I’m Not the One Who Seduced the Grand Duke Chapter 32

“Who would have thought His Grace was that kind of person!”

“No. No, he isn’t! There’s no way His Grace would do something like that. What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Then what was that example you gave just now?!”

“I told you. It was only a hypothetical. And I never even said I was talking about the Grand Duke of Bernstein in the first place.”

I desperately defended him, saying that the Grand Duke wasn’t that kind of person, and that, honestly, how could someone with a face as angelic as his possibly have such a dark side?

Thankfully, it seemed to work, because the murderous look in Laura’s eyes gradually faded.

“All right. But if something like that ever happens, you absolutely have to tell me. Understood?”

“What would you tell me to change?”

“Of course it would!”

Laura shouted as if I had just said something utterly ridiculous.

“I absolutely cannot approve of this marriage. I’ll do whatever it takes to stop it from happening. Ugh, if necessary, I’ll even set fire to the wedding hall……”

“All right. I get it, so calm down. I was just asking!”

At this rate, she looked ready to run straight to the Grand Duke’s residence and start a fire, so I quickly grabbed Laura’s hand.

I was grateful that she cared so much about me, but still, having my maid become an arsonist was a little—

Thinking that far, I let out an incredulous little laugh.

“Marquess?”

“No. I know it’s a rather ridiculous conclusion even by my standards, but anyway, thank you. It’s funny, but I think it helped quite a lot.”

“Right? See? I told you I’ve prepared a lot! In preparation for the day our Marquess gets married.”

One hundred conversation topics for listening to complaints while fighting with one’s husband.

One hundred responses to rattle off when one wanted to badmouth one’s husband.

And hundreds of other responses for all sorts of conflicts that could arise in married life……

Even hearing about them roughly, it was almost frightening how reassuring they sounded.

“You’re right. Thanks to you, I’ve sorted out my thoughts. Which reminds me, Laura.”

“Yes.”

“Could you deliver a letter to the Bernstein Grand Ducal Residence tomorrow morning? Tell him that I’d like to meet with him briefly as soon as possible.”

As I handed her the letter I had prepared in advance, Laura hesitated for a moment before her expression brightened noticeably.

She must have realized what I was planning to do.

“Don’t worry. I’ll rush over there first thing tomorrow morning, as soon as the sun rises!”

“No, you don’t have to go by yourself. I meant that you should send someone. And visiting someone else’s house at the crack of dawn doesn’t seem very polite.”

“I think His Grace will like it.”

Laura exclaimed excitedly, clutching the letter tightly in both hands, as if she could guarantee it herself.

Fine. Do whatever you want.

I decided to keep quiet.

‘All right. So, for now, the matter with Leon is settled. That leaves the problem of Valentine’s tolls.’

Leon had given me a port, but how should I put it?

I didn’t want to solve things by relying on someone else if I could avoid it.

I might continue to run into problems in the future, and relying on other people’s help every time would be rather troublesome.

All right, then. How should I overcome this problem?

I was lost in thought when—

“Marquess!”

The office door suddenly opened, and the butler came rushing in with hurried steps.

“What is it, Valen? At this late hour?”

“I found it!”

The extremely excited butler shouted loudly.

“The ‘thing’ Your Ladyship has been looking for all this time! Jean just sent someone, and they finally found it!”

“What?”

Only then did I understand what the butler meant, and I shot to my feet.

I took the document envelope from his hand and checked its contents.

A pleased smile spread across my lips.

What perfect timing.

“Marquess? What is that?”

Laura came over and urged me impatiently, dying of curiosity.

But I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the documents, and I bit down firmly on my lip.

“……Laura.”

“Yes?”

“I think God is on my side this time.”

With that, I gripped the troublesome documents tightly in my hand.

“With this, I won’t be pushed around by the toll issue anymore.”

And, more than that, I could even knock some sense into the Valentine family, who had been acting as if they were someone important.

I grinned and clenched my fist tightly as I shouted—

It’s over now. Everything is going to be fine.

 

***

 

“Well, well. What a mess.”

I stared at the report in my hand with an incredulous expression.

It was another document inside the envelope I had received the previous night.

It was the report sent by the guild I had hired to investigate.

‘What happened to the outsider who entered my body on the day the ring was pawned!’

“Well, the ring matter has already been resolved, so I don’t really need this anymore.”

Still, curiosity was curiosity.

So, while drinking my morning tea, I leisurely read through it instead of the morning newspaper.

And the contents were absolutely astonishing.

[Witness Statements]

— Witness 1 (customer at the Brahms restaurant): Gerold Valentine began picking a fight with a female customer A. (The witness stated that the Young Master appeared to be drunk at the time.)

When his behavior escalated and he attempted to harm her, A beat the Young Master to a pulp with superhuman strength. (Everyone watching from nearby cheered.)

— Witness 2 (hackney carriage driver soliciting customers in front of the restaurant): Witnessed a young master with his face battered beyond recognition grab a woman and threaten her, demanding that she pay compensation if she didn’t want to be reported.

The woman, apparently without any money on hand, became flustered. After hearing that there was a pawnshop nearby, she moved there together with the man.

In other words……

“So she suddenly needed cash because she needed money to settle with Jerold Valentine. She was frightened by his threat that he would report her for assault if she didn’t pay.”

I could more or less picture the situation.

And it also answered several questions that had been bothering me all this time.

“Now it makes sense how the Young Master knew about the ring and managed to get his hands on it.”

Because he had been watching everything from behind.

So after sending me away, he must have hurried over and bought the ring back.

“Wow. So he came up with this whole scam in that split second? What kind of screwed-up mind does someone have to have to come up with something like this?”

Of course, it seemed he had paid quite dearly for it by now.

Still, although it was late, finally learning the truth behind the incident made me feel like a weight had been lifted from my chest.

Yes. It definitely did.

But……

“……Leon. Do you know what time it is right now?”

“Sorry. I rushed over as soon as I received your letter, so I didn’t have time to check. Is it still before breakfast? Then we can eat together.”

I swallowed a sigh and looked tiredly at the man sitting across from me—Leon Obsidian.

There he was, boldly occupying our drawing room early in the morning.

Laura must really have gone to the Grand Ducal Residence at the crack of dawn after all.

‘Why does he have to go this far?’

I had certainly intended to start my day leisurely, as always—getting up early, reading the morning newspaper, and then slowly having breakfast.

But then a panicked butler came running to report.

His Grace had already arrived and was waiting for me.

And, on top of that, he had told them not to wake me because I was probably still enjoying a good sleep.

“You know, I was so excited that I couldn’t sit still. Not just anyone, but you sent word that you wanted to see me as soon as possible.”

“Even so, this is too early.”

I gave him a sideways look, thinking that this really wasn’t the time, even if I had been the one who asked to see him.

But Leon merely smiled, looking pleased about something.

“So, what is it you wanted to tell me?”

He probably already knew.

And yet, seeing him deliberately pretend not to know while trying to make me say it with my own mouth irritated me for some reason.

“I’m sorry, but let’s talk about that a little later. There’s something more urgent that needs to be dealt with first.”

“I heard. Apparently, Valentine has offended Zaherette.”

Again? Did another article like that come out?

Offended us? We’re the ones being targeted here.

“Fortunately, I found a solution. That solution is supposed to arrive at Zaherette sometime this morning. So I’m really sorry, but since it’s still so early, perhaps you could come back this afternoon or tomorrow……”

“Really? Then I’ll just wait here with you. Is that all right? Don’t worry. I’ll stay quietly without getting in your way.”

His clear blue eyes stared straight at me, as if pleading with me not to throw him out.

It was the sort of gaze that somehow made me feel like I would become a terrible person if I actually kicked him out.

……Why are his eyes so ridiculously clear?

Faced with a man who knew exactly how to make use of his own weapons, I eventually gave up and nodded.

 

***

 

A short while later, three people had gathered in the drawing room: Leon, me, and Jean, an administrator from the Roar Trading Company who had come after being contacted.

“By the way, Erna. There’s something I’m curious about. You know the exclusive port rights I gave you before? Why aren’t you using them?”

“Ah, well……”

“Wait a moment, Marquess. Did I hear that correctly? A port? Did His Grace just say exclusive port rights?!”