The one who stopped the person harassing me was the Duke.
"What is this impertinent behavior during a private meeting?"
At the stern voice, Derek's eyes wavered for a moment. I, too, regained my composure from the confusion.
Derek released my shoulders, which he had been gripping tightly, and took a step back. Then he bowed to the Duke.
"…I apologize, Father."
My shoulders, which had been released, felt numb. I stroked my arm, which had been held, and watched him.
'What, why isn't he leaving?'
Derek stood firmly beside the Duke's desk, looking at me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The Duke also looked at him curiously but remained unmoved. It was clear that he intended to listen to everything I had to say.
'Sigh… Now I have to deal with two bosses…'
I sighed deeply in my heart.
"…Ahem. Yes. I understand what you're saying, Penelope."
The Duke cleared his throat and tried to bring the situation under control.
Fortunately, the excuse I had prepared seemed to be convincing enough.
While I was relieved, he pointed out another issue.
"But if you bought him, you could have just released him. Why did you bring him to the house?"
"Eclis is exceptionally skilled in martial arts, Father. That's why I had to pay such an unreasonable price."
I smoothly delivered the prepared words.
"I want you to take Eclis as a squire. He seems to be very useful."
"A squire in our family?"
"Yes. It would be better to have him learn swordsmanship formally rather than let his talent go to waste as just an employee."
"Listening to you, you seem to have no sense of propriety."
At that moment, Derek abruptly interrupted, cutting off my words sharply.
"There are plenty of people who consider it an honor to work for the Duke's family just for the jobs we provide."
"…"
"Besides, why would you teach swordsmanship to a mere slave from a defeated country?"
When I looked at the Duke, he also seemed to agree to some extent.
'Ah, why isn't this guy leaving the room?'
I suppressed the rising fatigue and answered in a seemingly casual voice.
"I want to use him as my personal bodyguard."
"…Personal bodyguard?"
"You can't walk around alone without a bodyguard forever, can you?"
At my calm tone, the Duke looked surprised and asked.
"Why don't you have a bodyguard? There are over 20,000 knights in the Duke's territory."
"I know very well that my reputation among them is not good, Father."
"…"
"That's why you haven't assigned me a bodyguard, right?"
Derek and the Duke were momentarily speechless.
Noble daughters are typically assigned about five or six bodyguards.
The more powerful the family, the more bodyguards they have, to ensure the safety of the protected person without any gaps.
However, when I asked Emily after hearing Leonard's words, I learned that Penelope had never been assigned a bodyguard.
At most, when she went out, knights who were not busy would take turns.
'How bad must her reputation be? Or how little value did they see in her?'
I had guessed it to some extent, but the Duke and Derek, who were now speechless, confirmed it.
"…I don't want to entrust my safety to people who don't want to protect me."
"…"
"But there's no guarantee that something like today won't happen again after I leave home."
"Leave home?!"
Both of them almost shouted at the same time.
"What do you mean? Leave home?"
The Duke asked urgently.
"Exactly. I'm an adult now."
After a moment of wide-eyed surprise, I shrugged and said.
"At least let me choose my own bodyguard for my safety. Please, Father, Brother."
I bowed to them and pleaded. With my gentle tone, they couldn't refuse.
'It's almost impossible, anyway.'
After all, today's incident wasn't entirely my fault.
It was a huge problem that no one followed the lady of the house to ensure her safety.
Especially in a family that wielded significant power in the country.
In fact, I didn't really need a bodyguard.
I just needed a reason to keep Eclis in the mansion.
"First of all…"
The Duke finally spoke, after a moment of contemplation.
"Alright. You must have been shocked. Go and rest. I'll tell the doctor to visit you after you wake up."
"Yes, Father."
I didn't need to see a doctor since I wasn't injured, but I answered politely.
Then I bowed and tried to leave the office quickly.
"Derek, stay for a moment."
Just as I was about to leave, the Duke firmly added.
Click. I saw Derek, who seemed to be about to follow me, standing right by the door.
'Oh, why is this guy like this?'
My heart sank, and I quickly closed the door.
What more did he want to scold me for when the conversation was already over?
"Ha…"
Fortunately, the door didn't open again. I finally let out a sigh of relief.
At that moment, a white square window appeared in front of my eyes.
〈SYSTEM〉 [Derek] and [Festival Sightseeing] Quest Failed!
Do you want to try again?
(Reward: Derek's Affection +3% and others.)
[Accept / Decline]
'No way. No, no!'
There was still plenty of time left in the festival.
But I shuddered and repeatedly tapped 'Decline.'
As I glared at the disappearing square window, a wave of frustration rose.
'And why did it fail? We went out and saw the festival together!'
Just going out with them was a big deal, so what was wrong with this damn game system?
Since Derek failed, Leonard would probably have failed too.
'Whatever. I got 3% anyway.'
Unable to contain my anger, I gritted my teeth and thought of Derek's black hair.
[Affection 13%]
Even though the quest failed, his affection had increased by the reward amount.
'As expected. The strategy is to avoid these brothers.'
I reaffirmed my resolve to avoid them thoroughly and walked to the central staircase.
However, I had barely made the resolution when I encountered one of my targets.
"Hey. Are you deaf? Why aren't you answering? Where are you from?"
At the bottom of the stairs, Leonard was poking Eclis, who was standing there, and Emily was fidgeting beside him.
I frowned and quickly approached them.
"What are you doing?"
At my voice, Leonard turned his head.
[Affection 10%]
I noticed his head, which had changed like Derek's, which I hadn't seen earlier.
"What's this guy?"
Instead of answering my question, he poked Eclis again.
I looked back and forth between [Affection 10%] and [Affection 18%].
My choice was naturally the latter.
"Come here, Eclis."
Eclis, who had been standing silently without responding to Leonard, moved like lightning at my words.
He came to stand right behind me, where I pointed.
"Huh?"
Leonard's face twisted, and he let out a frustrated sigh.
"Didn't you hear Emily? He's going to be my personal bodyguard."
"Personal bodyguard? You're using a slave as a bodyguard?"
"Yep."
"Did this girl run away and pick up some nonsense? Are you planning to go all the way with your bad reputation now?"
"I said I didn't run away."
I snapped at him and turned around. I was almost about to faint.
"I'm tired. Let's talk another time."
But before I could take a step, my path was blocked.
"Where are you going? I'm not done talking."
At that moment, Eclis flinched. It was probably because of Leonard's fierce face and the menacing aura behind him.
I put a hand in front of him.
I couldn't let him be driven away after bringing him to the Duke's mansion for less than an hour.
"Leonard."
I called Leonard, suppressing my irritation with a sigh.
"What do you need a bodyguard for? You're always stuck in your room."
"I need one now. I don't want something like yesterday to happen again."
"Then use one of the many knights out there!"
"I don't need knights who look down on their masters so much that their insults could fill ten books."
"…"
Leonard's reaction was the same. Like the Duke and Derek, his mouth was tightly shut as if it had been glued.
"How much effort would such people put into protecting me?"
In other words, you're no different.
You knew about the knights who disrespected the noble lady but did nothing to maintain discipline.
You might have even encouraged them to insult me more.
His trembling blue eyes. Leonard, who couldn't find the right words, finally came up with an excuse.
"Penelope, that's just…"
"If you're going to say it's a joke, don't say it at all. This time, I was lucky to come back, but if something like yesterday happens again, I'll be…"
"…"
"If Eclis hadn't been there, I would have wandered the streets stupidly and been raped, Leonard."
At my words, Leonard's face turned pale. He looked like he was being strangled.