Chloe, The Thief Lady

Chapter 4: In The Course of The Night (1)

 

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“Rosie, you sweet thing…”

 

Tears welled up in Chloe’s eyes.

 

“…That’s why I ate breakfast.”

 

“Of course. As you know, now Princess is the only Arne.”

 

Rosie Clark. The maid who worked for Arne for twenty years was seasoned and very realistic.

 

“If you don’t eat first , it’s really hard to lie down because you’re upset. Documents are piling up in the box due to the Duke and the Young Duke leaving yesterday morning.”

 

“Oh, my God. Give me some time to grieve.”

 

“If I could solve the problem by being sad, I would have cried four years ago.”

 

“Four years ago.”

 

Chloe bit her lips at Rosie’s words.

 

Four years ago – that would be the year of the unprecedented severe cold front that hit the Grand Duke Arne. At that time, many of the Grand Duchy were helplessly isolated and waiting for death. Rosie opened the gate and began digging burrows in a two-story pile of snow.

 

“At the time, Rosie’s niece, who had been shoveling all week, day and night, was so famous right?”

 

“Don’t say anything.”

 

“Thanks to my aunt who came digging in the snow with a shovel?”

 

Instead of answering, Rosie handed Chloe a folded handkerchief.

 

“Don’t cry, hold up your pen. You don’t have to shovel, so how comfortable and good do you have it now? I struggled for months since then…”

 

“Huh, funny. You think paperwork is easy? By the time my father comes back, I might lie down for three months with a fever.”

 

“Yes, yes.”

 

Rosie, who replied innocently while pushing Chloe’s back.

 

“You know how urgent your personality is. The emperor told us to clear it up by the end of the month, so you might finish it this week.”

 

“…..”

 

“Come on, princess, hurry up. If you want to show off this fever, at least it’s better to look at the paperwork.”

 

Rosie’s words, convinced that the Duke of Arne will ‘of course’ return sooner or later, quickly subsided Chloe’s terrifying rukus.

 

“Shouldn’t you be trying to pamper me at this opportunity?”

 

“If you tell me where and how I can do it, I will actively refer to it.”

 

“Come on. I was the one who opened the hunting festival last year, and I was the number one hunter.”

 

“Yes, you did. Unfortunately, the documents piled up in the office don’t need a sword or bow, and you don’t need to jump with your body. You just have to read it carefully, calculate it thoroughly, and sign it.”

 

As I was struggling with Rosie, I found myself walking into the office. As the locks were released and the heavy door opened silently, the woody scent always filled her nose. Her chest, which had calmly sank, shook terribly, but Chloe chewed the inside of her cheeks and pushed down her feelings. Four years ago, Rosie didn’t cry. She simply asked the Duke of Arne if he could bring the residents outside the castle. In fear of being swept away by the severe cold and incurring additional casualties, she moved alone without accepting the support provided. But, unlike Rosie at that time, aren’t there any people who will be by my side? It is unsightly to even cry here.

 

“Woo.”

 

Chloe exhaled a long breath and sat down in Duke Arne’s chair. Now, at this moment, she was Arne’s princess. Chloe’s expression, which pushed her as the youngest daughter, who was worried about the life and death of her father and brother, was infinitely hard.

 

“From the most urgent.”

 

Frighteningly tall, Rosie rolls out six piles of documents, which are one span high each.

 

“These are the things you have to deal with within this morning.”

 

Even that thick thing is less than 1/20 of the paperwork on the office desk. She looks at Rosie because she wants to run away, but her face right now is not as good as her smile. This is a joke, right?

 

“……”

 

I miss my father very much. Chloe clenched her teeth and dipped the nib in the ink bottle. Sure enough, Theodore is a real nuisance. Gillot goes without saying. So I won’t lose. We must take good care of Arne. The fingers that held the pen became tight.

 

*****

 

“Good night.”

 

Rosie closed the door, and not long after Chloe, who was lying in bed, suddenly stood up. It was time for ‘Roy’ to go to work. Chloe quietly got out of bed. She was tired from wrestling with documents all day, and she really didn’t want to budge, but she had a night appointment.

 

After the princess’s time to lead as the Duke of Arne was over, it was time for her father’s daughter to visit Theodore under the name of ‘Roy.’ On her toes, Chloe moved very quietly and stealthily. Yesterday was totally different and from this evening on, she came in and out with her own secrets.

 

If I end up caught on the spot as an emperor’s assassin and it is found out that I signed a strange contract, Evan may lead the knights with Rosie. They are the ones who love Arne more than anyone else. I’m almost at my limit, so maybe I’m a jerk. I’m sure they’ll think I am a jerk.

 

“……”

 

You should never be caught. The heartbeat of the youngest daughter, who missed her father, quickly became quiet. Chloe quietly moved to the next room and opened the closet. Chloe’s fist, as she pulled out the hanging hunting suit, was clenched. Wasn’t it brought to attend a hunting festival held by the imperial family before winter came after the harvest was over? But who would have known that you would wear a hunting suit this way? I would never have dreamed that the crazy emperor, would do something senile like not recognize ‘Arne.’

 

“Ha last year, I should have caught a damn old man, not a bear.”

 

Chloe slowly picked up her bow which was standing in the corner of her closet. Even in the dark, the bow had a subtle luster. As she grabbed the bow and stretched her shoulders to pull the string back with all her strength, the bowstring sounded like something was tearing. There were no arrows or targets, but Chloe’s eyes, which pulled in demonstration, were clear as ever.

 

“It was not a bluff to sneak into the palace single-handedly.”

 

Rosie, who taught her, acted thoroughly, but being the ‘first hunter’ was a very honorable title. The Arne estate, surrounded by mountain ranges made of blade-like peaks, was a barren and dangerous place. The beasts living in such a place were already close to being monsters. It was the first hunter of the year that caught such things in winter hunting. This hunter was particularly physically fit and muscular.

 

Considering that the title ‘first hunter’ is difficult for people to receive once in a lifetime, it is understandable how great Chloe is, who took the honorable title at once in her first hunt as an adult.

 

As such Chloe makes Theodore’s eyes roll. My father, the Duke of Arne, knows that ‘Patrick Theodore’ was the most compassionate emperor, more than anyone else before he went crazy. But the emperor she knows is just a madman. It means there is no reason to be patient.

 

“Never leave it alone.”

 

Arne’s two men would certainly return safely, but Chloe had no intention of passing on this. Dare to abandon the faith and to pay the price to Theodore, who used Arne as a sacrificial object. At the last minute, if the prince forgets his promise and instead takes care of his own blood, there may be a sudden loss of power from this finger pulling the strings.

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As she released a simmering deep breath, Chloe slowly lowered her arms. She quietly stood the bow she was holding inside the closet, and poked a dagger into the leather belt with a skillful hand. Carrying leather shoes and wearing a mask was a breeze.

 

When she pointed her bow, the moon that she saw out of the window suddenly rose. The promised night came, so she had to hurry, because unlike anyone else, she bet on her sense of pride.