CH 221

――Scarlet learned about the decision to deprive Prince Elias of his rank as prince and, on top of that, him becoming Earl Springcoat’s son-in-law through rumors among her classmates and a letter from her parents.

“……In that case, it’d have been fine if he had gone there as an adopted son-in-law. He sure has no luck,” was the only comment she could come up with.

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In case of succeeding the Earl Springcoat family after becoming a son-in-law, he’ll probably have to marry a woman with a blood relationship to that family. Primrose would have been perfect for that.

But, her father, whose hands were completely tied as he couldn’t pay back his debts, sold Primrose to a rich commoner in exchange for a repayment note.

It made me wonder something as disturbing as to why Lady Indra hadn’t killed such a useless bum of a father. I hated Primrose, but not to the extent that I’d rejoice over her being sold as security for debts.

It’s certainly true that I was attacked on false charges, but her being bullied by someone seemed to have actually been the case. However, it’s going to remain a mystery why she tried to blame me instead of her bully.

Maybe Direck and Prince Elias suggested it to her. Prince Elias probably knew that he wouldn’t be able to marry Primrose if he didn’t do something like that, and Direck hated me anyway, be it in this world or the game.

The two probably thought they should conspire in setting me up as the criminal.

After the noble’s daughter, who had lied about it as a fake witness, went through an experience that made Lady Indra say, “She might have died, but oh well, who cares,” she apparently survived against all odds  and regained consciousness. She implored Direck to mediate with his father and the duke family blaming her, but Direck flew into a rage and thoroughly beat the hell out of her, resulting in her suffering heavy injuries. And then she apparently killed herself during summer break, unable to bear the weight of her own crimes.

Because Direck was the perpetrator of the false charges, his father was forced to take responsibility for his son’s crime, lost his post as Knight Leader and was transferred away to a remote border region as common guard knight, I hear. His wife, who has been suffering from domestic violence by father and son, took advantage of this and went back to her own family after divorcing.

Direck himself was disinherited and turned into a commoner before he’d follow his father. But, resenting me and not Lady Indra or Lady Primrose, he apparently joined hands with some thugs and planned to assault me. But, because he got betrayed by someone, he was arrested. After being thrown into jail, he was sentenced to death, my mother told me.

As for Prince Elias, it was too late at that point. For sure, I definitely hadn’t expected that he’d become Earl Springcoat’s son-in-law. Certainly, I had worried that he might make my life hard once he took the crown, but it looks like my father took measures before that could happen.

……I still don’t understand why he hated me to such an extent. And despite hating me, he criticized me for being a loose woman just because a man was hanging out with me.

I told him that he was doing just the same, but it only resulted in him telling me that it was unsightly for me to be jealous over him and Lady Primrose spending time together.

In other words, we weren’t on the same wavelength. But, at this point I already have so few regrets about our breakup that I’m actually puzzled, wondering what I found so great about him in the first place.

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…While she was deeply brooding about all these things, someone came close as she silently ate a herb sandwich with salami (she received from Indra) and potatoes (tuber-like) which Indra had taught her how to make.

“…Your lunch looks truly delicious, Lady Scarlet.”

Since she had been addressed here, Scarlet looked up, just to meet the face of someone she had recently seen quite often.

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It was a young man, but after staring at her from a distance, his attention had focused on the tablet. Since he had looked so pitiful, she let him use it for a bit, resulting in him becoming super happy.

This time he stared at her sandwich.

He was ignoring her altogether. Just the sandwich drew all his attention.

As his behavior caused her to become totally flabbergasted, she ended up laughing out, “Yes, it tastes as great as it looks. This is yet another thing I was taught by Sir Indra.”

“…Sir Indra again? If only I had mustered my courage and talked to him as well. If I had known that he is such an outstanding individual, I would have talked to him, no matter what scary experience might have awaited me…,” he muttered while looking devastated.

Come to think of it, she did torture those nobles on her first day here, beat the prince black and blue, paraded through the school building (moreover smack down in the middle of the hallways) for the sake of picking a fight, and did everything that would make anyone consider her a delinquent. Without being looked down upon despite being a commoner, she was treated as a demonic beast you should avoid as you wouldn’t know what fate would await you if you approached her. All the students described her as being a lot more terrifying than any demonkin or demon.

――Just who would talk to such a person?

No, wait, I chatted her up and became friends with her, Scarlet retorted to herself in her mind.

“He is very gentle to me…or to be more precise, to all women in general. The men might have been afraid of him, but I did not see any reason to be so.”

Even though her little sister supposedly made her suffer quite terribly, Lady Indra was cold-hearted towards her but never raised a hand against her. She actually covered for her sister with her own body, seeing how she repelled Sword’s sword.

In a certain sense, I respect her. No matter how much you try to attribute it to her flawless manners, something like being forgiving and treating others kindly just because they’re women is the epitome of gentlemanliness… Ah, given that she said something about cuteness being justice, is she kind to anyone as long as they’re cute girls? Wait… Doesn’t that mean I also count as cute for her!?

When Scarlet unintentionally broke into a smile, she drew dubious looks at herself. She cleared her throat in a hurry.

“…But, isn’t being driven by worldly desire too coarse? Your ulterior motives are quite obvious, you know?”

He turned red when she rebuked him like that.

“I guess you’re right… But, I…respect people who know a lot and create things like that man. I feel like trying to make all kinds of things myself as well…”

Hearing his statement, Scarlet scrutinized him seriously. He was apparently aiming to become an engineer.

She didn’t know how far he would be able to go, but if his passion of wanting to create things was the real deal, she thought that it’d be fine to lend him a helping hand.

Doing it like that will cause our dukedom to develop!

――At this point in time, Scarlet had been told by her parents that they wouldn’t marry her off to another family.

What’s being expected of me is the advancement of the dukedom. The heir and administration hasn’t been decided yet, but it seems to be mostly set in stone that my parents won’t marry me to another family. Their letter mentioned that they’d either adopt a son-in-law and have him succeed the family, or let me stay in the dukedom while supporting the one who would inherit the family. In that case, I must build connections and find talented people so that I won’t be discarded!

Their looks don’t matter at all anymore! All I desire is brains and ability! I’ll recruit anyone who will be able to become a cornerstone for the ducal family!

…concluding her thoughts like this, she smiled sweetly.

“Oh my? In that case, should I offer you a bit of my assistance? If you have the will to not give up even if you fail, I have many things I would love to try out. I do happen to have some knowledge myself as well, although it is not at the level of Sir Indra. …However, unlike Sir Indra, I lack the technical skills to build those things.”

His eyes sparkled.

“Would it be alright for me to ask for your name?”

“I-I am Sam Autumonde.”

“Nice to meet you, Sir Sam,” Scarlet offered him her hand.

Sam quickly rubbed a hand against his pants, and then smiled while gently clasping her hand.