CH 14

When had she ever gotten her way? She forgot for a while that her hopeless wish could not come true. The viscount, whom she thought would give up and go away, began to visit the Duke’s mansion every day.

Currently, she was summoned by the Duke and was sitting on the sofa in the office. The Duke, who had been silent for a while on the other side, opened his mouth.

“So what are you going to do?”

“…To be honest, I don’t want to meet him.”

“The reason is?”

“It’s like I said the other day. My father left me and ran away alone.”

“I heard that you got along well. I don’t understand why you don’t want to meet him for that reason alone.”

She was stung in her heart by those words, but she pretended to be calm. Well, she was not the original Elia Lawton.

“At that time, my family was affluent, and it is true that my father was good to me. Of course, we got along well.” she paused for a moment and deliberately took a break. “…But after the family line began to tilt noticeably, the relationship started to get out of hand. It’s to the point where I’m not even sure if the father I used to know is that person there. And…”

“And?”

“Actually, I was shocked to find out that my father had put me as collateral when he borrowed the money.”

“That’s why you don’t want to meet him.”

“Yes.”

The Duke, who had been staring at her with narrowed eyes, lowered his upper body. With his face closer, he slightly twisted his mouth.

“…By the way, how did the Viscount know you were here?”

She was wondering that too. She gave an appropriate answer.

“I don’t know about that. My father rarely talked to me about outside work. I didn’t even have the energy to think of anything else after I ran away from his creditors.”

It wouldn’t be a cool answer enough to dispel the Duke’s suspicions. Still, judging from the Duke’s attitude over the past few days, it seemed that he could get by with it. She was still not sure why, but she felt that the Duke’s attitude toward her had softened.

“Get out of here.”

Returning with an expressionless face as if he hadn’t been so sharp, he glanced at the door. Fortunately, it looked like he would just let it go. She let out a sigh of relief and rose from her seat.

“Then I’ll go out.”

The moment she opened the door to leave,

“Still, it’s worth meeting at least once. He won’t give up easily.”

She paused for a moment at the sound of a voice behind her, then came out. It’s a strangely confident tone, but…

As she walked down the hallway lost in thought in case she knew something, she heard the noise outside and approached the window. As usual, she saw the viscount arguing with the knights outside the main gate. As the duke said, it was inevitable. From now on, there was a possibility that he would keep coming until she met him.

It was great, in a bad sense.

Having come to a conclusion, I left the mansion without hesitation. As she walked toward the front door, Viscount Lawton’s face lit up when he saw her.

“Eh, Elia!”

At the same time, the knights looked back. As she got closer, they moved away from Viscount Lawton without a word.

She opened her mouth while staring at the viscount beyond the front door.

“Talk to me.”

* * *

She looked at the viscount sitting on the sofa across from her. He looked around, his eyes shining greedily. It’s like if the look in his eyes was trying to figure out how much he would get if he sold the ornaments there. After all, she saw people properly. There was nothing good about being hurt with a person like that.

She stood at the door and glanced at the knights watching them. Normally, it would be uncomfortable, but now she felt relieved. Because she didn’t know what the viscount in front of her would do.

“…That, Elia. It’s been a while.”

“I know, right?”

“Is the Duke also in the mansion right now? If so…”

She deliberately intercepted the viscount’s words.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Yes?”

“How did you know I was with the ducal family?”

Viscount Lawton blinked in bewilderment.

“…I heard about that.”

“From whom?”

“I ran for my life, but I hid in a village in a mountain village, and there was a strange rumor spreading there.”

She snorted inwardly.

“So you heard that your daughter happened to come to the village where I hid, and that she was taken to the duchy?”

“Indeed. The more I listened to it, the more I thought it was like you.”

When she agreed with him, the viscount put on an expression of relief that was obvious.

“But, isn’t that a little strange? If you heard the news from that village, you would have known that I was taken badly.”

“…Uh, huh? Yes.”

“Then you know that nothing will change even if my father comes here, right?”

“But aren’t you doing well here now, huh?”

She laughed at the viscount inwardly at those words and asked calmly.

“How did you know I’m safe at the duke’s house?”

“I just knew that he wouldn’t be that kind of person, so of course I thought the false accusations would have been cleared…”

“Ah, is that so?”

When she smiled at the viscount, he smiled awkwardly and nodded his head.

“…Um, that’s right. Rather, Elia, why don’t you ask the Duke to lend you some money? If it’s the Duke, he won’t have to worry about money, so I’m sure he can lend it to me…”

The Viscount had an expectant look in his eyes as he looked at her. She was thinking of breaking that expectation mercilessly.

“Father.”

“Yes, Elia.”

“Tell me straight. Who is instigating you to do this?”

Viscount Lawton was greatly startled. It seemed that he had been stabbed in the middle. As she stared at him, the viscount’s expression began to contort.

“You don’t want to talk to the Duke, so you’re making an excuse, right? The guild leader said he would sell my organs if I didn’t pay him back right away. Then what should I do!”

Viscount Lawton got very excited and pointed at her. It looked like he wanted to hit her. As the viscount did not easily ease his anger, the knights’ gaze turned blatant. Soon after watching the knights gradually close the distance, it was time to look away. The bulkiness of the curtain hanging by the window next to it was somehow unnaturally convex.

…what? It looks like there’s a child in it.

“Please save this father. Huh? I know you were disappointed in me because I ran away alone. But then I couldn’t help it either. So please understand.”

The viscount, who had changed his course, this time pretended to be pitiful and began to beg. What’s up? It was clear to her eyes that the Viscount’s behavior and tone were all lies.

“Even so, it’s a request that I can’t grant. I’m barely living with the Duke, do you think that’s possible?”

“You can try, though.”

“Father.”

“Otherwise, everyone will die. You will die as well as me!”

“Then I’ll call the Duke here, so my father can talk to him directly.”

The viscount hesitated slightly at her words.

“You will call the Duke here?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t do that, Elia, you’re cooking this meat yourself…”

“Father is nice to talk to. Wouldn’t it be better for you to talk to him than me? If you do that, the Duke might grant you a favor.”

He bit his fingernails nervously, looking quite bewildered. He must be embarrassed by her attitude that didn’t even feed him.

“Still, wouldn’t it be better for you to talk, Elia, rather than me, who is almost completely new here?”

She laughed out loud at that.

“Father, when you borrowed money from the Rayon Guild. What did you take as collateral?”

“Of course, with the mansion as collateral…”

She pushed her face closer to the Viscount before he could finish his words.

“…I know everything. That my father bet on absolute security. If you can’t pay, I’ll be sold into slavery.”

Looking at the viscount whose eyes widened, she whispered a very small whisper in his ear.

“You scumbag of the world.”

Whoops!

At that moment, she went back to her previous position. Her head was completely bloodied as she wiped her lips with her opposite hand.

…Ha, he hit her now, right? When she turned her head, the Viscount, who had risen from his seat, was holding his hand and sighing. It was the moment when she got up from her seat thinking that she would repay him in the same way.

“Demon! Why are you hitting my mom!”

A child suddenly jumped out of nowhere and rammed his head between the viscount’s legs.

“Ugh!”

Viscount Lawton screamed and sat down in his seat. She just blinked her eyes in embarrassment. The gentle child was glaring at Viscount Lawton with his fists clenched. One of the knights picked up the child who was about to hit his head again.

“Lord Deliam, please calm down.”

“Let go of this! He hit Elia! He hit her!”

While the child was punching the air, the rest of the knights tried to drag the viscount away.

“Wait a minute.”

“Why?”

“Did it explode?”

He paused and looked down between his legs before asking.

“…Why do you ask that?”

Why? She answered casually.

“If it doesn’t explode, I’m going to explode it.”

The knight, who looked even more flustered than before, turned his back on her. It’s like hewas trying to protect something.

“I don’t intend to break the knight’s, so don’t worry.”

Without answering, she rushed out of the room dragging the viscount.

“No, wait!”

It happened so quickly that there was no time to stop it.

‘Oh wow, really.’

He was going to pay back more than twice as much as the viscount slapped me on the cheek. Rubbing her sore, sore cheek, she looked up and saw the child. The child was still punching the air in the arms of the knight. She walked up to the knight and held out her arm.

“Give me this.”

As if the knight had waited, he quickly handed over the child. As soon as the child settled in her arms, he became calm like a lie.

“Huh, Elia’s cheeks…”

She tried to soothe the sobbing child, but he didn’t stop crying easily. After thinking about it for a while, she called the attendant and asked him to bring her a thick cloth.

“Let’s stop, huh?”

“Ellie’s lips are bleeding…”

When she asked why it was so stinging, it seemed that her lips were also chapped. She roughly wiped the blood from her lips with her hand and pretended nothing was wrong.

“Look. I cleaned it up, so it’s fine now.”

While she was frantically soothing the child, the attendant returned with the cloth.

“Here you are.”

“Thank you.”

She handed the child to the knight standing next to her and said.

“Put Liam on my back.”

“…That, yes.”

The knight stuttered slightly and placed the child on my back carefully. She wrapped the cloth up and wrapped the child tightly. After tying the knot tightly, she moved her body around. There wouldn’t be anything going on with this. She wouldn’t lose her strength in the middle and drop the child.

She said to the knight standing next to her.

“I’m going for a walk in the garden.”

“…Is that how you go?”

“Yes. What’s wrong?”

“…No, there is none.”

She came out with the baby on her back. Every time she walked down the hallway, passers-by glanced at her. Was her appearance that strange?

She shrugged and went down the stairs. On the lower stairs, Lubat was coming up at the same time.