Chapter 22
Kallion silently met my eyes with an unreadable expression.
“You would go that far for Baldomer?”
It was a question bordering on disbelief.
But even this didn’t stray far from what I had expected.
You may not know it, but I’ve already dealt with a man like you more times than I care to remember.
“I told you. I’d do my best.”
They were words I had once spoken to him before our marriage.
In the past, that goal had been you. Now, it had simply changed to Denion.
For Denion’s sake, I was confident I could properly fulfill the role of lady of Baldomer.
No, I had to do it properly. So that no one could suspect or threaten me.
Whether it was the culprit, or you, Kallion.
“Do your best, you say…”
Kallion quietly met my unwavering gaze for a moment before looking away.
“Do as you please.”
His answer came more readily than I had expected.
But he added indifferently.
“Though I don’t know whether the people of Baldomer will acknowledge you just because you want them to.”
Apparently, he thought I was doing this not for Baldomer, but to gain power as the lady of Baldomer.
Well, he wasn’t exactly wrong.
“I’ll return before the banquet preparations start in earnest.”
“Do whatever you want.”
Even as he spoke, his eyes remained on the documents, and he didn’t even turn his head.
I watched him indifferently for a moment, then turned without regret and left the office. I could feel his gaze following my back, but I deliberately pretended not to notice.
* * *
“I’m sorry! It seems the wheel froze and broke!”
The coachman floundered as he apologized.
Heloika Orphanage was located in the northernmost territory governed by Baldomer.
It was such a cold region that both the carriage and the accompanying servants were having trouble because of the weather.
“It’ll likely take at least two hours to replace the wheel.”
At the coachman’s troubled words, I stepped out of the carriage without saying anything.
It would be easier for them to replace the wheel that way.
Layla stepped down beside me.
It no longer surprised me. She had accompanied me under the pretense of assisting me, but she was probably here to watch me in case I tried anything suspicious.
“The soldiers and servants are quite exhausted.”
Layla spoke while looking at the people resting as the carriage wheel was replaced. Her tone also implied that I had created unnecessary trouble by insisting on coming here.
I answered her calmly.
“Wouldn’t it be more efficient for them to do this sort of work than sit around the estate eating and doing nothing?”
It meant that since we paid that much to employ them, they ought to earn their keep.
Layla looked appalled by my brutally practical words.
It was perhaps one of the traits I had developed after countless regressions.
I had lost the ability to empathize with other people’s emotions and pain.
More precisely, I no longer had enough room in my heart to consider their circumstances. The more I regressed, the duller my emotions became and the sharper my nerves grew.
Perhaps I was fortunate I hadn’t gone mad.
Even now, I could have used the power of the Fire Spirit to help those shivering from the cold, but I deliberately chose not to.
If I used my ability here, I might win the servants’ favor for a brief moment, but for me, that would be no different from making a terrible move.
My gaze grew cold as I looked at the servants groaning in the blizzard.
In my first life, I hadn’t hidden my ability.
Rather, I had used it in hopes of gaining even the slightest recognition from Kallion and the people of Baldomer.
Because of that, the people of Baldomer hadn’t openly looked down on me, but neither had they treated me warmly. If anything, they had been closer to fearing me. It was the ability of Heister, their enemy house.
Even so, determined to be useful as their madam, I had used my ability in the middle of winter to light fires throughout the estate, and at night to illuminate the manor.
What a pathetic thing to do.
Without even knowing what kind of danger might return to me because a woman possessed an ability…
Perhaps Denion had died because of me.
“The wheel has been replaced! Please get back into the carriage!”
The coachman’s voice brought me back to my senses, and I slowly rose.
We would reach the orphanage in half a day.
It was time to face the traces of a past that had now been erased.
* * *
When the orphanage director saw the carriage bearing Baldomer’s crest, she stared in shock.
“Y-You’re from Baldomer…?”
The middle-aged woman, who appeared to be in her fifties, looked utterly bewildered. Layla answered her indifferently.
“Yes, this is… Madam Baldomer.”
She seemed to pause very briefly before introducing me as the madam, but the director didn’t notice at all.
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