I’m Just a Background Character, But I Used to Be a Delinquent, So Why Are the Girls Falling for Me?!

I reached down and felt around inside the hole where the loose tile had been. It was cold and lined with rough dirt.

My fingers brushed against the edge of the hole, and I realized it wasn’t just a tiny space. The opening went deeper, stretching horizontally beneath the stone foundation of the iron gate. It was a passage that was wide enough to walk in a crouch.

I pushed the lamp closer. The earth walls inside the tunnel looked fresh they hadn’t settled yet. There were clear drag marks in the dirt. This passage looked like it had been dug months ago when Master Leron delivered the wine, but it was being used recently because of the fresh dirt and wine smell.

They really dug deep and wide enough to walk, I thought, amazed. They dug under the wall.

I quickly made a decision.

I carefully set the lamp down near the entrance, then moved my body into the tunnel. The air was close and smelled strongly of fresh earth. I was able to walk in a deep crouch for several feet before the tunnel ended. I could see light ahead.

I stepped out, pulling myself up to my full height. I was behind the iron bars, in the small, inner room of the private reserve cellar!

I had done it. I was in.

I stood up, dusting the dirt from my clothes. I looked back at the iron gate that now stood uselessly between me and the rest of the cellar. This newly made passage proved that someone working for them had secret access to the Duke’s most valuable store.

I felt a surge of cold focus. I had bypassed the guard and the lock. Now I had two minutes, maybe less, before the next guard patrol.

I shone a small lamp around the reserve room. It was small, lined with shelves of dark, valuable wine bottles.

I immediately looked down at the floor. My eyes scanned the dusty, disturbed stone tiles right where I had climbed out.

And there it was.

Right where my knee had been, a single, small piece of metal glinted faintly in the lamp’s light. I hadn’t stepped on it yet.

I knelt down again and carefully picked it up. It was a single, small piece of metal. It wasn’t a key. It was a broken cufflink, shaped like a simple leaf.

This cufflink was clearly not something the Duke’s or any noble would wear. It was cheap, low-quality metal. It looked exactly like something a minor, slightly dishonest merchant would wear.

Master Leron, I thought. He delivered the wine months ago, and someone from his circle was back here using this secret hole. The poison is likely in the wine itself, or being hidden here for later.

I quickly pushed the loose stone tile back into place, making sure it looked exactly as it had before. I pocketed the broken cufflink. It was my first piece of real evidence.

I didn’t dare waste time on the wine yet. I moved quickly back into the passage, walked in a crouch back to the main cellar, and pulled the entrance tile back into place.

I blew out the lamp and climbed the stone steps, my mission half-finished. I found the secret entrance and a clue that tied the merchant to the manor’s deepest secrets.

I quickly pushed the loose stone tile back into place, making sure it looked exactly as it had before. I pocketed the broken cufflink. I had found the secret passage and a physical clue.

I blew out the lamp and carefully climbed the steep stone steps. I used my growing control to move the main cellar door silently, slipped out into the dark passage, and pulled the door shut behind me.

I moved with quiet urgency, the fear of the guard still sharp in my mind. The cufflink felt cold and hard in my hand. I needed to get back to my room and hide the evidence before the guard’s next patrol.

As I walked through the dark, silent halls, my mind raced. I started piecing together everything I had seen, not just in the private reserve, but in the main cellar itself, which I had scanned briefly with the lamp as I walked through.

I realized I hadn’t just seen dusty crates. I had seen gaps on the main storage shelves.

Wait, I thought, slowing my pace just slightly near the main staircase, making sure no floorboards creaked. That wall of shelves…

I mentally re-traced my steps through the massive, confusing main cellar. I remembered the rows of standard, labeled bottles and crates meant for daily consumption and future sales.

And I distinctly remembered seeing empty spaces not just dusty spots where things should used to be, but obvious clean gaps between crates. There were places where a whole stack of crates had been removed, and the shelves around them looked clean and disturbed.

These weren’t the ancient, gifted wines these were large quantities of standard Verdan stock.

The realization hit me with cold clarity, someone wasn’t just using the secret passage for the hidden reserve. They were also secretly draining the main stock of the Verdan estate.

They are selling everything they can, I concluded. They are so desperate for money, they are literally emptying the family cellar to sell in the market.

This was not just about murder anymore, this was about financial ruin and betrayal of the estate. The poison might be a secondary plan to cover the massive amount of money they’ve stolen by selling off the Duke’s wine.

I reached my room, locked the door, and slumped onto my bed. I pulled the cufflink out, staring at it.

This person sure wasn’t just plotting something he was likely the fence that the person selling the wine and helping them clean out the estate.

I wrapped the cufflink in a clean cloth and hid it beneath the loose floorboard in my room. It was proof that someone has been secretly stealing Duke’s wine and he might be involved in the assassination.

First I need to find out where Leron lived and who he really worked for.

The next morning, I was exhausted. The keys that I stole were back on Thomas’s (I returned it this early in the morning), and the cufflink was hidden.

I walked toward the West Wing, where Inzo had his lessons. Since the Duke left, Inzo had been studying with his personal maid to oversee his studies, a maid named Anna.

I remembered Anna from Callen’s memories. She was a stern woman with sharp, bony shoulders and a sour face. More importantly, she was the niece of Lord Verdan (Darren and Elias’s father) and was only hired because Elias had strongly recommended her. It was a clear power play by our cousins who put one of their own in charge of the Duke’s estate.

I stopped outside the heavy wooden door to the study room. The door was slightly opened. I heard voices inside.

“Do it again, Inzo!” Anna’s voice snapped, sharp and impatient. “Your numbers are messy. This is easy, foolish work!”

I leaned closer to the crack in the door and looked in.

Inzo was sitting at a large desk, his shoulders hunched. He looked tiny and miserable. He was trying to copy numbers onto a slate, but his hand was shaking, and the numbers were crooked.

Anna stood over him. She wasn’t shouting, but her voice was worse, cold, insulting, and heavy with disappointment.

“You waste my time,” she continued, snatching the slate away. “You think you’ll ever sit where your father sits with a brain like that? You are slow, boy. Just like your worthless brother.”

She leaned down close to Inzo’s ear, her voice becoming a cold, harsh whisper. “It’s your fault your mother died, you know. She worried herself sick over weak children like you.”

Inzo flinched hard, his face going completely pale.

Anna kept going. “And your brother, Callen? He doesn’t care. He’s only being nice to you now because he needs someone to carry his mistakes. He will leave you alone when he is angry. The others will hurt you.”

She stood up slightly, giving him a fake, pitying look. “I am the only one who will help you. The others will kill you if you make one mistake. Listen to only me, and I will keep you safe from them.”

Inzo’s eyes were wide and glossy, close to tears, but he kept his head down and picked up his chalk, trying to erase the tears with his sleeve. He didn’t complain. He just accepted the cruelty.

My blood went cold.

I had spent so much time training Callen’s body and chasing down some clues, I had forgotten the immediate, constant threat right here. They weren’t just plotting to kill me, they were also systematically breaking Inzo’s spirit every single day.

For God’s sake, Inzo is only nine years old. How could they torture him like this? It’s not enough that I’m their target they even have to torture a child?

I pushed the door open completely.

The sudden sound made both Anna and Inzo jump. Anna turned, a look of annoyance quickly freezing into a fake, polite smile when she saw it was me.

“Young Master Callen,” Anna said, bowing stiffly. “Did you need something? We are very busy here.”

I walked fully into the room. I looked past Anna, straight at Inzo. “Inzo, put the chalk down.”

He looked up at me, surprised.

“I said, put it down,” I repeated, my voice quiet but not open to argument.

He put the chalk down slowly.

Anna cleared her throat, regaining her authority. “Master Callen, I assure you, Inzo needs this discipline. His study habits are pathetic, and I was assigned here by your uncle—”

I didn’t let her finish. I turned to her, and my eyes, still sharp from the midnight investigation, fixed on her face.

“You are dismissed, Anna,” I said. “You have clearly finished the lesson for the day.”

Anna’s mouth dropped open slightly. “Dismissed? But… Young Master, I still have two hours of lessons planned. I will report directly to your uncle and Master Elias about Inzo’s progress!”

“Good,” I said, walking to the desk and picking up the slate Anna had thrown down. “Then you can report this Inzo has a new study schedule. And you are no longer his tutor. Go back to your duties.”

I set the slate down. Anna’s face was a mixture of anger and disbelief. She knew I had no real power to fire her, but she also knew defying me now, in front of Inzo, was a bad look.

“You will regret this disrespect, Master Callen,” she spat out, low enough so Inzo couldn’t hear.

“You will regret trying to hurt my brother,” I countered, looking her straight in the eyes.

Anna gave a small, jerky bow of pure rage and walked quickly out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

I turned back to Inzo. He was staring at me, his eyes huge. He didn’t look happy, he looked scared I had caused trouble for him.

“She… she’s going to tell them,” he whispered, his voice shaking.

I walked over, sat on the edge of the desk next to him, and put my arm around his thin shoulders. “Let her tell them,” I said. “You are done with lessons for today. Now, tell me what you really want to learn.”

Inzo didn’t answer right away. He leaned into my side, his small body trembling slightly. He looked up at me, his eyes wet but clear.

“I… I don’t want to learn the numbers right now,” he whispered. “And I don’t want to learn the boring history that Anna makes me copy.”

“Then what is it?” I asked, gently rubbing his shoulder. “What do you need?”

He gripped the fabric of my sleeve tightly. His voice was so soft I had to lean closer to hear him.

“I just want to stay,” he mumbled. “Right beside you. I don’t need a lesson. If you stay beside me, I can read my favorite book about the sea.”

I looked down at his small face. My heart ached. A child this age should only know how to laugh and play with friends, yet Inzo only knows fear and the cold stones of this prison.

“Good,” I said, giving his shoulder a firm squeeze. “That is the best lesson for today. How about we read together?”

He smiled at me, a real, relieved smile.

I settled myself more comfortably on the edge of the desk. Inzo, reassured, slowly opened the worn book he kept hidden in his satchel. He leaned his head against my side, and soon, the only sounds in the room were the turning of pages and the quiet, steady presence of two brothers sitting together, finally safe in the quiet space they had made.

I kept reading the book for inzo but my focus wasn’t entirely on the maps. My focus was on the small, precious weight leaning against me.

I stood up an hour later, leaving Inzo still reading peacefully. I walked straight to Giles’s office. I didn’t knock, I simply opened the door and closed it behind me.

Giles was the manor’s steward, an old man who watched everything with quiet, sharp eyes. He had served the family for eighteen years, but his true allegiance was not to the cousins or the current leadership it was reserved entirely for my late Duchess mother.

Giles had been her personal butler and companion for her entire life, and he only remained at the manor now to fulfill a solemn promise he made to her on her deathbed to stay here and guide us.

Furthermore, Giles held the highest rank among the Duke’s trusted staff assigned to the manor. He was the one man the Duke personally relied on to report the true state of the Verdan estate. His word was absolute.I found Giles in his office, checking lists.

“Young Master Callen,” Giles said, rising slightly. “What is it?”

“It’s about Anna,” I said, my voice low and shaking with controlled anger. “She didn’t merely discipline Inzo. She insulted us and systematically tried to break his will. She even used my dead mother’s name in her torment. She blamed a nine-year-old child for his mother’s death”.

I looked directly at Giles. “You swore an oath to my mother to protect us. Is this how we are protected? By letting a common maid emotionally torture the child of the house?”

I kept my voice cold and firm, using the language of authority and justice, not panic. “My father is gone. We are being abused because the uncle believes they have free reign. Giles, if the Duke knew that his kinswoman’s child was being psychologically broken to weaken his claim, what would he do?”

Giles listened to every word. The shock and sadness in his eyes were real.

“The Duke gave me orders to ensure your safety,” Giles said, his voice hard. “This is not merely disobedience, this is an attack on the family’s future, orchestrated by the Branch Lord’s people.”

He placed his pen down carefully. “You have done your part by intervening, Master Callen. I will now do mine.”

He stepped closer to the window. “I will draft a full report immediately, including the precise words Anna used. I will use the fastest rider to dispatch a message to the Duke today, demanding immediate, severe action. I will frame this as a calculated attempt to psychologically disable the future heir.”

“Rest assured, Master Callen,” Giles finished, turning back to face me. “You will not see that woman in the manor again. And your cousins will learn that the true authority here lies not with their father

, but with the Duke’s protection.”

I nodded, the tension easing slightly. “Thank you, Giles.”

To be continued……