I’m Not the One Who Seduced the Grand Duke Chapter 42

“Commander!!!”

The knights who had been sitting all jumped to their feet and shouted in unison.

Faced with such an overwhelming sight, Leon took a small step back, looking slightly flustered.

Even so, he didn’t forget to look after me.

“Yes. It’s been a long time, everyone.”

“It’s good to see you looking well. Ah, of course, I’m sure you’ve been perfectly healthy.”

“We heard about your engagement. Congratulations!”

“I’m sorry I didn’t give you any warning beforehand. Things moved rather more urgently than I expected.”

Oh-ho. I perked up my ears as I pieced together their conversation.

To summarize what they were saying, apparently on the very day the incident happened, he had left the Temple and come up to the capital to spend his previously scheduled vacation.

So naturally, everyone had thought, Ah, the Commander must have gone on vacation.

But lo and behold.

Even long after the time he was supposed to return, the Commander never came back, and what they heard instead was news of his engagement and his dishonorable dismissal.

Good heavens. That upright Commander.

That Commander who had been called a “false prospect” because, despite his ridiculously good looks and background, he had been unable to make proper use of what he had because of his vow.

He had gone out on vacation only to have something tremendous snatched away from him.

Naturally, the entire order had been thrown into chaos.

No wonder they were confused. They thought he was on vacation, only for him to be expelled indefinitely.

For some reason, I could understand how they felt.

“More importantly, I heard that High Priest Servando said he wouldn’t accept the Commander’s resignation.”

“I came here to resolve that very issue.”

Leon answered with a slightly troubled expression.

Oh dear. So he really had refused until the very end.

“So, what did the High Priest say? Does he still have no intention of approving the engagement?”

“Yes. I thought it was because of the Constellation Council, but apparently not.”

Leon said bitterly that even after securing another term, the High Priest had made it clear that he had no intention of accepting his resignation.

Oh dear.

So, in other words, he had no intention of letting go of this golden leash until the very end.

In that case……

“It can’t be helped. It’s truly unfortunate, but now that things have come to this……”

“We’ll have to replace him.”

“Huh?”

When I looked at Leon as if there was no other option, his eyes widened slightly as he stared straight at me.

Then he even broke into a little smile.

Meanwhile, the aide standing beside him was covering his mouth and hiccupping.

What? Why is he so shocked?

“How? How do you think we should replace him? Hmm? Erna.”

What? Why does he sound so excited?

And why did the person over there look so utterly traumatized?

Had I said something strange?

“How else? Obviously……”

“We should get rid of him, right?”

“What?”

“It’ll be simpler and cleaner that way.”

What on earth is he talking about?

“Of course we should examine his misconduct and lawfully strip him of his position. No matter how I look at it, High Priest Servando has far too many grounds for disqualification.”

“Indeed!”

Vincent suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.

The reactions had reversed in an instant.

Leon was still smiling, but there was an unmistakable hint of displeasure beneath it, while Vincent, who had been looking utterly shocked just moments ago, now clasped his hands together with an expression of deep emotion.

Why are they acting like this?

“…Yes, Erna. Actually, I was thinking the same thing.”

“Really? That’s a relief. The problem is how to do it. Unfortunately, we don’t have any evidence.”

We did have testimony, but unfortunately, it probably wouldn’t carry much weight.

After all, the witnesses were Holy Knights.

There was no way Temple-affiliated knights could openly step forward and accuse the High Priest of corruption.

And the nobles had all made use of the services the High Priest provided one way or another. There was no way they would simply sit back and watch their own misdeeds become public knowledge.

“If you’re talking about evidence, I have it. I collected it over the past few years, just in case something like this happened.”

“Really?”

Good heavens.

At the word evidence, my eyes seemed to sparkle.

A well-prepared man was extremely attractive.

Perhaps my feelings had somehow reached him.

The man who had looked strangely dissatisfied twitched, and soon the stiffness around his mouth relaxed.

“The problem is how to release that evidence. If we release it openly from our side, they’ll definitely challenge its legitimacy.”

“That’s true. Then we need another way…… Ah!”

Having thought of something, I snapped my fingers.

Everyone immediately turned to look at me.

“Come to think of it, high society has been rather quiet these past few days, hasn’t it?”

After all, my days had been overflowing with dopamine, with some incident happening practically every other day.

“It’s about time a new scandal came out.”

I grinned.

 

***

 

“What? The press?”

“Yes. The press.”

“…I thought you hated them?”

Jean asked cautiously, looking uneasy.

Why wouldn’t he?

He had barely returned from the Temple before being summoned out of nowhere, only to hear me say, We need to use the press.

Of course he would be surprised.

“There’s something I want to leak. I’m thinking of creating a controversy, so I need a list of famous journalists.”

“Then I’ll select ones that are as friendly to House Zaherette as possible……”

“No. Don’t do that. I want mostly B-grade or lower newspapers, media outlets that specialize in trashy tabloids, and journalists who work for them.”

“What?”

Jean looked at me anxiously, clearly wondering what on earth I intended to do by gathering nothing but journalists like that, but I ignored him.

“Here is the list of journalists belonging to the B-grade or lower newspapers you requested, as well as reporters who publish low-class tabloids. As instructed, I excluded well-known journalists and reputable newspapers.”

The capable administrator had brought me a list of journalists who met my exact requirements in half a day.

“You checked all of them, right?”

“Yes. I did filter them somewhat on my end, but…… are you really going through with this?”

“We’ve taken enough hits from them already.”

At my words, Jean kept giving me uneasy looks before finally nodding as if he had decided to accept the situation.

Let’s see. Who should I choose?

As I scanned down the list, a familiar name caught my eye.

Ah, right. This place existed too.

“. I think Reka Valexi would be good.”

“What? Evening Bell?! And who did you say? Wait a minute. Surely you’re not planning to give an interview to that reporter, are you?”

Laura, who had also been nearby expressing her concern, practically jumped as she asked.

Why wouldn’t I?

Reka Valexi of Evening Bell.

That reporter was the sort who wrote such low-class articles that merely hearing his name was enough to make one curse.

Especially when it came to House Zaherette, it was almost as if he had some personal grudge against us. He would freely make up stories that had never happened and spread them around.

Which made him all the more perfect.

“Let’s go with him.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. I’m serious. Jean. Make discreet contact with this reporter. Of course, don’t use my name. Recruit someone and have them leak the story. Here, I’ve already organized the contents.”

What kind of tabloid story is she planning to leak……?

Muttering under his breath, Jean took the note I handed him and immediately froze.

“What is it? What is it?”

Laura approached and glanced at the note from the side. Her mouth fell open as she froze too, before shouting.

“Are you in your right mind, Marquess?! You’re going to publish this as an article?!”

Yes.

Sorry, but I was perfectly sane.

And the next day.

The Orden high society, which had never been particularly peaceful to begin with, was thrown into chaos once again.

And, naturally, the person at the center of the controversy was the Marquess of Zaherette.

 

***

 

[EXCLUSIVE] The Brazen Incident at the Temple—Was the Marquess of Zaherette a VIP Customer?

[SHOCKING] Love Bought with Money? Does Money Really Get You Everything? Even Winning a Marriage to the Grand Duke of Bernstein?

[EXCLUSIVE] The Temple’s VVIP Service? If You Want to Have a Handsome Priest Pray for You, Pay Up!

The capital’s high society was turned upside down.

These were the latest breaking stories continuously being churned out by the newspaper notorious for being the most infamous in the capital.

Evening Bell.

Nearly every page of the newspaper, which was hardly distinguishable from a gossip rag, was plastered with my photographs, with every single headline and phrase provocative enough to be fatal.

On top of that, there was even part of a donation certificate, the source of which was unknown.

Reka Valexi, Evening Bell’s chief reporter, presented a certificate bearing an enormous amount of money—nearly half of the Temple’s total annual donations—and claimed that one had to pay at least that much to be granted the qualification to marry “Leon Obsidian,” effectively vilifying me.

“Heh.”

“Do you find this funny right now? You’re being subjected to such insults, Marquess!”

Laura, thoroughly worked up, snatched the offending newspaper away and huffed angrily.

Whatever.

I couldn’t stop smiling.

“Of course I find it funny.”

Everything was going exactly as I had expected.