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Chapter : 15
“Welcome, Mother and Father!”
With a bright, cheerful voice—bang!—the front door slammed shut.
It was before the servants and knights following behind could even enter.
“What?! Why did the door—?!”
“Duke! Duchess! Are you all right?!”
Bang bang bang!
Rough pounding echoed from behind the door.
But neither Regis nor Febetia had the presence of mind to respond.
“It’s our first time meeting like this! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you~.”
Because standing before them, smiling broadly, was Eani Nasel.
Her radiant demeanor was so unfamiliar that the couple were momentarily left speechless.
In the meantime, she approached them with a limp, leaning on a cane.
Seeing this, Regis snapped back to his senses and glared.
“Enough with your pathetic little act.”
“Yes~?”
“You think I’d fall for this like my idiot son?!”
With that shout, Regis pointed accusingly at Eani’s leg.
“Your leg is perfectly fine, isn’t it?!”
At those words, Eani halted mid-step.
Not to be outdone, Febetia hurriedly spoke up as well.
“And what was that just now? Mother? Father?! You said you lost your memory—have you lost your mind too?!”
Eani, who had been quietly looking at them, slowly curved her lips into a deep smile.
“So you already knew?”
Whoosh—.
Without a shred of hesitation, Eani lightly tossed the cane aside.
As Elin hurriedly caught it from behind, Eani calmly walked toward the ducal couple.
Her right foot—supposedly said to have severed tendons—moved just fine, step after step.
“Well, this works out perfectly. I was wondering whether I really needed to keep up the show even in front of you two.”
Shrugging her shoulders, Eani stopped close to them.
At her shameless attitude, the duke and duchess frowned deeply.
“You’re utterly brazen.”
“You deceitful wretch! You toyed with my son and think your head will stay attached to your neck?!”
At Febetia’s shout, Eani tilted her head, briefly touching her own neck.
Then she smiled sweetly.
“I think it’ll stay right where it is~?”
“W-What?!”
“Well then, you two are exactly as I expected—down to the last detail, which is fascinating! But the real event is prepared inside.”
“So let’s not do this in the entryway. Please, follow me~.”
Eani Nasel moved forward as though she were the true owner of the villa.
At the sight, Regis and Febetia could only let out hollow laughs.
“Has she truly gone mad?”
“Something’s strange… She used to be terrified whenever she saw us. Why is she so confident now?”
“Seems the memory loss part is real. That’s why she’s acting like a fearless pup who doesn’t know what to fear.”
Cracking his neck, Regis followed after Eani.
“Good. I’ll take this chance to remind her of the terror of the Seind name.”
Hearing her husband’s words, Febetia unknowingly bit her lip.
A bad premonition brushed through her mind.
That Eani Nasel… she doesn’t feel like the foolish Eani Nasel I used to know….
No! What nonsense am I thinking?!
Febetia tightened her grip on the fan in her hand.
That woman was, no matter how one looked at her, Eani Nasel.
The girl who always knelt before me, capable of nothing but groveling and begging!
More than anything, Febetia knew very well what Eani Nasel was weak to.
—
“Duchess, I was wrong. Please, I beg you—just spare my family…”
—
Naturally, the image of Eani’s cringing, pitiful self surfaced in her mind.
For all her pride, Eani Nasel couldn’t move an inch whenever her family was mentioned.
As long as you know the weakness, attacking is easy.
There was no reason for Febetia to feel uneasy.
Regaining her composure, she lifted her chin and walked forward with dignity.
Eani entered the guest reception room first, with Regis following behind.
As Febetia headed in last, she narrowed her eyes.
That maid…
Elin was standing by the door of the reception room.
When their eyes met, Elin flinched and bowed her head deeply.
Febetia scanned her up and down, then whispered,
“This is why commoners are unacceptable.”
Elin’s shoulders twitched at the words.
Regardless, Febetia snapped open her fan to cover her mouth and entered the room with aristocratic poise.
My husband must be thoroughly crushing that insolent brat’s spirit by now.
After all, he too had been grinding his teeth, determined not to let Eani Nasel off easily.
She could picture it without even looking.
That face—trembling as always, pale with fear.
Well then, shall I show off my skills for the first time in a while?
Just as Febetia curled one corner of her lips into a vile smile and surveyed the room—
Hm…?
Something was off.
Contrary to her expectations, Eani Nasel was boldly seated on the sofa.
And not just anywhere—she was sitting in the seat of honor!
And the one trembling instead was—
“Honey!”
It was her husband, Regis—master of the Seind family!
Regis stood awkwardly near the sofa, shaking like a leaf.
“…Why are you like this?!”
Febetia hurried to check on him.
Regis’s face was deathly pale, all color drained from it.
They weren’t a particularly affectionate couple, but even so, she had never seen her husband look like this before.
A man who lived his entire life as the Empire’s greatest noble, fearing nothing?
“Oh, Mother, you’re here too!”
At Eani’s innocent voice, Febetia turned her head.
Eani was smiling brightly at her, as if she were thoroughly enjoying herself.
As if…
“Shall we check the condition of the treasure one more time?”
As if she were a child eagerly anticipating her reaction.
“Treasure?”
Febetia echoed without thinking.
At that moment—
Chzzzzk—.
With strange static, a familiar voice rang out.
[It’s been a while, Duke of Seind. Duchess. I received the letters you sent.]
This voice is…
As Febetia frowned, the owner of the voice flashed through her mind.
At the same time, her heart dropped.
She had believed she would never hear that voice again.
“That’s impossible!”
She frantically looked around.
But in the reception room, there were only Eani and her husband.
Then where in the world was this voice coming from?!
Even as she panicked, the voice continued.
[You must have already heard everything from Marquis X.]
[Yes.]
[Then may I take it that by coming to me, House Seind also intends to join my cause?]
[Yes, Your Highness the Second Prince!]
[Your Highness is the true heir to the imperial throne!]
Her husband’s voice—and her own—rang out clearly.
Febetia couldn’t believe what was happening.
Her mind went blank, words failing her.
Then—
“Aaaaargh!”
Regis screamed and lunged forward.
Smack!
He snatched something from the table in front of Eani and slammed it onto the floor.
“Stop it! Stop it right now!”
Shouting like a madman, Regis stomped on it repeatedly.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
But the voice showed no sign of stopping.
[Yes! Do not think of this as ‘treason’! You are casting aside outdated traditions and walking the path of glory with me!]
[We swear eternal loyalty to Your Highness the Second Prince!]
[For the birth of a new ‘Mage Empire’!]
Chzzzzk—.
With that final cry, the voice cut off.
Yes—hearing it brought everything back.
Back then, we really did say those things to the Second Prince.
At the time, they truly believed he would win.
And everyone around them was flocking to his side—they feared being left behind if they didn’t.
So…
Reaching that realization, Febetia slowly lowered her head, staring at the floor.
“Pant… pant…!”
At that moment, her husband stepped back, breathing heavily.
The couple hurriedly checked the floor—and almost simultaneously collapsed onto it.
They couldn’t even think about dignity.
Because no matter how hard Regis had stomped on it, that thing remained completely unscathed.
“AAAAAH!”
A beat later, fully grasping the situation, Febetia screamed.
“How—how is this here?! How?!”
She couldn’t collect herself.
The suffocating terror of that time crept back up from deep inside her.
Squeezing her eyes shut to deny reality, she heard a clear female voice by her ear.
“So? How is the treasure I found?”
When she opened her eyes, Eani Nasel was sitting on the sofa, looking down at her.
That gaze was familiar.
That was the very look Febetia herself used to wear when tormenting Eani Nasel.
In this completely reversed situation, Eani smiled sweetly.
“I was thinking… maybe I should try selling this treasure to the two of you~.”
