Chapter 102
“Both of you…”
“Yes?”
“If you fight one more time, I’ll throw you both out.”
His voice was very firm, so Harun and I shut our mouths right away. Cedric pressed his fingers against his forehead and sighed.
“So, what is it?”
“I have something to ask. Or… more like, there’s something I need to hear.”
“Mhm.”
I groaned while closing the open window. Once it shut, silence filled the room.
“I almost got indigestion earlier, you know.”
Cedric let out a short laugh.
“It’s not a joke! Why are you laughing?” I shot a sharp look at him.
Cedric gave me a helpless smile, like telling me to calm down, and put down his documents.
“You’ll probably get angry if you hear it.”
“What is it?”
What could possibly make me angry? I had no deep ties with the Duke anyway.
Cedric stared at me, shrugged, and spoke.
“The Duke’s family is asking for a share of the dragon materials.”
“What? Those greedy thieves! Refuse them immediately! I thought they were decent people, but they’re just awful!”
Correction—there are always plenty of things to get angry about.
Wait. But how did they even know we had dragon materials?
“Don’t tell me… the news has already spread in the Empire?”
“No. That’s not it,” Harun answered quickly and explained.
The story wasn’t very long.
“…So, the first person who guessed there might be a dragon’s lair there was the Duke?”
“Yes. After that, we also leaked a little information on purpose.”
“Why would you do that?”
“So that the Duke’s family would be the first to request a deal.”
Cedric tapped his finger on the armrest.
“Dragon materials are highly desired by mages and alchemists like me. They said they helped with the discovery, so they wanted a share.”
“Hah. Ridiculous.”
I scoffed. The Duke’s family had no part in discovering the lair.
If anyone deserved the credit, it was me.
“So, are you going to give it to them?”
“Of course not. Unless it’s a fair trade.” Cedric smiled darkly.
“Good.”
I didn’t really mind. I already stored plenty of materials for Cedric’s treatment in my inventory, including the dragon’s heart we got from slaying the wyrm.
The rest belonged to Cedric anyway, so if he could use them well, it was fine.
“But really, the Duke is too much. Asking for a share when he did nothing… Want me to make sure he never dares bring it up again?”
“How would you do that?”
“Oh, so you want me to? I have a way—”
“Master, don’t fall for such talk!” Harun interrupted loudly again.
Ugh. Can’t even joke around.
Still, the share request was crossing the line. Even without the Duke’s guess, we would’ve searched the hidden passages anyway. And without me, the lair wouldn’t have been found at all.
The Duke didn’t provide soldiers, didn’t send money, nothing. All he gave us was an invitation letter and a jeweled brooch—which almost killed Cedric because it came with a cursed box.
Did someone need to throw away their conscience to become a Duke? If so, I had no desire to ever be one.
“Anyway, if you need something, just tell me,” I said.
“And if I do?”
“…I can give you about 5 grams of dragon heart.”
“How generous,” Cedric said dryly.
I nodded firmly. The Büntergarten Duchy and I were tied together. For our growth, I was ready to do anything!
I clenched my fist, burning with determination. Grow the Duchy, earn lots of money, and get revenge on the Kingdom too. So many things to do.
While I was busy with my resolve, Cedric was whispering something with Harun.
“Are you two ignoring me right now?”
“That’s not it…”
“Then tell me! I haven’t heard everything yet!”
Harun muttered, “She’s acting like we left something with her to collect later…”
That sly mutter again. Out of all his faults, I hated this the most—attacking me with quiet asides.
But this time, I wasn’t backing down.
I loudly muttered back, “Guess he wants to get kicked out again!”
Bullseye. Harun flinched like I’d stabbed him and jumped up in outrage.
Cedric looked at us, half in disbelief.
“Can’t you two go even a single day without fighting?”
“But how is this my fault? I just muttered like Harun did…”
“Master, Rita is being sly! She trails off her words on purpose to look weak!” Harun complained.
Cedric quietly listened, then suddenly walked over. He took my hand with one of his, and Harun’s with the other. Before I realized what he was doing—
“Huh?”
“Wha—?!”
Our hands were forced together. Cedric pressed them like a handshake and shook them up and down.
“Make peace.”
“No way!”
“Never!”
But Cedric ignored us and kept shaking our hands together.
Ugh, shaking hands with Harun felt like a nightmare… My will to fight vanished instantly. Cedric must’ve known this would happen—he smiled, satisfied.
“Now, while you’re making peace, listen.”
“And what could be so unpleasant that I have to hear it like this?” I grumbled.
Cedric ignored me again.
“The Duke of Aurelia has three children.”
Jeron and Viola must be two of them. But then, who was the third?
I was so deep in thought I didn’t even notice when Cedric let go of our hands. Harun quickly shook mine twice more before darting away.
He really adored Cedric. I didn’t know how deep their bond went, but it was obvious.
I watched Harun’s pathetic look—like he was saying, ‘See, Master, I followed your command!’—and sighed, then answered Cedric.
“So not just two?”
“Jeron is the eldest, Viola the youngest.”
“And the middle child?”
Oh. Wait.
I realized the truth as soon as I asked. The second child wasn’t here anymore.
That explained the missing family portrait, and why there were only two empty chairs at the lunch table.
‘That place is empty, isn’t it?’
‘…Mm. We’re waiting for something.’
The “something” the Duke mentioned was actually this second child.
Cedric slowly spoke.
“Dead… or missing.”
“…Ah.”
“The second child, Lady Eustia, disappeared when she was two years old.”
“At two?”
Parents do sometimes lose children. It wasn’t fair to only blame them—it usually happened in just a single moment of carelessness. But they would already be living in their own kind of hell because of it.
Cedric’s brows furrowed slightly.
“It happened when I was seven years old.”
For the first time, Cedric began telling me about his past.
* * *
Duchess Sienna of Aurelia and the Empress were the closest of friends.
When Imperial nobles shunned the foreign-born Empress, young Lady Sienna boldly let down her carefully styled hair and shouted, “People without manners don’t deserve to live!” The story was still famous, even now.
It was so famous that even the seven-year-old Crown Prince Cedric knew about it.
“Why doesn’t Mother write me letters?” Cedric once asked.
“If she did, she would only miss you more,” Sienna answered.
Cedric nodded bravely, but inside, he felt a little hurt.
His older brother was too busy with lessons to play with him, and the Crown Princess disliked him. That left Cedric feeling lonely.
If only his mother wrote to him, he would be a little less lonely.
But recently, the Empress’s health had worsened. Following her doctor’s advice, she had gone north to the Garten lands, because the summer heat was making her weaker.
“When will she return? When the cold wind blows?” Cedric asked.
“Am I not enough company for you?” Sienna teased.
“You’re much older than me. I need a friend!”
“Her Majesty feels the same way, you know.”
“Ugh…”
Sienna just smiled warmly at the little boy who was pouting and fuming.
