Chapter 14
“Rita.”
” Yes, yes?!”
“Are you not going to answer?”
“Sorry……!”
“That’s not the answer to the question I asked.”
The maid rolled her eyes with a thoughtful look on her face.
Her small hands clutched the front of her dress tightly, and she slowly spoke in an uneasy voice.
“Chi, I thought you could at least answer that much between friends.”
“Between friends…….”
I clenched my jaw and raised my glass.
Yes, that’s as much as I can say between friends.
I tilted the tea to my mouth, took a sip, and spoke briefly.
“Do you think me and Bellietta are friends?”
“What? Oh, yes. Of course, if you asked anyone other than me, they’d say the same thing, wouldn’t they?”
Sierra and Bellietta are best friends.
Friends who wear similar clothes and jewelry and have similar hobbies.
Friends who do everything together.
And a friend who steal my man.
Can you even call that a friend?
I lifted my narrowed eyes and looked at the maid.
I felt bad that her eyes were still rolling with anxiety.
The maid hadn’t been wrong about anything.
In the eyes of the public, Bellietta and I were old friends.
Even though I don’t know what kind of relationship Belietta and I have but I can still call it friendship.
Because fate is fate.
“Funny….”
“I’m sorry, miss.”
“No. No need to apologize, I was the one who asked, never mind.”
The maid’s eyes fluttered.
I smiled at her, still worried, and lowered my glass.
“It was helpful, so thank you.”
“Yes? Ah…… yes.”
That gave me a good idea of how I should treat Bellietta.
Bellietta and I, who seemed to be more like friends even to a maid.
I was able to set a small guideline for my future relationships.
I also realized that I needed to organize the relationships around me.
I didn’t realize it before, but over time, I saw things.
For example, the fact that the maids who served around me were actually Belieta’s eyes, ears, and mouth.
That was the reason why I took Rita to the conversation with Bellietta.
She is a maid employed by Brilloxen and serves me, but she has long since been given over to Bellietta.
So how dare she say such things about my behavior.
I drained my glass in silence, remembering what I would have to deal with sooner or later.
* * *
The cart was loaded with tons of grain and other necessities of life.
The men were busy moving the tightly packed carts, ten in all.
The castle and grounds, which had recently been dark and depressed, were energized.
From those who had been deprived of medical treatment due to the lack of supplies for five years, to those who did not have enough to eat, each person smiled when they saw the carts.
As we moved supplies to the warehouse, one side was selling grain to the people at a very low price.
The small amount of money received from them would eventually be used to maintain the roads and clean the water supply.
The amount of grain they received for the money they paid was huge, so they didn’t seem to have any complaints.
A noisy castle.
Looking down at them, Aden turned his gaze to the man standing in front of the desk.
The handsome man with curly brown hair laughed lightly.
“The castle is full of life, I don’t know how long it’s been, and it’s all thanks to the supplies brought to us by Lady Briloxen.”
“Viscount Baran Nemir.”
Calling him short, Aden sat back in his chair and bent his neck slightly.
“What happened to the investigation I ordered?”
“ The investigation is already over. I will write a report and post it tomorrow.”
“Report now.”
The words were spoken briefly, as if there was nothing more to hear, and Baran smirked as if he’d expected it.
“The part that His Excellency said. So, first of all, let me tell you about the results of the investigation into Lady Briloxen and her family. There was nothing at all that I expected. It was difficult to find anything related to shadows from the Briloxen family and their daughter.”
“And.”
“It was rather clean. This family has no interest in politics and has stayed in the provinces, but the wealth they have accumulated is enormous, making it difficult for many people. In particular, magic stones, which can only be mined in the Gray Mountains, are one of the rare minerals needed by wizards. That’s why the Magic Association unofficially protects the Briloxen family. Even the imperial court can’t say much about it.”
Magic stones, wizards, and the imperial family.
Arden rested his chin and rolled his eyes.
He remembered the way she’d looked at him, the way she’d spoken so boldly.
The people of Ripleton don’t believe in outsider favors.
For hundreds of years, they’d bitterly rejected the hands that had reached out to them for help.
So Ripleton tried to survive independently from them.
A few people have reached out to help.
But their motives were dark and dirty.
A filthy touch that repeated several times.
Aden didn’t trust outsiders either.
“And… I asked you to investigate the relationship between Lady Briloxen and Princess Bozbourne”
Baran opened his mouth slowly, meeting the vertical golden eyes.
“In order to fix Princess Bozbourne’s personality, which was shy and reserved since she was a child, the Duke of Bozbourne gave her a friend of her own age, and that was Young Lady Briloxen, and since they have been friends since childhood, she has brightened up a lot and changed her personality, and the Duke of Bozbourne was satisfied…….”
Aden tilted his head at the lilt in his voice.
Baran chewed on his lip and continued.
“They both become to much similar.”
“Who?”
“The Duchess of Bozbourne and lady Brilloxen.”
A resemblance?
“They say they wore the same design of dress to every banquet, wore the same jewelry, and even copied the shoes she wore. I don’t know how the rumor got out, but it was said that the Princess of Bozbourne was being copied by Brilloxen, and it was giving Brilloxen a bad reputation.”
“She didn’t look like she was copying anyone.”
“That’s what I thought, based on my research. It doesn’t seem like an independent, proactive Brilloxen youngling would copy her friend, or vice versa.”
Aden ran a hand through his hair, remembering Sierra’s distaste for the word entitlement.
Baran looked at him with a look that said, “Shall I report further?
Aden closed his eyes and shook his head, then motioned for him to leave.
Baran bowed his head and turned away.
On his way out, he paused, looked back, and spoke briefly.
“By the way, there’s been a strange rumor going around lately.”
“What rumors.”
“Rumors about you, His Highness.”
“When have my rumors ever been good.”
Baran chuckled awkwardly at his nonchalant response.
“Never good, of course, but never such strange rumors as these.”
“Come on.”
It was a blunt reply.
Baran looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke cautiously.
“It’s a rumor that your Grace is about to enter into an arranged marriage with House Bozbourne.”
“……what?”
The bewildered expression and voice returned.
* * *
I’ve been hearing the wrong rumors since breakfast.
My mouth felt as if a perfectly good apple stew had gone bad.
The maid who had opened her mouth to speak to me quickly lowered her head as if surprised by my expression.
She swept a hand through her flowing hair and spat out a bewildered voice.
“Who is marrying whom?”
“Rumor has it that an arranged marriage is about to take place between the Princess of Bozbourne and His Highness, Archduke Arden Ripleton.”
I was puzzled.
The rumor itself was quite accurate.
Considering that Bellietta and Aden had some sort of contract between them, it wasn’t an inaccurate rumor.
My first question was.
“Where did you hear that rumor?”
“Uncle Jack told me.”
Uncle Jack, the drunken, boisterous uncle?
An old friend of my father’s, a man she had favored as a child.
I’d heard he was a mercenary who traveled from place to place, but now he lived in a mansion and drank himself into oblivion.
He was a man who had heard much and known many, a man who was quick to gossip and quick to notice.
But even so, how did he know about Bellietta and Aden?
Did Bellietta know I’d been in contact with Aden?
Biting my lip, I gathered my thoughts and looked up.
“Where’s Uncle Jack?”
“I saw him go to the stables earlier.”
“Bring him back.”
I narrowed my eyes as I watched the maid hurry out of the dining room.
It wasn’t long before Jack, a middle-aged man with a bushy beard, entered the dining room.
Sit down. I called you because I have something to ask. Can other people leave the room for a bit?
As the staff and knights cleared the room, Jack glanced at me.
“I heard the story about the Bozbourne and Rippleton families.”
“Why is that?”
With a nonchalant reply, I also spoke briefly.
“Who did you get the information from?”
“Where? I heard it on the road or over a drink. I don’t know. Do you also remember the number of slices of bread you ate two days ago?”
I don’t like this.
I tapped my fingers on the table and tilted my upper body forward.
“Do you want to get kicked out?”
“……what?”
“You’re my dad’s guest, not mine, and he didn’t tell me to serve you or treat you well, so if you’re being rude to me, I have every right to kick you out of this mansion.”
“Are you threatening me now……!”
“Yes. You’re being threatened, so answer nicely, because if you say another word, I’m kicking you out.”
He stopped pounding on the table and wrinkled his nose.
“Answer me.”
Jack glared at me, his mouth tightly shut.
After a few moments of silence, he sighed and waved his hand as if in defeat.
