The Servant in the Horror Game is Suspicious Chapter 70

“Huh?”

The sound of Jade’s voice came out cracked in a reflexive response. For a second, he thought he had misheard. The fact that he heard that specific name the very moment he was thinking of Ian gave him a bizarre feeling.

In the ten years that had passed, he hadn’t heard Ian’s name through someone else’s lips even once. He had actually considered that a relief. At the very least, it meant Ian wasn’t in any sort of trouble.

“What’s up with you?”

“Oh, nothing…”

A split second of silence passed. Since Jade was visibly flustered, Dan set down the apple he was eating and looked at him in bewilderment. Staring back at Dan with a stiff, awkward expression while waiting for the next word, Jade looked suspicious to anyone’s eyes.

“It’s really nothing.”

Jade’s eyes darted back and forth. He didn’t understand it himself—why he was so shaken by a single mention of Ian’s name.

They had spent barely four months together as servant and young master. They didn’t have a deep bond like friends or brothers; objectively speaking, they were just people who had grown close while trying to survive at the villa.

But despite thinking that way, he would occasionally find himself habitually recalling the day he left Ian at the temple. At the time, Jade had considered himself an adult, but looking back now, he was just a nineteen-year-old who had barely stepped out of boyhood.

Even reflecting on it now, over a decade later, he still believed that choice was the best one. At the time, no place was safer than the temple. Moreover, wasn’t the original path intended for Jade and Ian only a one-week acquaintance? Since that short connection had stretched to four months, it had to be ended.

Even if he went back, he would make the same choice. It was the only way to ensure Ian’s safety while bringing their relationship to a close.

But occasionally, a thought would cross his mind. The thought that maybe, just maybe, Ian was waiting for him. Such an absurd idea. On days that thought crept in, a faint stain of guilt remained.

At the time, Jade had projected his own childhood onto Ian to an excessive degree. There was a reason he had been especially tender toward the boy.

On the day he left the North, Jade had lied to Ian, promising to come back soon. Perhaps he did it because he was reminded of his own parents who had left without a word.

‘Ian would have forgotten by now anyway, so it’s fine.’

He wasn’t the type to wait for someone. That was the nature of Ian’s character in this game, as far as Jade knew. Therefore, there was no need for a lingering guilt, nor any reason to wonder how he was doing.

“Jade, you’re acting weird today.”

Dan called out to Jade, who was lost in thought. He laughed playfully at Jade’s dazed expression.

“Did you do something wrong?”

“…”

He intended to laugh it off and ask what he meant, but his mouth wouldn’t cooperate. He couldn’t immediately blurt out a denial to Dan’s joke.

Was that really true? Was that choice really the best one? He was a man who usually lived without overthinking the small things, but he lacked confidence regarding this one matter.

“Seriously, what is it? Are you sick?”

“Sick? Don’t you know I’m all health and no filler?”

Jade pulled up the corners of his mouth into an awkward, hollow laugh and composed his expression. Then, feigning nonchalance, he pointed toward the kitchen lined with baking tools.

“I couldn’t sleep last night because I was thinking of a new recipe. That must be it.”

“Ah. Makes sense.”

“Anyway, why the mention of Ian Linwood?”

Jade subtly brought the conversation back to the previous question. Why was Dan asking about Ian? Since it was a name he hadn’t heard in so long, he had become tense without realizing it.

“I just wondered if you’d ever seen him. The original heir to the Linwood family.”

“I haven’t.”

He cut him off before Dan could even finish. At Jade’s seamless lie, Buster, sitting nearby, rolled his eyes.

He wanted to play dumb. If Dan asked about Ian, there was nothing he could share. The version of Ian that Jade remembered was likely the most naive version of Ian’s life. It would be nothing but a weakness. Besides, there was nothing to tell from the perspective of a man who had briefly worked as an attendant ten years ago.

“That’s a shame. I heard he’s incredibly handsome.”

“Handsome? Who said that? Someone saw Ian Linwood?”

Mentioning Ian’s appearance meant someone had actually seen him. The pace of Jade’s speech quickened as he fired off multiple questions in a row.

“One at a time, man. One at a time.”

Seeing Jade hurry him along so unlike his usual self, Dan picked at his ear. Judging by Dan’s reaction, it didn’t seem like anything serious. At the very least, it didn’t sound like bad news about Ian.

“You didn’t know? The son of the former Linwood Duke, who hasn’t been heard from in over ten years, has returned to the family.”

“Is that true?!”

His voice went high like a birdsong as he asked. Even as he cleared his throat to regain his composure, Jade’s eyes went wide. And for good reason—in the original story, Ian wasn’t supposed to return to the Linwood family for another three years. He could understand a one-year difference, but for it to be fast-forwarded by three years?

“They say it looks like Ian Linwood is going to take over as the head of the house. The North is in an absolute uproar because of it.”

“I see.”

He could feel the relief overflowing in his own voice. It seemed Ian had been safe for the past ten years. He stroked his chest with his palm. He felt as if all the worries he’d carried were being washed away.

Ian was a character meant to grow in solitude. He had reached out because he felt bad for Ian being neglected at such a young age, but he had worried all along that those four months might have interfered with the narrative Ian needed for his growth.

After becoming the head of the house, Ian would walk a path of success. It was a relief. A sincere relief.

The expression that had been frozen with tension finally softened. Jade let out a long breath, as if setting down a burden he had carried for ten years.

“Anyway, you can relax now. The Duke is changing, so why would Linwood come looking for you? Malderic is definitely dead. I heard they aren’t even sending money to the mercenaries anymore.”

He had heard that when Malderic went missing four years ago, the commission fees going to the mercenaries had stopped. Of course, he had still lived cautiously even after hearing that through Dan, but now there was no longer a need.

“Thanks for the news. I can finally breathe easy.”

Jade, touching his cheeks in a daze, flopped down onto the bed. The long escape was finally over. And Ian was going to take his place as the head of the house. Now that his worries were gone, a sense of lightness took over, and the tension left his shoulders.

“Hahaha. You’re a free man now, that’s what it is.”

Throwing his head back with a laugh, Dan stood up and headed toward the kitchen. In the kitchen, the loaves Jade had baked were lined up beautifully.

These days, Jade baked bread every morning. When he took the loaves to the port in the late afternoon, they sold out in the blink of an eye. Yesterday, they were all gone before he could even set up his stall, and he had to listen to customers grumbling about why he hadn’t made more.

“Oh, bread! I can have some, right?”

Dan, hovering in front of the bread, licked his lips. Jade was just lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Dan approached the dazed Jade and clapped his hands to snap him out of it.

“Jade!”

“Huh? Oh, right. Sorry, I didn’t hear you. What did you say?”

“I asked if I could eat some bread.”

As he asked, Dan’s mouth was already stuffed full of bread. Jade gave a short laugh and waved his hand.

“Eat up, eat up. Have as much as you want.”

“I’m telling you, you bake one hell of a loaf. You got some kind of magic in those hands?”

Dan, having shoved a hunk of baguette into his mouth, grabbed another. Swallowing a few pieces in the blink of an eye, he heaped on the praise.

The types of bread here were limited. Mostly, it was just baguettes and coarse rye bread, so not many people ate bread for the flavor.

That was why Jade chose a niche strategy. He had adapted popular Korean bread recipes to a point where they didn’t completely clash with the local palate.

Since most of the bread here was dry and crumbly, he made soft milk bread by increasing the milk content, and he spread a garlic sauce made with minced garlic, sugar, and parsley over baguettes. He had been a bit worried since it was a different style from what was usually eaten here, but he trusted his skills. If there was one thing he was confident in, it was baking.

And Jade’s judgment had been correct. On the first day, people just hovered and bought one or two, but from the next day on, they began to sell like wildfire. It had only been a few days since he started, but the customers threw a fit even if Jade was just a little bit late.

“Wow, today’s batch is seriously well-baked. This is insane.”

“You say that every time.”

During the time he had been moving from village to village in the South, he had occasionally given freshly baked bread to Dan and Callie. And every time Dan ate Jade’s bread, he was full of nothing but praise. He would give a thumbs-up and show all sorts of exaggerated reactions.

“Try the one next to it, too.”

Jade pointed to the loaf next to the baguette. Today’s menu was garlic baguette and almond chestnut bread.

Jade introduced a new menu item every time. Since people lined up to buy whatever he sold, he could afford to experiment. Some customers even held his hand and begged him to make the same thing again tomorrow.

“Today’s a hit too, a total hit. If this doesn’t sell out in five minutes, I’ll dip my hand in jam.”

“Meow…?”

As Dan stomped his feet in delight while eating with his massive frame, Buster approached and loitered nearby. Buster also lost his mind for Jade’s bread. Laughing heartily, Dan tore off a piece and teased Buster.

“You little glutton.”

“Myack!”

Buster unsheathed his claws at being called a glutton, but he quickly became docile for a piece of bread. Once Buster got his share, Bluey, who had been sitting on the floor, waddled over to Dan. Seeing Bluey toddling along, Dan tilted his head.

“Huh? Has this guy grown since I last saw him?”