Chapter Fifty-three: After the Toast
Karen woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. She carefully slipped out of bed, trying not to wake Sara sleeping beside her, and tiptoed out of the room, making sure not to disturb Natalia who was sleeping in her brother’s bed. When she put on her coat and opened the front door, Julius was standing there. Karen and Julius stared at each other for a moment.
“Opening doors in the middle of the night isn’t very wise.”
“…What are you doing here?”
“Well, since you caught me, I might as well tell you. I’m your guard. The knights of our house have been assigned to protect you.”
“…Thank you. I had a feeling about that before, but isn’t it strange for you to be the guard, Master Julius?”
After her return from the Ehlertt estate, most people stopped calling Karen a fraud, though some still treated her harshly. However, whenever Karen seemed about to get into trouble, vaguely familiar tough-looking men would protect her and coolly walk away.
“Today was a joyous celebration for you, right? I refrained from showing up at the gathering of close friends as I didn’t want to intrude, but I wanted to be near you, so I switched shifts with the night guard.”
Though he spoke as if he had feelings for Karen, she had already confirmed with him directly that he didn’t. So this must be just another one of Julius’s cryptic ways of speaking.
Karen smoothly ignored it and said:
“You would have been welcome, Master Julius. Natalia would have been squealing with delight, and Sara might have been a bit nervous… but obviously, I can’t let you in now, with two girls sleeping inside.”
“I have no intention of disturbing the comfortable atmosphere of a women’s gathering.”
Saying that Julius turned to face Karen.
“Congratulations on your promotion to E-rank, Karen. I hadn’t expected to see you directly, so I haven’t prepared any gift.”
“Thank you, Master Julius. Don’t worry about it… Ah, wait a moment please!”
Karen remembered something at his mention of a gift and rushed back inside, still on tiptoe of course. After quickly taking care of her errand, she returned to the entrance and held out a bottle to Julius.
“Here, this is for you, Master Julius.”
“Are these… sachets?”
Karen nodded.
The bottle was filled with sachets made of colorful fabric.
“Through experimentation, I found that when worn, the sachet’s fragrance fades, and its magical effect disappears along with it. However, if left unused, the effect seems to last at least a week so far. Maybe the effect won’t disappear at all as long as it’s not used? I’m sorry, there’s still so much I don’t understand. I haven’t had enough time to study it. I put them in a magic-resistant bottle, so the effect might last longer—”
“Why are you giving this to me?”
A shadow passed over Julius’s face.
“These are sachets with a calming magical effect, right? Why would you, who should be receiving gifts, give something like this to me? Perhaps you’ve noticed something?”
“It’s a return gift for the jewelry you gave me the other day. And what do you mean by ‘noticed’?”
“Jewelry…? Oh, from Sieg’s recovery celebration?”
Julius looked caught off guard and didn’t answer Karen’s question. Karen quickly forgot her minor curiosity and nodded solemnly.
“I can’t accept such a thing without giving something in return. But since you wouldn’t accept it if I tried to return it, I’m giving you a lifetime supply of sachets instead.”
“A lifetime… supply of sachets?”
“Yes. Since you’re a warrior protecting the nation, you’ll likely continue to suffer from magical power intoxication. You don’t want your family to see you in that state, right?”
Julius slowly nodded at Karen’s question.
“No. I absolutely don’t want them to see that.”
“Then please accept these. This bottle is just the first batch! When you run out, let me know, and I’ll replenish them!”
Julius accepted the bottle with a somewhat distant expression and muttered:
“…Thank you, Karen. Having my family see me intoxicated is my greatest fear…”
“So now we’re even, right? I don’t owe anything for that jewelry anymore. Sure, sachets are easy to make, but right now I’m the only one who can make them—”
“I’m the one who owes you far more, Karen.”
Julius laughed at Karen’s attempts to rationalize.
“What should I do, Karen? I desperately want to give you a gift. Is there something I could give you right here and now? I’m often asked by women for a kiss—”
“That would be returning kindness with cruelty!”
“You don’t need to cover your ears—your brain won’t melt.”
Julius looked down at Karen, who stubbornly kept her ears covered, and lowered his eyebrows.
“—This is troublesome. I realize now I don’t want to give you something in return—I simply want to give you something without a reason.”
“Did you just say something?”
Karen removed her hands from her ears.
“Nothing at all, Karen.”
“But I saw your lips move, saying something about trouble…”
“I was just overwhelmed by your kindness and troubled because I couldn’t think of an appropriate way to express those feelings. I don’t know why only short-sighted methods come to mind when I don’t actually feel that way.”
“So you want to give me a gift, Master Julius? Then, how about you do the same thing as me? This would make me happy.”
Karen raised her right hand. Julius raised his hand too, looking puzzled. Karen slapped her hand against his with a clap, leaving Julius staring at his hand in bewilderment.
“Hehe. I received my gift.”
“You wanted a high-five? But I can hardly count this as a gift.”
Julius looked confused, but in Karen’s previous life, high-five events had been a thing. While not every high-five was valuable, one from Julius was more than enough.
“Well, I’m completely satisfied. I should go to bed now. I can’t invite you inside, and please stop doing night watch duty—it’s bad for my heart.”
“From now on, don’t open the door when you sense someone’s presence, even if it’s someone you know. You’re a woman, and there are bad men out there like me.”
“You’re a bad man, Master Julius?”
Julius’s expression turned blank as Karen laughed.
“I’m serious, Karen. While your kindness is a virtue, your naivety is a flaw. You forgive people too easily. That will eventually put you in danger. Although we’ll protect you, you need to change too. You have power, and you’ll soon be sought after by many people.”
Karen looked up at Julius and stopped smiling. After staring at him for a moment, Karen spoke:
“I have lived my whole life thinking that it is not me who needs to change, but the values of this world.”
Julius looked struck by Karen’s words.
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