# 4
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Episode 4
* * *
Belen completely froze in front of Cales's true face.
Thanks to Ruelia's arrival at the duke's palace, he forgot that the only adjective that could be removed from the duke's title was "just."
“Wasn’t Miss Ruelia the point…?”
Kyles slowly opened his mouth.
“Belin, is this how I taught you?”
Belen quickly knelt down, as if to pin his forehead to the ground, lowering his head.
This was common in this office. Two years ago, the knights and assistants were all kneeling indiscriminately.
This was a fact that not only Ruelia knew.
“No, sir.”
"So tell me. What did I do wrong?"
It was because Ruelia was treated differently from the knights.
There is hardly an aide willing to work alongside the Duke. Rather, no assistant satisfies the Duke's standards.
In contrast, knights wishing to join the ducal palace were queuing. The only chance to learn the art of the sword from the greatest swordsman on the continent is to become his knights.
Therefore, it was natural for their treatment to differ.
“You taught me not to speculate on my master’s heart in vain.”
Fortunately, Belen was used to such situations.
He knew very well how to calm the Duke's anger.
"Right. What else?"
The veins in Kyle's hand that was supporting his chin popped out. On a normal day, he would have dragged Belin to the training field immediately.
However, he was patient.
Belen calmly tried to guess what Cales had in mind and said:
“I spoke lightly about someone who would partner with my master in achieving great goals. I forgot that this might lead to secrets being accidentally leaked.”
Was the answer wrong?
When Caelus sighed, Balin adjusted his posture.
“The meaning is that you should not discuss your master’s affairs in his absence, especially with Ruelia alone.”
“I apologize. I will never speak to her alone again.”
Kyles was still dissatisfied with something, so he furrowed his brows and reached out to grab the documents again.
There was a note Ruelia left on the documents.
『My lord Duke, I have presented the grain production of the different regions of the province in the form of a bar chart for easy comparison. Please, review it and decide where the new grain warehouse should be built.』
He ran his fingers over the circular, elegant letters that resembled their owner.
Then he remembered what happened a while ago.
“You don't have anyone yet to consider as a future duchess... do you?” –
When Ruelia asked that strange question, he suddenly remembered his father's advice before he died.
It was honest advice from a man who was a great father, but always took the blame from his wife.
“The Duke Abert’s family needs someone with humanity. Find a woman like this, love her and honor her. Don’t make my mistake by marrying politically by order of the Empire.” –
These words had sparked a lot of thought since his childhood. It was the story that most influenced his conditions for choosing his life partner.
The problem was that he wasn't sure he could love.
So, was his answer.
Ruelia, wouldn't it be appropriate?
She has no family to interfere in or restrict the affairs of the duchy, and is not affiliated with the empire. She is intelligent, independent, full of compassion, and loved by all the members of the ducal palace for her bright personality.
However, there was a problem.
She is from the common people. Even if he brought up the idea of marrying her, the Imperial Palace would not agree.
Moreover, it did not seem that a woman who did not realize that she might be the one would agree to the marriage.
Most importantly, he did not want to lose distinguished assistance. What he needs now is not a wife, but an assistant who does her job brilliantly.
“Belin, get up.”
“Thank you, sir!”
But, strangely, he continued to feel upset.
He was fine when he heard about Ruelia's strange plan, but Belin seemed to have triggered something in him today.
“She was innocent and beautiful.” –
Caelus repeated Belen's words in his mind, omitting a single word, for about the tenth time.
It seems like his mind has gone wrong.
Cales' fingers, which were touching Ruelia's letters, suddenly stopped.
“For a while, I will assign someone else to protect Ruelia.”
His feeling of discomfort finally faded with this.
But he soon sank into confusion again.
What is this childish, narrow-minded feeling?
In fact, he knew the answer.
'I'm jealous of the good relationship between my two followers, how pathetic.'
Jealousy.
There is no word that makes a person more childish than it. It is the best at disturbing wisdom.
Therefore, he committed this foolish act.
Does he hate being close? Or does he hate talking to each other? Or maybe he hates that Ruelia trusts Belin more than him?
Whatever it was, he was in a funny situation.
For an assistant to trust one of her master's followers more than himf is something he should be ashamed of.
“No, take back what I just said.”
His pride as a nobleman cracked. He felt shame fill his body with heat.
So, that narrow-minded thing was wiped out.
Although going back on orders is also something a master should not show.
“Continue protecting Ruelia. You are the most skilled among the Aber Knights.”
It is not permissible to interfere with personal feelings in public matters.
This is a principle that Caelis fought hard to uphold as head of a family.
He couldn't be demolished by one help.
“But...”
Today, foolish Kyles had to reflect and review himf.
“He ordered me, I will do anything.”
“For ten days from now, you will spin with me on the training field a hundred laps every morning and train as punishment.”
For a moment, Belin felt that a transfer to a lower position might be better. Or maybe he could go around the square two hundred laps on his own.
* * *
The next day, Ruelia arrived at the Duke's Palace early in the morning, and headed to the training ground to search for the Duke.
She didn't look like usual.
Her eyes were red, her skirt was wrinkled, and her hair was messy. The confident Ruelia, who had been relying on her diary yesterday, disappeared throughout the night.
'Hey Anna, in the past, were you that fond of money?'
There was no information as to why Count Emil's daughter was chosen for the Prince Imperial.
Everything that was written in the diary was about ways to make money and the end of the Duke.
Ruelia sighed for a moment and stroked her chest. The thick resignation letter she had brought as a backup seemed to rebuke her.
He urges her to run away immediately.
But she couldn't do that, so she shook her head violently.
"Ah! That's so cowardly!"
How many blessings and care did she receive from the Duke?
“A person who does not know how to reward blessings has no value in his existence.” –
Her adopted father raised his two daughters to be people who knew duty.
'If I make a mistake, Melissa might get killed too, right, Dad?'
It was written that when the Duke died, his followers and the families of his servants would be killed as well.
Ruelia sighed with watery eyes from reading the diary all night, and looked towards the training ground.
Loud cheering sounds were coming from there.
“The Duke said it was time to train his body as well.” –
The first sign of one-sided love.
Isn't it natural for a loving person to care about his appearance first? For a man of knightly origin, that would be his body.
The Duke was so serious…
If she ran away now, she felt like she would become a cowardly traitor.
After deep thought, Ruelia took out her resignation letter.
“If I offer this, when would be the least harmful timing?”
She tried to calmly calculate profits and losses, even while feeling guilty.
But the amazing scene at the training ground made her mind completely blank.
At that moment, a sudden wind blew, and the resignation letter slipped out of her hand. The letter flew with the wind that enveloped Ruelia.
"What...what is this? Why do they all look like this?"
She quickly covered her eyes with her hand.
The knights, wearing a thin piece of cloth, whether underwear or shorts that only covered the lower half, were training while clashing their swords.
Cales was among them in the same situation.
"to stop!"
"Ah! He's there!"
The scene was very raw.
For Ruelia, who had never seen naked men before despite working in the duke's palace crowded with knights, this scene was extremely exciting.
Especially Kyles.
His appearance was particularly engraved in her eyes.
'What is this? Is he greedy?'
Even the statues of rulers on the temple walls did not have a perfect body like Cales. Everything that should stand out was embarrassingly obvious.
“At this level, you won't be able to catch a single fox. Have you forgotten who our opponent is?”
Kyle's voice wavered. Then the men's breathing became more ragged.
“Who? Why are you being so rude as to take your pants off! You insolent bastard!”
“In a real battle, you will protect your life instead of your pants!”
The knights were very serious.
She felt that she would see what should not be seen.
Ruelia quickly rushed towards the office, letting the resignation paper flutter and land on the ground.