Home/The Duke's Revolution Is My Responsibility/ch 5

Chapter 5: Five Minutes to Chaos

"Borrow money? Suddenly?"

Karim questioned me without pausing her comforting gestures. Only her eyes honestly displayed her surprise. The accumulated affection of years barely tempered the momentary bewilderment.

"Yes, I will."

She seemed to think for just a moment, then answered without even asking how much I needed. She probably figured that whatever I borrowed couldn't be that much. And her attitude suggested the amount didn't matter anyway. She'd told me she'd liquidated all her assets when moving here, but clearly she had some savings stashed away.

So I decided to first explain why I needed the money and justify my request.

"Victor said he turned down another marriage proposal."

"Of course he did."

The moment Victor's name came up, Karim's response turned cold. I considered crying again, but my tear ducts seemed to have used up their yearly quota and refused to cooperate. Instead, I made my voice as dramatic as possible.

"Don't you know? Baron Hartland is going to send him to a sanatorium! Oh, poor Victor..."

But my plea fell on deaf ears. Karim pushed up her monocle and spoke.

"That man has been patient long enough. Considering he's treated Victor like a thorn in his side, he's kept him around all this time without selling him off. And he's covered those enormous medical bills too. Victor is almost of age for his coming-of-age ceremony—he should be pulling his own weight."

"Karim!"

My heartless teacher seemed to have completely forgotten that I'd been crying moments ago. She rose languidly, like a wilted seaweed, and glided toward the kitchen. She must have spotted the liquor and snacks I'd brought.

"Seeing how you've prepared both the letter and the bribe, this money must be for Victor."

Sharp as ever. Karim pulled out the bottles one by one with admiration. She surveyed the table laden with five types of cheese, crackers, fruit, and all her favorite finger foods with satisfaction before finally turning her attention back to my story.

Pop. The champagne cork flew off with a cheerful sound. Karim sniffed the bottle's mouth, then spoke.

"From the looks of it, this won't be a small sum. I'll need to hear how much you need first."

"You said you'd do it without even asking the amount!"

She poured the champagne into a glass, glug glug, and answered solemnly.

"That was then. This is now."

"I can't bear to watch Victor rot away in some sanatorium, mistreated for the rest of his life."

"Then close your eyes and don't watch."

"Are you going to keep making jokes?"

"I'm saying you can't get involved in every misfortune in the world."

Karim pushed a full glass of champagne toward me, then put the bottle to her lips and gulped down the liquor. According to her, champagne was just "juice." For someone who got drunk so easily, she was definitely one of the worse kind of alcoholics.

"Is this just 'misfortune'? This is the suffering of someone close to me, someone precious to me. Karim, if I were in that situation, would you just stand by with your hands in your pockets?"

Karim didn't answer, savoring the taste of the alcohol instead. I couldn't tell if she agreed or not, which was agonizing. Even bringing up myself hadn't moved her.

"I just want to do what I can."

"So, your 'what I can' amounts to begging from me?"

She wiped her mouth with her sleeve and said.

"You've grown enough to create your own unique artifact. If you were desperate, you could sell one to make a lump sum. Or you could have negotiated your wages with me. But instead of considering any of those options, you came straight to me with your hand out?"

I understood her point. As she said, I wasn't an apprentice anymore—I was a master craftsman. I'd passed the state-certified exam and held a license. I could create unique artifacts under my own name. If I mass-produced items in demand or took commissions from nobles, I could indeed make a tidy sum, just as Karim said.

But that money wouldn't come rolling in overnight. And I didn't have a single day to spare.

I fidgeted with my glass and spoke quietly.

"Victor is going to collapse soon. His condition has worsened. He keeps passing out, like someone with narcolepsy."

Of course, I'd stretched the truth a little. Victor wasn't so bad that he lost consciousness randomly. But one day, without warning, he would collapse. An incurable disease with no known cause or treatment—that was Baron Hartland's personal physician's diagnosis.

"If it happens when he's with me, that's still fortunate. But if the Baron sees him like that too many times, his life is truly over."

"So... you're saying you want to elope with him?"

Elope?

I waved my hands in horror, but Karim seemed serious. Her face, not yet flushed from the alcohol, looked quite earnest.

"You need to think this through, Ro. I value you a thousand times more than that frail creature."

"That's not what this is at all."

"It isn't?"

"It's more like a kidnapping than an elopement."

"A kidnapping?!"

I picked up a green apple rolling across the table and took a bite. The tart juice made my tongue pucker.

"I'm going to kidnap Victor and bring him here. Then, instead of that money-grubbing, incompetent baronial physician, I'll bring in a renowned doctor from the capital. Or maybe I'll find a priest with strong divine power."

Karim pulled her chair closer. A gesture that meant she was ready to seriously consider this together.

"If what you're saying is true, money isn't the real issue."

As expected. They say sharp people never show their hand in everyday life. Karim's eyes sparkled as she spoke.

"The renowned doctors and powerful priests in the capital are practically inaccessible to commoners. Now, Roana. I can practically hear the gears turning in your head."

"...I see."

"All you need is for me to help you 'truly.'"

I looked out at the small window on the kitchen wall. The pitch-black sky was studded with stars, and I thought I understood why people used stars as metaphors for hope. They seemed unusually bright tonight, and somehow, I felt like everything might just work out.

"Join me in the kidnapping. That's all I need."

---

The next night, Victor arrived as planned.

He seemed to have taken a carriage from the street, and he was paying the driver separately. Following my instructions, he appeared to have come alone, without any servants.

Karim and I peeked through the arched window above the door, whispering.

"What do you think? Should we offer him tea and drug him?"

"That sounds like something a villain would do."

"We're kidnapping him, so villainy fits."

"He walked here willingly, so it's voluntary kidnapping. Besides, this is for a good cause..."

"Even with good intentions, kidnapping is still kidnapping."

"You're remarkably self-aware."

While we bickered, Victor politely knocked on the door. Oblivious that the people inside were plotting his fate.

I opened the door and greeted him as brightly as possible.

"Victor, you're here!"

Even in this situation, Victor had brought a bulging satchel slung over his shoulder. It was so thick and angular that it was clearly stuffed with books. In a way, it was a wise choice. While we hid Victor and negotiated with the Baron, I couldn't guarantee I could keep him supplied with books. He grew thorns in his mouth if he went a single day without reading...

"What's going on, Ro?"

Unlike my feigned brightness, Victor's eyes were filled with genuine concern. Though we'd never explicitly agreed, our meetings had always been limited to bookstores in town or places outside Hartland's estate. He must have easily sensed something was different when I suddenly asked him to come to my workshop.

Karim closed the door behind her. She leaned against it awkwardly, like a soldier blocking the escape route—so stiff that I had to stifle a laugh.

"For now, why don't you go to my room and settle in?"

"Settle? I didn't bring any—"

"Oh, I can see you have a lot of books. You must have something I can borrow, right? Could you put them on my bed for me?"

I pushed Victor forward. Poor Victor was dragged along helplessly, but when we reached my door, he grabbed the frame and planted his feet firmly, his face flushed red as he desperately clung to it.

"H-how can I just go into your room...!"

"The door is open, and the owner has given permission. So you can go in, right?"

"Still, it's—no, just—wait—Ro...!"

I shoved him into my room and held the doorknob to keep him from coming out. There was a metallic click from inside, followed by a timid knock on the door. Then, after a moment, silence, as if he'd given up.

I waited a bit, then carefully released the knob and pressed my ear to the door. I heard rustling sounds. Good Victor seemed to be settling in as I'd asked. I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead and sighed in relief.

"Phew, done for now!"

"Really, you should stop saying such villainous things."

Karim shrugged theatrically.

"Now then, shall we continue planning for the future?"

---

Victor felt dizzy.

He'd known Roana for a long time, but he'd never once entered her room. And he'd never intended to! It was improper for an unrelated man to enter an unmarried woman's room, and more than anything, being alone in her room... he wasn't sure he could handle it. Victor couldn't be sure of his own endurance.

After all, he was a man. Unfortunately, Roana didn't seem to think of him that way.

After much ado, Victor had been pushed into Roana's room. He let out a long, heavy sigh. Then he opened his bag and began stacking books on the small wooden table.

In the Shadow of Atlantis, which he'd been reading recently, was a new release by the author of Atlantean Mythology, exploring the history of the Atlantean continent from a microscopic perspective. The Atlantean civilization had long since vanished, leaving only ruins, but there were many scholars on the continent of Butlen who studied it.

However, the Yervaiten Empire, perhaps due to the current emperor's legitimacy issues, tended to downplay history, leaving historians without proper patronage. Their research facilities were abysmal. Victor pulled out the rest of his books with a darkened expression.

He hadn't forgotten to bring the Luna Academy Kids series that Roana had shown interest in last time. Roana primarily read novels. Victor, on the other hand, preferred history and philosophy, but he'd started reading novels simply because Roana liked them. That was reason enough to start.

"Hmm, I really didn't bring any clothes..."

He didn't know if he'd be sleeping here, but he hadn't brought a change of clothes—that would make it look like he'd planned to stay. Victor paced between the bed and the desk, then carefully pulled out the desk chair and sat down. If he was given time alone to settle in... surely he could at least sit on the edge of the chair?

Roana's room was sparse.

Instead of portraits or landscapes, the walls were plastered with blueprints for artifacts she seemed to be working on. A massive world map was spread out beside them. Seeing it like this, even Butlen, the central continent, and Yervaiten within it, seemed insignificant.

Victor gathered his courage and stood up. He brushed the blueprints with his palm, sending dust flying. He chuckled, gently tapped a small decorative button with his fingertip, and gave the bedspread's tassel a slight tug. Should he sit down? Just a little.

But before his bottom could even touch the surface, a knock came from outside the window.

Not the door—the window.

He snapped to attention. A cheerful knock sounded again.

Tap, tap, tap.

Victor fumbled, barely managing to speak. He was so startled he couldn't form words properly.

"Wh-who..."

Roana must have locked the window, but the latch slid open as if it had never been locked. Like magic.

Bang!

Startled by the loudly opened window, Victor stumbled backward, ending up sitting on the bed. In his panic, he fumbled across the blanket and grabbed a pillow.

And no wonder—a tall man in a dark purple hood, still wearing his boots, leaped through the window into the room. The man looked at Victor, who held the pillow like a shield against his chest, frozen and unable even to scream, and casually removed his hood.

A perfectly sculpted, flawlessly handsome face was revealed.

"I came to see the owner of this room."

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