Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Judith had never really thought of the Master as a man before.
How could she? She didn't know his face or even his real voice. Whatever magic item he used made the sound of it fade from her memory after a while, and he never wore so much as a trace of cologne.
There had simply never been much about him for her senses to latch on to. And yet...
'He has a good build.'
Walking this close beside him in the darkness, she could feel the warmth of his body and the firm muscles beneath his clothes.
Judith swallowed.
'...No, seriously. He has a really good body.'
She had always known he was tall, but she had never realized just how broad and solidly built he was.
Then again, he usually hid himself beneath a loose black hooded cloak that concealed nearly everything about his figure.
'He must train a lot...'
For once, Judith was grateful for the darkness. If there had been any light, she was certain her face would have betrayed her.
Being pressed so close to him made her painfully aware that she was alone with a man.
Her heart thudded in her chest. It was an unfamiliar feeling; Judith had spent most of her life worrying about money and survival, with little room left for romance.
The Master didn't seem entirely unaffected either. His breathing was quieter than usual, restrained in a way that sounded almost tense.
'Now I'm even paying attention to how he's breathing. I should make sure I'm not breathing too loudly either.'
She wasn't sure when the awkward tension had begun, but neither of them said another word. They simply continued through the darkness, holding tightly to each other as they walked.
The passage twisted endlessly, turning this way and that through complete darkness.
Judith quickly decided there was no chance she could ever find her way back alone. If anything, she was impressed the Master could remember such a ridiculous route.
"We're here."
Just as her legs were beginning to ache, the Master spoke in a low, hoarse whisper.
"We're almost at Karl's wardrobe."
Judith's eyes widened. They were already inside the Meius ducal residence? She hadn't even noticed when they had crossed beneath the mansion, and she certainly hadn't expected the hidden passage to connect so directly to its interior.
Still holding her hand, the Master suddenly asked,
"Are you really all right with having a marriage to Ekian Meius on your record?"
"Hm?"
"You're a noblewoman, Judith. Nobles don't have the same freedom to remarry as commoners. Once you've been divorced, finding a respectable noble husband will become much harder."
Judith had already told him several times that she didn't care, yet he still didn't seem convinced.
After a moment, she answered quietly, "Well... I'm not sure you'll understand, but..."
She had spent plenty of time alone with the Master before, but this felt different. For once, they weren't speaking as client and information broker, but simply as two people.
"No one ever really taught me that nobles were different from commoners, or that there was some special dignity I was supposed to preserve. I suppose most noble children learn those things from their parents, but mine never cared enough to teach me."
"......"
"My father especially should have taught me about the Aillan barony and its history. Instead, he was almost never home. I can count on one hand the number of times I clearly remember seeing his face."
Judith's voice remained calm as she spoke of her past.
"So when people talk about finding a 'good noble husband,' I don't really understand what they mean. Both of my parents were nobles, but their marriage is the last thing I'd ever want to imitate. In the end, my mother ran away with a servant."
Her mother surfaced in Judith's memories. She had almost always been beside a handsome brown-haired servant.
Whenever the two were together, her mother looked genuinely happy. Judith had watched them from a distance, feeling as though the woman were a stranger rather than her own mother.
She had wanted to approach her countless times simply because she hated being alone. But whenever she saw the happiness her mother shared with that servant, Judith instinctively knew there was no place for her inside it. And from afar, she always found herself wondering the same thing.
If her mother had been born a commoner, perhaps she could simply have married that servant and lived happily with him. If that was the life she truly wanted, why hadn't she found the courage to choose it before marrying Judith's father?
In the end, her mother only fled after her noble husband died and left behind a mountain of debt.
Watching her mother's happiness and misery from the outside had taught Judith one thing very clearly: she never wanted to live the same way.
"I wouldn't mind marrying a commoner. As long as he's responsible, handsome, and willing to take care of his family, that's enough for me."
"...You really wouldn't mind?"
"No. My father was a noble, and if being noble means being anything like him, I'd rather marry outside the aristocracy. All I inherited from him was debt and an empty title. If I'd had the choice, I wouldn't have wanted to be born his daughter at all."
Of course, if she had been born into a wealthy and powerful noble family, she might have felt differently. But to Judith, the hollow shell of the Aillan barony had never been worth much.
Most nobles treated the preservation of their family's honor and legacy as something sacred.
Judith, however, was the sole heir to a barony she had never truly felt belonged to her. Whenever she thought about the title, she felt strangely untethered, as though the Aillan name were nothing more than an obligation someone else had left behind.
Remembering the original story had only reinforced that feeling.
Commoners faced far less stigma over divorce and remarriage. With that in mind, Judith saw little reason to worry about having a divorce on her record.
Their conversation ended when the Master suddenly stopped. "We're here," he whispered.
In the pitch darkness, he guided Judith's hand toward something solid and tapped lightly. A thin line of light soon appeared through a narrow crack.
"We're inside the wardrobe."
As if to prove it, the boy's clothes hanging above them swayed faintly.
"From here, you should be able to see and hear what's happening in the room."
The Master indicated the narrow gap between the wardrobe doors. Without needing any further explanation, Judith leaned toward it—and the Master did the same.
Through the crack, they saw a young blond-haired, blue-eyed boy sitting quietly with a teddy bear in his arms.
Judith's eyes widened.
'Oh my. He's adorable!'
The little villain had not yet grown into the obsessive, tormented man who would cling desperately to the heroine. Right now, he was simply a cute eight-year-old boy.
With his round cheeks, shining blond hair, and clear blue eyes, he looked like a little prince from a fairy tale.
"He's cute," Judith murmured without thinking.
The Master nodded beside her. "He is, isn't he?"
"Yes. He's incredibly cute."
Judith could understand why Ekian had been so fond of his younger brother. Karl sat quietly reading, his teddy bear clutched against him.
For a while, they simply watched the boy together. But there was only one narrow crack to look through, leaving their bodies pressed close together.
Judith cleared her throat and whispered, "Master, nothing's happening yet. Why don't we take a break?"
"A break?"
"Why don't you sit in the corner of the wardrobe and rest for a bit? We don't both need to keep watching at the same time."
"I don't need to rest. If you're tired, you should."
"But if I move, I won't be able to see Karl from the corner. I can barely see him from here as it is..."
"...So what you're really saying is that being this close to me is uncomfortable, and you want me to move?"
"Exactly."
"......"
The Master gave a disbelieving scoff.
Judith pressed on shamelessly. "You're so broad that being squeezed this close to you is uncomfortable."
"I'm uncomfortable too."
"What are you talking about? I'm much smaller than you. Even if I move a little, there's still plenty of room..."
"Stop fidgeting. I said I'm uncomfortable too."
"You're so big, Master, you can barely move at all."
"There are kinder ways to describe someone's build, you know. Did you have to call me big? And stop moving."
Despite their whispered bickering, neither of them stepped away from the crack. Once they had started arguing, Judith grew stubborn and refused to surrender her spot.
"I'm barely moving. What's the problem?"
"Even so, with us this close... and you moving around like that..."
The Master's words abruptly trailed off. His breath caught, the sudden change in his breathing making Judith freeze as well.
'We really are... very close, aren't we...?'
His arms were almost wrapped around her now, hemming her in from both sides. All at once, Judith became painfully conscious of the charged silence between them—and of her own heartbeat pounding in her ears.
"Sigh."
The Master released a quiet breath.