CH 37

Tak.

Intentionally sending Beatty back and entering the office, the Duke thought to himself.

‘There is no way I’m going to show my angry figure to Baby.’

There are many things he’ll hold Firina responsible for from now on, but since he will definitely make a strong impression.

According to his aide.

“Your Excellency has a dignified face that will scare the enemies away even if you just stay still!”

He didn’t want to make a scary impression towards Baby by making a fierce face.

“Hoo.”

Since the aide said that it was something which he had to blame to the Young Miss’ guardian in the Capital, the Duke picked up the papers that were written by his aide as he breathed out to hold his anger.

Following his breathing, the golden thread-like bangs sway and sank.

‘…Although he’s a rude man, his face is really….’

Peeking at the masterpiece-like Duke’s side face, Firina made a bewitched face again.

‘There’s surely no messy spot in my hair, right?’

Firina slipped her tied hair to reveal the back of her neck.

The Duke, who didn’t care about Firina’s appeal, fiddling with her dress, opened his mouth.

“Viscount Seaulus.”

“Yess, Duke.”

Unlike Firina, who created a sweet voice by mixing nasal sounds, the Duke’s voice was dry.

“Do you have anything to explain?”

“Yes? What does Your Excellency mean by that….”

As if she doesn’t know the reason, Firina pretended to be innocent and blinked.

Thinking of the dangers that could have come to Baby, the Duke was pissed off again and crumpled his forehead fiercely.

Flinch.

At the already overwhelming energy of the Duke that was added with an unpleasant gaze, Firina’s legs trembled when she faced that chill energy.

Unable to control the chill that hit her body, Firina leaned on the chair as if she were sitting down.

“You sent Aslan’s Princess down from the Capital alone with nothing but only her body.”

“About that, as I had told you, that Niece immaturely run away—”

“To think you’d say ‘immature’.”

The low sound sounded like the cry of a lion.

Feeling an instinctive threat, Firina’s body hardened.

“You’d better be careful with whom you’re talking to.”

“T-that. It wasn’t a bad meanin—”

“To think that not only you did avoid your responsibility, but you dare to put the blame of your mistake on Baby!”

It was clear this time.

At the growling sound that vibrates the air low, Firina helplessly felt like a lion’s toenails were pushed into her neck.

“If only not because of how Baby must have felt comfortable there.”

‘M-my breath!’

The air was heavy.

Her chest was choked and blocked as if her throat were really tightening.

The energy flowing from the angry Duke was filling the room.

“Looking at the Viscount now, I can see what kind of guardian you’ve been.”

The voice with contempt was infinitely cold.

Firina barely removed her shaky lips and shouted.

“B-but I did my best after I found out that the child went out. I even informed about the situation through the Royal Palace’s communication device!”

She contacted after pleading the Royal Family and being allowed to use a valuable long-distance communication device.

Firina made excuses, emphasizing her efforts on how hard it was to take such measures.

However, the Duke’s energy became sharper due to the vain excuse.

Firina, who had been picking up excuses, was stiffened by the chilling energy stuck in her spine.

The Duke immediately interrogated the very next matter.

“I told you to tell me anything about the child, but how else would you explain that?”

“Yes? O-of course. That’s why, I sent you the records every time….”

“Ha.”

The Duke took a glimpse of the short letter’s content that was sent from the existing Capital and asked sharply.

“Then, why is there no report about the child’s outstanding talent?”

“Yes?”

“They said she was a genius whose genius couldn’t be hidden, and even before they saw the child, there was a lot of praise among the vassals. But, there was no such thing, not even a word about it, in the letter that Viscount wrote, you know?”

This time, she didn’t pretend not to know.

Firina was really puzzled and asked back.

“A genius?”

‘What does he mean?’

She didn’t even educate her separately because she was afraid Beatty would have figured it out uselessly.

Usually, if you are a noble child, the resident tutor, who is in a mansion for education, was also kicked out immediately after Beatty’s biological mother died.

Although it seems that she still remembers the letters she learned from her biological mother when she was alive, even so, there will be no educational books for the child in the annex, not even a book.

‘I did not teach her properly on purpose, so it’s impossible for me to hear that she’s a genius.’

While Firina was stuttering because she couldn’t even guess what had happened.

“Above all.”

The Duke, who put down the documents with Firina’s mistakes written on them, lit his eyes with anger.

“With what authority, did you dare to arrange my daughter’s marriage partner?”

“T-that.”

There was no excuse for this alone.

It was done because she thought the Duke, who was tied to the war for a long time, would not be able to intervene.

‘But, it’s because I didn’t know the war would end so early! Things went too far from that person’s plan.’

The Duke looked down at Firina, who was nervously crushing her lips.

‘So it’s obvious who ordered it.’

He could tell this even without having to ask about it.

It wasn’t a secret that the Royal Family’s desire to make the blood of the shapeshifter family where only two exist in the kingdom to be all theirs.

Even though it was obvious that it was pushed by the Royal Family who desired Aslan’s blood. The Viscount who followed with that side was also the problem.

“….”

How should he deal with that so that it can be rumored that it had been handled well…?

As the Duke looked at her with eyes contemplating over the enemy’s prisoner, Firina, who had a cold sweat running down her back while desperately squeezed her eyes shut.

“H-heuk, heuk! Older Sister Tasha!”

Flinch.

The Duke reacted to the name of his wife, who was suddenly brought up.

“Heuk. Heuk. If my older sister was alive, I wouldn’t have come to my in-laws’ family and been treated like this.”

When Firina mentioned her dead wife repeatedly, the Duke looked reluctant.

“Didn’t Older Sister say to take good care of me?”

“….”

The Duke stopped talking for a while.

His dead wife’s words had that much power towards him.

‘Tasha.’

Remembering his wife, who often sent letters to him who landed far away on the battlefield, the Duke made a longing eye.

‘Did she ask me to take good care of her younger sister? I didn’t know that letter would be the last one….’

However, the next moment, the Duke returned with sharp, sword-like eyes.

“She did, but how did the Viscount know about that?”

Being convinced that her dead older sister’s words worked well, Firina became bold and replied coyly.

“Older Sister told me in advance. That she’ll ask the Duke to take good care of me, so she asked me to not worry about anything.”

“That request must’ve been valid until before Aslan Family’s daughter was driven outside.”

At the Duke’s cold words, Firina got chills, then she grabbed on to her sister’s will and also her niece and dragged on.

“I-it’s a request for me before Older Sister dies! She asked me to ‘personally’ take care of my niece—”

“Don’t you even dare to dream about it.”

This time, Firina stiffly hardened without even closing her open mouth because of the murderous energy that hit her whole body.

“If it weren’t for my wife’s will, I would’ve made you couldn’t be able to stand in front of me now.”

It was a declaration that did not tolerate objections.

Tak. Tak.

Firina heard the sound of her teeth hitting each other. Her whole body trembled unbelievably.

As if the Duke didn’t want to talk to her anymore, he called a servant and sent Firina out.

***

In the guided room, Firina grumbled while chewing her lips.

“He said that for the sake of his wife, he’ll give me a guest room, but don’t even think about the child’s guardian status again?”

Firina’s face was badly wrinkled when she recalled the message she received only from a servant.

Firina, whose spine got goosebumps at the moment when she remembered the cold-hearted Duke’s expression, threw her fan angrily since she was more annoyed by the way it was.

“Hmph. Who knew that he would do this kind of thing because he wanted to take care of such a child!”

Fuming for a while, Firina suddenly loosened her face at the feeling of the sofa touching her hand.

She raised her head and muttered, looking into the room one by one.

“To think that there’s such luxurious decoration even in the guest room.”

As expected, it is a place that is desired immeasurably.

The wealth of a Duke Family that can be seen only after passing through the hallway of the Duke’s Castle without showing off.

“If I could be the hostess of this family…!”

Imagining herself ecstatically becoming a duchess, Firina shined her eyes.

“Yeah. I only have to do what that person ordered.”

A perfect husband in a perfect family. Firina was ready to do anything to make her ecstatic imagination into her future.

“Even if it only hadn’t run out like a foal, I could have finished my work in the Capital easily.”

Thinking of her niece who ruined the perfectly set meeting, Firina crumpled her forehead.

“Just why did she suddenly do that? Has she even gone crazy?”

Until just then, she didn’t feel anything wrong, but it was strange. Suddenly, anxiety rose, but Firina shook her head.

“No. But I had trained her so well.”

On what she did, it would be an insult to educators for her to use the word education, but Firina thought without any guilt.

“Continue being a child that listens well, Niece.”