Benson’s daily life begins with waking up every morning, eating breakfast, and changing shifts with Ercia’s escort driver. So he sticks by Ersia’s side every day, observes her daily life, and basically protects her from danger. Of course, as Laurencia had instructed, she was to record and report everything about Ercia. At first, Ercia used to frown and get all kinds of irritated just by looking at her, but recently, she had become quite docile. In the past, even if it was no big deal, he was busy throwing her temper tantrums and chasing her away, but the young lady, who had become quite quiet recently, was teasing him secretly. He would have ignored it if she had lost her temper or become irritated, but when she suddenly invited me to drink tea with her and brought me cookies to eat, he got goosebumps.
He suspected that they were trying to assassinate him, so he secretly inserted a silver needle to check, and then pretended to eat a cookie and pulled it back to check what was inside. However, there was nothing unusual about it; rather, it was particularly delicious and suited my taste buds, perhaps because it was the food eaten by a young lady of the Ajstain family. While he was thinking that it would be a good idea to bring her younger brother, the image of Ercia handing him a cookie to eat with his younger brother was deeply imprinted in his mind. He guessed he didn’t eat well. That’s what he thought. She could not help but report this strange occurrence, so she wrote it down in detail and forwarded it to Lawrence. But after she answered that she knew, she didn’t react much. He frowned every day, wondering if something complicated had happened recently, but today I finally returned to the castle with Grand Duke Berdian.
When Benson heard that story, he tried to do so, but Ercia flinched and her mood suddenly sank. Eventually, Benson had no choice but to sneak away and watch her from a distance. He vaguely knew. Ercia was coveting Ian, her older sister Lawrence’s man, but he couldn’t help but wonder why. Sensing Ercia’s presence at the door, Benson opened his closed eyes and turned his head. After a while, the door opened and Ercia appeared. Unlike before, she looked quite frustrated. However, the clothes had changed to going out clothes. When Benson asked, Ercia glanced at him and then answered quietly.
“I want to take a short walk. I don’t want you to follow me.”
“But…”
“I’m in a mess and want to be alone, so don’t come after me. Are you worried that I might do something strange in this castle?”
In contrast to his extremely calm eyes, his voice was venomous. It seems like he’s been quiet lately, but his temper has come back. Benson regained his appetite and shook his head. Well, it doesn’t matter if it’s for a while. Benson closed the door after recommending that they go. Ercia narrowed her eyes. After leaving her room and walking around the garden for a while, Ercia turned her head to make sure there was no one around her, then took out a piece of rolled up paper from her form and placed it in her hand. She turned her head once again to look around and whistled lightly. Then, a pigeon came from afar and stopped on her arm. He hung her paper on a string tied to the leg of her white pigeon and then waved her hand towards the sky, and her pigeon flew up and disappeared in an instant. Ercia watched her disappearing dove, then turned around and returned to her own room. Benson, who was standing in silence, noticed that she had returned and nodded at her. Ercia opened the door and was walking in when she suddenly stopped and she looked at him. When Benson tilted her head, wondering if Ercia was suddenly looking at him, she hesitated and then opened her mouth.
“Benson.”
“Yes.”
He answered lightly, turning his body to her, Ercia ran her hand through her hair, and she spoke again.
“Can I ask you something?”
“You can feel free to ask.”
As she faced his grinning face, she smiled slightly at Ercia as well. Why are you laughing? Her eyes widened as if she had seen something strange about Benson.
“This castle is your home, right?”
A house? Benson thought for a moment and nodded as if there was nothing more to think about.
“It’s a place that helped me be with my younger brother, so it’s like home to me.”
“So, if you and your brother find a separate place to live together, can that also be your home?”
It was an unexpected question. No, it was something he hadn’t even thought of, so he couldn’t answer, so he paused. Ercia looked at his face and then lifted her body.
“…no. That’s Okay.”
“Miss?”
“Just take your shift. I’m going to sleep too.”
Although it was early to fall asleep, Ercia looked very tired. She looked like an abandoned kitten. Benson stared at the closed door and then closed his eyes.
“I don’t know, girl.”
* * *
I briefly wondered where to take Ian. When she left the dining room and took me to the living room, there were a lot of eyes on me. Although it was evening, it was not yet dark and there were still many people throughout the castle. Moreover, he was not an ordinary noble, but the head of the Berdian family. He paid attention to my relationship with him and with other nobles, as well as with Ajstain’s vassals and rulers. It was clear that if the two of us entered the living room alone, dirty words would leak out.
“Where are you going?
You clueless human being. I glanced at Ian behind me, smiling with wide eyes, and thought about it for a moment. Should I take him to my room where few people see him… Wouldn’t that create even worse rumors? Then the training ground…? I don’t think that’s the case.
In that case, I decided to go to the hard office. However, when I tried to open the office door, a loud noise came from inside. Who’s in my office…? I thought about it for a moment, but then something came to mind. Because we were always told to organize all settlements by the end of the month, the people in charge of each business division would gather in the office and cause a fuss. Normally, I would have told them to get together quickly and go home, but I couldn’t participate today because I had work to do. In the middle of this, if I go into the office and tell everyone to go back because I’m going to write here, what would they look at? There will be resentment pouring in, asking where I came from and what I did. I couldn’t bear to look at him like that, so I sighed and looked back at Ian. He smiled and tilted his head. Ha, maybe this person is good?
“…Why did you really follow me here?”
“Because I want to be with Lawrence.”
At his answer, the servants who were loitering around looked back in surprise. He was driving me crazy. I held his hand and quickly left. Where can I go without getting people’s attention? After thinking for a while and moving my legs, I sighed, glanced back at him, and opened my mouth.
“…Don’t think anything strange.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Stop rolling your eyes carelessly.”
“Huh?”
A fox-like man… I gritted my teeth and headed towards my room. As I moved my legs, ignoring the people who greeted me as I passed by, I came to a place where there were not many people. In other words, it was near the residence of the direct descendants of the Ajstain family. After taking a quick look around, I stood in front of the door to my room and let out a low sigh. Then he looked back at Ian and said.
“Don’t misunderstand and listen carefully. It won’t be good for other people to notice it for no reason. It’s better for few people to know that your project is in contact at the moment, so I’m doing it this way. Don’t be fooled, just wait a moment and then go to the room I showed you. Please go. Ian’s room was being prepared right now. I thought it would be okay to just give him an empty room, but the grandfather said that he was an important guest and gave instructions that we should prepare. It’s a situation that makes me sigh. Ian tilted his head. Come in…”
There was nothing better to talk about, so I opened the door and went in. It’s nothing special, but I’m nervous for no reason. Even though it was supposed to be clean because the occupants cleaned the room and changed the air freshener every day, I was strangely concerned. Ian secretly tapped his nose to smell the room and rolled his eyes to see if any of my shameful private life was lying around. Even though I am proud, I feel burdened for no reason.
“Where can I sit?”
Ian rolled his eyes for a while and patted me on the back. There was no light in the room so I couldn’t see anything. But Ian looked exactly where the chair would be placed. Suddenly he realized that the darkness had no effect on him. Like an outstanding knight, he seemed to have a keen sense of energy. He sighed when he realized that by standing still he was giving Ian time to look around the room calmly. What are you doing now?
“Come in.”
Ian came in with a grin and he skillfully lit up the room. I looked at Ian in surprise, as if it were his room, and rolled his eyes slightly.
“It was so dark that I thought I should turn on the light. Should I turn it off again?”
“…Leave me alone.”
I was nervous alone for no reason. Ian sat in his chair and looked at me blankly, with a nonchalant expression on his face. He closed the door and sat down on the other side. Even though it was my familiar and comfortable room, the air was heavy. It’s awkward… If I think about it, it wasn’t my first time being in an enclosed space with Ian. I was with him at his castle the other day and they had a lot to talk about. But I’ve never felt this awkward before, and somehow being in my room made me feel embarrassed. Was he disappointed? The other woman’s room had cosmetics everywhere and a large dressing room, and it was probably a little more fancy, but my room was bleak, without even a vase. All I had was a stack of reports that I had read until yesterday and put down. Is it too bleak?
I tried to shake off the awkwardness and say something, but my mouth wouldn’t come out easily. Thanks to this, I felt burdened by the continued heavy atmosphere, so I turned my head slightly.
“Hot?”
“Yes… what? Huh? What?”
Unlike me, he looked very relaxed.
Just as I was about to feel embarrassed, thinking that I was the only one who felt awkward, he smiled and opened his mouth.
“I thought you were hot because your face turned red.”
“Is my face red?”
I hurriedly reflected my face in the mirror mounted on the wall. Crazy, crazy! My face was as red as a ripe persimmon. Ugh, isn’t this just a misunderstanding? I laughed awkwardly.
“Well, that can’t be right. It doesn’t hurt.”
“Really? Then I’m glad.”
I felt like I was losing strength because of his attitude, which was no different from usual. Do you have any impressions? The room smells good or suits me well. Or at least the room is spacious. I felt like I was grumpy for no reason. You seem like an uninspiring person.
“Let’s go back to what happened in the morning…”
I opened my mouth with the intention of not wasting time and starting a conversation quickly.
“In the end, it is almost an open fact that the Piero clan and the Alpensia family are closely related. The question is whether they have the children of the Marquis of Bepis, who are presumed to know how to make the Essence of Fire bomb. But I will be in their hands. I think, because… Ian?”
While he was talking, he realized that Ian was staring at him and he tilted his head. I thought he was concentrating because he was looking at me, but his pupils were broken in one place. Is it your mouth? Although it wasn’t my mouth, I lowered my head slightly.
“…?”
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on October, 30.
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