Chapter 27

A moment of silence ….

The word “crown prince” was like a forbidden word in the mansion.

Those bright red eyes that seemed to kill me immediately.

The bruise on my neck had long since healed, but just thinking about that person made the wound seem to ache again.

Without a good reason, I couldn’t refuse an invitation from the palace.

I clenched my trembling hand into a fist.

“What did …… father say about this?”

“That ……”

The butler hesitated.

“It’s an invitation only for you, Miss Penelope cul …… so the Duke-sama doesn’t know about it yet.”

“…… What!”

Touch one! I slapped my hand down on the desktop and got up angrily, there was no way I could pretend this was no big deal now.

“Little ……… lady!”

Emily and the housekeeper both shifted their eyes from the invitation to me in horror.

I didn’t have the extra heart to care about their sight at this point.

‘He’s completely insane, that asshole! He’s far crazier than the game shows!’

That asshole didn’t forget about me. Don’t say he forgot, doing so was clearly intentional.

After the second prince’s birthday party he was still insistent on pulling out and killing me, someone who hadn’t been showing up at the palace.

The next time we meet, he’s going to carefully tell me the reason why he fell in love with me.

I shuddered at the thought of the eerie words that guy whispered in my ear.

‘This isn’t even part of the game’s content, this game is crazy!’

I anxiously recalled the original storyline.

But no matter how much I dug into my memories

Ah, right. I’ve never come out of the Labyrinth Garden alive before as I am now.

“To, what to do with the invitation, miss?”

The butler inquired cautiously.

“Heh …… What do you mean what to do with it?”

I raised a hand to ruffle my hair and let out a long sigh.

“I’m sick.”

I sit back in my chair and lean back

Just a few minutes ago it really felt like I was going to go limp from being sick out of nothing.

“Butler, I have a high fever right now.”

I said, half squinting.

The butler looked flustered for a moment, but it was only that moment.

“It’s unfortunate that our young lady is so sick. Is it because of the cold?”

The butler, true to form, was a professional who had worked at the mansion for ten years, and immediately calmly inquired as to the cause.

“If you can, it would be better to say it’s the aftermath of that accident.”

“I understand, Miss.”

The butler bowed politely and left the room.

“Ugh …….”

My head started to hurt as I rubbed my hand on my forehead.

Emily was worried and concerned about me.

“Are you alright, my lady? Should I inform the Duke-sama and have a doctor brought in?”

“No, there’s no need for that …..”

I was about to refuse the offer, but then I changed my mind.

“As a matter of fact, it is needed. Yes, go ask a doctor to come here.”

I should increase their concern for me so they would allow me to stay in the mansion longer.

“I won’t be coming out of my quilt for a while.”

At least until the Crown Prince forgets about me.

Over the next few days, Emily began to carry out what I had instructed her to do.

Happily the cufflinks were nearing completion.

Since the festivities weren’t over yet, no one was suspicious of Emily’s demeanor of going out so often lately.

“Every one of them was originally lackadaisical until I flashed the jewelry box. Their attitudes changed immediately.”

Emily was reporting to me what had happened during her two days away to the intelligence broker.

Most of what she reported, I just listened to. Until she mentioned a strange place.

“There’s no one else in there except for a man with a rabbit ears mask.”

‘Good. The fish is hooked.’

She narrated the same as the game showed.

I raised my hand to stop Emily from continuing her description.

“You’ve worked hard, Emily, and on this rainy day. You can go back and get some rest.”

“Okay. I’ll be back at dinnertime!”

Emily was still acting energetic until she left, even though she was soaked from head to toe. Luckily, she didn’t have a tendency to catch a cold.

Ka! The door slammed shut and the room fell silent once again.

I turned to look out the window.

The entire world looked like everything had lost its color due to the grey cloudy dragons covering it.

“Why is it raining all day?”

This weather caused my already low mood to worsen.

I hate rainy days. Because on a rainy day is the time that would make me feel the most unfortunate.

I envied my friends who always had their mothers to pick them up in the rain.

Whenever I cross the sports field alone in the rain, there are always other kids who ask me without malice.

“Don’t you have a mom?”

It made me feel incredibly embarrassed and ashamed every time.

These feelings never changed even as time passed and as I grew up.

At the end of the school day people follow their friends with umbrellas closely.

However ……

A young master! Please hurry up!

Damn it, the weather forecast today didn’t even say it would rain. And now I’m all wet. I’m sick of it.

Secretary Kim, hurry home.

Where’s the lady?

Who cares? She’ll come back on her own! Start the car.

Boom. – The car gradually drove away.

I was instantly left alone at the school gates, and afterward ……

“…… What bad luck.”

I frowned at the memories that suddenly popped into my head.

I shook my head a few times trying to get rid of the sadness.

‘Making it seem like I have time to sit here frozen, watching the rain and feeling low.’

I stood up. I needed to go do something to get out of this. Whatever it was.

So I could get out of this awful place sooner.

I stepped out of my room carrying an umbrella.

The dukedom, which was shrouded in a gray mist, was very quiet.

It seemed as if no one would be walking outside in the successive rainy days like I was.

I walked slowly through the gardens.

I had come out outside because I thought I was supposed to be doing something, but now that I was outside in person, I still didn’t think there was anything to do.

I walked towards the sparsely populated area. To be precise, towards the place where the two duke’s sons weren’t.

How long had I been walking?

I merely followed my footsteps and walked everywhere, not realizing that I had come to a place that looked familiar.

“This is ……”

This is the woods that lead one to the practice field.

Thanks to the hard work of finding the dog hole earlier, I was now able to know where I was.

“I can meet Leonard in this place.”

I said to myself as I stopped in my tracks.

I’ve already met the one here once who had just returned to the mansion from training.

Not only Leonard, but I could run into Derrick here.

“No! No!”

It’s too far off the road. I turned back without hesitation.

I did come out to do something, but it didn’t include meeting with those two whose favorability would increase without seeing me instead.

When I wanted to return to the mansion earlier.

Hohoichi!

The sound of wind came from somewhere. To put it more clearly, it’s the sound of cutting through the wind that can be heard when wielding a sword.

”They’re training even on a rainy day?”

I did hear that the knights’ training time and difficulty had increased.

I feel ridiculous. As long as they aren’t stupid they can all guess the reason. It’s because I brought back a slave with no identity to be my personal guard.

I walked towards where the voice came from.

I was really curious about the knights’ reaction.

‘Are they going to be talking bad about me?’

It wasn’t a big deal at all though. It’s not really me being badmouthed after all.

‘I need to inspect if Ikris is there because of me.’

But there was no one in the martial arts training ground.

Except for a guy in the corner wielding a sword.

I couldn’t make out who it was at first. Because his cascading gray hair seemed to blend in with the sky.

I approached slowly and carefully, not wanting to draw attention to him.

As I got closer, I could see him more clearly.

He was shirtless, and he kept swinging his sword like a machine.

His back and arms were covered with scars of varying sizes and shades.

With this appearance, he looked cruel yet heartbreaking.

”It’s cold outside right now.”

The other party didn’t seem to notice that I was approaching because he was so turned on his mind.

Just as I walked right behind him.

With a swoosh.

The man turned around like lightning, and right behind him was the sound made by something breaking through the wind.

I blinked before noticing something cold against the side of my neck.

“Ha, ha……”

Ikris looked over at me with his chest heaving.

I got goosebumps from the murderous aura that still surrounded him.

For a man who just kept swinging his sword up and down, he had excellent reflexes.

He stared at me for a little while, the murderous aura softening only after he gradually recognized who I was.

Ikris noticed it was me, and he looked very flustered, the murderous aura herky-jerky disappearing.

“Lord …… man.”

His hair toned voice made him look even more grandiose.

I realized at this point that I was holding my breath completely.

For a short time my lips were still shivering and shaking, making a sound like I couldn’t breathe.

“Now ……”

The cold wooden sword was still pressed against the nape of my neck, but I forced myself to speak humanly well, as if nothing had happened, not feeling sudden or startled.

“It’s still raining, Ikris.”

The gray sunlight of his eyes looking up at me flashed again.

Then, the favor bar flashed again.

[Favorability 23%]