“You know Dorothy? Turns out she was a spy for House Foss the whole time.”
“What? The Dorothy I know? The one who wouldn’t lend out the adult novels and kept them all to herself?”
“Yeah. She was a spy, apparently.”
“Goodness. I never would have guessed.”
“Right? The war only just ended, and she’s been a spy this whole time…”
Things unfolded exactly as I had predicted.
The moment Dorothy’s maid uniform was found with that report sewn into it, Krost Castle erupted into chaos.
Now Calypse should be able to bring an escort of knights when he visits the Kingdom of Doctia.
It was only natural.
Discovering a spy was serious enough to reignite a war. That meant the one who had to grovel and beg was now the Duke of Foss himself.
Even if Calypse shows up with a hundred knights, Foss won’t be able to say a word about it.
Ha. Delicious.
Pop.
I was lying on my bed, and I thrust a triumphant big toe up toward the ceiling.
Things were going well. Now that Calypse could escort himself properly, maybe he’d be able to get the young lady out from under Foss’s thumb?
“Until then, I might as well take a nap…”
BANG.
“Aisha. His Grace commands your presence in his study.”
“…Pardon?”
A nap. I was just about to take a nap.
I froze in place, one stubby leg dangling in the air.
________________________________________
I followed the knight out the door—
And not far down the hall, a scream split the air.
“If you’re dragging me away, then take that little Aisha brat too! She’s a spy as well!”
It was Dorothy.
She was being hauled along by no fewer than two knights, but somehow her sheer force of will kept her thrashing and clinging to the corridor walls, refusing to budge.
“That brat Aisha is a spy too, I’m telling you! Why am I the only one being taken?!”
Her eyes were bloodshot, not quite sane.
By now, she should have been packing to leave Krost Castle. The sudden reality of being arrested and thrown in a dungeon seemed impossible for her to accept.
“Oh— Aisha?”
Just then, Dorothy spotted me. A flicker of something almost like relief crossed her frantic face.
“They’re taking you too, right? Yeah? They are?”
A jolt of nerves ran through me. Had I been found out after all?
I glanced up at the knights, but they paid Dorothy no mind whatsoever.
“Knights, please take her away already.”
A nearby maid muttered in obvious discomfort.
“Lessa— you believe me, don’t you? Just soak the brat’s clothes in ice water and see. We were close, weren’t we?”
Apparently recognizing a familiar face, Dorothy dropped her eyebrows into a pitiful arch and pleaded in a soft, desperate tone.
With things going so poorly, she had decided to try civility.
“I know it’s a strange thing to say, but… just yesterday, the two of us were plotting together. A spy ring— a proper one. So that child must be exposed too. Please?”
But to Dorothy’s misfortune, the maid named Lessa showed no sign of listening.
“Take her away quickly. The fact that I was friendly with her makes me sick.”
“……”
“No, actually— I’ll leave myself.”
Lessa didn’t even want to share the same hallway. She turned and walked away without another word.
Wow. So that’s what becomes of a spy who fails.
A spy, whatever their intentions, builds connections while carrying out their mission.
And naturally, when those around them discover the truth— all the blame, all the contempt, falls squarely on the spy alone.
“…Is being a spy always this pathetic?”
The household staff who’d gathered around Dorothy’s outburst murmured among themselves.
“It really is. And clinging to a little child of all people…”
“That girl’s the one who found the young lady’s whereabouts, isn’t she? Calling her a spy is absurd.”
“Still, how did she even know? It is a little suspicious.”
I nearly flinched visibly at that— but the words that followed gave me my reprieve.
“Even so, that’s a stretch. Would House Foss really send a five-year-old as their spy?”
They absolutely would, actually.
I quietly slipped behind the knight’s back, hiding from the curious stares.
But one thing was now confirmed: House Foss’s gamble had paid off. A five-year-old child would easily escape suspicion.
“Ignore that woman’s raving. Come on, let’s go.”
The knight dismissed Dorothy and turned to me with a gentle tone.
So this wasn’t about suspicion at all. His Grace had simply called for me.
Reassured at last, I answered brightly.
“Yes, sir.”
I followed him past Dorothy— and then her voice cracked like a whip at my back.
“You! How long do you think you can keep hiding who you really are?!”
Dorothy, who had gone eerily quiet for a moment, erupted again.
“If you keep playing both sides like a bat— clinging to whoever’s stronger— you’ll end up abandoned, without a single person who trusts you! Pick a side and stick to it!”
“……”
“And you were the one who found the report in my laundry, weren’t you?! You did it on purpose!”
…I found it in her laundry?
Among the stream of insults I’d been ignoring, something snagged.
I slowed my step for barely half a second before I kept walking. I made sure it didn’t show.
But something was off.
That Dorothy’s identity had been exposed because of me— yes, I could accept that.
But I had never shown that report to anyone directly. I had never been the one to name Dorothy as a spy.
“……”
Which meant someone knew what I had done. Someone I wasn’t aware of.
“Your Grace, Aisha has been brought as requested.”
My thoughts churned as I clenched my fist quietly at my side.
A polite knock— the knight announced my arrival— and from the other side of the door came a low, resonant voice.
“Come in.”
The door swung open, and inside stood Duke Calypse, whom I hadn’t seen in some time.
“Leave her here. Wait outside.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll stand by.”
The knight gave me a small nod of farewell, then slipped away as quietly as a shadow and closed the door behind him.
When I came back to myself, only Duke Calypse and I remained in the study.
Steady. Calm down, Aisha.
Why would the Duke call for me now, of all times?
“I… I bid Your Grace good morning.”
I tried to sound composed, but I was so tense my voice nearly cracked three ways at once.
The air around me felt heavy— like lead pressing down on my shoulders.
Something was wrong. A quiet signal from somewhere deep inside me rang out a warning.
I looked up at Duke Calypse, as he was with his black mask in place, as always.
His long, straight fingers drummed a slow, rhythmic pattern against the surface of the fine oak desk.
Just the two of us. No escort knights. Not even Advisor Knox.
The only visible part of his face— his eyes— settled on me completely, and the tension in the room thickened.
I held the gaze as long as I could, and just as I finally blinked—
“!”
A black mask filled my vision.
“……”
I startled, just barely keeping my composure.
In the single moment I had blinked, he had crossed the room without a sound. Now Duke Calypse crouched before me, bending at the knee to meet my eyes at my level.
When— how—
But the question I wanted to ask—
“How.”
He asked it first.
“How can you be so composed?”
And he asked it with complete calm, as though nothing in the world could disturb him.
“Most children would have fainted by now, or burst into tears. Even a grown adult would have difficulty meeting my eyes.”
“……”
Behind the black mask, his blood-red irises studied me with quiet intensity.
He watched me for a long, unreadable moment, as though trying to see through to the very core of me— and then he explained.
“What I mean is: I am currently directing enough killing intent at a small child like you to paralyze most grown men.”
We were close enough that I could feel his breath.
He had bent his knee to meet my gaze, yet the sheer size of him was overwhelming— as though he could swallow me whole. The way he rested his elbows on his knees, coiled and still, reminded me of a predator at rest.
“You don’t seem frightened at all,” he said, and there was the faintest trace of something like amusement in his voice.
I finally found my voice, though it came out frayed at the edges.
“I am frightened.”
“Then you’re simply pretending not to be.”
“Yes.”
“I see. That’s what they taught you. In House Foss.”
“!”
My eyes flew open.
He already knew?
I couldn’t believe it. I had been so certain no one could have found out.
There was nothing— not one shred of evidence— that could have revealed me as a spy to Duke Calypse.
Yes, he might have noticed I was sharper than an ordinary five-year-old. But beyond that, what had I ever given him?
“H-how did you…”
My voice trembled.
Under that keen, relentless gaze, the mask I had been wearing cracked open, and everything I had hidden behind it spilled out.
“…Now you look like a normal five-year-old.”
He murmured quietly, watching the fear take shape on my face.
I didn’t know why.
But somehow— for some reason I couldn’t name— the fact that I was finally acting like a frightened child seemed to ease something in him.
I, however, was too busy drowning in the chaos of being found out to notice any of that.
“Are… are you going to kill me?”
My own question scared me. My fingers spread wide like a startled spider.
“……?”
The cold stillness around his eyes shifted— only slightly, but unmistakably.
“Where did a child learn to say something like that?”
“From… House Foss.”
“That damned— no. Let’s not speak of that house right now. Just answer what I ask.”
“Yes, sir.”
I snapped to attention, back straight.
Though my trembling legs were barely keeping me upright.
“How many young spies like you does that house maintain?”
“I was the first to receive a mission at age five—”
And then—
“Ha—”
He exhaled. A deep, slow sigh, before I had even finished.
What did I do wrong? Pull yourself together, Aisha.
“!”
I braced my shaking legs as hard as I could— and without warning, the Duke reached out and lifted me under the arms.
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the worst, but instead I was simply moved— and a moment later, my bottom sank into something soft.
This feeling. I’ve felt this somewhere before.
‘A child with no gratitude has no place in my garden. Out you go.’
“…Garden-man?”
“Pardon?”
Our eyes went wide at exactly the same moment.
“…Ah.”
The word had slipped out before I could stop it. I clapped both hands over my mouth— but the water was already spilled.
________________________________________
