Chapter 34
<36>
Judging by the way his hand was resting on his hilt, it looked like he’d been about to slice the Werewolf to pieces.
He seemed to have stopped only because Lucas had suddenly burst in.
“…Introduce us, Father.”
The boy, who had been silent, scratched the back of his neck and frowned.
The Duke, who had been staring blankly at the boy’s unexpectedly mild demeanor, finally snapped back to his senses.
“Oh, um. Right. I’ve been late with the introductions. This is Young Lord Lucas Crost. This time…”
As the explanation continued, the eyes of the onlookers grew wider and wider.
“How remarkable. So that is the direct heir of the Crost line…. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen him.”
“I saw him once when he was three years old, but he’s grown so much.”
“And to possess that level of ability. Then the succession… will naturally go to Young Lord Lucas, won’t it?”
Meanwhile, Lucas…
“Dandelion, are you okay?”
“Ah, yeah.”
…was looking only at me.
“Sorry I’m late. I was going to attend the regular meeting properly, but the servants thought I was sick and didn’t wake me up on time….”
He was going to attend?
I blinked in surprise.
“Young Lord. Weren’t you not going to show up to this meeting? You said just looking at the nobles’ faces made you want to throw up and that they were scary.”
“Who said they were scary?! I just said I hated them!”
Honestly, either apologize or get angry, just pick one….
This Young Lord is always flying off the handle.
When I pouted, he crossed his arms, let out a huff, and turned his head away.
“And! If I don’t participate just because I hate it, does that make me a direct descendant of Crost?! Huh? Do you think just anyone can be a direct descendant? It’s something only a responsible person like me can do!”
“Then what about me?”
Lucas arched an eyebrow as if the answer were obvious.
“You too! You participated in the candidate trials in my place with that puny body of yours! You’re obviously a direct descendant of Crost too! You’re my younger sister!”
“……!”
Whoa.
Hearing that from Lucas, who was a direct descendant by birth, made my large eyes sparkle with a new sensation.
‘It feels different hearing it from him.’
It was then.
“This is impossible!”
Someone scrambled down from the spectator seats and rushed into the training ground.
It was Marquis Lillis, draped in fur coats laden with jewels.
Was he feeling that wronged?
As if he’d lost his mind from the shock, he immediately started pointing his finger at us.
“Lucas Crost suddenly appears? This makes no sense. Your Excellency, the Young Lord was missing! It should have been impossible to find him, so how on earth…!”
“Marquis.”
At first, it was unclear who had called out to the Marquis.
The authority and chill felt in the voice made me think it was the Duke.
But Lucas, who had been standing quietly while holding my hand, took a step toward Marquis Lillis.
It was as if he were telling the man to look him straight in the eye.
“Don’t you remember me?”
At the boy’s question, the excited Marquis’s face began to stiffen subtly.
“Wh-what do you mean by that…”
“Take a good look. You should accurately check the quality of the goods you sold, shouldn’t you?”
At that sneering reply, Duke Calips’s gaze, which had been shielding me, narrowed dangerously.
“…Goods?”
“What does that mean?”
The onlookers were equally confused.
“Indeed. I, too, do not kn-know what you are talking about. It seems the Young Lord has spent so much time outside that he can no longer distinguish what should and should not be said.”
Marquis Lillis let out an awkward, hollow laugh.
But Lucas didn’t seem intent on letting this slide easily.
After glaring at the Marquis for a long while, he smirked and pulled something out.
“Will this help you remember?”
“Th-that!”
The Marquis let out a scream as if his eyes were about to pop out and tried to snatch the paper—
Swish—
Faster than him, the Duke snatched the paper from Lucas’s hand.
Standing up, the Duke stared at the paper in silence for a long time.
[Slave Trade Contract]
His slightly confused blood-red eyes seemed to read the word engraved largest first.
[Slave Number 1242] [Signature: Lus]
Finally.
Reading the transaction details where even the name Lucas wasn’t written, he slowly closed his eyelids.
“…A slave? Surely this doesn’t mean the Young Lord was sold as a slave?”
When someone with good eyesight read the words on the paper from afar and started whispering—
“Wait a moment. Are you saying Marquis Lillis sold the Young Lord as a slave?”
“Wasn’t the Young Lord missing? All the lords of the North searched their territories thoroughly and couldn’t find him….”
“No matter how much he wanted to make his own son the heir, selling a noble as a slave?!”
The reaction from the crowd grew more intense.
As fellow nobles, the only situation where a noble would be sold into slavery was if they were fleeing after a crushing defeat in war.
‘But the son of a war hero was sold as a slave.’
“Are you insane?!”
As the situation tightened around his neck, the Marquis swallowed hard.
He quickly turned his head to look for his allies, but…
“…….”
Everyone had their eyes closed, pretending to be busy with something else.
In the end, stumbling back a step or two, the Marquis stammered.
“Wh-what proof is there that I did that? The signature says ‘Lus,’ surely no one has forgotten my name? I am Lillis. Not Lus!”
Of course, that was a valid point.
“Bring me proof that I am Lus! Until then, stop framing an innocent man! It seems the Young Lord had no one else to vent his frustrations on, so he’s made me his scapegoat!”
“‘Lus’ must be a nickname!”
When someone, unable to watch any longer, jumped up from their seat—
“That’s why I’m saying, bring me proof that ‘Lus’ is my nickname! You don’t have any, do you? Eh?”
Thinking this tactic was working, Marquis Lillis put his hands on his hips and shouted defiantly.
Of course, that was as far as he would get.
“I have proof.”
Because I was here.
“……?”
“?”
When I suddenly raised my hand, everyone’s eyes fell on me.
I fumbled through my pockets.
“When Marquis Lillis barged into the Duke’s Castle without permission.”
“Wh-who barged in…!”
“You left this behind.”
When I pulled out a golden pen from my pocket, the Marquis, who looked ready to fire off a barrage of rebuttals, turned deathly pale.
A golden pen.
“The engraving here!”
I pointed specifically with my finger to the part engraved with ‘Lus.’
“Th-that’s no proof it’s mine…!”
Then I’ll show you more.
I turned the pen over and kindly pointed to the back.
“This side even has the seal design!”
“…….”
“…….”
“…Good heavens.”
Thud—
Finally, after glaring at me in despair, Marquis Lillis collapsed onto the ground.
And then.
“You kidnapped my son.”
A hint of laughter bled into Calips’s voice as he watched the scene quietly.
It wasn’t born of amusement.
It was a self-mocking, hollow laugh that went beyond anger and bordered on insanity.
“And you even sold my son as a slave.”
But at the murderous low tone that followed, everyone, including Marquis Lillis, held their breath.
Calips said nothing more after that.
Instead of words, he answered with actions.
“Pl-please, listen to me, it’s a misunderstanding… Argh!”
Thwack—
Walking over with his long strides, he kicked Marquis Lillis in the stomach as the man knelt and begged.
“Urgh, ack!”
The Marquis’s dying screams continued, but Calips didn’t budge.
With a look of sheer irritation as if he were looking at a bug, he kicked him again, and again, and again.
“Ple-please…”
The Marquis, finally reduced to tears, tried to crawl away with his hands on the ground.
“…….”
But no one helped the Marquis or stopped Calips.
They knew.
At this moment, Calips was not the head of the Crost Ducal House.
He was simply a father.
“It can’t be, I definitely sent him to the Free States, how did he get here… it makes no sense….”
Marquis Lillis refused to take responsibility for his choices until the very end.
Even as he was dragged away by the knights, he muttered like a madman. That it couldn’t be.
Watching him mutter in despair that his plan couldn’t have ended like this, Tex, who had been sitting in the audience, burst into tears.
“Father—!”
Tex, his nose running, chased after Marquis Lillis.
“Leave my father alone, you villains—! Give me back my father!”
It was a pity… but then again, who told them to do such bad things?
I let out a huff and crossed my arms.
Meanwhile, the knights brought back a strange man who had been trying to flee.
“Your Excellency. Regarding the Werewolf that showed abnormal behavior during the match. It seems this man injected the Werewolf with something.”
“What?”
The knight held out an object that looked like an empty syringe.
“…Huh?”
Wait a second.
I’ve seen that before.
Patter, patter—
Drawn to the familiar object, I ran over and stood on my tiptoes between the knight and the Duke.
“I know what this is. This is the Madness Amplifier produced by the Pose Ducal House.”
“How does the Lady know that…”
When the knight looked at me with a slightly surprised expression—
“I sent her on a field trip.”
“Pardon?”
“Before I adopted her, I sent her on a field trip abroad once.”
The Duke explained the ridiculous claim in a serious tone.
“…I see.”
The flustered knight blinked.
“Anyway, who is that guy?”
The knight, who had been dazed, finally snapped out of it at the Duke’s question.
“Ah, he’s the one who had the syringe. But it turns out he’s Marquis Lillis’s aide.”
“…Damn it.”
With that, everything was explained.
