Chapter 32
Chapter 32
Walking Misfortune
Around the time the season changed its clothes, I no longer needed the cast.
“...Are you really going out starting today?”
Seeing me fully dressed to leave, Camellia asked with a restless expression. In her hands, she held the outerwear I was about to put on.
“Yeah. I’m just going to loosen up a bit, think of it as rehab.”
“But still… wouldn’t it be better to rest a few more days? Your bones aren’t even fully healed yet. Do you really have to go do rough labor?”
Her eyes were filled with worry.
I understood why she was so anxious, afraid I might push myself too hard and come back injured again, but I thought differently.
“Even if I’m getting better, if I just lie in bed all the time, the muscles I still have will disappear. You need to move your body a bit for recovery to go faster. I’ll earn some money while I’m at it, and get rehab done too. Killing two birds with one stone.”
“But……”
“I know my body better than anyone. I’m not going somewhere brutal like a construction site. I’ll pick something easy even if it pays less, so don’t worry.”
“……”
At my firm words, Camellia reluctantly nodded.
I wasn’t just saying that to reassure her.
Even I knew that if I jumped straight into hardcore labor like carrying bricks at a construction site with Erica, my body would fall apart again before I even got any rehab done.
So the “optimal rehab course” I chose was…
A place filled with the stench of sweat, dirt, and the dull odor of exhausted men.
“Hey! Three guys for hauling at the construction site!”
“Me! Me!!”
“I’ll go, foreman!!”
“Good, you, you, and the big guy—come with me! Next! Four guys to shave wood and breathe in sawdust all day at the workshop!!”
At the booming voice tearing through the early morning air, workers rushed forward in droves.
A scene that had nothing romantic about a fantasy world—just a blunt, modern-looking labor market.
With my hands behind my back, I leaned lazily against the wall, waiting for a sweet job to fall into my lap.
Those kinds of hardcore physical jobs weren’t for me right now anyway.
After standing there for a while, watching people get picked one by one—
“Next! Cleaning the outer walls and chimneys of a noble estate in the central district! Looking for five meticulous workers!”
A noble estate, huh.
If the owner was picky, it might be mentally exhausting, but compared to woodworking or carrying bricks, it required far less strength.
This was exactly the kind of perfect rehab job I had been waiting for.
“Me!!”
Without hesitation, I raised my hand high, and luckily managed to join the group of five leaving the hiring place.
A lavish mansion in the central district, quite far from the slums.
We had just arrived, received instructions, and were about to start preparing for the wall cleaning when the heavy doors of the mansion opened and someone walked toward us.
“Oh my, why are you all just standing there? If you came to work, start cleaning at once!”
A dress overflowing with frills.
A luxurious fan covering half her face.
And a nose held so high it seemed to reach the sky.
She was the perfect stereotype of an “arrogant noble lady” straight out of a subculture story.
Our employer for the day looked over us workers from head to toe like we were insects, letting out a scoff.
Wow… I can’t believe I’m seeing someone actually talk like a noble lady in real life.
Suppressing a laugh, I quietly picked up the cleaning tools.
Come to think of it, there were actually two former noble ladies in my own house.
Camellia.
If you judged by looks alone, she had that elegant, classical noble lady aura. But seeing her every day in worn clothes and a simple apron, speaking softly and kindly, she felt more like an ordinary housewife now.
Of course, sometimes the light would vanish from her eyes and that menhera side of her would surface, sending chills down my spine…
Anyway, the current Camellia didn’t have even a trace of that typical “high-and-mighty noble lady” vibe.
Erica.
She always claimed to be a precious noble lady of a margrave family, but judging by her behavior and appetite… she felt more like the youngest daughter of a barbarian tribal chief from the frontier.
There was nothing about her that resembled a proper noble.
I had met nobles a few times since coming to this world, but seeing such a textbook example up close, constantly speaking in that refined noble tone, was a strangely fascinating experience.
Maybe that’s why I found myself sneaking glances at her while holding a mop.
“You there, vulgar commoner! Why do you keep glancing around and grinning like that? If you slack off instead of focusing on your work, I’ll cut your pay in half today!”
Ugh…
I had been watching her like she was some high-quality cosplay, and almost ended up offending the employer who held my precious wages.
I immediately lowered my gaze and began scrubbing the filthy wall like my life depended on it.
While I was busy cleaning—
A strangely familiar, greasy, unpleasant voice echoed from the front gate of the mansion.
“Oh! Oh my! Beautiful Lady Freesia! Even today, your radiant beauty makes the very sun in the sky jealous!”
I stopped cleaning and subtly turned my head.
“Oh my, isn’t that Baron Drake? What brings you here so suddenly…?”
“Ha ha ha! I was merely passing by, when from afar I saw a brilliance outshining the sun itself! Drawn in as if enchanted, I came closer… ah, and of course, it was you, Lady Freesia. Your dazzling presence has bound my steps here, so please forgive this rudeness as the fault of your flawless beauty.”
…Baron Drake?
That trash I once had to face to protect Camellia.
The very same noble who had ruined my mood from the first impression.
Now he was standing there in front of a beautiful woman, grinning foolishly like a dog with a motor attached to its tail, pouring out shameless flattery.
It was a completely different sight from the arrogant, sinister, and sadistic Drake I had seen in front of Camellia.
I almost dropped the bucket I was holding.
What the hell, why is that bastard here of all places.
Startled, I quickly lowered my head.
I pressed myself against the wall as much as possible, desperately hiding my face behind cleaning tools.
If he saw me and went, “Huh? Aren’t you that insolent commoner who dared offend me before?”—
then my simple plan of quietly earning my pay while doing rehab would shatter, and I’d get dragged into something incredibly troublesome.
Don’t look. Don’t look. I am a wall right now…
Maybe my desperate telepathy worked. Fortunately, Baron Drake’s gaze never turned toward me.
He only smiled stickily at Lady Freesia, whispering something to her.
He did glance briefly at the workers, but it seemed someone like him, a noble arrogant to the bone, didn’t even register the faces of lowly laborers covered in dust.
To him, we weren’t even worth noticing—just dust itself.
“By the way, why is the estate so busy this early in the morning?”
“Ah, we are expecting a distinguished guest the day after tomorrow. I called in some outside workers to carry out a full cleaning.”
“My, my. I would hate for even a speck of dust from such lowly people to touch your delicate body. Come, you should go inside. Leave supervising the workers to your servants.”
Drake naturally offered his arm.
Lady Freesia tilted her head slightly behind her fan, then gently placed her hand on his arm.
As they slowly moved out of sight—
I finally let out a deep breath and relaxed my stiff shoulders.
Whether that disgusting bastard succeeded or failed in his flirting had nothing to do with me.
Whether those two nobles whispered sweet nothings or did whatever inside the mansion—it had nothing to do with me either.
I wasn’t here to dedicate my life as a permanent employee. I was just a day laborer who would take today’s pay and leave.
Let’s stay out of it. Quietly, like I don’t exist. Work like dust, get paid, and go home.
“Ah, right. Lady Freesia. Have you perhaps heard the recent rumors about the ‘Valentine’ family?”
My hand, moving mechanically as I scrubbed the wall, froze midair.
The Valentine family?
I’ve heard that name a lot somewhere.
Valentine… Valentine…
“Ah.”
The hand that wouldn’t let go of my coat, her face full of worry because I was going out before fully recovering.
Even until the door closed, she couldn’t take her eyes off me as she saw me off.
My prized asset.
Camellia Valentine.