CH 61

“Aaahhhh!”

Caleb screamed and took a couple of steps back. His heart was still pounding and he felt like he was going to stop breathing.

The man standing in front tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand. Seeing that, Caleb wiped his surprised chest and caught his breath.

“Who sent this… ?”

Composing himself, he came forward as much as he had backed away. Then he rubbed his eyes, wondering if he hadn’t woken up. But the sight in front of his eyes did not disappear.

Caleb, frightened at the world inside her box, full of pink heads and blue eyes, slammed the box shut.

“Isn’t that what you ordered? According to what the boss said, the customer bought all the dolls at the festival and wrote down this address.”

“… Ah.”

Caleb shook his head in disbelief, but the delivery man’s words got him thinking.

“I wonder about the man’s appearance…”

“His face couldn’t be seen because he was wearing a mask, but apparently his eyes were red.”

“… Okay. Then you have come to the right place.”

""

Caleb rubbed his face to soothe his confused mind once he knew who the red-eyed man was. Obviously, that man must be his boss, Mikael.

“Then, I would like to ask for your signature here to indicate that you received it well.”

“Yes, I understand. Thank you for your effort.”

“Yes, thank you! We look forward to your continued business!”

He finished his signature, scrawling roughly with the quill the delivery man handed him. The delivery man gave a brief nod and turned around.

It wasn’t until he was completely out of sight that Caleb slammed the door shut.

Caleb let out a heavy breath and picked up one of his cushions from his couch and buried his face in it. He then screamed as hard as he could.

“Aaaahhhhh!”

The sound was partially muffled by the cushions, but it was still loud. Liena was startled, and ran out of her room with widened eyes.

“Oh, big brother. Why are you like this in the morning?!”

“No big deal. Sorry. A little bit, a little bit of a problem… Oh no. Rather than a problem…”

“Did the Archduke assign another troublesome task?”

""

Seeing Caleb’s repeated excuses, Rienna quickly figured out why he was doing it.

It wasn’t the first time she’d seen something like this. Of course, it was the first time he had screamed as violently as he did today.

Wondering what was going on, she glanced at the large box in front of her brother.

“Can I open this?”

“No.”

“I’ll just look.”

“No…”

Before Caleb could finish his sentence, Liena opened the box and flipped it over. Then, as expected, her large eyes widened as if they were about to roll down.

“Gasp, Yuri!”

“No. And say Yuri-nim next time.”

In the box were dozens, maybe hundreds, of dolls that looked just like Yuri. Even if Liena was a doll enthusiast, she could only blink her eyes wide in bewilderment by this situation, and for a moment was unable to say anything.

“B- but why is this… ?”

After a while, Liena opened her mouth, and her question pierced Caleb’s heart. It was because it was a question he also wanted to ask the Grand Duke.

Fine, he could understand that he wanted to collect dolls that looked exactly like Yuri-nim. It’s not like he could argue with his personal taste, and the Archduke’s taste has already gone beyond his control.

But why did he send it to his humble home instead of the spacious and nice Orlov mansion?

“Whew… What is he thinking…”

Caleb let out a long sigh and muttered something to himself. All the while, dozens of figures with blue eyes and pink hair were staring at Caleb.

* * *

Meanwhile, Archduke Orlov’s office.

Mikael looked at the man trembling in front of him with cold eyes like a blade. Even as he watched his body tremble as if he were about to sit down, Mikael’s eyes remained impassive.

“Archduke… W- what’s the matter…”

The man barely spoke with a trembling voice. He was a puppeteer, one of the circus troopers who stole Yuri’s money the other day.

After returning to the mansion that day, without Yuri’s knowledge, he had ordered Caleb to report that a large-scale crime was being committed at Wonder Circus, so that it could be thoroughly investigated.

In particular, he pointed out the rude behavior they had done to him, and emphasized that he could not let this incident slide.

In fact, it was not because of what they did to him, but because of what they did to Yuri, but since Yuri was not a nobleman, he had no justification for contempt of nobility. That’s why he had no choice but to emphasize what they did to him.

“I heard that all those who conspired to do things with you were taken away. Maybe some of them will have their palms blown off, and some of them will have their heads blown off.”

“… I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Archduke… P- please have mercy…”

At Mikael’s words, the puppeteer trembled and fell to the floor. He begged, bowing his head until his forehead touched the ground.

“Do you want to live?”

“Yes, yes! P- please…”

“And your gang too?”

“Yes, i-if possible please… It was the only place that accepted me as an orphan. E- Everyone, is living hard… I’m sorry, w- we won’t do that again…”

“If I act leniently, I can let the matter rest with flogging. How many will also depend on how generous I am.”

“Please, please. Archduke, if you really do me a favor just once, I won’t do that again. Archduke, please…”

The man who saw the light of hope began to beg more earnestly.

Later that night, the guards came and the circus troupe was broken up. As he was being taken, he thought he was going to die. While he was imprisoned and awaiting trial, he saw no hope.

In the meantime, the man said he had a place to go early in the morning, and he was led somewhere by the prison officials.

At first, he wept bitterly because he knew that the death penalty had been confirmed and he was being led to the place of execution.

However, his arrival was in front of Archduke Orlov.

In fact, even at this point, he remembered the words of ‘immediate disposition’ that the Grand Duke had said the other day, and he knew that he would die in front of him.

However, he couldn’t help but open his eyes with anticipation that he might be able to get away with something lenient.

Of course, flogging would also be terribly painful, but it was a hundred times better than having his wrists cut off or dying. Besides, if done well, the number of floggings might be reduced to as few as possible.

“Okay, but there is one condition. If you do it, I will be as lenient as possible to minimize the punishment you will receive.”

“T- thank you! Thank you! I’ll do anything! I’ll do anything, as long as you give me leniency!”

“Indeed.”

In response to his words, Mikael nodded his head without inspiration.

“What is your name?”

“I- I am Hans.”

“Yes, Hans. I won’t say it twice, so listen carefully.”

“Yes, yes! Alright!”

The man named Hans did his best to listen to Mikael’s words. For not only his life, but the lives of his coworkers, depended on his words. He did not forget to mumble over and over again what he had said, so as not to miss any of Mikael’s words.

After some time had passed, someone knocked on the door of the office.

“Archduke, this is Caleb.”

“Come in.”

The visitor was Caleb. He thought he was coming in to do work as usual, so he didn’t think it was a big deal, but he showed up pushing a box that was the size of himself.

“Hans, leave. Don’t forget what I said.”

“Y- yes! Alright! Thank you! thank you!”

He bowed his head as if he were about to hit the ground several times and left the office.

Caleb jumped at Michael as soon as he disappeared.

“Who is that? Oh no, more importantly! Why the hell did you send this to me? I thought I was going to die carrying it!”

“Then should I send it to my house?”

“… T- that…”

“We can’t send a bundle of dolls to the Orlov residence, can we?”

“But you can’t send it to my house! Even if you do it, give me some words beforehand. Do you know how startled I was?”

“Were you surprised? They must have been pretty cute.”

“Not just one or two, it’s nasty! I thought I went to a doll hell somewhere! Anyway, that being said, why the hell did you order so many of those dolls?”

Caleb asked incomprehensibly. Then, Mikael explained the reason for ordering the doll with a relaxed face.