The One Who Won't Be Abandoned - Chapter 36

As soon as I arrived at D’Hel Castle for work, one of the maids rushed up to me and clung to my arm.

Her name was Elia—not quite as close to me as Sniquet, but still someone I got along with. She looked me up and down, scanning for any signs of trouble, her eyes filled with concern and anxiety.

“You are locking your doors properly at night, right?”

“Of course.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if you asked the lord to increase the number of guards patrolling that area? If you ask, he might actually listen. I swear, I’m losing sleep worrying about something happening to you.”

Elia had been born and raised in Glunan Village, and ever since I mentioned moving to Longta Street, she had been trying to change my mind. She had even gasped in horror when she first heard the news. But I was already head over heels in love with my building, and no amount of pleading from her could shake my decision.

Even after I moved, Elia didn’t give up. Every time she saw me, she’d urge me to leave Longta Street, calling it a seedy district filled with the worst kinds of people in D’Hel.

“Elia, I promise I’m fine. My home is safe.”

“The thugs on Longta Street are really, really, really bad news! I know it looks nice with all those new buildings and paved roads, but that’s just on the surface! When the lord started his reforms, the crooks who were running illegal businesses just filed fake reports and kept operating as usual. There’s still prostitution, gambling—”

“Every town has places like that,” I said with a shrug. “Honestly, I always thought D’Hel was too peaceful to feel real. It’s actually kind of surprising that the lord just left that area alone.”

Frustrated by my laid-back attitude, Elia let out a groan and thumped her chest with her fists.

“Ugh! You’re not taking me seriously! Why don’t you just move to Sniquet’s neighborhood in the city? That area is actually safe.”

I had never told anyone that the lord had given me the building; instead, I let them assume I was just renting a place. That’s why Elia thought I could move anytime I wanted.

When I responded with a vague smile, she seemed to come to a decision. Steeling herself, she leaned in close, her voice dropping to a whisper.

“I didn’t want to tell you this because I didn’t want to scare you, but… ten years ago, on that very street…”

She brought her lips to my ear, speaking in a hushed, dramatic tone.

“There was a murder.”

“A murder? Ten years ago?”

“Yes! Some drunk passerby was stabbed—bam! bam! bam!—several times in the stomach!”

To make her story more vivid, Elia mimed holding an invisible knife and repeatedly jabbed it at my belly. She had quite the talent for reenactment.

But instead of being scared, I just found it amusing. In fact, I was even more convinced that D’Hel was a great place to live.

I mean, if there had been a murder, and it was already ten years ago, that meant no other murders had happened since then. Compared to the capital, where crime was an everyday occurrence, D’Hel seemed ridiculously safe.

“There are rumors that the murderer never got caught and still lives in that area. Creepy, huh? So… do you finally feel like moving?”

“Elia,” I said with a grateful smile, “thank you for worrying about me, truly. But I love that house. I feel like I was born to live there! And besides, the shopkeeper renting space in my building makes sure to handle any troublemakers. I feel completely secure.”

Jun might look like the type to act recklessly, and his rough way of speaking didn’t help, but he actually had a good sense of judgment.

For example, when we first met, he had gone after the shady broker who had handled the lease. Instead of hacking off the man’s limbs and ending up in jail, he had simply dragged him back, gripping him by the scruff of his neck.

The broker, terrified out of his wits, stammered that he had been paying the rent—he had deposited all of Jun’s payments into a secure vault under my name.

Afterward, I went to check for myself, and sure enough, there was a steadily growing sum of money in the vault, just as the broker had said.

It turned out that the lord, having built the property specifically for me, had used his authority to create a vault in my name.

Upon learning this, my admiration for my honorary dad grew even stronger.

Elia, still unconvinced, suddenly grabbed both my hands with determination.

“Then let me come and see it for myself. I need to check if it’s actually safe.”

“Do we really have to go that far?”

“Yes! With Sniquet gone, someone has to look out for you! If she were here, she’d have screamed at you for being crazy, then immediately gone to pack up your things herself! Just think of it as a housewarming visit.”

In the end, I surrendered to Elia’s persistence, promising to invite her over soon. Only then did she finally let go of me, satisfied, leaving behind a few words of encouragement before heading off.

Before starting work, I was required to check in with Madam Judith. However, since it was still early, I headed to the servants’ lounge instead of her office.

The room, left untouched through the night, was filled with a lingering chill. As soon as I stepped inside, I flopped onto the couch, leaning back against it with a sigh.

“Waking up to the sound of bells is nice, but I have way too much time in the morning.”

Maybe I should find a productive hobby to fill these empty mornings—something like reading or embroidery.

But neither option really appealed to me.

“What would be fun…?”

As I mulled over ideas, an image suddenly came to mind: the spacious kitchen in my home, a place I had rarely stepped into.

During my initial shopping spree, swept up in the excitement of moving in, I had purchased a full set of high-quality cookware. Yet, after a lifetime of eating only meals prepared by castle chefs, I had never once considered cooking for myself.

“…Alright. I’ll learn to cook.”

The idea of baking cookies and handing them out to my close coworkers filled me with a heartwarming sense of satisfaction.

Of course, cookies seemed a bit too advanced for a beginner, so I decided to start with something simple—perhaps a hearty meat soup. After all, how hard could it be? Just toss some meat and water into a pot and let it boil.

Feeling oddly confident, I let out a pleased sigh.

Just then, my eyes landed on a newspaper someone had left on the table.

I didn’t usually read the news, but since I still had over an hour to kill before checking in with Madam Judith, I reached out, grabbed the paper, and began flipping through it.

The front page was filled with praise for the foreign affairs department and their supposed accomplishments. Skimming through the article without much interest, I quickly turned to the next page.

Below a headline about a high-ranking noble’s untimely death, there was a lengthy tribute detailing his many contributions to his estate.

After reading a few lines, I muttered to myself, “Compared to our lord, that’s nothing.”

Finally, I reached the real news—the kind that actually caught people’s attention.

I straightened my posture, ready to read more closely.

One article detailed the capture of a group that had been kidnapping and selling off impoverished children in the capital. Another told of an eccentric noble’s mansion exploding during a failed invention experiment.

But it was the next article that truly seized my attention.

During a noble’s banquet, Princess Gresia had reportedly grabbed a young lady by the hair and shaken her violently.

The article went into scandalous detail, claiming that the princess had publicly humiliated the young noblewoman, treating her like a common prostitute.

And amidst the report, Andre’s name appeared—mentioned briefly but unmistakably.

Apparently, he had stepped in to calm the princess down, only to get struck in the face when she flailed her arm carelessly.

The writer described the event as if they had personally witnessed every moment, capturing the details with disturbing precision.

When I read that Andre had been hit, an unexplainable surge of anger swelled in my chest. My fingers tightened around the newspaper as I flipped through the pages, searching for more about him or the princess. But that was the only mention.

“That bitch,” I muttered under my breath.

The crude insult escaped before I could stop myself, making me flinch in surprise.

I had never openly cursed someone before.

Growing up, my mother—who had once been a noble—had drilled strict etiquette into me, teaching that grace and humility were virtues. No matter how I felt inside, I had never once voiced my disdain for someone aloud.

Yet here I was, spitting out vulgar words without a second thought.

It felt… filthy.

I was disgusted with myself, unsettled by how easily I had let such language slip. With a murky gaze, I skimmed over the princess’s article once more before folding the newspaper and placing it back on the table.

I had never imagined that I could hate someone this much.

And it wasn’t just anyone—it was someone I had never even met.

Why did I despise her so much? What exactly was the problem?

Was it simply because she was the emperor’s daughter? At first, that had seemed like reason enough.

But now, I was beginning to understand the truth.

I had been afraid—afraid that Andre’s kindness toward me would fade, that his attention would be stolen away.

And now that I had realized it, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

For a while, I had been able to forget these confusing emotions, distracted by my happiness over the building the lord had gifted me.

But the moment I read that article about the princess and Andre, those buried feelings reignited like embers catching flame.

I leaned back comfortably against the sofa, resting my head and letting my body sink into the cushions. Folding my hands neatly over my stomach, I closed my eyes in silence.

Taking slow, deep breaths, I focused on thoughts that might help calm my restless mind.

The sky above D’Hel, vast and endless, dotted with white, fluffy clouds.

The cheerful voices of the castle staff greeting me with warmth.

The towering, perfectly beautiful three-story building on Longta Street—my building.

The view of the street below from the third floor, the ever-present ringing of the church bells.

A sky brimming with stars, a soft moon glowing above.

And beneath that moonlight—Jun.

Jun, violently slamming a rude customer into the stone pavement.

Screams. Curses. Shouting.

“…Haah. That’s better.”

A faint sense of relief settled over me, as if the storm of emotions in my mind had begun to quiet.

* * *

Andre’s return date to D’Hel had finally been set. Originally, he should have arrived much earlier, but his schedule had been significantly delayed due to the unexpected company of the princess.

According to the newspapers, the princess had been an uninvited guest who had insisted on stopping at every noble estate along the way, staying for days at a time while hosting extravagant parties.

By now, news of Andre’s engagement had spread so widely that even beggars on the street knew about it. The very day he arrived in the capital for the engagement, the emperor had wasted no time in publicly announcing it through the newspapers, ensuring that the entire empire was informed.

Since then, Andre’s name had frequently appeared in the press, and I couldn’t help but feel unsettled every time I saw it.

There had already been multiple articles painting Andre as a man who had sold his body for power, portraying him as nothing more than a conniving opportunist.

I had lost count of how many newspapers I had torn to shreds and thrown into the fireplace out of sheer frustration.

Within D’Hel Castle, the servants were careful to keep their voices down in front of the higher-ups, but that didn’t stop them from eagerly gossiping amongst themselves.

“The poor lord. His son is about to become the son-in-law of the man who murdered his wife.”

“Exactly! No matter how much he hates being stuck in this backwater place, how could he even consider getting engaged to her?”

“Who knows? They say the princess is insatiable. Maybe the young master was seduced by her wild skills in bed. Heh.”

As I was heading to the laundry area, carrying a bucket of dirty rags and wastewater, I overheard their conversation.

I immediately stopped in my tracks, quickly ducking behind a stone wall to listen.

“Tomorrow, we’ll finally get to see the face of that shameless woman in person. I can’t wait to find out if she really gives off that whorish aura everyone talks about.”

“Pfft! And what good would that do you? Even if she did turn you on, you’d just end up jerking yourself off like always.”

“Oh, come on. They say she doesn’t care about status. Who knows? Maybe she’ll notice what a massive package I’ve got and drag me into her bed. I’d make sure she couldn’t walk straight the next day.”

“Massive? Please. You’d be better off using your fingers—those are bigger than what you’ve got down there.”

“You little shit—”

Disgusting.

The way men talked about women was on a completely different level from the romantic gossip exchanged among women.

Their words were so vulgar and repulsive that I felt sick to my stomach.