Chapter 34: CH 31

Translated by Wook

Edited by Wook

“Seniel, will you copy me?”

“… Yes,” Seniel removed his hand from his face and answered dutifully. He waited for my words with wide-open eyes with sincerity, as if he had been given a secret mission.

“Now, follow me. ‘I’m already being helpful enough’.”

Seniel faithfully followed up to ‘I’m already’ and stopped talking after hearing the rest of the words. Then he looked at me with eyes that seemed like he had misheard. I nodded once, implying that what he had just heard was correct, and responded softly. “Come on.”

He couldn’t open his mouth for a long time. I waited patiently for him to follow suit. Seniel’s chin was tense, and he began to follow my words carefully. “I-I’m already being helpful… enough.”

His eyes shook as he spoke this simple sentence with difficulty. To signify that he had done well, I clapped lightly while holding his hand.

“Okay. Well done. That’s all I want to say to you.”

“…”

“If you feel guilty looking at me in the future, calm yourself down by repeating what you said earlier. I hope you don’t lose all your energy while feeling sorry for me every day. We have to conserve our strength to endure.”

I thought it was comforting. I wasn’t good at giving emotional advice, so this was the best I could do.

“But, I’m Kid after all, so how can I-” Unable to finish his words, Seniel shut his mouth. The strength in his hand that was holding mine was drained.

Objectively, his words were not wrong. But I shook my head.

“I don’t know. You’re Kid, but unlike you, Kid is not helpful at all.”

Kid was indeed Seniel, but the two were not alike enough to be considered the same person. And now I thought of Kid and Seniel as different people. It was also better for my state of mind to think that way.

I hope Seniel thought of himself that way, too, though I was sure he wouldn’t be able to do that because of his nature. I spoke my mind frankly. “I’m not someone who talks empty words, so don’t overcomplicate things and just take my words. You’re helpful. Alright?”

Seniel couldn’t answer anything when I asked if he understood. His red eyes were covered with thoughts and confusion.

It would be useless to say more here. Quite a bit of time had passed, and only his mind would become more complicated, so I decided to let him go to work.

“Anyway, don’t feel sorry for me anymore, and let’s go back to our daily lives. You have to go to work.”

Seniel was still speechless. I took his hand and led him to the door, step by step. I turned around before opening the door and faced him.

“See you again tonight.”

“… Yes.”

I opened the door, let go of Seniel’s hand, and went forward first. Then I stood in the hallway and waved to him. He looked at me with an expression I couldn’t interpret before leaving.

***

‘I should have comforted him differently.’

I returned to my room, but Seniel’s complex expression continued to linger in my head. I would have cared less about that expression if I had sent him away without comforting him. I had told him to cheer up in my own way, but I felt a little depressed because it seemed like it seemed to have hurt him.

I sighed heavily in frustration. As I kept thinking about it, I felt unfair.

‘But I’m having a hard time too. How could I give him more comfort there?’

I brushed off my emotions and refocused on my survival.

‘Let’s just think about the meeting with Ronan later.’

I couldn’t ask Ezette, so I’d give Ronan some evidence. After making him suspicious, I had to get Ronan firmly on my side. If it were a short-term relationship where I would leave in a week like the last time, I would have just left the evidence and walked away. But now that I had to remain for some time, I should establish a solid relationship.

‘Ronan is a paladin, but he seems to play quite often. It was the same the last time we went to the port. On the other hand, Seniel works almost without days off.’

Is being a paladin originally such a leisurely job? When we meet today, I’ll ask specifically about Ronan’s holiday.

Just as I was thinking about that, someone knocked on the door. At this time when Seniel was away from work, there should’ve been no one to knock on my door.

I shrank and looked back at the door.

I knew very well that Kid wouldn’t visit during the day and wasn’t the kind of person to knock on the door politely, but I got chills down my spine.

There was a knock again and a human voice outside.

“Madam, this is Butler Hubburn. A letter has arrived, and I would like to deliver it.”

I could feel warm blood running through my body as Hubburn’s voice released the tension.

“… Come in.”

‘Letter?’

As was the case last time, I shouldn’t have received a letter. Could it be Ronan? Had he sent a letter in a hurry to convey that he could not come to the appointment?

As I received the letter and the paper knife from the butler, I nodded to the butler, implying that he could go out. Having finished his duty, he bowed again before leaving.

As soon as I picked up the letter, I covered my nose.

‘Ugh, the smell of perfume.’

Before I even opened the envelope, the scent of artificial roses wafted in. My nose ached hard that it was difficult to breathe.

The letter was plain and didn’t have a seal like the letter Ronan sent last time, but the material was very luxurious. A golden rose was drawn on the lower right corner where the seal should be.

‘Who the hell sent me something like this?’

To spray a lot of dirty perfume without a family seal. It was a suspicious letter, like a secret love letter. However, originally, the owner of this body had no one in particular who could be called a lover.

As I took out the letter, the scent of perfume, stronger than before, stimulated my sense of smell. My nose hurt to read it like this, so I dusted the letter out the window. It seemed to smell less than before, so I picked up the letter again.

The handwriting was so colorful that it was difficult to read the contents. And as I read—more like deciphering—the words written, the back of my neck became cooler.

“Who is this…” I double-checked that the recipient was me and searched through the letter to find an unknown sender. I called the butler again.

“Where did you get this from?”

“I got it from the postman. Is there a problem?”

“Find the postman. And find out who sent me the letter.”

“I understand.”

I nervously bit my nails. A different kind of fear dominated my body than when I met Kid.

After a while, the butler returned with a pale face.

“I’m sorry, Madam. I delivered the letter to you without any inspection because Master told me not to question everything in the mansion. From now on, I will only accept letters with a seal.”

At the butler’s apology, I firmly shook my head. “It’s okay. Please make sure to receive all the letters that come to me in the future.”

At my words, the butler raised his head with a puzzled expression, then hurriedly lowered his head again when he saw my weakened expression.

“I will.”

“Leave for now.”

“Thank you for forgiving my mistake.”

I gritted my teeth. The more I struggled, the more my life got twisted.

***

Vivi Jezleine.

It’s a pity that you were not able to escape. I wanted you to disappear quickly.

Let me be blunt. For what purpose did you plan to meet with the paladin Ronan Phylaxis? Perhaps you’ve seen ‘Him’, Seniel’s real face, but don’t be ridiculous.

I’ll warn you. Don’t mess with ‘His’ plans. No more encounters with the paladin. Stay like someone dead.

If you act in any way uncooperative with ‘His’ plans, I will inform Him that you have attempted to stow away. You know very well that He is not the kind of person who will sit back and watch you sneak away, knowing His secret.

Instead, if you cooperate with us, we will ensure you leave McCourt Mansion safely because you don’t fit in with Him.

I couldn’t figure out where the hell my information was leaked.

And how on earth did this person know that Seniel was Kid?

In the original work, had anyone known Kid’s identity?