No… Come to think of it, strange things weren’t just limited to that time. Not too long ago, he brought flowers to the office.

‘I don’t know why, but whenever I see those flowers, it makes me feel good.’

At the time, I just thought it was a coincidence, but what if it wasn’t? Besides, Carolina jasmine wasn’t a common flower to see this season.

Once I started to question it, it continued endlessly.

Going back to the past, Asralda’s doubts stopped at the moment when she first met Kyle.

The conversation that she had brushed off at the time was now scrutinized one by one.

‘So, I had a yellow bird that I really cherished and loved… But my friend was careless with the bird and it died.’

At the time… I just thought it was a metaphor.

‘But by chance, I met that bird again. It’s hard to explain in words, but somehow I met that dead bird again.’

But now that I think about it, this is completely…

‘But the problem is that my friend found that bird again this time too. I’m afraid my friend might repeat the same mistake as before.’

Asralda stared at Kyle’s eyes slowly.

Kyle looked at Asralda with confusion as she suddenly fell silent. He looked perplexed as he thought about something with a wrinkled face.

She frowned and parted her lips.

“Suddenly, about that yellow bird from before.”
“…….”
“You said you didn’t want to lose it again and that you would do anything to keep it by your side.”
“That’s right.”

Asralda asked.

“Is it still by your side now?”
“No.”

Kyle smiled softly and lowered his head. Then, as if adding something while looking back at Asralda with a strange face, he replied.

“I’m doing my best to keep it by my side.”

At that moment, all sorts of emotions flooded her chest like a tide, as if a needle had pierced her heart.

‘It’s completely my story.’

Why didn’t she realize it sooner? If she had realized it, she might have understood it enough.

Yes, come to think of it, strange things weren’t just limited to that time. Even I, Aiden, and Marinda remember the past, so why won’t that be possible with Kyle?

Moreover, in the past, Kyle wasn’t dispatched to work with Aiden.

‘Kyle came because of me.’

To protect me. As soon as she realized it, her quiet heart began to beat wildly.

Kyle’s eyes looking up at her without knowing anything looked particularly warm.

No, he always looked like that. He was always the same person.

‘Look at this! Earlier, Marquis Kyle came and gave me a lot of flowers that he grows in his garden.’

The flowers that the maids liked and brought to her. The flowers that he brought and put in her room vase, telling her to take care of them.

Come to think of it, the flowers he brought were almost always the same kind of flower.

Carolina jasmine.

She stared at Kyle for a long time with her mouth shut. When she realized that she was leaning on him without knowing it, her throat tightened. One side of her chest was lumpy.

How harshly and resolutely had she treated Kyle like that?

“If by any chance I end up not leaving this place….”
“……”
“I will definitely repay you for your kindness, lieutenant.”

It couldn’t be a promise that went beyond her limits. Who owes whom a debt of gratitude? But Asralda was determined.

To Kyle, who tilted his head as if asking what she meant, Asralda smiled for the first time and just blurred out like this.

“You’re keeping my secret even though you know I’m a woman.”

***

Asralda headed straight to the annex.

Inside the unevenly rounded walls, the main building was built in the very center, and the annex was on the left edge. Although the food warehouse was not attached to the annex, it was built right next to it.

When she arrived at the annex, she saw merchants, their servants, and a few knights all tangled up together. They were all gathered together and were in the process of moving things brought to the food warehouse.

In the meantime, the female servants brought by the merchants were sorting out the food and non-food items that would go to the basement.

And in the meantime, Ophelia, the maid she saw yesterday, was there.

She looked around as if she was in trouble. Then she suddenly made eye contact with Asralda and her face brightened as if by coincidence. She quickly ran up to Asralda and spoke with a bright look in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, but we received a lot of items today.”
“……”
“If it’s not too much trouble, could you help us out a bit?”

Asralda looked around. It was still inside the castle, and if Marinda hadn’t hired them all, there were still countless eyes watching them.

She was momentarily taken aback as if she had seen them for the first time, but soon nodded her head calmly.

“Yes. I will.”

Although she was just watching for now, the maid seemed to have accepted her words as an agreement. She pointed to a wooden box filled with wine that they would take to the underground storage room.

“If you could move only that one, it should be enough.”

Does this maid not know that I am a woman? The size of the box alone looked like it was five spans wide and long. Moreover, the box was filled to the brim with bottles.

Asralda looked back and forth between Ophelia and the box with a puzzled expression. Ophelia smiled as if she had nothing to worry about.

Soon after preparing herself with a nimble attitude, Ophelia recited her lines.

“You are a trainee knight, right?”
“Uh, yes.”
“Follow me. I’ll show you where to move them.”

Then she opened the door to the food storage room and began to descend the stairs.

Asralda felt a little uneasy, but she followed Ophelia down the stairs. The entrance was pitch dark, but as she went down the stairs, there were lanterns installed on the walls here and there, making it gradually brighter.

There were quite a few people in the basement as well. When the servants brought down the goods and left, the castle servants sorted out the items.

“Come here, we need to move this over here.”

Ophelia guided them confidently to the end of the basement.

The place they went to was a room where the items had already been sorted out.

As soon as they entered the room, Ophelia quickly locked the door from the inside and took the box from her hand.

Then she said to Asralda.

“We don’t have much time, so take off your clothes quickly.”
“…What?”

Ignoring her confusion, Ophelia walked straight to a corner where a large orc barrel was piled up and opened one of them.

Then something long and silky white was pulled up by her hand.

It was a dress that had an unmatched white lace on a pale blue color. It was the same dress that the female servants brought by the merchants were wearing, including Ophelia, which she had seen earlier from above.

“Now you want me to crossdress?”
“Well, you were originally a woman, right?”
“But I don’t have to wear a dress…”

Weren’t there more male servants than female servants among those brought in by the merchants earlier?

Since returning to the past, she had been dressing as a man all along, so she was reluctant to accept the dress.

Ophelia came closer as if she was frustrated and handed her the dress.

“You’re still dressing as a man. There are more people in this castle who know you as a man, so of course you have to disguise yourself as a woman.”

Then she went back to the orc barrel and bent down again to pick up something.

It was a golden wig.

It was an expensive wig that looked really realistic, not a cheap one. With this, Asralda could only realize how sincere Marinda was in taking her out of the castle.

“Fortunately, my hair is short, so I don’t need to put anything on. Here, put it on quickly.”

Ophelia urged her as if telling her to hurry up.

It was time for her to make a real decision now.

Asralda, who had been staring at the wig in Ophelia’s hand for a while, finally accepted it.