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Translated by EunEun

Edited by Zil

Beatty, who had been counting such a huge accommodation fee, brooded over the Duke’s words again.

‘He said only before winter, right?’

Then, she just needs to contribute some results until then.

She will be able to complete another price comparable to the price she bet on this deal before then.

‘I need to hurry up and finish it.’

Beatty, who nodded, was about to greet and leave the room. However—

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“That one too. Take it back.”

The Duke pointed to the gift cart which Beatty returned and said.

“Ah, no. It’s okay.”

“Take it.”

“It’s really okay.”

“...”

Seeing the Duke’s forehead furrowed, Beatty hesitated and opened her mouth.

“Uhm.. by any chance, if I can receive the present.”

“You can receive it.”

Beatty somehow laughed at the quick and firm answer, then asked carefully.

“Other than that.. can you give me something else?”

Perhaps embarrassed about something, Beatty whispered in a very small voice, and at those words, the Duke nodded with a slightly surprised face.

This time, she definitely heard the answer.

Beatty left the room with blushing cheeks and joy which she couldn’t hide.

***

In the Capital of the Kingdom.

Everyone was happy to hear that the five-year war was finally over.

“We won!”

“They surely pay dearly for touching us who were still. Serves you right, you Holy Empire Bastards!”

Their excited atmosphere was conveyed through the air.

There was also a satisfactory smile in the King’s mouth, who declared the Kingdom’s victory and proudly toured the Capital like a triumphal procession.

“So the citizens like it.”

“It is all thanks to Your Majesty.”

“Haha. So, the rain is painting my face with gold.”

“But I was only stating the truth.”

At the very nice words, the King was smiling as he was happy, but then his face hardened and that was because of the next words of the people outside the carriage.

“I heard that the Golden Lion Duke was amazing again this time, right?”

“Of course! He’s an unbeatable commander!”

“This victory is all thanks to the Duke of Aslan!”

Aslan.

When that name came out, the King’s face became as hard as a stone.

“It’s the words of foolish citizens. Please never mind about it.”

The Second Queen hurriedly comforted him, but the King’s face, which once hardened, could not be resolved.

The Second Queen, who had been appeasing him for a long time, looked around and whispered.

“Please do not worry. My Majesty. Your Queen has already arranged everything.”

“You?”

The King raised his head with an interested look.

The Second Queen, who smiled with a meaningful face to him, looked at the other side and said.

“You have to do it well.”

The good-looking boy sitting in front of her.

“You know, right, Ritter?”

As if Ritter confirmed, he answered the Second Queen.

“Of course, Mother.”

A snake-like smile spread over the bright boy’s face.

“I’ve already done it perfectly.”

***

At Count Zealot’s mansion.

Count Zealot, who stepped back from the Duke’s office where the Master had returned and looked dissatisfied at the Count mansion’s office, which seemed relatively small, clicked his tongue.

‘I don’t like it.’

In a place where no one was watching, the Count crumpled his face according to his temper and pressed his temple hard.

“...”

And like that for a while.

The Count opened his eyes wide open, and glared at a runt man who had been bowing for a long time.

“Haven’t I told you to not come finding me for a while?”

At his cold response, the man bent deeper and said.

“Y-You did... But, please do not worry! Since at that time, I didn’t tell anyone that my daughter set the warehouse on fire.”

The man was a family member of a chess horse that was used to cause a fire in the food warehouse.

“She properly did what she was told to do and died, and she did not even return as a dead body.”

It was a natural matter that the dead body flowed into the underground of the Duke’s Castle to investigate if by any chance there are any remaining clues.

“So, are you saying that you want me to sympathize with you?”

“Eyy. No way, Your Honour. But, uhm, please pay the promised price properly..”

Chess horse which disguised itself as a spy of the Empire and committed suicide.

Compared to the chess horse that was useful, this bastard who was called as its family member was just disgusting, even just by seeing it.

“Didn’t my daughter do a good job? That kid cares about her younger siblings quite a lot.”

The man kept rubbing his palms and babbled.

“So if you take care of them properly, that dead kid will also definitely thank Your Honour.”

“Yeah.”

The man rejoiced over the neatly fallen Count’s answer.

“T-thank you. Your Honour!”

The Count wagged his finger.

“Hehe. Have you already prepared the price for this guy? Indeed, you’re really generous.”

“...”

The Count, who was watching the man who was approaching with a sly smile, raised his hand under the desk only when the man came right in front of him.

Stab—

“Take it as your last money before going to the afterlife.”

“Huh..?”

The man, who was puzzled by the blade which was stuck in his stomach, soon felt the burning pain at the gesture of the Count who moved once more.

“Co-cough!”

Without paying attention to the man who was crunching like a bug on the floor, the Count looked at his sleeve as if it were unpleasant.

“Tsk. My clothes become dirty.”

The Count called in the butler and instructed him to clean up the dirty place. As if it was a familiar matter, the butler who looked around the room reported.

“But Count. There’s a guest in the drawing room right now.”

“Aah.”

Only then did the Count, who raised his head as if he had remembered, get up from his seat and headed to the drawing room.

The Count strode through the open drawing room door and saw a woman sitting in a noble posture. Then, he opened his mouth.

“I had heard the story in advance.”

The woman with her hair pulled up looked back at him.

The Count smiled pretentiously like a habit, and greeted his long-time collaborator.

“I heard you were sent from the Capital.”

***

In the still peaceful Duke’s Castle.

‘If I complete the cards I’m preparing now, the next is..’

Beatty put her small hand on her chin and fell deep into thought.

‘What should I do so that I can change the duration of my residence in Duke’s Castle to a long period of time?’

Not a few months nor a few years, but rather a decade-long period of time.

Thinking hard over the long period of time lease, Beatty heard other employees talking from the other side of the hallway.

‘Uhmm.’

Beatty, who wanted to think quietly, looked around.

‘Ah!’

Just in time, she could see a branch extending right in front of the window.

Looking around. Looking around.

Beatty, who confirmed that there was no one around her.

Poof!

She turned into a squirrel, and she quickly climbed the branch and went outside.

The feeling of the leaves passing by was good.

A clear air that seemed to be wearing blue permeated the sniffing small black nose of a squirrel.

A hard bark which was stably caught under a small but skillful finger.

Compared to Beatty’s size, which was small enough to be covered fully even with a single leaf, it was a tree that reaches even the third floor of a building, but she wasn’t scared at all.

Since when Beatty was in her squirrel form, she has never fallen from any tree.

‘It’s great!’

When she was climbing a tree, she felt confident like she could go anywhere she wanted.

With a confident movement, Beatty climbed up and up the tree that stretched high.

“Chuu—”

Hoo.

Beatty, who climbed up to the top, breathed out a proud breath as if she had finished hiking.

At the wind which was tickling her soft cheeks she had a happy face, and Beatty stretched her body even until the tail.

Brr.

The cool feeling swept through her body, and Beatty, who was relaxed in a moderately good condition, grabbed a comfortable branch, leaned on it, and shook her tail like a breeze.

On top of the tallest tree.

This position, where the wind whispered and the leaves cast shades, has been the most comfortable space for Beatty since childhood.

‘Because if I am here, no one can see me.’

Beatty thought slowly and neatly arranged the fur of her cheek pouch.

The reason why she was able to rest comfortably inside a tree branch, hiding in the form of a small squirrel.

In other words, it was because she couldn’t be comfortable outside the tree.

Inside the Capital mansion, she had to go unnoticed.

Since if she got into the sight of an employee who was in a bad mood for no reason, she can get involved in mean things.

Beatty thought as, like a habit, she was rubbing her cheeks as if she was smearing her scent on a small branch.

‘As expected, it’s nice on the tree.’

If she isn’t seen, no one gets angry with her.

No one could stab her with sharp words on the tree. So, inside the tree is her long resting place.

“Chuuuu—”

It was a secret space only for herself alone.

Beatty made a pleasant sound and circled around a branch.

After enjoying such a long break, Beatty came to her senses when she saw the nearby window.

‘Ah, right.’

On the large desk which was seen through the window, there was a pile of white documents.

‘Yeah. I came out to think about how to reside for a long time, right?’

Looking at the piled-up work, Beatty recalled her task.

Beaty, whose tail slightly stiffened due to her sense of duty, tries to stretch her head into the room that draws attention. But—

Click.

Suddenly, the window opened.

“!”

Quickly.

Surprised, without realizing it herself, Beatty went into the gap of abundant tree leaves and hid.

“...”

The person who opened the window was the Duke of Aslan.

‘Father?’

At the Duke’s unexpected encounter, she unconsciously hid and Beatty’s heart kept pounding.