Chapter 4 (Part 10)

“Roshan! Didn’t we agree you wouldn’t overwork yourself?”  

Therese threw open the office door, her voice filled with anger. Roshan never took care of himself. As soon as he returned, he had been replenishing the guild’s warriors, inspecting weapons, and finishing various tasks.  

Roshan, who had been alone changing his bandages, hastily threw on a shirt in surprise.  

“M-Master…!”  

The wounds on his back, which he hadn’t managed to cover, were clearly visible to Therese.  

“Why are you doing this alone?”  

“It’s easier this way.”  

Although the wounds had healed considerably, the scars on his bare back were still grotesque.  

Therese bit her lip silently, unable to imagine the pain he must have endured. Roshan quickly tried to put on his shirt, as if to hide his back.  

“What’s easier about this?”  

Therese strode over and sat down next to him.  

“You could just ask me for help with this.”  

She understood why Roshan didn’t want to show his wounds.  

‘He can’t allow himself to appear weak.’  

Without saying anything, Therese carefully wrapped his bandages and helped him put on his shirt.  

“Roshan, please. Don’t hide anything from me.”  

“…Master.”  

“Even the smallest things—you can tell me everything.”  

Her words were directed at Roshan, who had been keeping secrets from her lately. Of course, she understood that things couldn’t be the same as before.  

They had both been adults for a long time now.  

But Therese didn’t see Roshan as a stranger, and her words came from the bottom of her heart.  

“I apologize for worrying you, Master.”  

“Please stop apologizing too.”  

While Therese sat at her desk reviewing reports from various regions, Roshan brought her snacks and tea on a tray.  

The teacup, painted with climbing roses, held a pale pink tea that gave off a sweet aroma. On the plate were egg tarts.  

“To eat again?”  

“Master, you’ve gotten too thin lately.”  

“When did you even prepare this?”  

She couldn’t even laugh at Roshan, who had prepared her snacks while neglecting his own injuries.  

“A Galician merchant happened to be in town. They said it tastes best when eaten warm.”  

The bazaar was home to merchants from various empires, offering a chance to taste exotic foods.  

Therese took a big bite, imagining Roshan had gone out in his condition to buy these.  

“It’s good.”  

The buttery crust was crispy, and the inside was filled with rich, creamy egg custard.  

“Drink some tea too; it might get stuck in your throat.”  

As she took a sip of the tea he had recommended, Roshan’s softened gaze lingered on her.  

He enjoyed watching Therese eat delicious food. He was happiest when she smiled, and if she even looked at him, it filled him with indescribable joy.  

Roshan, who had been staring at her round head and munching lips for a while, snapped back to attention at her instructions.  

“Tell the new recruits to be careful. If their lives are at risk, they must retreat immediately.”  

The information guild was meant to focus on gathering intelligence, not engaging in combat.  

“Understood.”  

“And I’m sorry about what happened to your subordinates.”  

She had avoided mentioning the deceased until now, knowing Roshan’s condition hadn’t been good. Losing people he had personally trained must have been painful for him.  

Therese knew better than anyone that, despite Roshan’s cold demeanor toward his subordinates, he was deeply compassionate.  

“Thank you for your condolences, Master.”  

As Therese finished her tea, Roshan moved closer to take away the empty cup.  

“…What is it?”  

Therese blinked as she noticed Roshan’s red eyes fixed on her lips.  

“…”  

“Is there something on my face?”  

Her question caused Roshan’s ears to turn red. He hesitated, extending a single finger, then sighed softly.  

“You might want to wipe your face.”  

Roshan, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, handed it to her with trembling fingers. Therese, watching him closely, smiled faintly and took the handkerchief.  

“Look at you. You claim you’re fine, but your hands are shaking.”  

Therese wiped her lips with the handkerchief and suddenly stood in front of Roshan.  

“…M-Master.”  

Roshan, startled by her closeness, stepped back nervously. Before he knew it, he had backed up all the way to the sofa and plopped down onto it.  

“I’ll take care of the rest of the work, so just stay here and rest.”  

Therese spoke as she walked back to her desk after seeing him sit down.  

“I-I can’t do that.”  

“Why not? Just stay there and keep an eye on me. Isn’t that just as important a task?”

Therese unfolded the documents again with a lighthearted comment, and Roshan bit his lip tightly.  

As always, he could never win against his master.  

* * *  

A tavern near the Knights’ Order in the capital.  

The sign on the shabby building had a shield and spear painted on it. This place was often called “The Knight’s Rest.”  

If you entered, you would see large, rough-looking knights filling the place, causing anyone who wandered in unknowingly to turn back quickly.  

“A monster dared to attack me, so I stabbed its eye with my dagger! Do you know how high I jumped back then? Almost as high as—”  

The noisy interior was filled with the drunken tales of a knight boasting about his exploits. A man stroking his mustache smirked and replied mockingly.  

“Wasn’t that monster as small as a rat?”  

“Well, maybe so. No one else saw it, after all!”  

At this, all the knights burst into laughter, pounding their mugs on the table.  

But not everyone in the tavern was enjoying themselves.  

In one corner, behind a curtain, a dark and gloomy atmosphere seeped out. After hours of silence, a large man sitting among a small group finally sighed and spoke.  

“Thomas, for heaven’s sake, control your weight. Your brutish muscles are crushing my frail body.”  

Georges, his brown ponytail swaying, pushed away Thomas’s muscular arm and complained.  

“Georges, be quiet.”  

“…Yes.”  

For hours, they had been eavesdropping on the knights’ loud conversations. The smoked chicken, quail eggs, and goat meat with figs they had ordered were growing cold.  

They had come here personally to find new leads on a drug rumored to be spreading secretly among the Knights’ Order.  

“Your Grace, it seems there’s nothing substantial to be found here.”  

The knights had been bragging and brawling the entire time, leaving them with little to show for their efforts.  

“It seems so.” 

The Duke of Richard nodded, signaling Georges to gulp down the lukewarm ale in front of him. Then, Georges tore off a chicken leg and placed it on the Duke’s plate.  

“Your Grace, please eat. I’ve checked it for poison.”  

Georges, who had been eating enthusiastically by himself, nudged Thomas in the ribs.

“You should drink something too.”  

“I don’t drink while on duty.”  

“Didn’t His Grace just say today’s work is done?”  

“Then who will protect His Grace?”  

Frustrated by Thomas’s inflexible attitude, Georges shoved a piece of goat meat into his mouth.  

“You need to eat well to protect the Duke and the empire. And to maintain those muscles, you need to eat a lot, don’t you?”  

“…Hah.”  

Jeremy leaned against the rough wall and looked away from his bickering subordinates.  

‘…Exhausting.’

He had always suffered from severe insomnia, but recently, he had barely been able to sleep at all.  

The constant threat of poison and the monsters that could attack the borders at any moment kept his nerves on edge, like walking on thin ice.  

‘Except for that night.’

That night in the log cabin, when the rain poured down relentlessly, he had managed to sleep deeply.  

When he woke up next to Therese, he had been utterly bewildered.  

Leaving her still asleep, he had stepped outside the cabin, his face burning as if he had a fever.  

‘This feeling is truly troublesome.’

Although Therese Demori had entered his household, she was not someone he could fully trust yet.  

‘The moment I let my guard down is the moment I lose my head.’

Jeremy deliberately kept his nerves sharp and tried to maintain a neutral perspective.  

‘I still don’t know what kind of person she is.’

Even though he tried to keep his distance, Therese easily crossed the lines he had drawn.  

Her relaxed expression while drinking tea at a roadside café, her flushed cheeks after stepping on his foot while dancing, her unexpected skill in making stew—these moments kept shaking him.  

‘…Therese Demori.’

The small woman with eyes like a cold sky kept growing larger in his heart.  

‘I can’t get closer, but I can’t push her away either.’