Chapter 5.3

“You’re not seriously thinking of getting involved, are you?”  

Just as her enthusiasm was peaking, the Grand Duke poured cold water on her excitement.  

“Of course, I have to help.”  

“It’s dangerous. Stay out of it and don’t get in the way.”  

“I can’t just sit idly by when I know everything now.”  

“You’d be of no help. At best, you’d just be a hindrance.”  

A hindrance? How could he say such a thing?

His words stung, and Elena was about to snap back when Lennon suddenly intervened.  

“Now, now, calm down, both of you.”  

He turned to Elena with a soft smile.  

“Don’t take it personally. He’s just really bad at expressing concern. According to Kailus, it’s his way of being shy.”  

“Who’s shy…?”  

This time, the Grand Duke was the one to bristle. But perhaps because the Emperor’s name, Kialus, had been mentioned, he stopped himself mid-sentence and turned his head away abruptly, like a sulking child.  

Seeing his reaction, Elena, who had been frustrated and annoyed, couldn’t help but burst into laughter.  

“I’ll definitely be helpful. I’ve learned how to identify falsified ledgers and how double-entry bookkeeping works.”  

Her words were meant to persuade them, but the moment she said them, the expressions of both men changed in an odd way.  

Why would anyone… learn something like that?

Though they didn’t say it out loud, their faces clearly conveyed the question.  

Sensing the shift in atmosphere, Elena quickly raised her hands in defense and clarified.  

“Don’t misunderstand! I only studied it to clear my father’s name. I’ve never actually used it myself.”  

Five years ago, her father had been falsely accused of embezzling public funds. With no one to help, Elena had been forced to do everything she could to clear his name.  

She had taught herself how to manipulate ledgers by thinking, “What would I do if I were the culprit?”

That was how she had ended up teaching herself about ledger manipulation.  

“So, what I’m trying to say is, if we find a double ledger, I’ll recognize it immediately.”  

The two men were silent for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.  

It was Lennon who spoke first.  

“Then let’s do this. Dean and I will follow the Baron to catch him at the scene, while Helio and you, Lady Elena, search for the ledger.”  

“I’ll handle the scene myself.”  

“Really? Then I’ll join Lady Elena in looking for the ledger.”  

“No, I already said it’s too dangerous. Leave Lady Bellacita out of this.”  

As Lennon and the Grand Duke bickered, Elena quickly interjected.  

“Can’t you just protect me, Your Grace?”  

“What?”  

“I’m saying, if I’m in danger, Your Grace, you can protect me. And if you are in danger, I’ll protect you. Isn’t that the whole point of forming a team?”  

“Ha.”  

The Grand Duke let out a dry laugh.  

“Fine. Then let’s proceed with that plan.”  

As expected, Lennon was the one to wrap up the discussion neatly.  

“You’re all so reckless.”  

Although the Grand Duke no longer objected, his tone remained sour, as if he still wasn’t happy about the arrangement.  

“So, do you have a plan for finding the ledger? You’re the one who claimed you’d be helpful, Lady Bellacita.”  

“Of course, I do.”  

Naturally, she didn’t have a plan. But for now, she had to say something.  

“I think the Lord’s son will be easier to deal with than the Lord himself.”  

“…And then?”

Huh? For something I said in a rush, the reaction isn’t bad at all.  

“So, we focus on the son instead.”  

“And how exactly do you plan to do that?”  

“Well… uh… by using my charms?”  

“Pfft. Do you think you can pull that off?”  

She hadn’t said she would do it herself.  

Her plan had been to ask Diana for help. Anyone could see that Pharone was smitten with Diana.  

But when she saw the Grand Duke smirking, a strange sense of competitiveness flared up within her.  

“What if I succeed?”  

“Well, I think it’d probably be faster if I did it instead.”  

Tsk. Somehow, that sounded plausible, and she couldn’t even argue against it.  

If the Grand Duke were to dress as a woman, he’d undoubtedly look beautiful—far more so than her. Perhaps even more than Diana.  

“Anyway! If I manage to seduce him and get the information?”  

“…That would certainly be helpful.”  

“Then you’ll grant me one wish.”  

“Why should I?”  

One of the Grand Duke’s eyebrows twitched upward.  

“Because it’d mean I was helpful.”  

“…Fine. If you succeed, that is.”  

The Grand Duke hesitated for a moment but eventually agreed to her proposal.  

Heh, success. 

What did he think I’d wish for, to accept so readily like that?  

He must have believed I wouldn’t succeed.  

Just wait and see. I’ll definitely seduce him. I’ll coax him so sweetly that he’ll spill the location of the secret ledger without even realizing it.

What he didn’t know was that she already had techniques for seduction—seven of them, in fact.  

In fact, this was a perfect opportunity to test the effectiveness of her book. Was it just the Grand Duke who was immune, or had she been scammed?

***

That night, she revisited the book from the beginning, feeling as though she were reviewing for an exam.  

The first and second rules: the Rule of Smiles and the Rule of the Carotid Artery.  

These were the very rules that had led to the Grand Duke misunderstanding her, thinking she had a stiff neck.  

The reason for her failure back then was likely because she had stayed in one awkward position for far too long.  

Reflecting on her past mistake, she felt confident she could do better this time.  

It was clear now that practice was essential. If only she had rehearsed on someone before trying it on the Grand Duke.  

The next morning, during breakfast, when everyone gathered in the dining hall, Elena seized her chance.  

Just as Diana was about to take her seat, Elena quickly intercepted the chair.  

“Lady Diana, may I sit here? For some reason, I really want to sit in this spot today.”  

Diana looked puzzled for a moment but soon smiled warmly.  

“Of course. I don’t mind where I sit.”  

After switching seats with Diana, Elena noticed Pharone’s face across the table visibly darkening with disappointment.  

‘Sorry, but I have no choice. I’m planning to seduce you now.’  

This was just the beginning.  

Elena began sending Pharone lingering, deliberate gazes, trying to make eye contact with him as much as possible.  

Whenever their eyes met, she smiled—whether she was eating soup, reaching for the seasoning, or drinking water.  

After repeating this several times, she noticed Pharone’s gaze gradually locking onto her.  

‘It’s already starting to work?’  

Whenever their eyes met, she subtly exposed her neck by pretending to brush her hair back.  

When she tilted her head slightly to reveal one side of her neck and smiled, she saw Pharone’s cheeks flush red.  

‘As expected, it’s working.’  

Feeling pleased with herself, she glanced toward the Grand Duke, but contrary to her expectations, he wasn’t even looking her way.  

Tsk. This isn’t for my own benefit, you know. Shouldn’t you at least pay attention to check if I’m doing it right?  

Determined, she decided to move on to the third chapter: the Rule of Compliments.  

Time was of the essence if she wanted to extract information as quickly as possible.  

But what if there was absolutely nothing to compliment?  

“Lord Pharone, you eat so well. It’s almost inspiring—it makes me feel hungrier just watching you.”  

The best she could come up with was complimenting how he ate.  

In truth, it wasn’t so much that he ate well as it was that he ate ravenously, bordering on messy.  

“M-Me?”  

“You don’t seem to be picky about food, either.”  

“Y-Yes, that’s true. I’m not very particular.”  

Pharone seemed startled that she had spoken to him, even hiccupping in surprise.  

“Oh my, I really admire people who can eat anything without being picky.”

She couldn’t bring herself to say that it looked impressive, so she changed her words, but the response she received was unexpectedly positive.  

“R-Really? Haha. I can’t understand picky eaters either. Leaving behind food that was grown with such effort—it’s just unacceptable, isn’t it?”  

“You understand perfectly. After all, eating everything without leaving anything behind is the best.”  

“Haha, exactly. There’s nothing more unsightly than a man poking at his food with a fork.”  

“That’s exactly what I think. Don’t you feel like we have a lot in common?”  

It was truly a nonsensical conversation. Listening closely, they were just repeating the same things over and over, yet somehow the atmosphere grew increasingly friendly and pleasant.  

As they exchanged trivial chatter for quite some time, Elena glanced at the Grand Duke again.  

As expected, he didn’t seem to care about her at all.  

His face was cold and stiff, as if this conversation with the Lord wasn’t going well.  

But why was he glaring like that?  

Looking more closely, she noticed that the Grand Duke was staring daggers at the plate in front of him.  

On the plate were only the carrots he disliked, left untouched.  

‘He left the carrots again. What should I do? Even that is so adorable.’  

The corners of her mouth naturally lifted into a smile, which felt much more genuine than the forced smiles she’d been wearing so far.  

In truth, whether someone was a picky eater or not didn’t matter to her at all. If he didn’t want to eat them, she could just eat them for him. What was the problem?  

But then it happened.