02. A Bittersweet Star

“It’s been quite peaceful these past few days without any urgent matters, hasn’t it?”

Despite it being work hours, they were all enjoying tea time together. The clinic staff nodded simultaneously at Laura’s murmur, which could have been either admiration or concern.

A leisurely break was in full swing on the terrace overlooking the clinic’s garden and the main road. Olivia, munching on a cookie filled with fruit filling, also nodded slightly.

“All the hospitalized little ones have been discharged, and it’s amazingly peaceful these days, isn’t it?”

Meaning that was a good thing. From a business perspective, having too few customers and being too quiet might be a concern, but that didn’t apply to Olivia’s clinic.

“If all the animals in the city are healthy without any ailments, that’s fortunate!”

The entire staff of the clinic, backed by a wealthy benefactor, decided to fully enjoy their current leisure. After all, isn’t the greatest happiness in life when things are peaceful to the point of boredom?

“It doesn’t look that way outside. Didn’t that carriage visit recently too?”

Laura whispered, pointing to a carriage crossing the main road. As people nodded in agreement, Olivia carefully watched the back of the disappearing carriage in the distance.

“Must be someone important? The carriage is so elaborate?”

“Oh my, Olivia. That’s the Camelu family crest. They’re a major player from the south. They own dozens of gem mines……”

Unlike Olivia, who came from a small rural village, others who had worked for noble families for a long time easily recognized the carriage’s owner just by seeing the family crest on it. Olivia nodded repeatedly while listening with interest to the flowing conversation.

“We also see carriages going to the imperial palace quite often…… I met a friend who works at the Empire Bank the other day, and apparently investment money is flowing into the city beyond imagination these days.”

“Actually, this is the largest city in our territory, but it wasn’t that big for a place called a duke’s domain, was it? But these days, you can really feel the city growing day by day.”

The clinic staff all seemed a bit excited as they chattered about various things, perhaps feeling a strange pride that the city they lived in was doing well.

In the duke’s domain, where self-governance was recognized and the territory was considerably large, it was strange that its condition had remained so poor until now. Aside from the duke, who was a monster and therefore an exception, the administrators sent by the emperor had shown little interest in properly governing the territory.

The territory, which had barely been holding on with minimal maintenance just to avoid collapse, was now experiencing unprecedented attention and prosperity.

“It’s all thanks to the duke coming back to the forefront again.”

Now, the nickname “monster duke” was no longer an object of fear and avoidance. A warm gaze with a hint of reverence was directed at Olivia. Having been constantly amazed by stories about territorial management and the movements of noble families—topics she had never paid attention to—Olivia belatedly flinched at the focused gazes. Though feeling shy from the attention, she also felt a strange sense of pride.

‘I should tell Alois.’

Not much had changed from before. Alois still sometimes became sensitive and on edge due to the curse that could appear at any time, and the fact that he could turn into a monster at any moment remained unchanged. But it was a remarkable change that the duke, who might still become a monster, was receiving such positive reviews among people.

She fidgeted in her seat, wanting to immediately share the good news with Alois. Though he was probably also working at this hour, Olivia had the privilege of running to him whenever she wanted.

Eventually unable to resist, she tidied up her place and stood.

“I’ll be leaving a bit early today, so please contact me right away if any urgent patients arrive.”

“Of course. Olivia, you should also rest early sometimes when there’s leisure time like this. Since there’s not much time left until closing anyway, go ahead and leave first.”

Her reliable staff actually welcomed her early departure. Olivia was always the busiest person, coming to work every day without proper rest, doing examinations, research, and gathering herbs. Encouraged by their support that taking it easy occasionally wasn’t a bad idea, Olivia’s early departure proceeded smoothly.

After leaving the clinic, she hurried her steps toward the government office where the carriages she had seen on the main road had lined up and entered earlier.

* * *

In most territories, there was no separate government office, and all business was typically conducted at the lord’s mansion. Nobles were generally reluctant to move and preferred not to go beyond their boundaries. But Alois had the opposite stubbornness; he extremely hated having random people freely coming and going within his boundaries under the pretext of business.

‘Is it because he stayed in the forest for so long?’

From the beginning, blocking the forest with a thorny wall was both to protect others from himself as a monster and to clearly reject others’ approach, so it wasn’t surprising. Sometimes she couldn’t believe that such a person became so different, extraordinarily so, only for her.

“Is this the power of love?”

After mumbling to herself, she became embarrassed and hastily looked around. This wasn’t good…… Alois’s unusual behavior constantly gave Olivia an excited sense of superiority. The complicated procedures for entering the government office had no effect on Olivia. The knights who recognized her face cleared the way for her wherever she went without any restraint.

“Oh, Olivia. Nice to see you. Leaving work earlier than usual?”

The one welcoming Olivia in Alois’s office wasn’t the face she had expected. A man organizing documents greeted her with a familiar eye contact. Putting aside her brief disappointment, Olivia entered with a cheerful greeting.

“Thanks to all the animals in the city being healthy. What about Alois?”

“The duke is still in the reception room with his guests. Would you like me to report if it’s urgent?”

“No, I can wait. Are you busy too, Elliot?”

“Isn’t the charm of working life slacking off a bit when the boss isn’t looking? We have some new tea, would you like to try it?”

Elliot casually joked while finishing organizing his documents. Chatting with him as he prepared tea, Olivia sat comfortably on the sofa.

“Is it okay for you to be here with me when guests have arrived?”

“They’re important from an official perspective, but it seemed like a private meeting that I shouldn’t intrude on, so I deliberately stepped away.”

A private meeting that even a personal secretary avoided? Olivia’s fingertips paused momentarily in puzzlement as she drank her tea. Elliot hastily added an explanation to prevent any possible misunderstanding.

“Marquis Raymond, who was the duke’s former mentor, is visiting. He’s responsible for the western border area, yes……”

Fearing that a small misunderstanding might escalate into a lovers’ quarrel, Elliot elaborated in detail. But seeing Olivia’s transparent expression, devoid of any jealousy, he realized his concern was unnecessary. His words naturally trailed off.

“It seems like an important relationship, so Alois must have been glad to see him.”

“He was glad. Though also a bit annoyed?”

Half joke, half truth. Olivia and Elliot were close enough to have such conversations. Naturally, as he assisted with all of Alois’s work from the closest position, Olivia became his top management subject. Though, of course, he didn’t tell her in detail.

“I was worried because he had been alone in the mansion for such a long time. But I’m happy that there are many people visiting him like this, and many who remember him in a good way. Alois really is a good person.”

Her lips curled up with satisfaction. Elliot smiled and brought his teacup to his lips.

‘A good person, huh.’

Elliot looked at Olivia with a subtle expression and thought of the man who was both his lord and boss. As the world changed, the relationship between lord and vassal had become more of a mutual contract rather than one of absolute obedience as in the past, but it was still a society with clear class distinctions. So Elliot wisely kept his thoughts about Alois buried in his heart.

‘He is a rational and sensible person.’

In a world still full of all sorts of strange and wicked nobles, his boss was at least someone you could reason with. He didn’t make unreasonable demands or personally insult others.

He strictly needed only his ability to work and didn’t interfere with or show interest in unnecessary private life. Most importantly, the compensation was above average and generous, so there weren’t many difficulties working with him.

Though he had assumed it would be a decent position since it was introduced by his uncle, it was a more satisfying workplace than expected. For Elliot, the youngest with little to inherit in a collateral branch of a noble family without territory to govern, it was an excessive position.

‘Plus, he doesn’t show signs of suddenly going berserk as rumored.’

Since there was no mention of the curse being lifted, there was still a risk factor, but it was worth rushing in while others were cautiously weighing their options. However, all this was an evaluation from the perspective of someone who assisted the duke and worked with him.

From the perspective of exchanging emotions and sharing affection with Alois…

He fundamentally didn’t trust others. Though he didn’t know much about his past self, at least now he was certainly that way. Since he had lived as a monster due to a curse, it wasn’t incomprehensible that he was wary of others. However, because of this, Elliot sometimes wondered if Olivia, whose emotions were so transparently visible, was building proper emotional exchanges and a healthy relationship with Alois.