CH 16

Desian came up with a simple method for dealing with the situation.

****

The next morning, Citrina was paid her wage. Harold put the first month’s paycheck in a thick envelope.

“How much did I earn?”

The envelope she received was fairly thick. Her expectations were raised for no reason.

After Harold left, Citrina looked inside the envelope. Soon, she couldn’t hide the corners of her mouth that went up.

‘What is this? Isn’t this way more than I expected?’

The duke was certainly a duke. The amount was enough that she could go to Ronata Atelier to learn the trade and start her own business.

Deeply surprised, she whistled with a small smile.

“I don’t have to worry about money for a while.”

Was this the price for her life?

Inside the envelope was obviously enough money to keep her going for a long time.

“So… the duke is growing on me.”

The words slipped out of Citrina and she bit her lip for a moment. It felt like camaraderie had sprouted from going through this and that.

‘Let’s work hard to help each other. I can survive and Desian can live a good life. Elaina can also be happy, ‘

Thinking so, Citrina smiled quietly. The morning sun streamed in drowsily. Apparently, the meeting time was coming up quickly.

‘Aaron is coming, and maybe Desian too?’ She needed to start getting ready. And just as Citrina was finishing getting ready, she received an expected visit in an unexpected manner.

There were three polite knocks on Citrina’s door. Rather than Aaron, it was Desian Pietro.

She had guessed it would be Aaron who came to her door. Therefore, when Citrina opened the door, she was a little embarrassed.

“Desian nim?”

Desian looked as indifferent as ever. Aaron poked out from behind him.

“Older brother promised to go with us!”

As Citrina was listening to Aaron’s words, she had yet to realize that Desian’s ears had turned slightly red.

So she just stared at Desian lightly.

“Outside…it’s dangerous, Citrina.”

“Dangerous?”

“Yes, Citrina, dangerous.”

At Desian’s response, Citrina nodded her head slowly.

Aaron mentioned it was his first time to visit the capital. The center of the empire was always noisy thanks to various events.

‘Are you worried about me?’

Citrina squinted and examined Desian’s actions. His expression was still unreadable. However this was still a fairly good sign.

Desian’s interest in other people has definitely increased and he feels empathy now. The duke was not dead either. She felt unmistakable that things were changing little by little.

‘I’m proud.’

Is this what it felt like to see a half-grown rabbit you have raised?

Of course, in terms of size, she was closer to a rabbit than him, but Citrina decided to ignore that.

“Ah…thank you.”

She felt relieved to see his changing appearance. Citrina smiled.

Instead of smiling back at her, Desian lowered his gaze down.

It couldn’t be, but he seemed a little embarrassed.

‘Well, since Desian is coming with us, let’s start Phase 2 of the rehabilitation project.’

Citrina smiled inwardly. How was everything going so well? She hoped things would get better and better.

‘That’s good. It was time to start the project code name ‘Episode Real Experience’. It’s better to show both good and bad people.’

The capital was always crowded with petty criminals among the people.

Since the original work had been changed, nothing in the future was certain, but a few petty criminals should be no match for Desian and Aaron. Her mind was strangely amused.

“Ah, Desian, how to we get to the city center?”

Desian finally smiled at Citrina when he heard her question.

Citrina’s real question wasn’t ‘how will we get to the city center’. Actually, she wanted to know how the hell they were going to sneak out of the ducal estate.

The answer was simple.

It was teleportation magic.

Desian’s magic allowed Citrina and her party to travel at once to the city center. In the blink of an eye, Citrina and the others were at the side of the city center. Citrina looked around impressed.

“Wow, how can it be so fast? Should I learn magic too?”

Citrina held a hand up, opening and closing it. It didn’t work unsurprisingly. Unfortunately, she no mana.

…While Citrina was acting so obnoxiously, Aaron was looking around in admiration.

She wanted Desian to experience more situations, but he was just standing there looking at Citrina.

She had been the focus of his attention for some time. This was a little…it made her feel good and a little burdened.