ATPE 20

Chapter 20

After the Delivery Was Over

Only then did Serenia realize that this entire situation looked extremely misleading from Ain’s perspective, so she hurriedly tried to explain.

“This isn’t what it looks like⋯⋯.”

“What do you mean it isn’t? The royal seal is stamped on it plain as day.”

“No, what I mean is not that it isn’t—⋯⋯! No, more importantly, why are you even up? I told you to stay lying down!”

“Is that really the important issue right now?”

“Of course it is! And what’s with your clothes? If you were going to put them back on, why are they still half open like that⋯⋯?!”

“I didn’t exactly have enough time to button every single one.”

Ain answered lazily before giving her a playful wink.

Even the tinted glasses could not hide how flirtatious he looked, and Serenia’s cheeks instantly turned bright red without her realizing it.

After half-dazzling her like that, Ain skillfully snatched the marriage proposal from her hands.

“H-Hey? W-Why are you taking that? Give it back!”

Serenia hurriedly reached for it, but he easily dodged her attempts and calmly began reading the document.

Only after carefully checking every word and every letter from beginning to end did he hand it back.

“As expected. The sender is Duke Rascal Admancanon.”

The look in his eyes had become openly sharp.

So sharp that even the tinted glasses could not hide it.

Seeing his expression, which looked ready to demand compensation and terminate their contract immediately, Serenia quickly shouted:

“I can explain!”

Ain answered in a crooked tone.

“Really? Then please do.”

The moment he allowed it, Serenia immediately blurted out:

“He’s insane!”

“⋯⋯Pardon?”

“He’s doing everything by himself without even asking what I want!”

“Hm?”

Seeing him hum suspiciously, Serenia beat her chest in frustration.

“No, seriously! I’m an innocent victim here! Really!”

But Ain shook his head slowly.

“However, Young Lady. An official marriage proposal approved by the royal family⋯⋯.”

“Ahh. Yes. I know that document has the effect of a temporary engagement!”

“Exactly. Which means that as long as that document exists, you cannot marry anyone except the Duke. You understand that, correct?”

At his sharp question, Serenia began sweating nervously.

“I-If a clear rejection is officially declared, then it becomes possible afterward.”

“Well. That is true.”

Nodding as he spoke, he added in a sarcastic tone:

“However, the problem is that Count Barishart, the one who must officially declare that rejection, is currently unconscious.”

Unable to hold back anymore, Serenia shouted:

“I know! I know that too! That’s why I’m going crazy right now!”

Watching her clutch at her own hair, Ain pretended to look surprised.

“Ah. So you do know. I thought perhaps you didn’t.”

Then he added casually like he was talking to himself.

“Ahh. This is troublesome. I already have too much money as it is. If my wealth suddenly increases by another six million crovats, what should I do? It’ll be difficult to spend it all before I die.”

At those words, Serenia’s eyes widened instantly and she lunged toward him.

“What are you talking about?! Six million crovats?! I didn’t even break the contract!”

“Isn’t this practically the same thing? There’s no way to reject that proposal, and there’s no chance Duke Rascal will suddenly change his mind and withdraw it overnight.”

It was an extremely reasonable point.

But Serenia absolutely could not agree with him.

Because the moment she did, she would owe six million crovats immediately.

Pushed into a corner, her brain spun desperately until she finally found an excuse.

“T-There was never any deadline written down!”

“⋯⋯Excuse me?”

Seeing his slightly confused expression, Serenia quickly continued.

“I remember perfectly clearly! Our contract never specified a time limit! There’s nowhere saying we have to submit the marriage registration papers by a certain date!”

“Excuse me? That’s only because there was no need to specify one.”

Looking completely dumbfounded, he continued:

“You needed to pay off the bank debt before the estate was seized, so naturally I assumed the contract would be fulfilled before then⋯⋯.”

Cutting into his words, Serenia shouted:

“Exactly!”

“Pardon?”

“There are still ten whole days left before the bank seizure date!”

“⋯⋯What?”

“If I solve this situation before then, it’ll be fine!”

Ain looked at her suspiciously as she loudly declared that.

“⋯⋯You? Solve it? How exactly?”

“Well⋯⋯.”

Serenia trailed off while rolling her eyes around desperately before finally blurting out:

“I’ll figure something out somehow, so stop worrying about it! Whether I wake Father up somehow, or hold a sword to Rascal’s throat and threaten him into withdrawing the proposal, I’ll manage somehow!”

“⋯⋯What?”

The completely unrealistic and violent examples left Ain utterly speechless.

Meanwhile, Serenia rushed into her room and returned with his coat and hat.

Then she roughly shoved them onto him, opened the front door wide, and pushed him outside.

“H-Huh? Y-Young Lady?”

“You should go now. It’s already too late.”

“Excuse me? It’s only around four in the afternoon.”

“Exactly. That’s late.”

“No, but⋯⋯.”

While he stood there looking absurdly confused, Serenia pushed him outside like she was herding sheep and shut the creaking front door.

“I’ll come find you once everything’s resolved. Until then, let’s not meet. Goodbye.”

The moment she finished speaking—

Bang!

The front door slammed shut mercilessly.

Ain stood there blankly for quite a while before finally letting out a deep sigh and pulling his hat down lower.

Sliding his arms properly into the coat hanging over his shoulders, he muttered to himself:

“⋯⋯An official marriage proposal. That really got me.”

Getting married even once was unbelievably difficult.

How exactly was he supposed to overcome this obstacle now?

Grumbling quietly, he pulled up his collar to hide part of his face and slowly started walking.

Then suddenly, he remembered what had happened at dawn, and his expression stiffened.

“Wait. The photographs⋯⋯. The photographer!”

Only then remembering what he had forgotten, he hurriedly jumped into a carriage.

“To Neriad Hotel, please. As fast as possible!”

* * *

Bianca Admancanon had always been lucky.

As a child, she accidentally consumed poison and somehow survived.

And because the aftereffects left her unable to have children, she avoided being forced into an unwanted marriage with noble idiots lacking proper brain cells.

Thanks to that, she was also able to study the secret poisons of the family, knowledge never passed down to women who married outside the house.

People pitied her and called her unfortunate, but to Bianca—who considered toxicology research the most enjoyable thing in the world—it had all worked out perfectly.

And as expected, she was lucky again today.

December 4th.

Because the deadline for the request was only hours away, Nelson Galut had become desperate and mobilized the entire organization to search for Serenia.

As a result, the surveillance over Bianca had weakened.

Until now, she had been trapped inside one of the top-floor rooms of Salon Galut, but thanks to the distraction, she successfully escaped at dawn.

“How dare they imprison me. Just wait. One day I’ll definitely poison that entire establishment.”

Grinding her teeth while returning to the ducal estate, Bianca suddenly spotted something glinting from the bushes beside the Pruhen River.

When she approached closer, she discovered it was a camera.

“What’s a camera doing in a place like this?”

Bianca immediately picked it up.

Just imagining herself fabricating evidence of Serenia Barishart’s promiscuous and immoral private life with this camera before presenting it to Dalia made her mood improve.

“Hehe. If I finish this job well, Madam will surely give me plenty of research funding.”

Even humming cheerfully to herself, she returned to the ducal estate.

Inside her room in the estate annex, she tested the camera by pressing the shutter several times to check its condition.

After only a few shots, the camera signaled that the film had already run out.

Without much thought, she opened the camera, removed the film, and developed it.

The development process took an entire day.

After spending twenty-four straight hours in the darkroom, Bianca finally checked the developed photographs early in the morning of December 5th.

“⋯⋯Serenia Barishart?”

Her eyes widened with both shock and delight.

How could luck possibly be this good?!

To think the camera she randomly found contained photographs of Serenia!

Of course, Serenia had tried to disguise herself with a wig, but there was no way she could fool Bianca’s eyes.

That cold yet beautiful face was far too distinctive.

Smiling triumphantly, Bianca checked the next photographs.

In the pictures, Serenia was flirting late at night beside the Pruhen River with a mysterious man.

And that man’s identity was—

“Ain Leberon?!”