Prokeon gently raised his hand.
"Do you want me to kill him?"
I shook my head.
"Murder is bad."
Disposing of the body afterwards would be annoying.
"So, I believe making him suffer something worse than death is better."
"Are you going to allow him eighteen weeks of recovery before killing him, Your Excellency?"
"There are many ways to solve things without necessarily using violence, Sir Vega."
They both looked at each other, wondering what to do.
I smiled sweetly.
"In the old days, there was a certain thing that made high society go wild. A count, whose pride was too inflated, was caught cheating on his wife in his own mansion and ran out naked. What do you think happened to that count?"
"Uhh, was he humiliated?"
"He was forever ridiculed as a laughing stock. Sir Prokeon, that is what I wish for."
I want him to be humiliated so badly his reputation won't even recover even after I leave for the north, I deliberately mumbled with a heart-rending expression.
"Though, I hope no harm will come to Gilbert. Anyhow, he's my son now. Shouldn't a parent cover for their child's mistakes?"
"Uhhh…."
"Ummm...."
"Right... You should... Even though he assaulted thirty people, even though he hinted at threatening my life with his bloodlust... Even though he made that son of a bitch follow his orders faithfully, we shouldn't make your son the one responsible...."
"Understood."
"I, too, understand."
"Then, what should we do in the future?"
The two of them spoke like little chicks going to kindergarten.
"First, let's do an investigation ahead of time..."
"Hitting the back of his head..."
I grimaced slightly.
"What are you saying? Why would you do that?"
"Pardon?"
"My family and I will be the ones doing financial and physical revenge. I have another job for you sirs to do."
I pulled out a cookbook.
"You both are responsible for being my escort and my chef. To be quite honest, the meat was tough but delicious nonetheless. Overall, I was deeply moved by the flawless dish. Even if the meat was tough. So, I'd like to ask you a favour. It's not cooking something hard. I hope your talent won't wither away in the next few days and you'll get to show it off to your heart's content. Are you listening to me, Sir Prokeon? Sir Vega? You can do it, right? You're allowed to neglect your escort duty to achieve my goal but don't forget, the meat can't be tough. I'm not asking a difficult favour, right?"
The two of them stared at each other, pupils shaking like an earthquake.
Then, Vega stuttered,
"If we were to leave, who would be Your Excellency's escort..."
No need to worry, that's why I called them.
I conveyed my intentions with an amiable tone,
"Please cook some delicious food."
Hearing me tell him to focus more on cooking instead of protecting me, Prokeon's mouth opened slightly.
He soon regained his composure and carefully extended both of his hands, fingertips slightly trembling.
The young knight with freckles going across his cheeks and nose made up his mind hugged the book I extended as if it were some treasurable secret book passed down from generation to generation in my family.
"Thank you for guiding me. I'll make the best dish for Your Excellency."
His expression was so touching that I wasn't able to answer without hesitation. He said in a tone that sounded deeply moved,
"Getting ready to leave must've been a difficult task for you, and to think you wasted your precious time to help us grow and develop, I appreciate it so much I don't know what to do. The only way I can focus on repaying this debt to Your Excellency is to focus on cooking..."
Wow, you guys are weird.
"Sir Prokeon, I'm not asking you to become the king of cooking. I don't like tough meat. In any case, there was something else I needed to do so I asked you to focus on cooking rather than a wild goose chase."
"Yes, Your Excellency. I will most definitely defeat the meat dishes."
Did Aedis strike you on the head?
I pretended to look at the clock because I won't be able to control my expression any longer.
"Oh dear, look at the time. I've got to go."
I quickly fled before I was caught.
My area of activity today was around the Grand Duke's mansion, but as time went by, my fatigue got worse.
My head, which had been injected with excessive amounts of stress, was throbbing.
Was it because of Monica Elaine or Prokeon?
Maybe it's both?
Nevertheless, I, who was a Korean in my past life, wasn't able to skip mealtime. I headed to Gilbert with a tray of seasoned vegetables and ginger.
Without fail, he threw the tray at me and all of the plates broke.
But this time, no one rushed in. Because no one was guarding me anymore.
I dodged the plates being stubbornly thrown at me. I didn't even bother fake crying.
"If you play with your food, you'll be punished."
I've invented all kinds of tasteless ginger dishes, I was someone with no guilty conscience since birth after all.
He opened his mouth before shutting it close, not spitting out any curses.
Then, his gaze shifted to the door.
His gaze was suspicious, but I saw that the emotions I wanted him to feel were blooming.
No matter how skilled of a swordsman Gilbert was, there were over twenty of Aedis' men in the mansion and all of them were knights.
Since he knew that, he should've acted cautiously. But if he had self-restraint he wouldn't come at me in the first place.
I pretended not to notice anything to aggravate him even more.
"Why are you so stubborn? It's your loss if you don't eat."
Gilbert, who was concentrating on trying to hear sounds from the outside, finally opened his mouth,
"You act as if I'm a dog."
Huh?
My eyes widened.
"Oh dear, what are you saying? Of course, dog food is better than this."
Even Raven eats all the beef Sarah gives him every morning, son.
I smiled.
"I'll see you tomorrow morning. Even if you miss this mother all night long, endure it."
Gilbert abruptly sprung to his feet. I glared at him, warning him with my eyes about choking me right now.
"When I get out of here, you'll be the first one I kill. I'll have you lie down before me and beg for your life."
"You seem so confident in your future hopes and sins. Alright, do your best."
I waved my hand and left.
As a mere formality, there was a latch placed on Gilbert's door that he could've easily broken. I headed to my temporary room on the third floor instead of Aedis' room.
Sarah knocked on the lock of the jewelry box containing the beast's blood with her equipment to unlock it.
Then, she looked at me with a worried expression.
"Your Excellency, are you really going to do it?"
Our Sarah seems to worry a lot. The corners of my mouth raised as a smile bloomed on my face.
"Sarah, in this world, there's a person who understands and a bastard who yields, even if it's just for a moment when his rank is challenged. Which one do you think Gilbert is?"
"Umm," Sarah worried.
"Of course he's the latter, though I don't know how long this 'moment' will last. Do you think his excellency the grand duke has ever used such a method? He wasn't joking when he said he'd beat the knights earlier. I'm not so sure about him being a lethargic person. What about the items?"
"Here."
She pulled out a tidy maid uniform and a wig she got from the Marquis' estate.
The light brown bobbed wig was similar to Sarah's hair.
"Your Excellency, I'm really okay. You don't have to put yourself in danger just to get revenge for me..."
"Sarah, you know I don't dive headfirst into something I can't win. I'll come back after beating everyone."
"Come on, that's not what I mean! I'm worried about the side effects of the blood!"
"I've already said it, Sarah, if those punks had listened to my words, this wouldn't be happening right now."
With a smile still etched on my face, I fiddled with the bottle of blood.
It felt cold.
Even after a long time, the blood of the beast in the bottle did not change or solidify.
At that time, the beast chose me as his contract partner but still wasn't able to mask his concern.
If I take the blood of the beast more than once, there will definitely be side effects.
However, the side effects will differ from beast to beast, no one in the novel knew exactly.
Hey, what's the point in worrying about the best method? It's a waste of time.
I took the cork off and drank the liquid.
Following that, I put on the wig and maid uniform and went to see Aedis.
"Mr. Aedis, who has good eyes and hearing, let's go fishing. I took that 'medicine', but it doesn't last long, so let's hurry. Can you bring me somewhere?"
He stood up and approached me, who was wearing a maid uniform.
"I don't think this will work."
Compared to his words, his tone was amiable.
Though, I did feel some dissatisfaction from him when he touched my light brown wig.
"Not really. You can comb my hair as much as you like later. Where's Kallen?"
Maybe he didn't feel like answering, hugging me silently instead.
And so, he used his magic to travel to where Kallen was.
The sudden change in surroundings and scenery made me feel a bit light-headed.
If Aedis hadn't held me, I might've violently fallen.
Under the dark night's sky, I was able to see the mansion I assume to be Baron Turner's mansion.