Chapter 27

[Renée’s POV]

“Anyway, then the reason why you became like that a month ago was that you got a penalty?”

“Ah, yeah. The mission that day was to run away to the banquet hall and kill everyone.”

“… …”

“But what Reden thinks is not the case. That’s why I didn’t follow the mission and rather get a penalty. Of course, I would have hesitated a little if I knew the stomach would split.”

“… …”

“Any, anyway, it’s not the Sirs’ fault that my stomach is split, so you have to drop the charges?”

There was no answer, but I was confident that Reden would drop it.

But why was the penalty a month ago not a fever or high fever… … was it? It was a very different penalty.

By any chance, the mission I failed wasn’t this but the unexpected one?* Was that why the penalty was different?

TL/N: OMG TOOK ME SO LONG TO FIGURE OUT BUT see chapter 19! There was an unexpected mission.

Whatever it was, I didn’t want to go through it again.

I sighed while touching my stomach, recalling the pain that was still clear to me. What if there is another mission like that in the future… … 

“Are you still sick?”

When I touched my stomach, Reden asked, frowning. Surprised, I waved my hand and shook my head.

“No? No? It’s totally fine.”

“Come to think of it, You asked me how you got better earlier. Lord Burwars helped.”

“Huh…? Who?”

“Lord Burwars.”

Burwars?

Burwars…….?

“Are you talking about Aiden?”

“Yes.”

“Aiden knows how to use magic? I thought it might be Anastasia or Reden….”

Is that why he was by my side when I opened my eyes?

I honestly couldn’t believe it. Aiden, who hates me so much, helped me? It was as shocking as Diwen stepping in for me and getting beaten up.

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It was when I was stupidly opening my mouth. Reden sat down and tilted his head, raising one eyebrow as if he was asking why I asked a strange question.

“What are you talking about? He’s a saint.”

As soon as I heard him, many things came to mind like fireworks.

Aiden Bower, no Aiden Burwars.

A man who has been in a temple since he was very young, even though the divine power he had from birth was uncommon and he did not follow God.

A person who was able to become free after 10 years of living in the temple by signing an oath to swear to the temple and the royal family.

There was a bewildering flurry of memories. And I got confused. This is, is it the memory I saw in the book.

Or…

“Lord Burwars poured his divine power into you without sleeping three full days. If it wasn’t for him, you’d be dead. If you meet him later, make sure to say thank you.”

“……Why me, Aiden? He doesn’t like me.”

“……Well, ask that yourself. I didn’t know he’d accept it either.”

Reden said nonchalantly and stood up from his seat holding the book he had covered.

After watching it blankly, I realized that Reden was about to leave, so I got off the bed to follow.  It was to go home this time.

However, Reden shook his head and opened his mouth.

“I’ll come back to pick you up after work, so take a rest.”

“What?”

“Let’s go back together.”

I looked at Reden at the unexpected words, but after a while, I understood what he said and smiled. Just a moment ago, I was told to stay for a week.

It seems he has conceded.

***

[Reden’s POV]

After hearing the news that his sister had woken up, Reden, who was just trying to check her condition, realized that more time had passed than expected and walked faster than usual.

But before long, his steps slowed noticeably. It’s because he was lost in thought.

‘A window pops up every morning at nine. There is a mission written on it… …’

My sister, who spoke cautiously in a hesitant tone. And the unfamiliar words of mission and penalty.

Yeah. If that’s true, I’ve understood what she’s been doing. Ten years ago, she suffered from an unexplained fever all month.

At first, she probably didn’t intend to follow the mission either. That’s why she was penalized.

‘But…’

Reden finally stopped walking.

But, why are you trying not to follow the mission after such a long time?

Reden did not understand that. I told her a little while ago that if she don’t want to tell me, it’s fine, but she didn’t tell me in the end, which made me more confused.

If it was possible to become a maid and carry out missions, why didn’t you do that right away?

Is the reason why you haven’t been with me until now because of the mission?

Not taking care of our parents’ anniversary?

Did you do that to Lord Burwars too?

The ensuing questions that followed my train of thought did not stop. Unknowingly, he put on a distressed expression and raised his hand to cover his face.

She’s…

It occurred to me that she might not be the girl he knew. Even though it was a ridiculous imagination, it felt like she wasn’t her.

Yes, Reden couldn’t shake off the idea that his sister had become a different person. Funny how it was. There’s no way she could change like this unless she suddenly became someone else.

You call my name again, which you haven’t called for 10 years.

She, who didn’t even want to talk to me, approaches without hesitation and stays close to the two who were childhood friends as if they hadn’t had a bad relationship before… 

If it’s not a different person, but if it’s really changed.

“Why now…….”

He paused for a while, covering his face, and finally lowered his hand. His expression had changed into a blank look again.

Or who knows. Everything could be a lie. The appearance that seemed to have changed and the mission may have all been lies because of some ulterior motive.

Thinking that way made my heart so cold that it hurt. Although I understood that I had no choice but to doubt her, on the other hand, I felt that I was cold-hearted.

I barely moved on, biting his lips hard with an uneasy face unlike the usual.

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Soon after, I arrived at the office and opened the door. I had to cool my head. I was thinking of just shutting up and working from now on.

But as soon as I opened the door, I frowned.

Soon after, I closed the door again. And I thought. Is the place I just opened my office?

The answer came right away. Without thinking twice, this is my office.

I opened the door again. And I spoke annoyedly to someone in the office.

“Sir Fergus, why are you here?”

“Ah, I heard that someone sued me.”

“The misunderstanding has just been cleared up and I’ll drop it, so get out now.”

“Wow, it’s the first time in my life that things have worked out so quickly.”

However, as if the real purpose was not to accuse, Diwen did not move.

After swallowing a sigh, Reden saw a mountain of documents to be processed on his desk, then gave up and sat across from the sofa he was sitting on.

“I heard Renée woke up?”

“The news is fast.”

“My ears are a bit bright. How about it? Was she okay?”

“That doesn’t seem to concern the Lord.”

Despite Reden’s cold reply, Diwen just smiled leisurely. Then he took out a handkerchief from his front pocket and fiddled with it.

“It’s not a bother to be affiliated with the royal family. How does the Marquis live when it is so suffocating?”

I was wondering what you were going to say. At his useless words, Reden bluntly changed the topic.

“Have you finished the interrogation of Count Sirius? Did you find out who stole it?”

“Well, it’s the same. I don’t know. I only received the parcel anonymously, so I pretended to be deceived and tried to track it down, but nothing was caught.”

“Has nothing been revealed from the investigation of Count Sirius’ mansion?”

“It’s clean. I checked every mansion in his name, but there were no other bones.”

At Diwen’s indifferent reply, Reden sighed. And over the past month, I have been reminded of what has happened. A lot has happened.

For one thing, the Knights of Hugo became the 7th Knights of the Royal Family. Due to an incident a month ago, they could not refuse the king’s order to be affiliated with the royal family. Thanks to this, they could not go to subjugate dragons unless they were ordered by the king.

It did not stop there, but the king took away the authority to distribute the dragon carcasses from the Hugo Knights. It was a good thing only for the king. Because the king wanted the power and authority of the Hugo Knights.

‘But they seemed more dissatisfied with not being able to subjugate than with being deprived of their authority… …’

That’s right. The knights of the Hugo Knights strangely complained more about not being able to go on an expedition. Diwen, the leader, and Zion, the vice-leader, did not show their emotions, they must also be dissatisfied.

‘Why did you risk your life like that to kill the dragon?…’

Reden sighed once more.

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The first thing they did after becoming members of the Royal Knights was to interrogate Count Sirius, who survived and was imprisoned. Things like where did you get the dragon bones, and if you got them from someone, who did you get them from?

Unfortunately, Count Sirius said the same thing like a parrot.

‘An anonymous gift came,  I don’t know who sent it… . I had no idea it was a dragon bone! I, I don’t even know what it is!’

‘I just did what the cane told me to do! I’m a victim too! Ah yes. The letter came with me, too! It said that if I carry that cane, no one will be able to ignore me!’

During the first interrogation, Reden, who was with him, recalled Count Sirius’s desperate cry. My face was crumpled.

This is because the letter that Count Sirius was talking about has not been found. It was really dumb. Count Sirius didn’t know anything, and at least I didn’t find anything I thought was a clue.

The biggest problem was the whereabouts of the bones. Royal wizards were also mobilized to find the bone fragments. Feeling the dragon’s unique energy from the bones, they were dispatched to each city to search for them thoroughly.

However, no bone fragments were found for a month. It was as if they* had made up their minds and hid it.

TL/N: I’m not sure if this is referring to Count Sirius or this mysterious culprit.

Thanks to this, Reden suffered from work, work, work, damn things for a month. Above all, because of his sister who did not wake up, he could not sleep or return to the mansion. If I go back to the mansion with my sister today, it will be a month.

But why did this guy come to me and…

Reden finished his recollection with a tired face. Unlike usual, when I couldn’t manage my expression and stared at the other person, Diwen laughed.

“Aren’t you looking at me like you’re criticizing me too much? Please know that we also want to find bones as soon as possible.”

“It’s not that…… I don’t think you’re here to tell me that there’s no progress. Why are you here?”

If you’re going to say useless things, get out because I have to work. However, Diwen only made an mmmm sound and continued to fiddle with the handkerchief.

Diwen finally spoke up just before Reden’s patience with that carefree attitude came to an end.

“Before I get to the point right now… Marquis, do you know the reason for the founding of the Hugo Knights?”

“I’m not very curious.”

“Then do you know why my family fell?”

“… …”

“Unusually, both are because of dragons. The former is to annihilate the dragon, the latter is because of the dragon’s curse.”

The Fergus family.

It was a knight family that boasted a long history alongside the Solen family, but as he said, it fell as rumors circulated that they were cursed. Even Reden knew that much.

I just didn’t know about the dragon’s curse.

While contemplating whether to believe the nonsense, Reden remembered his sister for some reason.

“As my family fell, rumors circulated that it was a cursed family. As I just said, that’s not an exaggerated rumor. We’ve been cursed by the damn dragon and have been passing it down until now.”

“Why are you suddenly telling me that?”

“Well, here’s the question. Then, among the Fergus family, who is currently cursed?”

Diwen did not wait for Reden’s answer. He immediately replied with a smile.

“That’s me. Marquis.”