Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Tremendously Epic Common Sense
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“I’ll ask.”
“…….”
“Alphartz von Basel.”
“D-Duke—”
“Why… are you placing your hand on my wife right now?”
Thud thud thud—
Alphartz’s mouth trembled repeatedly.
His lips quivered, his teeth chattered with an unpleasant clacking sound.
Whether that trembling came from the extreme chill or overwhelming terror…
Perhaps even Alphartz himself couldn’t tell.
“I-It’s a misunderstanding… this is…”
“A misunderstanding…”
At that heavily suppressed excuse, Duke Delbar’s gaze slowly shifted.
Swirl…
Like a star indifferently drifting through the sky, those eyes passed over me and Amelia.
“You… call that a misunderstanding?”
With those words…
Swish—
The shadows lurking behind the brilliant reputation of ‘Delbar.’
Those shadows had already begun casting glances toward me and Amelia one by one.
“…….”
Amelia, nestled in my arms.
And my arm, wrapped around her protectively.
On the surface…
It was a scene plenty ripe for misunderstanding.
“That’s—”
Alphartz started to say something… but soon clamped his mouth shut.
He’d realized it.
That continuing to speak here would only dig his own grave deeper.
“Shall we get up?”
“Oh…! Should we?”
Whisper whisper.
As I murmured into Amelia’s ear…
Amelia cheekily whispered back and rose from my lap.
“Up we go.”
Then… she suddenly grabbed her sleeve and covered her eyes.
And next…
“Sniff…”
“──?!!”
It wasn’t contrived.
It was so natural and perfectly timed…
That every gaze in the vicinity turned automatically to Amelia’s face.
And they had no choice but to notice that it was streaked with tears.
“…Ah—”
The moment he saw it…
All color drained from Alphartz’s face.
His expression went beyond pale; even the warmth of a living human was slowly evaporating.
I didn’t inwardly wish him eternal rest.
I simply cast a profoundly pitiful and pathetic look at poor Alphartz.
Then, I quietly took Amelia’s hand and led her away.
“…….”
Amelia and I walked past Alphartz.
Every gaze still prickled at our backs…
“And to dare…”
Right on cue, Duke Delbar spoke up again, naturally drawing all eyes to him.
Seizing that opening, Amelia and I slipped away through the chaos, heading toward the now-deserted first floor.
“What should we try first!”
The moment we arrived, Amelia’s eyes sparkled as she scanned the table.
The tears from just seconds ago were nowhere to be seen.
If anything, her eyes seemed even brighter now.
“…Is this really okay?”
“Duke Delbar will handle it!”
“Ah… yes, Duchess.”
I murmured in a tone laced with admiration.
No, less admiration mixed in… and more pure awe.
How could a person be this innocently cheerful, this shamelessly bold, this confidently brazen?
Her audacity was almost admirable.
“We make the perfect con artist couple.”
Truly…
Their chemistry was more flawless than any characters in a novel.
Like they were role-playing, perfectly in sync, anticipating each other, calculating every onlooker’s gaze, and masterfully drawing out reactions.
“I could learn a thing or two.”
Leading the situation, commanding attention… even staging dramatic pity and terror.
Everything was perfect.
“Hehe… This isn’t something you pick up lightly!”
And above all… who could have imagined?
Duke Delbar, shrouded in mystery, his very essence elusive.
And the Duchess of Delbar, hidden even deeper in the abyss.
That these pinnacles would appear in person… and personally upend the board.
No one could have dreamed it.
“Therefore!”
Amelia declared triumphantly.
Sweeping heaps of food onto her plate from the table, she beamed innocently.
“Sorry to Cartier, but! Adel’s hanging out with me for a while!”
At those words, I blankly lowered my gaze.
At this point, even I’d fall for it without realizing.
In the face of Amelia’s utterly innocent, matter-of-fact, disarmingly natural demeanor…
Who could possibly refuse?
“…Yes.”
That was just Karnel.
Just with a different personality, hair color… and eye color.
An even more unstoppable version of the Chairman.
“…….”
I thought of poor Alphartz.
The reality where the situation had raced far ahead before he could even fabricate anything.
What rotten luck.
‘A shame.’
I felt a twinge of regret.
To be precise… regret mixed with relief.
I’d wanted to deliver the finishing blow myself…
But Duke Delbar’s arrival wrapped it up too swiftly, too spectacularly.
‘Still…’
I quirked the corner of my mouth up.
Without this ending, Alphartz wouldn’t have crumbled so thoroughly.
If I’d finished it, I might have left him some ‘next time.’
And…
‘…It’s not over yet.’
What had collapsed now was merely Alphartz’s noble life.
Not his entire existence.
All the gains he’d piled up so far.
The shadowy power he’d woven through connections…
The final pillar propping him up.
‘The gray zone.’
…That still remained.
And the time to confirm the kill there…
Was fast approaching.
“…….”
I hadn’t sheathed my blade yet.
For the day he might crawl back out.
For now, I simply smiled.
“Adel! This looks really tasty!”
Oblivious or not to my thoughts, Amelia kept piling food onto my plate with her sunny face.
I turned away from the distant clamor of the banquet hall, supporting the plate in one hand with both.
“Yes.”
The fight wasn’t over.
It had merely finished the first half.
…That was all.
***
Swish.
In a corner of the banquet hall.
A shadowed spot invisible to any eyes.
There, a woman in a mask quietly turned the pages of a book.
And…
Someone approached that sanctuary-like space.
“So here you are.”
“…….”
A familiar voice.
Elise didn’t look up, simply turning another page.
“…Sister, mind if I ask about that mask’s… aesthetic?”
“…Little brother.”
“Hm?”
Swish.
Lightly flipping the page, Elise… the princess… spoke.
“We’re at the highlight right now, so come back later?”
“…….”
Rufus silently lowered his gaze to the cover of the book Elise was reading.
[Reincarnated as the Queen’s Maid, Apparently]
The moment he read the title, Rufus pressed his forehead and sighed.
“Ah. No, go ahead. Little brother.”
Tsk.
Elise smacked her lips needlessly, inserted a bookmark, and closed the book.
“Ha… Sister.”
“Word of warning, little brother. If you spout outdated nonsense like ‘Women must love men,’ I’ll recite Chapter 69 of *Tremendously Epic Common Sense*, so don’t try it.”
“…….”
Rufus shut his mouth instantly.
Elise’s ultimate weapon.
The mere mention of ‘Chapter 69 of Tremendously Epic Common Sense’—said to make blood pour from your eardrums…
Better to die than hear it.
Rufus changed tack.
“That… mask, what’s with it?”
“The mask?”
Flick.
Rufus’s finger naturally pointed at Elise’s face.
“Oh, this? Just my effort to understand our hero.”
“…Our hero?”
“Yoram’s top enrollee.”
“…You mean Adel?”
“Exactly.”
“…But that Adel’s not wearing a mask right now?”
“??”
Tilt.
Elise cocked her head.
Rufus wordlessly pointed to one side of the banquet hall.
There—
“…….”
Adel was there, silently leading a sniffling woman toward the first floor by the hand.
No mask on his face.
“…….”
Elise’s gaze locked onto that face.
Her hand stilled on the book cover, her ruby-red eyes intently following Adel.
“…That woman just now is the hero?”
“…She’s a man—”
“Little brother. Please don’t say ridiculous things.”
“No… the ridiculous thing is—”
“Enough.”
“…….”
Thud.
Elise cut Rufus off decisively and…
Slowly removed her mask.
Golden hair cascaded down smoothly.
“And to dare…”
Swish…
Ruby-like red eyes.
Elise’s gaze shifted from the stairs to the terrace.
“Touch my daughter.”
“…….”
Step by step…
Advancing slowly, Duke Delbar fixed his stare on one man.
“Do you think you have the right?”
Right.
The right to stand before the name Delbar.
The right to reach for that light.
“I… have loved the young lady my whole life.”
Alphartz forced the words out, lips trembling as if summoning courage.
“What I want… is not such trifling emotion.”
“…But I truly mean—”
“Do you seek the right?”
But…
Duke Delbar’s expression held not a flicker of doubt.
“Then—defeat me.”
“…Pardon?”
To knock on Delbar’s door…
You must first surpass its guardian, Duke Delbar.
“And that child earned the right from me.”
“…….”
“Did you think you, of all people, amounted to anything?”
At those words…
Elise, watching the scene from the corner with keen interest, lifted the corner of her mouth.
“Little brother.”
“…What now?”
“That means… the hero beat Duke Delbar in a fight?”
“…That’s how it sounded to me, at least.”
“Hmm…”
Her ruby-like red eyes sparkled.
Her head tilted smoothly, a strange smile playing on her lips as she smacked them.
“Little brother.”
“…What else—”
“I want to attend Yoram.”
“──?!”
Rufus’s mouth fell open.
Elise, who devoured only ‘women’ and ‘common sense in an uncommon mask’…
Wanted to ‘attend’ Yoram herself.
“…Sister, that’s impossible—”
“Oh, I’ll hide my identity properly.”
“…That’s not the issue—”
“Little brother… you’re awfully chatty today.”
Flick.
Elise shot Rufus a glance and tilted her head slightly.
…That brief look alone sent a chill down Rufus’s spine.
“Yoram doesn’t take transfers, though…”
“Oh? Then I’ll enroll next year.”
“…”
“‘The Pretty Junior Obsessed with Her Pretty Senior’… why doesn’t anyone write books like that…?”
Rufus pressed his forehead.
How… was he supposed to explain this to Father?
His head already ached.
“Haa…”
In the end, a headache scrambled his thoughts… and a sigh escaped Rufus’s lips.
And…
Elise’s eyebrow twitched at the sound.
“Little brother… you dare sigh?”
“…….”
“I must’ve been too lenient lately.”
“Wait…”
Elise pulled a book from somewhere and…
Flipped it open with a whoosh.
“…….”
On the cover…
In a bizarre script that could be letters or worms,
Prominently displayed—
“Have you reviewed properly? Little brother?”
[Tremendously Epic Common Sense]