“Why exactly…?”

Emma tried to raise her question again, but Cornell cut her off.

“Don’t worry, Miss Emma! I swear, nothing will happen. The Duke may be a demanding man, but he has never summoned his secretary at night. Unless there’s a natural disaster, just stay in your room.”

“Hmm…”

A doubtful expression appeared on Emma’s face.

“If you’re really uncomfortable, I can arrange to move your accommodations. Shall I speak to the Duke first thing in the morning? Or I could take the night shift myself right now…”

“No, that won’t be necessary, Mr. Cornell!”

“I appreciate your enthusiasm, but there’s no need to push yourself too hard from the start. I’m saying this for your own good, Miss Emma.”

Emma shook her head vigorously. Then she patted her chest as if asking him to trust her.

“You said nothing would happen, right? And isn’t it precisely during emergencies that the secretary is needed the most?”

“…!”

Cornell’s face was suddenly touched with emotion. Emma gave him a bright smile.

“As the Duke’s secretary, I will do my best to assist him, no matter what happens. Thank you for trusting and hiring me, Mr. Cornell.”

“It’s I who should thank you! Truly, thank you, Miss Emma!”

Cornell clasped Emma’s small hand firmly. Startled at first, Emma soon let out a soft laugh as Cornell, overwhelmed with emotion, shook her hand up and down.

Blackwood was a large, gloomy, and desolate place, much like its master. But the Duke wasn’t the horrifying murderer the rumors made him out to be. He was much more demanding, capricious, and intimidating than she had expected, but…

‘With such good conditions, I’ll just have to endure the minor flaws.’

Emma firmly believed that nothing in life came for free.

“Besides, the food is delicious, and the people are kind, aren’t they?”

Though this land still felt unfamiliar and bleak, Emma was starting to feel like she might come to like it. No, she had to.

‘If I can last just one year, my salary will double.’

She had to endure, no matter what.

And what about the quarterly bonuses?

There was no way she could give up even a single penny.

—

Before going to sleep, Emma changed into her nightgown and wrote a letter to her mother and siblings. She assured them she had arrived safely, discussed paying off debts, and touched on the education of her twin siblings, Minnie and Michelle.

After finishing her letter, Emma lay down on her bed. She began reviewing the day’s events in her mind. Has she made any mistakes? What could she improve? What tasks awaited her tomorrow?

As she organized her thoughts, a sudden, terrifying noise erupted.

Thud, thud, thud—!

Emma sat up abruptly.

The heavy sound continued as she got out of bed and headed toward the door. Each thud sent vibrations through the floor beneath her feet.

It sounded like something being slammed against the ground. It wasn’t an earthquake, so something unexpected was definitely happening.

“Oh no, is the Duke safe?”

In her urgency, she was about to fling the door open when—

―No matter what noises you hear outside, do not come out.

Cornell’s warning echoed in her mind. He had said, “No matter what noises you hear.”

“Did he… know this would happen?”

It was clear now that his warning had been given in anticipation of such an event.

“He said not to leave unless it was a natural disaster. He must have known something like this could happen.”

Though she didn’t know the full story, Emma decided to follow the rule.

“Unnecessary curiosity only leads to danger.”

Emma prided herself on being a rational person. She had no intention of risking her safety to satisfy her curiosity.

“Right, I’ll just go back to sleep.”

Returning to bed and trying to sleep was the best course of action. It wouldn’t be easy, but it wasn’t impossible. Falling asleep quickly was one of Emma’s talents.

For years, Emma had rarely slept more than five hours a night. There were even times when she stayed up all night. Balancing work and study had left her no choice. It was the fate of a poor student.

To maintain her full scholarship, she couldn’t afford to neglect her studies. On top of that, she had to earn money to support her mother and siblings.

Emma’s mother, born the daughter of a fallen noble, had lived her entire life without lifting a finger. Beautiful and elegant, but utterly incapable of supporting herself, her mother was frail and helpless. Then there were Emma’s poor six-year-old twin siblings.

To feed her family, Emma had fought alone.

She had taken on every job she could find: teaching assistant, assignment helper, babysitter, short-term tutor, research assistant. If the pay was decent, she didn’t hesitate.

In the months leading up to graduation, she had stayed up late studying for the imperial civil service exam. It was no wonder her ability to sleep anywhere, anytime, had become second nature.

She could fall asleep even in the middle of a battlefield if she had a small space to rest her back.

Pushing aside her curiosity, Emma turned back toward her bed.

“What is this…!”

Suddenly, dark red liquid began seeping under the door, creeping in like a living snake. The liquid grew in volume, quickly pooling at her feet. Emma’s face turned pale as she looked down.

“What is… this?”

Emma crouched down and dipped her finger into the liquid. Then she brought it to her nose and sniffed.

“Ugh!”

The metallic smell made her wrinkle her nose instinctively.

“…It’s blood.”

This was an emergency.

Even if it wasn’t a natural disaster, something serious was clearly happening.

“I need to find out whose blood this is.”

If the Duke was injured, she had to act quickly. That was her duty as the secretary on night duty in an otherwise empty residence.

Without hesitation, Emma reached for the doorknob. With a click, the door opened wide, and Emma stepped into the dark hallway in her nightclothes. The cold night air wrapped around her, sending shivers up her arms.

Emma stood silently for a moment, staring down the long, dimly lit hallway. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she spotted something.

“That’s…!”

Across from her room, in front of the Duke’s door, lay a dark red mass. It resembled a slab of meat hanging from a butcher’s hook, but it was undoubtedly a person.

Or had been.

“Surely… they’re not dead, right?”

Her heart pounded, but Emma forced herself to stay calm. During her academy days, she had assisted in medical dissection classes and had seen many corpses. That experience helped her maintain her composure.

Emma approached the figure silently and cautiously prodded it with her toes.

Twitch.

“…!”

The faint movement made Emma instinctively step back. Even so, she carefully observed the figure’s condition.

‘Brown hair and smaller than the Duke… Is he an intruder?’

Relief washed over her when she confirmed it wasn’t the Duke. But why was an unfamiliar man lying bloodied in front of the Duke’s door in the middle of the night?

‘Could it be… the Duke did this?’

Emma’s attention was drawn to the sword lodged in the man’s abdomen. She wasn’t skilled in swordsmanship, but the lack of defensive wounds suggested he had been struck down in one blow.

‘It seems the blood is coming more from his head than his stomach.’

The thudding noise earlier must have been the sound of the man’s head hitting the wall. Blood was still trickling from the back of his head, pooling on the carpet and flowing toward Emma’s room.

Emma hesitated for a moment.

The man had suffered a severe head injury. If left untreated, he might die. She considered stopping the bleeding but decided against it.

Cornell’s warning weighed heavily on her mind.

‘He’s said to be sensitive enough to notice the slightest sound. Seeing as this man is lying right in front of his door…’

It was impossible that the Duke was unaware of the situation. The Duke was likely responsible for the man’s condition.

‘Let’s pretend I didn’t see anything. As long as the Duke isn’t hurt, it’s none of my business.’

Emma reminded herself of her goal.

‘To survive and work safely.’

Until her debts were paid off, she wanted no part in any danger.

Emma Brown was a staunch believer in avoiding unnecessary risks.

She didn’t care if others thought she was cowardly. Carefully avoiding the pool of blood, she turned to head back to her room.

But then, a hand suddenly grabbed the back of her neck, stopping her in her tracks.

“…!”

“It seems there’s more than one rat in my house.”

“Eep!”

Emma nearly screamed in shock but managed to stifle it by clamping her hands over her mouth.

In an instant, she was dragged by the back of her neck into the Duke’s room.

The Duke, clad in a black robe as dark as his hair, looked down at Emma with cold, sunken eyes.

“D-Duke?”

“…”

Caden said nothing. He simply stared at Emma with an unrelenting gaze.

Emma swallowed nervously. One wrong word, and something terrible might happen.

“Your Grace, it’s me! I’m not an intruder. Could you please let go of me first…?”

“And who are you?”

For a moment, Emma’s mind went blank.

‘Is he… teasing me?’

When she didn’t answer, Caden frowned, looking genuinely annoyed. It wasn’t a joke—he truly didn’t recognize her.

‘What… he really doesn’t know who I am?’

Just as she thought he might release her, his hand moved to grip her chin instead.

Forced to lift her head, Emma held her breath.

‘So… close!’

The Duke had leaned in, his face mere inches from hers. Though she had seen him earlier in the day, his face now seemed unfamiliar, as if she were meeting him for the first time.