🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 10……………………………….
Lies. As far as she knew, even though Iriot was the heir of a ducal house, he was famously known for not dating anyone. In reality, he had been secretly dating men all along, but no one had ever noticed.
Radian wasn’t sure whether this young lady was trying to trick her again, but she pretended to be surprised and said,
“Count Iriot was a womanizer? That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
“You might not know, but my brother was the ace of the social club. He was really famous. Everyone said he was gentle and handsome.”
“I did know he was well-known in society.”
“But it wasn’t just that. He practically came out of a different woman’s house almost every day.”
She whispered as if revealing some enormous secret. Radian looked at her in disbelief. Silvia felt oddly pleased at that expression. It hurt, didn’t it? Good. Feel it. You’re nothing special. Even if Radian confronted her later, she could simply deny ever saying it. A faint red curve formed on Silvia’s lips.
“My goodness… so the Count was just like me.”
What?
Silvia lifted her head in shock at what she had just heard and stared at Radian.
“W-what do you mean, I was like your brother?”
“Well… I was somewhat of a name in the social club for dancing. I received a lot of after-party invitations from men.”
“Excuse me…?”
“As you can see, my looks are… well, if I dress up properly, I’m not bad. There were many passionate suitors, so I was sometimes quite troubled.”
“So… you’re saying you also left other gentlemen’s houses?”
Radian scratched her head awkwardly.
“When distinguished gentlemen courted me… I’m only human, after all, so I couldn’t always refuse… Oh dear, I didn’t mean to go this far. It wasn’t that many anyway. Just double digits? Sigh. I can’t believe I’m telling all this to an unmarried young lady. Please forget it.”
Oh my.
Silvia stared at her, mouth hanging open like a carp, unable to believe what she had just heard. Even though free relationships were possible, Creah was still a country where a woman’s chastity was valued. Hearing something so shocking was almost enough to make one wonder if she had lost her mind.
“Now that I’m married, it can’t be helped, but sometimes I miss those good old days. Please keep what I said a secret, miss.”
“Y-yes, of course, sister. B-but I have something to do, so I should go now…”
“Oh my, you’re not finishing your meal?”
“I’m fine!”
Silvia left the dining room with only half her meal eaten, as if fleeing. Then she ran at full speed toward somewhere.
Bang!
“Mother!”
“Silvia! Who opens a door so rudely like that! You’re shaking the whole house running down the hallway!”
“That’s impossible! M-mother… weren’t you sick?”
At Shan’s surprisingly energetic voice, Silvia’s eyes widened. Shan coughed again, realizing only then that there was a wet cloth on her forehead.
“Cough… I still have a bit of a fever and I’m sick. But why?”
“Th-this is terrible! R-Radian… that woman…!”
“That woman again. Did she cause trouble this time?”
Shan spoke without much hope. Lately, Radian had become too formidable—if anything, Silvia was more likely to suffer than to cause trouble.
Frustrated by her mother’s indifferent attitude, Silvia rushed to the bedside and shouted loudly,
“Th-that Radian woman said my b-brother wasn’t her first man!”
“Wendy. Stop and come have a snack. The cook prepared plenty of peppermint tea.”
“Yes, Lady Radian.”
After finishing breakfast alone, Radian called Wendy in a gentle voice. Wendy, who had been diligently polishing the sparkling windows, came to the table. They sat and looked out the window together. The maple leaves were falling heavily, and the weather looked like it might rain or snow.
“It’s getting quite cold. Is it already November?”
“Are you very cold? Should I bring a heated stone?”
“No, it’s not that bad. And I think it’s better not to carry that stone around anymore. I keep having strange thoughts because of it…”
Wendy tilted her head at Radian’s odd words. Her young mistress sometimes said incomprehensible things. Still, Wendy didn’t dislike her—rather, she liked her. If before she had seemed fragile and in need of care, lately it felt like she was the one being cared for.
Even though she thought she shouldn’t feel that way, being the eldest of seven siblings and always the caretaker, receiving care herself wasn’t as bad as she expected.
“Oh right, did you look into that?”
“Huh? What is it?”
“Michael. I asked you to check through the information guild before.”
Wendy’s expression darkened sharply. Radian tilted her head, wondering if she had said something wrong. After a few seconds of silence, Wendy spoke carefully.
“Lady Radian, please don’t be too shocked.”
“W-why? What happened?”
“The information guild members who had been following Michael… all of them have gone missing.”
Missing.
Radian’s face turned pale. She had paid a large sum for the request, thinking he was no ordinary servant, but to think all the informants disappeared at once. “Missing” likely meant they were all dead. Her hand trembled as she held the teacup.
“T-then the guild said they had no idea he was such a dangerous person, and since they lost all their agents, they’re actually requesting compensation from us…”
“When did they send that message?”
“Last night… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. It was such a big matter I was afraid to say it immediately…”
Seeing Wendy trembling, Radian oddly felt calmer. She steadied herself and spoke in a calm tone.
“I’m fine. Thank you for telling me. But from now on, tell me things like this immediately, whether I’m sleeping or eating. I need to know quickly to think of a solution.”
“Yes, Lady Radian. I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay. Even though the request failed, I think some compensation is appropriate. Send a thousand gold per missing person.”
“A-a thousand gold?”
“Yes. It’s cheap for a human life, but we can’t help it since we don’t have much money right now.”
A thousand gold sounded cheap? With 300 gold you could buy a slave, and even 100 gold was enough for an assassination contract. Wendy thought she must be terribly unaware of the world, but she simply nodded.
“Yes, Lady Radian. I’ll do that.”
“Good work. Thank you.”
“It’s nothing. It’s my duty.”
“Also, one more thing. Do you remember the jewelry store I visited before?”
“The Clementine Jewelry Store?”
“Yes. Could you stop by there as well after the guild? They said I can pick up the item I left there. And you can buy yourself something tasty on the way… but I guess I can’t give you money for that, right?”
Radian jingled coins in her hand.
“No, you can’t, Lady Radian. You promised.”
Recently, Wendy had been refusing money. She was worried about Radian’s finances, since she kept giving her far more money than her salary whenever she went out.
Radian immediately looked disappointed. She pouted, looking so pitifully cute that Wendy almost wanted to give in—but she held firm.
“Well, no choice. Here’s the compensation money.”
“Yes, Lady Radian. I’ll be back.”
“You can embezzle a little if there’s extra.”
“I won’t! I’m going now!”
After Wendy left, Radian drank the now-cold tea in one gulp. Why do people dislike money? I really like it. Shrugging, she began tidying the table herself.
Just as she picked up Wendy’s teacup—
“Was it you who investigated me?”
A sudden, clear voice startled her so much that she dropped the cup.
Fortunately, since there was no carpet, it should have shattered on the marble floor—but no sound came. When she cautiously opened her eyes, the cup was floating slightly above the ground.
Michael calmly placed the floating cup onto a tray.
“…Why did you do it?”
His atmosphere was slightly different from when they first met—more sharp, guarded. Without thinking, Radian reached out and patted his head.
“W-what are you doing?”
“You looked tense. Calm down.”
“Stop that.”
Even so, he didn’t strongly resist. Soft silver strands slipped through her fingers.
After a moment, Radian withdrew her hand and got to the point.
“I was curious about you.”
“I am just a servant. A commoner.”
“Whether you’re a commoner or not doesn’t matter. A commoner using high-class magic… that usually means they chose to remain one.”
She smiled faintly. With fifth-class magic, one could easily become a noble.
“I didn’t know you were so knowledgeable about magic.”
“Thanks for helping with the grape juice incident. I really wanted to get out of there.”
Michael stepped back slightly, wary like a stray cat.
“Stop changing the subject. Why did you have someone follow me?”
“I wanted to know what you desire.”
“And what would you do with that information?”
“So I can tell you what I want.”
She smiled brightly. Michael looked at her in confusion.
“What do you want?”
“Oh my, will you grant it?”
“I’ll decide after hearing it.”
Radian swallowed nervously. Those blue glass-like eyes were deep and unreadable.
“Teach me magic.”
Michael froze.
“Even just a little. Once a week, even.”
“Do you think magic is something like a scroll? Even gifted children struggle to learn it. Sorry, but—”
“No, I do have talent. I can feel mana.”
Michael paused.
“How do you think I knew about the grape juice incident? I saw the flow—from the bottle to behind the oak tree where you were hiding.”
Michael stared at her, skeptical.
“…It is certainly a rare talent.”
“Right?”
“But whether you can actually use magic is another matter.”
“Then test me. If I can’t, I’ll give up.”
After a long hesitation, Michael finally spoke.
“…Very well.”
