❖ ❖ ❖

 

Cecilia carefully observed the faces of the three women.

Two were clearly maids, but one stood out. She was much taller than the other two.

‘Sturdy…’

It was the first time Cecilia had seen a woman she could describe as ‘sturdy’.

“My name is Joy, Madam.”

“Joy… and you’re…?”

Cecilia’s gaze moved up and down Joy’s outfit.

She wore trousers like a man, a black leather vest, and various leather reinforcements on her shoulders, arms, and wrists.

Several daggers of different lengths hung from a belt at her waist.

She wanted to ask, What exactly do you do? but couldn’t find the right words.

“I am a hunter, Madam. You could think of me as similar to a knight from the grand duchy.”

“So… you’re a knight?”

“I’m not a knight. There are no knights at Lagos Castle.”

‘Ah…’

One of the privileges of the seven grand ducal houses on the continent was having knights. Any guards or soldiers other nobles kept couldn’t be called knights.

“While the southern wing isn’t particularly dangerous, I’ll escort you just in case. If it’s uncomfortable, I can go without weapons.”

“No, an escort should be armed. So, three of you are going with me?”

“Yes, Madam.”

Before heading to the southern wing, Cecilia stopped by her nanny’s room.

Benjamine had sprained her ankle five days ago. The doctor had remarked that a complete break from work might’ve been better, as the injury was severe. Her ankle was so swollen that she couldn’t move without someone’s help.

 

「 I should be with you, Miss, but look at me like this. 」

 

Benjamine’s face was twisted with regret.

 

「 Just rest, Nanny. You’ll recover faster that way. 」

 

Cecilia offered comforting words, though her thoughts were different. Secretly, she hoped Benjamine would be laid up for a long time.

‘In my past life, Nanny never got injured like this.’

 

❖ ❖ ❖

 

Shortly after Cecilia and the three others entered the southern wing, a soldier knocked on Hoffman’s office door.

“The Lord is returning, sir.”

“So soon?”

“But he’s alone, sir.”

“What?”

Hoffman stood up quickly and went to greet the Lord. On his way, he couldn’t shake a sense of unease.

‘I hope nothing went wrong.’

“Milord.”

“The job is done. We took down One-Eye and his entire pack.”

Sensing Hoffman’s concern, Russell spoke the moment he saw him. Hoffman’s expression brightened immediately.

“One-Eye… the notorious, cunning one, right? So, you finally caught it. As expected of Your Lordship.”

“It wasn’t just my work. And that creature’s grown old by now.”

“But the hunters…?”

“They stayed behind to wrap things up. There were no injuries.”

“Yes, Milord.”

Hoffman answered brightly, relieved of his remaining worries.

‘But why did he return alone?’

He pondered this silently, knowing he couldn’t directly ask the returning lord about it.

“Nothing unusual happened here?”

For a brief moment, Hoffman remembered Benjamine’s injury.

‘That’s not something His Lordship needs to be bothered with.’

In Hoffman’s list of priorities, Benjamine ranked quite low. He would have been concerned if her injury had unsettled Madam, but that hadn’t been the case.

“No, Milord.”

“And…”

Russell hesitated, searching for a term to address Cecilia.

Calling her by just her name felt too informal, but he hadn’t gotten used to something like ‘wife’.

“That… person?”

Hoffman blinked a few times, then answered,

“Ah, the Madam recently went to the southern wing.”

“The southern wing?”

“Yes, she’s been exploring the castle regularly. It seems she’s quite bored. She wanted to see the southern wing, so I had two maids and the hunter, Joy, accompany her.”

Russell nodded and continued walking. Hoffman followed him and said,

“Milord, I have some matters to report…”

“Later.”

Hoffman stopped in his tracks, watching the lord’s retreating figure, and tilted his head in curiosity.

 

❖ ❖ ❖

 

Cecilia entered the southern wing and walked straight down the corridor.

Since it was her first time here, she didn’t want to risk taking complicated routes and getting lost.

She entered the first open archway without a door she came across.

‘Magnificent.’

Before her was an enormous hall. It looked like a grand banquet hall, with a high, domed ceiling and a chandelier still hanging above.

‘The largest banquet hall in the grand duchy is only a fraction of this size.’

The banquet hall in the Jericho Grand Duchy was famously one of the largest on the continent.