48 – 48. Troublemaker of the Smoke Arena (1)
Harnie, who wanted to escape from Viscountess Terecia’s mansion today as well.
She was busy teasing her pen again today.
“Harnie, a letter has arrived.”
Upon hearing the maid’s words that a letter had arrived, Harnie paused her pen for a moment and let out a quiet sigh before responding.
“Mina. I told you to just throw away any letters. They won’t be of any help anyway.”
“What? But, miss.”
“They’re probably just letters from nobles who run after me based on my appearance alone.”
Lately, it had become that bad.
There were rumors that she was engaged, but no one believed it, and the viscountess didn’t even try to stop the spread of those rumors.
And so, like poking a beehive, the men wanted to keep Harnie, who was considered the empire’s top beauty, by their side, and the letters sent in this manner had doubled.
Harnie’s expression already seemed tired of it.
“Well… I know that too, but…”
Mina alternated her gaze between Harnie and the letters, unsure of what to do, before opening her mouth again.
“It seems like we shouldn’t just throw away this letter…?”
“Where is that coming from? The letters I receive while managing the upper echelons will all come under the viscount’s name.”
“Well, miss… It’s just that when I look at the engraved symbol, it feels like it shouldn’t be thrown away…”
“Mina, you shouldn’t say things like that so easily… Why are you like this?”
Without even glancing in that direction, Harnier continued to toy with his pen, but Minah finally revealed her true feelings when he asked again.
“Did you receive any letters addressed to you? Like, did anyone make an appointment or something?”
Harnier smirked, looking puzzled.
Minah was the maid of the Marquis from the upper side, not the Marquis herself.
There must have been a reason for Minah to emphasize this letter so much.
“Was there anything like that?”
Harnier scratched his head, deep in thought.
He tried to recall if there was any important letter that could have come.
Suddenly, it hit him.
“Mi, Minah. Did it come from any particular family?”
Finally, Minah swallowed her saliva and showed him the pattern on the letter.
“Oh…”
With a short exclamation, Harnier dropped his pen.
The letter bore the emblem of the most powerful family in the Empire.
It was clearly the emblem of the Duke of Bargrand.
“Ugh. I almost threw that away. Why am I like this lately?”
“It was an important letter, right?”
“Yeah. It looks like it came this way because of my mistake.”
“Should I ask again, just to be sure?”
Minah set aside her anxious feelings and handed him the letter along with a letter opener.
Harnier read the contents after tearing off the seal.
She held her chest, saying that she would have been in big trouble if she hadn’t received it.
“By the way, sending a letter from the Bagrand Duke to a lady…”
“Yeah, it’s part of the contract. With the Bagrand Duke.”
“Are you okay with that? He’s still a man after all.”
Harnier confidently nodded at the maid who asked with concern.
“It’s not a problem. This man just wants to make a deal with me.”
“A deal?”
“Yeah, we’re in similar situations. We’re both not recognized as family by our families, that kind of situation. No, maybe it’s worse. As an illegitimate child, I could at least borrow the power of my family…”
“Ah…”
Mina let out a sympathetic sigh.
It was a well-known fact that Carsein Bagrand had brought back a child.
“Maybe that’s why Carsein Duke has the same goal as me. In the process, he won’t have any malicious intentions like other men.”
“He seems to be the perfect match for you, Miss.”
“That’s right.”
Even though he was a child he brought back, he was still the Bagrand Duke.
Just hearing that name, which shook the Empire, would be enough to make most people back off.
“It would be better to spend time with my fiancé as soon as possible. There happens to be a party for that!”
“That’s true, but… after seeing the letter that came today, I think we need to wait a little longer.”
“What?”
“It seems like the Marquis will be staying for a while.”
Harnier showed Mina the contents of the letter.
“He’s a very sharp man. He doesn’t waste time on things like this.”
“Really?”
“Well… he does have a lot to teach. hahahaha…”
He’s a smart man, but he has a lot to teach.
Mina tilted her head in confusion, wondering what he meant.
“Oh… what should I say?”
From Noble mtl dot com
Meanwhile, Harnier was struggling with how to explain this situation because of Karsein’s clever mind.
***
That evening.
I went to the annex because I wondered if Claire would go in there after all.
Even though it seemed impossible for something like that to happen to me.
With the number of projects I have at the Bagrand Marquisate, I wouldn’t have enough fingers to count. Would they really close the annex and refuse to welcome guests?
It doesn’t make sense.
…But, something nonsensical was happening.
That crazy woman Claire had actually blocked off the annex.
Just in case, I stopped by the annex and returned with a disappointed heart, and that’s when I ran into Shaden.
“I stopped by the room for treatment, but it seems like you went to the annex in the meantime.”
Shaden had a rough idea of where I had gone.
“No matter what happens, it’s like that. Why block off the dilapidated building?”
“Even if it’s not the annex, the Duke has many other buildings. Besides, even if the guests don’t stay in the annex, it’s not a big problem. It seems like everyone is wary of the Duke of Bargrand.”
Most people stay at the inn near the Duke.
Maybe because the Duke is so powerful, if they stay there instead of the annex, they only stay for a day.
Damn it.
Claire could have said something like that.
I didn’t need to think about why such a thing could happen.
Thanks to that crazy woman, until I fell asleep, I had to think of another way.
“Well, it seems like I’ll have to apply the medicine a few more times to get better.”
Today, one day has passed. As Shayden examined my wound during the morning check-up, he said that.
“The other ladies would be in a lot of pain if their mouths were split like this, but Your Highness seems to be fine.”
“If I endure a few more days, it’ll be over.”
“It’s probably not just a simple pain…”
While Shayden was applying the medicine, he looked at me with surprised eyes, as if I didn’t show any reaction.
“It’s not going to hurt now.”
What is commonly known as a canker sore.
The area of my cheek was pale and inflamed, so I thought I wouldn’t be able to eat anything, but it wasn’t as painful as I thought, having experienced worse.
Even before the possession, I often got canker sores.
There were reasons for that, like being hit by it now, studying late at night, and working part-time jobs, which made me tired.
So I was familiar enough with this pain that it didn’t bother me much.
“…No, it might be because of the medicine of modern times.”
That pain or perhaps pleasure (?) that comes when you dip a cotton swab in alcohol and dab it on.
It felt like I had become accustomed to that pain.
“Well then, I will visit you tomorrow, Your Excellency.”
Shayden, who had finished the treatment, bowed his head and turned away.
It was about time to tell this guardian as well.
“You don’t have to come anymore starting tomorrow.”
“Although the wounds are still there…”
“Well, they’re almost healed anyway. Besides, I won’t be here from tomorrow.”
Shayden caught on to the fact that I won’t be here.
“But, Your Excellency, you won’t be able to enter the annex.”
“Oh. I’ve personally checked.”
“Then, are you planning to sleep on the street?”
“Don’t worry. I don’t have any intention of sleeping on the street.”
“Then what on earth…”
I gestured for Shayden to stop with a shushing motion.
Although I was worried that he might actually sleep on the street, unlike the coming-of-age ceremony, I had found the answer this time.
“After all, the destination is the military base in the first place.”
If that’s the reason, it’s enough to avoid meeting them.
***
I dressed and sneaked out, choosing a time when my family wouldn’t notice.
Let me summarize the current situation.
I overcame the crisis in the early part of Episode V and tied Emma’s feet.
Flora, who could be a hindrance in the martial arts episode, won’t come looking for me for three days.
The other family members are the same. Since I plan to take some measures in the martial arts episode, I won’t encounter the other family members either.
The most annoying thing here is, of course, Emma.
▶Emma is trapped in a solitary cell!◀
▶She is not being tormented by the maids!◀
Thanks to Claire, I am being framed as the culprit, but there is no evidence on this side either.
Even if I had provoked her to make her anxious, she is a maid of the Duke. In the Duke’s household, she is someone with enough status and power.
If I tried to make Emma guilty in any other way, I would end up being the one to suffer. In the game, I tried to deal with Emma in any way possible, but I failed every time.
In other words, as the Duke’s adopted child, I cannot drive away Emma, who is still at the stage of being ‘suspected of guilt’.
“It’s not going to be easy. But I can’t waste this time either.”
I have to prepare thoroughly because she was also the most formidable opponent in the game.
In a way beyond that. I need a weapon to capture solid evidence and bring her down.
That’s why I’m stepping into this place myself.
“Is this the line.”
The Duke’s residence and the martial arts episode.
I was standing on the boundary that separates the two.
Even in the game, the moment I pass through this place, the name of the map changes.
Once you cross this line, the long-awaited Episode V, “Troublemaker in the Arena”, will begin.
“Troublemaker in the Arena… Phew, this is going to be tough.”
How long has it been since Camilla deactivated her Dead Trigger?
It couldn’t have been more than a week.
But as soon as I step over this line, the Dead Trigger will activate again.
I’ll have to put in the effort to find it and disable it myself in order to stay alive.
I glanced at the status window, seeing the progress bar indicating that the episode was in progress and the stats were devastatingly low. I took a deep breath to calm myself.
And I took a step.
I planted my foot.
-Ding!
▶Episode V, “Troublemaker in the Arena”, is in progress!◀
▶Enter the Arena and complete the conversation with the knights!◀
With the notification sound, a progress window appeared that hadn’t been seen before.
Truly, a cruel development.
Not only do I have to enter the Arena, but I also have to engage in conversation with the knights.
Since I’ve already taken the first step, there’s no other way.
I walk, and walk some more.
I had no choice but to face them head-on.
“Hey, look over there.”
“Yeah, what’s with that face?”
As I trudged towards the entrance of the training ground, the gazes from the wide-open field immediately turned towards me.
It was a chilling reception, as if the sweat that had been shed during training had instantly frozen.
“Well, it’s understandable. After all, Karsein has killed someone in the training ground.”
In a game story, killing a person is not something that can be easily overlooked.
Especially when it comes to knights.
They are knights with high pride. Moreover, they are entrusted by the Duke of Bargrand.
Just the fact that their comrade has been killed would make them angry.
And if that’s not enough, they’ll be even more furious just by seeing the commoner who was lucky enough to be picked up by the Duchess, who happened to suffer from a mental illness, causing such an incident.
No, perhaps the knights themselves wouldn’t have allowed it either.
As if to prove that, their intimacy boxes were completely different from those of the Duke’s.
On the left side of the usual white box, there were slightly elongated gray stripes.
That’s not a typical intimacy box.
It was a gray box that made it even more difficult to recover to its original state after causing a bigger problem from 0%.
“Your Excellency, what brings you to the training ground?”
Someone confronts me as if to provoke me.
Approaching with disdain, the man stared at me without blinking an eye.
But despite the smiling face, the fact that he raised his hackles suggests that if I say something wrong, he might do something right away.
“In reality, that’s true. If I had touched him in that state, it would have been an immediate bad ending.”
Therefore, I can’t act like the Duke did.
However, I can’t just sit still.
▶The Duke’s knights are threatening. How will you act?
The choices have been presented.