I’m Not the One Who Seduced the Grand Duke Chapter 31

After even Jean had left, it was late at night.

I tapped my fingers against the desk as I sank into thought.

What? They’re blocking the road because it’s their land? Then we can just go by sea!

It was an extremely simple solution. The only problem was…

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

I sighed as I stared at the two documents in front of me.

One was a contract promising to transfer the rights to a port on the Valka coast.

The other was the engagement papers.

There was no scenario where I could choose just one.

They were a package deal.

“Of course, I’ve more or less made up my mind about that already.”

But there was another problem.

Resting my chin on my hand, I opened another envelope with a troubled expression.

A single sheet of paper slipped out.

It was a letter I hadn’t seen in quite some time.

The letter the outsider had left behind.

– Leon Obsidian (Mastermind) Rebellion Incident
– Leon Obsidian Executed
– Fall of Bernstein

“Yes. This is the real problem.”

Rebellion, execution, downfall.

Not a single one of those words could be taken lightly.

And now, all of them were supposedly going to happen to Leon Obsidian.

“Of course, I can’t trust everything the outsider said one hundred percent. But if this is true…”

Maybe it would be better for me to avoid getting involved with him as much as possible.

For my own sake, and for Zaherette’s.

But why?

I didn’t really like that idea either.

“Hmm. What should I do?”

I had been agonizing over it for quite some time when—

“I knew it! I thought you might still be awake. I saw the light on in your study, so I came to check… Huh? Is something troubling you? You look awfully troubled.”

Laura poked her head through the slightly open door and asked, tilting her head.

Laura really knew me too well.

“You know, Laura. Like you said, I do have something I’m worried about. So…”

“Ah, wait! It’s okay. I already know everything!”

She knows what?

Then she suddenly told me to wait a moment and hurried out of the study, leaving me staring blankly at her retreating back.

How much time passed?

A little while later, Laura returned carrying a tray with two steaming cups of tea.

“When it comes to discussing your worries, there’s nothing like a warm cup of tea. Don’t worry, Marquess. I’ve been fully prepared for the day something like this happened.”

“What kind of day is that?”

“What kind? Obviously…”

Laura’s eyes sparkled as she answered.

“The sweet-and-sour love troubles of a bride-to-be who’s feeling troubled as her wedding approaches!”

That’s not it.

It definitely wasn’t…

But when I thought about it again, I couldn’t say it was completely unrelated either, so I kept my mouth shut for the time being.

Laura clearly took that as an affirmation and beamed.

“Ahem. You see, Laura. If, hypothetically. And I mean really hypothetically…”

“Yes. ‘Hypothetically,’ right? Got it. Hypothetically.”

Laura nodded eagerly, her eyes shining.

Hmm. She was almost too enthusiastic, which actually made me feel a little put off, but I suppose I couldn’t help it.

“Let’s say, hypothetically, that we installed a new pipeline system in the factory producing this batch of blended tea.”

“…Couldn’t you come up with an easier hypothetical?”

“Just listen.”

“Yes.”

A displeased expression appeared on Laura’s face, but I ignored it.

That wasn’t important right now.

“But this pipe is extremely high-performance. There are no supply issues, and it has been specially processed to allow for smooth operations. Apparently, it even looks nice, so there’s a lot of demand for it.”

“Oh, yes. Demand… Well, then, we can just keep using it.”

“Exactly. But there’s one very serious problem.”

“A problem?”

I nodded.

A problem so serious that it outweighed all those advantages.

“Someone says that this pipe will inevitably cause trouble someday. And because of that, the entire factory using the pipe will eventually face a huge problem.”

“What?”

Laura was greatly flustered by the sudden turn in the story.

After a moment, perhaps once she had finished processing all the information in her head, Laura spoke.

“First of all… Who told you that? Is it reliable information?”

“I don’t know. But I consider it fairly credible information.”

“If you say so, Marquess, then I suppose it must be true. But then… is this ‘problem’ you mentioned something that will definitely happen?”

“I don’t know that. But isn’t the possibility of it happening even slightly a problem in itself?”

The possibility that it could bring harm to all of us.

Wasn’t that risk alone enough to be concerned about?

Laura tilted her head.

“So you’re worried about a problem that you don’t even know whether it will happen or not?”

“The fact that it could happen is the problem. I don’t like variables.”

“I know that very well too. But, Marquess.”

Laura looked at me with unusually serious eyes before speaking carefully.

“This isn’t really about factory equipment, is it? It’s about a person.”

“……”

“You don’t actually think people can never change, do you?”

“Especially not you, Marquess.”

Laura gave me a faint smile.

“Do you remember what I was like before I became a maid at Zaherette?”

At her words, I quietly nodded.

How could I forget?

Laura was an orphan from an orphanage sponsored by our marquessate.

At the time, she was so dissatisfied with the world that she dreamed of escaping the orphanage as soon as possible, and she had been caught more than once for stealing other people’s belongings in order to save up money for that purpose.

Most significantly, she had even been caught stealing something that belonged to my father when he visited the orphanage as a sponsor.

Father forgave Laura, compensated the people for everything she had done in the past, and brought her back to the marquessate to work.

That was how Laura became a member of our household.

“Thanks to the previous Marquess, I’m able to live a perfectly normal life like this now. And by serving Lady Erna, I was able to mature even further.”

“Of course, I still make ridiculous mistakes all the time, but I’m definitely getting better!”

Laura said it confidently.

“Come to think of it, you’re right.”

“Yes. Equipment rusts as time passes, but people can change. Look at me! Do you still think it’s impossible?”

“…No.”

After thinking it over carefully, I shook my head.

No.

Come to think of it, Leon committing treason in the first place does seem rather sudden.

Once that small unease had lifted, a question I had forgotten about surfaced in my mind.

Would Leon really commit a rebellion for the throne?

Thinking about it again, it seemed too sudden and completely out of context.

Unless he suddenly went insane after eating something strange one day…

There doesn’t seem to be any reason for him to do it.

Resentment toward his half-brother?

Looking at the histories of neighboring countries, such things did happen from time to time.

But in those cases, there was usually some basis for it—an unhappy childhood, a past filled with discrimination, or something similar.

But Leon?

Not at all.

On the contrary, there was an Emperor who adored his younger brother so much that he was practically desperate to keep him by his side, and an Empress Dowager who had accepted and cared for Leon as though he were her own son.

Of course, what was visible on the surface might not have been everything, and things could have been different behind closed doors.

But when it came to their relationship as brothers, hadn’t I seen it with my own eyes?

The way Leon treated the Emperor.

But even so, what if that really was the future waiting ahead of us?

What if that was the future we were heading toward…?

Maybe I can change it.

Make sure Leon Obsidian never harbors such intentions.

Make sure he doesn’t go down the wrong path.

The problem was whether I could actually accomplish something that enormous…

I was lost in thought for a while when—

“All right, then. It’s my turn now.”

“Huh?”

“You listened to my concerns, so now it’s my turn.”

Laura let out a long sigh and set down her teacup before looking at me.

Her reaction seemed strangely serious, so I nodded without thinking.

Laura spoke with a grave expression.

“Does His Grace ever… say anything unpleasant to you? Like, does he swear at you or anything?”

“What?”

“Or maybe he looks completely harmless, but he’s actually violent?”

“No, no. Laura, calm down first…”

“Or maybe! He’s secretly keeping a lover somewhere and you caught him? Gasp! Or perhaps he has illegitimate children lined up like sausages or something…!”

“What are you talking about?!”

“What do you mean? All that stuff about factory equipment and pipes was obviously a metaphor for His Grace! Did you really think I wouldn’t figure that out?!”

Good grief.

I thought she wouldn’t.

Laura trembled as she stared at me with a terrifying look in her eyes.

If that were the case, she looked fully prepared to march straight to the Grand Duke’s residence and beat him to a pulp.

I bit my lips tightly.

I’m sorry, Leon. You somehow became the bad guy without even knowing it.