Chapter 80
“My name…? Pardon? My name?”
When I looked at Baerick, he shifted his eyes back and forth.
That meant he didn’t know anything.
So, was the request made to another guild? Who was it that asked for me to be killed?
The surprise that had jolted me calmed quickly.
Considering all the evils Adrian had committed up until now, it would be stranger if there wasn’t anyone harboring murderous intent toward him.
Leonhart crossed the study and glanced out the window.
“Has anything unusual happened recently? Perhaps you’ve noticed strangers nearby, or felt like you were being followed. Even something trivial is fine.”
“I… don’t think so. I haven’t really paid attention.”
“Have the trees near the mansion—those that someone could climb—either relocated or cut down. Keep the curtains drawn for the time being as well.”
“All right.”
“Request protection from the Imperial Family, and take knights with you when you go out. They won’t attack in broad daylight, but it’s best to be cautious.”
Leonhart surveyed the study again.
Only after carefully drawing every curtain did he point toward Baerick.
“Who is he?”
“He’s a suitor candidate.”
Leonhart’s gaze toward Baerick turned sharp as a blade.
Why does he look so displeased? Surely, he hasn’t figured out who Baerick really is.
“Have you verified his identity?”
“Someone of uncertain status could never have been selected in the first place.”
“Show me his application.”
Without asking, Leonhart snatched up the application and examined it.
“Baerick Thompson?”
“Y-Yes, Your Highness!”
“This portrait is supposed to be you?”
“T-That is… I… I wanted to look good in front of the Duke, so I embellished it a little. I-I apologize…”
“This isn’t embellishment. This looks like a completely different person.”
Before Leonhart could dig deeper, I quickly snatched the papers away.
“Your Highness, who nowadays draws portraits as they are and then treats people like criminals for it?”
“I paint as they are.”
Yes, but that’s because no canvas can capture how outrageously good-looking you are!
“Other people aren’t like you. Stop interfering and go back, please.”
“Are you saying I’m interfering?”
“What else would you call it? You’ve frightened my suitor candidate!”
I deliberately raised my voice and shot Baerick a look to leave.
He meekly rose with a downcast face.
“Um… Duke, I should probably get going.”
“Viscount Thompson, the meeting isn’t even over. Where do you think you’re going?”
“N-No. I just… I’m sorry! I’ll give up on the engagement!”
Pretending to be frightened, Baerick bolted from the room.
His acting’s not bad.
Having gotten Baerick away from Leonhart, I felt a wave of relief.
I moved to the sofa, much more at ease.
“Since you’re here, please sit. I’ll bring you some tea.”
Leonhart let out a short, incredulous laugh.
“Just a moment ago you said I was in the way… Is that affliction surfacing again?”
“Affliction?”
“Split personality.”
“…I’ve told you. I’m completely normal.”
“Did your physician say that?”
“Yes.”
“Then he’s a quack. Fire him.”
“Haa… Just sit down already. I want to ask you something.”
“I don’t know who requested your assassination. I’ve only just begun to decode things… But let me say in advance, it wasn’t me.”
“That’s not what I want to know.”
“What, then…?”
“Why did you come running the instant you heard my name? I really want to hear that reason. In great detail.”
“……”
Leonhart walked straight out of the study.
“…Huh? He really just left?”
I had acted nonchalant to make him leave quickly, but I hadn’t expected such outright rejection.
After Leonhart left, the butler entered with a grim face.
“Milord, is what His Highness the Third Prince said true? That you have become an assassin’s target?”
“So it seems.”
“Then we can’t sit idly by. Excuse me for a moment.”
The butler immediately went into full security mode, conducting a sweeping inspection of the estate.
Every servant was accounted for, and all temporary workers were dismissed on the spot.
Every tree near the mansion that could be climbed was ordered cut down, and all window locks replaced with new ones.
Finally, a mage was hired to cast alarm wards around the entire mansion, and half the day was gone before it was done.
“I’ve formally requested protection from the Imperial Family. I demanded no fewer than one entire knight order be dispatched, so you may rest assured.”
“Mm…”
Knights, really. Even if assassins came, they couldn’t lay a finger on me.
I changed the subject.
“How did I first meet Piace? Butler, do you remember?”
“I believe you met Lady Piace during a chance visit to an orphanage, milord. Why do you ask?”
“Just… it strikes me as too coincidental.”
The butler seemed completely unaware.
He didn’t even know Adrian had hired a detective to track Piace down.
For now, I’ll just have to wait until Baerick brings back information about Adrian.
While sipping tea and mapping out plans, the butler quietly asked,
“By the way, have you decided who it will be?”
“Who?”
“Your engagement, milord.”
“Ah…”
Right, I had been in the middle of meeting suitor candidates.
With all these shocking incidents, I had nearly forgotten.
“There were four of them total, right?”
“Yes.”
“No late arrivals?”
“None.”
So that leaves me with the mama’s boy?
…No. Absolutely not. Even if it’s a sham engagement, I can’t do that.
“I’ll have to recruit new suitors.”
“I hesitate to say this, but… there may not be any applicants.”
“Why not?”
“His Highness the Third Prince visited just now, did he not? That will likely have a negative effect on recruitment.”
“The Prince came for another matter. What does that have to do with my engagement? Announce the second round of suitor recruitment tomorrow.”
The butler hesitated a moment but then answered loyally,
“Understood.”
The next day.
I finally understood what the butler meant.
Rumors spread like wildfire across the capital that Leonhart had barged into my mansion and brandished a sword in front of my suitor candidates.
Still, surely there’ll be applicants. We’re talking about the fiancée of a Duke, after all.
I tried to dispel the ominous feeling while sipping tea in the drawing room.
That was when the very source of this mess appeared before me. I could only blink in dumbfounded silence.
“First thing in the morning… what brings you here?”
“Have you requested personal protection from the Imperial Family?”
Leonhart swept back his hair as he asked.
“You told me to, didn’t you? Why do you ask?”
“It’s me.”
“…What?”
“I mean I was dispatched in place of the knight order, to take responsibility for your protection.”
“Whaaat?!”
Of course, Leonhart was more than capable of doing the work of an entire order of knights.
But still, for a royal prince to be assigned to protect a noble? When had such a thing ever happened?
“What are you talking about? Why would Your Highness protect me?”
“His Majesty said so. He asked, how could a lover not be worried when in danger? He granted me special permission to stay by your side and protect you to my heart’s content.”
“You shouldn’t have just gone along with it! You should’ve explained the truth! We’re not anything like that!”
“Do you think I didn’t? I told him again and again!”
“Then you should’ve persuaded him! Don’t you know what rumors are spreading through the capital right now? People are saying you scared off all my suitor candidates!”
“I know! But His Majesty won’t listen at all—what else could I do?!”
“Ah…”
Once again, the Emperor’s chronic problem—immersing himself in his own delusions and never listening to others—was the root cause.
“Sigh…”
Leonhart let out a deep breath and sank onto the sofa.
The butler, who had been standing quietly like a shadow in the corner, quickly approached.
“Your Highness, have you eaten?”
“I have.”
“Then I’ll prepare some tea.”
The butler swiftly brought tea.
He seemed rather pleased by this situation of Leonhart being dispatched instead of a knight order.
A gentle smile lingered at the corners of his lips.
“The weather is hot, so I prepared iced tea. I hope it suits your taste. Please, enjoy your time together.”
“……”
Leonhart shot the butler a frosty glare, as if to say, How can you spout such nonsense with a straight face?
But the butler remained unfazed.
After politely bowing to the prince radiating murderous aura, he withdrew.
At times like this, I realized my butler had quite a bit of nerve himself.
Leonhart drank down the iced tea as though his throat was parched.
His Adam’s apple bobbed heavily up and down.
“I didn’t intend for it to happen this way… but I’ll apologize anyway.”
“Unless you’re the one who ordered my assassination, the Duke has nothing to apologize for.”
“Still, you’ve been forced into something you never wanted because of me. Having to guard someone you’d rather not even be near… You have every right to be angry.”
