Promise

“It’s good to see you again, Delta Captain-nim.”

Lana bowed respectfully towards me, who was foolishly frozen in place at her unexpected appearance. It was a very charismatic movement, as usual.

Except for the fact that there were grass blades stuck all over her body.

First of all, the fact that Lana appeared in such a carefree manner meant there was no possibility of anything bad happening at the mansion. I completely erased the anxiety from my mind.

But because of that, it was even more perplexing. What on earth happened that the knights who should be guarding the main gate were gone somewhere, the door was wide open, and Lana appeared from inside the bushes?

“Did Lord-nim order her to do that?”

“Do you think I’d do that if I were crazy?”

A strong denial came back. It seemed Aurora hadn’t ordered such eccentric behavior. The questions grew larger and larger.

“It seems you’ve returned earlier than expected, Owner-nim.”

Lana, unconcerned by our reactions, calmly opened her mouth.

“Something happened. It just ended up like this.”

Since the person concerned had such a calm expression, perhaps thinking she still had to answer, Aurora replied in a voice that didn’t hide her uncomfortable feelings.

The girl who had been trembling in fear, had somehow returned as the city’s Lord.

“How’s the mansion? Nothing happened?”

“Yes. We were fine. What happened to Owner-nim?”

“That…….”

Aurora, who had been moving her lips, suddenly stopped speaking. Then, she continued to remain silent for a long time with her mouth shut, and released the strength from her arms wrapped around my neck.

“Delta. Just put me down for a moment.”

“Will you be able to walk?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine now. Thank you for worrying.”

As she said, I knelt on one knee on the ground so Aurora could get down easily, and released the strength from the hand that had supported her thigh. The soft sensation of her thigh disappeared. A cool breeze gathered on my palm.

Clack, and a foot in high heels stepped onto the marble. Aurora, who had swayed for a moment, soon regained her balance. Her slender fingers lightly brushed off various parts of the white shirt she was wearing.

Every time her body moved, her plump buttocks were slightly visible below the hem of her white shirt. Because she wasn’t wearing panties, the straight, tightly closed cleavage was all visible.

Aurora, who had adjusted her clothing in a rather suggestive manner, approached Lana and whispered something softly into her ear.

Lana nodded repeatedly and listened attentively to her Owner-nim’s words.

“……So that’s what happened. I understand.”

As if the explanation was over, the lips that had been close to her ear moved away. Lana stared intently at me with her jet-black eyes, and Aurora, beside her, was glancing at me nervously.

What kind of explanation resulted in such a reaction, I couldn’t tell.

“Delta Captain-nim.”

Lana, with her hands clasped in front of her lower abdomen, bowed 90 degrees.

“First, I would like to express my gratitude for protecting my Owner-nim.”

“It was something I had to do anyway.”

“There are countless examples in the Empire’s hundreds of years of history where people failed to do what they obviously had to do and caused catastrophic results. Especially, as Owner-nim mentioned, if it was a time-sensitive situation, that would be even more true. Regarding your action of saving Owner-nim’s life, I will provide compensation at a later date.”

I wondered if my actions were really that significant, but there was no reason to refuse compensation. I quietly nodded.

“What will Captain-nim do now? Will you return straight to the castle?”

Lana continued her questions.

“I should. The matter isn’t fully resolved yet. And there’s a lot I need to ask that woman.”

“I understand that she said she came to find Delta-nim.”

“That’s right. But the thing is, I don’t actually know the reason. So I’m going to ask her directly.”

Even if Nyx’s appearance had changed to that of a character commonly called a “gloomy big-breasted loser girl” due to the influence of an appearance modification mod, to find out why she came all the way here to see me, the only way was to ask her directly.

In fact, it felt very apologetic to leave Aurora behind and depart, but I couldn’t just leave Nyx in that state at the castle. She was a ticking time bomb who might do anything.

“Please wait a moment, Delta-ssi.”

As I bowed to Aurora to convey my intention to leave and was about to turn away, Lana stopped me.

“What you couldn’t accomplish today, do you plan to continue it later?”

I thought for a moment about what those words meant. It was highly probable that it referred to the outing with Aurora that had ended vaguely. If that was it, of course I had to continue it. I nodded.

“Of course. I definitely intend to.”

“Yes. I understand, Delta-ssi. My Owner-nim will surely be counting down the days for that day as well.”

As if satisfied with my answer, Aurora and Lana sent me off without a word, and I left the mansion, seen off by Lana and Aurora.

Because he left the mansion immediately, Delta couldn’t see Aurora’s and Lana’s faces.

Lana’s face, wearing a contradictory expression of satisfied emotionlessness, and Aurora’s face, blushing as she realized the true nature of “what couldn’t be accomplished today” that her maid had mentioned.

“Congratulations, Owner-nim. You’ve received a definite promise that he will continue what he couldn’t do today. You must be very pleased.”

“……Should I be happy about this? It’s like I tricked Delta, isn’t it?”

“We merely concealed the truth, so it’s not tricking. Owner-nim also knows the difference well, doesn’t she?”

Aurora let out a small sigh. Of course, she knew. But she had never imagined a day would come when she’d use it in this way.

“And, women have a very powerful weapon.”

“A very powerful weapon? What is it?”

“If Owner-nim honestly confesses that she lied because she likes Delta-nim, he will surely forgive her. Because there are almost no men who would treat a woman who likes them poorly.”

Lana had also picked up these words somewhere, so she didn’t know their veracity.

But most people couldn’t distinguish between acting confidently while ignorant and acting confidently because they knew.

Especially in cases like Aurora, where knowledge of male-female relationships was virtually nonexistent, making it impossible to discern the truth, it was even more effective.

“Wait. But what you just said to Delta, that wasn’t me, it was you, wasn’t it?”

Lana, hearing those words, without even a slight change in her expression, made a sound like “Oh my,” and covered her slightly parted mouth with her hand.

“In that case, there’s nothing to be done. If I say I did it because I like Delta-nim…… It’s a joke.”

Lana checked Aurora’s expression and neatly took a step back. Since Aurora also knew that those words were just a joke, she didn’t press the matter further and let it pass.

Instead of interrogating her maid, who had become not just bold but even brazen at some point, she turned her golden pupils towards Delta’s retreating figure, which had become much smaller than her pinky fingernail.

“……He’s gone, right?”

“Yes, Owner-nim. Are you disappointed that Delta-nim left just like this?”

“It would be a lie if I said no. The atmosphere was pretty good until the incident happened. But…….”

Aurora scanned Lana up and down. Although she had tried to brush it off, the stains on various parts of her maid uniform skirt hadn’t completely disappeared. Faint brown and green remained in places.

“What happened? The knights are gone, the door is open. And why did you pop out of the bushes?”

“It was for Owner-nim.”

At the answer, which seemed absurd at first glance, Aurora crossed her arms with an attitude that said, “Let’s hear what you have to say.”

“If Owner-nim achieved her initial goal and returned to the mansion with Delta-nim, she would have unnecessarily been conscious of our presence as she headed to her room. Conversely, if she returned alone without achieving her goal, she would have needed time to clear her head.”

“In either case, it’s better if people aren’t around, so you cleared the area?”

“Yes. Of course, we didn’t neglect the mansion’s security, so you can rest assured. The knights are monitoring the garden from inside the dormitory through the curtains of the windows.”

“Alright. Let’s say all the other things are fine. Lana, why were you in the bushes?”

“Is that an order to answer?”

Aurora, who was about to say it wasn’t an order, changed her mind after seeing Lana’s attitude. Something clicked.

“It’s an order.”

“Do you want a plausible answer, or do you want the truth?”

“The truth.”

A similar exchange continued once more.

Although I immediately realized that it was Lana’s earnest plea not to ask any more questions, I neatly ignored it. Because it was the fault of the one who made me curious.

“……Just in case something unpleasant happened, there had to be at least one person to act as an observer, and I merely volunteered for that role.”

Although she spoke in a roundabout way, in summary, it meant she openly tried to observe her Owner-nim’s relationship.

As expected, it was “like Owner-nim, like maid” this time too.

“Nyx?”

“As ordered, I put her in Captain-nim’s room. And I diligently assigned guards.”

I returned to the castle as quickly as possible.

The people who had fled here seemed to have returned home once their minds calmed down, and only the knights, with their helmets off, were restlessly wandering around.

As if deeply uneasy about the witch being inside the castle, they fiddled with the handles of their weapons, but when they saw me returning to the castle, they bowed their heads with relieved expressions.

“How many went in for surveillance?”

“Five. Originally, we intended to deploy more, but the space was cramped, and more would only get in the way.”

“Even though we openly assigned guards, there was no sign of displeasure?”

“I didn’t go in myself, so I don’t know well, but she said not to worry, as she would obey without complaint since Captain-nim ordered it. Except for occasionally laughing in an unpleasant way, she was well-behaved until she entered the room.”

A faint furrow appeared on Rakshia’s forehead. It seemed that just recalling it brought unpleasant feelings.

Kih-hee-heet, it seemed to be referring to her laughter, and it certainly felt strange. I wondered if the modders had tampered with her personality and changed the settings to “gloomy characters should laugh like that.”

“Alright. And, when I arrive at the room-“

He said up to that point, then paused for a moment.

Since I didn’t know how much Nyx knew about me, the conversation had to be between just the two of us. It was a one-in-a-million chance, but she might even know that I had transmigrated here.

However, it was also true that I felt a bit uneasy about having a private conversation with Nyx without an escort.

“Captain-nim? What’s wrong?”

Perhaps because I suddenly stopped speaking and closed my mouth, Rakshia called out to me with a worried expression.

“It’s nothing. I was just about to say that when I go in, the rest should wait outside.”

“……Will you be alright?”

“I don’t know either. That’s why I was just thinking about it. But even if it’s not alright, I have to do it. Because if it leaks outside, it could become a big problem.”

“I understand. Please be careful.”

Rakshia bowed respectfully to me.

Our first meeting was when she acted aggressively towards me and ended up groaning while being thoroughly beaten with a broken straight sword, so my first impression wasn’t great, but once I assigned her the role of adjutant, she was displaying her competence without reservation.

She also didn’t seem to have any complaints about suddenly becoming my subordinate. This was probably because the Golden Twilight Knights’ Captain-bastard had such a twisted personality that I looked like a fairy in comparison.

“Krua. Open it. Captain-nim has arrived.”

Rakshia, who had arrived in front of the room, knocked. Soon, the door opened, and the scene inside the room came into view.

Since the Captain’s room wasn’t significantly larger than the members’ rooms, the interior space was almost completely filled by as many as five heavily armed knights.

At that rate, it looked like it would be difficult even to properly wield a weapon.

“Oh, you’re here? Hehe.”

And Nyx, the subject of surveillance, was lying on my bed like a cocoon, wrapped tightly in a blanket and hugging a pillow.

“……?”

I stopped in my tracks, and Rakshia frowned and opened her mouth.

“Why is that woman doing that?”

“As soon as she entered the room, she jumped onto Captain-nim’s bed before we even had a chance to stop her. We tried to pull her out somehow, but she resisted so stubbornly that if we used more force, the blanket seemed like it would tear first…… I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s alright. If she wants to do that, what can we do? Just leave her be.”

I reassured the knights. If I just let this pass, Rakshia wouldn’t leave them alone.

“Rakshia. Take the kids and wait outside.”

“Yes, Captain-nim.”

Rakshia left with the knights. Click, and the sound of the door closing was heard.

With only the two of us remaining in the room, Nyx, with her characteristic gloomy smile, looked up at me with her face half-buried in the pillow. Perhaps because she was short, she looked very stubby overall.

“Hey, do you know something?”

Nyx grinned.

“I’m currently, naked?”