Chapter 5: 5

Ian smiled and approached leisurely. The sound of his shoes stepping on the garden floor rose lightly.

“The Marquis of Akpensia? What should I call you? Beralt? I know you’re younger than me, so I’ll call you lightly, Beralt.

He opened his mouth, unbuttoning his sleeve.

“You’d better take your hands off her body right now. Then apologize to her politely and tell her you’ll never show your face in front of her again. Then her body will be back in good health.” 

He was smiling softly, but Ian felt a subtle sense of pressure. Even I, who hadn’t learned the swordsmanship of the Berdian family, the head of the top among hundreds of warriors in the empire, felt that his spirit was quite extraordinary. While I was staring at Ian blankly, I suddenly felt that my head was free and turned around. Beralt’s hand, which had been gripping my hair, stopped in the air without any strength, and his expression hardened. Why was that?

“Beralt, do you know what the first thing Imperial Knights are trained when they become Trainee Knights? It’s mental education. It instills the core values of the knight. And among those core values, the most important thing to emphasize is the protection of women and loyalty to the country. These two are the pride and honor of a knight. But you’re not a knight, so even if I explain these values, you won’t understand. But even so.”

The corners of his mouth, which had risen slightly, came down slowly. His expression slowly hardened, and a faint trace of life lingered in his eyes.

“Isn’t it disgraceful for a grown man to wield violence against a woman so recklessly?”

“…That, that’s it.”

“Ah, I didn’t mean to say this in hopes of an answer. I’d rather separate the people I want to talk with and mix things up.

“These are normal people, harmless people to talk to. And this is garbage. Originally, you can’t have a conversation with trash, right? So you can’t talk to me. This is simply what I say to the trash.”

“Grand Duke, Your Excellency. What did you say? I can’t remember, well, it’s not that important. Anyway, the point I’m trying to say is this… Her arm stretched out.”

At the end, Beralt’s collar was caught. Beralt’s body convulsed to the point that his teeth trembled under the pressure of Ian’s momentum. Seen from the side, sweat trickled down Beralt’s face, like a herbivore meeting a wild beast, even though it was just eye contact.

“I don’t care if it’s a woman or a man. I don’t really like the idea of having a scumbag set foot in my garden, who would wield a hand against the weak just because he or she i’s a bit strong. To be honest…”

He looked down at Beralt with his neck slightly bent.

“I’m very angry.”

“Grand, Grand Duke…”

“I hope you don’t bring your face to Lady Laurencia in the future.”

“…”

“This is an order.”

With his final words, he untied his hand and Beralt ran from the garden with an ugly scream. Compared to myself, who had been caught and floundered by that human until just a while ago, Grand Duke Berdian defeated him quite easily. Ian brushed his hands off and turned his body around to look at me, then smiled. His figure reminded me of Nar, the guard who protected me. Was he waiting for a compliment? Umm… What was that feeling?

“Now, let’s talk about the payment.”

Payment? Ah!

“I’ll postpone that until later. I don’t have any credit right now.”

Unfortunately, there was no wallet and no jewelry to speak of. If I had to pick one, would it be the brooch on the dress? But if I untie it, the clothes would come down!! Ian looked at me blankly. He rolled his eyes up and down as if examining me, and he said curtly.

“You’re not going to forget it later, right?”

What a scam! How could you say that to the eldest daughter of the Ajtain family?

“The Ajstein family is a family that values trust the most. If trust is lost, all businesses will fail. So don’t worry.”

“Ah, the Ajtain family.”

He let out a low exclamation with a dazed expression, muttered something, and nodded his head. The words at the end of the murmur reached my ears. He just said, ‘It’s good to have a lot of money, right?’

As I stared at him, he walked in the other direction as if he had finished his business. Where was he going?

“Wait.”

“Why? Don’t call me if you don’t want to pay. I’m busy. You seem very free.”

“Well, why don’t I go back with you?”

“You too?”

“Yes. That, I guess…”

Even if this human had driven out the bugs, there was no guarantee that they were completely gone. No matter how ugly he looked, Beralt was a man with a strong obsession. He’s not a great person to give up once he’s been kicked out. Ian, who was still looking at me, nodded lightly and pointed to his side. Did he mean ‘come’? I slowly approached and stood beside him, and Ian lightly moved his foot. For some reason, standing next to him made me feel relieved.

Contrary to my thoughts, it seemed that I had suffered for no reason because of the plans that had flowed. I felt regret for not taking measures even though I knew Beralt would shout, and I felt remorse for myself for having been helplessly beaten by Beralt. Driven by emotion and not looking back, I almost paid the military price for my own will. Fortunately, Ian showed up, otherwise the unimaginable would have happened.

Even if I tried to change the future, I still couldn’t run away from Beralt. He was stubborn. Not much time had passed yet, but with his ability, there probably wouldn’t be a problem in isolating me. No matter how much the Ajtain family had, if various nobles were legally or procedurally at odds with each other, business problems would arise. Then my grandfather would surely suffer. I wanted to avoid this. But how?

I turned around and looked at Ian. It was hard to believe that the Grand Duke of Berdian, a man who seemed to have lost a screw, was a man of power within the three fingers of the empire.

If this man could help me… I thought about this and that, and suddenly a plan flashed through my head.

“His Excellency the Grand Duke of Berdian…”

“Call me Ian, I don’t like being called that in private.”

“Sir… Ian”

“… Ian is enough.”

It’s tricky.

“Ian.”

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“Nice to hear.”, he grinned. 

Seeing his smile, I could hear the women’s sighs again.

“What do you want, Lady Laurencia?”

“I’m fine with Laurencia.”

“That’s good. What do you want, Lawrence?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Whatever you want.”

The composure came from the way he shrugged his shoulders. It was to the point where I felt lax as if he would answer anything. I rubbed the bridge of my nose and asked cautiously.

“How much should I pay you?”

“The more the better.”

The more the better? How much was that? No, before that, what was the standard for a large amount of money for Grand Duke Berdian? A thousand gold coins? That’s enough for a year’s budget for the Viscounty of Ajtain.

I listened carefully, thinking that I had stepped on a mine.

“Uh, how much?”

Ian stopped moving and tilted his head. As he frowned for a long time with worried eyes, he spread out his two fingers.

“Two thousand?”

“What, just two gold coins is enough. But 2,000?”

My heart melted when I saw him smiling and talking. Twocoins? Not 2,000, not 20,000, but two?

“Can that be enough?”

“If I tell you, will you give me 2,000?” Why?

“If you want…”

“Haha.”

He laughed heartily at my answer and walked forward. Why was he laughing? Moving my feet quickly, I walked over to his side. He slowed down again and matched my steps. As he raised his head, Ian looked right in front of him and opened his mouth.

“Never mind. I don’t really need money. As I said before, I would have helped you with or without money. That’s chivalry.”

Did he wait for such a human to tear my hair out? But I couldn’t bear to say this, so I pushed myself inside.

“I don’t think I could have said thank you more than that.”

“No. Thank you though, Ian, I’m indebted.”

I bowed my head to Ian, but he only looked at me blankly, and there was no reply. He just parted his lips, as if he wanted to say something. Why was he like that?

“Ian?”

“I see.”

Nothing more than that was said for the moment. No, I was going back to the banquet hall where the party was going to be held, leaving behind him who didn’t say anything in the end, but his voice stuck in my back.

“Lorencia.”

When I turned around, Ian scratched his cheek and laughed awkwardly.

“I think people will like it quite a bit if we go in that state.”

That state? I lowered my eyes and looked at my dress. Come to think of it, my hair was messy and my dress was torn in places from the struggle with Beralt. He ripped an expensive dress.

“…I’m sure it’s a little bit like that.”

“There’s a room reserved for party goers, you can spend the night if you want.”

I spoke lightly and looked at his back as he walked in the opposite direction. He tilted his head as he looked at him, a sharp man who seemed somehow stupid, and who was surprisingly meticulous.

“…What is your true identity?”

* * *

Certainly, the territory of the principality was on a different level from that of ordinary nobles. Although subordinated to the Empire, as much as it was a separate country, the culture was also different. For example, unlike the imperial culture, where building high above the building was considered a symbol of power, regardless of the area of the building, the castle of the Duchy of Berdian was only three stories, but it was spread out over a large site. Aside from admiring the vastness of the space, the countless paintings hanging inside and the books stacked here and there came to me as a novelty. It was to the point where I wondered if this really was the mansion of the Berdian family, who were said to be the heads of the warriors of the Empire. The room we were guided to was spacious and tidy, and there were many books in it. It’s just books that were of a very high standard.

“Are you someone who reads a lot of books?”

There were also people who usually put the book on without reading it. Most of the time, such people were pretentious and showy, so their heads were empty. Was Ian that kind of person? He didn’t look pretentious, and he didn’t look stupid.

“Hmm.”

The thought of being an erratic person continued to bite his tail. Because of that, before going to bed in that room, I put in a request to the Information Guild to find out information about the Grand Duke. Fortunately, when the night passed and the next morning came, a bunch of information came through the Ajstein family attendant. Si-jung was one of the guild members disguised and sent by the information guild.

There was no place in the empire that had not reached the Ajstein family’s breath, and the information guild was also an organization that was sponsored by the Ajstein family after all. My grandfather took information so seriously that he almost avoided running it himself these days.

“Let’s see.”

I sat down on the bed and examined the rather thick bundle. Starting with Ian’s profile, there were more than 10 pages of rumors about his ramparts and dissipation. I didn’t need it, so I skipped it to the next chapter. Information about the Duchy of Berdian, which was densely written. I needed that.

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