“What kind of beggar are you, coming all the way to the kitchen to steal food, huh?”
Esika stretched out her hand towards Hemos, who was approaching menacingly with a knife.
Hemos’s brow furrowed as Esika caught his blade between her straightened index and middle fingers.
Thinking she was mocking him, Hemos got angry and lashed out.
“You little rat, what do you think you’re doing…!”
He tried to pull the blade from Esika’s hand, but it didn’t budge at all.
It felt as if it was wedged between massive boulders.
Hemos twitched his eyebrows.
Then he tried to apply force again.
“…Huh?”
But contrary to expectations of a delicate maid’s hand, the blade didn’t move at all.
He wouldn’t know that it could be done with just a bit of internal energy.
“L-Let go of this!”
“I merely stopped you from waving around something unsightly, yet your jumping about is quite frivolous.”
A cold voice flowed from between the maid’s delicate lips.
“How dare you, a mere maid!”
Esika, who had been staring at the bald chef grunting to pull the knife from her hand, applied a little force.
With a clang, the kitchen knife split in half.
“…”
Hemos, watching the knife pieces fall to the floor, widened his eyes and stepped back a few paces.
His eyes began to fill with shock and fear.
“W-Who… are you!”
It had seemed strange enough when she nonchalantly caught the blade between just two fingers earlier, but seeing this, she was clearly no ordinary maid.
“Who are you to come looking for me? An assassin sent by Herald? I-I’ll pay the gambling debt soon if you just give me a little more time…”
Esika narrowed her eyes.
Hemos was undoubtedly mistaking her for an assassin sent to collect money.
Everyone has weaknesses, and she was accustomed to piercing through others’ vulnerabilities.
Hemos’s weakness was ‘money’.
It was among the easiest to control.
“I am Esika Klaus. Does someone who works in the Duke’s kitchen not even recognize my face?”
At the mention of Esika’s surname ‘Klaus’, Hemos flinched.
After staring at her for a long while, Hemos belatedly furrowed his brow and asked,
“Could it be… are you the Duchess?”
Esika raised her chin slightly and nodded.
Due to her overbearing and dangerous aura, he couldn’t have imagined she was the Duchess.
But if she was the Duchess, that changed things.
Hemos, stroking his nearly bald head, spoke to Esika with a look of utter exasperation.
“Why have you come here, Madam? And dressed as a maid no less.”
Naturally, Hemos looked down on the powerless Duchess.
None of the servants in the Duke’s mansion refrained from tormenting the Duchess.
If they tried to treat her well and caught the eye of the Grand Duchess’s maids, they would surely be beaten.
“I came because I need your assistance.”
At the word ‘assistance’, Hemos smirked.
He had no intention whatsoever of helping the Duchess, who was more powerless than a scarecrow.
“Don’t say such nonsense and go back quickly. If the Grand Duchess finds out you’ve been wandering around, she’ll throw another fit. And I’m very busy.”
How on earth did she do those techniques just now?
As Hemos grumbled and bent down to pick up the fallen blade, Esika took a couple steps closer.
“In that case…”
And at that moment, something shiny fell in front of Hemos with a clatter.
There were over ten precious pearls, the ones she had received from Sella before.
“How about this? Surely you’re not too busy to pick these up?”
Esika spoke to Hemos, whose eyes had changed considerably as he looked up at her.
“I need your kitchen and your help.”
“Well… if you insist…”
Hemos glanced around as he reached for the fallen pearls.
If he could just brush off the nonsense of this naive Duchess and pocket the pearls…
“Argh!”
But his hand reaching for the pearls was promptly stomped on by Esika’s foot.
“What are you…!”
Esika bent down to meet the eyes of Hemos, whose eyebrows were contorted.
As Hemos met Esika’s cold gaze, he felt his heart sink for a moment.
When she caught the knife with just two fingers earlier, he had dismissed it, thinking she must have practiced some grappling technique.
But the Duchess before him now…
“Hemos.”
Her eyes were filled with a vivid killing intent, while her lips wore a natural smile.
It was not an eerie expression one could put on after practicing once or twice, nor was it something that could be imitated.
When he used to follow the Grand Duchess, he would get goosebumps seeing such expressions on women… but an even deeper abyss was now staring back at him.
“It wouldn’t be difficult to register these pearls as stolen goods.”
“…What? What do you mean by that…”
“You’ve already sold three of my pearls for gambling money, haven’t you? They are among the highest quality pearls from the Brigitte family. And they have very small numbers engraved on them…”
Cold sweat ran down Hemos’s back.
“Which means we can track who sold the items.”
At those words, Hemos felt an even greater chill down his spine.
“Madam… why are you doing this to me? You gave them to me as a gift, so why…”
“It wasn’t a gift, but currency entrusted with the expectation of a return. However, you failed to meet my expectations.”
Hemos felt a stinging pain in his hand, as if it might break.
A return, she said. He remembered Sella giving him a recipe, which he had carelessly prepared and served for breakfast.
Sella was just a maid serving the Duchess, not one with backing, so he figured he could just ignore any complaints.
“I didn’t want the garbage you made by eyeballing measurements. I wanted food with proper medicinal effects, made with precise measurements and mixtures.”
“M-Madam…”
“So you’ve essentially stolen my pearls already. Moreover,”
The foot pressing on Hemos’s hand applied more pressure.
“You’re still coveting a noble’s treasures even now, so you have no right to complain even if both your wrists were cut off for such a grave crime.”
Cold sweat continued to run down Hemos’s back.
Stealing from nobles was punishable by the severe penalty of having one’s wrists cut off.
In the past, he would have denied it outright, relying on the Grand Duchess’s influence, but the Grand Duchess whose heart had changed now wouldn’t even bother with him.
‘Was the Duchess… always like this?’
The Duchess he had glimpsed before was an innocent woman who didn’t seem to fit with Klaus.
But the intense killing intent emanating from the woman stepping on his foot before him was enough to confuse his memories.
“I-I’m sorry. But what exactly do you want from me, coming all the way to the kitchen…”
He finally asked Esika.
Esika moved her lips with an arrogant look in her eyes.
“I’m not afraid of the Grand Duchess.”
“T-That’s impossible.”
“Whether it’s possible or not remains to be seen through confrontation. In any case, if you offer me sincere loyalty…”
As Esika lifted her foot from his hand, he cradled his tingling hand with the other.
In contrast to the painful sensation, her voice was as sweet as rolling jade beads, yet also dangerous.
“You will surely gain more than you lose.”
Pearl beads were rolling around where she had removed her foot.
It doesn’t take much skill to pick up what has been discarded.
“However, if you choose nothing, it won’t be difficult for me to cut off the wrists of a chef who has lost his strings.”
The corners of her lips were slightly turned up in a cruel shape.
**
“Keep a close watch on whether Esika’s food is being served properly.”
At Riona’s words, as she was having her nails manicured by a maid on the balcony, another maid bowed her head and replied.
“Yes, I understand, Grand Duchess.”
According to the maids’ reports, Esika’s complexion was gradually improving.
How could her complexion improve when she should be eating only rotten bread?
It was impossible unless someone took pity on her and helped.
If there was anyone in the mansion who dared to defy her orders, she wouldn’t let them off easily.
After the maid left with her orders, Riona commanded another maid.
“Annie.”
“Yes, Grand Duchess. Please speak.”
“Tell the musician to play a song. I’ve recalled an unpleasant face, so…”
Riona’s delicate brow was furrowed.
“I need to soothe my mind with music.”
The maid immediately bowed her head and replied.
“Understood, Grand Duchess.”
The maid went out again.
It was to call for the musician they had recently hired at great expense.
Soon after, sweet music began to play from below the balcony.
Riona closed her eyes and listened to the performance.
The gentle melody seemed to breathe warm steam into her irritated mood, which had been spoiled by the thought of that vulgar merchant’s daughter who had wormed her way into the Duke’s family.
“Prepare my dresses. I’ll need to choose an outfit suitable for tomorrow’s tea time.”
“Understood, Grand Duchess.”
The maid who had been manicuring her nails replied.
**
Resban’s gaze lingered on a white butterfly in the garden.
The ripples rising over the lake, the wavering eyes, the fluttering hair.
And… a dream that lasted for a very long time.
From the day he first met her during his painful childhood, he had wandered for a long time searching for the back figure in his dreams.
At some point, he didn’t even know if she existed in the world or not.
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”
The adjutant tasked with the investigation reported.
“I have completed the investigation on Duchess Esika Klaus.”
Translation complete. 100% of original text translated.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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