Chapter 36
Less than five minutes away from that unnecessary bluff, I decided to call out for help with my quest reward.
“Ha, ha ha ……”
“… ”
An awkward silence filled the entire space.
What a surprise, Winter stood intact in front of the door, the same place where he had blocked me earlier.
In his wide-open navy blue eyes, my face was on fire as if it was about to explode.
Thank goodness I was wearing a mask. I was complaining about wearing a mask for nothing, but that thought was immediately overturned.
” Please close the door before coming in.”
Winter, who was gazing at me in surprise, made a place so that I could enter.
“Uh-huh.”
“Ah, ah, so embarrassing.”
In order to dissolve the shame, I quickly close the door after clearing my throat and shouting.
Before closing the door, I looked through the doorway into the dark alley outside, but there was no sign of Derrick anywhere.
‘Lost him?’
Even if he did lose him, it’s too early for me to relax. If he returns to the Duke’s mansion and realizes I’m gone, it’s game over for me.
“I apologize for suddenly changing my mind, but the help you just promised me is still valid, right?”
“That’s natural.”
“I’m going to use that help now. I want you to take me to Hermilton Street, now.”
I went straight to the point, needing to get there before Derrick got home.
Well, Winter knows magic, so he should be able to do it.
“Hermilton Street then ……”
It looks like he’s thinking about where Hermilton Street is located.
“Where to reason, phew.”
It was a street that was a block away from Duke Eckhardt’s house.
He already knew who I was, so it would be a lot easier to have him walk me back to my room.
But I’m going to keep pretending like I don’t know that he’s informed. After today, I’d never come to see him again anyway.
“It’s hard to reserve a carriage when there are so many people.”
I thought for a second and gave that reason.
“You don’t have your escort with you?
Even though I could only see his eyes through the small holes in the rabbit mask, I could see seriousness written inside.
I recalled the only guard I had in the dukedom.
Even though Ikris has the status of a guard, I don’t intend to use him as a guard.
”I treated him with as much caution as I would a small baby, and now he’s my only hope”
I shrugged and lied to him.
“…… Every lady has a secret or two.”
He wiped the skepticism from his eyes. It looked like Winter could understand a little of what I was saying.
He pulled his wand from the hem of his coat and held his other hand out to me.
“Could you please give me your hand?”
It looks like he’s going to teleport me to wherever I want to go.
‘Thank God.’
I put one hand over his, feeling very free and relaxed. My hand was quickly held.
Just then, a white box appeared in front of the right side.
“Might get a little dizzy.”
As he spoke at the same time, white light almost blinded me.
When I opened my eyes again, Winter and I were standing together in a sparsely traveled alley that bordered a street I was very familiar with.
With the help of magic, we instantly moved to Hermilton Street.
”Too good. Now I’ll be able to return to the Duke’s mansion before Derrick.”
I hooked a smile, and at that moment, a question popped into my head.
We were using Winter’s magic to move, but that felt like ……
…… same feeling as when the system teleported me. .
I cocked my head curiously.
“You can let go now.”
Winter said from beside me.
“Hm? What ……”
“My hand is still in your tight grip.”
After hearing his words, I glanced down.
I saw us interlocking our fingers.
“Ah!”
I shook off his hand in surprise and jumped away in a flash.
‘What …… When did I grab his hand so tightly? .
I was only surprised for a moment, and as I watched his hand return to its original position, I realized that my reaction was a bit too much.
Ignoring that, I sincerely thanked him for helping me.
“…… Thanks for your help.”
Wynter bowed his head politely.
“No need to take it to heart. I’m glad to be able to return the favor to you.”
“I think the trust between us has been rebuilt.”
I laughed out softly. Winter was a marquis in a high position.
Watching him degrade himself so much doesn’t fit the ‘eccentric magician’ setting at all.
After hearing my joke, Winter looked at me with a subtle look.
“Will you still visit our base?”
“…… I’ll think about it.”
I looked him straight in the eyes and narrowed my smile
“Is there any other reason for us to meet in the future?”
A cold wind whipped through the room, and for a moment there was silence.
We watched each other with masks hiding who we were, even though we knew exactly who each other was.
‘Though he’ll never guess I’ll know who he is.’
It was best for me to continue to pretend that I had no knowledge of his true identity. For the sake of him, who was about to meet the heroine, and for my sake.
It won’t do either of us any good, since we hold each other’s secrets.
“Bye.”
Having said goodbye to him, I turned my back to him, just as I was about to take a step to leave the alley.
“…… If ma’am you’d like to forward something after we’re done delivering it.”
Wynter’s voice came with the wind from the alley.
“If the one has a reply ……”
“… …… ”
“Do I need to convey it to you again?”
I gently inclined my head at him standing still. The rabbit mask he wore as he stood silently in the dimly lit alley was creepy for some reason.
“No.”
In any case, I can’t imagine at all what kind of look is on the face hidden under that mask right now. But ……
[Favorability 15%]
To my surprise, despite my cold rejection of him, the favorability rating went up.
After parting with Winter I immediately hit the road back home.
To be precise, it was back to the high wall built around the Duke’s mansion.
“I’m pretty sure that it’s somewhere around here ……”
I focused on searching around the high wall, trying to find the dog hole.
The wall was not only very high, but also super wide, which made my search futile.
I started to feel panicked at the thought that Derrick was probably close by “Found it.”
Eventually, I found the hole.
I crouched down. Because the hole was so small, I had to crawl through it.
Just as I stuck my head in.
I heard a footstep.
“Penelope Eckhardt.”
The icy voice came from high above and then exploded in my ears.
“So, it’s you right.”
I froze in place and couldn’t move.
‘Please ……”
In that moment, I called out to all the gods I knew in my mind.
‘Please this has to be a hallucination.’
But nothing like ‘gods’ existed in this crazy game
“Get up, quick.”
I jumped backward when I heard his voice through gritted teeth.
The death stare his eyes bet on me was more visible than the [13% Favorability] on top of his head.
“Oh, how do you ……”
“How could I not notice a girl walking around here wearing such an ugly mask.”
Derrick is really sharp, he immediately understood what I was trying to ask him, and at that moment was answering with that smug smile on one side.
‘How can you call it ugly! ‘
Because of his mockery, my anger rushed to my heart, but I hurriedly dropped my head.
Because the small frame on his head had started to glow.
“Only, why did you do that?”
Derrick’s brow tightened, forcing me to answer.
“To talk.”
“… ….”
“The time you whined about wanting to go to the festival at night, I let it go. Even the time you brought back a slave with no idea what he was up to and made him your escort, I let it go.”
” …..”
‘Doing so’ means I slipped out of the dukedom without a single escort.
Dispatch regretted that I wouldn’t tell him anything, no matter how much he forced me to answer.
“…… I’m sorry.”
I repeat my apologies like a parrot.
As aggravated as I was, I had no choice. I couldn’t tell them that all I did was so I could find a way so I could stop living with them.
“I’m willing to accept any punishment you want, Young Duke.”
“Punishment, punishment, punishment.”
Unlucky, it looks like this method has failed on Derrick. After hearing my words, Derrick’s brows knit deeper.
“Every time you see me, you only ask for punishment.”
“That’s ……”
“Are you looking for a very harsh punishment?”
Derrick’s shocked look alarmed me.
‘How in the world could anyone want to be punished.’
Of course I didn’t want to be punished.
Before I could reply, he grabbed my hand roughly.
“Keep up.”
“Ah, uh ……”
He walks with large strides, and I’m practically dragged by him.
‘What’s going on with him! What kind of punishment is he, what kind of punishment is he going to give me!’
The terrifying aura he exuded made me feel fearful.
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to be in such close contact with someone who hated Penelope so much.
“…… Where are we going with this?”
“….”
“The Young Duke.”
I asked, only able to look uneasily at the back of his head. And he didn’t give me a single reply at all.
‘Ha. What kind of luck am I having today ……’
Do I need to get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness right now?
Keeping up with this unforeseen unfolding puts me into apprehension.
”Impossible. Even though he has a deep hatred for me as his stepsister, there’s no way he would stab me with a sword like the crown prince just because I left the dukedom for a while.”
I tried to think in a good direction, but what was frightening was the only thing that bubbled up were frightening thoughts.
‘…… Of course it’s impossible to kill me with a sword, but it would be similar to death, right?’
For example, dragging me into the Duke’s mansion and introducing this ‘ugly to the core’ me to everyone in the Eckhardt family.
Magnifying the small mistakes I made then expelling me from the ducal palace.
That Duke Lord who originally brought Penelope here was even more so.
In the game, they were good at doing things like that when I made mistakes.
“Yo, fine, do whatever you want.”
I decided to just give up.
Even if I beg bitterly now, it doesn’t look like anything will change.
I’ve gotten so used to these kinds of things in my past life that I resort to this solution whenever they happen.
I was different from the Penelope who wouldn’t suppress her anger.
I dropped everything and followed Derrick closely.
As I expected, he led me to the main entrance of the ducal palace.
The guards watching this entrance perceived Derek and bowed deeply to him.
Up until this point, I was convinced about the fact that he would drag me inside.
“Ah ……?”
However, Derrick went straight around the iron door.
‘Where is he taking me?’
Looking at his back, my eyes widened.
The uneasiness that felt like it was going to engulf me gradually spread in my heart.