I clicked my tongue at Bein’s dull face, which still showed no emotion. This was surprising, but he was quite an iron wall.

“You’re not fun.”

I continued sourly with an awkward expression. “I hate when someone is late. I hate waiting. But I heard you were late today because you walked for two hours.”

Bein was dumbfounded. Just because of that?

“I’m sorry. I was late because I miscalculated the time. From now on, I can come an hour earlier, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

I felt like swallowing a large rye bread without a sip of water at Bein’s calm answer. “No~ If you live here, wouldn’t it only take an hour to the Duchy?” This is so frustrating.

Bein paused for a moment and said, “There is no kindness without price. As you know, I have no ability to repay it. So I can’t take it.” And I don’t know what your intentions are.

For Bein, Arianne’s kindness was neither understandable nor acceptable. What are the nobles like? If they were kind today, they could kick him out tomorrow just because they changed their mind or were in a bad mood. He would be the only one who had a hard time playing with their whim. It was right not to receive it in the first place.

I gritted my teeth. He only talks about the right things, but I get annoyed. There was nothing wrong with what Bein had said. But I didn’t know why my emotions were like boiling soup.

“You don’t have the right to decide. If I say live in this place, just live in this place. And never again disputing my words!”

I felt bad when I was lost in an argument. In response, Bein let out a low sigh as if he couldn’t help it and said, “If Baroness says so, I will comply.”

Baroness… My lips twitched. The title that came out of Bein’s mouth was quite to my liking. I didn’t even feel like this when Madrenne said it, but maybe it’s because the title came out from this stiff human’s mouth.

“Say it again.”

“If you say so, I will follow.”

Again, my forehead crumpled. “No, not that one. The first thing you said before.”

“Baroness.”

I smiled as if it was a lie that I had been in a bad mood, then said, “That word… is nice to hear.”

“…”

Bein thought Arianne was a very easy person to understand. Maybe he could live a comfortable life if he could please her.

“Bring the kids in today. I don’t think you need to bring anything from your house, but at a glance, it looks like this house has big furniture left behind. You just need to buy utensils and bedding.”

“Yes, I understand,” Bein answered meekly. Because Arianne said before that she didn’t like him disputing her words.

I stood up from the chair and said, “I’m hungry. Let’s sign the contract and go eat.”

“Yes.”

As the sales contract was in my hand, I walked down the street with a happy face. My light steps were like a butterfly fluttering. As I was in a good mood and the weather was cool, I decided to go for a walk and get some fresh air. As nobles had the virtue of having fair skin, they might be worried about getting sunburned, but I didn’t care about such things. 

“Madrenne said the new restaurant in District 2 is amazing.”

A bizarre phenomenon occurred when a cheap language, saying that it was amazing, came out of the noble’s mouth. But mysteriously, when it came out of my mouth, it sounded like a graceful word.

District 2 of the capital was recently the hottest topic in the empire, from high-end restaurants, teahouses, and bakeries to famous room salons. It was literally a place where you could eat, drink, and enjoy everything. The size and level were considered to the extent that nobles from the outskirts came to there.

Ah~ They said we won’t know about the future, so who would have thought I’d wander the capital’s streets on my own like this? The imperial family had made a great public announcement since I received the title and had been recognized as an independent entity. In other words, I had become a stranger to Count Bornes. In addition, I was under the protection of the imperial family as a noble with my own title.

My hum almost came out on its own, but I managed to walk quickly toward my destination. But then.

“Argh!” I suddenly bumped into a person who jumped out of the alley.

“I aporogize.”

A clumsy imperial language sound could be heard. Is he a foreigner?  The man didn’t even look at me and disappeared as if he was running away in a hurry. “What is that! His attitude of asking for forgiveness is bad!”

Every time I went out, nothing good always happened. Bein found something while looking at me.

“Baroness, there’s blood on you.”

“Blood?”

Today isn’t even that day, so why blood? I hurriedly examined my dress. As Bein said, my side had a fairly large blood stain. When I touched the bloodstains, red blood came out. By the way… Why is he so calm in this critical situation? I glared at Bein with resentful eyes.

“I’m really unlucky! Did I get hurt in the meantime?”

I wanted to, but I didn’t feel stung and didn’t feel any pain. In other words,  the conclusion that it wasn’t my blood.

“Did it smear? Then did it smear from that man?”

I stared into the alley where the man I had just bumped into popped out. Even on such a bright daytime street, there were alleys, and just like normal shady alleys, the alley in front of me was also dark, with tall buildings blocking the light. Something happened in that alley. And maybe something bad happened with a 99% chance. It didn’t feel right.

Let’s just say I had no luck and went back. However, it was quite uncomfortable to just let it pass. As a Baroness of the Empire, I could see things like this and let it slide… Everyone would pretend not to know, but why couldn’t I do that too?

“It’s so annoying!”

I crumpled my brows and muttered. “Follow me. I’m going to look inside.”

When I tried to step into the alley, Bein stopped me for some reason. “It’s dangerous. The inside of the alley is a completely different world from the outside.”

Bein’s dissuasion was reasonable. Just as there was light and shadow everywhere, light and shadow existed in this capital too. In particular, Bein, who had been living at the bottom since he was young, knew well that the world in the alley was never easy. It wasn’t a place a woman could afford.

But who was Arianne? I was the daughter of Count Bornes, the shadow’s leader. Although the danger posed by my fathers existed, in fact, the name Bornes alone actually solved most problems without having to touch them. And since I already had the experience of punishing gangsters in the alley, I didn’t worry. Because I always brought a six-shot revolver with me.

“Before I’m Baroness Devit, I’m the only daughter of the Bornes family. It’s enough to protect my body. You should be careful. Don’t hold me back.”

Despite Arianne’s confident words, Bein looked worried. Rather than genuinely worried about her, he was worried about his own safety if something happened to her. Still, Arianne misunderstood him and tried to reassure him.

“You don’t have to worry about me. If I have to, I will throw you as bait and run away.”

Bein’s eyebrows twitched over his glasses. “Yes. It’s really reassuring.”

I lifted the corners of my mouth, smiled, and stepped into the alley. “Shut up and follow me.”

The alley got quieter and dreary as we went into. What’s fortunate was that this area was made up of large buildings, so it was less like a maze than the alleys of the last night market. Shortly after entering the alley, I found something foreign. Something long across the alley.

“This is a scene I’ve seen before.”

With a strong sense of déjà vu, she moved closer to something. At that place, there was that person again. This time, stretched out his body and was bleeding. It was Prince Paku of the Kelteman Empire. His condition was serious. Dark red blood was seeping out between his fingers, which were gripping his stomach.

“Bein, go get someone.”

I gave a command to Bein, approached Paku, and crouched down. I rummaged through a small handbag, took out a fine lace handkerchief, took out his hand, and said, “I’m going to stop the bleeding, so put your hands away.”

Paku looked at who it was with a frown and soon recognized that it was Arianne and obediently put his hands away. Arianne pressed down on his wound with her lace handkerchief.

“Urgh.”

“Even if it hurts, endure it. I need to stop the bleeding… Huh? What!”

My lace handkerchief was oozing dark red blood through the holes in the fine thread. “What a useless thing!”

I nervously threw my lace handkerchief to the ground. I looked around, but there was no suitable cloth. It can’t be helped. I turned my skirt inside out and tore the petticoat.

Paku’s eyebrows went up. His mouth was twitching, and he seemed to want to say something, but he was speechless.

“Don’t talk. Just stay still. I don’t know what the hell this is.”

I roughly folded the long, torn cloth and pressed it down on his wound. This time, because it was a dense fabric, the blood didn’t ooze out like before, but his wound was too severe to stop the bleeding.

“Why isn’t Bein coming?”

“I’ll help you.”

“You scared me!” I shouted as I turned around in surprise at the sudden voice behind me.

“I’m sorry to startle you. It seemed to be an emergency, so I revealed myself.”

It was Sir Dale, one of Charter’s knights. Such a timely appearance, for some reason, it seemed that he secretly followed me after saying that I didn’t have any escort for today. He’s putting someone to tail me? I won’t let him go when I see him for real!

Actually, it was for Arianne’s safety rather than tailing her. Still, if the person being tailed said she was being tailed, it was tailing. It seemed difficult for Charter to safely come back today.

Anyway, that’s that. A man’s life was now at stake. “He will die at this rate. Where is the nearest doctor?”

Then, Bein, who was out looking for someone, returned with the two study men in the back.

“The nearest doctor is in the smithy in the next alley.”

“Smithy?”

Bein nodded to my question and said, “Yes. I can vouch for his skills. He’s the closest one.”

I spoke to Lord Dale as if I had made up my mind. “Carry him on your back. Bein, send those men back and guide us right away.”

I tore off my petticoat again, then wrapped the long torn cloth tightly around Paku’s wound. I shook my head when Dale tried to get out of the alley with Paku on his back. “We can’t show it to people. Let’s go down the alley.”

As a result of walking around the alley quickly according to Bein’s guidance, we were able to arrive at the smithy immediately. I wondered why we should go to the smithy instead of the clinic, but it wasn’t time to argue about it now. Bein took the lead and entered the smithy.

“Mister, it’s an emergency call. I think he had been stabbed.”

At Bein’s words, the man who was making something in the corner of the smithy got up and walked to us.

“Stabbed? Lay him down here.”

He pointed to what appeared to be a large workbench. When Bein and Sir Dale laid Paku down, the man who appeared to be the doctor tore Paku’s top and examined his wound carefully.

“He got stabbed in the vital spot. His intestines must have been damaged too.”

Perhaps because of the relief that he met the doctor, the string of consciousness that Paku was barely holding onto became thinner.

Arianne then said, “Save him. You have to save him no matter what.”

Paku smiled lightly at Arianne’s words, which seemed to worry him, and he soon lost consciousness. He didn’t hear what Arianne said after that.

“Even if he dies, he has to go back to his own empire and die there, not here.”