“I will do as you say.”
“How is Sutmar these days?”
“It’s gradually improving.”
“That’s good news.”
Sebastian smiled with narrowed eyes.
“When I heard that my dear sister was suffering in a barren land, I couldn’t sleep because my heart ached.”
“I apologize.” Laslo replied bluntly.
“As for Agnes.”
Sebastian continued, lost in memories as he gazed into the distance.
“She may seem strong on the outside, but she’s truly fragile inside. She cried a lot when she was young, so I teased her for being a crybaby.”
Surprisingly, Sebastian seemed genuinely concerned for his sister, like a caring older brother.
“But now, she has grown up so quickly to become the mistress of a household. Time is truly astonishing.”
“Is that so?”
“Her antics with Vivian at the palace seem vivid as if it were just yesterday.”
The lips referring to Vivian look natural.
He didn’t seem like someone who had poisoned his twin sisters five times over.
Laslo clicked his tongue in disgust.
“Oh, memories are rushing back. Duke. Let Agnes come tomorrow. There are so many things I want to say.”
“She’s not feeling well….”
“Duke Arpad.”
Sebastian dispelled the facade of a benevolent king and hardened his expression.
“This is an order, not a favor or a suggestion.”
The king leaned back in his chair.
Laslo clenched his fist on his knee.
Initially, when the assassin infiltrated the Arpad Townhouse, he had considered it a simple warning.
Meeting the assassin at the hunting grounds required a lot of effort to restrain himself.
However, when he saw Agnes return with a sore throat, he couldn’t think straight.
His mind was paralyzed, and ferocious emotions surged in his chest.
He had to bite his tongue to suppress the desire to tear apart the person who had touched her neck.
“Your Majesty.”
“You have no business with me, so bring my dear younger sister here.”
Sebastian was firm. His tone was mixed with a hint of annoyance.
“What do you suggest I do?” Laslo asked somewhat straightforwardly.
“I just told you. How many times do I have to tell you for you to understand?”
“I didn’t learn anything about politics.”
He spoke as if talking to someone who couldn’t hear.
“It’s a pity that you lack the manners of a noble. Fine.”
“What should I do for you to stop calling Agnes to the palace anymore?”
Sebastian smirked. He rested his elbow on the armrest of the chair and propped his chin.
“It seems you care a lot for Agnes.”
Laslo did not answer. He simply gazed down at the table.
“That’s great. It’s great to see the harmony between the couple.”
He continued to offer incomprehensible praises afterward. Nothing seemed to register in Laslo’s ears.
“Grant wisdom to the foolish.”
“Well. What can the duke do for me?”
Sebastian tapped the armrest with his finger. A significant amount of time passed, enough for the tea to turn lukewarm.
As someone who considered patience a virtue, Laslo found it easy to endure.
“Well, how about this?”
Perhaps something interesting came to mind, he suddenly looked up at Laslo.
“Show your loyalty to the king.”
“Excuse me?”
“There will be a war in the fall.”
“A war? What do you mean?”
Laslo furrowed his brow at the unexpected statement.
“The King of Devon deliberately omitted tribute to Nirseg that was supposed to be offered for several years. How much did he think of Nirseg as a fool? Who would have done such a shameless act?”
Sebastian raised his hand exaggeratedly.
“As the King of Nirseg, I cannot just overlook that. Don’t you agree?”
It was only then that Laslo realized that the mention of war meant provoking a war.
“Stand in the front and show how deep and broad your loyalty is. Show me something I can approve of.”
The word “loyalty” sounded so repulsive to him for the first time.
“Then I might be able to entrust Agnes to you with peace of mind.”
Only then did Laslo raise his head and make eye contact with the king.
His eyes were as blue as the summer sky. Surprisingly, they resembled Agnes’s.
Seeing that, he felt a sense of calm settling in his heart. The complexity in his mind converged into a single conclusion.
In the end, all that remained was Agnes’s face.
“I will do as you say.”
“That’s a good choice.”
Sebastian laughed.
ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚
By the time Agnes got up from bed, the sun had already been up for quite some time.
“Ney!”
Normally, waking up late wouldn’t be an issue, but the problem was that her appointment with Sebastian was early in the morning.
“Madam. Are you awake?”
Ney came to the side of the bed.
“What time is it now? Didn’t I tell you that I have to go to the palace this morning?”
“Master told me not to wake you up.”
“What? Why?”
“He said he will go to the palace himself…”
“Wait, does that mean Duke Arpad is at the palace right now?”
“Yes, Madam.”
Ney nodded.
“Oh no! Quickly, bring me my clothes. I have to go to the palace right away.”
Agnes hastily got out of bed and put on her indoor shoes.
“Oh, no, you can’t, Madam.”
“Why can’t I?”
“Master asked me to tell you, ‘Don’t think about coming to the palace and rest well.’”
“Rest? I feel perfectly fine!”
Agnes pushed her chest out defiantly.
“Your neck has a bruise. Madam.”
With a sigh, Ney brought a mirror.
“Hmm.”
When she saw it yesterday, it was just a red bruise on her neck, but when she woke up, it looked like she had been strangled, no matter who saw it.
“Please rest today. Should I bring you your meal?”
“No. Let me at least get dressed first.”
“A dress covering your neck?”
“Not that, but summer dress. ILinen, so I can endure the heat. I might as well wrap a scarf around.”
Just as she finished changing, the butler informed her that a guest had arrived with a puzzled expression.
“Who has come?”
“It’s Baron Leslin.”
“I don’t remember him requesting a visit.”
“Yes, that’s right. Nevertheless, Baron Leslin insisted that he should meet the duchess immediately.….”
“For what reason?”
“I’m not sure myself.”
“Hmm.”
Agnes pondered for a moment.
Although she felt too tired to deal with it and annoyance crept in, she couldn’t simply ignore it.
“Escort him to the reception room.”
“Yes, Madam.”
After a while, Baron Leslin jumped up from his seat when she arrived at the drawing room.
“Duchess!”
“Baron Leslin. What’s going on? Coming here without a request.”
“This is a clear violation of our agreement.”
He spoke abruptly without even a greeting.
It was incredibly rude, but Agnes decided to overlook it.
“A violation of our agreement?”
“What I handed over was just the mining rights of the Sapphire Mine. Wouldn’t it be right for me to rightfully claim the artifacts that come out from there?”
The story that relics from the Etron mine makes magic stones is already openly spread.
It seemed like the Baron had rushed over upon hearing this story.
“What are you talking about? Have you properly read the contract?”
“Of course!”
With a confident attitude, he took out the contract from his pocket.
“Look carefully.”
Agnes pointed to a clause with a relaxed demeanor.
<Possession of everything excavated in the mine in the Etron Territory will be handed over.>
“Clearly, the contract did not specify only minerals.”
“T-That’s!”
Realizing the meaning of that sentence belatedly, the Baron crumpled the contract that was on the table.
“This is invalid! In the first place, there is no word that includes relics, right?”
His eyes turned red with excitement. His agitated body seemed threatening, as if it could burst out at any moment.
“Don’t be stubborn. Do you not understand what ‘everything’ means?”
Agnes continued calmly.
“Let’s be honest. If those relics hadn’t come out of the mine, you wouldn’t have come to me like this to protest about the fairness of the contract, would you? Isn’t that right?”
Baron Leslin couldn’t bring up a rebuttal, just staring at Agnes with a huff.
“It was a fair contract by all accounts. You should acknowledge that too.”
“I cannot accept that!”
He slammed his fist on the table. The loud thud made the servant standing by the wall flinch.
“You can’t?”
However, Agnes remained unfazed.
“I’m sorry to hear that you can’t.”
She called the servant in the back coldly.
“The baron is leaving now, escort him out of the mansion.”
“Yes, Madam.”
The servant swiftly approached the Baron and took hold of his arm.
“Argh! I can’t go like this?”
He thrashed about like a trapped animal.
Despite the efforts of three sturdy servants, they couldn’t easily pull him away.
“Let go of me immediately!”
“Uh, uh!”
In the blink of an eye, one of the servants holding the Baron let go, and Baron Leslin broke free from their grasp and dashed straight towards Agnes.
He snatched the scarf wrapped around Agnes’s neck.
