Chapter 32
Chapter 32
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Chapter 32
“The angel says thank you. I was able to save the doll because you informed her of the plan ahead of time.”
“Oh, she was listening to what I said. Thank you.”
Hans made a thrilled face.
“Thank you for pretending not to know when you punish the bad guy. If you didn’t, the doll would be hurt.”
When I gazed at Declan to ask him to deliver it to him again, even though he was dissatisfied with it, he conveyed what I wanted him to say.
“No. Please forgive me for being cowardly for fear of losing my job.”
Hans knelt down and bowed his head.
‘How could that be?’
He’s taking advantage of his childhood innocence right now, but he’s a really incomprehensible person. Isn’t that right? A person with a job that is billions of light-years away from a child is doing something like this to a guardian angel.
‘Is it really okay?’
I got slightly anxious. Then, Declan caught my eye.
‘Declan or Hans.’
Each had their own reasons, but they weren’t in the normal category if against the dolls.
‘Somehow, I got possessed in a place like this…’
Is there no normal person among those who save me? The strange feeling I felt last time came again.
“Rise up. The angel is saying that she will forgive you in all circumstances.”
Meanwhile, Declan was proceeding according to the script I gave him.
“Tha, thank you. Guardian Angel! You are also merciful.”
Hans looked at me with moistened eyes and kept his head down.
“Instead, she says she can’t forgive those who tried to harm this doll. Can you help me punish them?”
Declan now spoke my words with a resigned look. Still, he was keenly watching how Hans would react.
Mason, who was looking at Declan curiously, was also looking at this place with interest as though he had guessed the intention. Still, he had an ambiguous expression on his face, trying to hold back his laughter in between.
“I want to help. I can do anything. But…”
The corners of Hans’ eyes, who had answered confidently, fell for a moment.
“Why but?”
Declan asked dryly.
“Knowing that I spoke about a client would put our Jay at risk. The chief and the guild members know where Jay is.”
Hans’s face darkened as he said that.
“Guardian angel, please forgive me for my cowardice. It’s okay for me to die, but our Jay…”
Tears began to form in his clear brown eyes.
“Your Majesty, let’s move on to the next step.”
Declan nodded his head.
“If I protect your brother, will you be able to grant the angel’s request?”
“Yes?”
Hans made a puzzled face.
“The guild chief has already been caught and is in prison. He will be executed soon.”
Declan scanned Hans’ face and raised the corners of his mouth to continue. “You keep my mouth shut in the vain hope that Count Nolan will save you.”
Hans’s eyes fluttered slightly.
“Oh, you know?”
“Isn’t it natural that the angel was also there?”
At that, Hans stared at Declan and me alternately.
“The guild has already disappeared. If you prove that Count Nolan is a client, no one will threaten you and your brother.”
Hearing his remarks, Hans kept his mouth shut, deep in thought.
“In the name of the Emperor, I will keep your brother safe. And, I will support him until he becomes an adult.”
Declan nodded at Hans, who had a look of disbelief.
“What would you do?”
Hans lowered his gaze and then raised his head.
“I’ll do it.”
His eyes were shining brighter than ever.
“Yes. Do you have any evidence that Count Nolan commissioned this case? No matter how much I searched the office, I couldn’t find anything.”
“There is a secret safe under the chief’s bed. There should be a letter of the request form in the ledger that contains all the quests that have been received so far.”
“A letter of request? Count Nolan isn’t the type to leave such a thing.”
Declan looked at Hans suspiciously.
Seeing his expression, he replied quickly.
“As it was infiltrating the Imperial Palace, we demanded it. Instead, it is enchanted so that only the chief can read it.”
“Okay. Then, how can I see the contents of the request form?”
“I heard that putting the chief’s blood on the request will unlock the magic.”
Declan gave him an interested look.
“Okay. Let’s check it out. Tell the Chancellor here where your brother is.”
“…Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Hans expressed his gratitude in a trembling voice.
“You have nothing to thank me for because the angel asked me to listen to you earnestly.”
“Ah, guardian angel. I will not forget this grace even if I die.”
Hans bowed his head towards the doll with a tearful look on his face.
“Your Majesty, please bring me closer to that person.”
“Why?”
“I have to look like a real angel. To compliment him by putting a hand on his head.”
“All right. Don’t touch dirty places.”
“What’s dirty? I’m just being thankful.”
“Thankful? I paid that much money, so I made a deal.”
Nevertheless, Declan grumbled slightly, so I pressed him again.
“You have to get the job done. Come on.”
No matter how much I urged, Declan didn’t even dream of it. “If you’re like this, I won’t do what I’m supposed to do to Your Majesty.”
“It’s already been promised.”
“It means that I will do it on condition that you proceed according to my will.”
“Haa, really.”
He stared at me with a surprised look, although I shook my head resolutely.
“…Instead, make sure you keep your promise.”
In the end, it was Declan who lifted the white flag. He got up from his seat with a terrifying expression on his face and walked closer to Hans.
I put my hand on Hans’s head and tapped it.
“She’s asking me to say thank you. Thanks to that, we can punish the bad guys who try to harm the doll.”
“Ah…”
Hans exclaimed with a blank face, and then burst into tears with excitement.
It was as if he had been blessed by a saint.
“I will repay this favor somehow and die.”
‘I think he’s mentally ill.’
I was going to pat him on the head a few more times with a sad heart, but Declan turned his body right away, leaving me farther away.
When I stared at him with a puzzled face, he rubbed my hands against his clothes.
“What are you doing?”
“Dirty.”
At that, I looked at him in a bewildered way, yet he didn’t care and even wiped my hands.
“Mason, you take care of the rest.”
“Yes.”
“And, watch the guild chief thoroughly. Count Nolan might take his hand in advance.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve strengthened the boundaries and put a shadow next to the chief.”
Eventually, Declan left the prison that way and returned to his room. He laid a soft rug on the long table in front of the sofa and laid me down on it.
‘It has come.’
Just imagining the impending situation made me want to go into a mouse hole.
‘No matter how much I promised, I don’t think this is it.’
I slowly backed away as Declan pulled something out of the closet.
Just as I was about to jump, his big hand grabbed me.
“Are you going to run away now?”
“Haha… Me?”
I smiled awkwardly and shook my head.
“Isn’t that right? There’s no way you’re going to get out of here after making such crazy noises.”
“That’s right. It’s a promise I made with His Majesty, but of course, I have to keep it.”
Obviously, Declan was smiling, but my spine was strangely cool. Slowly lowering my gaze, I quickly straightened my posture.
‘Why do I make such a promise?’
“Now, since I brought the music box here, I can replace it with this music.”
He carefully wound the music box’s mainspring.
“As I said before, I can’t really dance.”
“I don’t have high expectations.”
“Then, shall we change to something else? The song is fine, though!”
At this point, I thought he wanted to, though Declan shook his head. “A lullaby that I listen to every day is enough. You don’t think you’re good at singing, do you?”
Thanks to that, he doesn’t even have nightmares.
I put on a sullen expression.
“Come on, don’t waste my time. Why don’t you do it soon?”
When Declan opened the lid of the music box, a gentle melody flowed out. Now, there was no way to escape and no place to retreat.
I let out a long sigh and raised my hands above my head.
And so, I started dancing, remembering the ballerinas I had seen on TV in my previous life. I awkwardly put my hands together and spread them out, and sometimes I turned around.
Declan, who leaned his upper body on the sofa, luckily didn’t laugh.
Instead, his gaze was quite hot.
Eventually, the music from the music box ended, and I also stopped dancing.
I don’t know in what spirit I was dancing with, but I wanted to sit down like this with the relief that it was over. More importantly, I just wanted to quickly hide under the blanket…
Realizing that Declan was so quiet that it was strange, I gently lifted my head.
“…!”
He was smiling, brighter than the noon sun.
Especially, those eyes… The eyes, which were always empty, were shining brightly with vitality.
I looked at him as if possessed.
“I’ve never seen such a cute dance before.”
The smile on his face was still vivid when he opened his mouth after a while.
“I can’t capture this image. It’s very unfortunate.”
He wanted to video my dancing… Just imagining it, my body trembled with embarrassment already.
“Thank you for putting on a good performance. This is in return.”
Declan’s face moved away with a click sound.
I was stunned, then realized what had just happened. I reflexively covered my forehead with both hands. Looking at me like that, he smiled brightly.
Though I couldn’t see him, so I lowered my hand and covered his face.
“Are you ashamed?”
Declan, holding me, sat me on his lap and made me face him.
“Why don’t you look at me?”
I still didn’t have the courage to look at his face…
“How can I make eye contact with you?”
There was a sense of playfulness in his voice.
“The man named Hans.”
Again, his smile widened as I raised my head to think of what else he would cause.
“Now, you’re looking at me.”
I coughed in embarrassment and spoke.
“What about Hans? You can’t kill him to cover his mouth.”
He told Hans that the story about the guardian angel is an absolute secret, but it was unknown whether it would be guaranteed.
Declan would be worried about that, too.
“You asked me to spare him, and you told him that, too, so he won’t be executed.”
As I stroked my chest, relieved by those words, Declan had a dissatisfied expression on his face. “You’re my doll, so why do you want to be the guardian angel of someone you don’t care about?”
“Yes…?”
“That’s right. To do that, you have to be my guardian angel.”
Hearing his words, I tilted my head as I looked at Declan, who looked quite unpleasant and resentful. It felt like a child’s tantrum, yet the grumpiness was surprisingly cute.
“I’m too busy protecting your Majesty. I don’t have the energy or interest to be someone else’s guardian angel.”
Declan looked satisfied with my answer.
‘He seems to be getting worse as well.’
He didn’t seem to care about Hans.
Well, I shouldn’t have let the two of them see each other?
“Is the child named Jay safe?”
“He’ll be staying at the Duchy of Buccleuch. It’ll be safe since he’ll be staying in the dormitory of the workers.”
Even Duke Otien would never touch the Duchy of Buccleuch.
“Then, if we just catch Count Nolan, it will be over.”
“You don’t have to worry about that, Mason will take care of it.”
Saying so, Declan stroked my hair.
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────