Chapter 53: The Start of Summer (6)

"What I want to talk about is none other than your brother who will be returning to the territory soon."

"My brother's?"

That certainly piqued my curiosity. Linus was more obsessed with being an upright aristocrat than anyone else. I wonder if such an uptight honour student would show a significant weakness that Laubert with his bad tastes would enjoy.

"Well, I was surprised too. I thought the only weakness of the Count was his brother, my lord, for that matter."

"That's something I didn’t need to know. So, what is my brother's weakness? Has he been keeping a mistress behind my sister-in-law's back?"

When I jokingly said that, Laubert chuckled.

"You hit the jackpot! How did you know?"

"Well, in the royal capital, my sister-in-law had to listen to me complain about her a lot. They don't get along that well. It wouldn't be surprising if he had a mistress or two."

It's been less than a week since they were newlyweds and here we are. Simone also sent me letters from time to time, but they were usually full of complaints about her husband. I wonder how incompatible they were with each other.

"At any rate, a mistress fiasco after less than a year of marriage is sure to be a lot of fun. I'm sure the Marquis Lavallee, who acted as matchmaker, is very distressed."

He was more of a schemer than Laubert when it came to discovering the weaknesses of others. Naturally, he would have this under control as well.

Or so I thought.

"No, this is something that the Marquis Lavallee certainly is unaware of."

Oh come on, you're showing overconfidence again?

But not this time as he shook his head with a wide smile.

"This is something that needs to be utilised as soon as possible while we are still ahead. Even if we stood idly, the Marquis would be burned badly by this. Your brother has certainly sinned."

"I'm sorry, but I don't see what you're talking about. Could you please tell us your conclusion, Sir Laubert?"

"Don't be hasty, Uni. I mean to say that our lord’s brother has been messing with a woman who will sure as hell bring about havoc. You know, like more than just a normal affair."

My brother's reputation would be damaged and the Marquis Lavallee would be dealt a blow, but that's all. There wasn’t a lack of benefits for me, but the risks and costs of meddling were considerably large.

In spite of this, the fact that he made such a big deal out of it means that it had the spark to blow up. And this spark had to be used before Lavallee figured it out.

"Did he lay his hands on the daughter of a very good family? Or did he sleep with someone else's woman? ......No, no. I'm sure the Marquis would find out about such matters. Then if it were a person of lowly status, it wouldn’t be a big scandal either. Hmmm......"

Laubert was looking at me as if he enjoyed watching me guess at it. He's got a bad personality, that’s for sure.

And then Uni raised her hand in a small gesture.

"So, is this a case where the other person's low status is the reason it could blow up? For example......laying his hands on a slave."

"No way, no way."

I couldn't help but chuckle. That's not going to happen. This time, Uni was probably overthinking things. It would certainly be a huge scandal if he disregarded his new wife for a slave. It would be a terrible blunder to have the Marquis act as an intermediary.

It was common for nobles to surround themselves with female slaves for sexual purposes, but this could be overlooked if there was no room in the family tree for a slave's child. In a situation where there was no other heir, it would be a disaster if the slave were to give birth to a child. The blood of a lowly person who was not even treated as a human being would be mixed into the family of a noble who valued bloodlines. If that happened, the prestige of the family would suffer.

That's why having a slave as a concubine required a situation where you could avoid recognition, or at least inheritance, if you did have a child from it. This could only be done in a situation where there was already a legitimate child, like the Margrave Doldran.

This was also the reason why I was lectured on how to handle Uni when I first met Simone last year. It's hard for a bride to keep her cool if her brother-in-law was going to be involved in some scandal. Well, that was a misunderstanding, though.

That's why it's impossible for him to take a slave as his mistress when his wife was not even pregnant. This was something that my brother, who aimed to be an honourable and dignified noble, should never do.

However.

"That's exactly what I was going to say, Chief Maid. Well, you are a clever one after all."

"......eh?"

Laubert just said something incredible.

She got it right? Uni’s answer was spot on? That he had been messing with the slaves?

That's ridiculous. This was the very brother who complained about me killing too many slaves for human experimentation, and had been cautious about how he treated them. I've heard that he's even refrained from taking revenge on slaves who misbehaved these days.

......You're lying, right?

"At a tavern in the royal capital, one of our people came into contact with the head family's servant. I got this information from that source."

"I see. If this was a secret within the house, it would certainly be difficult for the old man to see it. How did you manage to find out so much?"

"With any given opportunity, a little something could be added to the drink. Truth serum was used instead since brainwashing scents could be nullified, yeah?"

While I was puzzled, Uni and Laubert discussed how to gain full-proof evidence.

Seriously? My slave-hating brother, of all people, with a slave girl?

......What the hell is going on here?