Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Leonard’s eyes flew wide open.

At the sight of his face, Count Miles made a light gesture, as if telling him not to be so hasty.

“Well, since it has come to this, let us discuss the trousseau and the dowry again…… Hey! Count Elpiers! I have not finished…!”

Leonard did not have the slightest room to spare for listening to such nonsense.

Even the time it would take a footman to bring his horse was too precious, so he went straight to the stables of the Miles manor, took out his own horse himself, and rode off.

“Hyah!”

“Hhhhnnnh!”

‘Brother, I will just marry Young Master Miles. If he takes the thirty million Larks of debt in place of a dowry, it’s a profitable deal, isn’t it?’

‘Absolutely not. Jeni, listen carefully. Do you know how many times that scoundrel who wants to make you his wife has ruined the lives of innocent women? On top of that, that bastard has two illegitimate children.’

‘T-Two illegitimate children……?’

‘If you marry that bastard, those children will have no choice but to become yours. Jeni, I made a contract with the Countess to make you Countess Elpiers. I can never bear to see you marry a man like that.’

Bin and Michelle had personally investigated just how much of a scoundrel Count Miles’s second son was.

Thanks to that, he also knew very well how filthy that damned man’s hands were.

If that man had gone to the Elpiers domain convinced that Leonard would be unable to repay the debt, he might already have laid hands on Jenis……

“Damn it!”

The journey from the Miles domain to the Elpiers domain took a full week.

‘I’ll arrive within four days.’

Clenching his teeth hard, Leonard drove his spurs into a horse that was already galloping at full speed.

Having completely forgotten about Edward, who had collapsed from exhaustion and fallen asleep as if he had fainted.

* * *

Leonard covered a distance of a full week in no more than four days.

He made do with jerky for meals and slept only an hour or two at a time in snatched naps. Each time, he had nightmares.

‘It is too late, Brother. Too, too late……’

‘Still, thank you for working so hard for me. I was not lonely because I had you, Brother. ……From now on, please live a life for yourself.’

‘Have you heard? They say Viscountess Paylton has died.’

‘Viscountess Paylton? Who is that?’

‘The wife of Count Miles’s second son. That scoundrel who ruined the lives of all the girls in the domain who were said to be pretty.’

‘Ah……. So that scoundrel finally beat even his own wife to death?’

‘They say it was suicide, but who knows? Even if it was suicide, what kind of suicide would it be? Her husband must have choked the life out of her.’

In the dream on the first day, Jenis appeared with a face drenched in tears, and in the dream on the second day, he dreamed of some people gossiping about her death.

And on the third night, Leonard dreamed of avenging Jenis. By a method that was, even to his own mind, extremely cruel.

Even so, the rage that would not subside carried over, undiminished, to Leonard when he woke. He rode with his eyes rolled back.

When he finally reached the lord’s manor, he practically tumbled off his horse and kicked the door open.

“Jeni! Jenis!”

Looking around for his sister, Leonard’s eyes fell upon an unbelievable sight.

He had sold everything of value to repay even a little of the debt, but since it was still the lord’s manor and could not be left completely bare, he had kept things like flower vases and furniture. All of them had vanished.

In their place were scars. Proof that the things that had been here were smashed and broken.

At the sight, which plainly showed the traces of someone having rampaged through the place, Leonard’s complexion went pale.

Just then, he sensed someone stirring from deep within the house. Shaking off his wet hands and rushing out in a hurry was none other than the head butler, Thompson.

“Oh my, my lord!”

“Thompson! Why is the house in this state? What on earth happened?”

His brown hair, flecked here and there with gray, was always neatly combed back. But today it seemed he had had no time to care about such things, for not only his hair but even the clothes he wore were untidy.

Leonard ran up to the exhausted-looking Thompson, seized him by the shoulders, and demanded at once.

“Where is Jeni? Where is Jeni now? She’s upstairs, isn’t she? Isn’t she?”

“No, my lord. The young lady is not here at the moment.”

Behind Thompson’s voice, Jenis’s voice, sobbing that it was too late, overlapped.

Just as the strength drained from the hands of Leonard, whose vision had gone dark.

“The young lady was taken away by a knight who came from House Blair.”

Leonard doubted his own ears.

“Who took her? A knight of House Blair? Not that scoundrel from Miles?”

“How did you know that wretch had come here?”

At Thompson’s startled voice, Leonard’s heart dropped.

“He did come here?”

“Yes. That madman…… ahem, that fellow, said it was in lieu of the debt and tried to drag the young lady away by force. If it had not been for Sir Hawk, we could not have stopped him.”

Having ridden like a madman for four full days, Leonard was in a dreadful state.

Thompson first led him to the drawing room, served him warm tea to calm his nerves, and told him what had happened here.

* * *

That scoundrel’s party burst in from early morning without sending any word in advance.

If we had known they were coming, we would have sent the young lady off to safety elsewhere long before…… Thinking about it now, they must have anticipated that and barged in without a word. Wretched villains.

Whether they came from House Miles or not, they were uninvited guests to begin with, were they not? We had not invited them, and there had been no word that they were coming.

So it was only natural for the guards to stop them, but for daring to block his way, he beat the guards black and blue.

Ah, you need not worry about them. They are being treated now and resting at home. Sir Hawk paid for their treatment. To be exact, they say it is the Marchioness Blair who is paying.

Where was I in my story? Ah, yes. In any case, that scoundrel behaved recklessly, as if he had made up his mind to.

Anyone who saw it without knowing the circumstances would probably have taken them for a band of thugs. No, they were thugs, to be sure. They barged in without a word and smashed a vase before anything else.

When I came out to the first-floor lobby, startled by the crash, the guards were all lying on the floor. They had even drawn their swords and were threatening our guards.

Yes, he had brought four burly knights. They must have done it on purpose to frighten us.

At any rate, I thought this was a disaster, so I first sent Madam Sara upstairs to take the young lady to safety. In the meantime, I meant to deal with them myself.

But alas…… the young lady, hearing the sound of the vase breaking, came out to see.

Thinking of that sight again, tears gather in this old man’s eyes.

Though she must have been frightened of those thugs, the young lady showed an extremely composed demeanor……

* * *

“What is all this commotion?”

“Young lady!”

Seeing Jenis standing at the top of the stairs, gripping the banister, Thompson let out a groan.

Harry, the young master of House Miles, who had been cackling as he held a sprig of lavender and asked where such a flower had been plucked from, looked up and saw Jenis.

“Oho……. So it is true, they did say her beauty alone was outstanding.”

Harry flung the lavender in his hand onto the floor like trash and looked Jenis up and down where she stood at the top of the stairs.

“Even in a threadbare dress, she’s quite…… decent enough to feast the eyes on, I must say.”

It was a gaze so repulsive that even the word rudeness seemed mild.

As Jenis’s face stiffened at that, the knights, scoundrels that they were, snickered.

“She is a count’s daughter in name, but isn’t her clothing too worn out? If you pull it wrong, it will tear apart.”

“So much the better! No, isn’t that what she’s hoping for, coming out in something so worn?”

Watching the scoundrels burst into laughter at once, as though they had arranged it, Thompson clenched his fists tightly.

Even he, a mere servant, trembled all over at such insulting taunts, so how must Jenis, the very target of them, have felt?

But Jenis, biting her lip once, kept up her steadfast bearing.

“I was not told that a guest would be visiting today. Thompson, have you been neglecting your reports?”

“N-No, my lady. Had there been a guest who had announced a visit today, we would have prepared a welcome in advance.”

“Hmph! Does a creditor have to send word before visiting a debtor? Surely you are not about to say the money has not even been prepared!”

“Surely not. Even a five-year-old child knows that borrowing money and not repaying it is theft.”

At those words, Thompson could no longer hold back and stepped forward.

“The master is currently away. If you would kindly announce your visit and come again later……”

“Ha, away? The repayment date is today, so why is he away? Hasn’t he run off because he had no means of repaying the debt?”

“Because today is the repayment date. My brother has gone to the Miles domain to repay the debt. Had you given notice beforehand, my brother would have received you here, so is there some reason you came sneaking in like a thief?”

“What? A thief?”

While Thompson felt a thrill at Jenis’s blunt remark, the two knights, glaring at the word thief, stepped toward the stairs.

At the same moment that the startled Thompson and Madam Sara blocked the stairs, Harry snorted loudly, as if for them to hear.

“He went to the Miles domain to repay the debt? That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

“Well, isn’t it only natural that you wouldn’t know? You must have left there at least a week ago!”

“Listen to you, speaking as though you saw it with your own eyes. Well, well, there is a naive streak in you to match your looks.”

The eyes of Harry, cackling along with his knights, were full of meanness.

“Where would your brother have gotten the money to go and repay the debt? Did thirty million Larks just drop from the sky?”

Jenis was momentarily at a loss for words.

“……That is none of your business.”

“None of my business? Is that any way to speak to a creditor? I have a right to know about my money!”

“The owner of that money is not you, but your father!”

“Unfortunately, I am here as my father’s proxy. So as a creditor, I can exercise the proper and rightful authority against a debtor who does not repay. You there.”

When Harry jerked his chin toward Jenis, the four knights approached the stairs.

Thompson and Madam Sara, startled, spread both arms wide and blocked the stairs.