Proofreader: Chloe  ,';)

[As an adopted daughter of the Visenna clan……]

As soon as I read these words, I put down and covered the doc.u.ment immediately.

'Adopted daughter?'

Do they call test subjects adopted daughters these days?

Are they trying to bypa.s.s the Empire's law by using roundabout wording in the contract?

My eyesight which had deteriorated after all my long years of hard work must have improved because the words 'adopted daughter' were very clear to me.

Unsure what emotion I should be feeling, a low voice spoke out from nearby.

"You don't want to live as a child forever, do you, Ciel?"

I was surprised when I heard my name come out of the Grand Duke's mouth as he had always referred to me as maid, microbe, or 'hey'.

I thought the only one he could call by name was his fiancee, Lienna.

Of course, it's probably just part of his mannerly act.

Lost in thought, I lost the right moment to reply.

It appears that I had just become an impudent little child who ignored what the Grand Duke was saying.

Seemingly indifferent to this, he continued on.

"What you drank in my place was not Robert's poisonous plant. It's a curse which is much stronger and more persistent than that. Something in which, even with the smallest exposure, could kill ten people no matter how large their magical capacity is."

I tilted my head in confusion. Then why am I alive?

Don't tell me that my magical capacity is so pitiful and meaningless that it couldn't even bother killing me. Do I have less magic than a random stone rolling around in the streets?

My magical capacity must really be terrible. That's a bit depressing.

Perse soon addressed my confusion.

"I am also uncertain why you are still alive. If you hadn't stopped me and I drank one more sip of that wine, I would have died on the spot… The Grand Duke's mansion would have then gone into the hands of Lienna and Karlan."

I looked up at him who continued talking in a subdued voice.

Even if he didn't love Lienna, they had known each other for a very long time.

He spoke distantly as if retelling someone else's story. But, watching him closely, you can see the displeasure in his eyes and hear the smallest hints of sorrow in his voice.

I covered his large hand with my own small one.

If I were a strong magician, I could have been able to help you. If I were a knight, I could have become a comrade in battle with you.

If I were a holy priestess, I would have been expelled for violating the regulations regarding drinking liquor.

But as a maid, all I could do for him was inspect his suits carefully to ensure the Grand Duke doesn't walk out with holes in his clothes.

As soon as I decided to be nicer to him from now on, my resolve was shattered into pieces by the Grand Duke's arrogant tone of voice that followed.

"Who would have thought that a mere maid would be the one to save my life?"

Huh? Are you really dissatisfied with only that?

However, I couldn't allow my cold glare towards the Grand Duke to last very long.

It's not like I wasn't mad or I have no temper, but it seems my hostility disappears in front of someone with power.

I dropped my eyes down in discouragement as he gave me an indistinct stare in return.

Would you stop looking at me like that? You'll burn a hole through the top of my head if you keep looking through me with that complicated expression.

While I was saying dumb things in my head, Perse said in a somewhat softened voice.

"You could say that the fact that you are alive itself is a miracle. I plan on repaying the debt I owe you for saving my life."

"If you want to pay me back then what about gold?"

"I'll gladly give you some of that too."

What a generous Grand Duke!

Such a distinguished person the great Grand Duke is!

It's kind of hard to believe that my appraisal of him had changed in a matter of minutes.

Life is like that sometimes.

"Then when can I return to my normal self?"

"I'm not a magician, so I cannot lift the curse myself. I heard there is one way to counter the effects of the curse—."

What is it?

When I looked at him curiously, He gave a big grin.

I blinked several times at my first encounter with his smiling face. What a rare sight.

But… why is he smiling?

Does the method of lifting the curse please you that much?

"They tell me that the curse can be lifted by killing you. The moment your life ends, the curse is lifted and you return to your original self."

I knew it. Where is the knife?

I'm going to cut the Grand Duke's fancy silver hair with a knife and make him look like a mop-head.

As I was looking around, he lowered his head further and spoke lowly.

"Visenna told me that they can lift your curse."

"You're saying you're going to hand me over to those monsters?"

You're going to sell me over to the Visenna clan?

Have you forgotten about the Visenna clan kidnapping the main character before?

If he hadn't forgotten, there was no way that he would recommend me to go to that clan after fighting with that family's eldest son as if they were going to kill each other.

As I was about to cry out my concerns, another comment came out from a low voice somewhere else nearby.

"Are you not even going to ask them whether they're willing to lift this impudent child's curse, Perse Yekart?"

'Hmph!'

I sharpley inhaled as I heard another voice other than Perse's reverberate around the room.

Evenly paced footsteps subsequently echoed throughout the hall as the owner of the voice began walking towards us.

* * *

The voice I heard earlier wasn't apart from my imagination.

The owner of that voice was actually standing right behind me now.

My body stiffened feeling his presence behind me, I couldn't move my head a single inch from where I was looking.

My intuition screamed out a warning that the owner of this voice—the person behind me—was a very dangerous man.

"Can't even turn to face me? You're pretty bold for someone whose background is that of a maid." 

Unlike the words he had spoken, his voice didn't seem very displeased.

On the contrary, he seems to find me interesting.

My head started to rapidly calculate and a.n.a.lyze the situation. Unfortunately, it was impossible to a.n.a.lyze a person from just his voice.

Left with no other choice, I turned my stiff neck around.

My gaze naturally met with that of the man who was observing me.

The man in front of me had jet black hair and red eyes.

His drooping eyes looked fierce, although a bit drowsy—almost like those of a Jaguar after a fulfilling full-course meal.

There was no sword on his belt, but the dark navy uniform that he was holding in his arms looked very familiar.

'……the Imperial knights uniform?'

Knights were objects of envy among everyone.

There were even some shameless people who had the nerve to go around wearing fake uniforms, but there was no way this man was a fake knight.

On the right chest of the uniform, there was a badge only worn by the imperial knights, as well as several medals lined up in a row.

His relaxed footsteps emanated a subtle composure.

Most knights were disciplined and everything about them was organized and orderly. However, this man even had the neck of his s.h.i.+rt unb.u.t.toned and loose.

'He seems a bit unorthodox for a knight.'

He looked two or three years older than me at best. He appears quite young.

He had the feel of a young gentleman who had just come of age.

Sort of like a person who lives however he wants to……

Ah, I forgot that I've become a child.

From a child's perspective, he was a scary adult.

Jet black hair that was rare in Zebril. The imperial knight's uniform that no ordinary person could wear.

There was one person who, for whatever reason, never carried around a sword despite being a knight.

The eldest son of the Visenna family!

No way…… It couldn't possibly be.

That was impossible. I hoped dearly that the man in front of me wasn't the person that I guessed he was.

'Please, just don't be the eldest son……!'

Fortunately, it was extremely unlikely that he would come here.

The biggest reason was that the Duke Visenna family and the Grand Duke Yekart family had a very bad relations.h.i.+p.

They had such a disagreeable relations.h.i.+p that to simply say that they had a bad relations.h.i.+p was a severe understatement.

Those of the Yekart lineage mocked the Visenna clan, saying that they were a bunch of commoners and compared them to coa.r.s.e, lowly rocks on the street which came out of nowhere.

The Visenna clan were not a group of people who would simply disregard remarks like this.

The current Duke of Visenna, Eustia Visenna, immediately kidnapped the previous head of the Yekart family.

The fact that the previous head of the Yekart family was Perse's father was the start of their hostile relations.h.i.+p.

Perse visited the Visenna clan exactly two times for personal reasons.

The first time he went to the Visenna family was not as the Grand Duke, but as the young master of the Yekart Family with the t.i.tle of a duke.

The cold, indifferent boy was unaffected despite the fact that it was his own father who had been abruptly kidnapped.

However, he couldn't just ignore his father's disappearance, so he took the trouble to go to the Visenna clan in an effort to find his missing father.

A boy who had his father kidnapped would be expected to be found crying and stomping in a rage asking why they had kidnapped his father; but he completely flipped that expectation by finding their weakness and holding it against them, demanding the release of his father.

Thanks to that, his father was released unharmed.

The second time he visited the clan was after he became the Grand Duke.

It was about 1 year ago from now.

It was when the protagonist, Lienna, had been kidnapped.

The Visennas had a reason for kidnapping Lienna even with the risk of having the holy temple as an enemy.

It was the same reason that they had kidnapped his father.

It was to take control of the Karnen Mine, which was in the possession of the Grand Duke and where rare magic crystals could be found and obtained.

On top of the imperial order, there was a public uproar saying that they must rescue the holy priestess.

Unlike when his father was kidnapped and taken to the northern region to the Visenna's territory, he headed to the Visenna clan immediately.

Perse, accompanied with the Knights of the White Night, attacked the Visenna clan.

It was the Grand Duke Perse Yekart who had rescued Lienna from the threatening situation in which she could have died at any moment.

It was an unexpected move from the same young duke who had been making an issue out of the conditions of the contract for when his father had been kidnapped.

Although, it was because of his sense of responsibility as a royalty which motivated him to rescue the holy priestess.

A rumor began to spread that there was going to be a war between the two families when he took his knights and attacked Visenna.

In spite of this, the kidnapping incident was concluded due to Lienna's mediation that they should just return peacefully.

Unlike Perse's expectations that Lienna would have been badly hurt, she did not have a single scratch on her.

The Visennas were indeed villains, but they did not consider themselves low-cla.s.s villains who'd stoop so low.

The Visennas, like the atheist bunch that they were who did not make any donations to the temple, simply issued a light warning.

It was quite clear why Lienna wanted to return quietly.

It was because the a.s.sa.s.sin that had been sent to Visenna was licking Duke Eustia Visenna's shoes with his arms and legs cut off.

Lienna, after clearly witnessing the terrible sight, knew instinctively: she mustn't ever turn the Visennas into her enemy for whatever reason.