I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess chapter 41

41 – post theorem(2)

After walking through the dazzling corridors, Edgar finally arrived at a room with a long table.

He presumed that it was a room used by the head of the household and other retainers when they had important matters to discuss.

‘The air isn’t as bad as I thought.’

Entering the room, Edgar took a peek at his surroundings, but it seemed that few people were particularly glaring at his appearance.

Rather, the appearance of them arguing with each other, asking if it was him, seemed to be quite amazed at seeing him in person.

‘How come I feel like a spectator animal?’

A drop of cold sweat ran down Edgar’s back as he sat down in a suitable seat following Helene’s guidance.

Even if you try not to show it, it would be strange to not be nervous when you think that so many people are watching your actions closely.

Helene, who was watching Edgar carefully, patted him on the shoulder as if it was okay.

Even though she is a grown-up child, she must feel burdened in this position.

I just hope the story goes on without a big hit.

It’s been a long time since we’ve been looking at each other like that.

Before long, a man sitting across from Helen opened his mouth as a representative.

He was a man with a mustache, and Edgar was also a person whom I remembered seeing only once.

“Are you Edgar Bilhark? I’m sorry for making the patient walk all the way here. It’s a confusing situation and I really need your statement.”

“no. Rather, I am grateful for the generous hospitality.”

“I feel sorry for not being able to treat the benefactor who protected her like that. Ah, my introduction is late.”

He, who identified himself as Elfelt Glacier, was none other than the first person in power in this family, excluding the Loveheim couple, and also a man who served as the head of the household.

When he remembered where he had seen Edgar, he realized that he was the man who had greeted Creed the other day, stroking his hair and giving him chocolates when he visited the castle.

Despite his size and physique comparable to that of Creed, I remember him as a person with a benevolent smile that suited him quite well.

“I heard a lot of stories from Mrs. Helene. So, for the sake of learning, you hid your family name and stayed here?”

“Not just because of the learning, but more or less so.”

“Oh, isn’t it just because of learning? If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to ask what else could be the reason.”

At his questioning, Edgar glanced at Helen, who was sitting next to him.

I asked if I could go into detail, but she smiled lightly and gave me a wink as if to tell me to do as I wish.

“Because my dream was to stay by my friend’s side.”

“When you say friend, do you mean Lady Ariel?”

“… Yes that’s right.”

There was no use in hesitating to speak in the yard already exposed anyway.

When Edgar coolly expressed his affirmation, the smile on Elfelt’s lips grew even thicker.

“As I heard. I hear you refused to join the Loveheim family by borrowing the names of Lady Helen and the young lady?”

“Yes.”

“Is there any reason? I’m not going to interrogate you, but it wouldn’t be bad to study in a more comfortable environment.”

Really, are you asking that far?

It was the yard where everyone decided to speak anyway, so Edgar did not take it seriously.

“If so, I would have been able to rest comfortably under the protection of the Loveheim family right now. But who will recognize the successor of the small family who has not achieved anything?”

“In other words, I wanted to stand by the lady with only my own ability without borrowing the help of others… That’s what I mean.”

“That’s right.”

Hearing the words somehow made it seem like the story was progressing as if he had done it to become Ariel’s fiancée, but he couldn’t afford to pay attention to that.

Besides, as long as these people had thoughts, they wouldn’t think that the heir to a rural baron would be aiming for a seat next to the daughter-in-law of the grand duchess.

“Yeah, I heard the story well. So let’s move on to our chat, just about what happened in the lady’s bedroom yesterday… … .”

‘Something has come.’

This was Edgar’s biggest concern.

As a result, it was an act of protecting Ariel, but if I told you the process, it would definitely bring about a repercussion.

In any case, the act of trespassing through the barrier does not disappear.

The problem depended on how to get out of there.

In the first place, Edgar would have no way to resist if he tried to bite the bullet and reveal the guilt.

However, if you see that there is room for extenuating circumstances and try to bury the part, there will be room for dialogue.

As Edgar anxiously swallowed his saliva, a strange smile formed on Elfelt’s lips as he watched him.

“You are aware that there is a barrier around this castle, right?”

“Yes, I heard it from Ariel.”

I was wondering if I should put an honorific after Ariel’s name, but fortunately no one seemed to point it out.

Does it mean that you acknowledge yourself as her friend?

This alone was a great harvest.

“I spoke with the intruder yesterday about how you were able to pass through the barrier and enter the lady’s bed. But there was no corner that I should point out.”

“… … .”

Did Ariel not say anything?

No one but her and herself should have the right answer for how to pass through the barrier.

Just as he was contemplating whether he should reveal that point even now, Elfelt’s mouth opened again.

“So I did a thorough investigation of the incident… First of all, the lady explained about you, so there was nothing special.”

“… Yes? An explanation?”

Whether it was an explanation or something, breaking into Ariel’s room was a fact in name and reality.

But Ariel came forward and explained, what kind of nonsense is this?

“You don’t have to pretend you don’t know. I already heard that the young lady called you to your room right before the barrier opened.”

‘I must have had a hard time climbing up to a high place.’ When Elfelt jokingly added, Edgar felt dumbfounded.

In other words, did Ariel deliberately make a false statement and blame her for the part that could be a problem?

“Ariel… Did you say that?”

“yes. If it were you, you would probably try to use the dump tank by yourself in some way because you didn’t want to bother the lady, so he begged me to go over it.”

Seeing Elfelt smiling happily, Edgar realized that he had taken a hit from her, and smiled dejectedly.

‘Somehow, I laughed really hard.’

It was as if I finally understood the reason for the meaningless smile she showed at the end.

More than anything, the words that Ariel added at the end when conveying the words to Elfelt were genuine.

After she made a statement like that first, from Elfelt’s point of view, even if Edgar was telling the truth, it would feel like he was deliberately lying to favor Ariel.

Besides, from the standpoint of Elfelt, a vassal of the Loveheim family, he would not be able to doubt the words of the person he served.

Indeed, before Edgar woke up, Ariel had mobilized all the means she could, and hit the ball.

‘I’m going crazy.’

There is no hole to escape.

I never thought that Ariel, whom I had so underestimated, would be treated so well.

When I glanced at Helene, she smiled as if she already knew everything, but said nothing.

Edgar could now realize that this situation was a kind of play set up for him.

Predictably, the instigator this time is closer to Ariel than Helene.

Rather, it is clear that he thought of this incident as an opportunity to gain recognition and pushed ahead without hesitation.

Helene must have pushed her back slightly from behind.

The recklessness of Edgar trying to solve it alone without calling in reinforcements anyway, and the way he broke through the barrier in the middle of the night and entered Ariel’s bed.

The only matters that could be questioned were those that could not be established without Ariel’s statement.

In this situation, no matter what the person in charge said, he would close his eyes and say nothing.

I don’t know if I should dismiss this as a white lie, but in any case, she fooled many of her vassals with her lies.

Only to create a situation where his friend is fully recognized.

‘Very tyrannical.’

It’s only now that I’m worried about the future.

Why the hell did you handle things in such a reckless way?

But even in this situation, the funniest thing was that he was delighted with her consideration.

“The reason I called you today is to decide on your future treatment. I can’t say I don’t know the benefactor who protected her.”

“If you ask me to treat you… … .”

Edgar’s thinking couldn’t keep up with the story that was going too fast.

It’s only now that he’s finally sorted out last night’s incident and has entered post-processing, but I thought he’d already come up with a story about his treatment.

Although the Nongong peddling in Amman was an important task, the pace of progress was too fast.

However, it was not that Edgar’s doubts did not go unnoticed by Elfelt.

It’s just that he was a vassal working for the Loveheim family anyway, and in the end, he was in a position where he couldn’t ignore the pressure from above.

“The lady was very upset. Putting aside anything else, he said that since he had done so much work, he asked me to let him stay by his side right now.”

“hahahaha… … .”

I can’t believe I’ve put a player down here.

Today was a complete defeat. Perhaps he had never felt such a terrible sense of defeat against Ariel before.

Even so, what is truly strange is that the heart stained with defeat was very warm.

I expected the day would come when I would feel this way from that immature princess, but I didn’t expect it to come this soon.

‘I didn’t want it this way.’

Taking a friend’s crisis as an opportunity, could there be a more disgusting outcome than this?

But on the other hand, I also felt that it was an insult to Ariel to refuse the board she had laid out while lying to her.

Maybe he even predicted that he would feel this way.

“Please, I will follow whatever you say.”

“It’s nice to be clean. Perhaps we will talk in detail during the week. This is a matter that Madame Helene also wanted to proceed quickly.”

As expected, it seems that she also helped out with one arm.

When Edgar looked at her with a little resentment in his eyes, Helene remained ignorant and just smiled.

In the end, through this incident, Edgar realized that he was still far away and that his immature childhood friend was not just a child.