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Chapter 77
Kieran's eyes narrowed to slits.
Chesa didn't forget to mention something else either.
"And he left without even taking off his hat, the scoundrel."
Kieran remembered perfectly well the incident where Ishuel had thrown a fit, insisting that clothes had been given to another family.
He nodded slowly, then asked Chesa in a measured voice.
"Shall I kill him?"
"No, don't."
I'd like nothing more, but House of Basilian had a social standing to maintain.
Committing murder publicly would be problematic.
Especially since I'd already sent Count Rudin away once before.
"Just give him something... appropriate."
"Hmm..."
It was just as Kieran let out a troubled sigh, as if genuinely struggling with the request.
Marquis Milton, who had been listening plainly to the father and daughter's whispered conversation, asked incredulously.
"What are you doing right now?"
The Marquis ‌‌widened his eyes as he spoke.
"Wasn't this gathering arranged for you to make a good impression on me? You shouldn't be acting like this."
"Ah, of course, that was the intention."
Kieran replied with an awkward laugh.
"But it's rather difficult to ‌‌‌impress someone who's ‌‌‌failed at raising their ‌‌‌‌own child. Shall we just forget this happened?"
"What?"
Marquis Milton bellowed indignantly.
Right on cue, his son also shrieked in response.
"It's them! They're the ones who spilled juice on me!"
Ishuel shot back with a crooked smile.
"Let's be accurate ‌‌‌‌about this. You spilled it first."
"That was an accident! But you used magic on top of it!"
"That was ‌also an accident."
Ishuel needled the ranting boy with the same tone as Kieran, deliberately provoking ‌‌‌him.
"I've only ‌‌‌recently begun learning magic, you see, so my skills are still clumsy. I make mistakes quite often."
"Argh! You insolent brat!"
The ‌‌Marquis's son screamed ‌with his face flushed crimson, ‌‌thrashing ‌‌‌about wildly.
He had never encountered anyone who treated him with such arrogance before—only people who had always fawned over him—so his tantrum grew all the more severe.
The Marquis's wife tried to embrace and soothe the boy, but it was futile.
Watching the boy shriek with an ear-splitting voice, Kieran said something peculiar.
"Quite the loud little lark, isn't he."
"...Pardon?"
"My baby bird must find this noise bothersome."
"..."
Where on earth she'd picked up ‌‌‌such strange words was anyone's guess.
After the mental assault, I found myself exhausted, my ‌‌face growing weary as I chattered on.
"Please don't do that...."
"A lark? Or ‌‌‌a baby bird?"
"Both...."
Kieran chuckled at my obvious displeasure.
As we exchanged ‌‌‌‌playful banter, Marquis Milton came charging forward with a huff.
"Apologize, Count! If ‌‌‌you apologize now, I'll let this matter drop."
"What exactly should I apologize for? From what I hear, it seems both ‌‌‌parties made mistakes."
"Count! You're taking the word ‌of children? Mere infants who can't even discern right from wrong?"
"By that ‌‌‌logic, your ‌son is ‌‌no different, Marquis."
"Your child is an adopted ‌‌‌‌orphan from the Orphanage, is he not? A child of unknown bloodline, yet you believe every word he says...."
Marquis Milton ‌‌‌even clicked his tongue, as if I ‌‌were utterly foolish.
Kieran, who had been parrying the Marquis's words playfully until now, fell silent for a ‌‌‌moment.
Then he stared directly ‌‌at Marquis Milton.
Those crimson eyes were ‌difficult to meet for long.
In that instant, as ‌the Marquis swallowed hard, his throat bobbing,
a faint smile played at the corners of his long eyes, and his firmly pressed lips opened with elegant grace.
"Your son...."
Kieran's voice dropped low.
"bears no resemblance to Marquis Milton whatsoever."
"...!"
"Rather, hmm.... Your son bears a striking resemblance to Kaylor Baron, your secretary, Marquis."
The room turned ice-cold in an instant.
Marquis Milton trembled with fury.
"Such baseless words—to insult me, my house...!" ‌‌‌
Yet Kieran's smile only deepened.
Kieran added another remark, his voice dripping with amusement.
"Tell me, Marquis—have you never entertained such a thought yourself?"
It was a remark that struck like a shove to the back.
Marquis Milton's eyes widened dramatically.
The Marquis, whose lips had begun to move in protest, could no longer ‌‌‌‌restrain himself and turned his head to gaze at his wife.
His young wife—the ‌‌‌‌only one who had given him a child after three marriages.
Her face ‌‌‌‌had gone pale, drained of all color.

***
Kieran ended Marquis Milton with just a few words.
Marquis Milton could no longer demand an apology from House of Basilian.
Everything had ‌overturned right there on the spot.
The Marquis bellowed, his ‌‌‌wife wept and denied everything, and their son shrieked intermittently—leaving behind a complete chaos.
Kieran departed the room leisurely, taking me and Ishuel with him.
As he walked down the corridor cradling me, Kieran spoke in a tone as casual as suggesting tea.
"How delightful it would be if Marquis Milton's scandal graced the front page of tomorrow's morning papers. Wouldn't it be entertaining if everyone in the ‌‌‌Capital learned the truth about the Milton family?"
"Yes, Father."
Ishuel answered with a bright smile.
"I'll consult with my brother and prepare immediately. We'll ensure the ‌‌‌Milton family never dares show their face in High Society again."
The coordination between father and son was flawless.
Watching them efficiently dispose of a person's reputation, I could only marvel.
'This is indeed what it takes to be the Master of the Underworld.'
For nobles who lived by pride, there was nothing more unbearable than shame.
They seized Marquis ‌Milton's private secrets and scattered them.
Then they employed a vicious tactic—exposing his disgrace so publicly that he couldn't even console himself with self-deception. ‌‌‌
So this was where Belzeon's methods of handling affairs originated.
Blood truly cannot lie.
"Once you're done, gather Karha and enjoy the Ballroom a bit. I'll take care of Chesa."
"Yes, sir."
Ishuel bowed respectfully and immediately vanished using magic.
Though it was short-distance teleportation, he wielded it with considerable skill. ‌‌
His ‌‌‌abilities seemed to have grown remarkably in such a short time.
With only the two of us remaining in the corridor, Kieran made a playful motion as if to nibble my cheek.
"Did you give Ishuel the flower?"
"Yes!"
Instead of nibbling, he kissed my cheek softly and spoke.
"I'm grateful you're a Basilian, Chesa. We would only think of trampling anyone who bothered Ishuel."
Had such a situation arisen, he would have exacted revenge on whoever tormented Ishuel.
But he praised my cleverness for managing to soothe his mood and return him to the Ballroom without resorting to that.
Listening to his praise, I felt quite proud of myself.
Kieran, watching me with amusement, suddenly let his eyes droop.
"Suddenly I don't feel like working...."
Then he made an unexpected declaration of strike.
"Shall we take a look around the Ibroyel Duchy Mansion instead?"
We'd come all this way to the Ballroom, yet he wanted to slack off ‌‌and be lazy.
Normally, I should have ‌‌‌pushed him forward.
But today Kieran had done me the favor of handling Marquis Milton to my satisfaction.
So ‌‌‌‌‌I decided to indulge him ‌‌‌‌‌and play along.
"Did you know the Duke's House symbol is the unicorn? That's why unicorn patterns and statues are placed throughout, and that statue over there has a horn made of gold."
Kieran, who was showing me around the Ibroyel Duchy Mansion, knew every corner of the estate intimately.
He moved through it with such familiarity, as though it were his own home.
"Oh, and if you see anything you'd like while we're looking around, just say so. You can take whatever you ‌‌‌‌want."
....
The problem was that he acted far too much like he owned the place.
I took care not to show interest in any of the curious objects we ‌‌‌encountered.
I was worried Kieran might insist on giving them to me on the ‌‌‌‌spot.
As I continued observing the interior, I suddenly found myself wondering what Duchess Ibroyel and Kieran truly were to each other.
If he knew the inner workings of this mansion so thoroughly, their ‌‌relationship seemed to be far more than that of a mere guest.
She'd cast magic to ‌‌‌find a runaway child, taken me on as a godchild, and concealed my status as an adoptee.
Though Marquis Milton's situation had ended in tragedy today, the Duchess had still arranged connections for him.
What could possibly drive her to help Kieran with such unwavering devotion?
It couldn't be explained by mere friendship alone.
"How does Father know all of this?"
I asked the question vaguely, and Kieran answered while examining an exotic ‌‌‌porcelain vase.
"Well, Father studied magic under Duchess Ibroyel. That's why he visited the mansion so often."
"So you're close because of that?" ‌‌
"Hmm... There's the master-student relationship, of course. But we're also close because ‌‌‌we've each been saviors to one another at crucial moments in our lives. The Duchess saved Father's life."
Kieran ‌withdrew a flower from the vase and inhaled its fragrance, smiling.
"It was Duchess Ibroyel who helped Father become a dark mage."

---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please ‌‌‌‌read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------