Chapter 35

35

“Hey, Rodrigo.”

“…What? Hey, who said you could join us?”

The moment Harry plopped down into an empty chair, Rodrigo, his face full of displeasure, barked an order for him to leave.

“We’re busy, so don’t bother us and get lost.”

“R-right. We’ve got no business with you…”

“What a shame. I’ve got business with you. Here.”

When Harry raised a hand, a waiter hurried over. To the waiter, who was rolling his eyes anxiously, Harry spoke in a light tone.

“Does this place have Snowl wine?”

“Pardon? Ah, yes. But we have only two bottles. It’s a very rare drink, you see…”

“Bring both. And four glasses.”

“Yes, please wait just a moment.”

The moment the waiter bowed and left, Rodrigo asked in a trembling voice.

“S-Snowl wine?”

“What money do you have to order such expensive liquor? I heard your pockets have been quite empty lately…”

Harry knew perfectly well that bluntly saying “Aren’t you broke?” was meant to drive him away from this table.

So he smiled broadly, for all to see.

“Ah, I recently came into a large sum. Treating old acquaintances to Snowl wine is nothing.”

At Harry’s swagger, Rodrigo cleared his throat loudly.

“Hmm, hmhm. Even so, you can’t have made as much as I did. I recently earned three million Larc. Three million Larc, no less!”

“Oho, is that so?”

The waiter returned to the table with the two bottles of Snowl wine. Taking a bottle from him, Harry pulled out the cork himself, his eyes curving in a smile.

“Three million Larc, you say? I’d love to hear the details.”

It was three hours before he would lose every last coin of his travel money, the thirty million Larc included, and, as if that weren’t enough, be seized and detained by the knights who happened to be out cracking down on illegal gambling dens.

* * *

Worn out with exhaustion, Leonard slept for a full day. Thompson hadn’t had the heart to wake him as he slept like the dead.

As a result, Leonard, who had spent the night curled up on a sofa shorter than he was, had to rub his aching back as he finished a belated meal and a bath.

“By the way, my lord, did you go and repay the debt to Count Miles?”

“Yes. I paid it all. You don’t have to worry about the debt anymore.”

“That’s a relief, but… what will happen to the thirty million Larc that Sir Hawk handed over?”

“He gave it as a check, didn’t he? It’s money he can’t spend, so it’ll be returned.”

If it had been cash, that would be another matter, but a check for thirty million Larc couldn’t help but pass through a bank.

That meant a record of the transaction would remain.

And Leonard had brought back a certificate of repayment. With clear proof that he had repaid Count Miles, if Harry Miles spent that money, Leonard would have grounds to report him.

However much of an unspeakable scoundrel Harry Miles might be, surely even he could figure that out.

A million or two million Larc, perhaps, but a sum as large as thirty million Larc he would be too afraid to spend.

Unaware that at this very moment Harry had lost everything down to his last wager at a gambling den, Leonard packed his things and climbed onto his horse.

“Then I’ll leave the mansion in your care.”

“Yes, my lord. Please don’t worry. …However, if it isn’t impertinent, might this old man ask one question?”

“What question?”

He thought he knew what Thompson was going to ask, but Leonard rolled his eyes once, pretending not to. At that reaction, Thompson smiled as though he had already received his answer.

“Congratulations on your marriage.”

“…That’s not a question.”

Grumbling for no good reason, Leonard let out a long sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. Then, as if he had just remembered, he took out a coin purse and held it out to him.

“Put it toward the mansion repairs… And with whatever’s left over, hire a valet and maids again. Don’t wear yourself out alone at your age.”

“Is it truly all right?”

At present, exactly two servants were looking after the manor. Thompson, who had originally been the head steward, and Madam Sara, who had been the head maid.

Everyone else had been dismissed. There had been no money to pay their wages.

With only the two of them left, the titles of head steward and head maid had become meaningless, but back when the late Countess was alive, the servants tending this manor had numbered well over twenty.

It was only thanks to the mercenaries, who stayed here like boarders and helped with small chores, that things had held together at all. Without them, Thompson would have been laid up with back pain long ago.

“Ah, and this sword too.”

He had almost forgotten. Leonard unfastened the sword at his waist and held it out to Thompson.

“Put it back in safekeeping.”

“No, that sword is originally the symbol of the Count Elpiers. Unless it has grown too worn to use, please, my lord, keep using it.”

“But…”

“The reason it was kept stored away all this time is that the previous fell… ahem, the previous Count, did not know how to wield a sword. Besides.”

Thompson clasped Leonard’s hand, which held the sword, tightly in both of his.

“You even sold the sword you so cherished because of the debt, did you not? Please, use it at ease at least until you have a new one made.”

Leonard knew very well what he truly wanted to say.

‘I acknowledge you as the Count Elpiers.’

Only Jenis, Thompson, and Madam Sara knew of the contract between Leonard and the late Countess. As it happened, only those who knew the secret had remained in this manor all along.

Fearing that Leonard might change his mind and seize the earldom, Thompson and Madam Sara had stayed wary of him all this time.

Of course, Leonard knew that, too. The reason he had never gone out of his way to insist on his sincerity was that, in the end, he was someone who would be leaving this place.

Since theirs was a relationship bound by contract, he had thought it didn’t matter if they didn’t trust him, but…

Considering how his heart stirred at the request to please use Raise Messer, it seemed that deep down he had wanted these people to acknowledge him.

‘Outside, call me Mother.’

‘Pardon? But…’

‘I am the Countess Elpiers, and you are the young Count Elpiers. Everyone in the world knows it as such, so if you don’t call me that, what will people say?’

Yet Leonard had never once dared to call her that.

Idly fiddling with the hilt of the worn sword, as was his habit, Leonard belatedly nodded.

“Understood. If that’s what you say, Thompson.”

“I’m certain Miss Jenis will be glad as well.”

Leaving behind Thompson’s contented smile, Leonard set out from the Elpiers estate.

His face stiffened belatedly when he passed through the gates of the capital. He groaned, wondering how he could have forgotten this.

“Where is Edward… right now?”

They had gone to the Miles estate together, but when he heard that Harry Miles had gone to fetch Jenis, he had rushed out in such a panic that he’d forgotten to bring him along.

Even if he had remembered Edward’s existence, he probably would have been too frantic to take him along. Still, he could have at least told him to return to the capital first.

‘He must have come to the capital, right? Surely he’s not still at the Miles estate…’

Oh, come on, surely not.

…Surely not.

Much to the relief of Leonard, who had been tense enough to swallow dry saliva, he spotted Edward at the front gate of the Blair mansion, wailing loudly among the servants who had come out ahead of time to greet him.

“How could you just leave me behind and go!”

“I’m sorry. I was in such a rush that I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“Do you know how much I suffered coming to the capital all by myself? You can’t even imagine, Count!”

The voice, sobbing as though to prove it wasn’t an exaggeration, was full of grievance.

Glancing at the dozens of servants lined up right beside them, Leonard patted Edward’s back.

“I have no defense to offer in this situation, but… just what hardship did you endure to end up this plump?”

“Uh, well, you see.”

“I really can’t imagine it, so explain it to me.”

Edward averted his gaze from Leonard’s narrowed eyes and whistled at the sky.

“W-well, it’s because my sleeping arrangements suddenly changed.”

“So that you could sleep soundly, we prepared a plush bed, a goose-down pillow, a soft blanket to wrap you from head to toe, a deeply flavored wine, and scented candles to ease body and mind.”

“A-and after all that hardship, I lost my appetite, too.”

“So that you could find food to suit your taste, we procured regional specialties from various countries and prepared special meals for you.”

“A-and I rode a horse for so long that my back and rear were aching.”

“A professional masseur gave you a massage. Come to think of it, it’s time for your next massage in thirty minutes.”

Daymond took a small pocket watch from his jacket pocket, checked it, and said with a beaming smile.

“…So he says?”

Leonard stood with a slouch and crossed his arms, as if to ask whether he had anything left to say.

Under that gaze stinging his cheeks, Edward could only look at Daymond with resentful eyes.

As though he hadn’t noticed that look at all, Daymond’s face was simply full of pride, as if to say how well they had looked after the guest all this time.

“The Marchioness gave strict orders that the guests of her future consort be attended to without the slightest lack. The other guests have been treated with the utmost courtesy as well, so there is no need to worry.”

“R-right! I’m not the only one who’s been living in luxury!”

At Edward’s declaration, fist clenched, Leonard burst into an incredulous laugh.

“I see. So I suppose I’m the only one who couldn’t have imagined such luxury.”

“No, really, I’m nothing! Compared to the liquor bill Madam Michelle drank her way through—”

“Michelle?”

At a name that was familiar but should never have been heard in this place, one of Leonard’s eyebrows shot up.

“Michelle is here? Don’t tell me the others are too?”

As the saying goes, it’s always the “surely nots” that get you. Not only Michelle but Heath and Bin as well were all staying in this mansion.

And enjoying even greater luxury than Edward.