Chapter 89
Lunch was prepared quickly.
Lunch was usually simpler compared to dinner, and with the servants tense over the Grand Duke’s appearance, they moved more busily than usual, so the preparation time was significantly reduced.
The conversation during lunch was led by Lucas and Baratheon.
Lucas informed the Grand Duke of how well I was managing as the lord of Devon, while Baratheon rattled off other everyday matters.
From my perspective, Baratheon’s topics were much more comfortable to respond to.
Every time Lucas praised me as an extraordinary lord, I felt embarrassed and awkward, unable to lift my head properly.
Driving out the local vassal forces, selecting new bureaucrats, purifying the salt-affected land to create farmland, leading the establishment of management plans for the territory, providing excellent food for the residents…
‘All the things I did, deliberately risking ruin for the territory, are now being packaged as achievements of a remarkable lord.’
It was an ironic situation, and I couldn’t help but chuckle every time Lucas spoke.
To avoid uncomfortable topics, I actively responded to Baratheon’s words.
It seemed to work well, as the lunch conversation gradually shifted to focus mainly on Baratheon’s trivial stories.
While he was talking about events in the capital, the story even reached the point that the Emperor had tried to match me with Roaz.
“Really?”
“Is that true?”
For the first time, the Grand Duke and Lucas, who had been quietly listening to Baratheon, asked me directly.
‘Well, I can understand the Grand Duke’s reaction.’
“Lucas didn’t know either?”
“Wait, you didn’t know either?”
Baratheon and I widened our eyes and looked at Lucas simultaneously.
“I didn’t know.”
Lucas, receiving our collective gaze, slumped his shoulders in exasperation.
“No one told me. They just said the title approval went smoothly, nothing else was mentioned.”
Thinking back, that was true. After all the commotion in the capital, once we returned to Devon, the topic had completely slipped my mind. So Lucas, who hadn’t been there, wouldn’t have known at all.
“I just forgot to mention it.”
“How could you forget something so important?”
While Lucas expressed his frustration, the Grand Duke continued staring at me. He was probably waiting for my answer to his earlier question, “Really?”
I nodded and honestly shared my thoughts at the moment.
“The Emperor didn’t say it directly, but it seemed he hoped for it subtly. He deliberately invited Prince Roaz to the meeting where I was present.”
“Roaz… that’s the second prince, right?”
“Yes.”
The Grand Duke frowned for a moment, as if recalling Roaz’s face, then roughly set down his utensils.
“Trying to match such an incompetent boy with my granddaughter… I must give the Emperor a proper scolding to make him realize his mistake.”
I quickly interpreted his words in my mind:
Incompetent boy = second prince
One to be scolded = Emperor
‘Wait… is it really okay to say that out loud…?’
Anyone overhearing could accuse him of insulting the royal family.
But once again, neither the Grand Duke nor his three sons seemed to care.
“That’s right. If it’s Danae’s match, he should be smarter. That second one is just too foolish, isn’t he?”
“Roaz is foolish?”
Though I had no intention of marrying Roaz, he was still my friend. Watching someone call my friend foolish violated the laws of friendship.
“Roaz is just a normally kind boy of the same age…”
When I timidly defended Roaz, Lucas immediately shot back with a precise rebuttal.
“But remember, the last time we met, when I asked him about the proof of utility of irregular sets according to multi-dimensional theory and cross-validation of cases, he couldn’t say a word. I read that at eight years old.”
“….”
‘You little…’
Who else reads that at eight…?
I was flabbergasted, my mouth hanging open, and Sishe shrugged as if to say, “See?”
“I told you, Lucas would only be satisfied if he brought someone smarter than himself.”
As Sishe whispered this, the Grand Duke spoke again.
“His family is pathetic.”
“…But he’s from the royal family.”
“They lack dignity.”
“…So he’s from the royal family?”
The Grand Duke openly denounced the royal family as “pathetic and lacking dignity.”
This time, not only I but the three brothers also gaped in shock.
“Wow, the royal family is pathetic? Didn’t see that coming.”
Sishe shook his head as if dismayed, and Lucas and Baratheon nodded vigorously in agreement.
‘So, what now?’
In summary:
My partner must be better-looking than Sishe, stronger than Theon, smarter than Lucas, and from a family more dignified than the royal family.
Does such a person even exist?
‘Even if they do, they probably aren’t human. That’s certain.’
I sighed deeply at the thought, and Baratheon cleared his throat to regain his voice.
“Now that lunch is mostly over, shall we have dessert?”
“Dessert?”
Lucas tilted his head in confusion at Baratheon’s suggestion.
“Theon, you usually don’t eat dessert. You don’t like feeling heavy.”
“What? When did I say that? I’m a dessert killer! Right, Sishe?”
Baratheon hurriedly sought Sishe’s agreement, but Sishe was not one to side with him easily.
“Nope. First time hearing that.”
Looking briefly resentful at his honest younger brother, Baratheon cleared his throat noisily again.
“Well, it’s nothing… I was just thinking of eating the cake we received recently.”
“Are you talking about the cake from your birthday? You haven’t eaten it yet? If you save it too long, it’ll go bad.”
Sishe clicked his tongue, unimpressed, and Baratheon snorted in disbelief.
“Go bad if saved? You’ve even cast preservation magic on the cake!”
“Excuse me? Preservation magic on the cake?”
I widened my eyes in surprise, and Sishe subtly averted his gaze.
“…Nope.”
“I saw it! In your room.”
“What? When did you even go in my room? Don’t you know what privacy is?”
“Oh, it’s not like it’s a big deal.”
Watching the twins bicker, the Grand Duke stared, and Lucas stepped in to explain.
“For our birthdays, during the pre-celebration dinner, Danae prepared a party. We each received a cake with our names on it.”
“…A cake with our names? Danae did that?”
“Yes. During the party, she handed out cakes to the servants, but these two seem to have kept theirs.”
I recalled it.
Lucas, drunk from the forcibly fed alcohol by Baratheon, had wandered around the mansion distributing cakes.
‘I remember struggling to stop him as he tried giving cakes to the horses in the stable while sniffling.’
Seeing my nostalgic expression, Lucas cleared his throat and stood up suddenly.
“Let’s eat the birthday cake with Theon’s name. I’ll bring it.”
As we finished lunch by sharing Baratheon’s named cake, Lucas requested a private talk with the Grand Duke.
The Grand Duke accepted, and the two left first. I, claiming I had work, left the dining room and headed to my room.
‘I should tie a red ribbon on the window before I forget.’
The connected dress room had hair ribbons in various colors.
Red stood out prominently, so I easily found the one I needed.
I tied the red ribbon firmly to the hook outside the window, and the long strand fluttered lightly in the wind.
It was a clear marker visible from afar.
‘Where on earth has he gone?’
Blanche was a born troublemaker; I worried she might have gotten into trouble again.
‘Could the beast have appeared again?’
She had left without a word when the beast had appeared before.
‘No, that’s not it.’
I quickly dismissed that theory.
‘If that were the case, the Grand Duke wouldn’t have come to meet his granddaughter so calmly.’
With the only hypothesis gone, my mind felt empty.
‘Well, even someone who fought the Demon King wouldn’t get into serious trouble, right?’
It was a worry with no solution anyway.
‘Since I put up the marker, he’ll come here by nightfall.’
I checked once more that the ribbon was tied firmly and closed the window.
