Episode 185
Right after I escaped from the Great Temple, I had been to the harbor to stow away.
However, back then, there weren’t as many people as there are now.
Above all, there weren’t just “many” people at the harbor right now.
There were many specifically chosen high-ranking nobles.
As a maid of a ducal house, I had no choice but to memorize all the coats of arms of high-ranking noble families, and no matter which way I turned my head, familiar emblems filled my field of vision.
Let’s see. The Monlepe ducal house is over there, and that over there is the Starafit ducal house.
Is that the Skya marquessate over there? Gasp, is that the Sunrise ducal house?
“What is all this about?”
It seems like some member of the Imperial family is coming.
At times like this, one must be extra careful. Because if you get caught up in a pointless dispute, your life could be over.
I cautiously squeezed myself into a corner, avoiding people.
Just then, since there was one more woman squeezed into the corner with her hood pulled down, I pretended to know her.
“Hello? Which family’s maid are you?”
Then, the woman scanned me from top to bottom as if she were hearing something incredibly bizarre, and then abruptly turned her head away.
She was a cat-like beauty with navy hair and black eyes, but her personality is as nasty as her looks.
Bo-o-o-o-o—
Just then, a ship’s horn echoed from afar.
Finally, will I be able to see the Duke of Monlepe’s ‘important guest’?
If I’m lucky, I might even see a member of the Imperial family as well!
For your information, among the Imperial family, I like Imperial Crown Princess Eokaste the most.
Even though I’ve never seen her, my hands fluttered automatically from the fluttering in my heart.
But then, I accidentally hit the arm of the woman next to me.
Hey, stop glaring.
You’re going to put a hole in my face.
Fortunately, thanks to the knights’ commanders of each ducal house shouting orders in a loud voice, I was able to avoid the situation of having a hole put in my face.
“Entire army!”
Clang!
My goodness, it was so cool to see them all lining up and striking the ground with their scabbards in unison with the command.
I almost forgot why I came here and spent the whole time just looking at the knights!
By the time I snapped out of it, people were already disembarking from the ship.
Just who could it be?
The person appearing while receiving the hospitality of all those people in one body?
“Oh my, did you prepare all this just because of me? Hoho, I told you that you didn’t have to go this far.”
It was none other than the young lady of the Sunrise ducal house!
I was able to recognize her quickly because I had seen her from a distance once before thanks to my cousin.
But it’s strange.
Was the young lady of the Sunrise ducal house a person of such high prestige?
I think I heard my cousin badmouthing her, saying her reputation was the absolute worst among all the successive young ladies of the ducal house.
“Um, Sister. It’s not that……”
The Duke of Sunrise approached and whispered into the young lady’s ear.
I don’t know what he said, but it must certainly be something she didn’t want to hear.
Because the young lady’s face turned bright red like a well-ripened tomato. How pitiful.
It was then.
“Hmm……. Still the same.”
The woman who had been squeezed into the corner with me said something meaningless filled with relief while looking at one spot, and then she stood up abruptly.
Then she left as if she had no more business here.
What, what. Just what did you see to say something like that!
I reflexively looked at the place the woman had been looking. And I was startled.
Because a black-haired woman who had the exact same image as Lady Erzébet and the lizard statue was there!
Judging by the fact that the Duke of Monlepe was moving, there is no doubt that the Duke’s important guest is that lady.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
The knights of Skya and Starafit were also preparing to welcome the lady!
It was truly a magnificent sight.
All the passersby stopped in their tracks and turned toward her.
However, only countless question marks floated in my head.
What?
What is it?
Just who is that lady?
She definitely didn’t seem to be a member of the Imperial family.
I heard that all members of the Imperial family have silver hair, and I heard that Her Highness the Imperial Crown Princess, who is the only one without silver hair, has a sharp impression.
If so, then who could it be?
Out of curiosity, I moved my feet without realizing it. I came out of the corner and moved near the lady.
If I go just a little closer, I might be able to overhear what people are saying!
However, while peeking here and there, I ended up dropping the towel that was inside my pocket.
No! Do you know how much that costs!
In the ducal house, even a towel used for wiping flower pots is worth about 0.3 Amys!
I ran hard, following the fluttering towel as it was being kicked here and there.
I pushed through the crowd and squeezed into the gap, groaning.
At that moment, I wasn’t even afraid of the Monlepe knights. I was more afraid of my debt increasing because I lost a towel.
How far did I go following the towel?
Suddenly, it felt like the crowd around me significantly thinned out, and then I saw a pretty, small shoe stepping on my precious towel.
Who is it!
Who dares to leave a pitch-black footprint on my white and soft towel!
I narrowed my eyes and straightened my waist.
And then I saw it.
The Duke of Monlepe and the lady looking at me with startled eyes.
That’s right, I was blocking the path of the Duke of Monlepe and the lady…….
The countless eyes felt from all directions gave me goosebumps.
Was today not the day to earn a bonus through spy work, but the day my head and body would be separated from each other?
Sniff, sniff. Goodbye, my life.
It was short, but it was fun in its own way.
Just as I was preparing myself mentally for the tragedy that was about to strike…….
The lady, who checked the area below, opened her mouth.
“Oh, sorry.”
And she personally bent her body and picked up the towel for me.
……What is this?
By any chance, have my head and body already been separated?
If not for that, there’s no way someone receiving hospitality from such high-ranking people would apologize to me and even personally pick up a towel for me…….
By the time I snapped out of it, I was surrounded by the knights of the Monlepe ducal house while clutching the towel tightly.
The knights whispered about why a maid was here, but it didn’t enter my ears at all.
Only the pink eyes of the lady I had just seen were filled in my head.
If there is an angel in the world, wouldn’t it be her?
I think I knew why that lady was the Duke of Monlepe’s important guest, and why other high-ranking nobles had come to welcome the lady.
After much agonizing, I decided not to tell my cousin about the lady.
Who knows what that uncle whose muscles are ignorantly large would do to a delicate lady!
The gold I could have gained from spy work shimmered before my eyes like a mirage, emitting a dazzling light, but in the world, there are times when there are things more important than money.
While doing so, one interesting thought came to mind.
What if the lizard at the training ground, Lady Erzébet, and the lady I just saw were actually all the same being?
16 years ago from now, a baby lizard happens to meet the Duke of Monlepe.
After helping the Duke and saving the ducal house, it leaves because it can no longer stay by his side, then appears in the form of Lady Erzébet.
After that, some circumstances arise again and it stands by the Duke’s side in its current form…….
I know it’s a delusion, but the thought that once occurred kept branching out and expanding.
Above all, the images of the three people—no, the two people and one animal—are so identical!
Since saving just one ducal house isn’t fun, I should put the rest of the ducal families in crisis together and then save them.
Since the scale of just a family seems a bit small, since I’m saving them anyway, shall I develop the crisis to the entire Empire and save it?
Since a lizard lacks impact anyway, if I set a majestic animal that is similar to a lizard as the lady’s true form……
In an instant, one story was completed in my head.
I resolved to write this story as soon as I returned to the ducal house!
This time, I’ll wrap it up tightly inside a drawer so that absolutely no one can find it.
It will surely be a very interesting story, right?
Oh, you’re asking what the title of this story is?
The title is…….
‘Baby Dragon Saves the Ducal House.’
<Baby Dragon Saves the Ducal House Main Story END.>
