No matter how carefully he had observed during this time, there had been no one who appeared noticeably suspicious or dubious. So naturally he had thought the work would end today, but hearing the request to extend the period left him bewildered.
What followed next was even more surprising.
“Let me be more honest with you. …I like you, Diego.”
Unlike her gentle voice, her resolute eyes turned toward him. Thanks to that, his confusion doubled.
She likes me? Did I do my job that well?
For a moment the thought ‘Could she mean it that way?’ briefly crossed his mind, but he quickly erased it from his head. It was absurd for a noble young lady to harbor romantic feelings for someone as insignificant as himself. Feeling sorry for even having such a thought for a moment, Diego answered her words.
“Thank you. I’m glad I could be even a little helpful.”
“No.”
As soon as he finished speaking, an immediate denial followed.
“That’s not what I mean. As a woman, I like you, Diego.”
“…!”
“I know you’re surprised by my sudden words. You can answer a little later if you’d like, but I hope you’ll think about it positively.”
But that ‘could she’ was right. Grace still had a confident expression, but the tension she couldn’t quite hide reached all the way here. Just that alone showed it wasn’t a joke or jest but sincere.
Then it was courtesy to give a proper answer from his side as well. After choosing his words carefully, Diego answered in a gentle voice.
“Thank you for liking me. But I’m afraid I cannot accept the young lady’s feelings.”
At the clear words of rejection, Grace clenched her skirt tightly. However, it didn’t hurt or embarrass her as much as she’d thought.
Even just a few months ago, Grace had never even dreamed that she would be attracted to a commoner man. She had thought that when the time came, she would meet someone of a similar level and form a family, but after meeting the man before her eyes, she found herself gradually falling for him.
At first she denied it, and during the Bloody Cycle, she deliberately spent the night with someone else. But even in that moment, the person who came to mind was Diego. The moment she saw the man politely offering to escort her home, Grace had no choice but to acknowledge her feelings.
Of course, it wouldn’t be smooth sailing. Even if there were no legal problems, it was extremely rare for a noble to marry a commoner, and it was obvious that the noble ladies who learned of it would gossip and talk behind her back. If only that were all. The stream of customers visiting the dress shop would also completely stop, but she wanted to have this man even if she had to bear all of that.
So Grace didn’t back down.
“May I ask why?”
“As you can see, I’m a commoner, so I don’t suit the young lady. And…”
Cold sweat oozed from the hand gripping her dress skirt. As she stared with an unconsciously anxious gaze, words delivered in an earnest expression and an even more earnest voice reached her ears.
“I’ve had someone I’ve admired for a long time. I’m sorry.”
***
That evening, Diego headed to the guild office for the first time in a while. The streets were quiet because of the still-falling rain. Riding his horse at a moderate pace, Diego sank into thought.
‘…That was really surprising.’
He really was surprised. Even when he was in the mercenary band, he had taken on similar requests a few times, but he had never been confessed to by a client.
He had enough awareness to match others, and since he was watching over her for half the day, Diego also knew that the viscount’s daughter had favorable feelings toward him. But he had thought it was at most trust in a reliable guard—he hadn’t known she harbored feelings beyond that.
‘I’ve had someone I’ve admired for a long time. I’m sorry.’
‘If you’re saying that because you feel burdened by me saying such things…’
‘No, it’s true.’
After saying it, he thought perhaps he had answered too bluntly, but he couldn’t take back words already spoken. Anyway, since he had rejected her confession, he naturally thought the request extension would also be withdrawn. However, when he arrived at the viscount’s residence, Grace had said, “I’ll send the request form again, so please come tomorrow as well,” and he was now heading to the guild to report first, according to protocol.
A short while later, Diego arrived at his destination. After roughly wringing out the rainwater that had soaked into his clothes, he opened the guild entrance. But somehow, there was no one there to greet him. When Hubert briefly left his post, at least another guild member would be standing guard at the counter, but looking around, there was no one.
He soon climbed the stairs to the second floor and opened the lounge door. Two guild members sitting on the sofa turned their heads, then quickly averted their gazes again.
“Is today Hubert’s day off by any chance? There’s no one on the first floor.”
“He probably went to the bathroom for a moment.”
At the curt answer, Diego let out a short sigh. Among the senior guild members, there were people like Martin and Hubert who took good care of newcomers, but there were also some who only said what was necessary or didn’t even respond at all. Most of them were cases where they had done all kinds of dirty work elsewhere before belatedly settling here at Fohens Guild.
This made it awkward to speak first. …Should I go back downstairs? Just as he was thinking that and turning to leave, the lounge door opened and Antonio came in. Seeing Diego, he made a surprised expression and quickly approached.
“What brings you here at this hour?”
“I have something to report. Is the master in his office right now…”
“Wait a minute.”
Antonio abruptly cut him off. He glanced sideways at the table once, then left the words “Come out for a moment” and turned around.
He hurried to follow, but the hallway was empty. Detecting a creaking sound and walking toward the stairs, he could see Antonio’s back already almost all the way down. As if that wasn’t enough, he even opened the back door of the lodging.
“Woof!”
As soon as the door opened, a resounding bark was heard. It was Bark, the dog the guild kept, and Antonio went over to him and vigorously rubbed the head of Bark, who was wagging his tail fit to fall off.
“I can’t today because it’s raining. I’ll play with you next time.”
Even if it wasn’t raining, playing with him right now would be impossible. Eventually, Antonio stood up, walked to a spot far away, leaned against the wall, and opened his mouth.
“Something happened while you were gone.”
His tone carried weight unlike usual. Just the fact that he came all the way down here to speak suggested it wasn’t an ordinary matter.
“What happened?”
Instead of answering, Antonio threw out an unexpected question.
“Have you heard of Grand Duke Kailton?”
It wasn’t an unfamiliar name, and Diego quickly retrieved memories related to him from his mind. He was a figure about whom endless praise had flowed from the mouths of the ladies who were regular customers at the dress shop.
“Yes.”
At his brief affirmation, words he hadn’t expected followed.
“A few days ago, he came to the guild.”
“…!”
Diego reflexively asked back with a surprised expression.
“He came to the guild?”
“Yeah. I was outside at the time so I didn’t see him directly, but when I heard about it later, it was apparently amazing. Just looking at him, you’d immediately think ‘So that’s what an extreme dominant Benic is like.’ Well, anyway, that’s not the important part…”
Antonio quickly looked around. After confirming no one was there, he continued speaking in a much lowered voice, almost murmuring.
“Things are in chaos right now.”
“…”
Though the reason hadn’t even been stated yet, an ominous premonition was already starting to creep up. As he looked at him with an expression telling him to continue, words mixed with a sigh followed.
“…There’s a widespread rumor that the master is going to follow Grand Duke Kailton.”
“What?!”
A loud voice burst out involuntarily. Antonio was startled and gestured for him to be quiet, but nothing registered in Diego’s eyes.
‘The master is going to follow Grand Duke Kailton…?’
It was truly like a bolt from the blue. His previously calm heart began to beat rapidly at a terrifying speed.
Diego barely pulled himself together and urged Antonio on.
“Tell me in detail.”
“Since the day after Grand Duke Kailton came, no one has seen the master. I heard that His Grace the Grand Duke also suddenly disappeared. Teber’s irritability is probably because of that too. If the rumor turns out to be true… who knows what will happen to the guild.”
“…”
The face he had just seen in the lounge, which had looked unusually displeased today, came to mind. He wanted to say something, but no sound came out, as if something was stuck in his throat. Antonio also continued the story with an expression that wasn’t entirely pleasant.
“Everyone’s already anxious, but Hubert said something like pouring oil on the fire. That His Grace the Grand Duke and the master knew each other from before. As if realizing his mistake, he denied it, saying he misspoke… but it was already too late. Everyone who was there heard it clearly. Moreover, now there’s even a rumor going around that this guild was also a gift from Grand Duke Kailton to the master.”
Each thing he heard was enough to shock a person. In fact, Diego wasn’t unaware that there were countless rumors surrounding Roman. But most of them were vague and nebulous, like grasping at clouds—this was the first time such a specific person had been mentioned.
