CH 23

Clarisse, dressed in a prisoner’s look, arrived at the place where the wizards’ wagons had been parked.

Soldiers she had never seen before were guarding the surroundings, but Clarisse wasn’t particularly afraid.

Since Benson, the Duke’s knight, is with her, they won’t get in her way or try to hurt her.

“H, huh?”

No, Clarisse is wrong.

When the soldiers found them, they rushed right in front of them and blocked them.

“Huh!”

“What is this?!”

Armed soldiers rushed in and stared at her with round eyes, so Clarisse hid behind Benson without realizing it.

‘Are the soldiers uncomfortable because the prisoner wandered around too much?’

But since the person in trouble was in the wizard’s wagon, she couldn’t give up and go back.

“No, Sir Benson! I’ve never heard of such a cute kid coming from the Duchy?”

When a soldier approached Clarisse and asked, Benson spread one arm to stop him.

“It’s a prisoner serving a prison sentence. Don’t come near her at will.”

Clarisse agreed and nodded slightly. The prisoner couldn’t freely interact with others without the Duke’s permission.

One of the soldiers looking down at Clarisse with a surprised face, clapped his hands.

It seems he realized Clarisse’s identity. 

“Fatal cuteness is definitely a sin. No one can beat it.”

“Looking at you wrapped in fur like this, you will conquer the royal family later!”

“It’s life imprisonment, life imprisonment!”

Clarisse, who was listening quietly to their story, carefully corrected the error.

“I’m on death row.”

Then, with expressions of realization, they grabbed their hearts and began to tremble all over their bodies.

“Phew, that’s right! Life imprisonment is not enough.”

“If cuteness is a sin, our little one is on death row…!”

Besides, they start talking about something strange.

Clarisse’s sin is not cuteness.

She looked back at Benson, puzzled, and he shook his head as if he had already given up on explaining.

“That’s enough, go away! Because this sinner must have outdoor activity at the command of the Duke.”

Benson waved his arms in annoyance, and the soldiers looked at them with surprised faces.

“Are you saying that the Duke is meticulous enough to manage children’s outside activities from other house?”

“He looks like he would be bothered by a child….”

“He doesn’t seem interested in anything but work, right?”

Clarisse was upset that they were talking bad about the Duke, so she cautiously poked her head out and said,

“The Duke is a wonderful person. Please listen carefully to anyone’s story.”

“….!”

The soldiers who heard the story looked at each other in great surprise.

Clarisse decided to talk a little more so that they could know more about the Duke’s wonderful points.

“When I made a snowman, he complimented me. He even invited me to dinner. And… The Duke provided these clothes as well.”

If this is enough, everyone will say the Duke is cool, right? Clarisse looked up at the soldiers cautiously.

“Hey…”

Finally, a soldier exclaimed.

“How can you talk so well?”

“Oh, did the Duke treat you well? Ah~~” 

“….”

The teasing tone somehow made Clarisse hate them just a little bit.

Seeing how she felt, Benson waved his hand again.

“Get out of the way. From now on, anyone who interferes with outside activities is treason against the Duke.”

“I am scared to death. Ah, all right. All right.” 

As the soldiers laughed and moved away, Clarisse squeezed the red pebbles she had carried in her pocket.

[It’s the wagon at the end! Please hurry up, girl. I can feel the bad energy.] 

Clarisse looked up at Benson and pointed to the farthest cart.

“I want to see that wagon!”

“That one? I guess that’s just normal. Rather, look at this, a nice new wagon framed with this light and rigid material!” 

“I want to see the wagon. I think I just heard someone talking from inside.” 

“A sound? No way. That’s not what people ride.” 

“I’ll see you though!”

Clarisse hurriedly ran to the front of the wagon. 

“Hmm, what’s in here?”

“Yes, here, Sir Benson.”

Benson put his ear still to the back of the locked cart.

When Clarisse looked up with her hands clasped together, he gave a small nod.  

In fact, it seemed that the presence was felt.

“It’s dangerous, stay back, Clarisse. I will summon the knights right away.” 

Perhaps thinking that the person on the wagon was trying to invade the Duchy illegally, Benson grabbed the sword at his waist.

[No! Why are you trying to torture our innocent child! Girl, hurry up and stop that reckless man!]

The red pebble yelled.

Clarisse quickly jumped onto the wheel of the wagon.

“Clarisse!” 

As she raised her toes just a little, she could see through a palm-sized window into the wagon.

At the bottom of the wagon was someone covered in rags.

But Benson only lifted it briefly and carried her down from the wagon.

“It’s dangerous! If you get hurt…!” 

He shouted with his eyes wide open, but Clarisse held her head up against him without fear.

“There was a child lying down! You need to help him quickly!”

“…Child?” 

When Benson asked back, Clarisse stomped her feet.

“Sir Benson, look inside, and you will know! If you don’t help me quickly, I don’t know what will happen to the child.”

Benson seemed a little uneasy, but as Clarisse had said, he checked through the window and quickly tore off the entire carriage lock and broke it.

As the door creaked open, a boy— in a gray rags was curled up on the floor.

* * *

At the same time, Maximilian was still in the conference room with the wizards.

How should he respond to the demands of the wizards who ignored the procedure?

When Maximilian was in deep trouble, the wizard Nelson urged him to answer.

“Duke.”

And at the same time, an urgent knocking sound came from the conference room.

“Duke, this is Benson.”

Why did the person who should be with Clarisse come here?

The duke nodded to the servant guarding the entrance and opened the door. 

Maximilian asked the most important thing to Benson, who soon approached at a brisk pace.

“What about Clarisse?”

“The Duchess is protecting you.”

Maximilian finally nodded. The knight he put on his wife must be watching Clarisse too. 

“More than that, Duke.”

Benson glanced at the wizards over the Duke’s shoulder and reported the situation in a small voice to the Duke’s ear. 

Hearing all his stories, the Duke stared at Benson with a surprised look. 

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’ve checked it.”

“Good work. Go back and keep protecting it.” 

When Nelson returned, the wizards began to look at the Duke with a worried faces.

He noticed that his mood had changed heavily. 

“That… Excuse me, Duke.” 

When the wizard Nelson plucks up the courage and calls him cautiously.

Maximilian looked back at them with a hardened face.

He didn’t say anything, but the faces of the wizards were already starting to turn blue, as if his energy weighed them down.

“I cannot give you the permit.”

“N, no, there’s a misunderstanding…” 

Nelson tried to make excuses in a trembling voice, but the Duke didn’t listen.

“Are there still more lies left?”

Nelson said nothing. 

Maximilian immediately delivered an official letter to the Wizard Orders.

At this news, Nelson and two other wizards fell flat on the floor and begged.

And they confessed that they were planning to study the collapsed golem and get the ball, excluding the young wizard Sinnet.

Duke Maximilian easily realized that they did this because they were jealous of the young Sinnet’s powerful magical power and high rank as the 5th wizard. 

‘But no matter how deep the desire is….’ 

It is impossible to care for a child who has lost a precious protector and has collapsed but to push it into deeper despair for personal greed. 

The Duke was very displeased with these impure people roaming the Duchy, but he had no right to lay a hand on them right away.

Fortunately, the wizards responded quickly.

On the day right before the New Year, ‘Alstair Astor’, the 5th wizard and son of Yona Astor, came to the dukedom in person.

He was 31 years old this year and was famous enough to be called the next wizard leader.

He bowed before the Duke in a remarkably beautiful gesture.

If it weren’t for the scar on his cheek or the white robe, he could believe that he was a noble in the capital right away.

“Noah is like a younger brother to me. I really don’t know how to thank you for saving him. How could Nelson do such a terrible thing….” 

He bit his lip in pain.

“Wizard Astor, they must be punished.”

When the duke answered strictly, Alstair nodded and replied, “Of course.”

“Of course. I’d like to talk more, but I think I’ll have to take them right back to the castle. And I’m going to re-select and send a low-level wizard to help Noah. So…” 

Alstair stared blankly at the Duke with a desperate face.

Please don’t break the difficult research agreement.

The Duke nodded his head.

“Okay. I also value this agreement very much. But I hope nothing like this will ever happen again.”

“Of course.” 

Alstair bowed deeply again and returned to the wizard’s castle with Nelson and his gang.

* * *

While Maximilian was dealing with the wizards, Noah Sinnet was found passed out in the carriage and laid in the guest room.

Benson left to report this, and Clarisse stayed behind with the Duchess to watch over the boy. 

The boy, who was probably a little taller than Clarisse, had a cat-shaped mask on his face and was so skinny that the white robe seemed too big for him.