I Failed to Oust the Villain!
Chapter 9

* * *

“Your clothes are slightly crooked, master.”

Reinhart, who had been watching Valeta dress herself, strode up to her and lightly grabbed the hem of her dress. He loosened the poorly made bow and tied it back up again neatly.

“How many times do I have to teach you how to tie a bow?”

“Isn’t it time... for you to leave?”

Reinhart gave her a broad smile before putting the necklace with the red marble around her neck. Then, he wrapped a thick shawl around her shoulders. “There you go again, saying things like that.”

Valeta sighed. It had been two years since the night when a bruised and battered Reinhart had desperately clung to her. How time flew.

After that day, Valeta stopped disobeying the count. Knowing that Reinhart would have to pay the price of her disobedience, she was now compliant and amenable. Of course, Count Delight’s final warning also played a large role. There were only four years left, but it seemed that Reinhart had no intention of leaving.

“We need to straighten up your hair again.”

“It’s fine...” Valeta grumbled.

“If you’re fine with the wind blowing it around, then I won’t force you,” Reinhart replied.

She couldn’t tell if that was an excuse or a threat and fell silent. By now, she was used to being waited on by Reinhart. The relationship between the unlikely pair was the same as ever—nothing more than master and servant. Consenting, Valeta took a seat, and Reinhart started to work on her hair with his long, skilled fingers.

In addition to earrings, she was wearing a bracelet similar to the tracking bracelet she had on her other arm, though it was less flashy and more modest. Around her neck, she donned the enchanted necklace. The accessories were all simple, made to suit Valeta’s tastes. She had never once expressed her preferences, so she wondered how Reinhart had known what to choose for her.

“Why are you going to the market?” he asked quietly.

“To buy medicinal herbs.”

“Hm...” Reinhart hummed in response as he put another robe around her shoulders. “Can I come with you?”

“No.”

“What a shame...” Reinhart fell quiet at Valeta’s sharp refusal. He knew that she was trying to get rid of him or send him away somehow, but he would have been lying if he said it didn’t bother him.

“Why do you dislike me so much, master?” he whispered in her ear.

Her mouth was shut tight as if it had been painted with glue. She refused to meet his eyes. Reinhart’s eyebrows twitched.

He could snap my neck right now.

He slowly reached out, placing the tips of his fingers on the column of her neck. She raised her head and looked at him with a slight frown.

“There was a speck of dust,” he said. He gently rubbed the nape of her neck with his thumb before stepping back. If she died, he wouldn’t be able to see her face or hear her voice again. It was a rather unpleasant thought.

Valeta rubbed her neck in the spot where Reinhart’s hand had been, where his touch had sent shivers down her spine.

“I suppose there’s nothing I can do if you don’t want me to go with you. Have a safe trip to the market,” he said.

He relented obediently, giving Valeta her space again. She glanced at him, before nodding without a word. True to his word, he didn’t follow her. Finally, I’m free.

* * *

“I apologize for our tardiness. We should have come sooner.”

“It’s fine. It’s not like I could have sent a signal from here, and you wouldn’t have been able to find it on your own anyway.”

“There’s a seal on this,” a voice said. “But it won’t be difficult to break it. We can handle it for you, so come to the tower with us. You can stay there until you become an adult.”

Valeta’s eyes fluttered open, awakened from her sleep by strange voices.

Where are those voices coming from? she wondered, still sleep-addled. It wasn’t from her room. She turned her head and saw that her window was wide open, curtains fluttering in the night breeze.

The room next door?

There was no doubt about it. That was Reinhart’s voice. Nobody used the room next to her own, but it was always unlocked, so people were free to come and go whenever they wanted. She simply never would have imagined him to be there. Valeta covered her mouth with both hands and swallowed hard as she processed the conversation she had overheard earlier.

Did they meet Reinhart this early? A whole year in advance?

Reinhart was twenty-one and Valeta nineteen. Five years had passed since her engagement to the crown prince, and she was set to be married on her twentieth birthday. Of course, it was an arrangement she had no say in, a choice made for her by Count Delight and the imperial family.

“His followers...” Valeta muttered under her breath. In the novel, Reinhart had two right-hand men. The two were utterly devoted to him, willing to die for him at his command.

The novel doesn’t go into much detail about Valeta’s story... But given the time of year, she supposed that this would have been around when Reinhart had started meeting with his followers. She couldn’t rule out the possibility that he had already contacted the tower and told them of his location.

I’ll talk to Father again tomorrow. Ever since the day Reinhart had touched her neck, his eyes glowing with madness, she could hardly make it through each passing day. It had come to the point where she’d started begging Count Delight at least once a week to get rid of the slave. In the end, her pleading had worn him down, and he’d given her a new slave to replace Reinhart about a year and a half ago.

That’s not what I wanted! In fact, it had only made the situation worse. The problem was that Reinhart was still in the mansion. If Count Delight couldn’t get rid of him, she had then asked if he could sell him somewhere else instead, earning herself a harsh scolding.

How could he tell me to stop being so immature...

But this wasn’t about her maturity—or immaturity. Nor was the problem whether Count Delight would lock her up. The problem was that her life was flashing before her eyes. Silently, Valeta tip-toed to the open window. She closed it, drew the curtains, and sneaked back to her bed, sitting down on it. Anxiety gripped her.

How long do I have to keep this bracelet on? she thought, her wrist dangling in front of her. She was certain that her father would have taken the bracelet off by now, but he hadn’t.

Would he only remove it once she got married? Her frown deepened. She didn’t get a wink of sleep that night. It had been a year and a half since Reinhart was removed as Valeta’s slave, and he hadn’t been allowed to serve her since, by Count Delight’s decree. After all, his master had rejected him.

Reinhart looked quite hurt the day he found out, but Valeta knew that look was a lie. If anything, she could no longer bear to see that face every morning. As soon as dawn came, Valeta headed straight for Count Delight’s office. Reinhart was now serving as her father’s slave, but luckily, only her father was in the office at that hour. She glanced around the room furtively before speaking.

“Father.”

“Yes, Valeta? What brings you here so early in the morning?”

“It’s just...”

“What are you wearing? We may be at home, but you should still be presentable. You’re about to be the crown princess and, one day, the empress.”

Valeta’s face twisted at Count Delight’s words. She’d been listening to him say the same things for close to twenty years now, and it gave her goosebumps every time she heard her father repeat the same words over and over again.

“Well, it’s about your slave, Father.”

“If this is about that slave again, I don’t want to hear it,” her father replied, clearly fed up with the direction that their conversation was taking.

His voice rose. “How many times are you going to repeat the same thing? Go practice your embroidery or something if you don’t want to be punished!”

“But, Father—”

“How many times do I have to tell you that I have plans to put that slave back on the market after you come of age?”

And how many times do I have to tell you that it’ll be too late by then? Why don’t you get it?! Valeta stifled the scream that was building inside.

“I know that slave gets on your nerves, but you’re nineteen years old now. There’s only a year left, so have some patience.”

“Well...”

That’s the problem. We only have one year left. Valeta dropped her head, clenching her fists to stop them from trembling. Her father wasn’t listening. What was the point of talking to him?

I don’t know anymore. It’s over. As she continued to hang her head, her eyes fell on the bracelet with the emerald gem. She raised her arm and waved the bracelet in front of the count.

“When can I take this off, then? I’ll be the laughingstock of the imperial castle if they see me wearing this.”

“That is for your safety. I’ll remove it once you are married.”

Which meant that he planned to keep it on for another year. Valeta scoffed. Safety? What safety? It was obvious that he was afraid of something happening, such as her being kidnapped or running away.

Despair washed over her. It was too difficult to run away, and even when she asked her father to get rid of his slave, he wasn’t willing to listen, blinded by how much money he could make off of him in the future.

Could I break these with pliers? Valeta stared at the bracelet thoughtfully before she turned away. As she opened the door to leave the office, she was surprised to find Reinhart standing right outside. Their eyes met.

Did he hear everything?

Valeta could feel herself stiffen as she met his gaze. His eyes were as cold as a snowstorm in the dead of winter.