Grace received the bag from Roselia and wondered why she was giving it to her instead of Benjamin.
“It’s an order from the Madam, so it’s only right that I report to her.”
“…!”
Roselia soon stood up and said, “I know it’s a breach of etiquette, but I’ll leave first,” before leaving the room.
Grace stared blankly at Roselia and muttered to herself.
“…Cool, Very impressive, Roselia Vantrin.”
“Isn’t she? Impressive, right?”
Sally vigorously nodded her head in agreement with Grace’s words.
“Among the scarce number of female knights in the Empire, Roselia Vantrin is considered one of the most remarkable.”
“That’s how it seems.”
Not only the content of her words but also her attitude and demeanor itself appeared flawless. Grace thought back to the encounter she had with Roselia just moments ago as she looked down at the bag in her hands.
“Was it really okay to entrust such a task to someone like her?”
“Perhaps she saw it as an honor?”
“Do you think she found it bothersome?”
‘Well, she is the deputy commander of the Knights division.’
It could have been entrusted to someone else. Perhaps there was some invisible discrimination based on gender that she unknowingly faced?
Grace found herself unintentionally falling into negative thoughts.
“… She’s been assigned such a pointless task.”
“How can you call it a pointless task when it’s related to Madam! It directly relates to your safety. And how could a knight who has sworn loyalty find their master’s command bothersome? That would be truly dishonorable.”
Sally pounded her chest with her fist.
“No one in this mansion finds the Madam a bother. Don’t worry.”
“…Alright.”
Grace forced a smile.
Then what is this lingering unease echoing in her ears?
﹤You shouldn’t believe in idle flattery.﹥
﹤You’re just lucky to have become a Duchess.﹥
﹤If only someone more capable and valuable than you had taken this position…﹥
﹤How many times have you already caused trouble?﹥
Because of that, Grace couldn’t believe it. Maybe that’s why that strong-looking knight seemed impressive.
She appeared unshakable, no matter what anyone said.
⋆★⋆
Tom Birkin was once a fairly bright person. He might have been someone with a sense of justice. But he was poor.
And compared to his sense of justice, he was fragile and burdened with many things to protect.
If only everyone in the world could walk the straight and narrow path, but he was not able to do so.
If life were like a play or a book, it would have been nice if it ended happily after overcoming the greatest hardships, but no matter what tragic or joyful events passed by, life continued.
And it was a series of fierce, grim, and mundane existences. The articles he wrote never made money.
No matter how much Tom exposed the corrupt world, he was often buried and ignored. He was a laughingstock, and at one point, his life was even threatened.
If his own life had been threatened, he might have clung even more to evil for the sake of survival. But the threat he faced was not to his own life, but to his family’s.
The lives of young siblings. These innocent beings, who have no idea how corrupt this world is, should not die yet.
No, regardless of what kind of children they were, they should not have met such a fate.
Tom’s soul and eyes lost their light since then.
“….”
Perhaps this, too, is just an excuse.
Someone who lived a similar life might not have made the same choice as Tom.
Sitting on the cold prison floor, Tom contemplated his own fate.
One would typically expect to stand trial, but there was no chance of such a conventional and neat ending for himself.
He didn’t seek mercy. If he were to die, he wanted to die without being mocked, all at once.
‘That couldn’t be possible.’
He was the one who had tried to make a big splash by stalking and scaring people.
While he didn’t know how close Duke Felton was with his wife, he could anticipate that it wouldn’t end gracefully, considering she was his only family.
As Tom was contemplating his own fate, he heard footsteps in the distance.
‘The sound of someone’s footsteps?’
Tom realized that the sound was not that of a knight or a maid. Judging by the sound of a dress brushing against the ground, it was a woman.
‘But who could be here?’
A faint light cast a shadow from afar. The silhouette of the shadow stretched long, making it difficult to discern who it was.
Since there was no one Tom knew in Duke Felton’s domain from the beginning, he couldn’t make any deductions.
“….!”
Finally, when Tom saw the person standing in front of him, his eyes widened. Grace, holding a candlestick, looked down at Tom sitting alone in the prison.
