Chapter 19: CH 19

(Terrence’s 3rd Person POV)

Camion felt embarrassed when he noticed that Terrence glared at the table for a long time.

He couldn’t understand why the Grand Duke, who would normally give a brief admonition and take him to his office, suddenly behaved like that.

Camion, who was a bit worried, asked cautiously.

“Would you like to play a game with me since it’s been a long time?”

“…….”

Card games and alcohol were old habits of military officers.

Terrence was not a person who enjoyed gambling, but when the battle entered into a lull, he sometimes enjoyed playing games with his subordinates to take a break.

However, outside of the battlefield, he never took part in any gambling game, even if it’s just for fun.

It was a question that he was not expecting, but Terrence, who had been standing still, sat down without a word.

Camion was even more perplexed.

“Are we really going to do it?”

“Only one round.”

When doubts arise that seem unclear, it is better to confront them directly and see the results.

After seeing the results with his own eyes, he would be able to prove with certainty that what that woman said was all just nonsense, and he will be able to forget it cleanly.

Camion, who was sitting across from him, shuffled the cards while observing Terrence.

The cards went back and forth and the remaining decks were placed in the middle.

They both took their cards and started the game.

Camion picked up a new card and looked into Terrence’s eyes.

“I heard that you went to the temple during the day”.”

“I didn’t know you were watching me.”

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Camion smiled sadly and said.

“And I also heard that Her Highness forced you to accept a bouquet of flowers.”

“Is that what the rumor said?”

“Yes. And they also said that His Grace received the flowers with an annoyed look on his face.”

Camion glanced at Terrence’s calm expression and added.

“Everyone is saying that the Grand Duke was not very happy with this marriage.”

“Well, that’s not wrong.”

Camion looked into Terrence’s eyes as he tried to comfort him carefully.

“However, the Emperor did promise you that he would give back the old territory of the Lenz family in exchange for marrying the Princess, right?”

Terrence picked up the card and paused slightly.

‘Yeah. This part was definitely weird.’

The territory was an area that was taken away by the Imperial family when the Lenz family was incorporated into the Empire.

It must have been an important area at the time, but now it has been practically a useless land.

Still, Terrence has long wanted to reclaim the land of his ancestors.

The Emperor, who noticed this, promised to return the old land of the Grand Duchy in return for the marriage.

Although it has not yet been officially announced yet, he declared that he would do so in front of the ministers.

‘Why are they pushing this marriage so hard?’

Others even thought that the Emperor was tossing prey at him and handing over his troublesome daughter.

For the Emperor, it would be far better for Terrence to marry a stupid Princess than to marry and form an alliance with the daughter of another powerful family.

And once that the Princess becomes the Grand Duchess, they can legally plant spies inside the Grand Duchess’ residence.

They can’t expect Eve to act as a spy, but once she gets married, she can bring maids and servants along with her.

Among them would be inserted spies to monitor the Grand Duchy.

And marrying the Princess will not provide Terrence the power to be involved in the Imperial family.

After all, even the Crown Prince hated his younger sister, Eve.

If Terrence married Eve, there’s no way that he would be able to join hands with the Crown Prince.

In every way, it was a marriage full of gains for the Emperor and losses for the Grand Duke.

If the Emperor had not begged in front of the ministers, referring to the old lands of the Grand Duke, he would never have accepted this marriage.

‘But Princess Eve said all of these were the Emperor’s traps.’

Even if it was real, it wasn’t that surprising.

The Emperor was an enemy who had sought his life since he was young.

Even so, it’s hard to believe that the Emperor would take advantage of his daughter’s life.

It was not a particularly groundless story, but the current Imperial politics was a tight battlefield.

It’s better to be careful with anything.

“Camion.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“See if there are any suspicious moves on the Emperor’s side. Especially the Imperial Knights Commander Sir Gailen.”

If the Emperor moves someone, it would be his right hand, the commander of the Knights Templar.

Camion obeyed his orders without saying a word.

“Yes, I will do a thorough investigation.”

The game ended after the cards went back and forth a few more times.

Camion laid out the five cards that he was holding.

“I won.”

Terrence also put down his hand.

There was one 7, though. It’s not a heart or a clover, it’s a spade.

Even that was only one.

But it was still useless, since it didn’t match the Princess’s foresight.

Terrence got up from his seat.

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In any case, he would continue to investigate the marriage.

And to find out how severe the mental state of his fiancee is.

It was when he stood up after thinking like that.

Suddenly the door opened and a little boy ran inside.

“Brother Terrence!”

“Lot?”

It was his younger brother, Robert. Who just turned 9 years old this year.

Lot rushed over and put himself inside Terence’s arms.

Terrence stroked his younger brother’s soft blonde hair.

“Lot. What are you doing here?”

“I came because I missed you!”

“Without a servant?”

“Yes …… I came alone.”

Lot’s bedroom is a little further away from here.

Seeing him come all the way here alone in the middle of the night, he must have sneaked out.

Terrence smiled as if he had no choice but to see his younger brother acting cute in his arms.

“Big brother, are you playing card games?”

Lot smiled broadly as he looked at the table belatedly.

“Let’s do Mau Mau!”

“What?”

“I want to play, mau mau! Mau Mau says I can do it too.”

Mau Mau is a game played by three or four players holding five or six cards.

The rest of the cards are placed face down on the table and each player turns them over one by one.

If a card with the same shape or number as the one you are holding appears, discard it along with the card you were holding, and if there is no card that matches, take the reversed card as it is.

In that way, it was a very simple game, in which the first person to shake off all the cards in his hand wins.

It wasn’t like that in the original game, but when Terrence was young, he changed the rules to be simpler while playing with Lot.

Lot grabbed the hem of his robe with both hands and hung at him.

“Can we play, brother? Can you play mau mau with me?”

“Well…..”.

Terrence put on a slightly perplexed expression on his face, but couldn’t help but say yes to his brother’s twinkling eyes with anticipation.

For Terrence, young Lot was his only family.

Sadly, Terrence spent more than half of the year on the battlefield, he didn’t have much time to spend with Lot.

Camion smiled as he looked at the two brothers.

“Then should the three of us do it together?””

“Yes!”

Lot quickly took a seat in an empty chair and sat down.

Terrence had no choice but to return back to his seat.

Camion skillfully shuffled the cards and dealt several cards to the three of them.

Then, in turn, one card is turned over from the remaining decks.

Terrence had a matching card, but deliberately pretended not to match and took another card on the deck.

He was making sure that his younger brother had as much fun, since this is the first time that they had played together for a long time.

Camion, who was with them, noticed Terrence’s intention. So when it was his turn, he smiled and picked up a card on the deck as well.

Young Lot was the only one to throw away the paired cards.

Violet eyes sparkling like amethysts gems looked intently at the card case.

Terrence smiled bitterly at his younger brother, who looked quite serious.

When his mother, the Grand Duchess, died, Lot was only an infant around three months old.

Because of such a past, for Terrence, Lot has always been a dear younger brother.

Terrence roughly discarded a few cards and took a few more until Lot finally won.

Without paying close attention to which cards there were, he just roughly kept the number of cards.

After a few more turns, Lot puts down the last remaining card.

“I won!”

“Haha. You did a good job, young master.”

A brief knock broke the friendly atmosphere in the room.

The door opened and an old butler entered.

He was holding a small coat in his hand.

“Master Lot, you were here. You suddenly disappeared and I searched all over the mansion to find you.”

As soon as Lot saw the butler, he grabbed Terrence’s arm and hung into him.

“I’m not sleepy…… I wanted to play with you more.”

“It’s very late, you should go to sleep now.”

After hearing the butler’s words, Lot lowered his head as if he had lost his spirit.

Lot, who was touching the edge of the table with a sullen face, looked up at Terrence and asked.

“Brother, will the Princess visit the Duchy before the day of the wedding?”

“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

Lot, who was not old enough to go out in social circles, had never met the Princess in person, as he only lived inside the Duchy.

Thanks to this, Lot became very curious about Princess Eve who was going to marry his older brother.

However, Terrence didn’t talk about Eve with his brother in detail.

The servants are also banned from telling Lot anything related to the Princess.

Lot will find out anyway once he gets married, but he doesn’t need to know in advance that his brother is going to marry such a strange woman.

Even if the Princess came to live with them at the Duchy, he was planning to strictly monitor her so that she would never touch the young Lot.

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