B Chapter 33

Chloe headed cheerfully to the dining hall, but someone caught her.

"There you are!"

It was Evan's maid. Chloe, who had just lifted her spoon with delicious stew in front of her, froze in that position.

"That doctor from yesterday said he wants to talk with you. Let's go quickly."

"......"

Chloe glumly put down her spoon and stood up.

'I haven't even had breakfast yet...'

She was hungry, but she had to go. Grumbling inwardly, she headed to the room where Sir Rohan and his attendant were.

"How did he get completely better in just a day? You're not a witch, are you?"

"Haha..."

Chloe had been certain about diagnosing and treating their illness. The news that the knight had awakened wasn't particularly surprising to her either.

'I was going to check his complexion after eating.'

But Sir Rohan wasn't in the bedroom. There were only Evan's other maid, the doctor, and the attendant who still hadn't regained consciousness.

"Where is Sir Rohan?"

The maid who had brought Chloe asked the other maid.

"He stepped out briefly. He went to apologize to His Lordship."

"Ah."

Then the doctor first greeted Chloe with a nod.

'He must have stayed up all night.'

His face, gaunt after just one day, looked quite pitiful.

"You called for me?"

When she bowed politely, the doctor spoke with a complicated expression.

"I called you to ask about that mad herb you mentioned yesterday."

"Ah, that poisonous plant..."

Chloe explained about mad herb according to what she knew. As the doctor listened to her explanation, his expression became subtle.

"Wait, are you perhaps talking about jangjicho? Come to think of it, the symptoms are similar too."

It had no effect on humans but poisoned animals, and humans would be poisoned if they ate the poisoned animals.

"Those symptoms are fever, diarrhea, nosebleeds..."

"Jangjicho? Is it common around here?"

"They said there's quite a bit of it."

Chloe had never heard the name jangjicho before.

'There's no way I wouldn't have heard of it...'

If the symptoms were that serious and it was such a terrifying poisonous plant that could drive people to death, surely she would have known.

"Then perhaps it's the same plant, but called by different names."

"Ah, that could be it!"

"Yes, I heard that different countries call it by different names."

"Different countries...?"

"In Elpasa, we called it mad herb, but it seems to be called jangjicho in the Empire. We'd have to investigate properly to be sure."

The doctor's eyes widened as he asked.

"You're from Elpasa?"

'Oh no.'

It was a slip of the tongue.

'I was trying to hide being from Elpasa.'

Chloe blamed herself for not being careful enough.

"Yes... I used to live there."

"I see. I heard that Elpasa has many mountains, so their medicinal research is excellent and they have many capable doctors and nurses. It must all be true."

"Well, I'm not sure about that. But how is that attendant doing?"

Chloe hastily changed the subject.

"He hasn't regained consciousness yet, but he's already entered a stable phase. His name is Thomas, wasn't it? He's probably just sleeping deeply now. He should wake up soon."

As soon as the doctor finished explaining, Chloe stood up.

"Then I should return to the one I serve."

"I wanted to ask about that antidote herb too, but it can't be helped."

The doctor added with a regretful tone.

"If I had known earlier that you studied medicine in Elpasa, I would have listened carefully to your prescriptions."

"Yes, well then, I must..."

He seemed to have more to say, but after revealing she was from Elpasa, Chloe found this situation very burdensome.

"His Grace told me to return immediately after finishing business. I'll take my leave now."

When she politely bowed, the doctor reluctantly gestured for her to go. Chloe quickly closed the door and left the bedroom. She squeezed her eyes shut and hit her lips.

'You idiot! Why did you mention Elpasa there!'

She had let slip with her own mouth the very thing she least wanted discovered. At least not many others had heard. That much was fortunate.

'I just hope those maids don't spread strange rumors...'

Among the ceremony's party, there were people who looked unfavorably upon a slave being included in this honorable journey. Once, an attendant had openly stood up and left when she sat near him by the campfire, saying he didn't even want to sit near her.

'The knights stay quiet, but the attendants make more of a fuss.'

None of the knights treated Chloe badly. It was because of the Grand Duke. Out of loyalty to him, they all just treated her as a maid.

'Sigh, I'm not even hungry anymore.'

Chloe, who had been about to return to the dining hall, changed direction.

'I should do some cleaning.'

Chloe headed to the Grand Duke's bedroom and knocked on the door.

'Is he not here?'

After her big mistake before, she always knocked first.

'He's not here.'

He must have gone out again for official business. Looking around the bedroom, Chloe realized there wasn't really anything dirty.

'He really is clean.'

The Grand Duke had a very neat personality. She had always felt this while organizing his tent as well.

'He's neater than me.'

She had thought someone who didn't like formalities, was skilled at camping, and had lived breathing dust on battlefields for a long time would be messy. It was all prejudice. The Grand Duke was even good at organizing.

As commander of the knight order, he had an enormous amount of correspondence—documents related to the knight order and letters exchanged through messenger birds. Yet his desk was always tidy.

'He even bathes more often than I do.'

When bathing wasn't possible, he would wet a towel and wipe his body. Whether Chloe was nearby or not didn't concern him at all, but she would leave when the Grand Duke bathed.

'Let me just sweep and dust a bit.'

After finishing cleaning the bedroom and refilling the wine, Chloe took the laundry and headed to the washing area. Since she never postponed washing, there wasn't much.

'I can finish this quickly!'

The morning washing area was quiet. Sunlight reflected off the stream water making it sparkle, and the occasional laughter of maids sounded like beautiful bells.

'What a nice day.'

The Empire had many rivers and lakes. During their march, they encountered a river, lake, or stream at least once a day. It was truly fortunate for Chloe.

As she was busy washing, the surroundings became bustling. Maids had come to collect laundry for the ladies. There were maids from the count's castle as well as maids from the ceremony. However, recognizing Chloe first, they began whispering.

'Whenever they see me, they whisper like that...'

Well, it would seem strange that the Grand Duke's maid was a slave of low status.

'Why did the Grand Duke bring me of all people?'

Chloe stared at her reflection in the stream water.

'Right, my hair!'

Her hair already covered her neck. It wasn't a neat bob cut, but hair that had been roughly chopped and was getting longer, making it look even messier. As Heidi had said, it was confusing whether she was a girl or boy.

'I can barely eat meat, so why does my hair grow so fast?'

She decided she needed to quickly get scissors or a knife to cut her hair. With this resolution, Chloe stood up holding the laundry that had become heavy with water. Though it was only a few pieces, the Grand Duke's clothes were large and very heavy. Chloe, who staggered and nearly fell, held the laundry tightly.

After struggling to hang the laundry under the pouring sunlight and returning, lunchtime was approaching. As she headed back to the bedroom, she met the stable master.

"Master Trigger, did His Grace perhaps go on an inspection?"

"No, he just looked at Howl briefly earlier and went back up."

"I see."

"He's probably in the study."

"Yes, thank you."

Chloe quickened her pace.

'I should check the bedroom first.'

But there was a visitor standing in front of the Grand Duke's bedroom. It was Count Lambut's attendant.