“...”

‘N-No, I didn’t do it on purpose! I swear! I swear...’

Panic suffused me in an instant. I reflexively stumbled backward while waving my hands, only to hear something else tumble to the floor behind me. Then I heard a loud crunch. Apparently, I had stepped on something, too. As a result, I nearly lost my balance and crashed into the display cabinet behind me.

‘Wait... this really wasn’t intentional... damn it...’

The horrified looks on the retainers’ faces only made it harder to stay calm. Everyone was staring at me. Yongwol, who’d been standing there blankly looking at the shattered remains of Jin Young’s belongings, had somehow progressed to openly glaring at me.

Honestly, she looked ready to stab me. It wasn’t just her either. Several of the retainers were already glaring at me with outright hostility. I had been carrying myself like the confident new lady of the house, but even I couldn’t stay composed here.

‘S-Shit...’

This was one of those situations where not caring about other people’s reactions simply wasn’t an option.

‘Why the hell was that thing even here in the first place?’

To be fair, it wasn’t actually strange that Jin Young’s belongings ended up scattered throughout the estate. After Jin Young's death, the Republic formally requested that his keepsakes be returned to them.

Of course, most of Jin Young’s possessions technically belonged to me in the first place, so I just dug up some old items from storage and sent them over with an appropriately mournful message attached.

Naturally, most of them had been items with a strong Eastern aesthetic, the kind Commander Jin would appreciate. Some were trivial knickknacks, while others were expensive decorations or high-grade artifacts. Since the Republic would probably inspect them personally, I put some effort into the selection.

In short, they weren’t really my taste, but they were all expensive enough to fit naturally into Commander Jin’s estate.

‘But who the hell would actually decorate their house with them?’

I had assumed they were buried with Jin Young or rotting away forgotten in some storage room somewhere. How was I supposed to know that they’d be displayed all over Commander Jin’s residence like this?

“...”

“...”

‘Play dumb. Just play dumb.’

“O-Oh dear... looks like I made a little mistake,” I said.

‘Why the hell did I say "oh dear" as if I were some overacting soap opera actress? Shit.’

I was normally good at this, but I ended up failing at the worst possible moment. To anyone listening, it probably sounded like I had intentionally caused a scene and was now shamelessly pretending otherwise.

“...”

“...”

Commander Jin was staring at me as if I were hopelessly pathetic; he was probably thinking the exact same thing as me. The funny part was that this bastard didn’t even seem to realize that those were Jin Young’s belongings.

He looked more like someone watching their pet cat casually knock things off a shelf. At his reaction, I suddenly understood exactly how all these items had ended up here in the first place.

‘You people seriously brought all this stuff in here yourselves without even asking Commander Jin first, didn’t you?’

Knowing Commander Jin’s personality, the moment he received Jin Young’s belongings from me, he would probably toss them into storage without a second thought. The retainers had to have been the ones managing them afterward.

Most likely, Yongwol and the others had gone overboard trying to show their loyalty and ended up placing Jin Young’s keepsakes all around the estate to ease Commander Jin’s loneliness or lingering grief.

Honestly, it was a little surprising that Commander Jin hadn’t personally interfered with the interior decorations at all, but he had probably left them alone simply because they didn’t look particularly bad to him.

The retainers had to have mistaken his silence for approval.

‘Exactly. Which means this is technically your fault, not mine.’

“Wh-What do you think you’re doing?!” someone suddenly screamed.

‘W-wait, what? Are you seriously talking to me like that?’

Yongwol had unconsciously screamed at me.

‘Excuse me, Miss Yongwol? Hello? I’m the Saint of Sacrifice and Revival here. The number two of this entire palace, remember?’

She rushed toward me in such a panic that I instinctively stepped aside without even realizing it.

“A-Ahhh... what do we do... what do we do now... hng... huuuugh...” Yongwol cried.

She dropped to the floor and gathered the shattered fragments with her bare hands while cutting herself up in the process. Watching her desperately collect the pieces almost looked like she was trying to rebuild a collapsed sandcastle.

It was weirdly pitiful. The way she sobbed made her look like a turtle that had lost its shell, and it only made me feel even guiltier.

‘But seriously... was it really that precious?’

“What are we supposed to do now... hng... huuuugh...” Yongwol muttered. Even the retainers standing behind her looked like they were barely holding back tears.

‘Seriously, what is wrong with all of you? Did any of you even meet Jin Young before? Aren’t you getting way too emotionally invested here?’

I could feel Yongwol glaring at me with venom in her gaze. Though honestly, from her perspective, I was probably the villain here. Still, her gaze was enough to make me shrink back a little.

“How could you touch someone else’s things so carelessly?! Hng... huuuugh...” she shouted.

“N-No, I mean... I-I can compensate for it...” I muttered.

“This isn’t something that can simply be replaced!” she yelled out.

‘P-please stop yelling. Ha-Yan’s getting angry, and if Ha-Yan gets angry, it won’t just be Jin Young’s keepsake getting destroyed... the entire mansion’s going to disappear. I’ll apologize directly to the owner myself.’

I could confidently say that this was the loudest Yongwol had ever shouted since coming to this estate. Meanwhile, Kim Hyun-Sung, completely oblivious, was over there asking Wanggang, “How much is that item worth exactly? I’ll pay for the damages.”

Jung Ha-Yan turned to Han Sora and muttered, “S-Seriously, they’re making this a way too big of a deal over something broken... right, Sora?”

Only Han Sora seemed to have realized that the situation was spiraling badly, and she was desperately trying to stop Jung Ha-Yan from jumping in to defend me.

‘These people are all actually insane.’

At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if the retainers of this estate developed a lifelong hatred for the Blue Guild. Ironically, Commander Jin was the most shocked out of everyone else.

“???”

“Heung... heugh...”

“???”

Commander Jin looked completely unable to understand what had suddenly gotten into Yongwol. This was unlike him, but he genuinely looked like his brain had stopped working for a second.

‘Looks like he’s seriously thrown off.’

He had only reprimanded Yongwol earlier, and since he obviously had no idea that those were Jin Young’s keepsakes, he probably just saw this sight as Yongwol suddenly losing her mind.

If anything, he looked irritated. Not at me, but at his retainers for behaving rudely toward his guest.

“Hng... huuuugh... hng...” Yongwol sobbed.

“...”

“What are we supposed to do now...” she mumbled.

What stood out most, though, was that Yongwol kept looking toward Commander Jin, like she was silently asking him, "Are you really going to let this go? Are you seriously going to let these arrogant guests off the hook, Commander?"

Then she shot another furious glare at me, as if she had already decided that I was doomed.

‘So you’re the second-in-command.’

I suddenly realized that before I showed up today, Yongwol had probably been the one effectively running this entire household. Otherwise, there was no way she’d dare raise her voice like that.

Naturally, my brain pieced together an entire romance novel around her.

Yongwol, the retainer, was secretly in love with the master of the estate. The overall story practically wrote itself. Little by little, she comforted Commander Jin, who was grieving upon losing his loved ones. Although buried in grief and unable to open his heart to anyone after losing both his wife and son, Commander Jin slowly healed, thanks to Yongwol’s quiet devotion.

She would bring him tea every morning and daily reports about the estate. The two of them shared brief but precious moments until she inevitably harbored feelings she wasn't supposed to harbor toward him.

I believed her rank was already pretty high among the retainers, and the others likely respected her without even realizing it themselves. Honestly, they had already quietly accepted that one day, she would become the mistress of this absurd palace.

There was even a good chance that decorating the estate with Jin Young’s keepsakes had been her idea in the first place.

From my perspective, she weirdly fit the role of some calculating villainess, but watching her behavior more closely, she didn’t actually seem that type at all.

More than anything, she just looked sincere, like someone whose genuine feelings for Commander Jin had naturally grown stronger while being quietly encouraged by everyone around her.

Honestly, she seemed like the kind of girl who would blush bright red like an old-school shoujo manga heroine if Commander Jin so much as patted her once. Her yelling at me was probably just her emotions exploding past the limits. Unfortunately for her, though...

‘Commander Jin has absolutely no interest in you.’

No, more accurately, the man had no interest in humanity in general. There was no way that man could ever truly love someone.

The only beings I had ever seen him show affection toward were those absurd versions of Loti—Cute Loti, Genius Loti, Cheerful Loti, Righteous Thief Loti, and whatever the hell those other versions were supposed to be.

I had no idea what kinds of memories Yongwol thought she had built with him, or what she believed she had done to heal his wounded heart, but sadly, there was a high chance that all of those existed only in her own imagination.

From Commander Jin’s perspective, this probably looked like nothing more than a retainer overstepping her boundaries and causing a scene in front of a guest.

‘Damn it... Now I just feel bad for her.’

“...”

Naturally, there was only one possible ending for a story like this.

“Haa...” Commander Jin sighed.

“...”

“What exactly do you think you’re doing, Yongwol?” he asked.

Tragedy. Nothing but tragedy.

“...”

“...”

“Pardon?” Yongwol asked.

“I asked why you’re showing disrespect to my guest right now,” he said.

“...”

“Did I not warn you earlier? It seems my words meant very little to you,” he said.

“C-Commander... b-but...”

The only thing waiting for her was the coldness in his eyes. Even now, the scheming-retainer instincts buried deep in my soul were screaming at me to stand proudly beside Commander Jin and silently inform her of the difference between her place and mine, but this time, even I knew that this was my fault.

Honestly, knowing exactly how ruthless Commander Jin could be, I couldn’t help but worry about what was about to happen to her.

‘This guy literally sees people as monkeys. You can’t go crossing lines with someone like him. He’ll seriously throw you out of the estate...’

“Commander, please... just hear me out once...” she begged.

“Quiet, Yongwol. The only reason I haven’t severed your arm where you stand is that...” he said, trailing off.

‘Wait, he cuts off arms, too? Though honestly, this is the same bastard who threatened to cut off fingers over losing games.’

“...I haven’t forgotten the loyalty you’ve shown me over the years,” he added.

‘O-Oh, so there's at least some affection there.’

“You’ve made me deeply ashamed today, Yongwol,” he said.

“...”

“Ashamed enough that I can hardly face my guest,” he added.

“Hng... heuk...” she sobbed.

‘D-Don’t do this. Seriously. Don’t. Yongwol’s a good person... I saw it myself.’

At that point, I had no choice but to whisper to Commander Jin, “Take it easy, damn it. Those were probably keepsakes from your eldest son.”

“...”

“I touched them because I thought they were mine, but I ended up breaking them accidentally. Your retainers had probably put them around the estate to cheer you up or something...” I added.

“...”

“A-Anyway, just calm down already,” I said.

“...”

Just then, Commander Jin gnashed his teeth and gently pushed me to the side. I thought he already knew, but judging by his reaction, he genuinely had no idea that those items were Jin Young’s. He reacted like someone who had suddenly realized that there was filth smeared all over his own house.

‘Huh? W-Wait... this isn’t what I meant...’

He walked over to another one of Jin Young’s keepsakes. Without hesitation, he grabbed it and hurled it to the floor.

Crash!

Silence swallowed the room, then...

“Wanggang,” Commander Jin said.

“Y-Yes, sir,” Wanggang answered.

“Throw all of them away,” he ordered.

“?”

“I distinctly remember telling you to dispose of every last one of these,” he added.

“A-At once!” she answered.

‘W-What the hell is at once, and why are you throwing them away right now?!’

'And why? Why are you kneeling in front of me instead of him?'

For some reason, Wanggang was now facing me instead of Commander Jin.