51

The man in the white coat gave a slight bow, and the image in the communication device hummed and vanished with a soft pop.

Klen turned over what the man had said and narrowed his eyes at something that didn’t quite sit right. But there was nothing clearly wrong with it, so the thought didn’t go any further.

He pushed the communication device aside and looked down at the newspaper and black envelope on his desk.

“Too clean a resolution.”

He tore the black envelope apart without bothering to read the contents, his expression thoroughly unsatisfied, and dropped it into the waste bin.

At the same moment, Amelia knocked and came in.

“Master.”

The Camren household’s determination to catch the culprit was apparently relentless, because today’s newspaper carried yet another story about what had happened to the young lord of Camren.

Klen skimmed it with a derisive snort, then gestured for Amelia to come closer and stretched his neck as he leaned back against his chair.

“The mage sent to the residence has returned. Goodness knows what he was getting up to, showing up only now.”

“Late, and not even reporting in person, you mean.”

“Well, yes. Though he did come a bit earlier this time……”

Klen’s cold gaze cut toward her, and Amelia swallowed dryly, smiled awkwardly, and changed the subject.

“By the way, the humidity inside the residence has been set a bit higher than usual. Won’t that feel uncomfortable?”

“Can’t be worse than the south.”

“That’s true, but I do wonder if my lady is all right.”

“She’s oblivious. Remarkably oblivious.”

“Is…… that so?”

Amelia had always thought of Lavian as perceptive and sensitive, so she couldn’t quite agree, but arguing the point here seemed unwise. She gave a vague reply and moved on, holding out what she had brought.

“She walked around on a twisted ankle without even realizing it.”

“Ah…… I see.”

“These are the completed title transfer documents. And this is from last night……”

“Last night?”

Amelia set down the documents, rummaged in her pocket, and produced a postcard. On it was a clear photograph of Klen and Lavian kissing.

They looked like the couple of the century.

“Well done, both of you. New orders today are extraordinary because of it. The master’s wedding ring is especially visible in the postcard, isn’t it. And it’s expensive.”

“Huh.”

Klen straightened up, stared at the postcard for a long moment, then slid it into a drawer with a sharp look.

With the hand wearing that expensive wedding ring.

“Please don’t tell me to buy them all up again.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Even you must admit that last time was a bit out of your mind, Master. Do you have any idea how much work it was to track down every buyer……”

“What are you talking about. Why is this being circulated. Get rid of them. Same as before.”

“But this……”

His cold eyes silenced her. Amelia had a great deal she wanted to say, but she swallowed every word and changed the subject.

“The doll for Her Highness the Princess has also been completed.”

“Do as I said.”

She had hoped to move on, but Klen wasn’t letting it go.

His arrogant expectation of a definitive answer made Amelia rage internally, I never have a day off!!, while nodding her head with a large, composed nod on the outside.

“Of course.”

“Good. Open that.”

“Yes.”

Klen pushed the documents aside and watched Amelia’s hands.

She set two small boxes on the desk and tapped the top of each one twice.

The boxes, no larger than two finger joints, expanded rapidly. Amelia deftly removed the outer casing, now grown to roughly the size of a six or seven-year-old child’s torso.

The two dolls revealed inside drew no reaction from him. He simply looked at them.

“Do you…… not like them? I thought they came out much better than expected.”

“Not bad.”

“I was thinking we could make them a higher-end line than what’s currently available. If Her Highness the Princess has one, the publicity alone would be considerable.”

Amelia was already brightening at the thought of the money.

“Which doll should we send? In my opinion……”

Amelia reached for the doll with platinum hair and sky-blue eyes. Klen moved quickly and pushed that doll aside, sliding the other one toward her.

“Send this one. Put a device in the chest so it can play a video of the opera singer Her Highness likes.”

“Yes. I’ll arrange it. What shall we do with the remaining one?”

“I’ll handle it. You can go.”

“Yes. You’ll also need to head to Count Elder’s soon.”

“Already time for……. I’ll leave shortly.”

“I’ll have the carriage ready.”

Amelia gave a quick bow, picked up the doll, and headed out, glancing back as she went.

She couldn’t tell who the oblivious one was.

She shook her head and pulled the door firmly shut behind her.

Klen had been sitting with the indifferent air of someone who found everything a nuisance. The moment the door closed, he reached for the doll left behind.

“Unpleasantly alike.”

He muttered with a crooked twist of his mouth, then shoved the platinum-haired doll, which must have cost a considerable sum given the craftsmanship, carelessly into the space beneath his desk.

The artisan who made it would have wept at such treatment.

“Tch.”

But even he seemed to feel the waste of it.

Klen turned back from the door, bent down to the desk, and pulled the doll back out. He carried it over and set it on the windowsill behind the drawn curtains, just as carelessly as before. Still, the back of his neck felt oddly warm and prickly.

He couldn’t say exactly why it bothered him, so Klen made a point of ignoring it and left the building, heading for the Elder count’s residence.

He arrived and was shown to the study. Lavian’s voice reached him before he stepped inside, composed on the surface but pressed down somewhere beneath.

“I hesitated because I wanted to study more languages. But I had fully intended to withdraw from the academy. I don’t know why this came here, but it has nothing to do with having a child.”

Klen wondered what Lavian was doing here at this hour and looked at the butler who had guided him.

“Was this not arranged? You arrived around the same time, so I assumed it was.”

The butler was just as flustered, having had no idea Klen knew nothing about it.

He reproached himself for not informing the count first before leading Klen in.

“Then perhaps I’ll be holding a grandchild by next year. I’ll speak to the family physician, so you should start going to the hospit……”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Klen had heard enough. He pushed the door open.

The butler hunched his shoulders, bracing for the count’s fury, but Klen walked in without hesitation.

He crossed the room in long strides and stepped in front of Lavian, blocking her from the count’s view.

Like Klen, Lavian’s face flooded with heat in an instant. Why is he here. And how much of that conversation did he hear.

She felt as though she had shown him the very bottom of something she had nothing left to hide.

“You have a remarkable talent for making me bring up your origins. Were you too lowborn to learn how to knock? What extraordinary rudeness.”

“You’ve always known I have no manners. Hardly worth saying.”

Klen glanced briefly at the desk, then shrugged as though the whole point was beneath him.

The attack turned toward Lavian.

“And what have you been doing all this time.”

The meaning was clear: why hadn’t she taught Klen to conduct himself like a proper nobleman’s son-in-law.

Chelino glared at his daughter as though he might devour her. Strangely, Lavian said nothing. Normally she would have bowed her head immediately with an apology, but not today.

Lavian kept her lips pressed firmly shut and simply called for her husband.

“Dear.”

Her voice trembled slightly as she reached out and touched his back.

Klen responded to the quiet call and turned, sliding his hand into hers.

“Shall we move to another room. Won’t you even offer us tea?”

“Let’s go.”

The count cleared his throat and moved first, stepping out of the room.

Klen gave Lavian a gentle pull to follow.

She came to stand beside him without resistance, and he leaned down slightly and asked her quietly.

“You’re shaking over being pressured to have a child. It’s not as though they were plotting to kill me and inherit my estate.”

“Dear!”

“Ah. Did I just give you a good idea? You look like you’ve had quite the revelation.”

Klen tapped her cheek lightly as the horror spread across her face, and guided her forward. Lavian followed without finding any reason to refuse.

The four of them settled in the wide sitting room. Klen and Chelino, Lavian, and the countess. Only Klen and Chelino spoke.

Countess Lilian sat sipping her tea as though she barely existed, and Lavian kept her mouth shut against the stench of shamelessness.

“I do hope there’s no problem.”

The count glanced at the servants standing along the edges of the room and put on an air of refinement.

“Father-in-law, why the rush. We haven’t been married very long.”

Klen played the role of the count’s son-in-law with unusual ease today. He kept a pleasant expression and spoke as though making idle conversation.

“In high noble families, the first child comes at sixteen, seventeen.”

“Children having children.”

“……”

The retort dropped the temperature in the room sharply.

Across the room, a servant bit down hard on their lip, fighting back a laugh. Klen caught it and smiled with perfect ease, turning a look on the suddenly silent room that said: did I say something wrong.