If You Wish For A Married Couple’s Duties

Episode 58.
An Unexpected Assistant (6)

“A sinister plot?”

“I’m sorry.
It’s your father, but I have to speak with that tone.”

“No, it doesn’t matter.”

Daniel shook his head like he didn’t care about that in the slightest.

“Rather than that, may I ask why Madam thinks that’s the case?”

The biggest reason why she thought Nate was scheming something was because of Serion’s words. 

“Daniel, do you happen to know Serion?”

“You mean the Master of the White Pagoda? Of course I know about him.”

Daniel shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ve never met him in person because he’s someone that remains quite mysterious.”

“I’ve met him.”

“…What?”

Daniel’s jaw dropped and he seemed to forget how to close it, having heard a shocking piece of news, unable to close his mouth. 

“Madam met Master Serion?”

“To be exact, he met with me.”

“How could that…”

Daniel could vividly recall the memory of being shut at the door when he went to the White Pagoda to be accepted as a disciple as he wanted to learn magic when he was young. 

Dooha continued calmly in front of Daniel, who was despairing.

“When I asked how I could help the Duke, he said to be more wary of humans than monsters.
Just then, I heard that Sir Nate sent troops here on his own accord.”

It was quite good timing.

Daniel couldn’t help but nod, and suddenly raised his head. 

“Wait a minute, so Madam followed along all the way here just based on those words?”

“It’s not just because of those words.
Even when I went to meet Sir Nate.”

Douha recalled when she met Nate at Kreuz’s official residence.

How he found her laughable, his hesitation when she requested for Daniel’s participation, and how he managed to regain his unique composure. 

And the words that he left behind before leaving.

“A hasty judgement will always bring about the worst ending.
Do keep that in mind.”

It was as though he was certain that her choices wouldn’t affect what he did or was about to do, and those words made her uneasy. 

In addition, the words that Nate said to Daniel while she was in the box made her even more convinced. 

The fact that something was obviously afoot. 

“Actually, in all respects, it’s just a gut feeling of mine.
It’s not like anything has happened, and that evidence has been found.” 

“…Did you rush into this dangerous place just because of your intuition?”

“Don’t ignore your intuition.
It’s a form of a human’s survival instinct.”

Daniel sat on the end of the bed that was in the middle of the room and sighed.

“Madam, my understanding of my father is as much as my hatred for him.
While he has a slightly extreme temper, he isn’t reckless or rash.”

Daniel frowned and continued.

Although it seemed like he was defending his father, who he hated to death, there was no helping it. 

“No matter how much my father hates the Duke, he’s someone that treasures the Esbaden family.
He couldn’t have thought of harming the Duke during a monster subjugation.”

The Duke of Esbaden was an indispensable figure in monster subjugations.

He wasn’t a man that earned the title of the Empire’s strongest knight for nothing.

And also, the Duke is the only pillar of support in such a situation, and so to harm him here?

It was like in order to remove a single duke, dozens of knights from the ducal family and hundreds of soldiers had to be sacrificed together. 

“Are those your thoughts despite that?”

“I’m not certain yet, but I’m unable to doubt that.”

Dooha stuck to her opinion, seeming to still believe in her intuition. 

“As you’ll never know how things will progress.”

“…I also think so.”

Daniel stared at Dooha quietly.

“That’s why I’m unable to understand.
Why did Madam personally come? You could have just sent someone else.”

“I’m the most reliable person in the world.
Is there a need for me to leave what I’m fully capable of doing to someone else?”

He was occasionally confused whenever such words were spoken by Dooha, having lived as a man from the Empire for more than 20 years. 

Originally, aristocratic wives would sit in the innermost room of the castle and read a book, embroider, choose a dress, wait for her husband, raise her children and so on.

What the hell did this woman from Bashal eat that she kept going beyond expectations.

He heard that the status and role of Bashal’s women is similar to or even lower than that of the Empire’s.

How was it that this woman could shine by herself?

“I highly admire the Madam’s self-esteem, but…”

Daniel placed his chin in his hand like he was really troubled.

“I was really surprised in the daytime.
I didn’t think that you’d suddenly jump out of the box and shoot arrows at the monsters unhesitatingly.”

“Come to think of it, how can you react so slowly, Daniel? I almost died while waiting for you to use magic.”

“It’s not that I was slow in responding, but the Madam responded too quickly.
How in the world did you know that monsters were nearby?”

“That’s due to my intuition.”

“…That intuition of yours is truly versatile.”

“I belong to that type.”

Eventually, Daniel couldn’t help but laugh at her confident voice.

The two werewolves they met this afternoon, on their way to Tochern Castle. 

Without the sound of their breathing, they came within a short distance and pounced at Daniel, who was at the very front.

A beast’s instinct was to begin hunting from the weakest-looking prey.

Surprised, Daniel tried to use his magic in a hurry, but they had already leaped into the air. 

At that extremely dangerous moment, the one that saved Daniel was none other than Dooha.

She was hidden in a box on the wagon, and kicked open the box’s lid the moment those monsters leaped up in the air. 

She already had two arrows nocked on the bow concurrently.  

As soon as Dooha spotted the monsters, she let the arrows fly without hesitation.

The two arrows pierced the eyeballs of two werewolves one by one without missing its mark. 

Even if it’s a monster, the pain of being pierced through the eyeballs was unbearable. 

They fell to the floor with a sharp cry, and Daniel burned it whole with fire magic. 

While it was fortunate that there weren’t any other casualties, Daniel had to explain Dooha’s identity to Count Jive and his party thanks to that. 

“First of all, I told Count Jive that the Madam is a guard that I’ve brought along privately, so you won’t be suspected.” 

“Thank you.
I’m always indebted to you, Daniel.” 

“What do you mean, indebted? I’m just glad to be of Madam’s assistance.”

“It’s a relief if you think that way.
Actually, I came here to ask for a favour.”

“A favour?”

“Yes, could you make me look like someone else with magic? It’ll be great if you could alter my voice as well.”

“Ah, it won’t be hard if it’s about that.” 

Daniel got up slowly and approached Dooha.

‘Was it because they’re cousins? They seem to have similar eye levels.’

Dooha had such thoughts inadvertently and shook her head afterwards.

These days, she had a habit of repeatedly connecting things she saw with Leonhart. 

It was quite strange.

“Madam?”

“It’s nothing, huh?”

After responding, Dooha held her neck. 

A voice so deep that she couldn’t believe it was her own. 

If others were inattentive, she would likely be mistaken for a boy that had just gone through puberty.

“Take a look in the mirror, too.” 

At Daniel’s words, Dooha looked into a small and rough mirror above the fireplace.

A woman with black hair and golden eyes with a sour expression was reflected through the mirror. 

Although she wasn’t used to the blurry features that were unlike her original face, she preferred it more. 

At this rate, no one would recognize her even if she took off her headscarf. 

“But can’t you change the colour of my eyes?”

“Although I’d casted a spell, the colour of your eyes still didn’t change.
I’d occasionally heard that there are some with the inherent quality of resisting magic, and it seems that the Madam was of that type.”

“Hm, that’s too bad.”

Dooha put down the mirror and wore her headscarf again.

“Madam, are you going out?”

“Yes.
I’m going to look around the castle’s interior for a while.”

When she observed the private soldiers from the ducal family gathered in the stable earlier, she didn’t find anyone particularly suspicious.

If that’s the case, someone that’s originally in this castle might have been bought off.

Meanwhile, Daniel had an uneasy expression on his face, as though he was looking at a child that’s by the water’s edge.

“Then can I come along with you, Madam?”

“Won’t I stand out if I go around with Daniel?”

“I’ll use camouflage magic.”

“Conserve your remaining magic powers.”

On the contrary, Dooha seemed quite worried as her eyes were full of concern.

“I realised this after you collapsed like that, but aren’t wizards limited by the amount of magic they can use? I heard that you might die if you use too much magic.”

“I’ll recover with sufficient rest.”

“Even so, you don’t know when and what will happen.
Daniel’s magic will be used for dangerous situations, so you should conserve it.”

She patted him on the elbow and told him not to worry.

“I’m confident that I won’t get caught even if I go around by myself, so don’t worry too much.”

“Haah.”

Daniel’s face crumpled and he covered both of his cheeks.

“As expected, I should have just removed the Madam when you were getting on the wagon.”

“You know it’s no use regretting it now.
You should have returned the box right away when you noticed that I was in it.”

“You’re right.”

Like there was nothing he could do, Daniel grabbed the doorknob. 

“Madam, I’ve placed a transformation magic on you, but this magic will be released when the person it was casted on falls unconscious or has a weakened body.
As such, please be careful.”

“Alright.”

“Also.”

Daniel caught the Duchess, who was trying to leave again.

“Please carry this around.”

What he put out was a necklace that had a small brooch dangling.

The brooch was studded with emeralds that had a similar shade to Daniel’s eyes.

“It’s a necklace made up of mana stones containing my mana.
If you keep this with you, I’ll be able to find Madam no matter where you are.” 

“I don’t need this…” 

“Please accept it.”

Daniel was insistent on giving the necklace to Dooha, as though he couldn’t concede over this.

“If anything happens to Madam.”

For a moment, Daniel’s face was colored with seriousness.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to forgive myself.”