Chapter 16
16
Simone returned to her room with Louisby and wordlessly sipped her tea.
Awkward.
“……”
A long silence followed.
Honestly, now that she had brought him here, there wasn't much more to explain.
Louisby had said he wanted to hear more details about the request from Simone, but she herself only knew so much, so she couldn't provide any further explanation even if she wanted to.
Louisby stared at the ground for a long time, seemingly deep in thought, before finally opening his mouth.
"Is there a risk of me being swayed by the Saintess's Desire?"
"You don't need to worry about that right now."
"Right now?"
"That's because you aren't Mana-dependent enough to be swayed by strong Mana."
"I see."
Louisby was silent for a moment. What is he going to say now? Simone kept gulping down her tea, waiting for him to speak.
After a short while, Louisby spoke with an unprecedentedly grave expression.
"I'll get straight to the point."
Why is he being so serious? Simone already felt her face scrunching up, not wanting to hear his blunt words, but she signaled him to continue.
"Could you come with us? To the outskirts of the village by the sea."
"...Me?"
What is he talking about?
I called an adventurer to make things easier for myself.
Louisby nodded.
"I think I know roughly where the village is. You seem to know a lot about the Saintess's Desire, and you seem to be quite Mana-dependent, so I thought you might be able to sense the energy faster than us adventurers."
"Am I some kind of Mana detector? If you can't do it with just the adventurers, I'll hire another mage for you."
"I don't want that."
"Why?"
Louisby leaned closer to Simone and smiled brightly.
"Because I'm curious about you, Simone."
"What is this..."
He smiled so beautifully. It was a soft, gentle smile that would have made anyone's heart flutter.
But Simone didn't feel any excitement, only disgust.
'...What kind of trick is this?'
What is he doing right now? Could it be?
'Is he flirting?'
Having experienced various forms of flirting for 25 years, that eye smile, that look, those words were the kind of things people would say to seduce someone!
Wow! Look at the change in his expression from when we first met.
The ill-tempered Louisby from the novel was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a pure and innocent smile.
Those melodramatic eyes that could have been a hit in high society.
It was obvious that he was trying to use some trick to stay by Simone's side and find out her identity.
Simone said, looking very reluctant.
"Ugh. Why don't you go back now?"
"...Huh? Okay?"
Louisby tilted his head at Simone's unexpected reaction and smiled awkwardly.
Look at that. He's smiling as if he thought she would be easily seduced.
According to the original story, Louisby was a guy who thought highly of himself.
But Simone wasn't moved at all.
Yes, I admit he has a face that could make many cry. But while his appearance is that of a teenager, the Seo Hyun-jeong inside is in her mid-20s, so Louisby just looks like a child to her.
'He's too young.'
There's no excitement, just the feeling of seeing a handsome idol who's about ten years younger and whom she doesn't know very well?
That was about it.
"I've told you all the information I know, so hurry up and go to work. I have an outing scheduled."
Simone said casually, staring at Louisby.
Hmm.
To be honest, I hadn't thought about it at all until I met him today.
"What's wrong?"
Louisby asked, noticing Simone staring at him, but Simone didn't answer, lost in thought.
'Wouldn't it be okay?'
Judging by his attitude, he seems to be trying to stay by my side for a while, and he doesn't seem to be thinking about adventuring right now just to watch Simone.
Abel and his party must have crossed the border of the Luan Empire long ago, so unless fate leads them, they won't meet Abel and his party.
'Hmm.'
Thinking about it, it's actually not bad?
Louisby, or rather, Ren, was a mercenary that Simone thought would be a waste to let go of.
Of course, she was concerned that Abel's party would not have a companion to guide them, but even if she worried about it, the situation had already turned out this way, and even if Simone didn't take action, it didn't seem like Louisby and Abel would be able to meet right away.
Okay, I've made up my mind.
Simone, who had been pondering for a long time, finally opened her mouth.
"Ren, do you want to stay by my side?"
"...Huh?"
Louisby hesitated at the very direct question, then nodded.
"Yes, I'm curious about you, Simone. What kind of person you are, and the nature of the power you possess."
Simone grinned at Louisby's blatant purpose.
"If you really want to, then stay by my side."
"...That's a rather ambiguous statement-"
"As my first employee."
Silence fell in the room.
"Em, employee?"
The only response was still a bewildered question.
Simone repeated herself clearly.
"Employee. Ren, you are a skilled swordsman and capable of gathering information because you take on requests from the Adventurers Guild. I need a reliable and capable person. As you know, I don't do ordinary things."
Saintess's Desire.
Where else could you find someone who would make you believe without a doubt that they would accomplish the difficult task of finding that legendary treasure?
Louisby was such a great talent.
In short, she needed someone she could use for such things at any time.
Louisby's face twisted a little more.
"Huh?"
"You said you wanted to stay by my side. You said you were curious about me. What could be better to achieve your goal than helping me with my work?"
Of course, Louisby would also be expecting it. If he accepted this offer, he would undoubtedly be thrown into frustrating tasks where he could only obtain limited information, just like today.
But even so, it was a proposal that was hard to refuse outright.
Well, if he refused, the relationship would end there, and Louisby would leave the border and meet Abel.
Either way, Simone had nothing to lose.
Louisby bit his lip.
'Huh, an employee?'
It was absurd, but on the other hand, he didn't think it was a bad idea.
To him, Simone was someone who could become a means to achieve his ultimate goal.
Anyway, Simone wouldn't know that he was the Crown Prince, and it might be okay to watch her in this kind of relationship for the time being.
But no matter how he thought about it, it was a bit of a blow to his pride for the Crown Prince to be used by someone else.
Louisby avoided Simone's gaze and said.
"I'll think about it..."
Then he hurriedly got up from his seat. The way he had been stubbornly trying to seduce her, even when she told him to leave, was gone, and he greeted her as if he were running away before leaving Simone's room.
He seemed very flustered by the offer, which he probably couldn't have imagined as the Crown Prince.
Simone shrugged lightly and got up.
Shall I go out now?
Originally, today was the day she was supposed to go out with Anna to buy hair dye.
The schedule had changed a bit due to meeting Louisby in the middle, but it was still bright out, so it wouldn't be too late to leave now.
Simone hummed lightly.
It was her first time visiting the village since coming to this world.
She couldn't even dream of it at the orphanage because she was in a situation where she had to run away immediately, and after escaping from the orphanage, she was hiding when the sun rose to hide her hair color and desperately searching for the Illestone mansion when night fell, so she didn't even think about looking around the village.
And even after coming to the Illestone mansion, she couldn't even dream of going out because she was being watched due to the obvious lack of trust between them.
It was only after she got rid of the Tree Monster and it was confirmed that she had nowhere to return to that she was finally allowed to go out.
It was her first outing without any danger. She couldn't help but be excited.
"I got plenty of pocket money too. Anna is... Huh?"
Wait, where did Anna go?
Simone stopped humming and looked around.
Anna, who should have naturally come to her side when Louisby left, was nowhere to be seen.
'Did she go to pack her things?'
She would have told me if she was going. She's not the kind of child to leave her seat without saying anything. Anna always told Simone even about very simple things like washing her hands.
'Well, it doesn't matter if she leaves her seat.'
Simone looked around the quiet room before leaving.
She was going to look for Anna because she had to go out.
But Simone couldn't find Anna anywhere.
Anna was nowhere in the mansion, and none of the servants had seen Anna.
"No, where did she go?"
Simone returned to her room. She thought that Anna might have returned to the room while she was looking for her.
But as expected, Anna was not in the room she returned to.
"Simone, you couldn't find Anna?"
Simone nodded at the servant's question in the room.
"I don't think she's in the mansion. No, how can it be that none of these people have seen Anna?"
Where did she go?
In the end, Simone gave up on going out and sat back down in her chair.
It seemed like today was not a good day to go out.
"..."
Simone didn't notice that the servant behind her had a pale face and was silent.
Eighty-eighth, do not seek the missing servant.
