The Isquente Baronetcy
The final dessert served was a fruit-infused pudding. Sirien's face lit up as she took a delicate spoonful.
"Do you want mine too?"
"Is it really okay...?"
"I'm not really craving sweets right now."
"Then I'll have it! Thank you."
A bright, radiant smile graced her face. Seeing her this happy made giving up the pudding entirely worth it. While I filled the rest of my stomach with a few more bites of meat, Sirien happily nibbled on her pudding with a look of absolute bliss. As for the Baron... he was still drowning in a swamp of despair.
"Should I try to win over the friendly nobles first...? Even so, how many of them would actually dare to stand against Marquis Eloran..."
Baron Isquente was considered an eccentric outcast in noble society. On the Northern Front, military achievements were highly valued, and occasionally, commoners who performed exceptionally great deeds were elevated to nobility. Naturally, many of the old, prestigious noble families looked down on these newly minted upstarts.
It seemed Marquis Eloran viewed these new nobles as a threat to his own position. Well, he wasn't entirely wrong. If the commanders on the Northern Front grew stronger, Marquis Eloran's influence would inevitably wane.
The previous Marquis Eloran—the old man I remembered—had never seemed particularly interested in such power struggles. But the current generation was clearly different.
After agonizing over it for a long while, Baron Isquente let out a frustrated groan.
"Aaaagh! Heavens, why do you test me so? I can't see a thing! Everything is pitch black, and I can't see even a glimpse of my future. I'm doomed. I'm absolutely going to die like this!"
"If you're not going to eat that, can I have it?"
"Absolutely not, Saintess. I am going to eat it right now."
"Tch."
Sirien clicked her tongue. It seemed she had been eyeing his dessert even amidst his dramatic breakdown. It had been a long time since I'd seen her act so greedy over food.
"Ugh. For now, I should take some time to think it over. Surely a good idea will come to me eventually. By the way, how much does Marquis Eloran know about this?"
"Who knows. He definitely seems to know that the information about his collusion leaked, at the very least."
"So everything beyond that is uncertain. Sigh, still, just thinking that I could have been blindsided without knowing anything makes my spine tingle. This is truly an unexpected harvest."
"If you're grateful, then that..."
"No. I told you, I'm eating it now! Instead, I've managed to acquire the book you asked for last time. You'll have to make do with that for now."
Baron Isquente refused flatly. He began shoveling the pudding into his mouth in a hurry, clearly worried she might actually snatch it away. I highly doubted Sirien would go that far, though.
The Saintess in question pouted, popping a single grape into her mouth instead.
"Greed is a sin, you know. You'll be punished."
"I'd rather not hear that from you, Saintess. Ah, Sir Rajen, are you heading straight to the training grounds?"
"If nothing else comes up. Is Sir Mallon around?"
"Yes. He was there right up until I left to greet you both. Well, since we seem to be finished with our meal, shall we meet up in a bit? Saintess, please follow me."
"I'll be right back."
I waved goodbye to Sirien and headed toward the estate's backyard.
After sending Rajen ahead, I followed Baron Isquente to the study. The Baron often procured books I needed like this. There was a history book I had requested previously, and it seemed he had obtained it much faster than expected.
He had claimed it was a rare find that would take at least a few weeks, but as expected, Baron Isquente was the type of man who would always find a way if squeezed hard enough.
As we walked down the long corridor, I wondered why he was being so quiet, only for his talkative mouth to open once more.
"Saintess. I have a question."
"What is it?"
"How far have you and Sir Rajen progressed?"
"W-What?"
Baron Isquente looked at me as if he couldn't comprehend my reaction. It was utterly absurd. Shouldn't I be the flustered one here?
"What on earth are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Well, think about it. Usually, you have to worry about other people's eyes, but this time, the two of you went to Requitas all by yourselves. Don't tell me you made absolutely no progress there?"
"Progress? I have no idea what you mean."
"No, Saintess. Did really nothing happen? A man and a woman went to Requitas all alone, and you literally just did work? Didn't you want to be with Sir Rajen?"
"B-Be with him? Shut up!"
I hurriedly scanned our surroundings, but fortunately, there was no one nearby. If even a single servant had overheard this, they would have had to die for the sake of my honor and dignity.
How could he say such things without even batting an eye? I was so embarrassed I didn't know where to look. Maybe I had made a mistake. I shouldn't have cared whether this guy lived or died. I should have just made a deal with Marquis Eloran instead!
"You. With everything that just happened, do you really have the mental capacity to worry about this?"
"Oh, that is that, and this is this. It's not like agonizing over it right now will magically give me an answer, so why suffer? I'll do the heavy thinking once I'm sitting at my desk in the office."
"You are incredibly obnoxious."
"So, do you not need my help then?"
...But Baron Isquente was my ally. Ever since he had picked up on my feelings with his extraordinarily sharp intuition, he had been subtly trying to help me. My feelings for Rajen were supposed to be a strict secret. How on earth did he find out? Regardless, I desperately needed help right now. I was willing to grasp at any straw, even if it was a cat's paw.
"Well... it's not like nothing happened."
"Finally! At last!"
"Shh! What if someone hears you?"
"Do you really think I lack that much tact? There is no one around. So, I would love to hear what happened. Of course, you don't need to go into too much detail. Haha! I'm not that shameless of a man."
Was there really a need to bring up shamelessness for a conversation like this? Regardless, I was glad to have an opportunity to brag. My lips had been itching to talk about it anyway. I extended my wrist toward the Baron. I found his lack of observation skills deplorable for not noticing it sooner.
"Look at this bracelet. What do you think? Isn't it beautiful?"
"Oh...? Yes, well. It is a lovely bracelet. The value of jewelry doesn't always lie in expensive gems, after all... It suits you well."
"Right? I knew you had a good eye. Rajen bought it for me as a gift. He must have prepared it while I was picking out clothes!"
"I see..."
For some reason, Baron Isquente's energy completely deflated. Not that I cared. Rajen's bracelet still sparkled on my wrist, and I absolutely adored its shimmer. It was a perfect bracelet, no matter how many times I looked at it. Lately, looking at this bracelet had become my greatest joy whenever I had a free moment.
"Did you not kiss Sir Rajen?"
"A k-k-kiss?! How scandalous!"
"So you didn't. I figured as much. I'm not even surprised."
"Rajen and I do not have such a worldly, vulgar relationship. It is much, much more than that..."
"So, you don't want to do it?"
"U-Ugh."
I ended up imagining it. My face flushed hot, and I buried my face in my hands. Words failed me. If I tried to speak now, I would probably bite my tongue and look like an idiot. Even I knew about the physical relations between men and women by now. Living among rough mercenaries made it impossible not to know. I had even seen people kissing in real life.
Would I also press my lips against Rajen's one day? Our mouths meeting, rubbing together as if to swallow each other's lips, slick saliva glistening at the corners of our mouths... And then, his tongue sliding into my mouth...
"Hieeeek! Not yet!"
"Whoa, you startled me! Just what on earth were you imagining?"
"Shut up. It's all because you said such useless things."
"Ow! Stop kicking my shins. That really hurts!"
Even after kicking the Baron's shins five times, my anger didn't subside. Seeing him hopping around on one leg clutching his shin only made me find him more exasperating.
"Ugh, you broke the skin. I was only trying to help out of pure goodwill, this is too much."
"The only thing that's too much is your big mouth. If you overstep your bounds one more time, I won't let you off so easily."
"Tch. Alright, alright. I suppose I was too impatient. I severely underestimated the two of you."
After beating the Baron, my pounding heart finally calmed down a bit. Rajen probably had no idea I was suffering like this and was comfortably swinging his sword somewhere. Thinking about it made me a little annoyed with Rajen too. I would definitely make him massage my shoulders today.
The Baron, who had been clutching his leg for a long while, finally managed to stand up straight. When we arrived at the study, a luxurious-looking book was sitting on top of the bookshelf. Handing the book over to me, the Baron wore a sly smirk.
"By the way, Saintess. You don't really have anything to do for a while, do you? Your schedule should be wide open until that informant of yours arrives."
"I suppose so."
"I need some time to sort things out on my end as well. I can only decide on our next move once I've organized everything."
That was certainly true. From now on, the Baron would have to check his connections and calculate how much funds he could extract from the merchant guild. That would require an immense amount of effort. It wasn't something that could be done in a day or two. On the other hand, this was the most leisurely period for me. Since I had delivered the news to the Baron, the matter regarding Marquis Eloran was half out of my hands. It wasn't that I had absolutely nothing to do, but I would have plenty of free time.
"So, you want me to help you?"
"Of course I'll need your help, Saintess, but that's a story for a few days from now. So, why don't you take a good rest in my territory and enjoy the festival in the meantime?"
"You're holding a festival here?"
"The harvest is fully over, and the front lines happen to be peaceful right now. If we don't enjoy ourselves now, when will we? It will probably start tomorrow."
The Baron leaned in close to me. Even though there was no one around, the fact that he was trying to whisper suggested he was about to share something highly important.
"You see, during this festival..."