I Just Wanted Revenge, But Everyone Loves Me - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 43
“The Public Cemetery?”
“Yes. It’s a place where a great many dead people are buried.”
People generally avoid places that are either filthy or infamous by reputation alone.
And perhaps the most typical example of that would be the Public Cemetery — the kind of place that feels eerie and where ghosts might appear.
Besides, the Back Alley’s Public Cemetery was different from other burial grounds; hardly anyone came there to pay respects.
‘I read about it in a history book.’
A place where the nameless were buried.
It was said to have been created out of necessity, when there was no room left on the ground for corpses — so once you were buried in that earth, no one could ever identify you. And because some of the buried might have been diseased, even the people of the Back Alley itself never ventured there.
Even the residents of the Back Alley itself absolutely avoided it, I was told, because some of those buried might have carried contagion.
‘The letter mentioned it too.’

One of those three places was the Public Cemetery.
“Given what you’ve said, the Public Cemetery does seem like the most likely candidate. I’ve heard that’s truly a place hardly anyone ventures to. Truth be told, I only learned such a place even existed through this.”
“It’s not well-known, after all!”
While it was recorded in historical texts, most people simply skimmed past it without interest. People were curious about heroic tales, not some shabby cemetery.
“I think it would be best to search there first, my lord.”
“Very well.”
The Duke nodded without hesitation, apparently finding sense in my words.
‘It was good that I mentioned being from the Back Alley.’
He would naturally assume I spoke with such familiarity of local geography because I came from there. That worked in my favor.
“Draft a letter at once.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
The aide bowed to me as well before leaving the office. I waved farewell to him and examined the letter once more.
‘It was surprising that it reached my aunt’s Guild, certainly.’
Still, the work itself was proceeding well.
I felt confident we could find that maidservant safely.
“You offered information that proved useful.”
“Thank you!”
“The thanks should come from me — I’m the one receiving your help.”
“But you’re placing trust in me nonetheless.”
“That’s…”
The Duke hesitated again, much like before, and spoke quietly.
“We’re comrades. There’s no getting around it.”
!
“Just as you said earlier.”
Having said that, the Duke cleared his throat once.
Comrades.
As I slowly turned the word over in my mind — one that had left his lips so awkwardly — laughter bubbled up unbidden.
‘This is a first.’
He’d looked at me with suspicion for so long, and now he’d said it himself, directly from his own mouth.
‘Does this mean he trusts me a little now?’
I hope that’s what this means.
‘Trust has grown between us compared to before.’
Wouldn’t it make the work ahead easier? Perhaps I could stay here for as long as my revenge takes.
Thinking back to when I was pushing through in the Prison, this shift felt nothing short of miraculous.
‘I think I can stay with her too, going forward.’
I’d worried what would happen if he refused.
‘From here on, I’ll do whatever I can.’
Finding the Crown Prince’s maidservant and clearing my name — that’s my role.
‘I’ll give it my all.’
With that resolve, I studied the letter solemnly.
Unaware of the curious gaze fixed on me from beside.
* * *
A strange little thing.
He’d thought so from the moment they met in the Prison, and continued observation only confirmed it.
In all his years, he’d never encountered a child quite so peculiar.
‘I eat little anyway. One meal a day is fine.’
‘So… can’t I stay with you?’
What made being with that brat so important?
She offered to give up her own meals just to remain at his side — how could he possibly refuse?
Not that he’d intended to refuse from the start, but he’d never imagined she’d go quite this far.
She’d simply been boasting about staying with Veronica, and that had irked him. That was all.
He could count on one hand the times he’d felt so thoroughly taken aback.
‘How does she live like that?’
The girl handled major crises with ease, yet trembled over something small.
Why worry so much about a trifle?
‘Then again…’
According to Hyacinth, she possessed a natural gift for memorization and held diverse knowledge. In contrast, she was ignorant of matters of daily life.
‘It was the first time I’d met a child who didn’t know fairy tales.’
If she were truly street-born, she shouldn’t know letters at all. Yet she possessed rather comprehensive knowledge that didn’t match her environment — she must have read books somewhere.
Specialized volumes that would be difficult to procure in a slum.
‘Clearly.’
The child definitely belonged to at least a merchant house, if not to nobility itself. While literacy was achievable even for commoners, access to diverse books was another matter entirely.
There was no public library specifically for commoners, after all. A street child would have had almost no opportunity to encounter books.
‘The document forgery request too.’
What ordinary child would forge crimes to enter the Prison?
And with the intention of manipulating Bancadium no less.
‘Is her target of revenge a noble?’
It was possible.
If it were the Imperial House, she’d have said she’d crush them together with him. That didn’t seem to be the case.
If she intended to deal with someone else, the fact that she needed protection of Bancadium’s caliber suggested she’d antagonized someone of considerable rank.
“…”
Why had that soft, cottony thing spoken of blood revenge? For the first time, Rodrigo found himself curious about the child.
‘Does the Duke trust her?’
‘…’
‘Your Grace… do you trust her?’
‘… No.’
He did not yet trust her.
His doubts about the child remained unchanged.
All he believed was that she would not harm Bancadium. But where she truly came from, what her ultimate aim was, who she sought revenge against — these remained mysteries.
Until he learned those answers, he had no choice but to remain wary of a child whose identity was unclear.
Especially now, when he stood accused of Treason.
He had no intention of being caught off-guard and stabbed in the back.
For now, there was only the judgment that she was worth keeping close.
‘This relationship too.’
Rodrigo himself knew better than anyone that it existed purely as a transactional arrangement, temporary by nature.
Yet perhaps he’d been influenced by Veronica as well.
Sending the Fairy Tale Book, granting access to the Library — small mercies he wouldn’t normally grant.
‘And I called her a comrade.’
It wasn’t untrue, but it was unnecessary to go so far as to consider the child’s feelings in saying it.
There was no reason to be so considerate.
‘I’m strange myself.’
This wasn’t like him.
Yet knowing that, he found himself helpless to stop it.
There was no room to deny it.
The moment he caught himself gradually granting permissions one after another, Rodrigo let out a hollow laugh.
He was in no position to judge her.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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