| Chapter 16

He could forcibly remove it if he applied strength, but the small hand stained with dirt looked so pitiful that it made him question himself whether there was a need to be so heartless. Remembering how she had rushed to him like a child, bursting into tears and clinging to him, Lars swallowed a faint sigh.

Kirhin had to try hard to hide his emerging smile as he watched Lars pick up the girl without a word.

The room Nina guided them to wasn’t large, but everything was neatly managed. After laying Lucienne down on the antique bed and trying to get up, Lars paused. His clothes were still held in Lucienne’s hand.

That small hand exuded a kind of desperation beyond persistence. After briefly looking at her pale face and the dark red, raw skin on her neck, Lars carefully took off his heavy cloak so as not to wake her and covered her with it like a blanket.

Kirhin, who had been grinning at the door, couldn’t hold back and opened his mouth again.

“I really couldn’t have imagined Your Highness would have such a caring side…”

“Never again.”

At the voice that had sunk like frost, Kirhin froze with his smiling face. Lars was looking directly at him.

“Call me by that title.”

Feeling a chill as if a well-sharpened blade was touching the tip of his neck, Kirhin held his breath. Only after seeing Lars turn his gaze away did he let out his held breath and touch around his neck. Soon, feeling wronged, Kirhin lowered his voice as carefully as possible.

“Then what on earth should I call you? Give me a proper name.”

“Anything will do.”

“Larry?”

Knowing that Kirhin’s tension barely lasted more than a few seconds, Lars had been patient for a long time. But this was someone who would dance to the top of his head if indulged quietly. Seeing Lars’ hand, which had smiled faintly, going to his waist where a dagger was hanging, Kirhin quickly clapped his hands.

“It would be good to borrow the name of my friend Damian Winton. The youngest of the Winton baron family. That friend has a stubborn personality, dislikes complications, and loves academic research, so he rarely comes out of the house. He doesn’t even go to social gatherings, and even his studies are done through private tutoring rather than at the academy, so not many people know his face. Moreover, he recently went to the countryside for recuperation due to poor health. We don’t know when he’ll return.”

Still, Kirhin could come up with quite useful thoughts when he felt his life was threatened. Lars removed some of the fierce killing intent from his eyes and nodded.

“Tell me what happened in prison.”

“Ah, well, when I arrived, Lucy had already made a noose with her skirt on the candlestick holder and had her neck in it. If I had been a little later, I might have only met her in the afterlife.”

As he began his story, Kirhin watched Lars’s reaction. He was dying of curiosity about how on earth Lucienne knew this terrifying person. Promising himself to ask her as soon as she woke up in the morning, he finished his explanation quite coherently.

“So I had no choice but to show a somewhat heroic side. It must have been an unforgettable night for Lucy. She seemed so impressed by my appearance that she said she thought an angel had descended. I, the young master of the Bickman family who has given many women unforgettable nights, can’t imagine how shocked Lucy must have been, never having seen such a handsome man in her life…”

Kirhin, who had been shaking his head with satisfaction, paused. He felt Lars looking at him with an expression of contempt, arms crossed.

It was then that Kirhin realized Lucienne had seen the man before him.

…Damn. I thought she hesitated briefly before saying ‘angel’ because she was trying to recall the word!

Frowning at the feeling of being deceived, Lars raised the corners of his mouth.

“Why? Go on. I’m exercising patience to listen for once.”

“I have a question.”

Seeing Lars’s arrogant eyebrow twitch readily, Kirhin cleared his throat with an ‘ahem’ and asked.

“Actually, I don’t think Your, no, the lord would have gone through such trouble for my father’s honor. Is Lucy perhaps the reason I had to have my behind kicked in the middle of the night?”

As another contemptuous look flew his way, Kirhin wrinkled his nose bridge. Lars suddenly put his finger under his tall nose bridge, furrowing his brow and gesturing.

“The stench is rudely strong. Why don’t you disappear to the bathroom before your behind gets kicked again?”

He knew he wouldn’t get a proper answer, but he didn’t expect such an insult. Kirhin smiled, glancing at Lucienne who was sound asleep wrapped in his blanket-like cloak.

“Ah, it seems Lord Winton’s nose is blessed with the ability to selectively smell only the stench of people he wants. The source of an even worse stench is right there… Well then, I’ll be going now!”

This time, Kirhin saw the dagger half-drawn with a swish and hurriedly shouted as he fled.

Lars, left in the silence, shook his head soundlessly. Among Kirhin’s various talents, the greatest ability was undoubtedly making him tired.

After checking the window and brazier and taking out his pocket watch once from inside his clothes, he sensed a presence. When he turned his head, Yanken in black clothes had appeared with the wind.

Yanken frowned as soon as he arrived, seeing Lucienne covered with Lars’s cloak. He wasn’t one to have many expressions, but he wasn’t the type to hide his hostility either. Raising an eyebrow, Lars sat in the chair next to the bed.

“If you want to scare her, do it when she’s awake. How did it go?”

Yanken opened his mouth without taking his threatening gaze off the sleeping Lucienne.

“There was someone who bribed Mrs. Almon to leave the house. A merchant who frequents the herb shop, apparently one who mainly imports goods from Freemont.”

Lars snorted with a ‘hmm’ and his brow rose sharply.

“She doesn’t seem like a woman who would trust people enough to readily leave her house just because a guest handed over some money.”

“Apparently, they were occasional bedmates. The merchant said if he liked a night with that child, he would pay a large sum and take her away.”

In short, they were trying to sell off Lucienne. Openly showing his displeasure, Lars rubbed his forehead.

“The merchant?”

“It seems he’s already left Edmus by ship. I’ve handed Mrs. Almon over to the guard for now. If left alone, she would have been dealt with by the Count someday.”

Lars held back a laugh at Yanken’s words. With the Count’s pawns in the guard as well, there was a high chance Mrs. Almon wouldn’t come out alive.

The scapegoat the Count had his eye on to quickly wrap up this poisoning incident was none other than the one we pulled out of the Bickman house. With insufficient time to find someone else, he will likely cut the throat of the next most suitable scapegoat as soon as possible.

Of course, along with the throat of the woodcutter who was Mrs. Almon’s alibi.

“Anyway, this incident won’t reveal Balshwin. We should focus on the deal with Freemont too.”

Watching Lars speak in an indifferent tone, Yanken asked.

“Can Kirhin do it? He seems quite unreliable in many aspects.”

“The baron was terrible in that regard too, so not much has changed for us.”

Lars retorted sharply as he crossed his arms.

The Duchy of Freemont was once a territory ruled by Duke Freemont, but later the Duke, who had grown in power, opposed the king and declared independence.

The king lost many things in that war, but the greatest loss could be said to be the tribute that was paid annually from the duchy. That place was rich in all kinds of resources, and because it served as a trade route with a port convenient for passing through when coming to Edmus from other countries, it had many rare and precious items.

Even now, whoever becomes the king of Edmus always dreams of reincorporating Freemont back into Edmus. And that dream might be possible this time. Because recently, the political situation in Freemont has not been stable.

Generally, the stability of royal authority comes from two things: securing a successor who inherits legitimacy and appropriate distribution of power among the noble vassals. Unfortunately, the Duchy of Freemont currently had problems with both of these.

It started with a plague. Due to its location characteristics where many foreigners come and go, diseases often spread in Freemont. Because they were in the process of laying the foundations of the country, the king personally took care of the people along with the princes, but sadly, they all fell ill.

Only the queen and the youngest prince, who had the weakest constitution, survived.

Because the youngest prince was only six years old, Freemont I planned to marry the queen to the younger brother of his loyal retainer, Marquis Duncan, before he died to protect them.

The Marquis had no objections, but his brother was different. He had a woman he was promised to marry, and moreover, that woman was the eldest daughter of Count Alta, another noble family.

Although the Alta family was lower in rank compared to Duncan, unlike the Duncan family which gained their position solely through war, they were a widely known family even when they were in Edmus. Therefore, that marriage was supported by both families.