31. Lady Ygret’s Secret (1)

“I’m not being petty.”

Darius softened his expression and grabbed my sleeve.

“The sword, shield, and boots don’t really matter. What’s meaningful is that I receive them as gifts from you, and I hate the idea of you giving them away for Lucion.”

“Goodness, what are you saying?”

Lucion was his knight commander.

“This is the first gift you’ve ever given me, and I don’t want to have the memory of receiving the same thing as someone else.”

Darius wore a displeased expression.

“Anette, are you interested in Lucion?”

“How could I be?”

“Still, if you give him gifts, Lucion might get the wrong idea. You’ve been extremely kind to him these past few days.”

Well, when someone’s sister is hovering between life and death, you naturally want to comfort them. After Rose’s illness ended, Lucion was nothing more to me than someone who owed me a debt.

“All these belong to you.”

“No, they belong to the North. They’re treasures your ancestor left for times of crisis for the North and the world.”

“They would have remained asleep until the end of the world if not for you. So it’s not wrong to say they’re yours.”

If it hadn’t been me, the female lead would have found them according to the original story. Though the sweet Rose would have died.

“It’s not my place to tell you how to use your possessions, but I’d prefer if you didn’t give them to Lucion. Not just Lucion, but other men too. You are my wife.”

As I recall, the harsh North had an overwhelmingly larger male population.

Turns out this was a Secret Santa romance fantasy. Taking care of only one designated person.

“But wouldn’t it be nice for Sir Lucion to have something good too?”

“I’ll buy new weapons and armor for Lucion myself.”

Darius looked at me with eyes that seemed to ask, ‘So can I keep these?’ Hmm.

“Then you really must get something separately for Sir Lucion, alright?”

“Yes.”

Darius beamed brightly as he held the sword, shield, and boots he had taken away, refusing to give them to Lucion.

‘He’s being so greedy, why isn’t the anti-fraud magic working?’

Is this discrimination between protagonists and extras again?

“Your Highness, the opening of your ancestor’s treasure vault isn’t entirely a blessing.”

I spoke to Darius while examining other treasures. A small hand mirror that seemed to be part of a set of two caught my eye. It looked like it was for women.

“I know. We now have enormous amounts of gold coins that can only be used as collateral or for display for now. Just protecting them from those who covet them won’t be easy.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

Darius hadn’t noticed yet. I had a duty to warn him.

“People are blinded by Grand Duke Inkheart’s golden legend. But think carefully about that legend. Why did your ancestor prepare these treasures in the Ash Tree Forest? Don’t you truly remember the conditions for opening this treasure vault, Your Highness?”

The reason I had confidently pursued a legend others called nonsense.

“You mean……”

“Inkheart’s descendant will defeat the demon king. Your ancestor knew this and prepared these treasures. Treasures that must not fall into the hands of evil people.”

No matter how much they say nothing in life is free, this ancestor went too far.

These incredible treasures are ultimately just war funds for when the demon king revives.

“If fairy-tale-like treasures have appeared, you should be prepared to meet a fairy-tale-like demon king, Your Highness.”

Even saying this, he probably won’t believe me because I opened the treasure vault much earlier than in the original work.

‘Well, if he doesn’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do. Anyway, as the original story progresses, Darius will go with the female lead to defeat the demon king.’

It’s unreasonable to expect an extra’s words to have the same persuasiveness as the female lead’s.

I secretly thought Darius would laugh at my words or dismiss them as nonsense, like Lucion would.

Surprisingly, Darius drew the magic sword I had given him, examined it as if reassessing its value, and then said to me,

“I see. The demon king.”

Ah, the male lead is so cool.

Whenever I saw the male lead believing in me, I felt my affection for him growing beyond what was necessary.

‘But it should still be fine. For the male lead and his extra wife to maintain this level of affection.’

* * *

I continued fiddling with the women’s mirror I had found and let out a small gasp of excitement. I seemed to understand how to use it.

Yes, it would be unfair to only prepare items for men.

‘Come to think of it, I should have had the maids touch the gold coins too.’

I felt regret belatedly. The gold coin personality test would have immediately revealed who was greedy.

“Apple?”

Returning to my room, I called for my maid whose strength was her honesty. Apple, with her light freckles and low nose, the very image of a maid in a romance fantasy novel.

“Sniff, did you call for me?”

Apple’s eyes were red as she hurried over.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sob, nothing. It’s nothing.”

Apple rubbed her eyes, but that only strengthened the suspicion that she had been crying. I took her hands as she tried to hide her face and asked again.

“Were you crying?”

“No, I just got something in my eye.”

“Your strength isn’t anything else but your honesty.”

Apple was a new maid who had just started when I arrived at Castle Inkheart, and she wasn’t particularly meticulous in her work.

The reason I kept Apple as my closest maid was because I liked how she told me everything about the castle without hiding anything. Whether good or bad.

“Are you really not going to tell me?”

“Madam…… Actually, Lady Ygret told us never to report this to you and the Grand Duke.”

“Lady Ygret?”

The head maid of Castle Inkheart. Apple seemed cautious about going against the orders of the person who had ruled the castle before my arrival.

I maintained my stern expression. Finally, Apple looked at me nervously and shared her concern.

“Well…… People keep disappearing. Sob!”

“What?”

“I came to this castle because a certain maid who worked here disappeared without a word. They needed help urgently because you were coming, Madam. Normally…… someone like me without a proper letter of recommendation wouldn’t be hired as a maid, but the situation was so urgent.”

I had previously heard from the gnome blacksmith Gilbert about the disappearance of the blacksmith guild leader’s daughter.

So it wasn’t just the blacksmith’s daughter who had run away?

“Why are you telling me this only now? Goodness, when people disappear, you should have reported it!”

“I tried to report it to His Highness. But Lady Ygret stopped me. She said His Highness and Madam Anette had just returned to the castle, and there was no need for you to know about such unpleasant matters, saying she would investigate herself. But, but people keep disappearing…… I was scared and sad, so I was crying alone.”

After finishing her words, Apple cried loudly like a child. She was merely a commoner maiden for whom Castle Inkheart was her first workplace.

“Lady Ygret prevented you from informing His Highness?”

Apple sniffled and nodded.

“Yes. She said it wasn’t uncommon for maids with improper conduct to disappear.”

Apple added resentfully.

“Lady Ygret didn’t take it seriously. When she said that, we couldn’t keep bothering the head head maid of the castle…… but, but people keep disappearing. Sob.”

I had heard this story before too. That it was common for young people to secretly leave for the city because the North was so harsh.

“I’ll meet with Lady Ygret. I need to ask why she hid this matter from me and His Highness.”

“But Lady Ygret is……”

Lady Ygret and I originally had an appointment scheduled.

However, because I had rushed to the Ash Tree Forest in a hurry, and then spent the next day nursing Rose, Lady Ygret had been stood up for two consecutive days.

“She seemed upset after waiting for you all day.”

“I am her superior. If I call, Lady Ygret comes, and if I change my mind and decide not to go, that’s that. She can’t be upset about such things.”

I stated firmly.

* * *

At that moment, Lady Ygret was looking into a mirror in her room.

‘The skin around my eyes is getting dry again.’

No one knew her actual age. The dignified lady in the mirror appeared to be only in her thirties or forties.

After marrying a relative of the Inkheart family, the people of the North only vaguely knew that Lady Ygret had come from somewhere far away.

‘Who would see me as my true age.’

Even she herself was beginning to forget her real age. How much money and cosmetics she had invested to maintain this youthfulness.

‘Maintaining beauty is such a high-maintenance task.’

But at the same time, it was addictively worthwhile. When she looked at her face in the mirror, she felt she could do anything, even more than this. That’s how satisfied she was.

“Lady Ygret, Madam Anette wishes to see you.”

“This is outrageous. Wasn’t it enough that she kept me waiting that day?”

Lady Ygret’s voice was tinged with irritation at the maid’s words.

“Madam Anette said we should understand each other’s unavoidable circumstances.”

“How arrogant! Anyone would think she was born the lady of this castle!”

Bang! Lady Ygret put down the mirror roughly and took a harsh deep breath. This behavior was unlike the gentle and kind Lady Ygret who was always warm even to her subordinates.

“Fine. Since the Madam calls, what can I do? I must meet her as she wishes. However, tell her to come herself. Surely she wouldn’t be unwilling to do that much?”