Chapter 5
Dorothy turned pale at the sight of me crying like a small child.
Her face didn’t look flustered so much as it looked utterly dumbfounded, as if she were at a loss for words.
“What do you have to cry about? You didn’t even do anything right!”
“I know. W-what do I have to cry about? I just feel so sorry for you, unnie—waaaah!”
A whirlwind of tears.
Method acting that left the opponent dazed was my specialty.
For the record, I had once been highly praised by an acting instructor notorious for being cold-hearted.
Why?
Perhaps it was because of my memories from my past life. My emotional expression was far richer than that of other children my age.
“Unn-ieee. When on earth are you leaaaving?!”
As they say, acting achieves a more dramatic effect when expressed through the body rather than just the face.
Thud—
As I collapsed onto the floor and wailed, Dorothy’s eyes darted around before she pressed a hand to her forehead.
“Ha… it’s noisy, so just stay still.”
“But I feel so sorrrrry—!”
A self-centered person like Dorothy didn’t feel sympathy just because a child was crying.
“If you’re sorry, don’t just blubber—do something! Do you want to see me explode from frustration?!”
Rather, she would blame the other person.
“I don’t know what I should doooo—!”
“Ugh, how frustrating! Then do my work for me until I leave! How can you be so useless?!”
“Yes.”
The moment I heard the words I wanted, I stopped crying instantly.
Then, quickly rubbing my wet cheeks with the back of my hand, I scrambled up and grabbed a rag.
“S-since I’m sorry, I’ll at least clean Dorothy-nim’s room.”
“…Suit yourself. At least you have some wits.”
After finishing the room cleaning.
“…Since I’m sorry, I’ll organize Dorothy-nim’s things too.”
I bowed my head, folding my hands modestly.
Did she like seeing me grovel?
Dorothy’s anger seemed to soften slightly as she merely nodded without a word and crossed her arms.
Slide—
While Dorothy sat in a chair resting, I stealthily opened her dresser.
From here on, it was important.
Gauging Dorothy’s mood, I waited for the moment she briefly closed her eyes. I slipped several items with her name on them from inside the drawer into my pocket.
Then, turning back to her with eyes still red, I clasped my hands together.
“Since I’m sorry, could I do Dorothy-nim’s laundry as well?”
“Just do it quickly and get out. I want to be alone.”
With her eyes closed, Dorothy waved her hand dismissively. She didn’t seem to care about me anymore.
“Yes.”
Heave—
I gathered an armful of Dorothy’s fabrics from the laundry basket and waddled out of the room.
It was a success.
“Phew. To be so unguarded. She must have let her guard down because I’m just a kid.”
There was a reason I went through the trouble of stealing Dorothy’s things.
Dorothy was the Pose Duchy’s sole weakness.
At this point, revealing that she was a spy would give Calips an advantage as he prepared to go to the Doctia Kingdom.
Now, how was I to reveal the fact that Dorothy was a spy?
The report.
The mission progress records that spies out on assignment sent periodically to their masters. I just had to reveal that.
“Oof, heavy.”
After entering the laundry room, I struggled to drag over a basin filled with ice-cold water. Then, I shook the fabrics out into the basin.
Why was I suddenly doing laundry?
‘Spies don’t write their reports on paper.’
Writing on paper was too obvious, wasn’t it? The risk of being caught was too high.
That was why the spies of the Pose Duchy wrote their reports on the clothes they wore.
The writing would disappear if a potion containing the Poison Ability was sprinkled over it, but the method to see the text was simple.
“You just have to soak it in ice water for more than thirty minutes—.”
Through this simple yet innovative method, the spies of the Pose Duchy had never had their identities revealed because of a report.
Why?
…Unless they were an idiot, who would put clothes in ice water to do laundry?
“Phew. This is exhausting.”
Now I just had to wait thirty minutes.
I massaged my arms with my fists for the sake of my hard-working muscles.
Once thirty minutes had passed,
Shimmer—
A blue light began to flicker within the transparent ice water.
It was like sunlight piercing through clouds and surging up from the ground.
The blue light spreading in all directions soon took on a regular pattern and began to embroider letters onto the fabric.
It was the report written by Dorothy.
“Good. As expected, the maid’s uniform was the report.”
I neatly folded the wet clothes and placed them in a basket.
Then, I carefully placed the items I had stolen from Dorothy—an adult novel labeled ‘Touch and Die,’ a handkerchief embroidered with her name, and even a pocket watch—on top of the fabric where the report was written.
In a few minutes, the maids coming to do laundry would discover the bundle.
With Dorothy’s name on all sorts of items, they would naturally realize who the owner was.
“Ha—. If I’ve done this much, I should be able to survive, right? I really want to get away from the Pose Duchy….”
I wanted to live a normal life. But why was the bar for ’normal’ so high?
As I let out a long sigh and turned to leave.
“Who told you to do the laundry?”
“!”
A black robe spread out before my vision.
It was the gardener.
“…Pardon?”
Just how long had he been standing there?
I hadn’t felt a presence at all.
‘…Is he really just a gardener?’
His presence was so silent it sent a chill down my spine.
Flustered, I reflexively stepped forward to hide the laundry. I swallowed hard as I saw his gaze shifting behind me.
It was truly strange.
I had been trained to easily notice the presence of ordinary people, yet I hadn’t realized this man had arrived.
“Come out. Let’s eat sandwiches.”
Fortunately, it seemed he hadn’t managed to see the writing on the fabric.
“Yes.”
I nodded, swallowing a sigh of relief inwardly.
I couldn’t let my guard down for even a second.
“Tell me the truth.”
“What?”
However, after dragging me out to the garden, the man’s sharp gaze flashed instantly.
Could I have been caught? This easily? Who exactly was this man?
“…Did the maids tell you to do the laundry?”
“Ah. Phew—.”
“What are you sighing for?”
Luckily, it seemed he hadn’t noticed.
“No. It’s just that life is quite tough….”
Squinting my eyes, I shook my head and returned to the main point.
“Anyway, the maid unnies didn’t make me do it.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“It was a sort of appeal.”
“What kind of appeal?”
“An appeal to say, ‘Please look kindly upon me.’ You know?”
I gave him a highly trained, bright wink, but he didn’t budge.
Instead, he let out a sigh and stood with his hands on his hips.
“Anyway, don’t do the laundry from now on.”
“Why?”
He frowned.
“What do you take the Crost Duchy for? Do we look like people who would make a five-year-old child work without pay?”
His tone was cold, but concern was laced within it.
Had he also heard the gossip about me?
He must have thought I was actually being bullied, or that I was doing chores out of sheer terror.
‘…At least the business with Dorothy wasn’t discovered, so that’s a relief.’
But wait a minute.
This mister, his sweetness was showing here too, wasn’t it?
So the reason he brought me here was because he was worried I’d be mistreated by the maids?
…This is actually better.
“Mister.”
“What.”
Rubbing my hands together like a fly, I shrugged my shoulders.
“If you happen to feel any pity for the situation I’m in, why not take this opportunity to become the savior of a poor child—”
“Watch your mouth.”
Ah, this isn’t easy.
“If you mention being my child or whatever one more time, I’m kicking you out.”
“Hmph.”
“That mouth of yours, always that mouth.”
A large hand approached as if to flick my forehead, but instead, it lifted me by the armpits.
Complaining all the while, he sat me down on a bench.
Then, he pressed a sandwich and orange juice that had been on the outdoor table into my hands.
“Shut your mouth and eat. Before you get in trouble.”
“Thank you.”
Wow, a sandwich and orange juice.
I failed at becoming his daughter again today, but this is a pretty good profit in its own way.
I absentmindedly munched on the sandwich.
“……?”
It was delicious.
Really delicious.
“You eat well. Were you starving?”
No.
During spy training, there were many days I went hungry, but since coming here, I’ve had three square meals a day.
But this sandwich…!
Munch, munch—
It’s good. So good!
As I devoured the sandwich, he clicked his tongue and pulled a handkerchief from inside his robe.
“Eat slowly. If you get indigestion, there was no point in eating.”
He skillfully brushed the breadcrumbs from around my mouth with the handkerchief. Regardless, I answered while eating heartily.
“A nutritious meal full of carbs, pros, and fats is always welcome!”
“Carbs, pros, and fats?”
“Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.”
“Why do you shorten perfectly good words?”
“Then why do you go out of your way to say them long and tire your mouth? It’s much faster and better to shorten them.”
“At this rate, we won’t even be able to communicate.”
“Hehe.”
Watching him shake his head, I let out a silly laugh. Sitting on the bench, my feet, which didn’t reach the ground, swung cheerfully in the air.
Even though I had memories of my past life, perhaps because I had lived in a child’s body for two years, my body would react on its own when I was in a good mood.
Of course, only beside someone I felt comfortable with.
‘By the way, am I allowed to be here?’
Munching on my sandwich, I belatedly looked around.
I hadn’t known on the first day, but it turned out this garden was a private one that no one could enter except for the immediate family and the assigned gardener.
Come to think of it, I think Dorothy had said something like that.
“But mister.”
“What.”
“When does the Duke come into this garden?”
It was a question I asked without much thought.
“…….”
The conversation that had been flowing smoothly suddenly hit a snag, as if a boulder had been dropped into it.
“Mister?”
“…….”
Even though I called him again, he remained silent.
I couldn’t see his expression because of the hood he wore, but his sharp jaw seemed to tighten slightly.
“Who knows.”
After staring at me for a while, he turned his gaze toward the garden.
“He probably comes when he wants to be alone. Since private gardens are off-limits to outsiders.”
“Hmm. I see….”
‘What’s this? He’s answering more seriously than I expected.’
I shifted the direction of the conversation.
“Then you probably don’t… chat or anything when you run into the Duke occasionally.”
“Why?”
“You know how the Duke’s personality is.”
“…What about the Duke’s personality?”
I retorted primly.
“It’s a secret. I’m not the type to talk behind people’s backs.”
“……?”
His lips slowly parted as if he were momentarily dazed.
Did he understand the meaning of my words late? The quiet man suddenly snapped his head toward me and spoke as if firing back.
“He has charisma, he’s silent, and he keeps his word. If the leader’s personality is at that level, it’s enough. What more do you want?”