Chapter 47
“My Lord.”
As soon as we exited the castle tower, a waiting official approached. Behind him, a carriage stood ready.
“Is everything prepared?”
When Calix Krauvel asked, the official bowed his head.
“Everything has been prepared.”
“Good. Sir Roheim.”
“Understood.”
Noah Roheim approached me and took the luggage bag I was carrying.
“You can take that carriage home, Miss Aileen.”
“No, it’s alright. I can just take a stagecoach.”
“You have luggage, and you must be tired from the long trip. Take the carriage and go comfortably.”
As he spoke, he loaded my luggage into the carriage trunk.
With no real way to refuse, I climbed into the carriage.
The carriage quickly left the Lord’s Castle.
Since I had nothing particular to do on the way home, I was checking my Sub Quests when I suddenly looked out the window.
“What?”
The carriage was heading in a completely different direction from the city gate.
“Excuse me, I think you may have taken the wrong road.”
I opened the small window connected to the driver’s seat and spoke.
The driver rustled around as if checking something and then answered.
“This is the address that the aide gave me.”
“What? What address did Sir Roheim give you?”
“He instructed me not to say until we arrive at the destination.”
What kind of situation was this?
While I blinked in confusion, the carriage continued moving and soon stopped in front of a fairly neat wooden house.
After stepping out of the carriage, I looked around.
This is District 7.
It wasn’t wealthy, but it wasn’t poor either.
It was exactly the sort of district where average commoners lived.
Why did they bring me here?
He told me to take the carriage home, so why here?
While I kept looking around in confusion, the driver handed me a note.
“Sir Roheim told me to give this to you once we arrived.”
I opened the note immediately.
[The Lord has granted Miss Aileen a new residence for her convenience. You may live here from now on.]
“…What?”
What kind of unwanted favor was this?
“Well then, I’ll be on my way, miss.”
While I stood there staring blankly at the note, the carriage departed.
Left alone, I looked up at the wooden house.
It was a two-story house, small and neat.
It looked like the best house in the neighborhood.
Naturally it was far better than Tabin’s house in the hunter village.
But what does that matter? I don’t want to live here.
More precisely, I didn’t want to become indebted to Calix Krauvel.
More than anything, I knew that favors like this were never given without a price.
“Excuse me, where can I catch the stagecoach to the city gate?”
Because of that, I didn’t even open the arched front gate of the house.
Instead, I headed back toward the house where I had originally been living.
“Miss Aileen, the Lord is calling for you.”
The next day, the moment I arrived at work, I received a summons from the Lord.
I had something to say to him anyway, so I went straight to the Lord’s office.
Perhaps because he had just returned after a long absence, a mountain of documents was piled on his desk.
“Where did you come from this morning?”
Calix Krauvel asked without taking his eyes off the papers.
“From my house in the hunter village.”
Only then did he look at me.
His gaze clearly showed displeasure, and I unconsciously clasped my hands tightly together.
“I appreciate your consideration, but I would like to decline that favor.”
I spoke as politely as possible.
“Why?”
Calix Krauvel leaned crookedly against the back of his chair.
“The house I gave you is better than the one in the hunter village.”
That was true.
“It would also make commuting much easier.”
That was also correct.
From the hunter village, commuting took over two hours.
From District 7, it would take only about one hour.
“Even so, I’m more comfortable in the house where I’ve been living. And I need to live with my father.”
“Then have your father move to that house.”
“That won’t work. I can’t take away my father’s livelihood for my own convenience.”
The hunter village was Tabin’s lifelong home.
Leaving it wouldn’t simply mean losing his job—it would mean losing his entire life.
“So I will continue living in the house where I’ve been staying.”
“Do as you wish.”
I had expected him to insist that I must live in that house.
Instead he agreed so easily that it left me confused for a different reason.
“But if you ever need it, let me know. The house will remain empty.”
Even continuing to consider my convenience until the end was surprising.
“Do you have anything else to say?”
“No. I don’t.”
Calix Krauvel waved his hand dismissively, telling me to leave.
What was that? I worried for nothing.
There was no reason for him to force me to live there anyway.
Feeling a deep sense of relief, I returned to the Urban Development Department office.
“Oh, Miss Aileen! Where did you go? We’ve been looking for you.”
“About this triangular roof blueprint—will it work if we follow it like this? Should we make a scale model?”
“We’re planning to build a drainage path in District 10. Could you check the map to see if this route is correct?”
Since it had been ten days since I last came to work, the employees immediately began asking questions.
I was the only one who really understood drainage paths and triangular roofs, so it couldn’t be helped.
“Of course you should make a scale model and test it first. And the drainage path in District 10 should follow this road…”
While answering the endless questions and dealing with the backlog of work, I was extremely busy.
Then the Lord’s aide came in carrying a document.
“What is this?”
“This is an assignment the Lord has given to Miss Aileen.”
“To me?”
I checked the document he handed me.
[Emergency Survey of Buildings and Streets Across Belheim.]
“Doesn’t this kind of survey normally fall under the district administrators?”
No matter how I looked at it, it wasn’t work meant for me.
And it certainly wasn’t something one person could handle.
When I asked about it, the aide shrugged.
“I don’t know the exact circumstances, but the Lord specifically instructed that Miss Aileen must conduct the survey personally without help from other employees.”
Personally.
“The deadline is this week.”
And the time limit was tight.
Anyone can see this is meant to make things difficult for me.
Back when I was Han Seona, I had seen coworkers and managers pile excessive work onto subordinates they disliked until they broke under the pressure.
I just never expected to be the one on the receiving end.
The reason was probably because I refused the house.
Now that I thought about it, he had agreed too easily.
So this was the real move.
And that comment about telling him if I ever needed the house… this is why.
I had wondered why he was suddenly being considerate.
Turns out there was a reason.
What’s the point of being handsome when his personality is so petty and underhanded?
Clicking my tongue inwardly, I looked through the documents again.
No matter how I looked at it, finishing everything alone within a week was impossible.
Then I’ll just get help from someone else.
He said I couldn’t receive help from other employees, but he never said I couldn’t get help from other people.
Of course what Calix Krauvel wanted was for me to give up and accept his offer.
But I had no intention of doing that.
Let’s see who wins.
I didn’t like fighting.
But I had no intention of backing down from a fight someone brought to me.
And I hated losing even more.
With that determination, I stared at the documents.
“Theo!”
“Huh? Big sister?”
Theo, who had been playing marbles with other children in the alley, ran over as soon as he saw me.
“What brings you here?”
“I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor for me?”
Theo tilted his head but looked at me with eager eyes.
“Before that, I need to confirm something. You’re friends with kids from other districts too, right?”
“Of course.”
Theo placed his hands on his waist proudly.
“I know most kids from District 6 to District 10.”
“Perfect.”
He was exactly the kind of person I needed for this job.
“Then can you give these to the kids who act as leaders in each district—like you—and bring back their parents’ answers?”
I handed Theo the survey sheets.
The children who had been playing nearby gathered around and looked at them curiously.
“What are these?”
“It’s a survey to check whether the streets and buildings are in good condition before we build the drainage paths.”
I had stayed up the entire night preparing them.
“Tell them to write down even the smallest inconvenience.”
“Didn’t we do something similar before? And it doesn’t seem like this should be your job…”
“Well, somehow it ended up being my responsibility.”
I couldn’t exactly say that the damned Lord had ordered it, so I dodged the question.
“If you do a good job, I’ll give you candy.”
At the word candy, Theo and the other children’s eyes sparkled.
“Leave it to me, big sister.”
Theo pounded his chest confidently.