CH 14

“Um… I feel sleepy.”

Tina murmured, blinking her eyes. I laughed while supporting her.

“Of course you’re tired. You have been running around all day like a happy-go-lucky puppy, haven’t you?”

“Puppy… no… hmm.”

Her steps staggered and crossed. It was risky even though I was holding her arm. Her mind seems to be asleep already, with only her body moving.

“You need to go in and rest.”

I said while looking at Tina. Haron said he would take us home, so we were going to go back to the village where the small house is. Just like when I came, I was forced to suffer from motion sickness again throughout the carriage ride.

“Are you feeling better?”

“I hope so.”

I answered while pressing down on my still-rumbling chest. Fortunately, we managed to arrive again just before I managed to throw up.

“Oh, come think of it.”

While walking down the street during sunset, Haron spoke first.

“Where did you work in the lord’s castle? I’ve been around there but I don’t think I ever saw you and others didn’t know either.”

“Ah.”

Yeah, I remember that lie. I almost forgot for a moment. I was thinking about it for a while, but it got annoying, so I decided to just twist more words.

“I got fired.”

I hope that makes sense. Even with my light tone, Haron’s expression was in shock.

“Oh… I’m sorry about that. I was rude…”

“No, don’t worry too much.”

That’s a lie. Since then, Haron has been silent while thinking deeply. Before I knew it, we arrived in front of my house. I didn’t expect to be here again so soon. When I came last time, I put a spell inside so dust doesn’t build up. As soon as Tina got home, she laid on the bed as if she fell down and I carefully covered her with a blanket.

“Thank you so much for today. You’re on vacation and we made you work.”

“Oh, no, not at all. The family… it was a nice vacation.”

He glanced at me and carefully opened his mouth again.

“I need to try to find a way.”

“What?”

What are you talking about? He didn’t elaborate afterwards. Haron then mumbled ‘Maybe… if I say that…’

***

It was the next morning.

Like I said, I don’t like this town very much, especially Mrs. Merkel and Belsey. Besides, it was a village with other bad memories. I wanted to leave as soon as dawn, but I guess life just doesn’t go the way I want.

“A letter has arrived.”

As soon as the morning sun came up, a messenger came to my house. And he handed me a luxurious red letter. I blinked and looked between the letter and the messenger repeatedly.

“… For me?”

“You’re Lucia, right?”

“Yes… but where did this come from?”

“If you look at it yourself, you’ll know.”

He delivered the letter and went away. I stood there and opened it. The sender was unexpectedly Haron. Tina stuck her head over my shoulder behind me.

“Are you going to read it?”

“Yes.”

I opened it.

『Dear Lucia,

Did you have a peaceful evening yesterday?

I’m worried if you’ll be surprised to receive the letter suddenly.

After listening to your words, I wondered if I could be of help to you, so I wrote this. I’m only sending it from my personal desire to help, but if you’re uncomfortable, you may burn it.』

While I was thinking of what this meant, something else fell out of the envelope. Tina quickly picked up the piece of paper that fell.

“Devil, this… is a recommendation letter? To be exact, it’s a ‘special employment recommendation letter’ from the lord’s castle.”

“…”

No way.

I slapped my forehead. That’s not what I meant, warrior.

***

(The lord’s 3rd person pov)

“Can you write me a recommendation letter?”

“What?”

The lord exclaimed. Haron didn’t back down even after seeing the stupid look the lord had. Once again, Haron looked straight at him and said,

“A letter of recommendation for a maid employment.”

“Oh, what is this… why did you come here in the middle of the night to ask for a letter of recommendation?”

“Do you mean no?”

The lord couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

‘Why is this warrior so crooked these days?’

Haron had suddenly disappeared without saying anything and made the lord look for him all day long. Then when he came back at night, he suddenly asked for a recommendation letter. He didn’t know when it started, but the hound who was listening, started growling on the side, and the lord began to feel worse.

Come think of it, he had also asked about a maid with silver hair last time. What the hell does he want? It was like he turned into a total stranger.

“Hey, isn’t this too rude! If you keep coming here like this, I’ll…”

“You will? What.”

“Well…”

“What can you do to me?”

A cool voice sounded in the lord’s ears. He felt his hands shaking. He has never heard such a low and quiet tone before. No matter how he’s adopted and ignored by Duke Blake, he was still a member of that family, who had a much higher status than the lord of the country castle. Nevertheless, the lord was able to get away with some things because Haron endured it and never caused trouble.

‘… I never welcome ‘that’ tone.’

“Hey warrior. Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

“Suddenly…”

Haron lowered his voice even further. The lord then remembered the time Haron was in the orphanage, wasn’t he like this originally? He wasn’t submissive in the beginning. It was only due to Duke Blake’s influence that his personality was modified. The lord’s eyes trembled at the thought of the past.

Haron clenched his fist.

“…I’m asking for it now. Is it possible?”

“…”

“You’d better think it through and give me an answer.”

‘I won’t ask you to do it twice’ was what Haron added before leaving. The air became chilled in the office.

***

(Lucia’s pov)

I was very flustered. I was so embarrassed that I forgot I needed to return to the Devil’s Castle quickly. A letter of recommendation for hiring a maid? Although I look a little sloppy, I’m still the Devil. I can’t believe I suddenly got a job at the lord’s castle…

“…Is it bad?”

I looked at the recommendation letter again with a bright face. The timing is perfect. This will help with the infiltration of the castle, where I can also find out the location of the Mahone Stones. He solved two problems for me at once. I was very grateful.

“I’m going back to the Devil’s Castle to let the others know.”

When I walked out in a hurry, Belsey was there again.

“I heard you came back with a warrior last night?”

“You’re so well-informed, Belsey.”

“Is he your type? He too thin and doesn’t look like he would suit you.”

“Sigh. That’s what you call handsome. Stop talking nonsense and get out of my way if you don’t want to get hit again.”

Belsey started chasing after me again, so I said,

“Mrs. Merkel’s going to find you, so you better go home kid. She’s waiting for you.”

“Now I hear myself being treated as a child.”

“The reason why you’re still alive is because of your mother. Be nice to your mom, kid.”

Belsey’s face was slightly distorted by my sarcasm. Either way, I left him alone and went on my way.

“Do you think the warrior will be with you?”

“…”

“Never. The warrior is a man who will marry a princess after killing the Devil. He’ll give a commoner more attention than you.”

Behind me, Belsey yelled out loudly.

“You’ll regret it later!”

I could hear him shouting, but I ignored him. It’s not like his words were ever worth listening to. Leaving him behind, I hurried back to my castle. I thought it was a wonderful idea to infiltrate the castle as a maid, but everyone else’s opinions were the opposite.

[No, you can’t.]

“How come?”

“What do you mean? Of course not!”

Tina in particular, disagreed.

“It’s impossible for the Devil to infiltrate human castles as a maid. I’d rather do it for you.”

“The last person who can do it is you, Tina. The moment you get discovered, you’ll be sent back to the kingdom. Do you mind going home like that?”

“Uh, no. I don’t want to. The kingdom must have already forgotten me.”

Tina shuddered. When she was young, she seemed to still have an attachment to the kingdom, but as she grew older, she started to hate it. Maybe she realized what the king had said to her when she was young.

[Isn’t the Devil more dangerous than the princess? As soon as the Devil gets caught, she’ll get executed immediately.]

“I’m not weak enough to be beaten by ordinary humans.”

[If it were an ordinary human being, then you’re right… I heard there’s a warrior there.]

“Ugh.”

Deran had hit the final blow. Yes, I felt sorry for him and cared for him, but he was definitely still my enemy. We don’t know when he’ll try to break the barrier at the Devil’s Castle, and it’s not like there’s laws against it. But it’s not like I can just send anyone to go there for me. Besides, this is a great opportunity.

“The warrior is my enemy. But, I know exactly who he is, not the other way around. So there’s no better chance than this.”

[…Do you mean that you’ll attempt to assassinate the warrior when you get the chance? If that’s the case then I’ll happily comply.]

Deran gave me a suspicious look that said ‘there’s no way the Devil would think like that’.