I Became the Tyrant's Helper - Chapter 29

“Hold on— What?! You—”

She hurriedly covered Jetti’s mouth just as her voice grew louder.

Ahel drew her face closer and whispered, “Jetti! Hush! There are too many ears around.”

Jetti nodded yes.

As soon as Ahel removed her hand from Jetti’s mouth, Jetti asked “How did you meet an imperial knight?!”

Her voice was as low as possible.

At her whisper, Ahel replied with a faint smile on her face, “I received help from him long before I started working here.”

“Oh, my! Really? But how did you two meet up again?”

“On my way home yesterday, I ran into him while walking through the town square. When I knew him before, he was a regular knight, but now he is an imperial knight. I thanked him for helping me out and told him I’d buy him a slice of cake here; an offer he could not refuse.”

As though the flood gates had opened, she felt the lies pouring out of her mouth. But what could she do?

Listening to Ahel’s words, and watching Ahel’s bland expression, Jetti’s eyes shone brightly.

“Oh, my! What a coincidence! That is amazing!”

That she had met this knight by chance, who helped her long ago, and that he was now an imperial knight. Well, it was just all too romantic for a woman like Jetti.

Jetti, gathering her hands at her chest, looked like she was lost in a romantic daydream.

This is one of the stories you told me…

Jetti’s hobby was reading romance novels, and she enjoyed relaying to Ahel the stories she read.

What Ahel realized now, was that what she had just told Jetti was also one of the stories Jetti had told her before.

Hopefully I made it sound believable, or else Jetti just cannot remember all the stories she’s read?

Ahel didn’t care which one it was. For now, the important thing was that Jetti didn’t question Ahel’s tale.

“So, we chose a day to meet, and I told him to come all the way here, but now Nefelie wants to see me right away… Jetti, I need your help.”

“Of course, Ahel! We are friends, you know! Whatever you need! I will help you!” Jetti said, grabbing Ahel’s shoulders.

Relieved at Jetti’s enthusiasm, and thankful that she would help her, Ahel pulled out a coin purse while smiling.

She took out only two shillings to pay for the carriage and handed the purse over to Jetti.

“Money? Why are you giving me this?”

“From what I remember, there were twenty kinds of cakes prepared for dinner, right?”

“Pardon? Oh. Right.”

Jetti felt strange about the sudden topic change but nodded in agreement.

Ahel studied the coin purse after getting confirmation from her.

It had been years since she started working at Ophelia’s. Ophelia’s pay rate was famous for being high in comparison to other places, and Ahel, aside from her personal food expenses, was frugal with her money.

She only carried around a small portion of it, but that would be enough.

After making her decision, Ahel looked up and said, “Buy me some time by buying one kind of each cake for the knight with the money in there.”

“Time? How much?”

“I think one hour will be enough. Nefelie said she had something important to say, so be generous.”

“All right. Got it. One hour… right? You can count on me, Ahel.”

Nefelie usually called in employees if they were struggling with the work, but she would sometimes also speak with employees for other reasons.

Hopefully her excuse wouldn’t raise anyone’s suspicions. Ahel had said it would take an hour, because the way to Pelanders was irregular, and it would take quite a long time to get there.

Jetti smiled with confidence at their plan.

Even though Ahel felt reassured by the support of her only friend, she felt even more sorry that she had lied to her.

I’m sorry, Jetti.

She sent a silent apology, and Jetti rushed in.

“Go now. I have to see who this knight is that you’ve talked so much about.”

At her words, Ahel realized that she was running out of time. Agreeing with Jetti, she left the inventory closet with her.

Just as they emerged, Nuss walked through the front entrance.

Perfect timing. Ahel quickly grabbed Jetti’s arm and whispered, “Jetti, that’s him.”

“That’s him? All right.”

She nodded, not taking her eyes off the man dressed in imperial knight attire.

Jetti soon brought out a slice of cake, and Ahel waited until Nuss saw her and greeted him lightly when their eyes met.

He also responded to her greeting with a short salute.

After watching Nuss sit at the table, Ahel turned around. She’d done what she could, and the rest was up to Jetti.

She hurriedly started climbing the flights of stairs.

The first through third were for customers, and the fourth was Nefelie’s office.