed to him by the suspicious man he met yesterday.

Jacob slowly opened the bag. With a light ticking sound, the hook that secured the bag went up, and the bag opened itself to reveal the contents in front of him.

‘Oh God.’

Jacob took a breath. The bag was full of gold coins. At a glance, it looked like 5000 gold. As the dazzling gold reflected off the chandelier’s light, Jacob’s lips shuddered upwards.

A piece of paper lay on top of the gold coin.

As Jacob stroked the lovely gold coin, he reached for the paper. On the paper was written:

[Contract:

– Jacob Cooper seduces the princess to marry him. If he succeeds in doing this, he will be paid twice as much gold as the prepayment.

– In the event that this contract is disclosed to others, a reasonable price shall be paid.]

At the bottom of the contract, the signs of the two were clearly stamped. Even in Jacob’s blurred memories, he stamped his own thumbprint on it.

This contract was one made by the magic tower. A contract that ensured that when a condition was met, the price would be paid in some way. Therefore, it was a high-end item that was quite expensive.

With a short whistle, Jacob folded the contract back to its original position and tucked it into the bottom of the bag. Instead of despairing at this ridiculous contract, he happily accepted the situation.

He had heard rumors of the princess.

A woman with a lot of greed and a dirty personality, but her head was empty. How could he not seduce a woman like that?

Who was he?

Besides, yesterday, didn’t the man say it clearly? It was a very easy and simple request.

Jacob clasped the shiny gold coin in his hand and smiled happily. All he could see were these lovely gold coins.

Yes, he certainly did. He himself was going to quickly succeed in this simple condition and win the position of the duke’s son-in-law along with numerous gold coins…

What about the fulfillment of the condition, when he ran away after hearing the bloody threat from the young princess?

“Damn it!”

As he reflected on his memory, Jacob swore and kicked the stone in front of his feet. It was because he thought that if he didn’t kick anything, his face would be completely distorted.

But the place he was walking was on the roadside, and there were people on the roadside, and of course there were people in front of him as well.