The dusk was still dark everywhere.
Only the faint rays of the sun made him aware that it was just before dawn.
It was around this time that the pale light that came in through the window was gradually seeping onto the bed.
“No, sa... Please save me...”
The sleeping Duke Bold complained of pain in the air.
Perhaps because what he was experiencing in his dream was so painful, blood gradually appeared on his forehead and his face turned bright red.
“Uh, no... No... Aaaah!”
He woke up from a nightmare with a scream.
Duke Bold hurriedly wrapped the back of his neck with both hands, checking and rechecking something about him.
‘Ah, my neck is still attached...'
He sighed in relief and ran a hand through his messy hair.
The sweat that had soaked his scalp and forehead was dripping onto his hands.
“Huh... Huh..."
The dawn poured down on the curtain like blood, staining his face red.
Several weeks have already passed since Cedric and Rebecca's divorce was announced.
And during that time, Duke Bold had terrible nightmares every night.
In his dreams, he was beheaded by assassins sent from the Kingdom of Katsis, poisoned, or tortured to death.
The methods were varied, but the end was ultimately the same.
...Death.
That fact was gradually weakening Duke Bold's nerves.
'I have to prove that I am still useful to the Katsis Kingdom as soon as possible. Well, otherwise...'
His square chin, with his graying white beard, trembled.
Until now, he had received help from the Kingdom of Katsis hundreds of times under the pretext of using Rebecca to retrieve Lillian's heart and had spent billions of ruts.
However, when the divorce of the Grand Dukes of Twins was announced, the Kingdom of Katsis learned that all of Duke Bold's boasts had come to naught.
Duke Bold knew very well how they dealt with stooges like him in cases like this.
'They will send intelligent murder weapons to kill me, then manipulate the scene of the crime, somehow forge my will and documents, and secretly let my property flow to the Katsis Kingdom... Then, I will be the only one killed without anyone knowing.'
Even though it was a dynasty that was driven out to an island by the Western Empire, it was a family that ruled this continent for a long time.
If the Kingdom of Katsis makes up its mind to retaliate, his life will become a candle in the wind.
So for the past few weeks, he couldn't even leave his bedroom out of fear.
'But hiding and running away forever isn't the solution...'
The Duke was anxious.
No matter how much he thought about how to resolve this situation, he couldn't come up with any alternative, so he became even more impatient.
He sat on the bed with his body wrapped in a blanket and nervously bit his nails for a while.
Suddenly, he remembered what happened a few weeks ago when he ran into High Priest Diat at the temple when he returned to the capital.
He boasted of the work he had done as the Pope's representative in the Twin Duchy.
'It was fortunate that the orphanages in the north were less poor than those in the capital. Still, it was nice to be able to help there. Even after returning to the capital, I thought about visiting the orphanage often. After all, they are poor children.'
'Yes. I respect you as expected, High Priest.'
'Ah, there's one more thing I did there as the Pope's representative...'
At that time, Duke Bold was pretending to be interested, but in reality, he was bored to death with the conversation with High Priest Diat.
It was a time when he prayed, please, please, that heaven and earth would wake up and that time would end as soon as possible.
‘You know Lobelia, Countess Bart? The wife of the deceased Henry Bart. Couldn't she be being abused by her in-laws? Moreover, all her wealth is gone and her vassals are not helping her. So I have no choice but to help. It was I who saved her from her hell.'
'Aha, I see...'
'Yes. Well said to the Twins Grand Duke. As the Pope's representative, I ask him to personally protect that woman in Twins Castle!'
High Priest Diat was quite pompous as he told the story of how the Grand Duke of Twins eventually accepted his offer and made Lobelia the resident tutor of Princess Bianca.
'Yes, I did. But why does it come to mind now?'
Duke Bold recalled the conversation of that day and pondered it over and over again, like someone looking for clues to a case.
His eyes slowly opened wide.
"That's right... Why didn’t I think of that before?”
As long as the interests of both parties are aligned, the other person does not necessarily have to be Cedric's wife.
He let out a relieved laugh, like someone who had finally found a way out of hell.
Then, he went straight to his study, took out some stationery, spread it out on the desk, and filled the nib of a fountain pen with ink.
“... To His Majesty the King of Katsis...”
And he wrote the letter carefully, one letter at a time.
He wanted to be recognized for his usefulness by informing the King of Katsis that he had found a new method.
'Lobelia Bart.'
It was a temporary solution that he barely came up with, but it wasn't that bad.
At least it would be a much more useful product than that stinking lump of shit called Camilla Dmitry.
‘I have to go north immediately. I guess I'll have to stay there for a while.'
A wicked smile appeared on Duke Bold's lips.
“Rebecca, I have to get revenge on that ungrateful woman...”
***
"Wow! It’s like an attic from a fairy tale, Your Highness!”
Bianca, who was looking at the living room of the new mansion, exclaimed, her eyes sparkling like stars.
The three-story mansion I moved to in the northern part of town was actually large enough for a family to live in but was too big for me to live alone.
So, saying that it was like an attic could only be said by Bianca, who grew up in huge castles and townhouses all her life.
“Your Highness, can I come visit you often? I think it would be really fun to hang out here, huh?”
Fortunately, young Bianca seemed to really like my simple mansion compared to the spaces she was used to seeing.
After several weeks of organizing the move, I immediately invited Bianca.
And finally, today is the day of the appointment.
The child who was visiting my mansion for the first time was excited and looking around.
“Bianca, come here quickly. I bought this cake directly from a famous bakery to give to Bianca.”
“Oh, yes!”
Bianca ran towards the parlor table, exhaling her colored breath.
It wasn't long before Mina, carrying the tray, opened the door and came inside.
“It’s black tea, and it goes well with cake.”
Mina said, putting the teacup down on the table.
“Thank you, Mina.”
“Don’t say that, anyway... Ah! Oh my! I have to go down quickly. It’s almost time to interview for the doorkeeper position, but I forgot!”
Mina checked the time and walked out of the living room in a huff.
Bianca pursed her lips as she looked at her like that.
“I guess Mina is quite busy these days.”
“Yes, we haven’t hired all the employees yet. Mina is in the middle of interviewing candidates.”
What I learned through the Welfare Foundation was that many mixed-blood demons wanted to migrate to the human world, but stayed in the demon world because there were no suitable jobs outside of the Twins Grand Duchy.
Moreover, it was even more difficult for mixed-race demons with no experience of finding employment in the human world to be able to emigrate.
For them, the foundation introduced them to a human workplace that was like a stepping stone to build employment experience.
That was the purpose of working as a servant of my mansion.
And it was the responsibility of Mina, who became my maid, to conduct the interview.
'She even gave up her title as a servant of the Twins family to follow me, so of course I have to give up that position, right?'
I knew what it meant to mixed-race demons to personally serve the Twins family, so I was just grateful that Mina gave up her job and followed me.
“Your Highness, the Sachertorte from this bakery is so delicious!”
“Haha, really?”
"Yes! Oh, when you come back later, don't go up to the chef at the Mansion of Light? Honestly, it tastes much, much better than what our chef made.”
I smiled as I wiped the chocolate from the corner of Bianca's mouth.
“That’s not it. I think that’s what you’re saying because I said I went to the bakery and bought it myself.”
"Yes? Oh, it's not like that...”
Bianca for some reason turned her gaze somewhere else and gave up her flirtatious behavior.
I found the child cute and laughed, and suddenly felt relieved to see her become cheerful again.
That's because Bianca's sad, crying face on that stormy day was always on my mind.
As the memories of that day came to mind, I suddenly became curious about the relationship between the residents of the Mansion of Light and the Mansion of Dark.
“Ah, how are the residents of the two mansions getting along? Are they still on bad terms like they were then?”
"Well? They say there was a huge fight between the residents of the two mansions long before I was born. So there's no way the fight will end easily...”
“Even though there isn’t one?”
Bianca rolled her eyes again and then opened her mouth again.
“It seems like the morale of the Dark Mansion users has dropped a lot since Her Highness left...”
I expected it to some extent, but when I actually heard the news, I felt bad for some reason.
'...I hoped everyone would get along as usual.'
For a moment, I sighed at the confusion. I quickly smiled and shook my head to lighten the mood.
Then I got up from the sofa and offered my hand to Bianca.
“Bianca, would you like me to show you something fun?”
"Yes! Yes, I like it!"
An excited Bianca raised her arms high.
I picked up the child like I was used to and headed to the bedroom window.
The window next to the bed, large enough to take up half of one wall, was my favorite part of the house.
When I pushed open the window, the center of Northern Market Street came into view with a cool breeze.
Directly across from the mansion was the foundation building I built.
This was because I deliberately bought a house close to work.
There was also a demonic material futures exchange about two blocks away, so the street in front of the mansion was always crowded with people.
People of all statuses came to trade futures and merchants who sold accessories and drinks.
A boy spraying alcohol and old people dozing in front of a tavern.
Bianca continued to exclaim in exclamation at the lively atmosphere that could not be felt in the sparsely populated Twins Castle.
“Wow, you can see it all at a glance from here! How about at night?”
“It’s fun to see the nightlife here. Around evening, stalls selling pretty sky lanterns and electric lights are lined up from one place to another. Then the night street is very pretty.”
“Wow...”
Bianca's round eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“I want to come play again! I like to come over at night then, would it be okay?”
“Haha, yes. After receiving permission from His Highness the Grand Duke, you can sleep here with me.”
The child burst into laughter as if happy and was held in my arms.
Then, she suddenly turned her head and pointed somewhere with her dainty finger.
“By the way, Your Highness, who lives next door over there?”
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