Felix handed the empty cup back to Benson and looked at Roten. It was phrased like a question, but the tone carried something closer to reprimand.
Roten looked slightly flustered, clearly unsure how to answer. He hesitated, as if carefully weighing his words. My existence was, after all, classified information.
But after yesterday—and with the way he kept pressing things—I couldn’t help it. My mouth moved before I thought better of it.
“I’m starting work here today.”
“…?”
Roten and Benson both stared at me, startled. Felix frowned slightly as his gaze fixed on me.
“Informal speech?”
“No, it’s… polite speech.”
I paused a beat before answering, which only made his already handsome face turn even more severe. Not that I cared—well, I did, actually.
I was irritated enough to want to snap back, but the problem was… he was a young duke.
A fallen noble lady couldn’t just go around talking informally to someone like that. So I’d tried to be clever about it.
“How interesting.”
Whether he appreciated my effort or not, Felix ran a hand through his hair, looking thoroughly unimpressed. He seemed quite irritated.
‘Ugh. He’s annoyingly good-looking.’
Even while being annoying, his face was still unfairly radiant, which only made me more irritated.
“You’re working here?”
Felix took a step closer. His tall frame suddenly filled the space with pressure.
“What floor?”
“Uh… well…”
Was he asking whether I was affiliated with the guild or the merchant company?
I nudged Roten lightly in the ribs. He finally snapped out of it and answered for me.
“This is someone the lord of the guild personally ordered us to receive.”
“Oh? So it’s classified.”
Felix lifted the corner of his mouth slightly, as if he understood. Did that mean it was fine?
I quietly rolled my eyes and took a step back.
But the moment I did, he followed with another step forward.
“Still.”
His expression turned sharper as he glared at Roten.
“Did I ask you?”
Wow. What a personality…
I glanced at Roten, who looked tense and said nothing.
From a distance came a panicked shout.
“Your Highness! Your Highness!”
A man sprinted over, nearly spilling a coffee cup he was desperately trying to carry. He was the same man who had promised yesterday to put the drink on credit at old Cream’s shop.
“I can’t do this anymore! You said you were just going to get coffee for a moment!”
“Shut up.”
“And I already know you won’t kill me even if I don’t!”
He boldly asserted his right to survive, then turned toward me while hopping in place in frustration.
“Lady… this feels like déjà vu, but I apologize. His Highness the young duke has been rather sensitive lately.”
“Hey.”
Felix called him in warning, but the man ignored him completely—clearly used to this—and bowed politely to Roten and me instead.
“I am Maytal, aide and escort to His Highness the young duke. May I ask your name, my lady?”
Well, there was no harm in giving a name.
“Amelia.”
I left out my surname on purpose, just in case.
But at that moment, Felix’s expression darkened slightly upon hearing it.
“Amelia.”
He said my name like he was chewing on each syllable.
His voice was dangerous—just hearing it made my heart tighten.
“Cough! Lady Amelia. Then—”
“Have a cup of tea with me.”
“Ah, yes, that would be best—wait, what?!”
Maytal screamed and looked at him. Roten and I blinked in silence, completely at a loss.
Benson, carefully holding his empty cup like it was treasure, nodded excitedly.
“I’ll prepare bread and coffee right away!”
……Sir, I think you’re in the wrong genre.
And so I ended up seated at a round table, being served Benson’s coffee and bread. Roten had excused himself briefly, saying he had work to do.
He looked at me like a parent abandoning a child at the roadside. I briefly considered asking him to take me with him…
“Annoying.”
…but yeah. Felix didn’t look like he’d allow that.
“So what’s your relationship with the lord of the guild?”
“Lord of the guild” referred to Gilbert, the master of both the merchant company and the guild.
But there was only so much I could safely say.
“A long-term business partnership built on capital and trust…?”
“……”
Apparently not the answer he wanted. Felix frowned in clear dissatisfaction.
‘But it’s true!’
Gilbert needed my abilities. I needed money. It was a mutually beneficial contract—there was nothing more to it.
“I didn’t know Gilbert was exploiting minors.”
“…It’s not exploitation. It’s a fair agreement based on proper compensation and conditions.”
Felix gave a quiet smile.
Yeah. He wasn’t listening at all.
Half giving up, I picked up my fork.
I was about to stab a piece of chocolate cake when Felix suddenly spoke.
“How old are you?”
“Minor.”
“Answer with numbers.”
Tch. That didn’t work.
And lying probably wouldn’t work either, so I answered honestly.
“Fifteen.”
“Fifteen.”
He repeated my age slowly, tapping the table with his fingers, then asked another question.
“Family? Or should I start with your status?”
…Is this an interrogation?
Or was he trying to gather information because I’d been rude earlier?
‘So much for the “first love” thing.’
What love? From start to finish, his gaze was sharp enough to kill.
I really looked like I was being interrogated.
“Answer.”
“…I don’t have family. I’m just a harmless, law-abiding citizen of Proud.”
At that, Felix lifted one eyebrow.
I quickly added,
“I mean… I’m a commoner.”
“Well, if you were a noble, you’d have brought your own knight.”
He seemed to think it was impossible for a young noble lady to be here alone in a place like this.
And honestly, he wasn’t wrong.
This was Proud—the most notorious underworld district in the capital. Even knights wouldn’t come here alone.
‘Though I can handle myself.’
Apparently word had spread about how I’d turned the tables on that woman who tried to threaten me. Now people only glanced at me from afar instead of messing with me.
“How well do you handle yourself, if you can walk around here like this?”
“Pretty well. I guess?”
I popped a perfectly baked piece of cake into my mouth. Maybe I was being a little arrogant, but it wasn’t entirely wrong either.
‘Even Gilbert was easy to subdue.’
If that was the case, confidence wasn’t exactly a crime. At this point, I might as well embrace shamelessness as a virtue.
‘Still… I thought he was scary at first.’
How old was he again? Seventeen? Something like that.
‘Now that I look at him… he’s not that scary?’
Thinking of him as someone my age made him less intimidating. Well, it made sense—I had the mindset of an adult inside.
I wasn’t exactly the type to tremble in fear just because a teenager was in a bad mood. Of course, his presence was overwhelming, but that was separate.
‘A growing seed of a future villain, basically.’
And so far, all he’d done was question me. He hadn’t actually harmed me.
In fact, Felix seemed to have very firm boundaries of his own.
If something didn’t affect him, he didn’t bother interfering or throwing a tantrum. He only reacted when someone crossed his line.
Maybe he really was just unusually sensitive today, like Maytal said.
Realizing that made me feel a bit more at ease.
“Anyway.”
“Hm?”
Felix answered curtly after taking a sip of coffee.
“Why did you call me here?”
I finally asked the question that had been on my mind.
