“It doesn’t matter. Duke Tintalion’s reputation is well known, and I don’t think a good person like him should be subjected to such a thing. We will do everything we can to help the Duchess.”
These words came from Marianne’s mouth, not her Ian. It was also the sentiment that Frisia coaxed out and waited for.
“By all means? Are you serious?”
“Of course,”
Marianne promised naively and nodded. Frisia stood up from her seat with a smirk.
“You seem so determined to cover up the sins of your comrades.”
“What?”
“What the… … .”
At the sight of the knights pouring into the drawing room, Marianne and her companions hardened their faces. Frisia stepped back from her seat and glared at them.
“How dare you come into the duke’s drawing room and deceive me, you are so arrogant.”
“Princess, there seems to be a misunderstanding.”
The paladin, Kion, said while looking at the duchess with her serious expression. Frisia narrowed her eyes and she answered.
“Is not Jeremy Wood your colleague?”
Frisia smiled bitterly as they looked at each other with bewildered and embarrassed expressions and gazes.
Jeremy didn’t like the aristocrats, so he didn’t show up in the social world, but she was the most promising disciple of the Archmage. If it’s the household of Tintalion, it’s no wonder she knows him.
It was something anyone could accuse them with, even if Jeremy wasn’t as famous as Viscount Marianne Rowain’s other associates.
“It’s true that Jeremy helped me once, but in a few cases, that’s it. He is not our friend!”
Ruud, the priest, was the first to abandon Jeremy. According to the contents of the original story, he had a bad relationship with Jeremy, so this situation would seem even more unfair to him.
The knights had already drawn their swords and were aiming at them.
“I want to believe what you say, but it is you who lied about your acquaintance with him and visited my home. I don’t know what words to trust.”
To put it bluntly, Frisia gave them a chance. When she mentioned Jeremy, they should have revealed that they were his acquaintances.
“We really came here with the intention of saving the Duke! Trust me!”
Marianne got up from her seat and knelt down on her carpet, pleading. Frisia looked down at her with her expressionless face.
To be honest, Frisia had a hard time judging what Marianne was inside. Her face right now… … She wasn’t like the heroine she saw in her romance fantasy book.
“It is the wizard who cast the curse whom I want to hold accountable, not you.”
At Frisia’s words, the expressions of the sub males, including Marianne, brightened. Ian would know, the others could have been imprisoned for just one reason, that they dared to deceive the duke.
“But there’s no reason to risk that you might help the wizard.”
When she ordered them to take them away, the knights moved in unison. Frisia also added that if Jeremy was caught or the duke’s curse was lifted, they would also be released. Because she didn’t mean to hurt them.
Although Marianne was a somewhat irritating character, she was the person she would later be with Aslei. As long as Aslei was well, she had no intention of treating them poorly.
‘If I use Marianne as bait, I can lure Jeremy in.’
Watching the female heroine and her companions being dragged without any resistance, Frisia was convinced.
The Duchess’s promise not to do them harm was not a lie. She put a restraint orb that prevented the use of mana on the two dangerous beings, Zen and the Sword Master, but other than that, there was no discomfort.
Even in a basement room, there was a small window hanging from a high ceiling, and each room had its own bathroom and toilet. Fine meals and clean clothes were delivered timely.
If it wasn’t for being locked up, one could even think of it as hiding away in a residency or retreat.
“That’s why I told you not to come!”
Ruud grumbled, bursting with complaints. He was firmly opposed to going to the Duke of Tintalion from the beginning.
It was only natural since that Jeremy was their colleague.