While a commotion unfolded in Sophia’s office, the Viscount’s second wife, Elizabeth, relaxed in her room, disinterested in such matters.
“Why are the servants making such a ruckus?”
She asked as she stroked her gorgeous red hair.
Even though the sun hadn’t set yet, the tea table in her room had a half-full glass of wine on it.
Then, a response came from the terrace attached to her room.
“They say the head butler embezzled the estate’s money. When Lady Isabelle found out about it, she kicked him out.”
“Isabelle did? What’s happening?”
Elizabeth was surprised by the unexpected revelation and turned her gaze towards the terrace.
There stood a man with a slim build. It was a strategic position; if someone tried to get into Elizabeth’s room, he could disappear at any time.
『 I’m a spy too, but this guy is excessively cautious.』
Elizabeth thought as she took a sip of wine and smiled.
“So Isabelle screwed up Sophia unintentionally. She’s so naive that she probably has no idea that the butler and Sophia are having an affair.”
“That’s new information.”
“I can tell the difference between true love and a mere formal relationship when I see it.”
As Elizabeth had a wistful expression on her face, a man named Aizen approached with an envelope in hand.
“Even Master himself, when the sun sets each day, has the same expression you have when he thinks of you, Miss Elizabeth.”
“Well, I doubt Gilbert does that…”
Despite her denial of Aizen’s words, Elizabeth couldn’t hide her joy. She opened the envelope handed to her with a smile on her face.
╭══════
To my love, Elizabeth.
══════╯
Her name was elegantly written on paper with the coat of arms of House Gerturk.
Nothing excited Elizabeth as much as this.
From a very young age, Elizabeth’s lover had been Gilbert, the youngest son of the prestigious House Gerturk.
The fact that the youngest son of Count Gerturk had fallen head over heels in love with an illegitimate daughter from a less prominent family with nothing more than a manor in the capital had become famous gossip in the capital.
Only Nicholas Fortrion, who bought Elizabeth with money after a brief trip to the capital, remained unaware of it.
⋙“Elizabeth, you are finally helping the family.”⋘
Elizabeth’s father kept the gold he received from selling his daughter without giving her a single penny. She thought it would be better to run away at night if it weren’t for Gilbert’s secret request.
⋙“Elizabeth, it turns out that Viscount Fortrion kidnapped the illegitimate son of a prominent noble family a few years ago. I heard he is working undercover to sell him for a high price.”⋘
⋙“So?”⋘
⋙“Since you’ve caught the Viscount’s attention, I would be happy if you went and checked if that illegitimate child has a dangerous bloodline or not.”⋘
⋙“So you want me to play a spy in that remote village?”⋘
But in the end, Elizabeth accepted the Viscount’s marriage proposal, and she became his doll at Fortrion Manor.
It wasn’t just to help Gilbert, who couldn’t gain either title or inheritance as Count Gerturk’s youngest son.
⋙“If I complete the task well, Noonim will give me an appropriate title, and I will become a respectable head of the household and formally propose to you. Noonim knows your hard work well, so she will reward you.”⋘
Elizabeth knew very well that her situation was nothing more than that of a baron’s illegitimate daughter.
Furthermore…
⋙“In the meantime, I will raise our Elise well in the county. I guess I’ll have to convince people that she’s my distant relative.”⋘
Unbeknownst to the world, she and Gilbert had a daughter, born as a result of a one-night stand.
An unmarried woman, fearing the judgmental stares that came with having a child, had moved to the mansion Gilbert had arranged for her and barely managed to give birth to the child over the course of a year.
Elizabeth smiled as she looked at the portrait of her daughter, Elise, enclosed in Gilbert’s letter.
When Gilbert told her not to worry about their daughter, she had come to the Viscountcy of Fortrion five years ago, and now her role as a spy seemed to be coming to an end.
“Aizen, have there been any developments in extracting a confession?”
“We’ve been continuing to threaten and persuade the knights we kidnapped during the carriage raid, but they’re still not talking, probably because they’re closest to the Viscount.”
“Those knights that the Viscount takes with him every time he goes out are orphans trained in combat. They would risk their lives for him.”
“Well, we’re also investigating where their families are. If they see their families suffering, they might open their mouths.”
“… Don’t harm the children.”
Elizabeth clicked her tongue as she watched Aizen attempting to kill people without any hesitation.
It wasn’t long before it was revealed that the mysterious boy kidnapped by the Viscount was Walter.
After all, he had been treated so exceptionally.
The real problem was that the Viscount had kept Walter’s true lineage a secret.
His obsession was so strong that he had to cast a powerful imprisonment spell on him, preventing him from being taken away from the manor.
That’s why Count Gerturk had seized the opportunity to attack the Viscount’s carriage, kidnapping his two closest aides and interrogating them.
“But… What if he is from the lineage of a noble family?”
Elizabeth was well aware of the situation in the capital.
The capital was in an uproar over the ongoing power struggle between the Duke of Lexion, the second in line for the Imperial throne, and the Imperial Consort Patricia.
The fundamental problem was that Emperor Agnas XIV, who was already entering middle age, not only remained single but had not even shared a bed with a woman, leaving him without an heir.
On the other hand, the Imperial Consort Dowager, Patricia, was raising the late son of the previous emperor, who could not control his lust until just before his death.
『 I heard that Agnas XIV was suffering from a congenital disease, but who knew he would deteriorate so quickly.』
Just a decade ago, people had mocked Patricia, saying she would do anything to catch the aging Emperor’s eye, but in the end, her strategy had proven effective.
『 If Agnas XIV were to pass away suddenly, a child who is not even 10 years old would inherit the throne, and then, according to imperial law, his mother, Patricia, would become the regent.』
The one Gilbert addressed as ‘Noonim’ was none other than Patricia, the Imperial Consort Dowager, so it was no illusion that if things went well, good fortune would come.
The problem was that Patricia’s political experience was so shallow that those who opposed her rule supported the Duke of Lexion, second in line to the throne.
People referred to them as the aristocratic faction.
Aizen answered without difficulty as he was the leader of the assassination squad secretly operated by Gilbert’s family.
“If this guy, Walter, is connected to the aristocratic faction, we can take him to the capital and use him to negotiate with that family.”
It would be more like coercion than negotiation, but Elizabeth didn’t bother to correct him.
“If he’s carrying the bloodline of a prominent family… it might be best to eliminate him before he becomes a threat.”
Elizabeth chuckled.
“What prominent family are you talking about?”
“Well, Lexion?”
“There is no room for an illegitimate child in Lexion. They have no sons, and all their daughters are married off to prominent families.”
Aizen added cautiously, as if it were just a possibility.
“I remember that Lady Leah, their eldest daughter, never married and lived a relatively free life.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. She died in a carriage accident when she was in her early 20s. She was a terminally ill time bomb since her birth because she inherited Lexion’s ultimate magical power.”
Elizabeth waved her hand as if there was no more value in discussing it.
However, Aizen didn’t let go of his doubts and maintained a stern expression, as if saying that he hadn’t given up.
──────────✿◦•
As the late evening approached, the carriages of the invited guests began to leave Fortrion Manor in a line.
However, some executives belonging to the Karkus Trading Company decided to stay at the manor for a few more days.
This was because Isabelle requested their assistance reviewing the past year’s accounting books.
『 Now that the embezzlement has been confirmed, they must have felt the need to inspect the accounting books.』
With everyone’s attention focused on the accounting books, Edith was flipping through a thick, unread volume in the library.
<Fortrion Territory Annual Chronicle>
Usually, the annual chronicle recorded significant events that had occurred in the territory over the past year.
Edith had been searching through several dusty volumes to find information about specific events that had taken place at a particular time.
『 I don’t even know in which year the flood occurred, so I have to check one by one.』
Just as she was diligently searching for another year’s chronicle, a soft knock on the library window startled her.
Tap Tap―
Someone knocked on the library’s window. Edith, confirming that it was after midnight, became suspicious.
『 Most of the servants usually return to their quarters by nine in the evening.』
There was only one person who was free to roam the dark manor at this time.
When she carefully pulled back the curtain, she saw Walter there with a mischievous look on his face.
“I think you should get some rest.”
Edith moved one of the lamps brought by Vivian onto the windowsill.
With the added warmth of the light, his face became even more distinct.
His well-defined nose and jawline, which resembled those of statues, looked even more graceful under the soft illumination.
Edith secretly liked the way her face was reflected in his deep green eyes.
“I’ll be going to sleep soon, so hurry up and leave. You might get caught.”
Of course, she knew no servants were around at this hour, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.
However, after confirming several times that there were no intruders on his way, Walter disregarded her concerns and perched on the windowsill.
“How about extinguishing the lamp to avoid getting caught instead of chasing me away?”
With that, Edith turned off the lamp she had placed on the windowsill.
In an instant, the room darkened, and Edith, who had been flustered, soon noticed the large full moon shining in the sky. Its bright light illuminated the dark room and was quite beautiful.
“You were right, turning off the lamp is better.”
Her smiling face, drenched in moonlight, appeared even more beautiful. Walter thought sternly for a moment before clearing his throat.
Since their encounter in the warehouse, every time he saw her, unwanted thoughts kept surfacing, making it tormenting.
“Anyway, what book were you reading?”
“After hearing about you and Helen last time, I remembered something that might be helpful, so I was checking it.”
“Helpful?”
“Yeah. It’s related to the periodic heavy rains in the territory. If we use it well, it could be another way to make Whitman and Sophia pay for their sins.”
❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ •°.❀
