When I finally arrived at the duke's residence with Eclis, it was already dawn.
The butler and Emily, who had noticed me walking from a distance, turned pale and rushed over.
"Miss Penelope. What on earth...!"
"Where on earth were you last night!"
Emily, taking over for the speechless butler, asked as if screaming.
From their reactions, I instinctively knew that sneaking in with Eclis was a failure.
"...Does Father know too?"
"Of course! The young masters have been leading the knights to search for you all night, and just before dawn, the slave traders turned the mansion upside down!"
I clutched my forehead at Emily's words.
The slave trader, who had been skeptical of my identity, had come to claim his payment as soon as it was light. And he arrived before me.
Moreover, in a situation where I should have been discreet, Derrick and Leonard had caused a commotion.
‘Crazy... I shouldn’t have brought those guys along.’
I groaned, and Emily jumped, pushing me into the gate.
"Come in quickly, Miss. Hurry!"
"Miss. Who is this person?"
The butler blocked Eclis, who had naturally followed closely behind me as I entered the mansion.
"He will be my dedicated bodyguard from now on. Prepare a suitable room for him and make sure he can rest."
"Ah, Miss! What...!"
He scrutinized the injured and ragged Eclis with disgust.
"That's impossible, Miss! How can we bring someone of unknown identity into the mansion...!"
"Butler. After a few days, my words already sound ridiculous to you."
I was extremely tired after spending the night at the slave auction.
I wanted to go straight to my room and throw myself onto the bed, but there was a mountain of things to resolve. I had no time to deal with the staff leisurely.
"Please take care of Eclis so he can stay. I'm asking you."
"...I understand, Miss."
The butler bowed reluctantly.
The next step was a threat. Fortunately, no further trouble occurred.
As we quickly entered the mansion's entrance with them,
"Hey! You...!"
Leonard, who had been pacing anxiously in front of the entrance, was the first to recognize me.
At his voice, the duke, who had been sitting, jumped up.
"Penelope!"
"...Father."
I involuntarily flinched under the duke's stern gaze.
Seeing my reaction, the duke, about to roar like Leonard, held back. Instead,
"...Come to my study immediately."
The duke's back, disappearing into the study with a cold breeze, made me sigh deeply.
‘Sigh. How am I supposed to beg now?’
What a hardship to get this Eclis.
Feeling a sudden resentment, I turned sharply to him, but then I saw the grayish-brown hair and my anger cooled.
[Goodwill 18%]
I had to endure. He was my only way out, after all.
Afraid of causing unnecessary trouble, I quickly told Eclis.
"Follow the butler where? What kind of place is this to bring in!"
Leonard, showing a face full of things to say, snapped irritably.
However, perhaps because I had to go to the duke, he didn't press the matter and grumbled.
It was the same for Eclis. After silently looking at me, he moved his lips.
"Come on, be good."
He seemed to have something to say, but I firmly blocked him. There was no time for that now.
I handed the mask I was holding to Emily and hurriedly followed the duke.
Click, as soon as I opened the study door and entered, a cold voice pierced me mercilessly.
"Penelope Ecart."
"Yes, Father."
I approached and stood politely before him. The duke was sitting with his back to the desk.
"Explain everything from the beginning."
The heavy tone of the duke made me shiver.
I couldn't see his expression, so I was unsure if I could resolve this situation as I had before.
The reputation I had built by improving my relationship with the duke didn't matter if it fell.
But I was worried that his influence might affect the goodwill I had painstakingly built with the two brothers.
After much deliberation in a short time, I decided to use the method that had worked before.
"...I'm sorry for leaving without a word, Father."
"That's the most common thing I've been hearing from you lately."
However, while it worked twice, it didn't work a third time.
I was speechless at the duke's immediate outburst.
"Your apologies are just words; you rarely show genuine remorse. What do you think about that?"
"That's... "
Biting my lip, I hastily brought up what the duke had been most concerned about with the previous Penelope.
"I swear I didn't do anything to disgrace the family, Father."
"That's not why I waited all night!"
Bang! The duke, who had been listening to me, suddenly slammed his armrest in anger.
"Ah..."
I took a small breath.
The duke, who had always been indifferent to Penelope, was a sight I had never seen in the game, making me suddenly fearful.
‘What should I do!’
I was completely flustered.
Just like with the previous prince, I thought I could easily get away with a superficial apology, but perhaps that was a miscalculation.
"Let's get to the point, Penelope Ecart. Why did the duke's daughter venture out alone at night without a bodyguard?"
As I stood in fear, unable to speak, the duke took a deep breath.
Then, in a somewhat gentler tone, he asked,
"What about the vulgar men who stormed the mansion this morning? What happened last night?"
I sighed silently.
Given the duke's attitude, it was meaningless to beg for forgiveness further.
"...I wanted to see the festival streets, so I sneaked out."
"Why did you choose to sneak out at night instead of during the day? And if you really wanted to go out, why didn't you ask for permission!"
"I thought you wouldn't allow it."
"...What?"
"You said I couldn't go out casually unless it was an official event."
It was true. It was the reason I had searched for a way out, even looking through rat holes, to save Eclis.
In the game, Penelope's background was almost entirely limited to the duke's mansion or ballrooms.
Although the details weren't specified, I noticed immediately upon returning here.
Penelope's life itself was almost like being under house arrest.
To prevent her from getting into trouble, she was confined to the mansion except for attending invitations in her name.
As a result, even the dedicated bodyguards typically assigned to noble young ladies did not exist.
It would have been an unnecessary waste of manpower.
"..."
The duke was silent for a moment.
After a long pause, he urged me in a low, restrained voice.
"...So."
"I ran into my brothers on the way out. At first, they tried to stop me, but I begged so much that they eventually agreed to go with me. I couldn't wake the family's knights just to have one bodyguard."
"..."
"We were enjoying the festival together when we got caught up in a parade and separated from my brothers. While wandering through a dark alley, I encountered a low-quality noble and almost got into serious trouble."
"...What, what!"
At that moment, the duke jumped up from his chair.
"Who is this man! Who dares to...!"
"I, I was too flustered to know who he was."
I was surprised by his unexpectedly intense reaction. The duke's burning eyes seemed to demand an immediate answer.
"Only that he was called something like Clouy..."
"Clouy, Clouy, you say."
I tried to gloss over it with the pig, but the duke repeated the name "Clouy" several times as if trying to engrave it in his mind.
Seeing him mutter darkly even as he sat back down, I felt a chill.
Afraid that something might go wrong, I quickly changed the subject.
"At that moment, Eclis, who was passing by, helped me."
"...Eclis? You mean the person you brought?"
"Yes. Eclis was escaping from the slave auction and was on the run."
The duke's brow furrowed unpleasantly at the mention of a slave. I quickly added,
"He is of noble birth from a defeated country."
Only then did the duke's expression soften. I felt a sense of relief.
"Eclis was caught by the slave traders who were chasing him while helping me. Fortunately, I had a blank check from Father and a button from Brother Derrick, so I bought him at the auction."
"100 million gold each?"
"I couldn't ignore my savior."
Although the story was very different from the actual events, Eclis was indeed my "savior."
More accurately, he was going to be.
"You didn't give me a blank check just to buy a slave."
The duke's voice was icy, barely containing his anger.
- How many dresses did you plan to buy with a blank check?
I could vividly recall his cheerful voice as he handed me the check.
But if my story was true, there was no choice.
"Because of me, he failed to escape and was caught and taken back to the auction."
"..."
"Even animals repay kindness. How could I, bearing the name Ecart, ignore a savior in distress...?"
At that moment,
Bang! The door to the duke's study burst open.
And who appeared was...
"Where the hell...!"
Derrick, drenched in sweat and pale, stormed into the study.
"Where the hell were you hiding?"
He glared at me with a terrifying face and strode into the study.
"O, Brother."
I was inwardly flustered, looking at the duke for cues.
But he seemed to see nothing.
"I searched everywhere in the capital all night. I even scoured the red-light district! I was afraid you might have been kidnapped by human traffickers!"
"..."
"That's why you...!"
Derrick, who had rushed over, grabbed my shoulders with both hands and glared at me as if he was about to eat me.
I had never seen him make such a face.
Moreover, seeing the number above his head made me even more stunned.
[Goodwill 13%]
‘What is going on here?’
I recalled the last face I saw when his sleeve button was torn off.
- Penelope!
The urgent face as he tried to grab me as I was being taken away.
Derrick hated and despised Penelope. How else could his goodwill decrease just by calling him "Brother"?
That's why I had never considered the Derrick route since coming here.
I was just relieved if his goodwill didn't turn negative.
That's why I never thought about how his last face when he lost me was different from usual.
‘...But why?’
I stared blankly at Derrick's face and the number above his head, forgetting about the duke.
Why are you, of all people, making such a desperate face?