Duke, Please Repent!

Chapter 18.2: 

“Then I’ll try it.”

 “Please do!”

 As he tore the scroll, a burst of blue light swept over him. The light gradually faded away, and instead of brown, his clear blue-silver hair shined. His figure revealed through the blue light was amazing and noble as always. Serpence raised his fingers and pulled the hair forward, as if combing it, to check the color.

 “The effect is certain, and it seems that you’re right. As promised, I will invest in miss Reseratus.”

 “That hair color…? Besides, it’s not an introduction, it’s an investment…?”

 Serpence’s hair color really caught her eye.

 When an unusual hair color is paired with an unusually crazy beauty, it all boils down to one thing.

 “I didn’t mean to deceive you, but I’m sorry that it seems like I’ve unintentionally hidden my identity. I’ll introduce myself again. I’m called Serpence A. Prasidus. And over there…”

 “This is Zion Rivelon, the assistant of Duke Prasidus, who is famous for being a pushover!”

 “Uh, uh, ah. Huh? That, that! I, didn’t you mean that before?! Just, over there, that’s great, yes! That’s right, you’re a wonderful person!”

 She was first startled by Serpence’s introduction, and secondarily embarrassed by my introduction, her complexion turned pale and she began to utter gibberish.

 “It’s okay, calm down. Please refrain from joking around, Lord Rivelon. Miss Reseratus is very embarrassed.”

 “So, Mr. Zion is not Mr. Zion, he is the Duke of Prasidus, and Mr. Rivelon over there is not Mr. Rivelon… but Mr. Rivelon is Mr. Rivelon and Mr. Zion at the same time, Mr. Zion is the Duke. It’s you, Mr. Rivelon is Mr. Zion…”

 This isn’t the name Zion collapse…

 So why did he confuse people by using my name instead of just using ‘Sefi’?

 In the end, Serpence gave her a troubled look and placed his finger on her forehead once more, supplying her with divine power. His fingertips stayed on her forehead for a little longer than the previous time.

 ‘Now that you’ve finished scouting her, you’re scanning her meticulously.’

 Whatever the purpose, Solertia was able to come to her senses and she finished her contract on the spot. Solertia received the basic funds to open a shop in the capital, and research funds.  She wanted to be provided with connections for a stable material supply.

 In return, Serpence demanded a portion of the net profit from the sale of the scrolls and a sample of the newly developed scroll. Also, giving priority to the quests from the Duchess of Prasidus over other quests. Instead, alimony due to contract cancellation or overdue payment was to be paid by Serpence.

 And although it was not written in the contract, for the time being, Solertia is gonna stay as a foodie at the duke’s residence. All of the scrolls prepared to open the store were destroyed, so there were no items to put in the store right away.

 What made the duke let her stay is for providing a place for her where she can devote herself to creating scrolls without caring about anything else. In the meantime, Serpence decided to search for a suitable store location.

 “Sometimes I was worried about what I had to do, thank you so much!”

 “Well, it’s all thanks to me bumping into you!”

 As I said proudly, Solertia stared at me with a blank expression on her face.

 “Once you calculate the cost of the broken scrolls and materials, I will pay you in a lump sum.”

 “Now everything is fixed! Haha!”

 There was a time when I thought…

 On the way back to the lord’s castle, Serpence informed me that he would immediately collect 2/3 of my salary, until I paid off his money.

 In front of Solertia, he said that he would pay all compensation, and he hit the back of my head like this!

 I said, ‘This is happening before I even got my first paycheck . . .’

 As a consolation, Serpence added that I can keep the remaining money after that he gave me today, he shouldn’t be so mean. If I had known it would be like this, I would have saved it!

 * * *

 After finishing all our schedules in the duchy, we got on a wagon and went out early in the morning to return to the capital. Since the destination was the same anyway, Solertia decided to go together with us.

 As we arrived in front of the inn where she is staying, we saw her already out on the street with her luggage.

 “Wow, the Duke rides a good carriage! But why does Mr. Zion have such an expression?”

 Solertia got into the carriage, and said lively.

 This time, ‘Zion’ refers to me, not Serpence.  Before we separated last time, we decided to just call each other names comfortably. Of course, Serpence politely declined.

 ‘By the way, didn’t I see him calling anyone by name?’

 The children in the orphanage were called by their first names, they didn’t have a surname, so it was inevitable. Even he hadn’t called me by name alone.

 “Don’t tell me that, I couldn’t sleep last night.”

 The last two days have been hell. In fact, the documents that could not be taken out of the Duchy were finished yesterday afternoon. However, I was told that I had to take the rest of the general documents and process it on the train, so I just ran to the end.

 ‘It’s much better to end it quickly and rest in peace than to suffer by leaving it hanging!’

 How exhausted I looked when my eyes were wide open and I was struggling in the mountains of documents. In a nutshell, since when did I work so hard, and I wouldn’t do usually any extra work, Serpence thus suggested that I go to my room and rest.

However, I declined because it was very wrong to rely on the power of the Serpence alone any more, and Serpence spent the night working with me after a bit of a conflict. Thanks to that, when we got on the carriage this morning, I said with a satisfied expression that we can relax on the train that we were going back in.

 ‘In this way, friendship builds up…!’

 Anyway, in that regard, our condition is not right now.

 “Does the Duke look fine?”

 “If you look closely, you can see he’s not like.”

 At my words, Solertia looked intently at Serpence’s face. Perhaps because that gaze was burdensome, Serpence gave an awkward smile.

 “I don’t know for sure. It doesn’t seem like it, but I think Zion seems like a real aide now.”

 “Who do you think I am?”

 “Are you taking responsibility for your own mistakes?”

 “…I have nothing to say about that, even with ten mouths.”

 At this time there was nothing I could do.

 It’s not an amount that can be obtained right away, and even if U ask for money, the broken scrolls won’t come back and we can’t do the investment right away. Serpence was also very knowledgeable about magic, so I was the only fool, and I almost ruined a person’s life.

 ‘Well, Serpence, what can’t he do?’

 I chatted with her about this and that, and then we arrived at the train station. We got off the carriage and changed to the train.

 “But why is Miss Solertia going in with us?”

 “Because it’s wider, more comfortable, and better?”

 Apparently Serpence handed her a first-class seat on the train, but she naturally followed us into the private room.

 ‘I haven’t been in first class myself, so I don’t know exactly what kind of structure it has…’

 I was told that there were also private rooms that were divided like partitions. Of course, it’s nothing compared to this place, but wouldn’t it be inconvenient for a woman alone in a room with two men? There are also people’s eyes. When I said that, she said with a laugh that I say all sorts of funny things.

 “It’s not just the two of us, why do you think that! Probably nobody cares?”

 Well, do you all have open minds?

 I turned to Serpence, but he responded that he didn’t care either. I wanted to see if I could check more with her, so I dragged her to the corner of the room and asked again, but the response was the same. Rather, she looked at me with a slightly suspicious look.

 ‘What, am I the only weird one? Yeah, I’m trash again!’

 But when it comes to Serpence, I thought he should be concerned about things like scandals.

 Maybe it’s his very pure and innocent image, so he doesn’t have to worry about it, right?

 Anyway, Serpence said he needed some sleep, changed his clothes in the shower and crawled into bed. Seeing that he voluntarily went to bed, he must have been tired as well.

 ‘Well, I don’t know, whatever!’

 I threw myself on the bed. Whether it was Solertia being considerate of us, she drew all  all the windows curtains and, using the light of a candle, she began writing her scrolls.