Chapter 92: Those Who Target Bliss

Along with the Emperor’s order to exercise restraint, soldiers were stationed around the Blast duchy. Though he wasn’t imprisoned since he denied everything claiming it was all a misunderstanding, he was in a position where he couldn’t take a single step outside his house.

“Because of that Caelan…”

He hadn’t liked him from the start, and now he had cornered him like this. Who knew accepting Princess Jasmin’s invitation to maintain an amicable relationship would be a trap.

Duke Blast looked at his desk with a thoroughly distorted face. This was his office where he made all major and minor decisions for the duchy, and the desk was like a symbol that only the duke could sit at.

Duke Blast had been here for over 30 years. Though the duchy had faltered at times, he had protected it with vigor in his youth and with experience as he aged.

“How could this happen to the family I’ve protected…”

Though the Emperor left him alone now due to lack of physical evidence, there was no guarantee it would stay that way. With the knight who handled his dirty work captured, the duke’s fate could change at any moment.

So it might be better for him to make the first move. There was a way. If he said he felt responsible and stepped down before admitting to everything, the Emperor wouldn’t dig deeper. He could save his life and protect the family, but there was one crucial problem.

“That boy who’s still not ready…”

Though he became the heir as the only son, he was a child who didn’t meet the duke’s standards. His abilities were insufficient to entrust the family to him with peace of mind.

“If only that boy had been half as capable as Caelan, I wouldn’t have these worries…”

That seemed to be why he disliked Caelan even more. Being around the same age but incomparably superior to his son made him jealous.

“What should I do…”

The duke leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He needed to think of another way besides passing the duke title to his son. That would be the way to maintain the duchy more firmly…

“If I can’t touch Caelan, using that woman would be best.”

Knock knock, at the sound of knocking, the duke who had been lost in thought opened his eyes.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, sir.”

It was the butler’s voice. Though slightly thinner than usual, at the familiar voice the duke clicked his tongue and tapped the armrest. He had ordered no one to enter, yet how long had it been.

“Come in.”

However, having just thought of something, he judged it was fine to let him in.

At the duke’s permission, the door opened and the butler entered with small steps.

“Bring me Caelan’s wife. If she resists, you can cut off a limb or two…”

“Your Grace.”

The butler who showed his face looked at the duke with a terrified expression. Only then did the duke notice something strange and was about to raise his upper body from the chair.

“Kuh.”

As the butler fainted with a short scream after being struck in the back of the neck, the hidden shadow revealed itself.

“Have you been well?”

“You!”

Duke Blast’s eyes widened as he looked at the figure who had entered.

“No, seeing how you’re confined here, it seems you haven’t been well.”

“Viscount Jimilta!”

Despite Duke Blast’s thunderous voice, Leonard casually looked around the office.

“You pushed me aside because I lost to Caelan, and this is what became of you? Well, being a duke doesn’t amount to much after all.”

“How dare you run that mouth.”

“Well, since you didn’t become a duke through your own power, your abilities might be lacking. What have you done besides being born into the duchy?”

“You dare to…”

“Why? Did you think the duchy has endured all this time because of your outstanding abilities?”

Leonard sat against the windowsill. Seeing the soldiers patrolling around the mansion, he smirked.

As Leonard muttered “a luxurious prison,” the duke suppressed his excitement and glared at him.

“How did you get in?”

“You mean how did I get past those soldiers?”

Leonard kindly pointed outside.

“It seems you think a mere viscount is incapable of much.”

“Answer my question.”

The duke warned Leonard in a low voice. However, instead of being intimidated, Leonard tilted his head.

“Because I seized the viscount title through my own power?”

“Stop talking nonsense and answer my ques- urgh.”

Though he had clearly been by the window, in the blink of an eye Viscount Jimilta leaped over the desk. Soon a sword was at his throat, and the duke groaned at the blade touching his neck.

“Unlike you who became duke without doing anything, I obtained my viscount title covered in blood. So how hard could it be to avoid the eyes of such soldiers?”

As Leonard leaned forward, the blade seemed to dig into his neck. The duke looked up at Leonard, terrified as his skin was cut.

“You, Duke, are the one who said you would block all my paths if I lost the finals.”

“That was just because I was angry…”

“Then you should have met me when I came to see you. If you had, we might have joined hands while planning the next move.”

Leonard spoke as if regretful. However, the sword in his grip was cutting deeper into the flesh than before.

“You asked how I got in?”

The duke tried to swallow but stopped at the sharp pain, only able to raise his eyes.

“I’m the type to break through rocks blocking my path rather than avoid them.”

As Leonard said this with a grin, the duke spoke hurriedly with a pale face.

“First put away that sword. Then I’ll listen to everything. If you want to become a count, I’ll make it happen, and if you want to become a marquis, I’ll do that too- ugh.”

The duke lost consciousness with a short scream. He stumbled forward and collapsed.

Leonard, who had cut off the duke’s words, emotionlessly shook his sword clean.

“You should have said that sooner. Then I might have been tempted…”

Looking at the duke collapsed on the desk, Leonard wiped his sword on the duke’s clothes.

“Ah, blocking my path isn’t the decisive reason for killing you.”

There were many nobles and royals besides the duke who looked down on him.

“No matter how I think about it, the reason Bliss and Caelan worked out was because of you. The ambush wasn’t much either.”

It seemed that dagger played a decisive role in connecting those two.

“I won’t kill you, but you won’t be able to get up again.”

Leonard looked down coldly at the duke who was still breathing.

“Instead, you won’t be able to touch Bliss.”

Though he had come in just to threaten but ended up taking action, he didn’t regret it. If he hadn’t heard the duke’s words while entering with the butler in front, Bliss would have been hurt.

***

“So now you’re becoming the Duchess Adrian. How does it feel?”

People glanced at the two as they conversed.

One was the most famous mistress of House Adrian these days, and the other was the mistress of a count’s family.

Everyone living in the capital knew that the Adrian marquessate was changing to a duchy.

“It still doesn’t feel real.”

The blonde woman spoke with a shy smile. Seeing her fair face flush pink, the red-haired woman laughed while fluttering her fan.

“Then I should keep calling you Duchess to make it feel real.”

“Could you call me that later?”

The blonde woman spoke in a truly embarrassed, troubled voice.

“Then shall we head to the salon, Duchess?”

“You’re not listening to me at all.”

As the blonde woman shook her head as if giving up and told her to do as she pleased, pleasant laughter swept between the two.

There was a woman secretly watching Bliss from afar.

“That woman is Caelan’s wife?”

She gave off a suspicious aura with her face deeply hidden under a coat.

“To think he brought that woman into the world…”

Bliss Bonita. She knew her face from seeing it several times. Even knowing the rumors surrounding her, to think she married Caelan.

“Instead of the stupid child, you brought in a wicked one, Caelan.”

To have such poor judgment of women.

“And you dared to look down on me.”

She recalled the boy’s wary gaze. He showed hostility as if she had stolen his mother’s place and treated her like a thief, yet he himself married a similar woman.

“The woman you chose after locking me in the tower is quite something.”

A sneer appeared on the face of Olivia, Caelan’s stepmother. In any case, she was pleased to have discovered Caelan’s weakness.

Olivia, who had peeked her head around the wall again to look at Bliss, noticed something and hurriedly pulled back. She pressed herself tightly against the wall and even held her breath, hiding from someone.

Olivia was currently being pursued. She had barely managed to find Caelan’s wife while avoiding them, but if she got caught now, all her efforts in escaping would be for nothing.

Only after soldiers quickly passed by did Olivia release her held breath. Fortunately she wasn’t discovered this time, but she couldn’t let her guard down.

“I could use that woman…”

The clicking sound of her biting her nails seemed to reveal her anxious state of mind.