His striking appearance was particularly memorable, as it had caused noble young ladies to lose their composure and whisper among themselves.
Louis, who was sitting next to Lord Elais, naturally bowed his head slightly and spoke to the man.
“Duke, it seems His Highness the Crown Prince kept you for a long time.”
“To the point of nausea.”
He seemed natural in speaking about the Empire’s Crown Prince as if sick of him.
[Who will the Duke marry?]
[I heard he expressed his intention not to attend the banquet. Could it be that he’s already seeing someone?]
[Then wouldn’t he have come to the banquet with his partner?]
He had heard the young ladies whispering such things before coming out.
Surely.
“Duke…Your Grace?”
Could it be.
He asked in a hesitant voice. He tried to think why one of the few most noble aristocrats in the Empire had suddenly appeared here.
But he was so shocked that his mind froze, and no thoughts came.
“Since you know me, our conversation should be easier.”
Carol quickly interjected after the Duke’s words.
“This… this is the person I’ve been seeing.”
The person I wanted to introduce to you.
“…Seeing…?”
Lord Elais repeated Carol’s words as if he didn’t understand the meaning of “seeing.”
But soon realizing the situation, he raised his eyebrows high in his seat.
“…Miss Carol!”
Before Lord Elais could say anything, the Duke spoke first.
“Rather than committing a wrongdoing, it was more like a common lovers’ quarrel.”
“…Pardon?”
“I’m talking about the reason the teacher went to the capital.”
“…”
“But since the name I knew was different, I just investigated a little.”
The Duke’s gaze narrowed. Meeting his red eyes made him feel like a small animal facing a beast, his hair standing on end.
“Ah…”
Lord Elais seemed to realize his mistake, his face turning pale.
The Duke’s gaze slowly turned to the side.
Carol took another sip of tea, then set her cup down on the saucer.
“Would you like some cookies?”
“Sure.”
At Carol’s words, the Duke reached his arm across the table. But as he grabbed a cookie, his elbow bumped Carol’s teacup.
Clank!
The teacup tilted instantly. The cup in front of Carol fell onto her dress.
It was a mistake that could happen to anyone.
The Duke quickly snatched up the fallen teacup from Carol’s dress and checked her condition.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. Fortunately, the tea was cold and there wasn’t much left.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry to interrupt the conversation. I’ll excuse myself for a moment.”
Carol stood up. After explaining the situation to an employee, she planned to try to remove as much of the stain as possible with their help.
“Alright. Don’t worry and go ahead, I can explain things well enough on my own while you’re away.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay.”
“Uh…”
Louis seemed to want to say something but soon just told her to take care, watching Carol’s departing figure with a wistful look.
With Carol gone and only the three of them left, a chill so cold settled in that one might believe the northern cold had found its way to the capital’s tea house.
“I extremely dislike showing an unfavorable side of myself to my lover.”
Only then did Lord Elais realize why Louis had hesitated when Carol stood up.
All the seemingly natural actions had occurred under the Duke’s intention.
He had prided himself on his keen eye despite his age, but…
He noticed that the Duke’s actions were intentional not from the Duke’s behavior, but from Louis’s attitude.
The man who had seemed kind now looked as impenetrable as when he first saw him.
“…Yes.”
“I paid a large sum to maintain silence to avoid such misunderstandings. This is quite regrettable.”
The Duke said languidly, running his finger along the rim of the empty teacup.
It was clear as day that if things continued like this, Janet, who had made the confession of conscience, would be harmed.
It didn’t take long to assess the situation.
“…I will act as if I know nothing.”
“To your son as well.”
“I will keep this to myself and make sure to keep quiet when I return.”
The Duke raised one eyebrow, observing Lord Elais’s quick change in attitude.
“Good. I would appreciate that.”
Carol returned quickly. She looked at the Duke with an embarrassed expression.
The stain had faded but wasn’t completely gone.
“Why did you come back so hurriedly?”
“I was worried.”
“About me?”
“…Lord Elais. I’ve caused a lot of trouble by being stubborn.”
“Is that so?”
The Duke grabbed Carol’s wrist and guided her. Carol naturally sat down next to the Duke again.
“I was afraid he might get angry.”
Carol wasn’t a fool either. She knew that the Duke was much more lenient with her compared to others.
As Carol expressed her concern with furrowed brows, the Duke smiled gently as if he had never made any threats and said,
“That’s unlikely. He’s someone you’ve received a lot of help from.”
“Right?”
“Yes. I just wanted to hear an explanation.”
“…”
“…”
“Isn’t that right?”
“…Yes.”
Louis’s answer, submitting to power, came reflexively.
“Lord Elais is really a wonderful person,” Carol said again with an excited face.
“Indeed. While listening to your story, I’ve been thinking.”
“…Yes?”
“I’m considering joining in.”
“Joining what?”
Louis asked in a voice that seemed to say ‘surely not’. The Duke added a kind explanation that couldn’t be misunderstood, as if it were obvious.
“I heard there are families that help beastmen. I thought the Winternox family joining them might be of great help.”
As if this wasn’t something they had discussed beforehand, even Carol looked at the Duke with a surprised expression at his statement.
****
Kevin and Dylan stopped by a weapon shop with Jack. The two wanted to go straight to the tea house to join Carol and Lord Elais, but they had no choice but to follow Jack’s wish to visit the weapon shop.
‘He’s our guest, so let’s bear with it.’
‘Right. Might as well look at some swords while we’re here. My standards might be too high now, but I should still be able to find one decent sword.’
As soon as they arrived at the weapon shop, Dylan eagerly asked the owner if there were any new swords, then carefully examined all the weapons in the shop. But soon his shoulders drooped, apparently not finding any sword to his satisfaction.
“Everything in the capital is so expensive.”
“Aren’t you buying anything, brother?”
“No. Too expensive.”
Dylan felt a bit annoyed at Kevin acting like he was going to buy something and then not buying, but he held it in. Today was a good day, and Jack was Lord Elais’s only son and their guest.
However, not wanting to stay too long on this good day, Kevin naturally suggested joining the others.
“It’s a bit early, but shall we join the others?”
They failed to catch a carriage due to the awkward distance between the weapon shop and the tea house. So the two had to endure Jack’s chatter throughout the walk.
“I heard you’re going back to the north too? From what I saw earlier, no one else received an appointment from His Highness the Crown Prince like you two. Isn’t that amazing? Wouldn’t it be better to stay in the capital?”
“We want to live with our family in the north.”
“But there’s nothing much there except for the Duke’s family. Even if you received an appointment from the Crown Prince, wouldn’t it be difficult for you to work for the Duke’s family?”
Dylan seemed to flare up at Jack’s words, but Kevin restrained him.
“Thanks for your concern. But we’ll manage that ourselves.”
“I’m just worrying about your future like this…”
“…Haha.”
Jack didn’t seem to notice Kevin’s forced laugh and continued talking.
“By the way, do you know who that person Carol is seeing?”
“…We do?”
“From what I overheard earlier, it seems they were at the inauguration ceremony. Did you perhaps first enter the Royal Palace through their introduction?”
They might have tolerated it if he was just belittling their efforts. But Jack was speaking as if looking down on Carol too.
Usually, Kevin would be the one to stop Dylan, but this time, Kevin spoke coldly before anyone could stop him.
“The 3rd Knight Order doesn’t work like that. It’s purely based on ability.”
Jack didn’t seem to notice Kevin’s chilly tone and clicked his tongue, saying he thought as much.
“Well… I guess she wouldn’t be seeing someone powerful enough to introduce her to a position in the Royal Palace.”
The two exercised patience to the point where veins were popping on their foreheads. The tea house where the others were waiting was just ahead. They believed that if they could endure until then, Lord Elais would rein in his son.
It was incomprehensible why the son was showing such a patronizing attitude when it was Lord Elais who had been generous.
The two were now too drained to even respond, but Jack didn’t stop talking.
“Do you know how your sister ended up fleeing from the north to the capital?”
“…What? Why do you ask that?”
Confused by the sudden change of topic, Jack clicked his tongue as if pitying them.
“I heard someone was investigating your sister’s background?”
“She just came to the capital for personal reasons.”
“What personal reasons?”
“Do we need to explain every little detail?”
“Well, if there’s no problem, Father told me to treat her well. So I thought it wouldn’t hurt to know.”
Before Jack could say anything more, a loud shout was directed at the three of them.
“Didn’t I say I would check it out first since it’s not even certain yet!”
It seemed that the group coming out of the tea house had been listening to the conversation. Lord Elais rushed out and struck his son’s head.
“Ow, Father!”
Jack covered his head with both arms, looking aggrieved.
“I don’t even have a chance to get angry.”
The Duke said from behind, looking disappointed.
Lord Elais bowed his head, his face turning from white to pale blue.
“I apologize on behalf of my son.”
“I didn’t even have a chance to get angry.” HELP WHAT 😭💀