Chapter 30

That evening.

While waiting for the Grand Duke, I ended up falling asleep. I was having a pleasant dream when someone poked my cheek with their finger.

Just as I was about to fall into a deep sleep, the persistent poking irritated me. Unable to bear it any longer, I bit the finger that was prodding my cheek.

Flinch.

As the salty taste of flesh filled my mouth, my sleep-addled mind awakened. When I opened my eyes, I saw the Grand Duke with a displeased expression.

“You really eat anything, don’t you? To think I’d get bitten while trying to wake you up.”

You could have just woken me up normally.

I spat out the Grand Duke’s finger that I had been chewing on in my mouth. The Grand Duke’s brow furrowed as he looked at his finger covered in saliva.

He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the saliva off his finger with a graceful motion.

“I heard you were waiting for me.”

The Grand Duke’s violet eyes shimmered as he looked at me intently.

“Is it related to the gifted education?”

“How did you…”

“I know you’ve been doing something with Gerard behind my back.”

Gerard. We’re doomed.

The Grand Duke’s tone suggested he already knew everything, which made me quite uncomfortable. I shouldn’t ask outright who told him, right?

As I hesitated to speak, the corners of the Grand Duke’s mouth turned up slightly.

“Did something happen during the gifted education?”

“Huh?”

“The maids say you’re receiving lessons from experts in various fields.”

He doesn’t know the truth about the education I’m receiving.

As I was sighing in relief, a surprising question followed.

“Could you answer a few questions about the content of your lessons? For example, accounting.”

Surprisingly, I hadn’t learned anything at all.

‘What? Accounting?’

I wondered how Gerard had explained it for the maids to believe, but to think he’d tell such a lie? I was astounded at how he planned to clean up this mess later.

Thinking there was no way out, I decided to play along with Gerard’s story.

“Yes. Accounting is difficult.”

“Do you know the criteria for calculating the knights’ salaries?”

“It’s calculated based on rank and days worked. On average, it’s 32 silver coins…”

As I was explaining earnestly, relying on my memories from my past life, I turned my head, feeling a gaze poking my cheek. The Grand Duke was staring at me intently.

His silver eyelashes fluttered happily, tracing a gentle arc in the air. How can a person look like that?

“Continue speaking.”

“…When there’s a bonus, it’s multiplied by 1.25.”

I knew the regulations well, as it was once related to my own salary.

“Well done.”

The Grand Duke ran his hand through my hair, messing it up.

I smoothed my tousled hair with a dazed expression. Gerard should have been grateful that I had lived for over thirty lives.

‘We almost got caught.’

Honestly, throwing away the apple pie we made together was too much.

‘Was I angry about that?’

I generally tended to brush off things others did to me. Having lived a long life, I had experienced enough of others’ malice.

No matter what happened, thinking that I would be reborn again made everything seem insignificant. But the more I thought about the discarded apple pie, the angrier I became.

“My chest feels all bubbly.”

As I became aware of my richer emotions, my fingertips tingled.

“Liat. I hope you can get angry about your own matters.”

I’ve grown a lot.

Feeling the urge to tell someone about my growth, I turned to the Grand Duke. Meeting his questioning violet eyes, I proudly exclaimed.

“Grand Duke, I’m angry.”

“You look very happy though?”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been angry about my own matters.”

“Who are you angry at?”

That apple pie was made with the best efforts of Stephanie, who was clumsy at cooking. Throwing away the precious pie we made together was unforgivable.

“I want to see them, but I’m a bit scared. What if they pour out resentment for coming late?”

Stephanie’s words about wanting to meet someone, and the pie made to convey that message.

I pushed aside Gerard’s caution that popped into my mind and opened my mouth. I felt I should at least convey her words to the Grand Duke.

“Grand Duke, I met the person I encountered in the garden again recently.”

“…How?”

All emotions on the Grand Duke’s face vanished in an instant. His expression turned sharp, startling me instead.

After briefly concealing his agitation, the Grand Duke urged me to answer.

“Who made you meet her?”

“We just met by chance.”

“The one you’re angry at… is it me?”

“No.”

The person who made me angry was Gerard, who threw away the pie.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.’

Once I had spoken, there was no way to take it back. I carefully explained, omitting the details of the gifted education to avoid causing trouble for Gerard.

I told him that while passing by the annex, I ended up talking to Stephanie across the wall.

“She said if you don’t let her meet you, she won’t stay quiet.”

“Don’t you know who that woman is?”

“No.”

I was curious about her identity.

But I didn’t try hard to find out what Gerard was hiding.

‘This doesn’t feel good.’

I had a feeling the Grand Duke wouldn’t believe my story about meeting her by chance.

***

The Grand Duke seemed to have seen through my lie and grasped the situation. The next day, when I waited to go meet Stephanie, Gerard didn’t come.

The coachman who was waiting alone at the meeting place conveyed the general situation.

“Gerard said it would be difficult to see Stephanie for a while. ”

“It’s because of me that we got caught, isn’t it. ”

“He also said not to worry, that he’d make it possible to meet again soon. ”

“Tell Gerard I’m sorry. ”

I should have been more careful.

I didn’t expect our secret meetings to end right after I conveyed Stephanie’s message to the Grand Duke. For some reason, I was also worried about Gerard, who wasn’t showing up.

‘I guess I’ll just have to wait.’

However, even after waiting for over two weeks, Gerard didn’t appear. The maids, who had only heard that the gifted education couldn’t continue due to circumstances, also seemed to be waiting for it to resume.

“The Grand Princess seemed to really enjoy that education; it’s a shame.”

“It’s strange that Gerard isn’t coming either.”

“I heard he was badly injured during training and can’t work for a while.”

“Gerard was injured?”

Startled, I jumped into the conversation between the maids. Sen, who noticed me, kindly bent down to explain.

“He probably wasn’t injured too badly. The chef saw him going towards the back gate today.”

“The back gate…”

Knowing where that direction led, I swallowed a groan. The injured Gerard must have gone to meet Stephanie.

‘Was he hurt because of me?’

Despite being told to keep it a secret, I had hinted at it to the Grand Duke in my anger.

“I want to go see Gerard.”

I needed to see with my own eyes that Gerard was okay. The maids tried to stop me, saying it was dangerous.

“I’ll just go to the education place briefly to meet Gerard and come back.”

“No matter what, you can’t go alone!”

“I won’t be alone.”

I placated the maids by saying that the coachman who always accompanies me would go along. Of course, this was a hastily made-up lie.

I couldn’t reveal the true nature of the gifted education to the maids, especially now that the Grand Duke had found out.

“I can arrange for a carriage.”

And about 10 minutes later, dressed in a maid’s uniform, I sniffled in front of the mansion’s chef.

“I, I need to take bread to the person I serve, but I’m too sc, scared.”

I had heard from the maids before that the chef was weak to children. Moreover, he had never seen the face of the Grand Princess, so it was perfect for my plan.

They said he was gruff and short-tempered because he was always cooped up in the kitchen, and that he cried easily.

“But you know what? They say he’s a sucker for children and animals! He often gives snacks to young maids when they come.”

The chef was exactly as rumored.

From the moment I entered the kitchen, warmth filled his stern eyes. I secretly rubbed my eyes to produce as many tears as possible.

As I let chicken-pea-sized tears fall, the chef’s thick arms flailed in the air.

“The, the person I serve will be wa-waiting. What should I do? I’ll get scolded.”

“Oh, child. Don’t cry.”

“If I don’t go qu-quickly… Boo-hoo.”

As snot started dripping, the chef threw his hat on the floor. The surrounding cooks flinched at this powerful display.

“I’ll solve this for you! Child.”

Good. With this, I can hitch a ride.

The chef, who had scooped me up under his arm, ran towards the stables. He quickly saddled a black horse borrowed from the stable.

Is he planning to ride the horse himself to take me to the annex?

“Child. So where is this noble who asked for bread from the kitchen?”

“At the annex.”

Thinking that any method would do as long as I arrived, I almost bit my tongue as the horse galloped at breakneck speed.

It felt like my brain was shaking with each bounce of the horse.

‘I think I’m going to be sick.’

Neigh!

By the time we arrived at the mansion, at a speed much faster than a carriage, I was already half-dead. The chef tied the horse to a tree and waved goodbye.

I didn’t want to go near a horse for a while.

“I don’t think I can ride twice.”

Staggering, I opened the closed iron gate and walked along the path leading to the garden. In the distance, I saw the red hair I had been looking for.

Gerard, whom I hadn’t been able to meet, was talking with Stephanie. More precisely, Stephanie seemed to be one-sidedly angry at Gerard.

“Why isn’t the little one coming! Do I look like I’m not suspicious of you right now?”

“I told you the maid is safe.”

“What if something happened to the little one by the Grand Duke because I asked for something unnecessary…”

“I said that’s not the case.”

The one Stephanie was worried about was none other than me.

I wanted to tell Stephanie that I was fine. However, Gerard’s face, revealed in the sunlight,t stopped me.

‘Why does his face look like that?’

Gerard’s cheek was severely swollen as if someone had beaten him badly. Looking closely, even his standing posture was awkward.

The only person in the mansion capable of doing this to Gerard, one of the top fighters, was the Grand Duke.