Chapter 8 : Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Lina secretly gripped her trembling legs and forced her wildly beating heart to calm down as she carefully looked at the young duke standing before her.
His cold eyes that seemed to resent the world and his vile, heartless sneer made her legs go weak, and she felt like praising herself just for not having wet her pants right then and there.
"Ye-yes?"
"It's not a difficult task. You just have to learn under me. I'll make sure to raise your salary."
At that vile request, she bit her lip hard.
The metallic taste of blood spread in her mouth, but her pounding heart showed no signs of calming down.
For the first time in her life, she resented the heavens.
Not when her parents' merchant guild went bankrupt, not when her father died and her mother was bedridden as a result, not even when she started working to pay for her younger sibling's school fees and her mother's hospital bills.
She had never once resented the heavens.
"So, you don't want to?"
A cold voice sent shivers down her spine.
The vile demon before her must have known very well that she couldn't refuse this demand, which was close to a coercion.
That must be why he had come to her in broad daylight and made such a vile request.
"No, it's not that. I… I will do as you command."
To learn while lying underneath him.
Although Lina was still young, she had heard and learned things from her seniors, so she could guess what those words meant.
'They say he's been looking for alcohol and drugs lately, I don't know when he'll ask me to serve him at night.'
The grumbles of her seniors from a few days ago echoed in her ears like a phantom.
'I have to endure it. If I get kicked out of the lord's castle, I won't be able to work anywhere.'
No matter how good she was at her job, no one would hire a girl who had been kicked out of the lord's castle.
Who would dare to oppose the young lord?
If she was kicked out, her whole family would starve.
Her sick mother would die without even being able to take her medicine properly.
As she lowered her head to forcefully hold back the tears that were about to fall, the demon's voice thundered.
"Hmm, that's a problem. The probability is quite low if I force it."
Probability?
What probability?
Was he trying to get her pregnant……?
As Lina was picturing a desperate future in her mind, Ian continued.
"What should I do, there doesn't seem to be anyone else… then let's do this. Since I'm making an unreasonable request, tell me what you want. I'll grant you anything if it's within my power."
Ah, so this was the devil's whisper her parents had always warned her about.
As a good girl, she should have rightfully rejected the offer, but the culprit who had brought her to this place flashed through her mind like lightning.
A grudge she had tried to forget, but could never forget.
She looked up with her tear-filled eyes flashing and said.
"Then please punish the administrator, Roberto."
* * *
A startled Ian stared blankly at Lina.
"The administrator?"
"The administrator, Roberto."
He looked at her as she spoke each and every word with determination, even with her trembling body.
"You want me to punish him?"
"Yes. It would be better if he died, but I know my value isn't that high. Instead, it's fine if he suffers enough to die, and it's also fine if he experiences a humiliation worse than death. I just want him to suffer so much that he can never forget it."
Death or suffering so much that he could never forget.
Even for the price of learning something from a scoundrel, wasn't that too much of a demand?
‘Is being under me such a hateful thing that she would demand someone's death?’
Come to think of it, considering the servants who had been avoiding him for the past few days and their gazes, it seemed quite possible.
‘But Roberto?’
It was a promise made with the authority of the young duke, so she could have asked for money, a promotion, or even a lower-ranking title.
For her to want him dead more than anything else, just how deep was her grudge?
"Hmm… well, let's hear it. Who is Roberto?"
"The official in charge of commercial transaction permits at the city hall."
No matter how much I thought about it, it was a name I had never heard before.
"So why do you want to punish Roberto?"
"Because that bastard is my family's enemy."
* * *
Her father, who had many connections in the neighboring Obsol domain, had used those connections to enter the food distribution business and had established a merchant guild with decent results.
It was a small guild, but the number of merchants seeking it gradually increased as it supplied good quality food at low prices.
The problem began after the duke disappeared and the Merchants’ Association started to control the food prices.
"One day, the investigations on the guild suddenly intensified. Almost every day, soldiers and staff from the lord's castle would rummage through our house and warehouse, and they would inspect the carts that needed to be delivered. They even set fire to the hay, claiming that drugs might be hidden in it."
Of course, they received proper compensation afterwards, but for a new merchant guild that was unable to deliver the contracted amount, compensation was meaningless.
The guild's credibility dropped daily, and along with the collapsing guild, her father also collapsed.
"The one in charge of the investigation at that time was Administrator Roberto. That son of a bitch didn't give us the compensation for a long time, giving all sorts of reasons."
After her father's sudden death, she had never forgotten the face of Roberto, who had come to the funeral, not for a single moment.
"That bastard even insulted my father at his funeral. He said it was a very suspicious death, dying in the middle of an investigation."
Lina, with her fine brows furrowed, ground her teeth.
This might be a common story in this domain.
She tried to forget it, telling herself it couldn't be helped.
But in the end, she couldn't forget, so she got a job at the lord's castle and became a maid, vowing to ask for revenge if she ever met someone of high status.
Thinking that this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she looked at Ian with trembling eyes.
He was the young duke, rumored to be a mad scoundrel, but what did it matter if he could make that son of a bitch Roberto regret it?
"So if I just punish that bastard, you'll learn under me?"
At the young duke's words, which sounded blatantly explicit, her ears turned red with shame, but she tried to act nonchalant and answered.
"Yes. Don't worry."
It was something Ian couldn't understand at all, but he didn't try to understand it either.
"Do you happen to know where Ro… that bastard works?"
"What? Well, since he's an administrator, at the city hall……."
"Lead the way."
"What? Right now?"
As it happened, I was in the mood to go on a rampage.
To be honest, it had been like that every day recently.
"Let's go!"
As Ian started walking towards the outer castle first, Lina quickly walked to guide him.
* * *
The city hall was bustling with merchants and commoners as usual.
Large transactions were handled through agreements between the Merchants' Association and the city hall, but smaller transactions and commercial transaction permits were processed through the city hall.
"Next!"
Roberto looked at the approaching woman with tired eyes.
‘Tsk, how dare a woman.’
This was the problem with this domain.
Since all the men worked as soldiers or monster hunters, the women were trying to make money.
He was sure she had come to get a permit to open a stall to sell a few herbs she had picked in the mountains.
The thought that he had to waste his precious time on that lowly woman made him irritated.
"Hey, hurry up!"
"Yes, yes! I'm sorry!"
He urged the woman on, venting his frustration.
‘They're all just a bunch of fools.’
They were of no help to the domain, and it was a relief if they didn't cause trouble.
Although he hadn't even read the application yet, Roberto had already made up his mind to reject it and raised his stamp.
It might be unfair to the citizen who had waited for hours to get a permit, but he was just doing his best for the bright future of the domain.
Just as Roberto snatched the documents from the woman and was about to stamp them with a rejection.
BANG!
With a roar, the door, which was as old as the city hall's history, was thrown off its hinges.
"Kyaa!"
At the sudden roar, the citizens in the city hall looked towards the door and saw a man in a crumpled black formal uniform and a girl in a maid's outfit.
The man glanced at the crowd and then shouted without warning.
"Roberto!"
‘Who is he? An inspector?’
He could tell from the woman's outfit that he was from the lord's castle, but he had never seen the man who called his name before in his life.
As he was contemplating how to react to the sudden intruder, the man shouted again.
"Roberto!"
At the noise, the administrator in charge of the city hall rushed down, saw the man, and prostrated himself, shouting.
"Greetings to the Young Duke!"
At the thunderous announcement, a deep silence fell over the hall.
* * *
"Is Roberto here?"
At Ian's question, the administrator, still prostrated, rolled his eyes and said.
"Yes, yes, he's over there."
The administrator racked his brains harder than ever before in his life.
‘Why is this lunatic here? No, that's not what's important. Does a madman have a reason for his madness?’
Judging from the way he had kicked down the door, it didn't seem like a good thing.
It was best to throw a bone that a rabid dog wanted and chase it away, so he didn't feel the need to ask why or the intention to stop him.
The administrator, fearing that the sparks might fly his way, shouted without even raising his head from his prostrated position.
"Roberto! The Young Duke is looking for you! Come here at once and pay your respects to the Young Duke!"
At the call, Roberto's face turned deathly pale.
‘T-t-that man is that Young Duke? The one who beat the tax collector with a scabbard?’
The story that the tax collector, who had been beaten to a pulp by the scoundrel for no reason, was on the verge of death was no secret in the city hall.
Just yesterday, he had been gloating about how great it was not to have to see that pig.
‘Why me of all people…….’
Even though he knew the young duke was looking for him, his feet wouldn't move.
Was this how a cow being led to the slaughterhouse felt?
As he tried to force his unmoving feet to move, the woman next to the young duke was faster in pointing her finger at Roberto.
"That's him over there."
At the same time, Ian, who had turned towards Roberto, looked at him and asked.
"Roberto?"
"Yes, yes. Greetings to the Young Duke."
Damn it.
As soon as he read the madness in the young duke's eyes, goosebumps rose all over his body.
Hundreds of thoughts flashed through his mind as he prostrated himself.
Why on earth had the young duke come all this way?
Who was that maid who knew him?
Had he come to give him an award?
It didn't seem like that kind of atmosphere.
"Y-Young Duke, what is the……."
Ian said nothing and drew his sword, piercing the hand of the prostrated Roberto.
"Kkeuaaaak!"
Warm blood flowed between the hand pinned to the floor and the sword, and Roberto's scream echoed through the quiet city hall.