Chapter 64
“Why is that?”
Seeing Julian frozen as if in a daze, the attendant asked him.
“Do you happen to know this name?”
Julian’s heart raced. He didn’t know why that girl was here, but at least the good news was that Paul Chelsning hadn’t killed her. The bad news, however, was that Tollinga might misinterpret the situation and blame Chelsning.
It was a situation ripe for misunderstanding: hiding Lina’s existence from Tollinga could easily be seen as exposing Count Chelsning’s faults.
Either an accident or someone’s scheme could spiral out of control.
Unfortunately, Lina Baker was like a blazing iron ball that had rolled into Tollinga. If she wasn’t handled carefully, Tollinga could get burned by the heat of this situation.
It was going to be a tedious and uncomfortable affair.
“Do you think so?”
Julian lied to the attendant with a calm, casual expression.
“Just investigate quietly for now. Don’t do anything to offend Count Chelsning.”
“Understood.”
The attendant bowed and left the garden.
Julian glanced back at where Hera had been. She was already walking into the mansion.
‘It couldn’t be Emilia’s doing. I guess it really is just a coincidence.’
Julian fixed his gaze on Hera’s back and bit his lip. It was still strange no matter how he thought about it.
‘Could this really be just a coincidence? Everything is happening so deliberately…’
His instincts were telling him something. The fact that the obsidian stolen from Duke Antony by Blue Rose was found in Paul Chelsning’s bedroom, and the girl’s clothes from Tollinga’s mansion were discovered in Paul’s room—these were not random occurrences.
They were definitely not the result of chance.
Yet Julian hadn’t figured out whose scheme it was or what the ultimate outcome would be. Not yet.
Hera, intending to return to the salon, stopped near the entrance when she heard voices.
The speakers were Cecilia and Olivia. It was unusual for these two, who had no particular friendship, to have a private conversation.
“Not many people come through here. It’s perfect for a private conversation.”
Indeed, aside from household members, no one used this narrow corridor to get to the salon. It was a shortcut for the family only.
Hera took a step forward but stopped. It would be too difficult to eavesdrop without being noticed.
‘I’m overhearing… this isn’t good…’
Hera leaned against the wall, looking troubled. Cecilia and Olivia, unaware that anyone was listening, began their conversation earnestly.
“Do you have something to tell me, Olivia?”
“I apologize if this is rude, but I don’t have much time, so I’ll be direct. Cecilia, your goal is to become Crown Princess, isn’t it?”
“Huh?”
The shy young lady from the marquis family poured all the courage she had into these words.
“I heard that my mother was rude to you and Emilia at Lady Hera’s memorial service. I apologize on her behalf. My mother wants me to become Crown Princess. That was decided the moment I was born, and she raised me for that purpose.”
“For a family like the Orentia Marquises, that’s natural.”
Despite the polite words, there was a trace of mockery in her tone. Olivia couldn’t fail to notice, but she wasn’t in a position to be angry. As long as she liked Julian, she was weaker than Cecilia.
Olivia clenched her dress tightly, suppressing her humiliation.
“I’m not interested in that position. If you want to be Crown Princess, I’ll support you.”
Cecilia narrowed her eyes. She had thought Olivia a naive, foolish young lady, but she knew how to negotiate. Perhaps that’s how desirable Julian was.
“For a noble lady of your rank to attend a humble baron’s tea party diligently and approach me so humbly, there must be a reason, right?”
Knowing Olivia’s intentions completely, Cecilia deliberately pressed her with questions.
“I’ll be direct as well. Olivia, do you wish to marry Julian?”
Olivia’s cheeks flushed red.
“…If Cecilia likes me, I suppose it isn’t impossible.”
It was a humiliatingly low stance. Cecilia barely held back a laugh.
A marquis’s daughter in love with the eldest son of Tollinga, who wasn’t even treated properly as a noble. Ridiculous and childish. She wanted to storm the Orentia mansion immediately to show how humiliating it was for the young lady to beg for such a thing. She wanted to see the outrage of noble people with her own eyes.
“Actually…”
But Cecilia thought of something more important than fleeting pleasure: how to use Olivia’s feelings to her advantage.
“Julian listens more to Emilia than to me. Their relationship… it’s not like siblings; it’s closer to absolute trust. So it would be far more effective for you to help resolve Emilia’s troubles rather than mine.”
The sudden mention of a third party confused Olivia. She had assumed that Cecilia and Julian were the most influential in the Tollinga household, but Emilia was apparently far more important to him. Olivia felt bewildered.
“Emilia’s troubles… what kind?”
“Similar to yours. My father tries to marry my sister off without her consent.”
“Could it be… Duke Laurent?”
Cecilia smiled.
“Didn’t you notice how difficult it was for her to answer Julian’s question about her happiness?”
“I never imagined… I thought they truly cared for each other…”
“That’s gossip for you. It’s exaggerated and restricts people’s freedom.”
Cecilia stepped closer, reducing the distance between herself and Olivia. Olivia’s pupils dilated. Cecilia spoke gently, almost hypnotically.
“So I’m offering advice only I can give. Olivia, we fear our fathers and cannot defy them. But my sister no longer wishes to be tied to Duke Laurent.”
Cecilia’s hand rose subtly, indicating just a tiny action. Olivia focused on the gesture, thinking it wasn’t that difficult.
“If, at such a time, Olivia could lend a little help to my sister, both my sister and I would be truly grateful to you.”
“What kind of help do you mean?”
“Do you think I’d ask for something difficult?”
Cecilia’s frustration with Merriot Laurent had reached its limit. She wanted him erased from existence. But Julian only told her to wait, and her sister seemed to be giving her heart to Merriot more each day. Time was running out.
“Just… just this. Make it impossible for the marriage to happen.”
A cruel glint appeared in Cecilia’s eyes.
“For example, the duke’s limbs being too stiff to proceed with the wedding.”
“Th-That…”
Olivia panicked, trying to push Cecilia away. Asking to harm the duke, a person, couldn’t be part of a deal. She had never thought of herself as someone who would hurt another.
“Tollinga people always repay debts. I’m showing you a way to rightfully become part of this household. You want Julian, don’t you?”
“C-Cecilia… I… I can’t…”
Seeing Olivia’s confusion, Cecilia pressed on. She wasn’t going to let Olivia’s wavering between injustice and greed escape her notice.
“Listen carefully. Our family has developed a poison. It won’t be fatal, only temporarily paralyzes limbs, like being bitten by a venomous snake or scorpion. It’s colorless and odorless, so it will never be detected.”
“It won’t… kill him?”
“No. It’s not even really a poison. It’s difficult to approach Duke Laurent directly because, as a Tollinga, he suspects everything first.”
“You should… let Emilia do it…”
“Olivia.”
Olivia’s polite refusal, bringing up Emilia, made Cecilia’s eyes instantly cold. She tilted her mouth in a crooked smile.
“My sister’s situation is different from yours. You’re the one being greedy; why should she dirty her hands?”
“Cecilia…”
Olivia realized Cecilia’s eyes were burning. It was an insult no marquis’s daughter should tolerate, but more than that, she only thought of escaping Cecilia’s range. She feared being consumed by her fire.
At that moment, a loud crash came from behind the wall, as if something had fallen.
“…!”
