Chapter Six

For Rion’s sake, Shitbag #3 had better decide on a wife soon. He must’ve been out of his mind, trying to make a boy his Crown Princess. Does he not care about his bloodline? Will he take responsibility if the royal bloodline ends? And what’s the age difference between them? One year? Two? Three, six, seven…?

“We’re here, Little Miss. I’ll hustle over first.”

Aster was truly good at her job. She jumped out the minute Uncle Louis’s front door came into sight and ran over to inform them of my arrival. She would also inform them the purpose of my visit, so less work for me. After checking that the carriage had come to a complete stop, I opened the doors and was greeted by a manservant. I held his hand and climbed down, asking where my uncle was. As expected, he was working in his office despite it being time for dinner.

Humph. The people of the House of Roxburg are pitiful.

Not to mention that his place was in a satellite city, a mere thirty minutes away from the capital, so a lot of work was thrown his way from our House. And honestly, I threw a lot of work his way. But our duchy is in the capital! The four Houses have to evenly divide and rule that huge capital! The royal family also hands over a shitload of work! We need a break too, you know! I had a brief moment of self-reflection to apologize to my uncle.

He probably had some difficulty ruling over the marquisate and doing the work we tossed at him. Plus, he would have a hard time learning about the prearranged death of his second son.

I resumed my bubbly steps. It honestly isn’t my problem.

“I hope all is well. It has been a while, Lady Roxburg.”

“Well, well, well. Glen. If it isn’t the son who doesn’t exist,” I responded with a laugh.

The man clenched his teeth, but his expression did not change. Well done, Glen. Think of it as practice, since you will have far more to endure in the future.

“I’ve brought some good news for you and your mother. Would you dance with me?”

A waltz, if I pleased. I kept the beat with my mouth as I curtseyed.

“Are you mocking me?” Glen spoke angrily as though he could not suppress himself any longer.

Of course not. Even a gimp can dance. How can you make me out to be the bad guy? I didn’t think he’d take my hand anytime soon, so I straightened up. Glen kept his face expressionless. Not bad, Glen. Good work. I’ll reward you with some good news.

“Your tormentor, Dylan, is scheduled to die sometime tomorrow. Have a nice life.”

Blood drained from Glen’s face as I finished speaking. No surprise there. Their family tree was a hot mess. Uncle Louis’s firstborn was from his first wife, and Dylan was born from the current marchioness. Her marriage to Uncle Louis was not her first, and Glen was born to her first husband. Anyway, my uncle and the marchioness had a great relationship, and they also had a late child in addition to Dylan.

No matter how vicious he was toward Glen, Dylan was a probable successor and the only one protecting Glen, his mother, and his little brother. With Dylan gone, the successorship candidates would be either the eldest son or the baby. If I were the eldest son, I’d probably do away with the baby, stepmom, and Glen to become the only successor.

“You cannot! Please reconsider!”

“It’s already done. I just have to get Uncle Louis’s consent to get my father’s permission, and Dylan will be gone. He messed with someone he shouldn’t have.”

Why kill an innocent boy and not think about your wrongdoings, Dylan? Have you ever thought about how scared Rion was when you killed him? Yeah, I thought so. Don’t even start. It’ll just piss me off.

“Lady, please, I beg you. If he offended you in any way, I apologize in his stead. Please reconsider!”

I was striding toward my uncle’s office, having finished what I needed to say when I heard Glen running after me. That must be uncomfortable, limping hard like his life depended on it. He wasn’t even born with the limp—Dylan had a hand in that. Poor thing.

“If you’re that desperate, get on your knees and put your head to the ground. Who knows? Perhaps I’ll throw you a bone to keep you alive.”

As I tossed those words at him, the sound of the cane stopped. Yeah, you can’t do that because you were born a nobleman, can you? Pride is the noblemen’s biggest problem. Even Uncle Louis, whom I was about to face, would cut off Dylan in a heartbeat due to his pride. I checked that Glen was no longer following me, and I entered. Uncle Louis read my report as he watched me act out all the things Dylan had done, literally facepalming when he heard of the multiple witnesses, which included other noblemen’s children.

Once I started reenacting Dylan’s actions and words, he handed me his letter of consent, begging me to stop. I wish Rion could have seen this. My dearest Rion, I’m acting like a clown without hesitation, and it’s all for you.

I took the letter of consent, picked up the carrier pigeon, and made my merry way back home. The duke was working late, so he immediately signed off on disposing of Dylan from this world and instituted the execution proceedings at the break of dawn.

I went to bed holding my starving stomach. I didn’t have the chance to eat anything for hours. I was also behind on my work, so I knew I would have to wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and be stuck in my office all day. I wanted to cry.

***

I woke up early the next morning. I had Lily and Violet wait on me as I washed up and got dressed, caught up on some work, ate a snack on my way to Dylan’s execution, saw him die, returned, and took out the rough draft I began yesterday. The second the clock rang at nine o’clock, my loyal knight, Aster, barged in with my breakfast. She picked me up and sat me on the office couch meant for guests. I chewed pieces of bread Aster stuffed into my mouth, my eyes still glued to the letter.

“How are you just like your father?”

“Does Sir William carry him around too?”

“Not anymore. He’s too heavy now.”

Wait. So he did carry the duke when he was lighter? I wanted to hear details, but Aster shoved more salmon mariné into my mouth, and I could do nothing but chew.

“Young Mistress, Lord Asterion is here.”

Guess I won’t have time to ask for details. I allowed him to enter after hearing Lily’s announcement and saw Rion walking in stiffly. He bowed just as stiffly and stammered nervously.

“Y-Young Mistress! How h-hath thy morn b-be—”

“Who the hell talks like that? Just say ‘good morning.’ And call me sister.”

“G-good morning, sister!”

“Why are you here so early? You should have eaten some breakfast.”

A tense Rion asked me how he could eat breakfast when I was working, and that he rushed over as soon as he heard from me. Commendable, but you’ll collapse if you don’t eat breakfast. I was planning on working Rion to the bone, regardless of it being his first day, so I took a banana off Aster’s plate. She suddenly grabbed my wrist.

“That is mine, Little Miss.”

“Okay. Let go now. You’re scaring me.”

Aster was gluttonous, probably because she grew up in a household with many children. I ordered Violet to bring more food, and we had some breakfast. Rion looked like he wasn’t chewing properly before he swallowed, and I was worried he might get sick. I’ll get him some digestive medicine later.

Rion was clearly exhausted by the time afternoon rolled around. I had dragged him around from the front entrance of the estate to the rear entrance to show everyone, especially the people in charge, that Rion was now an official member of the House of Roxburg. The duke and I also sent him back and forth like a carrier pigeon to send trivial messages to one other, so it made perfect sense that he would be burnt out and unable to walk.

“My sister, have you been doing all this work alone?”

“No, why would I?”

“But you made me…”

“Oh, I was just messing with you. Just a hazing ritual for newbies, you know?”

Rion’s shock was written all over his face. I laughed. Rion, you’ve always been so easy to tease, and it entertains me every time.

“If you’re tired, go ahead and take a seat over there and look at the pretty ladies.”

I pointed to the sky-high pile of portraits and accompanying documents on the coffee table. Without a word, Rion followed my instructions and flipped through the photos of the women and their respective profiles.

“What is all this?” he asked.

“Candidates for the future Crown Princess that we’re recommending.”

It was part of our job to present candidates that the branch family supported to the Crown Prince, like we were salesmen. Rion looked absolutely scandalized. He probably thought we did all sorts of ridiculous work. Yes, we do a lot of ridiculous jobs here at the House, dear Rion.

I was about to talk about the ridiculous jobs we did when Violet opened the side door. “Young Mistress, Glen, son of the marchioness, requests an audience.”

Glen? Oh, that cane guy from yesterday. I thought of the handsomely made silver-coated cane. I told her to bring him in. Aster, who was chatting away in the corner, stood up and hurried over to my side.

“Is he here about Dylan?”

“I don’t know…”

At my dubious tone, Aster leaned her scabbard forward so it could be unsheathed quickly. Nothing dangerous would happen—probably—but better safe than sorry.

“Rion, bring a chair and work next to me.”

It would be more of a pain in the ass if Glen grabbed Rion and went wild than if he just harassed me, so I made Rion move.

“Okay,” he said, unaware of what was happening.

He brought his things over to the corner of my desk. As Rion took a seat, the doors opened. Glen limped in and bowed.

“If this is about Dylan, you’re too late.”

I leaned my chin on my hand and smiled. Glen flinched at my callous words but swiftly smoothed out his expression, as though he had already expected to hear what I had said.

“I have come to beg, as you have suggested.”

Hmm… I wasn’t expecting this. The corner of my lips curled as I watched him. He kneeled and opened his mouth.

“I wish to live.”

This kid probably had a hard time making this decision. I found his efforts praiseworthy, so I gave him a snort of laughter and returned to my work. I did tell him to put his head to the ground, too, but I guess he didn’t hear that part.

“Little Miss... aren’t you going to do anything?” Aster anxiously spoke up as I checked the list of gifts to send along with the marriage proposals for Shitbag #3.

Rion also mentioned that he would leave if there were anything important I had to talk about with Glen, but no such thing existed.

“Don’t you worry about that. Keep looking through those portraits.”