Chapter 61
“Yes…… There’s no helping it.”
As if he had expected this response, Edenber felt regret but did not press further.
Though he did bite his lip firmly.
He said nothing until they reached the garden entrance.
* * *
Not long after, a letter and a small package arrived at the Skya Duke family.
[I have obtained and sent the dinars you requested.
As you said, I succeeded in obtaining 500, but due to the passage of 500 years, regrettably only powder remains.
I hope the item sent pleases you.]
The Skya Duke, upon checking the letter, gaped in shock.
The package contained only a pouch of powder, just as Edenber had said.
Whether it was truly dinar powder or not was irrelevant. It had been a pretext to extort money from the start!
The duchess, who had been looking at it together from the side, clutched her throbbing forehead.
“Aah……. I should have seen it coming when that mere illegitimate child thought he could stand above the Monlepe Duke. If this gets out, our family will become the laughingstock of society!”
“Ahem, you agreed to send the promissory note too, Madam…….”
“How could one not fall for that devilish child’s three-inch tongue? Uuugh, our family is truly done for now.”
The duchess covered her face and pretended to cry.
The Skya Duke fell for it and became flustered.
“Don’t cry. Our family won’t end over something like this.”
“But there are twins! Twins that bring great misfortune to the family just by existing! As long as those children are here, our family will only chase after Munrepe’s tail!”
“But the divine beast…….”
“I told you, if those children die, the divine beast will come back to our side!”
“……If we do that and unnecessarily incur the wrath of the Monlepe Duke family.”
“Then are you saying to just watch the illegitimate child inherit the dukedom? No, I absolutely won’t allow it! I’ll definitely kill them!”
The duchess, who had shouted sharply, left the hall.
Briden, who had been watching this situation from the top of the stairs, bit his lip tightly.
When he had brought the two little ones who had lost their mother and were sobbing in the slums, and now to say she’ll kill them.
There hadn’t been a single moment of happiness since coming here.
The duchess couldn’t accept the reality that the illegitimate child, not her eldest son, had been chosen by the divine beast.
Thinking that if the illegitimate child died, her son would be chosen, she had even secretly fed poison to Briden.
Fortunately, Briden hadn’t died.
Only his eyesight had been greatly impaired.
There had been a doctor’s words that it might be treatable with strong holy power, but the Skya Duke only expressed verbal regret and never took him to the temple even once.
It was proof that he saw him merely as a divine beast holder.
But even so, Briden tried to cling to this family.
Because no one in the world would accept blind twins from the slums.
‘I have to show my usefulness somehow.’
Only then will they not kill me, Liribet…….
Soon, Briden groped along the wall and returned to his room.
It was to contemplate ways to trample Munrepe and elevate the Skya Duke family’s status.
Meanwhile, the Skya Duke, left alone, clutched his temples and groaned in pain.
His wife’s words weren’t entirely unreasonable; in fact, he had no intention at all of passing succession to the illegitimate child.
So even knowing that his wife had poisoned Briden, he hadn’t lifted a finger.
But with his wife’s opinion so unyielding, he began to feel the need to make a decision soon.
It was then that the butler came running, breathing heavily.
“D-Duke! His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!”
“What?”
The astonished Skya Duke turned to him.
The Crown Prince, without notice, arriving so suddenly?
Pushing aside his worries about Briden, he hurriedly followed the butler to the reception room.
And there he faced the Crown Prince, the emperor’s most favored child and his wife’s nephew.
The Crown Prince was a boy with the imperial family’s characteristic silver hair and blue eyes, possessing a scholarly image.
Unlike the notoriously tyrannical Third Princess, the Crown Prince had a good public image.
Even in his high position as Crown Prince, he was humble, knew to cover for the imperial family’s disgrace Iocaste, and was known in society for being merciful enough to invite even the illegitimate children of the Skya Duke family to the palace.
In reality, he despised Eocaste more than anyone, invited the illegitimate children to the palace to humiliate them, and committed far more cruel acts behind the scenes than Iocaste.
The Crown Prince, who had been elegantly sipping tea while gazing at the sunlight outside the window with one leg crossed, smiled radiantly.
“I’m sorry for coming without notice.”
“Not at all. Your Highness is always welcome.”
True to his words, the Skya Duke smiled brightly as if he hadn’t just quarreled with his wife.
The Crown Prince, responding with a faint smile, slowly opened his mouth.
“The reason I came today is to ask the Duke an important favor.”
“Please speak. I will do my utmost to help as long as it’s within my power.”
“In the upcoming palace hunt.”
In the empire, a hunt was held every late winter to welcome the coming spring.
The Crown Prince, taking a sip of tea and pausing briefly, continued slowly.
“I would like you to achieve better results than the Monlepe Duke.”
“……Pardon?”
For a moment, the Skya Duke’s face turned blank.
If the Monlepe Duke family was a house biased toward martial arts, the Skya Duke family was biased toward civil arts.
More precisely, due to the characteristics of their auxiliary divine beast, they pursued extreme civil arts.
The head of Skya didn’t even touch a sword unless it was for cultural education from childhood.
And to beat whom?
In his daze, he belatedly remembered that the one sitting before him was the Crown Prince and hastily composed his expression.
“I understand. That was my intention as well. But may I ask the reason?”
“The Monlepe Duke opposed the war with the beastmen. It seems his sister put some unnecessary wind into his ear.”
Among the empire’s four duke families, the ones in charge of military power were Sunrise and Monlepe.
In particular, Monlepe had always led the vanguard in every war since ancient times, wielding great influence.
Even if it had declined now, the remaining image meant Monlepe’s opinion on war couldn’t be easily ignored.
The Crown Prince twisted the corner of his mouth in displeasure.
“Whenever it’s for the empire’s development, he says he’ll do anything, yet he switches stance so easily.”
“Indeed. With such lack of integrity from youth, one wonders how the empire will fare in the future.”
“We must defeat him once in the hunt for talk of Monlepe being past its prime to emerge. Then it will be easier to start the war than now.”
Unfortunately, the Starrafit Duke had already been defeated…….
Recalling the results of the friendly match, an unpleasant smile briefly crossed the Crown Prince’s face.
“The Duke can do it, I trust.”
“Of course. By any means necessary, I will surpass the Monlepe Duke and achieve excellent results.”
“I believe you. If you defeat Monlepe, a commensurate reward will come.”
The Crown Prince, nodding in satisfaction, departed.
Left alone, the Skya Duke sighed.
His worries were mountainous, as the hunt was strictly an individual competition.
One couldn’t bring servants, let alone the divine beast.
‘How to beat the Monlepe Duke…….’
The current Munrepe Duke, as one who had inherited Monlepe Castle, was known to possess remarkably excellent swordsmanship for his young age.
To surpass such a person, he would have to aim for victory…….
For him, who couldn’t even properly wield a sword, to win.
It was naturally a situation that couldn’t help but worry him.
He racked his brains hard to devise a way to win the hunt.
First, assign people to hinder the Monlepe Duke as much as possible—wait, among the items Briden found, there was that!
He jumped to his feet and headed to the warehouse where the first Skya Duke’s miscellaneous items were gathered.
Then he found a small compass-like object the size of a palm and gripped it tightly in his hand.
“With this, the Monlepe Duke absolutely cannot win.”
A vile smile spread across the Skya Duke’s lips.
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By Anna 💓
