Duke, Please Fail! - Side Story 3 (Part 1)

Side Story 3: Part 1

After Nelly Pepper declared a month-long vacation and left the territory, strange rumors began circulating about the closed western tower shortly thereafter.

“Hey. Did you hear that sound too?”

“You too?”

“What’s going on? Let’s find out.”

“For days now, we’ve been hearing a woman crying near the western tower.”

“Isn’t that place closed because of ghosts coming out?”

“G-ghosts in this day and age!”

Before a trembling knight could finish speaking, he rolled his eyes and collapsed.

Other knights gathered, screaming, and looked towards a spot as if they had made a pact. It was shrouded in darkness, seemingly empty, but soon Arette emerged from the darkness like a ghost.

“Commander!”

“Are you scared of ghosts?”

Arette asked in a fearless voice. The contemplative knights raised their spirits and replied loudly.

“No!”

“Not scared?”

This time, no one answered. Admitting not being scared might mean being assigned to patrol the western tower where the ghost supposedly appeared.

As the knights hesitated, Arette raised his hand.

His gesture was scarier than the ghost. They tried to say it was not scary, but Arette was faster.

“Return to the barracks until I come back. Full speed. Wake him up too.”

The knights rushed to the barracks to wake up their unconscious comrade. Arette checked the sword at his waist and headed towards the western tower.

As he approached the tower entrance, he heard a sobbing sound.

“Hu… hu…”

Arette followed the sound and found someone sitting behind a wooden fence that reached up to the waist.

Since the nearby street lamps had not been lit since the closure of the western tower, it was unusually dark. Therefore, it was impossible to tell who was crying. 

Unable to leave it alone, Arette approached the crouched person.

“If you’re here at this hour, it’s not…”

“Gyah!”

Suddenly, the crying person, sounding like a crow with a clear voice, screamed and pushed Arette away with both hands.

Pushed back, Arette took a few steps back, stumbled, but regained his balance. Even though his face couldn’t be seen well in the dark, he recognized who the opponent was just by the force that pushed him.

“Excellent musculoskeletal structure…”

“Mr. Arette?”

“Yeah.”

Lizzy quickly stood up and approached.

“Sorry, I thought it was a ghost… I’m sorry!”

Lizzy aggressively apologized as if she were going to thrust into Arette’s chest. Arette stepped back, avoiding Lizzy’s head. 

He silently admired Lizzy’s strength but hesitated to ask the questions.

Opening his mouth, he finally spoke, pondering which of the reasons for crying and being here at this hour to inquire about.

“Why were you crying?”

“What? Th-that…”

Lizzy tried to answer with a trembling voice but burst into tears.

Even though she tried to hide the crying sound earlier, now there was no such effort. Arette stood still, his expression unchanged but secretly taken aback. No one had cried loudly in front of him until now.

Not sure whether to comfort or give space, Arette stood still. 

Lizzy, on her own, wiped away the tears and spoke with a somewhat composed voice.

“I’m too pathetic.”

She answered in a faltering voice, covering her face and sitting down.

Arette also sat next to her. Since he came to find the cause of the crying, there was no need to wander around further.

Feeling like he had forgotten something important, even when trying to recall it, only the sound of Lizzy crying came to mind.

When he heard her sit down next to him, Lizzy began sobbing and started talking.

“The Duke said that if I reduce making mistakes, he will make me an administrator. But today, I spilled ink again.”

“Yeah.”

“I managed to fix it, but the fountain pen broke. Five of them.”

“Yeah.”

“If the Duke didn’t have a request from Miss Nelly, he probably wouldn’t have used someone as useless as me.”

Arette, who had been responding well, remained silent.

He couldn’t understand what Lizzy was saying. She made frequent mistakes, but she was smart enough to handle the work of two people by herself. She perfectly corrected her own mistakes unless it involved picking up things.

Where exactly was she useless?

While Arette was pondering this, Lizzy continued speaking.

“I want to do well until Miss Nelly comes back. But if I keep this up, what should I do? Surely, she’ll be disappointed in me.”

As Lizzy finished speaking and raised her head, Arette organized his thoughts.

“If you were useless, regardless of anyone’s request, the Duke would have rejected you.”

Lizzy thought Arette was comforting her. It was kind and appreciated, but she couldn’t trust it. 

She had always been breaking things and bumping into things since she was a child. As a result, despite wanting to work steadily, she was often kicked out within a day.

When her father left with only gambling debts, the only thing she could do was marry the old man next door who lent her money. She had lived hearing only words that she was useless.

Just a year after shaking off those thoughts and words that had followed her, some too many thoughts and words had haunted her during that time. Lizzy had a dispirited face, crumpled like a piece of paper.

Arette, looking at her like that, impulsively blurted out.

“Shall I help?”

“What?”

“To make fewer mistakes.”

“Really? How?”

Lizzy raised her head abruptly and leaned toward Arette.

At that moment, the clouds gradually dispersed, and moonlight covered the ground. Lizzy’s wet cheeks sparkled in the faint light.

Arette looked at Lizzy’s face intently. Even after Lizzy turned her head, blushing with embarrassment, his gaze did not waver.

After staring for a while, Arette, who had forgotten what conversation they were having, belatedly replied.

“I need to see what condition your body is in.”

Whether it was an inability to control strength, a lack of balance, or just carelessness, he needed to examine her a little more to find out.

Trying to change the atmosphere with a serious answer, Lizzy threw a joke.

“Now that you say that, it feels like I’ve become a patient.”

However, no one laughed, not even Lizzy herself.

Time seemed to stand still as silence flowed.

Only when the cold wind stuck to her wet cheek did Lizzy come to her senses. She wiped her face roughly and stood up.

Arette also stood up, following her. Lizzy shook her clothes and asked casually.

“So, when do we start?”

“When is good for you?”

“I’m fine starting right away, even tomorrow.”

Lizzy exclaimed enthusiastically, igniting her determination.

“Shall we start from tomorrow, then? I want to become a wonderful person like Miss Nelly as soon as possible.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Thank you for listening to me!”

As Arette shook hands and greeted her, Lizzy quickly left.

Even after she disappeared, Arette remained standing in that spot. It felt like something was churning in his chest.

He soon realized the cause of this feeling.

‘I want to take her under my wing after all.’

If he raised her well, she could become an excellent knight. Thinking about how to admit Lizzy into the knight order, he returned to his quarters.

As he was passing through the training ground, he realized what he had forgotten.

“C-Commander’s here! Commander!”

“C-Com… mander…”

“Ughhh….”

The subordinates who were people just until Arette left were now walking on all fours, making beast-like sounds.