Chapter 10
Roshanne had spent her entire life tiptoeing around Duke Railaten. Of course, this was all memories seen from Roshanne’s perspective, so it was one-sided.
But it was true that Duke Railaten and Roshanne didn’t get along well.
Yet why was he getting so angry now?
Roshanne tilted her head in confusion.
“That’s not…”
“Shut up!”
As the duke bellowed in rage, all the family employees were startled and hurriedly bowed their heads.
Roshanne also instinctively lowered her head slowly, matching the atmosphere.
“What were you all doing until the person you serve climbed up the tree!”
“We were cleaning up the dessert…”
“You’re not going to say you were just clearing away those damn plates and teacups and didn’t even notice your master climbing the tree.”
“Sorry, we’re sorry, Your Grace.”
The maids serving Roshanne prostrated themselves flat at the duke’s feet. But the duke paid no heed to their voices.
“Call the head maid. I need to fire all of them.”
“Duke, Your Grace! We were wrong!”
“We were wrong!”
“What I need are things that move and work only as I command, not people who see with their own eyes, think, and act on their own whims.”
As the duke coldly rebuked them and turned around, Roshanne stepped forward and quietly blocked his path.
“Duke.”
“Roshanne, move aside.”
“If the children serving me have to take responsibility for this accident because they took their eyes off me, then isn’t it the same for you, Duke?”
“What?”
“Then who should I call? Should I summon the emperor and ask him to replace my father?”
The already chillingly frozen atmosphere grew even more desolate. The prostrated maids gazed at Roshanne’s back, where she stood as if shielding them, with eyes brimming with tears.
“Roshanne. Are you now, to me, for those things…”
“It’s the parents who shouldn’t take their eyes off their child. If the parents themselves don’t even look at me, how can complete strangers like them respect and follow me?”
“Are you saying it’s my fault now, Roshanne?”
“The way the employees in this mansion treat me, even their thoughts about me. All of that starts from you, my father, the duke. If the duke ignores me like this and tramples on me at will, who would ever treat me as precious?”
Duke Railaten pressed his lips into a tight line. His wrinkled chin looked as if it were trembling with anger, or conversely, as if he were at a loss for words after being struck right in the heart.
“So don’t blame innocent people, Duke. Don’t think that replacing them will make the new ones show me proper respect. Whoever comes, I’ll still be…”
“……”
“The illegitimate child who doesn’t receive love from Duke Railaten—Roshanne Railaten—just the same.”
The duke’s blue eyes, identical to Roshanne’s, wavered like rippling water on a surface.
“So you all get up too.”
“Mis, Miss…”
“I asked for the cleanup, so who is there to blame?”
“But, but…”
The maids looked at Roshanne’s back, where she had protected them, with tearful eyes.
Her small back, which had always been hunched in timidity, now stood straight and firm.
“Didn’t you hear what the duke said just now? You serve me, so you should follow my orders. Get up.”
As Roshanne gestured with her chin, the maids hesitantly rose from their prostrated positions.
Even seeing that, the duke said nothing.
“Duke. Then I’m busy, so I’ll take my leave.”
Roshanne nodded her head and moved away first. And the servants attending Roshanne followed behind her.
“Your Grace.”
The butler, who had been observing the entire situation from behind, approached the duke’s side and checked his master’s expression.
“Roshanne is…”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“No. …Never mind.”
The duke stared intently at Roshanne’s retreating figure with a serious expression. It struck him that this might be the first time he had gazed at his daughter’s form for so long.
＊＊＊
It was the middle of the night.
Roshanne, who had been thought to be sound asleep, quietly opened her eyes. After confirming there were no unusual presences around the bedroom, Roshanne changed into the light activewear she had prepared in advance.
‘It would be good to see how the world has changed while I was sealed.’
Seeing the vast plains spread out from atop the tree today had made her want to witness with her own eyes how the rest of the world had transformed.
Because that, too, was the land Roshanne had protected.
It would be convenient to simply walk out through the entrance during the day, but the problem was that the duke wouldn’t permit her to go out.
‘I’ll be back.’
Roshanne, dressed in comfortable clothes and with a robe pulled over her head to conceal her face, placed her foot on the windowsill.
In an instant, she leaped out through the window, launching herself into the air.
Her body traced a wide arc as it flew, landing safely on the ground below.
Of course, that didn’t mean the landing was painless.
“Ugh.”
She rolled from her shoulder to avoid major injury, but unlike when she had the hero’s body, the pain hit her full force.
“This body is really…”
It’s hard to get used to.
Roshanne, who had habitually thrown her body first without thinking, clutched her shoulder as she stood up and scanned her surroundings.
Fortunately, having sensed no presences beforehand, there was no one around.
‘I need to break this habit of leaping before looking.’
Roshanne tiptoed lightly like a cat and slipped out of the duke’s estate with ease.
The security at the duke’s mansion was strict, but naturally, that posed no problem for Roshanne.
‘To understand what the world is like, it’s best to seek out the shadowy places.’
Roshanne dashed out familiarly into the night streets.
During the day, people bustled about and children played, but at night, it was different.
Drunks sprawled out, utterly intoxicated; men trading vicious curses as they fought; children stealthily picking pockets when no one was looking; and mercenaries casually brandishing knives.
The night streets were no place for ordinary people to wander freely.
‘The empire is rotting from within.’
Roshanne pressed her robe down firmly over her head as she walked through the alley.
Even after just a few steps, the dire state of things became painfully clear.
It was a stark contrast to the peaceful scenery she had viewed from atop the tree that afternoon.
‘The empire’s interior is festering and decaying like this…’
Roshanne suddenly recalled the emperor who had summoned her solely for war.
It wasn’t just this current emperor’s issue.
The imperial bloodline, passed down through generations, had always been valorous.
They had always reveled in wars that promised victory and engaged in reckless territorial disputes.
It was an addiction to war as dangerous as gambling.
And understandably so—the empire had a hero, so they were never going to lose in the first place.
“Please! Please! My father hasn’t eaten a single meal in days!”
Roshanne, who had been walking along, suddenly stopped at the sound of a desperate wail.
In front of a dilapidated house on the verge of collapse, a child was cradling a middle-aged man in their arms and sobbing.
“Just let him have even a piece of bread!”
“Who said he can’t eat? Buy some and eat it.”
“After paying the rent and the spot fee… we don’t have money left for bread, let alone Father’s medicine!”
“That’s why! Pay the rent and spot fee, and use whatever’s left to buy food! Who told you to earn so little?”
A burly man bellowed loudly at the child, who barely reached his thigh.
The child flinched, shoulders hunching in fear, but refused to back down.
“We pay the rent every time! We pay taxes to live in this house, so why demand an extra fee for using the spot? That’s too much!”
“Kid, you must not know yet, but the world is inherently unfair and excessive like that. No one else living here complains about it being unfair—doesn’t that make you the odd one out?”
“That’s because everyone’s scared of you!”
“So, you’re not scared of us?”
The grown men pointed at the single child and burst into loud, mocking laughter.
Rent and a spot fee?
Drawn as if compelled, Roshanne changed direction and walked toward the child.
“Thug!”
“…What?”
“Thug! Hoodlum!”
“Kid, you need to experience firsthand why no one dares say a word to us… Ugh!”
The burly man thrust his massive hand menacingly toward the small child, but someone grabbed it with fierce strength.
And that grip was no ordinary one—the man winced involuntarily.
“I’m curious too.”
The person holding his hand murmured softly.
It was a slender woman’s voice.
“Show me directly why no one dares speak up.”
Roshanne was no longer a hero.
She was merely a noble young lady who could pretend not to notice such matters.
No one knew she was the hero, and if she hid away out of fear, no one would point fingers at her either.
But Roshanne didn’t turn a blind eye and walk away.
That was the essence of who she had been as a hero, protecting this empire’s land and people for hundreds of years.
‘I’m wearing a robe anyway, and if I don’t reveal my identity, they won’t know who I am.’
To Roshanne, every living, breathing thing on this land was beautiful and precious.
All those lives were gifts she had safeguarded, and thus, anyone threatening those lives… was an enemy.
“I can understand collecting rent. But charging a separate spot fee on top of rent? Even the emperor doesn’t go that far.”
“Ugh!”
Though she was cloaked in a robe, her build gave away her gender.
Combined with the feminine voice, there was no doubt—she was unmistakably a woman.
The man strained to pull his hand free, but it didn’t budge.
In fact, the grip was growing stronger.
In this neighborhood, even battle-hardened mercenaries averted their eyes and passed by—yet here he was, caught by some mere woman!
“You just thought, ‘Just some woman,’ didn’t you?”
Roshanne pierced through the thug’s vile expression and murmured.
“It’s fine. You’re not the only one. Everyone thinks that when they first meet me. ‘Just a woman.’ And then…”
“Aaah! Ah! My hand!”
“They only snap out of it after they’ve suffered.”
Roshanne lightly twisted the man’s hand and flung him away with a swift motion.
