Episode 20
‘The traces of waiting were quite severe.’
The Marquis of Grayden and his wife, despite being the typical runaway and regretful man trope, got along quite well.
But this person was really something.
He wasn’t just a normal regret novel type of man, but a deeply regretful one.
“Detective? Have you finished your investigation?”
Then, with a knock came the cautious voice of the maid.
As soon as she spoke, Damon pulled his hat down firmly again.
“It’s alright. You can come in.”
“I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you. We haven’t had a guest in a long time, so…”
“A guest?”
“Yes! It’s an acquaintance of the master who sometimes visits the mansion to leave monster cores. The master collects them, you see.”
“Lord Karl has such a hobby, huh?”
Quite an unusual hobby.
As I was silently admiring it, the maid who entered the room began to tidy up the table with a flushed face.
“It seems dust has piled up in the reception room..”
Damon, whom I expected was partly possessed by the spirit of a ghost who could not do housework to its heart’s content, said disapprovingly.
When I glanced at him, he added nonchalantly.
“Just talking to myself. I don’t talk to anyone other than the Director.”
No, your voice was quite loud just now?
“Ah… actually, the master told us not to touch the reception room much.”
The maid, who heard the conversation, apologized in embarrassment.
“He told us to leave it as it is, except for very basic cleaning.”
“Did Lord Karl say that? To leave the reception room as it is?”
“Yes.”
Hmm?
Was this in a similar context to him paying attention only to the reception room’s interior?
Then, in fact, he might also be regretting and longing for Elisa’s traces.
‘Another regretful man doing what regretful men do……’
Meanwhile, the maid was happily tidying up the reception room. She even hummed a tune.
What was she so happy about?
“What kind of person is this acquaintance of Lord Karl who will be arriving soon?”
“Hm, yes? Oh, he… is a very noble gentleman!”
The maid replied shyly as her face blushed.
Ah, I knew what this was.
“He must be handsome.”
“…Yes.”
I knew it.
The truth that money and handsome men make women smile holds true everywhere.
“But does a noble gentleman usually personally deliver items to the house? Even when he could just entrust them to a servant?”
“Well… I heard there was some reason, but I can’t quite remember.”
The maid tilted her head.
“It’s because of the remaining magic power in the monster cores.”
The answer came from an unexpected source. Damon leaned close to me and whispered softly. His black hair trickled down over his slightly inclined forehead.
“Parts like the core are dangerous, so they don’t entrust the transportation to just anyone. Only someone who can control magic power can do it. The problem is that such people are rare.”
“How do you know that?”
“…”
Damon took a step back and closed his mouth. Then he turned his head away coldly.
“Who knows.”
What? If you don’t know, who does?
“He’s really handsome. How can an adult man’s skin be so clear? He speaks so politely, and he always smiles kindly. Every one of his movements is full of grace, and….”
The maid, having become excited, began to talk about things I didn’t even need to ask.
I could sense the familiar scent of a high school girl from this unfamiliar maid.
Yes, she was at the age where you could chatter all day about a guy you happened to meet at a bus stop.
A handsome man you see after a long time? You could still feel full just by looking at him even if you skipped three meals.
‘Monsters…’
Karl couldn’t often see Elisa because of his battles with monsters.
The fundamental reason the two of them drifted apart was precisely because of this war of subjugation. Perhaps the reason Karl collected monster cores was related to this.
‘I’ll have to take a closer look.’
Of course, I wasn’t here to end this war, but as I delve deeper, there might be an unexpected breakthrough, just like in the previous case.
Having made up my mind, I opened my mouth.
“I would like to meet him as well.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, the gazes of both people turned towards me.
“Oh my.”
“…”
The maid exclaimed in surprise.
Damon stared at me with furrowed brows.
He seemed to not like something at all.
“As expected! You’re curious too, aren’t you, Detective? Well, it would be a loss not to see such beauty.”
…Huh?
“Don’t worry! I’ll try to create an opportunity somehow. If it’s just a casual conversation……”
“The Director,”
Cutting off the maid’s words, Damon spoke firmly.
“The director said she doesn’t have the time.”
When I turned my gaze, I met his eyes, which somehow looked redder than usual.
Was he referring to the conversation we had this morning? But that was just to get you off my back…
“Ah, you’re worried it will take too long!”
The maid, who seemed to accept Damon’s words strangely easily, spoke in a bright voice.
“No problem! The guest rarely misses the appointed time. You’ll be able to meet him soon.”
I could see the maid’s eyes burning with a strange will that seemed to say, ‘A handsome man should be shared with everyone’. She was like the one salesperson in every high school class who spreaded around idol photos or videos during breaks.
‘Maybe it’s a good thing?’
As a commoner woman, it was almost impossible for me to approach a nobleman first unless introduced. If she was willing to help, even if by using underhanded methods, I was grateful.
“Yes, I’d like to thank you for your kind cooperation.”
“Leave it to me!”
In the meanwhile, Damon continued to glare at me with a look of disapproval.
***
After leaving the reception room, I looked around the mansion but didn’t achieve any significant results.
In the end, I decided to rest in the garden until the maid called for me.
As I leaned against the bench, Damon also sat down next to me.
“You don’t investigate other places as thoroughly as the reception room.”
“There’s no need to.”
“Is there a standard for that?”
“You could say that.”
If the system window doesn’t pop up, I don’t investigate.
Shaaaa.
The cool sound of waves could be heard faintly from the distance.
Damon’s gaze was directed somewhere beyond the sea. His fine hair fluttered above his dark, sunken eyes.
‘Is he missing his hometown?’
Since the first place he saw was the harbor, he might be reminded of his hometown while looking at the sea…
I was absent-mindedly looking at his well-groomed side profile when…
“…”
Damon slowly turned his head and looked at me.
Due to the small size of the bench, we were closer than I had expected.
I could see new waves of emotion rising within his indifferent eyes.
“Sometimes… I don’t know what you’re thinking, Director.”
He muttered in a slightly lower tone of voice.
He didn’t know what I was thinking sometimes?
Well, I didn’t know what he was thinking most of the time.
“That’s why I was curious. Where you go, what you do, what makes you laugh or cry, who you meet…”
Damon half-closed his eyes.
His fluttering eyelashes and sharply cut nose bridge combined to create an atmosphere of some sort of excellence.
‘He seems to have a lot of things on his mind.’
I sometimes felt a sharpness unique to unstable people from him.
From the way he tried to be useful, the way he watched other people’s reactions to everything, as if looking for the slightest sign of abandonment on their face.
‘It must be hard to be an extra’s assistant like this.’
Just as I found a little stability here that I did not have in my previous life, it would be good if Damon could also find a role that suits him.
For that to happen, he needed to…
Clunk.
Just then, the sound of the garden gate opening was heard. The maid must have come looking for me.
I got up from the bench, brushing off the hem of my skirt right away.
“I’m going to go meet the friend of Lord Karl I mentioned earlier. You stay here and rest.”
As I spoke, I glanced at the back door.
It was quite close to the garden, and there were no people passing by.
‘It’s like a perfect escape route with a sign that says “Welcome to those who want to escape.”‘
If I left him alone, he’d probably head there on his own, right?
The moment I thought that, Damon also stood up abruptly.
“No, I’ll go with you.”
“It’s fine. You’ve worked hard today.”
“Me?”
His eyebrows were crumpled as if his pride was hurt.
“If I were tired, I would have already fainted like the Director.”
So he’s saying he’s not as physically weak as I am?
Just until a few days ago, he was all bent out of shape, and now he was showing off just because he’d gotten a little bigger.
“Anyway, stay here. If you’re hungry, take out the snacks I left in the bag.”
I pointed to the escape backpack and said so.
“…”
However, he just stared at me with a dissatisfied expression.
I finally found some time to translate so here I am T-T
