Chapter 8
He was truly a magnanimous person. Aniella decided that if Marius badmouthed him again, she would defend him, saying he was actually a very good man. She bowed one more time, opened the door, and stepped out into the hallway. As she tried to quietly close the door behind her, she made eye contact with Paiki. And it was directly in front of her.
Why was he in front of her when he should have been behind?
Puzzled, she looked around and realized the strange thing wasn’t just his position. She was certain she had opened the door and stepped into the hallway, but somehow she had returned to the room.
“Is something wrong?”
Paiki asked if there was a problem.
“No. It’s nothing. Well, I’ll be going then.”
Aniella was confused, but finding it hard to believe that opening the door had brought her back to the room, she assumed she must have been mistaken. She thought she must have spaced out and walked back into the room on her own.
This time, I’ll keep my wits about me and go out properly. She steeled herself, pulled her chin in, and stepped confidently into the hallway—only for the same thing to happen again. The moment her foot touched what she thought was the hallway, it transformed back into the room where Paiki was.
What in the world was going on? Aniella stared blankly, her lips parted, and looked down at the doorknob she was holding. Then, the man in front of her burst out laughing.
“Aniella Mullier, how naive. How can you believe everything so literally, without an ounce of suspicion? Did you really think I brought you all the way here just to let you sleep?”
The man who had seemed to be smiling faintly while holding back his anger was gone, replaced by one laughing heartily. The color that had been slowly returning to Aniella’s face as her guard dropped drained away, leaving her pale.
Her mind was so tangled it felt on the verge of exploding. The fact that he knew who she was meant his earlier statement about not knowing her and thus being unable to take her home was a blatant lie.
Why?
Aniella couldn’t think of a reason. She had never done anything that would warrant being “resolved” by him, the man called the Emperor’s problem-solver.
As always, she wondered if her father had done something, but that possibility was slim. Because Count Mullier was an ardent supporter of the Emperor.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“You look like you feel wronged.”
Paiki chuckled as he approached her. The man with his hands behind his back seemed very pleased as he revealed the hidden truth.
“I know more about you than you might think. Your family fortunes declined due to Count Mullier’s repeated business failures, and to make a living, you’re being exploited daily as an assistant to that fussy Marius.”
He even knew she worked under Marius! Aniella, who had thought she had nothing weighing on her conscience regarding him, gulped. She remembered how Marius constantly disparaged Duke Paiki.
‘Look at that guy, after swearing an oath before our master to contribute to benefiting the world! Far from benefiting it, he’s a bastard plunging the world into chaos and terror! He should be dragged down immediately!’
Perhaps because of that, he might have targeted her, thinking that she, as his assistant, was also rebellious. Aniella raised both hands in a gesture of surrender and pleaded her innocence to him.
“Your Grace, I… it’s true I am Marius’s assistant. But I don’t share his views! I think Duke Paiki is a very outstanding person, endowed with talent and, um, character befitting your position!”
Trembling with fear, her attempt at flattery resulted in stammering, stumbling over her words, and general chaos.
Paiki stroked his chin, mulling over what she had said.
“That I am extremely outstanding and possess talent befitting my position. Well, that’s a given. What did you say after that?”
“That you are an excellent person of sterling character as well.”
When she answered in a trembling voice, Paiki burst out laughing. He placed his hand on Aniella’s left shoulder and laughed heartily, making choking sounds.
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