Chapter 27 - The Duke’s Lover

It was almost afternoon tea time when Mary came in with a tea set and some light snacks. “Are you finished with what you were doing?” she asked.

“Yes. Starting today, I’ll have lunch and dinner in the dining hall for the time being.” I had been cooped up in my room for the past several days, organizing information, and so I was able to finish the booklet faster than I had predicted.

“Do you remember where the hall is, Vice-captain?”

It was natural for Mary to worry about that as I had never stepped foot in the place since Mayer gave me a tour of the castle. “Remembering places and locations is my specialty,” I replied with a smile.

“Ah,” she chuckled. “I suppose that was a silly thing to ask the vice-captain of a corps.”

Familiarizing oneself with a visited location was a basic skill expected of any expedition corps member since getting lost in a dungeon was practically suicide.

After enjoying a moment of relaxation, I set out earlier than usual for dinner. It had been so long since I last went out… Watching the sunset sky, I reminisced about the days back in my world when I would pull all-nighters studying in the central library when I did exams until late afternoon. The sky in this world looked just like the one back home.

I entered the dining area and the atmosphere immediately became unsettled. People began murmuring among themselves upon seeing me, the root of many rumors, after so long. I couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of them gossiping about me from a distance. I knew my disappearance would have this sort of a bad effect. It would’ve been better if I had come down for some meals every now and then, but it was too bothersome to do so while I was busy. Focusing on one thing at a time was much more efficient, after all.

I ignored their stares and went further inside. I briefly considered going to the officers’ mess hall, but then I remembered that despite already being treated like a vice-captain, I had yet to be officially appointed, thus I simply headed for the regular mess hall. The food there was distributed on trays and, although it was for regular corps members, the quality of the meals was rather good. Then again, the duke wasn’t one to be thrifty on this kind of matter, so long as the men performed well.

I picked a bowl of tomato soup with plenty of vegetables and sat alone at a table. There weren’t that many people in the hall, perhaps because it was too early for dinner, which meant that it was exceptionally easy to listen in on conversations. I perked up my ears, curious as to the rumors going around about me. Maybe they’d say something like how ridiculous it was to have a support mage as their vice-captain, or something like that?

But as the saying went, reality always surpassed imagination.

“Is she the one? The vice-captain His Excellency took a fancy to?” I heard someone say. Took a fancy to? Wasn’t that a strange way to put it? But that was merely the start—there weren’t just one or two things I wanted to refute in their chattering.

“It wasn’t enough that the duke recruited her personally, he even made her vice-captain right off the bat,” they continued.

“Judging by her hair, she must be a support mage…” another person interjected. “Since when did the Dark Knights accept their kind?”

“Maybe… Maybe she forced His Excellency to take her in through some shady means, you know?”

“Shady means?”

“Yeah. Like, say,” the voice lowered, “seducing him physically.”

The last comment was so shocking, I almost spurted tomato soup all over the table. I tried my best to pretend like I wasn’t eavesdropping, and fortunately, they were too focused on their conversation to notice.

“But His Excellency isn’t interested in things like that; in fact, he detests such types.”

“Well, there are so many exceptions being made where that woman is concerned, after all.”

“True. Putting aside the duke’s dedication to destroying dungeons, it’s kinda understandable that he’d make irrational decisions about his lover, right?”

“It honestly doesn’t make sense… This special treatment, I mean. What’s so useful about a support mage? Unless she’s his hidden lover…”

“Yeah! Even after arriving at the castle, he took her around on purpose.”

“Oh, I saw his face back then! The way His Excellency looked at her, it was no. Joke. He was laughing so often, too!”

“Wait, the duke was laughing?”

“I’m serious! It was like he couldn’t take his eyes off her, almost as if he was in love…” In love with my abilities, most likely, since people with a talent like mine weren’t common. It seemed like Mayer taking me on a castle-wide tour was more detrimental than helpful. He probably hadn’t expected this result either.

“What did the ones who returned with them say?”

“Well, they said she’s skilled, but I’m sure they’re just trying to get in her good graces ahead of time. She’s the vice-captain now, but who knows when she’ll become the grand duchess?”

“Maybe that’s why she’s been staying inside all this time… You know? Together with His Excellency…”

I had never expected the truth behind my days of seclusion to be distorted like that. Such absurdity! Me, Mayer Knox’s hidden lover? The man was renowned for being ascetic! Women and whatnot did not interest him; all he cared for was closing dungeons. These people surely knew that, too, and yet they went on about Mayer and I doing… what? Sure, the captain had never personally recruited someone before, but this was just…