Chapter 69
“What is this? What do you want now?”
At the salon entrance, Merriot couldn’t hide his frayed patience.
With an irritated gesture, he turned his body toward Cecilia and Jeff.
“I have something important to discuss.”
When Jeff said this, Cecilia, standing beside him, nudged him with her elbow.
“Me too. Step aside.”
“I’m more important, you know?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Watching the two bicker, Merriot’s brows naturally furrowed.
Clicking his tongue, he spoke to both of them at once:
“Both of you, come in.”
It was better to deal with nuisances all at once.
Merriot flopped onto the salon sofa, crossing his arms and legs.
Seeing him sitting more comfortably than the house’s owner made Cecilia wince.
Merriot surveyed Cecilia and Jeff standing before him before speaking.
They were still immature children.
He could read exactly what they were thinking.
“Can’t say these things in front of Emilia Tollin, huh? Your secrets aren’t exactly impressive, so just say it all here at once. Don’t be bothersome.”
What an obnoxious man.
Cecilia cursed Merriot in her mind but spoke before Jeff could.
“I heard that today’s engagement won’t happen. I’m curious if it’s true. I’m also a little worried you might pull a sudden surprise.”
“Just because the second daughter of the Tollins uses honorifics doesn’t mean everything she says is polite.”
“Answer me.”
Cecilia had never expected much from the Tollin sisters, but she was very different from her own elder sister.
Rather than being simple or impulsive, there was a sense of disdain in everything she said and did.
It was particularly noticeable when dealing with Merriot.
Why?
Merriot studied Cecilia as if trying to peek into her mind but couldn’t find a suitable answer.
He let out a small sigh and gave the answer she wanted.
“…Yes. I’ll announce it myself, in front of everyone. Does that answer your question?”
“So you won’t be involved with your sister at all now?”
“I sincerely hope so.”
Cecilia narrowed her eyes.
She couldn’t trust someone who claimed sincerity.
Especially a man like Merriot.
But for now, she had to be satisfied with his repeated assurance that the scandal would end.
After all, once an official announcement was made at an important event like the royal ballroom, it was hard to undo.
Merriot then turned his gaze away from Cecilia, who was thoughtfully pondering something, and pointed at Jeff with his finger.
He wanted to get through the troublesome matters quickly.
“Next, you.”
Jeff spoke seriously.
“What will you do about Lina?”
As if leaving it entirely to him.
Merriot couldn’t help but chuckle dryly.
The first time he handled Lina Baker’s matter was purely because Hera wanted it resolved.
If Lina’s true identity hadn’t been so significant, exposing Paul Chelsning’s crimes wouldn’t have helped Merriot at all.
Still, he agreed that a bastard like Paul Chelsning shouldn’t live a comfortable life.
‘Who gave you the right to order me around?’
Yet resolving Lina’s situation was not Merriot’s duty.
Merriot especially hated being told what to do by anyone.
Perhaps the kingly blood running through him instinctively rejected it.
So Merriot deliberately didn’t give Jeff the answer he wanted.
“The man dealing illegitimate children at Under Bridge has already been sent elsewhere. Nothing like that will happen at Under Bridge again. Isn’t that enough? What more do you want me to solve?”
“I’m asking if you’ll just leave the noble who abused Lina alone.”
“Why ask me? What business is it of mine?”
“He’s a beast who tortured and abused children for fun. Isn’t it something a duke of this country should be angry about?”
“I’ll handle my own emotions. Do you even know who the guilty party is?”
“Paul Chelsning.”
“…!”
Merriot was honestly surprised when the correct answer came from Jeff.
The more he thought about this Jeff, the more peculiar he seemed.
There were too many aspects of him that didn’t fit the image of a person from the slums.
A sharp mind, a handsome face, natural etiquette, well-dressed, and literate—how could a slum-born person have all that?
If someone told him about a person like this, he would have called it nonsense.
Merriot had found this man irritating from the start.
“I’ve done my own investigation as well.”
“Then solve it yourself if you can.”
“You speak as if it’s easy to solve.”
Jeff’s rebellious attitude was different from Cecilia’s.
If Cecilia’s attitude was rooted in hatred, Jeff’s was a more intimate defiance.
He lacked the instinctive fear that non-nobles usually felt when interacting with nobles.
As if this place naturally belonged to him.
‘Annoying in every way,’ Merriot thought, tilting his head and sinking into the sofa.
He looked at Jeff as if to say, “Say what you want.”
After today, there would be no more encounters with anyone related to Emilia Tollin.
He could tolerate a few more minutes of insolence.
“If a noble kills a commoner, they give a plausible excuse and it’s forgotten. If a commoner kills a noble, they make an example of it brutally.”
Jeff was ready to dance on whatever stage was set.
He looked straight at Merriot.
“When a commoner kills another commoner, it becomes cheap entertainment for nobles. But when nobles fight each other, it becomes suffering for all nobles.”
Jeff seemed to be holding Merriot accountable.
As if delivering a sermon.
Merriot rose to meet him eye-to-eye.
“So, if I, a noble, report Paul Chelsning, another noble, does that satisfy you? Is that what you call solving it?”
“Already uncomfortable? You expect a commoner to watch the nobles fight?”
“Yes, uncomfortable. It’s extremely irritating when someone who can’t help at all dares to boss me around.”
The phrase “someone who can’t help at all” shut Jeff’s mouth tight.
It hit his core, and anger surged.
He wasn’t cowardly, unable to act—he simply had no means.
There was no way for a commoner to voice injustice.
A world deaf to the suffering of the poor—this was the despair Jeff felt living at Under Bridge.
So asking a duke, someone far more important than a poor boy, for help was humiliating but inevitable.
At least the world would listen to him.
“Your Grace?”
At that moment, Hera appeared in the salon.
Unlike before, her hair was now half-tied up.
It was a style Mary, the maid, had devised to buy more time.
Although a forced style, it actually suited Hera’s face better.
Dressed more gorgeously than usual, Hera was more beautiful than Merriot had imagined.
So much so that he found it hard to look anywhere else.
“The atmosphere…”
Hera couldn’t understand Merriot’s thoughts, only that the tension between him and Jeff was intense.
“Is something wrong? Jeff, are you okay?”
Her worried eyes went straight to Jeff without hesitation.
To Hera, Jeff was still a boy in need of care, naturally.
She approached him, ignoring Merriot, and gently stroked his back.
As if worried he had been mistreated by Merriot.
“…Does Emilia Tollin normally touch men so casually?”
Merriot’s astonishment was written all over his face.
With the partner for the ball right in front of him, what Emilia Tollin did was infuriating.
He twisted one side of his face and let out something resembling laughter.
Hera couldn’t understand why he was upset.
In fact, she didn’t want to.
If he was jealous of Jeff, much younger than her, he was indeed petty.
Seeing no point in arguing further, Hera spoke firmly to Merriot.
“He’s still a child who needs protection.”
“A child? Who’s the child?”
Merriot’s expression grew even more incredulous at her reply.
