How Can You Pay Back The Kindness I Raised With Obsession?

He stood with his arms crossed and leaned against the wall of the greenhouse watching over his younger siblings and their babysitter, but Daniel, who was standing upright next to him, muttered in a low voice.

“I still have a hard time understanding it.”

“That’s again.”

Even if he didn’t listen anymore, he knew what he was talking about. Since he returned, Daniel had been saying the same thing whenever he had a chance.

“Why did you extend the babysitting contract?”

It was only natural that Daniel, who thought he would be able to return to his original position as captain of the guards at Witch Watch, was dissatisfied.

“No matter how evil you feel, you can’t entrust the safety of your younger siblings to a criminal for a long time. So there is absolutely no contract extension.”

Besides, since Elliott who even said that before going to subdue monsters, he couldn’t understand it even more. 

If Daniel even knew the terms of the new contract, he might go wild. He didn’t reply by saying not to say anything more, but Daniel let out a deep sigh and muttered to himself like he was talking to him.

“I did say she did a great job in stopping intruders, but I never thought it would be shaken so easily.”

Elliot couldn’t resist. The moment she said goodbye to him and was about to leave, he reached out and grabbed her hand as if possessed by something. Looking back, it was hard to believe what heI had done. He didn’t regret it though.

“Sir Daniel, go and do your work.”

Elliot pointed the tip of his chin to the door.

“The security forces will come soon.”

He decided to transfer the prisoners from the dungeon inside the Grand Ducal residence to a formal prison. Because the newspaper was already over the news.

‘Gerald, that guy. Do you have any intention of hiding the identity of the client? It’s incomparable in many ways.’

He called investigators from the Wizards’ Association and the Holy City to investigate the tunnel. When he saw the fact and the shape of the oyster that didn’t exist a few days ago, it was clear that they had used magic. And the result was the same.

Investigators found the remaining magic energy like a fingerprint, and the characteristics were not different from those that followed Gerald. He had evidence that could connect the raid and the crown prince, but Elliot decided to bury it for now. He needed to do that if he was going to wage an all-out war with the revelations. However, since he had been traveling only to the outskirts or abroad, he had no opportunity to establish a position within the empire.

‘Besides, public sentiment is easily swayed by agitation.’

If he moved hastily, the emperor with thick bones in trickery could slip away as cleverly as a snake, and only Elliot could be accused of being a traitor to the imperial family. So, there just wasn’t enough evidence. Moreover, there was no evidence of the most game-changing event, the assassination of his parents.

‘I have to aim for the most certain time.’

The whole empire was already noisy about that. It was enough for now that the world didn’t look at the emperor with good eyes. For a while, he wouldn’t be able to issue an order to go out because he was paying attention. That idiot Gerald took off his feet and solved Elliot’s troubles.

“What are you doing?”

Elliot urged Daniel, who narrowed his eyes and stared at him, but didn’t leave his seat.

“Why is that my job? The escort work was supposed to be supervised by the chief of the guard and His Highness, right?”

“It is not difficult. Besides, you said you wanted to quit being a nanny watchman? For a while, I will personally take over the role.”

He smiled, curling the corners of his eyes, and Daniel’s eyes narrowed even more.

“Don’t get me wrong.”

The smirk quickly disappeared from Elliot’s face. He had a rosy interest in witches, so he knew he’s following him. What did he see people as?

“Even if there is a misunderstanding, it should be grounded.”

“Contract extension.”

Elliot’s brow furrowed.

Why did he keep talking about things that were difficult to understand? He should know how upset he was. Elliott straightened his contorted expression and grinned.

“Then shall I make a groundless misunderstanding, Sir Daniel?”

“No.”

Daniel, who sensed an ominous feeling from his smile, tried to stop him, but to no avail.

“I can’t imagine how much she would regret having taken away the job of following the children around. Very amazing If I tell His Holiness, he will be as surprised as I am.”

When Daniel mentioned his weakness, the Pope, he became contemplative.

“Your Highness, don’t ever talk about this.”

Daniel warned him and he went straight out of the greenhouse.

“It was insane that I left the Order of the Holy Knights to serve a drugged superior like that…”

As his muttering of complaints receded into the distance, Elliot turned his attention to his siblings watering their fields. On the day he left to subdue monsters, he swore by kissing those children on their foreheads. 

‘When I return, I will spend more time with them.’

Now was the time to put that determination into action.

* * *

“What?”

When Luna shouted while watering the field while reciting ‘Sleep well’ like a magic spell, she raised her head. Luna’s hand was pointing at a broccoli.

“Why did only this grow so much?”

“…uh? That is…”

She shed a sweat looking at the leafy broccoli more than anything else at a glance. It wasn’t raised by children. It ended up in the hands of a mercenary because she accidentally exchanged it for a sword.

“What will the Chestnuts say if they find out that one is missing?”

The next day, she muttered to herself while looking down at the field where long swords were planted instead of broccoli, and an angel wearing a straw hat suddenly appeared and rescued her.

“It was raised at home.”

A gardener gave her a broccoli seedling as a gift for the sandwich he had gotten earlier. She planted it there and liked it, saying it was like a gem, but children were not patient enough for observation. She quickly shook her head to find the right answer.

Should she say that fairies raised it? So, would they hate it because someone else raised their vegetables? Broccoli grew up because it wanted to be eaten by them? Hey, wasn’t that horror?

She was sweating profusely when she heard a peek laughing in the distance. The Grand Duke, who had been watching her in trouble, suddenly approached her.

“This…”

It happened while she was trying to help. The child-rearing sense wasn’t zero, so unless she told them a reasonable reason they would know she was lying. But there was no way I could give a reasonable excuse.

“The gardener…”

The Grand Duke started speaking. She knew it! Traitor! ‘Do not speak. She cried out with her eyes, but he ignored her appeal.

“Only this broccoli…”

She couldn’t help it. It was a last resort. She tried to block his mouth, but the Grand Duke took a step back lightly with his long legs, avoiding her hand, and finally talked.

“I gave it fertilizer.”

“…”

What? It wasn’t… She was ashamed of the misunderstanding.

“Fertilizer?”

The two children tilted their heads and looked up at the Grand Duke and her.

“He gave broccoli something delicious.”

As soon as they heard her, Luca rummaged through his trouser pockets. What came out of his hand was a cookie. Why did he have that? She didn’t remember giving him cookies today.

“Then can I give broccoli a cookie?”

Luca asked her, handing out a cookie to the exceptionally small broccoli.

“No, broccoli has no mouth, so it can’t eat cookies.”

“If you crush it into small pieces and sprinkle it on, the root might eat it.”

As the Grand Duke muttered something like a passing noise, Luca tried to break the cookie, his eyes twinkling. She hurriedly stopped Luca.

“No. No. Broccoli doesn’t like cookies. I’ll go get the fertilizer.”

She put the cookie in Luca’s mouth and stood up.

“But why do the roots eat it?”

While the Grand Duke explained to Luna that plants absorb nutrients and water with their roots and that with their leaves, she received some fertilizer from the gardeners. It must have been so different from what he had imagined. As soon as they saw the inside of the small sack, the children frowned. Luna pointed at the black mound of fertilizer and asked in a timid voice.

“Is this delicious?”

He meant if something like that couldn’t be tasty, but the naive Luca grabbed a handful of fertilizer.

“Really? Can I taste it?”

“Luca, don’t eat!”

The Grand Duke’s cry echoed through the greenhouse.

“Eat well and grow well.”

After spreading fertilizer evenly across the field, they came to the hut for lunch.

“Eat well, you too, and sleep well.”

“Wow!”

“Drink it!”

Today’s lunch menu was Tonkatsu. With a snap of her fingers, the plates on the countertop disappeared one by one and landed on the table. She went to the table and sat down, and the Grand Duke was staring at the steaming plate with his arms crossed.

“Why are you like that?”

“Aren’t pork cutlets usually eaten with potatoes?”

The plate was filled with soft, heart-shaped rice. As a Korean, it is natural for her to eat tonkatsu with rice, but that was not the case there.

“Try it. Rice goes as well as potatoes.”

“Hmm…”

The Grand Duke’s disapproving gaze moved to the other corner of the plate.

“Why is the rabbit food on the human plate?”

That was what he said when he saw the thinly sliced cabbage salad piled high. Vegetables were usually cooked in that world, so it was reasonable to think it was rabbit food.

“It also tastes better than it looks. Oh, of course I don’t eat it like that…”

She scooped a ladleful of sesame dressing from a jar in the middle of the table and spread it all over everyone’s plates. She made that with roasted sesame seeds and ground peanuts, so the savory taste was amazing.

“Pour this on, mix well, and eat.”

Now, the children who ate everything she gave them no matter how strange it looked, mixed cabbage and taste it with expectant faces.

But the Archduke was still suspicious.

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