“So you’re saying that man could never really hurt you, my lady?”

Having read the intent behind Selaia’s words sharply, Laska murmured. Selaia smiled slightly in agreement.

“Besides, strangely enough, every time misfortune passed, fortune followed close behind. People and circumstances — everything shifted in my favor.”

Of course, her beloved daughter was her greatest fortune. However, despite being precocious in every other way, the child was oddly blind to this fact.

“If you treat her as you usually do, Miss Rote will be fine, Mr. Laska.”

“…Then, my lady.”

After a brief silence at Selaia’s gentle request, Laska finally opened his mouth to ask a question.

“Would I… also be counted among that fortune?”

Once again, his words went beyond her expectations.

“What?”

Selaia blinked her light-green eyes. Even as she looked at him in surprise, Laska’s face was serious, as if he truly awaited an answer.

“I only hope that I, too, might be a piece of good fortune in your life.”

For a moment, the candlelight flickered silently. Its soft light brushed across his blue eyes, the curve of his lashes, the straight line of his nose and his lips. Perhaps it wasn’t the flame trembling after all.

“Of course. You are fortunate. After all, it was Rote who saved your precious life.”

Selaia forced a smile that seemed as natural as possible. In response, Laska’s smile deepened.

“My lady and Miss Rote are fortune to me as well. An unexpected, priceless fortune.”

Selaia was unaware that, at that very moment, a selfish plan had taken root alongside the flickering flame.

The plan was to remain close to the Emperor’s former wife, whom he had encountered unexpectedly in a surprising place, and to discover the Emperor’s secrets, given that he was clearly still obsessed with her.

“…”

Lowering his gaze, Laska fixed it on the small, beautiful woman in front of him; his eyes were unsteady.

When he finally looked up, the secret resolve hidden in his blue eyes went unnoticed by everyone except him.

⭕ ⭕ ⭕

“Actually, I’ve been thinking of volunteering as Cheringen’s captain of the guard.”

The next morning, while waiting for breakfast, everyone at the table looked at him. The person who had spoken, however, wore a perfectly calm expression, as though they had said nothing out of the ordinary. They calmly lifted their glass of water.

“Really, Mr. Laska?”

The first to leap up with a question was Rote. Even after asking, the child looked stunned.

“Yes, young lady. Truly. With Lord Devonshire retiring, someone will need to oversee the guard, won’t they?”

Laska nodded with a bright smile.

“Oh my, you mean you’ll become captain of the guard, Mr. Laska?”

“That’s right, Miss Vera. But only if they choose me, of course.”

Accepting a dish of stew from Vera, who had just come from the kitchen, Laska replied with easy charm. Selaia, who had been quietly listening, spoke carefully.

“May I ask your reason? It just seems a little sudden.”

Yesterday, he had clearly looked troubled when Rote offered him employment. She couldn’t understand what had changed his mind overnight.

‘Could it be because of Hendrick’s visit last night?’

“Well, it seems like this place offers stable work.”

But Laska’s answer was nothing like what she expected.

“If you think back to how I ended up here, you’ll realize mercenaries are bound to die on the road sooner or later. It’s the kind of profession that ends in an unmarked grave.”

Waving his hand lightly to stir the steam of the stew, Laska glanced at Selaia.

“Almost dying made me realize that it would be better to work somewhere with guaranteed job security for a while. Besides, Miss Rote did make me an offer yesterday.”

At those words, everyone’s eyes shifted to Rote—everyone except Selaia.

“Mm…”

Rolling her eyes wide, Rote admitted she had indeed made such a proposal to Laska.

“It’s not something to boast about, but we can’t possibly pay him the kind of wages he earned as a mercenary. And there may be even more work to do in comparison.”

With a stern expression and a cautious tone, Elaine broached the subject of money.

In truth, the townspeople’s contributions were the only source of funding for Cheringen’s guard. Maximilian only provided them with combat training once or twice a year.

“It’s all right. As long as I’m provided with food and shelter like this, I don’t mind not receiving a salary.”

Laska shrugged as he looked at Selaia. From the morning, a flawless smile curved his lips as he turned it toward her.

“This place keeps feeling like good fortune to me.”

Selaia quietly turned her head away, avoiding his gaze. At that moment, Maximilian came into view, stroking his beard as he nodded.

“…It’s true we do need a new captain of the guard with actual combat experience.”

“Lord Devonshire.”

Hearing even Maximilian’s favorable reply left Selaia momentarily speechless—but it didn’t take long for her to understand why.

‘Perhaps…’

Earlier that morning, before entering the dining room, Selaia had informed Maximilian of Hendrick’s atrocities.

In an attempt to unite the fractured population, he attacked the envoys of the Kingdom of Teian himself. This gifted his father-in-law, Duke Fiel, the lands he coveted. Upon hearing this, Maximilian laughed in disbelief.

“Such senseless acts… If the Teians find out about this, the Tropezians might think it was a pre-emptive strike and attack immediately.”

The lands of Cheringen bordered the frontier. If international relations were to become strained, they would be the first to be in danger, so Selaia had to prepare accordingly.

‘That must be why Lord Devonshire is speaking favorably of it.’

Maximilian’s retirement was long overdue, and Haider, being the Emperor’s agent, was absent too often, traveling back and forth to the capital.

Selaia turned her head back toward Laska.

‘…I thought he would leave immediately.’

“Will you entrust me with it, my lady?”

Laska’s eyes curved gently into a smile, revealing his neat white teeth.

Looking at his dazzlingly handsome face, Selaia appeared to come to a decision.

“Let’s finish breakfast first and then we can talk in private for a while.”

“Of course. Anything at all.”

Laska replied brightly and without hesitation. Seeing how carefree he was, Selaia lifted her spoon.

After eating Vera’s special stew, the adults moved to the study, which also served as an office. Everyone except Rote went there; she had gone off to read as usual after her meal.

“Mr. Laska. Do you truly mean you won’t accept any salary?”

Elaine, who was in charge of the domain’s finances, was the first to speak. Given her materialistic mindset, his insistence on working without pay seemed unbelievable to her.

“I’ve saved enough from my work until now. At present, I only wish to settle in one place and rest for a while. And while I’m here, I’d like to repay my debt to the lady. After all, I owe her my life.”

Laska shrugged and answered without hesitation.

“You don’t have to think of that as a debt, my lady.”

Selaia shook her head, but that wasn’t enough to persuade him. Making a short, thoughtful sound, Laska soon spoke again.

“You see, my lady, despite appearances, I am really not suited to the role of the prince on a white horse. I always thought that looking after myself and leading a quiet life would be enough, which is why I became a mercenary. However, once I actually became one, I realized that it wasn’t a profession that allowed you to safeguard your own life. So now I’d like to take this opportunity to take a step back and think things through.”

He finished speaking with a hint of humor, then paused for a moment before continuing.

Selaia noticed a hint of gravity in his steady blue eyes and felt her shoulders tense involuntarily.

“To be honest, there are a few things on my mind that I can’t just ignore by leaving.”

“What do you mean?”

“The green vase in the parlor. I don’t remember seeing it before. Did you perhaps receive it as a gift yesterday?”

Selaia exchanged a glance with Elaine. As Laska had said, the green vase newly placed in the parlor had indeed been delivered yesterday by one of Hendrick’s men.

“Since the Emperor will nitpick if it’s missing the next time he visits, I thought it best to leave it in the parlor.”

Following Elaine’s reasoning, the expensive-looking vase had been left there.

But what did that matter?

“You should remove it.”

“Why?”

“The glaze on the surface probably contains arsenic. Dren, the unparalleled painter, created that shade of green. It’s beautiful, but deadly poisonous!”

“…..!”

At that very moment, Rote was probably reading in the parlor.

Selaia drew in a sharp breath and looked urgently towards Vera. Understanding immediately, Vera nodded and hurried off towards the parlour.