My Stepdad Was the Mastermind, Chapter 16
‘If you have eyes, why don’t you look ahead? The duke is glaring at you like he’s terrifying.’
Duke Decarean, sitting alone across from us, had clearly been glaring sharply at Klaus just moments ago, but now he wore an expression of sheer disbelief.
It was as if he were thinking.
‘It seems his head has gone somewhat wrong all this while.’
“So, what exactly is going on?”
When the duke, unable to bear it any longer, opened his mouth, Klaus’s face hardened and he began to explain.
It was the same story he’d told before the emperor a couple of hours earlier.
But having heard the whole story, Duke Decarean’s attitude was different from the emperor’s.
Rather than being taken in by Klaus’s story, he pressed him in a sharp, cold voice.
“Klaus. Do you think I don’t know what you’re scheming?”
Unlike me, who instinctively hunched my shoulders, Klaus didn’t so much as blink.
“Scheming? I don’t know what you mean. What scheme could there possibly be in two people in love getting married?”
“You haven’t been to the Arno territory even once in the past several years, so how did affection form and a promise of marriage come about? The Arno lady must have stayed in her territory the whole time.”
“What…”
“Do you think I’ve left you alone until now because I didn’t know where you were and what you were doing, Klaus?”
The duke’s voice sank, stern and heavy.
“I hear you’re running some sort of information guild. This affair, too, must be part of that. You’ve been roaming all corners of the empire as if cursed with wanderlust, and yet you tell lies so smoothly.”
I couldn’t help but be startled inwardly.
It was truly a case of Klaus running, only to find Duke Decarean already standing above him.
The duke had already seen through everything—that Klaus and my mother and I had come together through some sort of deal.
“Until now, I haven’t interfered in your affairs at all. Whatever a man who threw away the Decarean name chooses to do has nothing to do with me.”
“…”
“But if you’re going to use the Decarean name, things are different. A man who abandoned his duties and responsibilities, trying to seize only the benefits. Do you think I’ve protected the Decarean name all this time just so I could line your pockets for you?”
As the duke’s words went on, Klaus’s expression visibly hardened as well.
Moreover, unlike at the imperial palace, this second round between father and son seemed to be one the duke was clearly winning.
“Did you think that since you’d already received His Majesty’s approval, there was nothing I could do? Do you truly think that?”
Klaus insisted that since the emperor had already granted his approval, there was no undoing it now.
But in reality, that wasn’t so.
With Duke Decarean’s power, he could obstruct this marriage.
If he went straight to the emperor right now and declared that the Decarean house could not approve this match, then even the emperor, powerful as he was, would have to at least pretend to heed the duke’s words.
Klaus knew this too, which was why he couldn’t push back too forcefully.
‘What, what should I do?’
Persuading a duke who had already seen through the entire scheme was practically impossible. No matter how it was phrased, the fact that lies had already been told, that the duke and the emperor had already been deceived, wouldn’t change.
‘Should I appeal to emotion instead? Tell him that if things go on like this, Uncle Pascal will kill Mother and me? Cling to the duke’s coattails and sob my eyes out?’
But judging by Duke Decarean’s personality, it seemed like even if I cried and made a scene, he wouldn’t so much as blink.
He might even find it irritating and throw me out instead.
‘Think, Valery Arno. Anything will do, just find a way.’
It was then that Klaus, who had been quietly listening to the duke’s words all along, clenched the two fists resting on his lap.
“If the problem is seizing only the benefits, then would it be resolved if I fulfilled my duties and responsibilities?”
“…?”
“…!”
What was that supposed to mean? I stared at Klaus with a bewildered expression.
Duke Decarean, too, wore a face of no small surprise.
“…What did you just say?”
“I mean that, as Klaus Decarean, as the heir of Decarean, I will fulfill my duties. If that’s what you want in exchange for my marriage, my lord, I’ll gladly do it.”
“…What’s the reason for saying such a thing? Is your guild’s work truly that important to you?”
“No.”
Klaus’s blue eyes, looking straight at the duke, shone with an emotion I couldn’t name.
“It means that Rayna and Vivi are that important to me.”
Hearing that answer, I went blank for a moment.
I’d seen how well Klaus could act, watching him lie to Uncle Pascal and to the emperor.
Even now, his performance was near perfect.
As if Mother and I really were people who mattered to him.
‘But why? Why does it feel not like acting, but like sincerity?’
His gaze, holding not a trace of mischief, was so earnest that I found myself falling into an illusion.
The illusion that Klaus cared for Mother and me that deeply.
Even though such a bond couldn’t possibly have formed in the short time we’d spent together.
Even though, to Klaus, this contract had only ever been a means to find Erwin.
“And besides, I made a promise, to protect you.”
The look in Klaus’s eyes as he gazed at me softened.
My heart pounded, thump-thump. Not an unpleasant fluttering from anxiety or tension, but a pleasant resonance.
The duke, who had been quietly watching Klaus’s expression, asked in a somewhat softened voice.
“Can you take responsibility for those words?”
“Of course.”
This time, the duke’s gaze turned to Mother, who was thoroughly tense.
“Lady Arno, what are your thoughts?”
Not having expected the question to come at her so suddenly, Mother flinched.
“From how things look, it seems you didn’t know Klaus’s identity. The resolve behind your decision to marry in order to protect your family may not have been a light one, but if your partner isn’t an ordinary mercenary but a Decarean, the situation changes.”
“…”
“I’m not like Klaus. That boy probably told you not to do anything, but I’m not that soft. The moment you set foot in the Decarean house, you too will need to fulfill the duties that come with it. Can you go that far? To me, it looks like there’s more to lose than to gain.”
“I…”
Mother, swallowing hard, straightened her back.
“Marcus—no, Klaus. The moment I write my name beside his, I will already have resolved myself to everything.”
There was no tremor in Mother’s voice as it flowed out.
“I know that in your eyes, my lord, I fall short in many ways. I know too that no matter how hard I try, I can never completely make up for what I lack. Even so, I intend to do my utmost, as far as my strength allows.”
Mother’s gaze turned to me.
“I, too, have the confidence to risk everything to protect what I love. Whether it’s Vivi, or the Arno name.”
Then she smiled brightly.
“As you’ve likely already guessed, the time I’ll spend in the Decarean house won’t be very long. Of course, it could end up being long, depending on how you look at it. But just three years. If you grant me a place here for just three years, I will never forget that kindness for as long as I live, and I will repay it.”
“Mother…”
My nose stung.
My beloved mother.
My mother, who could have lived a somewhat better life if not for me.
Even in this moment, Mother was thinking of me before herself.
A vast affection I could never repay in kind.
Having quietly listened to Mother’s resolve, Duke Decarean’s gaze finally turned to me last.
Whatever lay inside me, on the outside I was an eight-year-old child, and there wasn’t really anything I could say to the duke here.
Responsibility? Duty?
Such things were far too difficult a topic for this little child.
Instead, I gave the kind of answer a young child might give.
“Ever since Uncle Dietrich disappeared and Grandfather passed away, Vivi has been very sad. Just yesterday, I hugged my doll tight and cried and cried.”
“…”
“So when they said I’d get a new daddy, I was so happy!”
Lastly, I smiled as brightly as I could.
“And now they say I’ll get a new grandpa too, so I’m so, so, so happy!”
“….”
Was this not enough?
Watching the duke, whose face was still hardened, I spread my arms out wide to either side.
“I love you as much as the sky and the earth!”
* * *
To cut to the conclusion, Duke Decarean reluctantly granted permission for Mother and Klaus’s marriage.
I’m not sure whose words among the three of us swayed him, but in the end, it turned out well.
However, we ended up living at the ducal residence, rather unexpectedly. This was because, even though Klaus had mentioned several times that he’d arrange a separate residence, Duke Decarean wouldn’t budge on the matter.
—Do you think it makes sense for Decarean’s sole heir and his family to live separately?
—I’ll come here every day.
—Even setting you aside, what do you intend to do about the Arno lady? I recall she just promised me a moment ago that she would fulfill her duties.
—I’ll do as you say, my lord.
Mother, holding back Klaus as he kept insisting on living separately, accepted the duke’s decision, and we were promptly shown to the fourth floor.
