Chapter 76

Marquis Lewin’s mansion was not far from the Imperial Palace. Marquis Lewin is said to be the most powerful among the nobles of the Empire, but his mansion was surprisingly ordinary. The exterior wall, built with white bricks, was gray with traces of time left intact. Uniquely, the pillars of the mansion were dark red, and about half of the pillars were surrounded by ivy vines, giving off a unique impression.

‘This is one of the oldest mansions in the Empire.’

Since Marquis Lewin is a descendant of the collateral imperial family, the mansion is as old as the empire’s history. Thanks to sending a knight in advance, they were able to enter the mansion right away without wasting time.

“Uhm—”

Just as the carriage stopped in front of the building, Marchioness Lewin started tossing and turning.

“We almost arrived. Can you walk?”

The Marquis nodded as if it was still difficult for her to speak. Serwin got off first and opened the carriage door. Outside the carriage, the butlers and employees were waiting impatiently with their stretchers ready. They were greatly astonished to see the Marchioness, who was unable to control herself properly.

“Madam!”

“Are you alright? Hurry up and help!”

The Marquis’s maids hurriedly took the Marchioness with them. People who looked like doctors followed them hurriedly.

“Thank you, Your Majesty, because Madam went out without telling anyone— it would have been a disaster if it weren’t for Your Majesty.”

The butler bowed deeply to express his gratitude. His voice was determined, but he couldn’t hide his hand shaking in fear of Serwin.

“I’m not the one who brought her here. If you want to show your gratitude, do it to her.”

Serwin hurried into the carriage, wondering if it was always so unpleasant to receive a thank-you message.

“I hope she will get well soon.”

Amelie also said goodbye, and she quickly got into the carriage. She promised only to drop off the marquis and leave immediately because her time was suddenly wasted.

‘Date! You never know when it might come out again!’

Even before the butler could catch them, the carriage quickly escaped the Marquis mansion.

*****

“Then we’re going to the clock tower now, right?”

Looking at Amelie who was excited, it was unbearable to Serwin.

“I don’t think we can go there anymore.”

“Why?”

“Because the sun will set while you are up the clock tower. It’s hard to be wary of the sky at night, so high places are dangerous.”

“Well, it’s true a witch can fly in the sky—”

“Because we can’t even go up to the tower with all the knights.”

“How many knights have you hidden?”

Amelie looked at Serwin with a questioning look. He didn’t drag them all out here, did he? Serwin just laughed.

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about it. It happened because you were stubborn. Then where should we go?”

Amelie quickly abandoned her wish to go to the clock tower. Actually, she wanted to go around outside, but the place was not very important.

“How about this place?”

Serwin pointed to a street where handicraft craftsmen lived together. It was popular as a dating place and as a place to display and sell goods made by artisans.

“Did you ask about good dating spots in advance?”

“I think you’ll like it here.”

In response to Amelie’s question, Serwin swept at his hair for no reason.

‘Ah… it’s embarrassing.’

Amelie felt her heart be tickled looking at Serwin like that.

*****

The distance to the craftsmen was not far, so they were able to get there quickly. Serwin and Amelie wore large hoodies to cover their faces, but because winter was approaching, their outfits didn’t stand out.

“Wow, there’s a stand.”

“That’s what the craftsman’s disciples do to earn pocket money. If you want to buy something from a craftsman, you’d better go into the store.”

“Can I take a look?”

“That’s what we came here for.”

Serwin held her hand.

“Instead, hand. No one should try to take you again.”

“Who would do that?”

Amelie smiled and held his hand. She was so excited that she dragged Serwin to the stand.

‘Don’t you know that a witch tried to kidnap you?’

It was clear that the witch had other purposes for Amelie. If she had intended to kill Amelie, she would have attacked before she was caught on her own. But she didn’t. It was only after her failure to drag Amelie away that she began her attack.

‘I’d better leave it as she doesn’t know.’

Even now, she wants to meet Lira again, but if she finds out about this, she might run out of the imperial palace right away.

‘If that happens, you could really be kidnapped. It’s better to be careful until we know what the witch is up to.’

Amelie lacked her sense of crisis, which is sometimes surprisingly enough. As much as she was good, she had a tendency to expect others to be the same.

Serwin thought he should protect Amelie even if he overprotected her.

“Your Majesty! Look at this. It’s made of glass.”

Amelie waved Serwin’s hand and said. What she was looking at was covering the real flowers with thin glass. When the artificial light of glass was added to the natural beauty of the real flowers, it felt mysterious.

“Do you want to buy it?”

“What? No. What’s the point of buying this?”

Amelie had no interest in things that were merely pretty without use.

“Let’s go over there.”

She dragged Serwin to another stand. The owner, who was sitting in a daze, woke up from the chair.

“What’s this?”

“I made the tapestry small. We weave the fabric ourselves.”

The owner showed me a loom the size of a palm.

“I made it with this.”

“Ah! I’ve done this before. But… It’s very fascinating. I can’t believe you put it in this detail.”

Amelie admired the mini tapestry. At one time, it was trendy to do weaving or handloom, so she also tried it.

“I had so much fun back then.”

I remember when I was forced to quit my job as I got busy with work. The damn company.

“Do you like that? I will buy you.”

“You don’t have to buy it—”

“Then what about that?”

Serwin pointed to the loom.

“Nevermind. Thank you, I enjoy seeing it.”

Amelie dragged Serwin out of the stand. She can’t even look at it because he’ll buy it for her whenever she sees something.

“You said it was fun to make? Why don’t you buy it and try again?”

“We don’t have enough time to think about getting rid of the disaster. If I make it well, it can have a magical effect, but I don’t know when I’ll finish tapestries, so that’s fine.”

“Can tapestries have magic?”

“Of course. We’re going to make a line from the scriptures or the figure of a demon. If you hang it up, it protects the witch who lives in the house.”

“Then buy it. You can do it later when you have time.”

“Enough.”

Serwin seemed to be disappointed as if he wanted to buy her something. Amelie, who was looking at him, sighed and said while looking at Serwin.

“If you want to buy me something, please buy me a thread.”

“Thread?”

“I want to make a small thread bracelet. This is also a type of magic, and if you make it with all your heart, it will be effective.”

The bracelet had minor effects, such as becoming slightly stronger to disease resistance and feeling less cold.

“I want to make some and give it as gifts.”

“Then I’ll buy thread.”

Serwin was going to buy every thread on this street. Amelie sweated and stopped him.

“Everything else is fine, so let’s take a look around slowly, okay?”

“Okay.”

Amelie was able to watch comfortably only after hearing a few more definite answers from Serwin.

****

When she returned to the carriage from her tour, Amelie found a basket lying on the floor. It was the Marchioness’ basket.

“Oh, I forgot to give this.”

“Basket?”

“It’s the Marchioness’. I took it because it was on the street but I forgot to give it to her.”

Amelie picked up the basket. It was heavy.

“What’s inside?”

“I didn’t see it. Can we open it?”

“Open it. If you hear something strange, you should throw it away.”

When I opened the basket, there was a black cat inside the basket.

“Nyaa.”

The cat cried softly.

Amelie stared at the cat.

‘Does this cat have a unique voice?’

“What did you hear inside?”

“Did you hear the cat? Is it the Marchioness’ cat? Why is she carrying a cat?”

“I think she picked it up on the road when she came.”

“Tok!”

No! Lira barely endured the moment she almost spoke to someone.

‘I failed to plan because that woman intervened!’

Lira originally planned to approach Amelie disguised as a carriage accident. Up until Charlotte was thrown to the coachman, the plan seemed to go smoothly.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

However, the woman walking around the area collapsed in front of the carriage before Lira. The gaze was focused on the woman, and Lira entered the basket. The basket was moved to an unnoticed place so that Amelie would not be suspected.

‘I’ve worked so hard… I can’t go back.’

Lira grumbled and groaned.

“Are you sick? Did it fall and get hurt?”

Amelie took Lira out of her basket and looked at her body. She had no injuries, and it didn’t look like her bones were broken. But her cat was shedding tears, so she couldn’t let it go.

“Let’s take it to the imperial palace first. I’ll have to go and take a good look.”

“Yeah.”

The carriage began to run toward the imperial palace. Lira smiled wholeheartedly in the basket.

‘Now I can aim for a time when there is no emperor.’

However, contrary to Lira’s expectations, Serwin never left Amelie’s side. During the day, Amelie followed Serwin to the office, so she didn’t even have a chance to see her face.

‘If I wait, the opportunity will come.’

She did not give up and instead sat down in Amelie Palace to seek opportunities.

******

Serwin’s office was always quiet as if there were no one. This was because Serwin really disliked loudness. So she couldn’t even hear the sound of a pen or a paper flip. The aides used their own writing if they had anything to say.

But not long ago, strange noises began to come in.

It was the sound of Amelie gnawing peanuts with her front teeth.

‘I came all the way here to work!’

She only ate and slept without doing anything special, but she still hated going to work. Amelie put a piece of peanut in her mouth and started peeling a new peanut.

Tak.

She grabbed the peanuts using four feet and grinded the hard shell with her front teeth. Then she took out the seed and held it in her hand.

‘It’s hard because my body gets smaller.’

Why can’t I transform into a big animal?

Amelie grunted and opened her mouth wide. But then, Serwin tapped his finger.

‘Oh!’

The peanut that escaped Amelie’s hand fell to the ground in front of her.

‘What did you do now?’

When Amelie glared at Serwin, Serwin chuckled. Even though she had a blank face, it was easy to recognize that she was angry. But he laughed because it was cute.

‘Are you laughing? Are you laughing right now? Are you playing with food?’

Amelie cupped her tiny arms in front of her chest. Her thin beard shook up and down.