CH 20

“Quentin.”

“I made a mistake!”

He bent down to the point his forehead almost touched his knees.

“….”

He felt a chill in his back.

Maybe it’s because of the stare. Even on the battlefield, there were not a few enemy soldiers who shouted surrender with just those eyes.

Maximilian’s hand came up over his trembling body.

“….You worked hard until late at night. Go back.”

“Yes?”

Quentin gently raised his head at the answer, which was stiff but far from reprimanding.

Maximilian seemed to be returning to the window and pondering something.

All he could see was the side, but Quentin, who had served him for years, could tell.

‘That expression…’

It was a look he only made when something really serious happened.

Representatively, even on the day when Grezekaia’s dispatch order was given, the Duke had exactly that expression on his face.

What happened?

Quentin wanted to ask, but he had already given the command to ‘go back,’ so he had to turn helplessly and leave his bedroom.

“Ah.”

And when he came out into the hallway, he realized that he had made a huge mistake.

“I… am I crazy?”

*****

The dinner night.

Bessie, squatting in a corner of the prison cell, smiled in delight as she heard clattering steps in the distance.

There were no knights patrolling at this time, so she believed that Sir Benson must have visited her.

‘I can’t believe you’re here so soon.’

Perhaps because of Bessie’s capture, the Duke must have fallen even more with Brielle.

When the footsteps were so close that the shadow of the knight was now visible, Bessie stood up and grabbed the bars.

The opponent stopped in front of her prison.

But it wasn’t Benson, it was just one of his men, a soldier.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’

As long as anyone can get Bessie out.

“Stay back, I have to open the door.”

“Phew. Of course.”

The soldier’s command tone hurt Bessi’s pride a little, but she smiled and quickly stepped back.

‘Just let me get out of here.’

She will be treated with great respect as the main character who freed the Duke from his fake wife.

‘Maybe I can rise to the position of head maid.’

Living in such an old manor would be worse than dying, but if she had the experience of being the head maid of the Duke’s family, she would be able to find work anywhere in the future.

Kiiik.

Finally, the prison door opened.

At that moment, Bessie had the illusion that the dust on the dirty prison floor looked like white flower petals.

She took her first step up the beautiful road with a careful step.

“Are you crazy?”

But what just happened?

The soldier who opened the door pushed her in the stomach with the scabbard while saying rude words.

“Ugh!”

In terrible pain, Bessie quickly grabbed her stomach and rolled on the floor.

“Ah!”

“Can’t you be quiet?!”

At the harsh treatment, Bessie glared sharply at the soldier while lying on the floor.

It seems that the stupid soldier mistakenly thinks Bessi is no different from an ordinary criminal.

“Y, you know what’s going to happen if I get out of here right now…!”

“What? Are you still out of your mind?”

“I’ll tell the Duke about your behavior as soon as I leave.”

She smiled with satisfaction. It was expected that he would be frightened.

However, the soldier’s expression didn’t change much.

“….?”

No, he started laughing as if he was dumbfounded somehow.

“What Sir Benson said was true. I heard you’re finally going crazy and talking nonsense.”

“What? W, what did Sir Benson say?”

“You’re crazy! You’re completely gone mad!”

The soldier put one hand around his head and insulted her.

“It can’t be…!” 

Bessie tried to protest, but he wouldn’t even give it a chance.

“Enough! Hey, there!”

The soldier beckoned another criminal who was squatting on one side of the prison.

“Come out for a while, I have something to check.”

When the other prisoner hesitantly got up and quietly came out of the prison, the soldier slammed the prison door shut again.

“Wait!”

Bessie crawled in front of the bars and called the soldier.

“Is that true? Sir Benson said that? I, it can’t be?” 

“Because it is.”

“Please call him. I will say it again!”

“Shut up! Now really…” 

When the soldier responded as if it were annoying, Bessie couldn’t stand it and shouted out loud.

“The Duchess is a fake!”

For a moment, there was silence in the prison.

“….” 

The soldier stared at Bessie with absurd eyes, then shook his head slowly. 

“I was worried that Sir Benson seemed to have gone mad… Wow, it was real.”

“It’s not that!”

“They say that if a competent person goes crazy, there is no answer. How did you get to that point?” 

His pitiful gaze left Bessie speechless.

Without looking back at her any more, the soldier dragged another prisoner out of the prison.

After that, Bessie lay in front of the bars in vain for a long time.

Something must be wrong with this.

Benson seemed to have had enough after listening to her.

Then it is impossible not to know that the relationship between the two is not good.

After three years of a bad relationship, they couldn’t suddenly become close, and develop affection like other couples.

Only after someone didn’t do anything.

“That can’t be possible…” 

She didn’t give up hope until the end and listened to see if another knight or soldier was coming, but—.

It was only quiet inside the prison.

* * *

[Quentin is an idiot!]

The next morning, the inner wall completely changed her opinion of Quentin, whom they had praised as the “God of Love”

“Idiot is a bad word. And Uncle Quentin is a good man.”

[No, he’s a poor guy!]

“If you keep gossiping, I can’t talk to the inner wall. It’s not polite to speak ill of someone.”

Clarisse said in a stern voice.

[Okay. Anyway, he talked about his ex-fiance last night. How embarrassed the Duke and his wife must have been.]

“Ex-fiance?”

[Yes, actually, the Duke had another fiance. They say she was one of the most beautiful ladies in the capital.]

“Even the Duchess is beautiful enough to be counted on hand.” 

Clarisse quickly sided with the Duchess, feeling a bit grumpy.

[Of course. Anyway, the Duke couldn’t marry that fiance.]

“Why?”

[She’s married to the Duke’s younger brother]

Clarisse remembered the beautiful king she had seen on the battlefield.

[And the Duke ended up marrying into the family his younger brother had chosen.]

“So the Duke’s ex-fiance… The current queen?”

[That’s right! That uncomfortable situation… No, Aide Quentin deliberately poked it.]

“But that doesn’t matter.”

Clarisse tilted her head slightly.

“The Duke and Duchess like each other anyway.”

[Oh, it’s not that simple.]

“That’s all in the past.”

[Clarisse will know when you have a lover later. How much do you care about the past?] 

“I don’t have a lover. I’ll be busy repaying the favor to the Duke.”

When they talked this far, Rosalie brought breakfast.

Clarisse whispered in a small voice to the wall, ‘Have a good day, tell Sir Outerwall the same,’ and turned around.

* * *

Next day.

“I have committed a great sin.”

When Maximilian came to his office with a newspaper in the morning, he saw Quentin lying on the floor and begging.

It was understandable why he begged for forgiveness so much.

“…That’s enough.” 

“I forgot something for a while. Ah… so.” 

It seems he forgot that there was an incident in which his fiancee was stolen and taken from the royal family’s brothers.

Maximilian was rather grateful for his insensitivity.

Other people find it very taboo to talk about Maximilian’s past.

“That’s all right.”

“I… I thought I might have touched a sore spot.”

Quentin, who got up from his seat before he knew it, was carefully looking at his expression.

Something seemed to be clearly mistaken, so Maximilian decided to point out one important point.

“And not Her Highness the Queen.”

“What?”

“So, as you said, the person I picked out for drinks and cookies.”

“…Did you have another fiance before that?”

Maximilian laughed bitterly.

There was a family engagement. Although it was only a six-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl.

For them, engagement was tantamount to a promise to make each other lifelong friends.

It was a very different form from the affection and engagement that adults talked about, but it was clear that she was a very affectionate opponent to young Maximilian.

“…Hmm. Come to think of it.”

Maximilian, ignoring Quentin’s eagerness to listen closely, began another story.

“I will go to the city wall at the end of this year.”

“A city wall?!”

Quentin excitedly checked his calendar and clapped his hands. 

“That’s great, I’m empty. Are you saying let’s go see the New Year’s fireworks together?”

“There is that too, but… I plan to hand over the permit to the wizard who asked to investigate the ‘collapsed golem’.”

“Oh, that eleven-year-old little wizard? That… Are you really going to permit it? Even the royal family won’t like it that much.”

Beyond the relationship between the royal family and the wizards, almost only hatred remained.

“Conditions aren’t bad, so it won’t be. There are things buried in the ruins that even the royal family wants to find, and they can only be retrieved with the help of the Golem Master.”

“But the boy is not a Golem master, is he?”

“At least as the Golem Master’s…son, he will know something.”

“But he’s only eleven! What does that child know and study?”

“He’s not just a child.” 

The Duke secretly dragged out the requested documents he had received earlier.

“The status of a wizard is not determined by age or experience. Classes are determined by the amount of magical power. And he…” 

The Duke turned to Quentin.

“He is one of the top 5 wizards in the wizard’s castle.”