🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 11
“W-Why is the Duke in my room?”
Why do you think.
Detto awkwardly rose from his chair.
I threw the towel I was holding at the Count’s face.
“You’ll hold it.”
I didn’t have justification before…
“My attendant.”
Now I had a reason.
A reason to intervene.
“How could I do such a lowly task!”
“You had Demia do it, didn’t you? And serving me is a lowly task?”
I set my jaw and nudged the desk slightly with my foot.
Whoa. That moved more than I expected.
The Count groaned and clutched his stomach as he was trapped between the desk and the wall.
“You must know about the situation with the Princess and me.”
I planted my foot on the desk, raising my eyes menacingly.
“Is this some scheme to tarnish my honor, or to make me clash with the Imperial family?”
“No! I was just trying to relieve your fatigue…!”
“Then why did you make the young lady do it?”
“W-Well, naturally, when a superior orders something, it must be done.”
Ah, so rank is the real gang here?
“Then you will serve me. I came in haste and left my servant behind.”
He probably thought “servant” meant just helping change clothes and such.
“I have sensitive skin, so I always wash with flowing stream water.”
“…We use buckets, Your Grace.”
“Exactly. Don’t you see? I washed here once with this water and look—pimples.”
“…It’s clean, Your Grace.”
I pressed my pale skin closer to him.
“Your eyes are strange. Maybe if you hit it, blood rushes to your head and makes it more visible.”
“Oh, no! There is! It seems to be right here!”
Detto waved his hands frantically. I nodded in satisfaction.
“Then from now on, you’ll fetch water from the stream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
“…You mean that stream?”
Detto’s face darkened immediately.
Understandably.
The stream I pointed to was beyond the Bahart encampment.
“The water there is naturally clean.”
“But it’s a four-hour round trip! If you do it three times a day, you’ll spend all day fetching water! And you’d also have to go around the Bahart camp…”
Exactly why I told him to go.
It takes a long time, and he’ll feel the fear of the people he shoved into the front lines.
Surely this isn’t the end of revenge.
It’s just the prelude.
“You said, ‘When a superior orders it, it must be done.’ That’s you, Count.”
Rank is the real gang.
I’m a Duke. You’re a Count. Two ranks apart.
“While on the way, it seems you sold the castle gates. What happened to the subsidies His Majesty gave?”
I glanced at the cards strewn across the desk. Of course—probably all gambled away.
“Y-Yes, I will do as ordered.”
“Good. Understood.”
After giving Detto a warning glare, I left his room.
“Ah!”
Demia, who had been listening at the Count’s door, fell backward.
She muffled a groan with her hands and widened her eyes.
“Young Lady, I have something to say.”
I gestured toward my door.
Thud.
As soon as the door closed, I got to the point.
“I think you already know. The Count has sided with Crown Prince Kellian of the Bahart Empire.”
“…What are you saying?”
This war would have been impossible without an internal ally of Kellian.
‘That ally must be Detto.’
Bahart struck first, but the pretext was given by the Hessen Count.
“Most lords protect their people—not out of care, but because they are their main source of income.”
“…”
“Yet the Count chose a full-scale battle instead of a siege, knowing his people would be slaughtered. It’s as if he wanted the war to escalate.”
“……”
“So that the Berwen knights would intervene and strike the 2nd Prince’s forces. And that Kellian fellow didn’t even lift a finger while attacking the 2nd Prince’s faction.”
I explained several other deductions to Demia in turn.
“…Isn’t that right?”
“Your Grace, that’s just speculation!”
Demia’s words were correct.
This was only my hypothesis.
But a rather reasonable one.
“So you must find the evidence for me.”
“…Me?”
“From now on, the Count will be extremely busy. I sent my men to dangerous places, and all the knights will go with them. The estate will be left mostly empty.”
“…”
“Find the evidence in the meantime. The household staff are already on your side, aren’t they?”
Demia’s eyes widened slightly. She had already grasped the internal situation.
“Find the evidence, locate hidden assets. Gather everything that could be a weapon for you.”
I would capture the traitor personally, while Demia would protect the family and pursue revenge.
A mutually beneficial arrangement. Also, revenge is far more satisfying when done with one’s own hands.
“When Detto is eliminated, I’ll help ensure the person you want becomes the lord.”
Bitter taste in my mouth.
A perfect heir before me, yet she cannot ascend immediately.
Still, she will be the practical ruler of the Hessen estate.
“Will you take my hand?”
I extended my hand to Demia.
She hesitated slightly, then grasped it with her sharp, intelligent eyes.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Our gazes met and intertwined.
Thus, the villainess of this story and Duke Berwen formed a secret alliance.
‘Now I don’t have to gather the evidence myself.’
A little less work for me.
Demia was clearly an extremely capable strategist.
At dawn, when Detto went to fetch water, she returned with evidence in just a few hours.
‘With this, we could even pressure Kellian.’
It was such useful evidence that I thought we could use it in the treaty.
But after seeing Kellian, I realized I had been mistaken.
“Ah, you’ve come.”
Entering the barracks for the treaty, a smooth, pleasant voice reached my ears.
Kellian, the person in charge of the negotiating party, rose neatly from his chair.
‘Wow.’
I was stunned.
Another unreal appearance besides Lesius.
Jet-black hair, dangerous, gleaming black eyes.
From what I’d heard through Rosaline, I had imagined Kellian as a mischievous type.
Not mischievous at all.
‘A beast.’
Kellian exuded a dangerous, almost primal presence.
Mature yet wild, like a predatory animal.
“Pleasure to meet you.”
I blankly stared at the hand Kellian extended.
Thank goodness I wore a helmet. Otherwise, my dumbfounded expression would have been obvious.
“Ahem.”
Someone on the Bahart side cleared their throat, signaling me.
I quickly reached to take Kellian’s hand.
“Will you shake hands?”
He raised an eyebrow at my gauntleted hand.
Panicking, I removed the gauntlet and grabbed his hand bare. A warrior, his hands were rough.
“Not going to remove the helmet?”
Kellian’s fierce gaze pierced my eyes inside the helmet.
Knowing it was impolite, I slowly removed it. He watched closely.
“Good to see you again.”
Kellian tilted his head and whispered in my ear, eyes never leaving mine.
Why? I just looked at him. Our eyes met.
“Everyone else out. I have business with the Crown Prince.”
I sent the knights and staff out of the barracks. Judging from his gaze, I understood immediately.
He really is insane.
“You wanted to be alone with the Duke, hm?”
Not exactly. I sent everyone out because I didn’t know what insane act he might attempt.
“……”
With a nod from Kellian, his aides left too, leaving the barracks silent.
“This letter orders our personnel to attack the 2nd Prince’s forces.”
I placed the evidence Demia found on the table.
One of many pieces.
Just being in league with Hylen would be enough to put Kellian in trouble.
“Oh?”
Kellian sat down, crossing his legs leisurely.
Fiddling with his mouth, he slowly smiled at the letter.
“Duke, how cute. You even brought this?”
His smile deepened, and I was simultaneously flustered.
Hey, this is bad for you.
“If you were curious about me, you could have asked directly. I would have told you everything.”
Everything?
With someone like Kellian, I could believe he would. So I asked the question I most wanted to know.
“Besides the Hessen family, are there more allies in Hylen? Other collaborators?”
“Yes.”
Kellian’s frank answer made me sink into a seat.
Who? I had a guess.
“Count Cabant?”
He stared at me for a while, then smirked.
“That’s not a question about me.”
His long fingers set the letter down.
The letter, written in rough handwriting, landed on the table.
“I’ll ask again. Are there more allies in Hylen? Other collaborators of the Crown Prince?”
“Duke.”
His lowered voice met my gaze. Kellian’s eyes were blood-red.
Ah.
‘Those eyes.’
I knew from Rosaline.
Kellian’s eyes sometimes turn red when he is excited or feels murderous intent.
The key word: “sometimes.”
‘Sometimes, huh?’
Not this time—they were completely red.
From the moment I removed my helmet, Kellian’s eyes remained crimson.
“That’s something I can’t just tell you freely…”
He leaned over the table.
“And if I tell you, what will you give me?”
He said he’d tell me everything before. So cheap.
“Will you even become one of my knights?”
He traced my jaw, curling his lips into a smile. Terrifyingly handsome.
Seeing his flickering red eyes, I realized:
This one is trying to seduce me!
‘So the legends are true… he has demon blood.’
From what I know of the original story, Kellian descended from a demon.
His eye color changes with intense emotion.
And demons…
‘They seduce humans!’
Not only in the story, but also in the legends of this world.
‘If I’m not careful, I’ll fall for him completely.’
Almost in trouble.
I stiffened my expression and casually took Kellian’s hand.
He raised an eyebrow at my nonchalant demeanor.
In that delicate moment, a savior appeared.
“Your Grace, I must first request your understanding.”
One of Kellian’s knights. He bowed briefly to me.
Then he whispered urgently to Kellian.
“Your Highness, the 8th Prince has gone missing.”
What? The protagonist has disappeared?
