Chapter 77
Kierne’s eyes narrowed.
Cheshire didn’t forget to tattle on the other matter as well.
“The one who took the hat is that jerk.”
Kierne clearly remembered how Ishuel had flown into a rage, convinced that the boy had given clothes to another family.
He nodded slowly and asked Cheshire in a soft, gentle voice.
“Should I kill him?”
“No.”
It would be nice if he did, but there was the Basilian family’s social standing to consider.
Committing murder openly would be troublesome.
Especially since there was already the precedent of having dealt with Count Rudin.
“Just do something appropriate.”
“Hmm…”
It was as if he were truly pondering a difficult dilemma, as Kierne let out a groan laced with deep thought.
Marquis Milton, who had been openly listening to the father-daughter’s whispers, asked in disbelief.
“What are you doing right now?”
The marquis glared, his eyes bulging.
“Wasn’t this meeting arranged to curry favor with me? You shouldn’t be acting like this.”
“Ah, of course, that was the intention.”
Kierne smiled awkwardly and replied.
“But it’s a bit difficult to curry favor with someone who’s failed at educating their child. Let’s just pretend this never happened, shall we?”
“What?”
Marquis Milton bellowed in rage.
As if on cue, his son started screeching as well.
“It’s them! The ones who spilled juice on me!”
Ishuel shot back with a twisted smile.
“Get your facts straight. You spilled it first.”
“Mine was an accident! But you used magic!”
“Mine was an accident too.”
Ishuel taunted the yelling boy in a tone eerily similar to Kierne’s, scraping at his nerves.
“I’ve only just started learning magic, so my skills are still immature. I make mistakes often.”
“Aaah! You arrogant brat!”
The marquis’s son shouted furiously, his neck veins bulging blue.
He seemed even more out of control because he’d only ever dealt with people who groveled before him, never anyone this insolent.
The marquis’s wife tried to hold the boy and soothe him, but it was no use.
As Kierne watched the boy shrieking at ear-piercing levels, he made a peculiar comment.
“What a boisterous lark.”
“…Pardon?”
“Our baby bird might find it noisy.”
“……”
It was anyone’s guess where he’d picked up such odd phrasing.
Cheshire, subjected to this mental assault, quickly wore a tired expression and mumbled.
“Don’t say that…”
“Lark? Or baby bird?”
“Both…”
Kierne chuckled at Cheshire’s clear aversion.
Amid their playful exchange, Marquis Milton charged forward, huffing angrily.
“Apologize, Count! If you apologize now, I’ll let it slide.”
“What exactly should I apologize for? From what I hear, it was a mutual mistake.”
“Count! Are you believing your children’s words? Kids who can’t even tell right from wrong yet?”
“By that logic, isn’t your son the same?”
“That child of yours is an adoptee from an orphanage, isn’t he? Who knows what bloodline is mixed in there, and you’re just blindly believing him…”
As if finding it utterly foolish, Marquis Milton even clicked his tongue in disapproval.
Kierne, who had been parrying the marquis’s words like a game until now, fell silent for a moment.
Then he stared directly at Marquis Milton.
Those blood-red eyes were hard to meet for long.
From the faint smile in his eyes, Cheshire realized.
Kierne was currently deliberating which of the weaknesses he held over Marquis Milton to pull out and torment him with.
In the moment the marquis swallowed dryly under those bewitching red eyes.
The elegantly sealed lips parted.
“Your son…”
Kierne’s voice dropped low.
“Doesn’t resemble you at all, Marquis Milton.”
“…!”
“Rather, hmm… He seems to resemble your secretary, Baron Kaylor, a bit more?”
In an instant, the room grew deathly cold.
Marquis Milton trembled with fury.
“Such baseless words, insulting me and my family…!”
But Kierne’s smile only deepened.
He added in a voice that suggested he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
“Well now. Have you never once entertained such a thought, Marquis?”
It was like a casual push in the back.
Marquis Milton’s eyes shook wildly.
He moved his lips to retort, but unable to hold back, he turned his head to look at his wife.
The young wife who, after three marriages, was the only one to give him a child.
Her face was not just pale but ashen blue.
With just a few words, Kierne had utterly destroyed Marquis Milton.
Marquis Milton could no longer demand an apology from the Basilian count’s family.
The scene erupted into chaos right there on the spot.
Leaving behind the pandemonium where the marquis berated his wife, she wailed in denial, and the son intermittently screeched.
Kierne leisurely left the room with Cheshire and Ishuel in tow.
As he walked down the hallway holding Cheshire, Kierne spoke in a tone as casual as suggesting a cup of tea.
“What if tomorrow’s morning paper headlines Marquis Milton’s scandal? It’d be fun if everyone in the capital learned the truth about the marquis’s family.”
“Yes, Father.”
Ishuel replied with a beaming smile.
“I’ll discuss it with Brother and prepare right away. To the point where the marquis’s family can never show their face in society again.”
The father and son’s coordination was seamless.
The smooth process of burying a person alive was nothing short of admirable.
‘As expected, this is the level needed to master the underworld.’
Nobles, who lived on pride, found humiliation the hardest to endure.
Holding onto the marquis’s private secrets and then scattering them.
And then, to prevent even a mental victory, exposing his shame on a grand scale—that method was vicious.
She’d wondered where Belzeon’s way of handling things came from, and here it was.
Blood truly couldn’t be denied.
“Once that’s done, grab Carha and let’s tour the banquet a bit. I’ll take care of Cheshire.”
“Yeees.”
Ishuel bowed politely and immediately vanished using magic.
Though it was short-range, his use of teleportation magic was quite proficient.
In such a short time, his skills seemed to have grown rapidly.
Now alone in the hallway, Kierne pretended to nibble on Cheshire’s cheek.
“Did you pin the flower on Ishuel?”
“Yes!”
Instead of nibbling, he planted a smacking kiss and said.
“It’s a good thing you’re a Basilian. All we know how to do is trample others.”
If something like today happened, they would have taken revenge on the one who tormented Ishuel.
But they wouldn’t have been able to soothe his feelings enough to let him return to the banquet hall, he said, praising Cheshire’s cleverness.
Listening to his words of admiration, Cheshire felt quite proud.
Watching her, Kierne smiled and then let out an “Ah,” his eyes drooping lazily.
“Suddenly, I don’t feel like working…”
Then he made an abrupt declaration of strike.
“Shall we just tour the duke’s residence with Cheshire?”
They’d come all the way to the banquet hall, yet he wanted to slack off instead of working.
Normally, she should push him back.
But Kierne had the merit of having satisfyingly dealt with Marquis Milton.
So Cheshire decided to indulge him and play along.
“You know the symbol of the duke’s house is the unicorn, right? That’s why there are unicorn patterns and statues placed everywhere. That statue over there has a golden horn.”
Kierne, showing her around the Evroiel duke’s residence, knew every nook and cranny of the mansion.
He acted as familiar as if it were his own home.
“Oh right, if you see something you want while looking, just say so. We can just take it.”
“……”
The problem was he treated it too much like his own home.
Cheshire made sure not to show interest in any curious items.
She worried Kierne might insist on swiping them outright.
After touring for a while, she suddenly wondered what exactly the relationship was between Duchess Evroiel and Kierne.
To know the interior of the house this intimately, it couldn’t just be a casual visitor relationship.
She’d used magic to help find the runaway child, taken Cheshire as her goddaughter to cover her adopted status.
Though it ended tragically for Marquis Milton today, the duchess had still arranged the meeting to provide connections.
What was the reason she helped Kierne so devotedly?
It couldn’t be explained by simple friendship.
“How do you know all this, Daddy?”
When she asked vaguely, bundling it all together, Kierne examined an exotic-looking vase and replied.
“Hmm, Daddy learned magic from Her Grace the Duchess. I came to the duke’s residence often.”
“So you’re close?”
“Well… We’re close as master and apprentice… And also because we’ve each played the role of savior in each other’s lives once. Her Grace saved my life.”
Kierne plucked a flower from the vase, smelled its fragrance, and smiled.
“It was the duchess who helped me become a black mage.”
