Chapter 103
"......How did you know?"
Pepper asked in a highly guarded tone. The low voice carrying the dignity of a Sword Expert could have been quite a threat, but honestly, to my eyes, he looked like a cat with its fur all bristled up.
I shrugged.
"Frankly, with you staring at me so intensely the whole time, how could I not notice?"
The light in those smoldering hazel eyes was far from friendly. A strange mix of wariness, suspicion, and doubt. Someone as hypersensitive to hostility as me could never miss it.
"You've always looked at me like you had a lot to say, so is today the day you're finally going to spill it all?"
Pepper Ellerbayne would glare at me with those eyes every time I met with Diego. They were so intense and insolent, I could've accused him of defamation just for that look.
Finally escaping those eyes, huh.
I smirked as I stared back at Pepper. Maybe embarrassed at being caught, he clenched his lips and glared at me fiercely. As always, what an insolent gaze.
I know what kind of person Pepper is, so it doesn't faze me...... but he's so ridiculously upright.
That's right—Pepper Ellerbayne was the type who couldn't hide anything. He could've worn a fake smile like most nobles and kept his true feelings bottled up, but he was too honest for even that. When he suspected something, it showed plain as day on his face.
And his face doesn't help matters.
His sharply upturned eyes looked more feral than sensitive. Plus, his default expression was one that could easily be mistaken for a glare. No wonder he got misunderstood everywhere he went.
But...... it's not a bad thing.
Even so, I gave Pepper high marks. Even if he looked at me with disdain. My past self might not have liked him, but the current me appreciated him as one swordsman to another. Honesty, uprightness, integrity—these were virtues I held dear in a swordsman.
"......Then I'll be direct."
Even now.
Who dares speak to the lady of House Crisis like that? Anyone who valued their head would watch every word around me, but Pepper showed no hesitation.
I gazed into his ever-fervently burning eyes and let out a chuckle.
"Go ahead. I'm listening, so speak your mind. Be direct."
"Frankly, I don't trust you, my lady."
I let out a hollow laugh at Pepper, who lobbed a bombshell straight at me like it was nothing. His hazel eyes stared right at me, sharp with unwavering caution—no trace of a lie.
I'd already predicted he didn't trust me, so it wasn't surprising. I could even guess the reasons. Still, for courtesy's sake, I tilted my head.
"Is that so? Why not?"
"Your origins are unclear, aren't they? You've gotten awfully close to His Highness the Crown Prince, who's so secretive and wary. It's highly suspicious. And now you're even the Second Prince's teacher? You might be the Empress's lackey for all we know."
Does this guy seriously not fear me at all?
I let out another hollow laugh. From my commoner origins to accusations of being the Empress's puppet—Pepper spoke like death held no terror for him.
But I don't hate him for it.
Part of it was my mercenary life dulling me to insults, but more than that, Pepper wasn't sneering. He was just bluntly, honestly stating his opinion.
I pondered without letting any displeasure show on my face. Sure enough, Pepper didn't know I'd saved Diego from assassins, so he had no idea why we'd grown close. I must look plenty suspicious to him.
"In short, you're worried I might harm His Highness, so keep your distance, right?"
That had to be it. Pepper's loyalty to Diego was blind, and all his attention was fixed on Diego's safety. It felt oddly like being scolded by in-laws to stay away from their son.
"Exactly. You're too close to His Highness the Crown Prince. He's grown too fond of you. What if you slipped poison into his drink? How heartbroken would he be?"
That brutally straightforward mouth of his...... probably incurable.
I considered calling out that dangerous mouth for daring to accuse a duke's daughter of assassinating royalty, but held back. It wouldn't change anything.
Diego did say he's nearly gotten himself fired more than once for talking like that to him.
If pointing it out would've fixed it, Diego wouldn't complain about wanting to sew Pepper's mouth shut. If Pepper met an untimely end, it'd probably be because of that loose tongue. I tilted my head.
"How did you end up serving His Highness the Crown Prince?"
My question came out of nowhere. Pepper furrowed his brow.
"Why do you ask?"
"Just curious. No backtalk—tell me."
Pepper's fanatical loyalty to Diego had been mentioned countless times in the original story. But why he'd become so blindly devoted was never explained, and I'd always wondered.
Pepper looked suspicious but opened his mouth anyway.
"......You probably know this already. That I'm the bastard son of Count Ellerbayne."
It was common knowledge in high society, so I nodded silently. He continued.
"I trained desperately with the sword and became a Sword Expert, but as a bastard, there weren't many places I could go. The Imperial Knights? A pipe dream. It was His Highness Diego—who wasn't yet Crown Prince, just First Prince at the time—who took in a wandering wretch like me."
Pepper's hazel eyes sparkled with nostalgia. His face, gazing into space, brimmed with utter devotion.
"Now that he's Crown Prince, his security is tighter...... but back when he was First Prince, he was terribly vulnerable. Handling the assassins who came every day was overwhelming. Without those notes that arrived daily, His Highness and I would've both been dead."
"Notes?"
I furrowed my brow at the sudden word popping up as I listened intently to his story.
Pepper made an oh crap face and clamped his mouth shut, glancing at me warily while rolling his eyes.
Looks like that's something he shouldn't mention.
I was curious about the notes that saved Diego, but I didn't want to put Pepper in a tough spot. I nodded for him to continue.
"Anyway. Truth be told, I wasn't thrilled about being His Highness's guard back then. It was grueling work. What changed my mind was the day he solved a test from His Majesty the Emperor."
"A test from His Majesty?"
"Yes. His Majesty often gives His Highness baffling problems to judge his character."
Of course. With that man's temperament......
I could easily picture Helios I casually bringing out magic beast blood during tea time with a duke's daughter.
"That day, His Majesty posed an excessively cruel one. The test that arrived from him read: 'If you are truly loyal to me, kill your closest shadow and offer it to me.'"
"Hah."
I let out a hollow laugh. Definitely too much.
Shadows have always meant a noble's guard knight.
The meaning was clear: kill his closest shadow—Pepper—and offer him up. The Emperor had ordered Diego to kill Pepper.
"I was prepared to die that day. Guarding royalty is dangerous; I knew my life would be short from the start."
"......And?"
Pepper spoke so matter-of-factly, it was hard to believe he was talking about nearly dying. Instead, he urged me on, as if I were the heavy-hearted one.
"Do you know this?"
"Hm?"
"There's a faint scar on His Highness's left pinky finger."
"That...... why bring it up suddenly?"
I blinked in confusion. I knew about it—I'd seen Diego's hands plenty of times. A faint groove on the tip of his left pinky. It was subtle, but clear to my eyes, and I'd even asked how it happened once.
It was...... yeah, a little accident.
His vague answer had seemed odd at the time.
"No way......"
"I offered my sword to His Highness the Crown Prince. And bared my neck. He took the sword without hesitation, then......"
"Cut off his own pinky?"
Pepper nodded silently at my shocked question.
"He said shadows could die a hundred times for His Majesty, but he couldn't bear His Majesty doubting his loyalty...... He wrote a letter, attached his finger, and sent it to the Emperor's palace."
What a pair of lunatics, father and son......
I grimaced in disgust. Helios I probably hadn't meant it seriously. He was mischievous, but not one to casually take lives. Diego knew that and still cut off his own finger—a mad act.
"The palace must've been in chaos."
"Yes. A stunned His Majesty the Emperor came himself with the High Priest. That's when I first learned he could curse like that."
Even a madman like Helios I must've been floored. Half-joking test, and his son sends back a severed finger. Just hearing it gave me a headache; I groaned.
"The finger reattached perfectly thanks to the High Priest's healing, and once things settled, I asked His Highness why he'd gone that far when killing me would've been simpler."
Pepper's eyes, gazing at the sky, had darkened deeply. The bastard son of House Ellerbayne, who'd become Diego's guard expecting to be used as a tool.
"This is what His Highness said: No matter the trigger, once you became mine, I would never let you die in vain. I'd repay your loyalty by showing you a better world."
His voice thickened with emotion. So very Diego.
"That day, I resolved myself. I swore to make him Emperor. That he alone was my sun."
His resolute eyes turned to me. Those seemingly lifeless eyes lit up only when speaking of Diego. I could understand why Pepper's loyalty was so brutally blind.
"I see."
"As His Highness's shadow, I resolved to cut out anything that could harm him."
His eyes flashed.
"That's why I won't leave a suspicious lady like you alone."
Pepper lowered his voice threateningly.
Hmm......
I felt like a baby raccoon being menaced.