BL999DP

Chapter 5

"Hick......!"

She wasn't going to kill him, but she was going to lock him up somewhere until he quieted down.

Fortunately, the threat finally made the coachman nod vigorously. After a moment's hesitation, he heaved himself to his feet.

"I'll, I'll, I'll be off, I'll be off......!"

Reina asked in disbelief.

"Where to?"

"I'm going to go, go, go back to the Duchy of Rubellite..."

"Is that it?"

She pointed outside.

It was warm inside the mansion, thanks to the fire, but outside it was freezing, like Siberia.

The coachman rolled his eyes in a cold sweat as he realized what she meant.

"Well, well, well, but I have to go back so I can get paid and see my family...!"

"Wasn't it an advance payment? With a destination like this, you don't get paid until you return? How much were you supposed to get?"

She was dumbfounded and had a lot of questions. She couldn't believe that they sent him to a land where he couldn't go back, and that they would only pay him when he returned.

This was in line with their refusal to give it to him. No, maybe the very fact that they were sent here in the first place meant that they would die together.

'...You said you've changed everyone who knows Reina's identity, so you're going to get rid of him. What kind of scum are you?'

She should have recognized him from the time he locked up his 8-year-old daughter, and it was weird that he took a second wife right after his first wife died.

The Duke seemed to be a strange fellow in more ways than one, as he died as quickly as she started, so she didn't know what to make of him.

As the furious Reina glowed black and lost in thought, the coachman, realizing his predicament, slid to the floor.

He looked like he was about to burst into tears.

She didn't particularly want to see a grown man crying; she felt sorry for him.

Reina opened her mouth, keeping her image far from the young lady so as not to startle him.

"No, no. I can't send you back like this. I don't have a servant, and it's inconvenient, so you'll have to take care of me until I can find one. I'll pay you a salary, but you'll have to stay here."

She had never had a servant in her life, but when she said that, the coachman stopped crying.

He wasn't sure if she was being considerate or not. But it wasn't a bad offer, so he nodded vigorously.

"Yes, yes, I'll do that, I'll do that! Whatever you want me to do...!"

"Hmm, very well, but by the way, your wife and child-"

Reina was about to ask offhandedly if his family knew he was traveling at the Duke's behest when she was immediately cut off.

If they did, it was a big problem, for 'the' Duke would not leave the coachman's family alone.

'No, wait. Even if they didn't know, he wouldn't leave them alone.'

He was so afraid of the secret getting out, he might as well nip it in the bud.

But there was no point in reminding him. It would only add to his worries.

The moment she realized this, she could freeze to death trying to make it back through the blizzard, and that was not an option.