Catherine had only one thing to say to that.

“No, thank you.”

The man let out a dry laugh. He looked very strange laughing with just his mouth and not moving a muscle.

“Don’t you hear frightening sounds at night?”

“No, I don’t.”

“What about strange visions?”

“None.”

“Nightmares?”

“Not at all.”

She hadn’t intended to give him such brusque answers, but what else could she say when she had found no problems with the house? She’d answered truthfully, but the man still looked dubious. Catherine pondered the meaning of these questions as she raised her teacup to her lips.

“Come to think of it,” she murmured, “the realtor said something similar...”

“And yet you still bought this house?”

“Yes. I didn’t think any of that would be a problem for me.” Catherine felt odd answering all these bizarre questions one after another. “Did you get the answer you were hoping for? If so, I hope you’ll be on your way now.”

Rather than stand up to leave, the man simply leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, looking rather unsatisfied.

“Hmm.”

“Um, hello?”

He appeared to have fallen deep into thought. As if it wasn’t enough to invade someone’s home and drink their tea, now he was ignoring the homeowner. The laws of common sense didn’t seem to apply to this man.

Catherine knew this sort of person very well. Since he made no move to leave when she told him to, it’d be best to wait until he decided he was ready to go. She retrieved a book from the kitchen and opened it. It was A Guide to the Christopher Duchy, which she had started reading as she waited for her food to finish cooking.

She had no idea how long she sat reading. Whenever she looked up from her book, she saw the man staring at her. He was tall and very well-built. With his flawless silver hair and eyes like the summer sea, his face gave off an impression of elegance and sensitivity. Catherine couldn’t believe that such a person existed.

However, his mouth was currently pressed into a line, which made him look rather bleak, and yet he seemed far more dignified than any bored noble Catherine had seen at a ball. His appearance stood in sharp contrast to his ungentlemanly manner of speaking. For some reason, she also found it difficult to look too long into his eyes. Catherine carefully lowered her gaze back to her book. As if waiting for that, the man finally spoke.

“All right. That’ll be all for today.”

It seemed he had decided on something. Perhaps he was all done asking if she wanted to move and interrogating her about problems with the manor. However, Catherine didn’t like him hinting that he’d be back again. She closed her book and said, “Says who? I was nice to you today, but if I see you around here one more time, I will report you.”

The man rose slowly, not seeming to hear her, and searched the inside pocket of his suit jacket. Catherine had been so distracted by his face that she only now noticed how well-dressed he was.

In sharp contrast to his appearance during their first encounter, he wore a gray three-piece suit that was fully buttoned this time. Behavior aside, he had the appearance of a high-ranking noble. After digging through his pocket for a moment, he produced a single crumpled bill, which he placed on the table as he smiled at Catherine.

“This is for the tea,” he said before turning and disappearing.

“Hah.”

The arrogance of this man! Was this what men were like in the city? Attractive men living in a big city like Christopher were probably all looks and no substance, Catherine decided. She stomped over to the chair where the man had been sitting and picked up the bill, ready to learn how much city boys paid for their tea. Her mouth fell open.

“A hundred rieds...?

That was enough to hire six maids for a month. Catherine tucked the bill away into a bookshelf. She didn’t want to waste money given to her by someone else, especially not a sum like that.

As the days passed, Catherine kept an eye on her kitchen and front gate, sure that the man would appear and start spouting nonsense again. She didn’t think it was very important, and yet she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him.

Four days later, he still hadn’t returned, but rather than feel relieved, this only made Catherine nervous. Why am I like this?

It was because of the hundred rieds. Five days had passed since the man’s visit. Catherine was on her way home from buying ingredients to make stew for dinner, when she saw a crowd gathered around a notice board in a plaza at the center of town.

“Has the emperor passed away or something?” she murmured to herself.

On the board, she found someone had tacked up a bold headline from a local newspaper: “After Two-Year-Long Journey, Grand Duke Chezare Fulfills Imperial Order.”

Wide-eyed, Catherine pressed closer and stared at the picture printed on the front page of the paper. She knew that face. There was no mistaking it. If she could believe her eyes, the bespectacled grand duke shown in the newspaper was the man who’d given her the hundred rieds.

Catherine was positive. This was the home invader who had tossed her a fortune for a cup of tea. Was this some kind of joke?

“No...” she said to herself. “His cheekbones are a bit different. The grand duke is certainly handsome, but the intruder was more attractive. His eyes were colder, and with his mouth closed, he looked more—”

“Haha! What an interesting description you’ve given there, miss. It’s almost as if you’ve seen His Grace in person.”

Catherine turned to look at the middle-aged man who had suddenly appeared beside her. As their eyes met, he tipped his hat.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, miss. I heard you’re the new owner of the manor up on the hill. It must be difficult for a young lady living alone. Do you need help with anything? Fixing that building will be a large undertaking.”

“Who are you?” Catherine asked.

“Ah! Where are my manners? At my age, one forgets these things sometimes... I’m the head safety officer for the north of Christopher, Mel Pervache.”

The man bowed slightly with a smile. One would expect the head safety officer to be a tall, muscular fellow, but Sir Mel had the manners of an aristocrat. People in the city certainly were different.

“Thank you for your kind offer,” Catherine replied with sincere gratitude, “but I’m doing all right on my own.”

“I’ve heard that there are lights on late at night at your manor.”

“That’s because the building is so big. I’ve been cleaning for days, but I’m not even halfway done.”

Once she finished lunch that day, she planned to tackle the third and fourth floors. She only had a tiny amount of money to her name, so she kept all the furniture she could, which only gave her more to clean. On top of that, the building still didn’t have electricity, so she couldn’t do much after sunset.

“I don’t know much about government affairs,” Catherine said, “but what is this imperial order that His Grace completed?”

“Oh-ho, you haven’t heard? Why, he did nothing short of bringing justice to the evil dragon Guarsalof!”

Said evil dragon had burned down an entire small kingdom to the south of the empire and devoured its whole royal family. Did this mean that her house intruder had brought this horrible dragon to justice? It would be easier to believe in a talking cat.

“Did you say Guarsalof? That Guarsalof that commands the southern mountains?”

Sir Mel replied as proudly as if he himself were Grand Duke Christopher, “No dragon is a match for His Grace. He’s the only sorcerer able to rival His Majesty. His Grace is also the reason the people of Christopher are able to sleep well at night.”

This didn’t make any sense. He was a sorcerer powerful enough to take down a dragon? Catherine thought of the intruder who had created magical light as if it were nothing.

A sorcerer, huh? Then it must be him. Does this mean I told the grand duke to mop my floor? Catherine’s face turned a bit green. She had stuffed this man’s magical light in her basement and had been well on her way to forgetting his existence. Whether he was a home invader or not, it turned out that she was the one who didn’t know her place.

Damn it. If she’d known all this, she would have held her tongue and politely sent him off. Catherine was filled with belated regret. It sounds like he’s been busy the past few days, so he’s probably forgotten about what happened. As the grand duke, he must have more important things to worry about.

Catherine let out a forced laugh and walked away with heavy steps. Would she be kicked out of Christopher before she could even finish cleaning?

After trudging home, Catherine set about preparing lunch, though her shoulders drooped the entire time. However, her mood soon improved, perhaps thanks to the beef she’d worked up the nerve to buy.

Grand Duke Christopher…

Maybe he had a secret twin brother or something. Or perhaps the man was jealous of the grand duke’s appearance and used magic to imitate him? Either way, it was a bizarre situation. Catherine continued contemplating the man’s identity and resumed cleaning the manor. As the sun began to set, she dragged her exhausted body into the dreary garden. There, she set down a can of food, and a street cat, her only visitor, came running.

“Haa. When am I ever going to get around to fixing up the garden?”

There were the hundred rieds. With that money, she could hire a gardener to make the place really shine. As she debated with herself, Catherine watched the cat peacefully enjoying its meal.

“It must be nice to be you. You don’t have to worry about money or taking care of a house.”

Then, abruptly, she heard a loud explosion. A cloud of dust rained down so thickly around Catherine that she couldn’t see in front of her. It happened so suddenly that the startled cat puffed up in alarm and scurried off. Catherine jolted and turned to look at the manor. She screamed internally at what she saw.

Am I dreaming? The right wing of her home had fallen in and was spewing gray smoke.

“You dare interrupt my summoning? I shall tear you limb from limb!” cried a terrifying voice. Catherine turned to gape at the inside of her crumbling abode to find a huge monster with the head of a goat thrusting his chest out as he cackled. Even from where she stood, she could feel a terrifying force coming off of the creature. Not only that, but next to the horrible beast, she saw a man standing in a strangely relaxed pose. He held a glass sword that glinted in the light of the sunset.

“Don’t even think about running away. I plan to savor every last bite of you,” the monster shouted. The man swung his sword at the goat-headed monster, which brought down even more of the building.

At the sight of this, Catherine screamed, “No! My house! I only bought it a week ago!”