I’m Not the One Who Seduced the Grand Duke – Chapter 24

Author: isuzuuy

“What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that?! Don’t bullshit me!!”

Gerold shouted, the veins in his neck bulging.

He desperately appealed to the people around him.

“Don’t let yourselves be fooled! How could I possibly have stolen a ring from a marquess’s family? She handed it to me herself, which is why it’s in my possession now!”

“Well, he does have a point. Saying the Young Master stole it seems a bit far-fetched.”

“But why would the Marquess……”

“Why do you think so? Erna, this is all a scheme to pin everything on me! She acted promiscuously, and now that things didn’t go her way, she’s trying to ruin me!”

Gerold bellowed in a voice filled with fury.

His desperate outburst began to stir up the people inside the club.

“I bet she saw my interview with the newspaper and realized she’d made a mistake, so she hurriedly reported the ring missing. But she can forget it. I’m not stupid enough to fall for this kind of cheap trick—!”

“What are you talking about?”

The captain of the city guard cut him off sharply.

“The missing-item report was filed approximately three weeks ago, around March 26. Here, the date is written right on it.”

“……What?”

Gerold faltered.

Three weeks ago.

That was exactly when he had purchased the ring from the pawnshop.

‘She reported it missing after handing it over to the pawnshop? Is she out of her mind?!’

But that wasn’t important right now.

“Then we received a witness report. After confirming the facts, we came here to find the Young Master.”

As he spoke, the captain held out something.

It was none other than a photograph from Gerold’s interview article, showing him wearing the ring.

“It matches the design of the ring attached to the missing-item report exactly. Now, will you come with us quietly?”

“W-Wait. Something’s wrong. I really didn’t steal the ring!”

“You can explain the details at the city guard office. Now, then.”

Why……

Why had things turned out like this?

He had thought he’d finally gotten his hands on it.

He had thought it was all over.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

“That’s strange. He said he received it as a proposal gift. Then why did the person who gave it to him report it missing?”

“And the report wasn’t filed yesterday or today, but three weeks ago. That’s quite a while.”

“Come to think of it, I heard that the Marquess said she had ‘lost’ her ring at the charity event held by Viscount Evrel. If that was really the case……”

The crowd began whispering again.

This time, the whispers were decidedly unfavorable toward Gerold.

Then, his gaze suddenly fell upon the Grand Duke he had momentarily forgotten about.

The dazzling man who had suddenly appeared in a place that seemed completely unsuited to him.

Leon Obsidian was smiling pleasantly.

“My, my. Now that I think about it, it seems I’m not the one who needs to worry about my reputation.”

“Ugh……!”

“No, that’s not quite right. You never had much of a reputation to begin with, Young Master. Still, I hope you won’t take this too hard. A woman like Marquess Zaherette is certainly someone anyone would covet.”

‘So you must have wanted to have her so badly that you were willing to go this far. I understand.’

Leon looked at him with pity.

Gerold’s eyes bulged at receiving that pitying gaze—and having his own words from earlier thrown right back at him.

“Aah, now I get it! This was all something you and Erna planned, wasn’t it?!”

“…….”

“Haha! But what are you going to do about that? Looks like I was getting in your way, so you planned to turn me into a criminal, huh? But you made a mistake! I have proof that I didn’t steal the ring!”

Gerold shouted at the top of his lungs, his eyes bloodshot.

As if to say there was no way things would go according to Leon’s wishes, he looked triumphant.

“I didn’t steal the ring. I paid for it fair and square and bought it! I can even show you the receipt. Let’s go to my estate. I’ll show it to you there. So let go of me right now!”

“…….”

A heavy silence descended upon the club.

What?

Something felt strange.

“W-Wait. Gerold. What exactly do you mean?”

“What do you mean?!”

“You’re saying…… you bought that ring?”

“That’s right, at a pawnshop! So I didn’t steal it. Tch, you tried to ruin me without even knowing that. I’m never going to let this matter slide, Grand Duke! You’d better prepare yourself…… Wh-What? Why is everyone looking at me like that?”

Gerold, who had been delighted at the thought that he had managed to land a blow against the Grand Duke, suddenly froze.

Every single person in the club was staring at him with a stunned expression.

What?

Something felt strange.

He blinked slowly and looked around before turning his gaze toward the Grand Duke.

Even amid the enormous crowd, the man seemed to shine.

And for the first time, a cold smile appeared at the corner of Leon’s mouth.

Like the face of a player at the end of a chessboard, just before declaring checkmate.

“That is rather strange. Didn’t you say that the Marquess gave you that ring as a token? But now you’re saying you bought it yourself at a pawnshop. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to understand this.”

Gasp!

Gerold belatedly realized his mistake and froze solid.

His dull golden eyes shook rapidly.

“I-I mean…… That is……!”

“Are you saying it was all a fraud? That you pulled something like this against both the Marquess and me?”

“N-No…… This is!”

“It seems the second son of Count Valentine has grown quite bold.”

Shock flashed across the faces of the crowd, while bewilderment spread over Gerold’s face.

His twisted expression, drenched in cold sweat, seemed to scream the words.

Damn it. I’m screwed!

***

Outside the club, which had finally settled down after the commotion.

With passersby watching, Gerold Valentine was dragged out in handcuffs.

Perhaps unable to bear the humiliation, the Young Master’s face had gone deathly pale, and his entire body was trembling.

Leon stood a little apart from the crowd, silently taking in every last detail.

“Your Grace.”

The captain of the city guard approached him.

“Thank you for cooperating with the investigation.”

“Not at all. I merely did what was necessary.”

“Thanks to the photograph and location information you provided, we were able to make the arrest quickly. But how did you obtain this evidence?”

As he spoke, the captain held up a photograph.

It was a picture of the Zaherette ring on Gerold’s finger.

“I found it while reading the newspaper. My fiancée was already upset over losing her ring, and then, by chance, I saw it right there in the photograph.”

Leon explained neatly that he had gone to the newspaper office, obtained every photograph related to the article, and then used them as the basis for his report to the city guard.

“I have no intention of letting this matter go. It was a fraud committed against none other than House Zaherette and House Bernstein.”

And I intend to make sure he pays for it properly.

Leon’s blue eyes gleamed coldly.

His gaze remained fixed on the Young Master, who was still struggling even as he was loaded into the prison carriage, insisting that he was innocent and that something had gone wrong.

‘Was the Grand Duke of Bernstein always like this?’

The captain was puzzled for a brief moment before shaking his head.

Well, his lover nearly ended up in trouble. I suppose anyone would lose their head over that.

“Then we’ll be on our way. We’ll notify your residence of any developments, so please don’t worry.”

“I’ll leave it in your hands.”

The captain bowed and turned away.

“Good grief, what a mess this turned into.”

One of the guards who had finally managed to stuff the struggling Gerold into the prisoner carriage approached, wiping away his sweat.

“Still, it’s a relief that the fraud was uncovered. That poor woman almost ended up carrying an undeserved stain on her reputation.”

“Indeed.”

“The Marquess is quite clever. If that missing-item report from three weeks ago hadn’t come in, who knows how this whole thing would have turned out.”

“…….”

“But why was the report missing in the first place? Who would have thought it had gotten mixed in with the ordinary reports?”

The guard sighed and rubbed his chest, saying it could have turned into a serious problem.

Normally, reports were divided into two categories—those involving nobles and those involving commoners—and each was handled separately.

Yet, strangely enough, the missing-item report filed by Marquess Zaherette had been discovered among the documents being handled by the department responsible for commoner cases.

“And we only found out about it this time because the Grand Duke reported it, too. If he hadn’t, no one would have known, right?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. This is quite…….”

The captain climbed into the city guard carriage and looked toward the man who still stood tall in the distance.

A man famous not only for his beautiful appearance but also for his gentle temperament and demeanor.

Only his blue eyes shone fiercely against his otherwise expressionless face.

The captain quickly averted his gaze.

‘Let’s not dig too deeply into this.’

And so, the carriage carrying them departed.

With a faintly uneasy feeling.

And with it, the foolish criminal who had dared to humiliate two of the Empire’s most prominent noble houses.

***

“Your Grace.”