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Chapter : 14
“What? The owner of the island?”
I did not answer her question and instead stepped directly in front of the safe.
The safe opened by turning a dial.
As I examined it quietly, Elin glanced at me and cautiously asked,
“Lady Eani… are you able to open that?”
At her question, the corner of my lips lifted slightly.
This safe had been specially treated—if someone tried to force it open from the outside without entering the password, it would lock permanently and never open again.
Of course, magic also counted as “external force.”
Well, if someone handled mana with extreme delicacy, it might be possible to open it cleverly…
But I did not yet possess that level of skill.
Still, it was not a problem.
Why?
“Elin.”
Click, click.
Without hesitation, I began turning the dial.
“There’s only one way to open a safe in the first place, isn’t there?”
You just enter the password~.
I quickly turned the dial according to the numbers I remembered from the original story.
Clack.
A heavy sound echoed.
And the door of the safe—one that looked as though it would never open—slowly slid open.
As the massive door parted, a bright light enveloped me.
Instinctively, I whispered in awe,
“So dazzling.”
Elin, who peered into the safe after me, had her pupils trembling violently.
“Oh my goodness…”
Her voice soon rose.
“Is it all gold coins?!”
Indeed it was.
Inside the safe before us, gold coins were piled up like a small mountain.
At the sight of money, my mood instinctively lifted.
Beautiful.
But I could not afford to relax!
I swiftly scanned the inside of the safe.
With this many gold coins, I can cover immediate labor and material costs, but…
It was not enough.
The “treasure” I was searching for was far more valuable than mere gold.
It has to be somewhere in this safe.
Unlike me, who had regained my composure, Elin looked utterly incredulous, unable to close her mouth.
In a slightly trembling voice, she asked,
“T-this money… it isn’t Lady Eani’s money, right?”
At those words, I stopped everything I was doing.
Then I sharply turned my head toward Elin.
As I stared at her unblinkingly, Elin took a step back, her face pale with fear.
Without taking my eyes off her, I whispered,
“Why wouldn’t it be my money? I found it, didn’t I?”
Strictly speaking, it belonged to the current Duke of Seind—Harten’s father—but he had treated this money as though it did not exist and had no intention of ever taking it out.
Which meant it was effectively ownerless now.
And money without an owner, once fallen to the ground, belongs to whoever picks it up first.
“Why? Do you want some too?”
At my flat tone, Elin shook her head desperately.
I watched her quietly, then smiled sweetly.
“Then I’ll take it, since I want it~. I’ll make it mine, okay?”
“Y-yes, of course! Naturally, it’s Lady Eani’s!”
Spin~.
Turning away from Elin, I closed the safe door.
For now, Elin is here.
I would have to examine this safe thoroughly when I was alone.
In any case, just finding the safe using knowledge from the original story made this a fruitful day.
Lifting the safe into the air with magic, I walked off briskly.
“Now then, shall we head back to the villa~?”
“…Yes, Lady Eani.”
Elin, still dazed, remained silent the entire way back, as though lost in thought.
I did not bother to speak to her either.
And so, three days after discovering the Duke of Seind’s safe—
A letter arrived from Harten.
「My Eani.」
The letter, which always began with the same phrase, was very long, but its key points could be summarized as follows:
「The Duke and Duchess of Seind will likely go to Tadivna Island themselves. I should have stopped it beforehand—my apologies.
I will send the aide you met before, so it would be best for you to stay in Wayna for the time being.」
As I read the final line, a grin spread across my face without my realizing it.
“Why should I?”
It sounded far too interesting.
Besides, I had just finished combing through the safe and found the “treasure.”
Humming softly, I gazed at the treasure glittering beneath the chandelier’s light.
Regis Seind, the Duke of Seind and Harten’s biological father.
At this moment, he was in an extremely foul mood.
No—this was the worst he had ever felt.
“Did you clearly inform them that we were coming to the island?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“And yet they did not even come out to greet us?”
Looking at the empty dock, Regis deeply furrowed his brow.
“How insolent.”
Beside him, his wife, Febatia Seind, waved her fan lightly, her displeasure evident.
“I knew this would happen. This is exactly why I never wanted to associate with some uneducated girl.”
Ignoring his wife’s complaints, the duke quickened his pace.
How impudent.
The fair face of Eani Nassel naturally came to mind.
The woman his son had suddenly brought to the estate one day.
He had been surprised, since his son was not one to indulge in women, but he assumed the boy would handle it appropriately and let it be.
After all, Harten’s future partner had been decided since before he was born.
So I thought he would clean things up when the time came…!
But the son he trusted had stabbed him squarely in the back.
He had broken off an engagement that Regis had painstakingly arranged, entirely on his own whim.
I told him again and again how important that engagement was to our family!
Harten was the greatest tool to carry the glory of the Seind family into future generations.
He possessed excellent judgment and intellect, a strong body, and natural talent with the sword.
That was why Regis had invested even more effort into his son’s upbringing.
After supporting him so wholeheartedly, he dares to defy me and choose such a lowly woman?
The only reason his once-perfect heir had changed was because of that woman.
Because of that ambiguous excuse for a noble—Eani Nassel!
Remembering how Eani used to cower behind Harten, barely able to speak properly, Regis ground his teeth.
“I told you to get rid of her properly from the start.”
He muttered menacingly to his wife walking beside him.
At those words, Febatia opened her mouth indignantly.
“I did my best! That stubborn thing refused to know her place and kept clinging on!”
Even when Regis had neglected the matter, Febatia had remained vigilant.
Her husband thought their son was merely distracted for a time, but she did not.
The look in Harten’s eyes when he looked at Eani Nassel was not normal…!
As unpleasant as it was, the moment Harten brought Eani home, Febatia sensed it.
Perhaps her son regarded that foolish girl as more than just a toy.
So she had acted decisively from the beginning.
She isolated Eani Nassel completely, humiliated her, and did not hesitate to resort to violence if necessary.
Febatia believed she was entitled to do so.
She was the mistress of the noble House of Seind, while Eani Nassel was merely the unremarkable daughter of a baron.
The gap in their status was wider and deeper than heaven and earth.
Harten interfered from time to time, but what difference did that make?
The Seind estate was, in the end, firmly in Febatia’s grasp.
The servants feared her—who managed the household—far more than Harten, who was often away on official business.
The more Harten intervened, the more subtly and cruelly Febatia tightened the noose around Eani.
And thus, Eani Nassel was utterly broken.
So I thought she would be discarded by Harten soon enough!
Then news arrived that Eani Nassel had been kidnapped, and she vanished for a while.
Febatia had sneered in satisfaction and paid it no mind, only to later hear that Eani was living on Tadivna Island.
After that, nothing made sense.
Still, one thing was clear.
After that incident, Harten’s interest had definitely shifted away from Eani Nassel.
How relieved she had been then.
Febatia never intended to accept a girl like Eani Nassel as her daughter-in-law.
She had always lived a perfect life as a great noble.
How could she allow such a foolish stain to taint it?
Even so, just in case, she had planted a minimal safeguard and forgotten about it.
So how did she seduce my son again?!
That hateful, fox-like woman!
She must have once again slumped weakly, pretending to be fragile and delicate, to toy with Harten’s emotions!
She could not tolerate it any longer.
“This time, I will finish it properly.”
“Of course.”
“But then… why did you come all the way down here yourself?”
Febatia alone was more than sufficient to deal with someone like Eani Nassel.
For the Duke of Seind himself to step in over such a matter was beneath his dignity.
That’s why, even when Eani was at the estate, he never acted directly and only egged me on.
Yet the moment he learned Eani was on Tadivna Island, her husband moved faster than ever before.
Suspicious, Febatia narrowed her eyes.
Regis’s thick mustache twitched.
“…Isn’t it because you failed to handle things properly?”
“Hmph, blaming me again.”
The way he kept shifting responsibility onto her was utterly pathetic.
Shooting Regis a glare, Febatia quickened her steps.
Whatever his intentions, dealing with Eani Nassel was the priority.
I’ll make her beg, swearing never to go near Harten again!
Regis was thinking something similar.
She’s a pitiful woman anyway. A little fear, and she’ll submit on her own.
With that, the two of them strode confidently into the villa.
That was the moment when it happened.
