Chapter 96 - Weeds?

Chapter 96. Weeds?

The Leroy family sent letters to Leticia constantly until they were deported, but she never replied.

Keena, who was sitting on the other side of the room, laughed in disgust when she saw that another letter had arrived today.

“Here they are again.”

Unlike Keena, who jokingly patted the letter, Leticia drank her tea slowly.

“I didn’t expect them to leave quietly.”

She hadn’t expected it to go nicely, but she was more tired and jittery than she’d expected.

Leticia didn’t really want to think about it, so she turned to Keena.

“How are you doing these days?”

“It’s me. I’m doing well.”

Public opinion changed in an instant when it was revealed that Marquis Leroy’s scheme had caused the family to be charged with treason. Every once in a while, people would recognize her, and give her a sympathetic look. Sometimes they even gave her words of consolation, so Keena would quickly leave with an awkward smile.

“I might get a little busier soon.”

Now that the stigma around her was removed, she was now officially the head of the Erebos family, and Keena was stepping up to manage her territory. Most of the Leroy’s lands were originally owned by the Erebos family, so it was being reverted back to her.

“It’s all thanks to your fiancé’s help.”

Perhaps it was because she knew him, but it was easy for her to ask for help, and she felt comfortable enough to receive it.

“He seems like a good person.”

“Of course. I’ve never seen anyone better than Enoch.”

Leticia had been sitting calmly until words of praise for Enoch were spoken, and now her eyes lit up with excitement.

“I love it, I’m dying.”

“It’s so nice, what can I do?”

“I was worried when I saw you get kicked out.”

“Huh?”

Leticia was confused, but Keena didn’t notice and continued to talk.

“I’m sorry I doubted you when we first met.”

“Wait a minute.”

Leticia raised her hand for a moment, and stopped Keena.

At the time she was excommunicated, she heard someone following her. Later, she assumed it was all her imagination, but from what Keena was saying now.

“You were the one who followed me back then?”

“….”

Finally realizing the situation, Keena laughed unnaturally, and quietly stood up.

“Oh, my. I forgot I had something to do.”

She tried to run away, but before she knew it, Leticia was beside her. She grabbed Keena’s arm, and forced her to sit down again.

“It was you, right? The person who sometimes followed me around.”

“….”

“It was you.”

“….”

“Do you know how scared I was when someone was chasing me that night?”

When she thought about that time, she still got goosebumps.

Keena frowned a lot, as if what she said was unfair.

“You just wanted me to watch while you walked around without knowing how dangerous it was at night?”

“You were worried about me?”

“Of course.”

Keena replied in a frustrated tone.

She thought she’d be kicked out of the family sooner or later. As she’d expected, Leticia was soon excommunicated. Thanks to this, she thought it would be easy to gain access to her, but she also felt a little sorry for her and wanted to help.

“It’s dangerous to walk around alone at night.”

“I didn’t know you cared about me.”

“Apologize since you know now.”

“I’m sorry.”

“As long as you understand.”

However, she continued to pout as if she was still offended. Leticia looked at her theatrics, and gave her a bite of cake as an apology. Keena pretended to still be mad, but looked more relaxed.

They spent some time like this and before they knew it, it was evening. As she was getting ready to go home, she bumped into Enoch and Ian, who had just entered the building.

Enoch noticed that she was just about to leave, and made an unexpected offer.

“Since you’re here, you should have dinner with us.”

Keena glanced at Leticia, wondering if it was really okay. Leticia was excited about the idea, and pulled on her arm to tell her that she wanted her to stay. She agonized for a while, then reluctantly followed them.

“If you want me to.”

.

.

.

“Ta-da! Dinner! I prepared it myself!”

Elle said this with a smile as soon as she sat down to eat.

Now that everyone was sitting down, Elle presented the meal she’d had fun cooking for them, but no one was excited.

“Did you take the intestines out?”

Keena, who’d eaten the fish stew last time, asked anxiously. As soon as she made eye contact, Elle nodded confidently.

“Of course, I removed the scales too.”

“You must have worked hard. Thank you Elle.”

“As expected, Leticia’s the only one who appreciates me.”

Ian was the most suspicious of how proud she was. He took a bite of the stew, and stiffened immediately.

“The fish isn’t fully cooked.”

“Oh? That can’t be true. I boiled it for a really long time.”

“Look, it’s transparent on the inside.”

Ian frowned, and pointed to the undercooked part with his finger. At Ian’s words, Enoch quietly cleaned up the stew for Leticia.

On the other hand, Keena’s face crumpled after the bite she took, then she forcibly swallowed it. She swore to never again eat dinner at the Achilles mansion.

***

“I guess I’ve been wrong about you all along.”

It was when the deportation edict was imposed, and he had to leave the empire. That was what Seios said to Marquis Leroy, who was standing there with a gloomy look.

In the end, no one helped him. He had to leave for the neighboring country, leaving behind all the things he’d worked so hard to build. Fortunately, the Marquess’ older brother Keron provided them with a place to live, and some funds to live on since he felt sorry for Irene.

He was grateful, but because of their previous consumption habits, it felt like they were lacking in a lot of ways. This caused their money to disappear faster than a bubble, and now he had to work to earn money for their expenses.

“D*mn it!”

The Marquis threw the weed he was holding to the ground, and hurled curse words at it. He was embarrassed that he was farming again after 10 years.

‘I’m not the one who should be doing this.’

He was in a position where he had to do everything he could to eat, but this wasn’t right, no matter how much he thought about it.

Marquis Leroy, who’d been crouching down, jumped up and went to find his wife. There was a small orchard nearby, so it wasn’t difficult to find her.

“The weeds grow so much in just a day…”

The Marquess furrowed her brow as she looked at the weeds under the fruit tree. She pulled all them yesterday, so she couldn’t understand how they’d grown so thick already.

“What are you doing now?”

The Marquis arrived as she was pulling out the weeds that had grown back. The Marquess replied without looking up.

“Can’t you tell? I’m pulling out weeds.”

“So why are you doing that right now?”

His wife jumped up with an annoyed look at the way he implied that she was doing something useless. However, the Marquis had a very anxious look.

“Why don’t you go out, and work?”

“What do you want me to do outside?”

“You’re in good shape, so you could do something. Maybe run errands.”

She heard him with her own two ears, but she couldn’t believe it. The Marquess spoke up in amazement.

“You want me to run errands outside? Are you insane?”

“Then are you going to keep pulling weeds?”

“Don’t make me angry, I’m already annoyed by these horrible weeds!”

The Marquess, who couldn’t hold in her anger at her husband for ruining her life, threw the weeds she was holding at his face. The Marquis roared, and soon they moved their quarrel to the house.

Soon, the atmosphere in the house turned ugly as the two continued to argue. Sadly, this was a common scene since they’d been deported.

‘They’ve started again.’

Irene went back to her room with a shallow sigh. However, Diana was screaming bitterly in the room.

“Why should I have to live in a house that smells like this?”

It was a house that was prepared by Keron, but it had been empty for a long time. There was a lot of dust, and the place needed many repairs. Compared to their previous mansion, it was an extremely old and shabby house.

There were only a few useful rooms in the house, so Emil and Xavier had to share a room, and Diana and Irene had to share another one. Maybe that is why her family complained every day. Lamenting that if they just had some help then they could’ve been in a good house.

On the other hand, Irene felt fortunate that she had a roof over her head, so she never complained.

“If you don’t like it, go live somewhere else.”

“What?”

“There’s no one stopping you, go out and live somewhere more comfortable.”

With a fierce smile on her face, Diana said with an emotionless voice.

“Is that what you want to say to me?”

“Then what do you want me to say?”

“….”

“You say you don’t want to do this or that, but what do you want?”

Irene asked her, but Diana just glared at her with a monstrous expression.

As she was about to sigh, petals began to rain down around her. When she raised her head in surprise, petals were scattered in the air around Diana.

“….”

“….”

Diana’s face turned red, and at the same time the amount of petals raining down increased. Irene didn’t even laugh because it happened every time Diana lost control of her emotions.

In the end, Irene took the magic book and left the room. Behind her, she heard a voice shouting behind her that was filled with sadness.

Most days there wasn’t anywhere in the house that was quiet. Her parents fought constantly. Emil and Xavier, who used to be close, fought constantly and criticized each other. If that wasn’t enough, Diana complained all day long, saying that this wasn’t where she was meant to be.

The fact that they still refused to acknowledge the reality of their situation made Irene feel sorry for her family.

‘I’m tired.’

Irene went to the orchard with a heavy sigh. The only other person who came here was Marquess Leroy, and she was currently in the house, so the only quiet place was the orchard.

‘Is anyone else here?’

Irene looked around to see if anyone else was around, then leaned against one of the fruit trees after confirming that she was alone.

As she focused on her energy, a small drop of air grew at the tip of her finger, then popped.

‘It’s back.’

Irene’s eyes fluttered in disbelief that she was able to use her magical ability again, something that hadn’t happened until a few days ago.

She’d only become interested in magic after she was deported abroad. After she knew she wouldn’t be able to use her ability anymore, she started to carry her magic book everywhere she went because she couldn’t easily give up on it.

Then one day, she suddenly felt a strange energy, and she was able to use her magic again. Just in case, she checked if Emil and Xavier’s abilities had returned as well. After they didn’t say anything, she felt like she was the only one who’d regained them.

‘I think I’d better not tell my family.’

Rather than sincerely congratulating her, the first thing that came to mind was them being blinded by greed. Just thinking about it gave her goosebumps, and she wrapped her arms around her shoulders.

“….?”

The weeds in the orchard caught her eyes.

After spending some time in this house, the Marquess began to manage the orchard, and never missed a day to clear away all the weeds before she went home. However, it was strange that they grew to this extent in less than a day. When she looked closely, the weeds were growing in an orderly manner.

It grew as if it were on a path, so Irene walked along the weeds. When she reached the end of the path, she looked around curiously.

‘This is my father’s field…’

The number of weeds was even higher here than in the orchard.

At that time, she recalled Diana’s voice shouting at the Marquis as if she was being slandered.

[Then what is father’s power? How amazing is father’s ability that he can say that!]

Her gaze followed the path where the weeds grew. The lush plants continued all the way to the front of the house.

Irene burst into laughter because she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. No wonder he was ashamed of himself.

“Weeds…”