CH 63

“That Gareth was asking me for his father’s estate as a reward for one of my commissions. So naturally, I looked into his background. Until then, I had no idea he was alive. I only realized he was the son of Duke Garcia after he had come to the city to get paid,” the king stated and let out a chuckle.

“You seem very happy about this. How so, my king?”

“He believes he avenged his family, but it was the wrong person. It’s true that Blaim killed Garcia, but he doesn’t know that I’m the one who gave Blaim the orders. I had made a promise to Blaim for making his daughter my mistress. I told him that I’ll let the illegitimate child have the throne if he killed Garcia. Do you understand now, Lydia? You’re not the only smart one here.”

‘Ah…’ Despite her brother’s shocking words, Lydia showed a smile. She knew what the king meant, but she couldn’t show that she had understood it. ‘Anyway, how interesting. That man came to the capital without knowing that it was the king who had ordered the extermination of his father and the rest of his family, then was paid for completing a commission.’ Lydia was at a loss for words, but could tell that she had gained extremely important information. She glared at the drunken king who seemed to have already forgotten what he had said with contempt. ‘One day, this information will have turned into a sharp blade aimed at his throat…’

* * *

Lydia had planned everything. She had ordered Logan, who frequently repeated wars of attrition with Townsend estate, to purchase a great amount of weapons as well as increase the number of soldiers in his estate. Viscount Nar, who had married Lenoa off to Logan, cooperated with Logan for his daughter’s sake without knowing that his daughter was being abused, and Logan forestalled the viscount’s suspicions by protecting his estate from occasional raids. Everything had been going according to plan, and it was now time for Lydia to get Gareth to side with her. He was the person who was going to make this plan complete.

Duke Garcia was rumored to be a fearsome knight, but also a man who cherished his family. He was completely different from Lydia’s brother Halbert and her father, who constantly replaced the women near them. Since Gareth was the son of a family-oriented man, Lydia guessed that Gareth must’ve valued his family as well and that he must want revenge for his family after having survived the tragedy regarding his family. Lydia had also presumed from the intel she had gathered that this tragedy haunted him whenever he would kill for commissions.

Lydia had worked hard to visit the estates Gareth had been hired to find out more about him. She had learned that his weakness was Adelia, his younger sister who had red hair. Such information had been confirmed by Madel making a big fuss when Lydia arrived at Gareth’s estate and informed the woman of her pregnancy.

“It would be great if the child resembles the late Lady Adelia,” Madel had said, then had gone on to ramble about nonsensical hypothetical situations like how Gareth might settle down at the estate if such a thing were to happen. In any case, Madel had confirmed that GAreth cherished his younger sister immensely. Still, Lydia had to speak to the man herself to make sure of his weakness. After all, carefully choosing a man and becoming pregnant was going to be useless if GAreth had overcome his trauma. When Lydia had the chance to speak to Gareth, she could confirm that her gamble had been a success. Gareth indeed still felt guilty about Adelia, and was staying at this estate due to his feelings of remorse.

Lydia went on to ponder about Elena this time, the woman who was given to Gareth in return for the protection of Townsend estate.

“I must say I’m impressed. I can’t believe she followed Gareth all the way here just for her family’s estate,” Lydia murmured to herself. In any case, Lydia didn’t view Elena as any ordinary trophy. She was aware of the fact that Gareth acted completely differently in front of Elena, and would even go completely mad for her.

Lydia thought back to a few days ago when Gareth had caused a huge commotion in the castle. She had also come out of her room at the sound of Gareth’s thundering voice to see what was happening and had witnessed Gareth holding Elena dearly and kissing her. She could tell the man was completely crazy about Elena, since he wasn’t the same man who would only seek out a woman after killing, or the man who never spent the night with another woman. Gareth was letting Elena stay by his side.

Lydia thought about what that meant for a moment, then muttered, “That woman is a variable I hadn’t taken into consideration. There’s a chance that she’ll get in my way.”