Chapter 75: Duke Blast’s Scheme

“Viscount Leonard Jimilta.”

At Leonard’s sudden late-night visit, Duke Blast fell into thought briefly before nodding.

“Let him in.”

When Leonard entered moments later, Duke Blast, leaning on his chair, raised his gaze.

“Don’t you trust me?”

At Leonard’s abrupt question, Duke Blast shook his head.

“I’ve seen your skills well. Though everyone who came must have had considerable ability, your sword was faster and sharper.”

Leonard had won easily against any opponent and steadily advanced to the main tournament.

“Since you don’t seem to fall behind even against Marquis Adrian, I understand why you were confident.”

“Then why did you do it?”

Leonard’s voice carried subtle anger, having noticed the separate trap that had been set. From when he entered the knights’ tournament wearing the duke’s emblem, Leonard had been confident he would beat Marquis Adrian. But when he discovered Duke Blast had made separate arrangements, anger welled up. It meant he wasn’t trusted, so he came straight here, but the look in the duke’s eyes was utterly composed.

“However, Marquis Adrian is no pushover either.”

He brought up Marquis Adrian’s skills just as he had praised Leonard’s abilities.

“Like you, he manages to gain the upper hand without cutting his opponent’s body. Rather, I judge him to be better than you as he achieves victory without inflicting wounds.”

“Are you judging based on fighting style?”

Leonard let out a hollow laugh. He too could fight without wounding his opponents. His current fighting style was merely a way to resolve boredom before meeting Marquis Adrian.

“If you want, I won’t inflict a single wound in the next match.”

Even at this question of whether that would suffice, Duke Blast slightly shook his head.

“The outcome of this bet with Marquis Adrian is very important to me right now. So I can’t rely solely on you. It’s not that your skills are lacking. It’s just that I acknowledge his skills as well, so I’m choosing a sure way to win the bet.”

“And that’s ambushing Marquis Adrian as he comes down after the main tournament?”

“I plan to wound him just enough so his right arm can’t exert force. Then you should be able to win easily.”

It came back to square one. He had rushed here to tell him not to do such things, but Duke Blast wouldn’t listen at all.

“What if I still can’t win even after that?”

Since he was going to such lengths to win, he couldn’t help but consider the possibility of losing.

“For me, it would merely crack my pride, but for you it would be different.”

Duke Blast muttered calmly.

“I’ll make sure you can never gain a foothold in politics, no matter how hard you try.”

After this answer threatening to block Leonard’s future path, Leonard turned away.

Though he had wanted to harm Marquis Adrian out of jealousy over possessing Bliss, Leonard clenched his fist at Duke Blast’s threat.

“I won’t let any of them be.”

A cruel light flashed in Leonard’s eyes as he resolved to push away everyone, including Marquis Adrian and Duke Blast.

***

Caelan’s words shook Bliss’s heart. As if enchanted, she spoke of her recent worries.

“I happened to meet the craftsman who made the necklace.”

Even without explaining which necklace, Caelan’s expression showed he understood immediately.

“He said someone else picked up the necklace after you ordered it. That you were already at the ball…”

“I was watching you.”

They had had a similar conversation before. That he had watched her, and when she showed wariness, he changed his mind and treated her kindly.

“Then who was it that received the necklace at that time?”

What Bliss wanted to ask wasn’t about Caelan. About who took the necklace then.

“Did you leave the necklace in the powder room and leave right away?”

At Bliss’s question, Caelan, recalling that time, nodded. That’s what he had been told. The person who brought the necklace focused on guarding him that day.

“Are you suspicious of him?”

“No. Rather, I was wondering if everyone knew he was from the Adrian household.”

“As he’s the captain of the household knights, more people would know him than not.”

When Caelan revealed it was the knight captain who ran the errand that day, Bliss muttered without organizing her thoughts.

“Then someone could have recognized the knight captain and entered the powder room. So when they saw the necklace, wouldn’t they have had time to do something? No, even if poison wasn’t applied, someone could have gone in and out…”

“Bliss, calm down.”

He grabbed her shoulders as he listened to her muttering.

“I’ll look into that.”

Caelan pulled Bliss’s arm and sat her on the bed.

“Any other worries?”

“…I’m worried you might get hurt fighting Viscount Jimilta.”

Having met Leonard today, Bliss was seized by even greater worry than before. Knowing how deep his feelings for her were, she couldn’t predict how he would come at Caelan. If he did more than just cutting others’ bodies as he had done until now, would Caelan be able to block it well?

“I think I can solve that too.”

When Bliss raised her head questioningly, Caelan was smiling.

“If he’s not up to my skill level, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Is the skill gap that big? Even to someone like me who doesn’t know swords well, it doesn’t seem that way…”

“You’ll see when you watch.”

Strangely, Caelan’s languid voice made Bliss feel somewhat relieved. Instead of asking why he was so confident, Bliss added words of encouragement to do well.

“But…”

Bliss was about to think Caelan’s smile seemed somewhat mischievous.

“I heard you finished the embroidery for me.”

As Bliss lost words and turned her gaze away from him, Echo’s voice was heard for the first time.

【He doesn’t seem to know how pathetic your skills are.】

‘Because I’ve never made anything for him before.’

【He’ll be surprised when he sees it directly.】

Somehow able to imagine what expression Caelan would make, Bliss gave an awkward smile.

“I’ll tell you in advance, it’s not pretty.”

“That makes me look forward to it even more.”

“Don’t say that. Really… it really looks terrible.”

Bliss shook her head and slightly distanced herself from Caelan. She did so because if she stayed close to him, she felt like she might show it to him early to warn him not to be disappointed later. She couldn’t show it now since it wasn’t finished yet.

“Since Princess Jasmin openly said you weren’t good at it, I won’t ask anymore.”

“Princess Jasmin? When? When did she say that?”

“I heard it when I ran into her by chance. She said you worked hard, even drawing pictures.”

Not only had she worked hard, she had even asked Princess Jenesha if her embroidery was really that messy.

“I heard you drew the family crest, is that right?”

“…Yes.”

She had tried to copy the wolf that symbolized the Adrian household.

“I hope the finals come quickly. Then I can receive your gift.”

It’s really too messy to call it a gift.

“You can laugh when you see it, just don’t look forward to it.”

As Bliss shook her head, Caelan’s smile deepened. He liked having conversations like this where they could look at each other comfortably.

***

From when she entered Princess Jasmin’s room until she stood before her, Bliss didn’t receive any greeting from Princess Jasmin.

“Your Highness?”

She seemed not to hear even Bliss’s greeting, and there was no response even when she openly waved her hand in front of her face. Princess Jasmin stared at the sky outside with a blank expression. Bliss looked back and forth between the princess and the sky, trying to figure out what might be there, but nothing came to mind.

“Did something happen?”

“My lady.”

Her voice was hoarse, as if she hadn’t spoken for a long time. Her demeanor was so different from usual that it was hard to know how to react. What could have happened to make the usually sharp princess act like this?

Even when asked what was wrong, she only called Bliss’s name and closed her mouth again, and unable to stand it anymore, Bliss picked up a nearby collectible.

“Is it this one today?”

“I wonder.”

“Or do you have something else in mind?”

“I can’t focus on objects right now.”

Bliss put the collectible back down and looked into Princess Jasmin’s eyes. The princess who always sparkled with excitement wondering what secrets might be hidden in objects truly seemed to have no interest at all.

“I keep thinking of someone, and I can’t concentrate. The conversation we had remains vivid, and I can still feel the sound of the wind, the smell of water.”

“Your Highness… perhaps.”

When she said a person, not an object, came to mind, there was only one possibility.

“Have you found someone you like?”

“The fan he was holding was quite pretty…”

When Princess Jasmin didn’t deny it, Bliss, curious about who it might be, sat right in front of her and asked.

“Who is it?”

“…Karhen.”

Bliss, who had been staring intently at Princess Jasmin’s lips, showed a half-dumbfounded expression as soon as she heard the name.

Count Karhen Nebula?

If she meant that person they sat with to watch the match last time…

‘Didn’t they seem to not get along then?’