Chapter 36

36

Irenea’s cheek twitched faintly as she took the report.

“Is this true?”

“Is something wrong with it?”

Julie, who had come to the mansion in person under the pretext of being a jeweler’s daughter, blinked her large eyes.

“Selen investigated it personally, so it can’t be wrong…”

“It isn’t that the contents are wrong, so don’t worry. I’m just a little surprised.”

‘No wonder the results came back so quickly.’

Irenea had asked Selen, through Hawk, to look into two things.

First, what Viscount Calio was up to these days.

Second, the current situation of House Schultz.

Viscount Calio had readily replied that he would attend the wedding, in answer to the invitation she had sent a few days earlier.

But could a man who had tried by any means to plant his own people in the position of Marquis consort possibly celebrate Irenea’s sudden marriage?

She had been sure he was plotting some absurd scheme behind the scenes again, but…

“Exchanging marriage proposals with House Schultz, of all things.”

Come to think of it, it was around this time of year.

It was when Viscount Schultz, visiting Viscount Calio on business, had caught sight of Fiona and proposed marriage.

‘Right… The one he first took a liking to was Fiona.’

Not only in the past but in the present as well, Viscount Calio coveted the mining rights to the sapphire mine owned by Viscount Schultz. So he had tried to grant whatever Viscount Schultz wanted.

But for all that, he must have had some paternal feeling after all, because he had sent Irenea to Viscount Schultz in Fiona’s place.

At any rate, Viscount Schultz, delighted to take a young and beautiful lady as his second wife, had handed over the mining rights to the sapphire mine along with a staggering sum as a dowry, and…

‘Let’s not think about what came after.’

Merely picturing that filthy face made her anger surge. Repeating ‘Calm down, calm down’ to herself, Irenea read on to the end of the report.

“Hm? What’s this about him refusing the proposal and then suddenly changing his mind recently?”

Had Viscount Schultz threatened him over the mining rights? To Irenea, who wondered, Julie gave the answer.

“It’s the money. Viscount Calio suddenly needs a huge sum.”

“Money? Was Uncle so short of money that he had to start peddling a marriage?”

For the past three years, she had subtly interfered with Viscount Calio’s dealings and ruined every venture of his. But Viscount Calio owned fertile plains that boasted an enormous wheat harvest every year.

That was precisely why he had been able to plant his people in the Blair mansion and bribe a judge.

“That man was really unlucky. He killed Duke William’s pet dog.”

“A pet dog? Don’t tell me, the troublemaker Duke William takes with him everywhere?”

“Yes. And it happened the day after the banquet held at this mansion, by the way. The day after the Marchioness announced her fiancé.”

“Ah… It seems he picked the wrong target to vent his temper on.”

Had the dog grown stifled by its master’s smothering love? Duke William’s pet dog was famous for often slipping out of the mansion, evading the eyes of the people who watched over it.

It had probably run out that day the same way and bumped into Viscount Calio.

“Poor dog. If it had stayed quietly at home, it wouldn’t have been beaten to death by some random cane.”

“A person even died because of that dog. I think Duke William is also to blame for not tying it up sooner.”

At Julie’s biting words, Irenea gave a wry smile and nodded.

“The person who died when that dog dashed in front of the carriage was the late Countess Elpiers, wasn’t she?”

“Yes. …Oh, ah!”

She seemed to have only just remembered how the Countess was connected to Irenea now.

To Julie, who covered her mouth in a fluster, Irenea shrugged, saying there was no need to tiptoe around it.

“So how much did Duke William demand as compensation?”

“Twenty million Larc.”

“Twenty million? That much?”

It was true that Viscount Calio had no means of raising that much in cash on the spot.

It might have been another matter in autumn, just after the harvest, but it had to be summer, of all seasons.

“Duke William is a bit ridiculous, too. Demanding twenty million Larc for the life of a single dog.”

If that much compensation had been paid when the late Countess Elpiers died, Leonard wouldn’t have had to suffer so.

“Well, you see, he originally asked for ten million, but when Viscount Calio started saying things like ‘over a mere dog—’, it swelled up as punishment for his insolence, they say.”

“That’s exactly what Uncle would say.”

“Actually, I think Duke William was hoping Viscount Calio would refuse to pay and blow the whole thing up.”

Julie, wiping the milk smeared under her nose with the back of her hand, whispered in a small voice.

“He’d originally challenged him to a duel. By throwing down a bloodstained glove.”

A duel issued by throwing down a glove stained with one’s own blood is a duel to the death. A duel that never ends until one of them is dead.

“A duel to the death, even? Duke William must be truly furious.”

“That’s why Viscount Calio even thought of selling off his own daughter. He probably can’t spare the slightest leisure to disrupt Lady Linia’s wedding.”

“Should I call that a relief?”

One thing was certain.

By now, Fiona must feel as though she’d been struck by a bolt from the blue.

‘Fiona…’

In truth, Irenea held no particular grudge against her. More precisely, there had been nothing to hold a grudge over.

After their parents died, she and Fiona had hardly ever spoken face to face.

It had been the same when she was being worked like a maid in the house where she was born and raised. Whenever their eyes met, even from afar, Fiona would turn away as though fleeing from her.

At the time, she had thought it was because Uncle had forged the will and seized her parents’ inheritance.

It was only later that she learned. The true reason Fiona had avoided her.

“Do you happen to know how Fiona is doing now?”

“She’s been confined to her bedroom. In case she tries to run away.”

“Is that so? Uncle really is too much.”

“Because if his daughter runs away, he’s the one who’ll die.”

“And even in that situation, it never occurred to her to beg me for help?”

He would sooner sell off his daughter than bow his head. What remarkable pride.

“It’s actually fortunate. If Lady Linia had refused, he’d have spread the story around and branded you a heartless niece who turned away her uncle’s plea for help. What a relief that he’s too desperate to manage even that.”

“Is it a foregone conclusion that I’d refuse?”

Julie’s mouth fell open.

“Y-you don’t mean to help him?”

“Of course not.”

Was I crazy enough to help that man?

‘Though I do pity Fiona.’

Irenea briefly recalled the abuse she had suffered at Viscount Schultz’s hands, then burned every sheet of paper she was holding.

Julie, sucking the chocolate off her fingers, asked her, whose face had grown somehow dark:

“Is there anything else you’d like to know?”

“Nothing I’m curious about… But if Fiona ever wants to contact me behind Uncle’s back, help her as you see fit. Make it look as though she has a helper on the inside.”

“You mean to help her?”

“To be precise, it would be a deal. There’s something I’m owed by that girl.”

‘Don’t be shocked when you hear this, Lin. There’s someone who can prove that accident was your uncle’s doing.’

“Oh, right, Lady Linia. The Master has a piece of news for you.”

“What news? Could it be the crackdown and the arrest?”

At Irenea’s question, Julie’s eyes went round.

Irenea only smiled deeply at that face, which seemed to ask how she’d known.

A knock came at the door.

Startled, Julie hurriedly wiped around her mouth, straightened her back, and set both hands neatly on her knees.

Looking at the girl as though she found her adorable, Irenea allowed the visitor in with a smile on her lips.

It was Daymond who came in, and he delivered news of Leonard to Irenea.

“After greeting the guests in the annex, the future consort heard that Miss Jenis had gone out and headed there.”

“Did he? He must be tired from the long journey…”

But until he confirmed that Jenis was safe, he probably wouldn’t feel rested no matter how much he rested.

As Irenea nodded, thinking it only natural that he had gone looking for Jenis, Daymond hesitated for a moment and then ended up asking:

“Don’t you feel hurt…?”

“Hm?”

“No, it’s just that.”

Realizing he had spoken far out of turn, Daymond cleared his throat briefly.

Only then did Irenea grasp the intent behind the question, and she chuckled as if to say what strange things he asked.

“He’s seeing his family for the first time in a while. It’s only natural that he wants to know how she’s doing.”

“But Marchioness, are you not his family now as well?”

“Strictly speaking, not yet.”

She knew very well that he did not think of her as much as she thought of him.

Irenea had made up her mind not to feel hurt by that.

Being alive like this, able to see and talk with him again, with him alive, was already more than enough.

“More importantly, now that my fiancé has arrived, we’ll have to prepare a banquet again tonight. We can finally introduce Elly and Charlot to their future brother-in-law.”

At Irenea’s voice, bright with nothing but excitement, Daymond let out a sigh.

“Yes… I’ll tell the head chef to prepare everything without a hitch.”

Our Marchioness is not the sort of person who ever has to feel small anywhere.

Somehow it looked as though his mistress were clinging to the future consort, and Daymond couldn’t hide how aggrieved it made him feel on her behalf.

‘For tonight’s banquet, I’ll choose everything, from the appetizer to the dessert, to the Marchioness’s taste.’

That was the only revenge he could take.

* * *

“So how did you end up engaged to Marchioness Blair?!”

‘I shouldn’t have come.’

Jenis, whose speech grew curt when she got excited, didn’t stop there. She looked ready to grab him by the collar if things didn’t go her way.

How had a gentle, shy girl ended up like this, such a tomboy?

It was entirely his fault. Because of him, she had fallen in with the mercenaries.

If anything, he ought to be grateful that she hadn’t picked up foul-mouthed cursing from them on top of everything else.

“Can’t you hear me?”

“…She might, if I leave her be.”

“What?”

“Lower your voice a bit. It’s only us here… Oh, right.”

It was the capital’s foremost flower shop, said to carry every flower listed in the botanical encyclopedias.

Since this too was a place owned by the Marchioness Blair, Jenis had been led straight to the VIP room. Or rather, should he call it a VIP garden.

Apart from dozens of pots, large and small, there was no one in this VIP room, which was divided by ornamental hedges like a maze garden, except Jenis and Leonard.

The knights who had come along as Jenis’s escort and Madam Sara were outside the hedges as well. Because Jenis had chased them out.

“The flowers are all lovely. But the scents are mixed together, and it’s giving me a bit of a headache.”

“Are you really not going to tell me?”

“By the way, why are there only white flowers?”

No, with the way they gleamed in the light…

“Are they closer to silver?”

At Leonard’s words, which were nearly a mutter, Jenis’s cheeks flushed peach. At that fluttering color, a certain face rose unbidden in Leonard’s mind.

The face of the silver-haired knight, which he had memorized because it appeared in his dreams far too often lately.