I wanted to pluck out the eyes of those who dared to stare at the Heir to Estel with such prideful gazes, but I decided to forgive them with a generous heart. After all, those men couldn’t do anything except stare at me.
Like the pocket money I earned from a duel with Lucian the other day and the ‘friendly fee’ he gave in return for staying here, it seemed like the goddess of luck had been smiling at me lately.
When I looked at Bianca, feeling much better, she smiled softly at me.
“Heir to Estel, I want to have a discussion regarding the previous matter in private.”
“Just the two of us?”
It would be quite troublesome to have a conversation with Bianca alone. Of course, I had ‘forgiven’ her, but that and this were entirely separate matters. My body still hadn’t forgotten all the pain Bianca had inflicted on me.
When I looked at her with a somewhat confused expression, she looked at me with a rather pitiful expression and made another request.
“Yes, I think it’s a bit burdensome to discuss such matters with so many eyes around us. Don’t you agree?”
“…..”
I hoped nothing bad would happen. This was our home, after all. She probably wasn’t crazy enough to mess with someone in their own house.
Maybe…
“I do.”
With that, I accepted Bianca’s offer without much thought, naively.
****
I led Bianca to the flower garden located behind the main castle.
Since the main residence of Duke Estel was an old castle built hundreds of years ago, it had the fatal flaw of poor soundproofing. Even so, I couldn’t take her to a sloppy room that wasn’t even ready for entertainment to share a little secret matter. So, I chose to go to the flower garden and talk. With the garden open in all directions and the surrounding scenery clearly visible, it would be difficult for anyone to sneak up and overhear our conversation easily.
“Beautiful.”
Bianca muttered in a low voice as she looked at the well-organized garden.
It was as she said—on one side of the garden, golden waves of canola flowers rolled, and on the other side, pure white daffodils and magnolias showed off their silvery appearance.
It was a fantastic sight, as if gold and silver silk threads were spun and embroidered on the garden itself.
“This garden was created by my mother with great care. She loved flowers.”
It was one of the few hobbies my mother had. She didn’t instruct the gardener to decorate the garden but preferred to pick up a trowel and plant flowers herself, creating such a beautiful garden.
“I see. Mother…”
After hearing my explanation, Bianca suddenly lowered her head solemnly. I didn’t know why, but my words must have touched some part of her dry sensibility.
“Then, Lady Castana, explain what you want to talk about just the two of us…”
At that moment, Bianca turned her gaze to me and gently shook her head.
“There are only two of us now, so please don’t call me by such a formal title. Can’t you just call me Bianca, like before?”
“As before?”
“Yes. When we were kids, we called each other by our first names. Don’t you remember?”
I remembered. But wasn’t that just a matter of an immature childhood? Since Bianca had already approached me informally, I couldn’t extend the courtesy of using an honorific title.
I sighed softly.
“Yes, Bianca. Long time no see. About ten years?”
“No, to be exact, it’s been nine years, three months, and eleven days. We haven’t seen each other since Count Roberta’s wedding day.”
“How on earth do you remember that?”
I knew that mages were incredibly smart, but I never imagined they would carry a clock and calendar in their heads.
“It’s strange that you don’t know. I’ve always remembered.”
Bianca spoke to me in an arrogant tone for some reason.
“Yes, I suppose you’re smart.”
I was stupid, so I didn’t remember that.
“So, what was the matter that you wanted to discuss just the two of us?”
My guess was that it would be a sequel to the previous matter, where she teased me with candy coated words, saying they would give me 20% of the net profit. No matter how much I thought about it, it was clear that there was a trap hidden in the conversation we had just shared.
“Heh, you’re a man who lacks tact. You’re too impatient. It’s a bonus that you’re stupid enough not to recognize that men like that aren’t very popular in the world these days.”
Bianca, who sneered at me as she said that, soon hardened her expression into a serious one.
“Okay. Since you want to know, I’ll talk about that first. Just before, I said that I would give 20% of the net profit to the Duke of Estel without any conditions. Well…strictly speaking, that’s not true.”
“What?”
“Cain, didn’t you expect it too? Didn’t you have doubts that the conditions presented by us were too good? No matter how foolish you are, I thought you would have that much intelligence.”
“…..”
Well, of course, I was expecting it. In the first place, the relationship between the Duke of Estel and the Marquis of Castana wasn’t strong enough to allow such a lucrative deal.
“Then why did you say that in the drawing room just now? How many ears have heard the conversation between us, and now you think changing the proportions will make sense?”
“Ha, Cain. You still have a bad habit of not listening to people. What I’m talking about is not the ratio. It’s the ‘condition’ side.”
“Condition?”
What kind of conditions were they going to impose now?
“Then why are you bringing up this matter in a place like this, where we are alone, without discussing it there?”
“That’s right. I’m asking you personally, not the Duke of Estel. Also, since it’s a personal matter, I didn’t want others to know.”
“…..”
At Bianca’s words, I involuntarily frowned. It seemed certain that the matter she was about to tell would tire me out considerably.
“Don’t be so scared. It’s not such a difficult request.”
Saying that, Bianca gave me a giggling smile.
For me, why did that smile only seem ominous?
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