Chapter 69
Chapter 69
Translator: XZY
Chapter 69: Northbound (1)
***
“Yes. To put it bluntly, the Beltus family has no intention of stopping you from leaving.”
Lady Denise was speaking with her usual indifferent expression.
The hem of her pretty silk dress was sweeping the floor. She was in the middle of getting ready to attend a philosophy class that would be held in the afternoon.
After finishing her training routine with Derek and concluding breakfast, she showed almost no signs of fatigue even while getting dressed. Denise could feel for herself that her stamina had improved a lot.
“My father’s thoughts are obvious. The Belmeade family has already started the groundwork to push Lady Elente for the succession, and the Duplein family is unable to exert any real power... so the value you hold, Derek, has also faded a lot.”
“That is certainly true.”
The reason the Beltus family had tried to keep Derek was largely to prevent him from being given to another family.
Now, there was almost no reason to pay Derek a large sum of money and forcibly keep him.
However, if Denise were to strongly demand that they extend the contract with Derek, there was no telling how the situation might change.
“And, I have no intention of holding you back, Derek.”
However, Denise spoke firmly.
She was in the middle of tying her pretty, platinum-blonde hair up, and putting on a necklace with a brooch on her exposed nape.
Denise spoke without even giving a glance to Derek, who was standing with his hands behind his back in a corner of the room.
“As I said, I am nothing more than a puppet of the Beltus family. No matter how you say I have value, right now, there’s nothing for you to gain by sticking to me.”
“For someone who says that, you certainly crushed Lady Diella with all your might when she challenged you to a duel.”
“Agh...”
Denise flinched her shoulders as if she had been hit where it hurt, then finally let out a deep sigh.
“Derek, you’re strangely dense in areas where you should be sharp, and needlessly sharp in areas where it’s fine to be a little dense.”
“...”
“Well, there was some pride involved with Lady Diella, and in the end, the Duplein family suffered a great calamity anyway... so sticking with the Beltus family was the right answer, wasn't it? You should be grateful.”
“That is true. Thank you.”
“I didn’t think you’d actually thank me so honestly... ugh...”
She tried to cover up her awkward and embarrassed feelings with arrogant words, but Derek never moved according to Denise’s intentions.
Denise put a few butterfly-shaped decorative pins in her hair, then flapped the hem of her dress, finishing her preparations.
Then she strode over to Derek, placed her hands on her hips, and looked up at him with her lips pouted.
“It’s obvious without even looking. You’re planning to go teach Lady Siern, right?”
“...”
“No matter how much I tried to stop you, you’re the type who can’t get enough when it comes to magic. I don’t know what you’re planning to get from Lord Melverot, but if you can get involved with a 6-Star mage, you wouldn’t care about the ways and means.”
Denise was the one who had seen from the closest vantage point just how jubilant his expression was as he mastered magic when he was involved with Drest.
Lord Melverot was a person with a somewhat arrogant disposition, but if one were determined to get something out of him, the things that would fall into one's hands would be enormous.
And Derek was a person who would never miss such an opportunity.
That was why Denise did not feel like holding Derek back.
He was a reliable person who, once he considered someone an ally, would take their side in any situation.
One could tell just by seeing how he extended a helping hand to Diella and Aiseline to the very end, even after the Duplein family had reached such a state.
However, he was also a person who could not be carelessly held back.
She could not keep him by her side while castrating his ambition for achievement. His pure passion, which felt almost sublime, was not something that could be easily broken.
Denise closed her eyes for a moment, let out a hollow laugh, and thought.
‘I see why the Duplein family let this man go.’
The first disciple Derek taught was Diella.
Until now, Denise had not understood why Diella had let Derek leave for Ebelstein.
She had just thought that perhaps Derek had been the one to get fed up and left with an excuse, or that there was some internal political dynamic within the family.
But now, it seemed she could see the reason.
Denise, who had been closing her eyes like that, let out a deep sigh, lifted her head, and spoke.
“You know the north is a perilous place, unlike the southwest, right? Unlike the peaceful plains of the southwest, there are many rugged mountain terrains, and the weather is often harsh. Also, the appearance of demonic beasts is incomparably more frequent than in a place like this... and sometimes, truly dangerous high-ranking demonic beasts are said to pop out.”
“Yes. In such places, the people are tougher, and they tend to be more wary of outsiders.”
“Since they are people who live in such a perilous territory where life-threatening crises come whenever you forget about them, it’s only natural that they would be different from these peaceful large cities.”
Denise beckoned to the servant who had been helping her get ready, then whispered something in her ear.
The servant, after confirming Denise’s expression as she nodded, quickly went into the accessory storage room inside the dressing room.
And after a short time passed, she brought out a large bracelet and placed it in Derek’s hand.
“What is this?”
“It’s one of the magical accessories made by the Arendale Society and sold to high-ranking nobles. It mainly tells you the location of the person wearing the other item of the same set.”
“...”
“That thing goes for several dozen gold coins. Be careful not to get it stolen.”
It was rare for Denise to give Derek a gift. Derek, accepting the bracelet, felt a sense of déjà vu and briefly organized his thoughts.
— ‘It’s a magical accessory that the Arendale Society sent as a gift for my coming-of-age ceremony. It’s a set with this ring, and if you wear them, you can know each other’s location.’
Thinking back, he had received a similar item from Lady Freya during the catastrophe at the Duplein mansion.
He had kept it in his inner pocket, but despite it being a quite expensive item, he had not been able to find an opportunity to return it.
When Derek took the item out from the corner of his inner pocket, Denise’s eyes widened in surprise.
“No way, was there someone else who gave you this?”
“Lady Freya gave it to me. It was so small, and I had no particular reason to take it out, so I just kept it in there.”
“...”
Denise was suddenly staring at Derek with narrowed eyes.
As Derek just stared back with a bewildered face, Denise let out a deep sigh and sat back down on the dressing chair.
“This is usually given as a sign of trust, you know. Think about it. Would a person of high nobility give an item that allows their location to be known at all times to just anyone?”
“Well, at the time, the situation was very urgent... so I thought it would be better to know each other’s location.”
“I understand the situation itself, but... well, it would be best not to carelessly take out such an item in front of other young ladies.”
“Is there a problem?”
“It’s often given to people they intend to make their partners at balls or social gatherings. Well, the one I or Lady Freya gave you has a practical intention behind it, but... the fact that you can gauge the other person’s location anytime, anywhere, has room to be interpreted romantically, you know.”
Denise looked Derek up and down again from top to bottom.
She knew he had a fine physique, but if one looked at him calmly, he could be called quite handsome.
Because of his well-worn mercenary attire, he had a somewhat rugged impression, but that was also part of this man’s charm.
“What do you think people would think if they saw a handsome-faced man carrying around several magical accessories given to him by noble young ladies?”
“...”
“Well... some princes with vulgar dispositions collect such things and brag about them as tales of valor, but even as an empty compliment, it doesn’t look good. The young ladies who gave the accessories to such a cheap man would also look very foolish, wouldn't they?”
“That certainly seems likely.”
“I gave it to you because I trust you’re not that kind of person. If you take it out at an important time, it will prove that you are a person recognized by the Beltus family, and you will be able to borrow its authority.”
Denise was speaking with her arms crossed and in an indifferent tone, but in truth, she was saying that she would lend him some of her power.
“You know well, Derek, that the aristocratic world is ultimately a game of connections, a game of acquaintances, wherever you go. Knowing even a few more authoritative people will be a great strength. No matter how far away the north is, a name like one of the three great noble families will already be widely known.”
“You were being considerate of me. Thanks to you, I don’t think I will have much trouble proving my identity wherever I go. Thank you.”
“Ugh...”
“...?”
“No, it’s just that you have times when you express your gratitude so unreservedly like that, and there’s a strange discrepancy with when you teach magic, pouncing like a tiger, so it’s hard to get used to...”
In short, it meant that she felt awkward.
From Derek’s perspective, it was a strange part to be considerate of, so he could only nod in understanding.
Even that reaction was so like Derek that Denise could only glance at him a few times out of the corner of her eye.
“Sigh... yes, no matter how much of a psycho lunatic Lady Siern of the north is, she won’t be able to easily do anything to you, Derek. Well, teaching magic and social skills is your specialty, so I won’t worry.”
“I’ll have to try my best, at least.”
“But... what are you going to do about a lady’s culture or high society customs? You can’t teach those things too.”
“I have already found an assistant. There was a person with a clear status, outstanding knowledge of high society, and competence, who would not hesitate to step up for such a task.”
“I knew you had wide connections, but there was such a person? They don’t seem like a common talent...”
“Well, there was no need to look far. It is Lady Aiseline.”
“...What?”
Denise, who had been listening to Derek’s story with her shoulders relaxed, once again perked up her ears and her eyes widened.
A woman’s intuition was screaming. She had a gut feeling that the affection Aiseline held for Derek was not the kind of warm feeling one gets from seeing a good talent.
“Y-you’re going to head to the north with Lady Aiseline?”
“It will be difficult for her to show her face at the Rosea Salon often, but I was told that Lady Diella will put in more effort to compensate.”
“N-no, why is Lady Aiseline going to a place like that?”
“She said she was in urgent need of cash.”
It was not an entirely incomprehensible situation. No matter how aloof and beautiful a person was in the southwest of the continent, if she was short on money, she had to go out and do something.
Denise was not unaware of Aiseline’s cornered situation, but as soon as she heard she was accompanying Derek, a sense of foreboding washed over her.
‘Is something really going to happen...?’
Lady Aiseline seemed wise and thoughtful, but because she was a person who had been raised with the utmost care, her awareness of romantic feelings was too slow. All the young ladies raised in a greenhouse were like that.
If the decision to accompany him to the north had already been made, then there was only one method Denise could take at this point. She had no choice but to use shock therapy, even if it was somewhat radical.
“Derek.”
Denise looked at Derek with a serious expression and said.
“I think Lady Aiseline likes you.”
“I also like Lady Aiseline. A sound person like that is truly rare in this day and age. I must consider it a blessing to be acquainted with such a person.”
“That’s not what I mean, I think she just likes you as a man.”
Denise hit him with it without holding back.
Once she made a decision, her personality was one to see it through, so she never hesitated on things that had to be done.
“...”
Even Derek, the man of steel, could not help but be at a loss for words for a moment.
He was not a completely clueless person, so it was not that he had not noticed that Aiseline’s behavior had been strange lately.
Nevertheless, he could not connect that strange behavior with romantic feelings.
There were many handsome men of high status around Aiseline. It was clear that her standards would be raised as high as they could be.
In the first place, the trio of the Rosea Salon were people who received marriage proposals whenever they were bored.
Fending off the princes of ambiguous families who were covetously eyeing them was one of their daily routines.
What would such a person be lacking to set her eyes on Derek? In this regard, Derek was a person with a firm grasp of self-objectification.
Therefore, Derek answered curtly.
“You have been reading too many romance novels.”
“Are you taking my keen eye lightly?”
“I was aware of the fact that you have a keen eye, Young Lady Denise... but aren’t you jumping to conclusions?”
Derek was standing with his arms crossed and an expression of utter disbelief.
“I knew you’d react like that, Derek. But my beast-like intuition is never wrong. Aiseline likes you romantically, and if you accompany a young lady like that all the way to the north, no one knows what might happen.”
“...”
“So, I’m telling you this openly at this point. Because if you don’t get your head on straight, something really big could happen. I have never once seen a good outcome from a commoner and a noble young lady getting involved.”
It was a frequent occurrence for family heads or princes to secretly keep concubines or lay hands on servants.
However, for a scandal like that to be attached to the young lady of a family was too great a burden. In fact, if it ended as a scandal, it might be manageable somehow, but if the rumor was not a rumor but the truth, the problem became even bigger.
Therefore, for Aiseline’s sake as well, Denise was telling Derek that he had to get his head on straight.
“Do you understand what I’m saying, Derek?”
“To speak unreservedly, I am not a person with such high self-esteem as to believe that the noblest young lady would be personally interested in me. In the first place, that would be a severe case of narcissism.”
“...”
“Still, if you say so, Young Lady Denise, I cannot just stand by. I will try to move in my own way.”
“Move, you say? What are you going to do?”
When Derek answered that question, Denise made an ambiguous expression.
It was neither a smile nor a frown, nor was it a blank expression... it was a truly strange and indescribable expression.
<><><>
“Do you, Young Lady Aiseline, like me romantically?”
“Pffft!”
The sight of the sun rising in the west, and the sight of Lady Aiseline inelegantly spitting out her tea and gasping for breath.
If one were asked to judge which of the two was more unrealistic, it would be a pretty good match.
It was that difficult a thing to see Aiseline breaking her composure so inelegantly.
Nevertheless, Aiseline, who was sitting in the half-destroyed reception room, said to Derek with her eyes spinning.
“D-Derek-ssi. I’m sorry. D-did I mishear something? I’ve been handling family affairs all day lately... auditory hallucinations...”
“I asked if you like me romantically. I know it is a truly arrogant and rude question, but I believe it would be better to be clear about this part before we go.”
Asking directly. It was a response possible precisely because it was Derek.
How could a person with a human heart do such a thing? As if such questions were meaningless, Derek was a person who seemed to lack the emotions of shame or embarrassment altogether.
When he was covered in filth by Diella, when he recited Denise’s self-written novel... he was a man of steel among men of steel who had not even shown a flicker of emotion.
If you grow up at the bottom of the slums and walk a blood-soaked path your whole life, a beautiful girlish sensibility becomes a story from another world. It could not even leave a scratch on his frozen emotions.
That thorough rationality was a blessed quality for a mercenary.
However, from the perspective of a woman trying to do something about him, he was nothing less than an impregnable fortress. Gaining a psychological advantage against him was not easy even for those who had been through all sorts of trials.
It was too harsh a trial for Aiseline, who was nothing but a prude in such matters.
“Th-that is...”
At the sudden blow that pierced her heart, Aiseline’s pupils began to tremble without even being able to find a direction.
Although she was quick-witted, her thoughts seemed to be caught on something and could not move forward.
Her tongue moved on its own like that, and she somehow succeeded in answering as naturally as possible.
“No!!!!!”
In fact, it was not that natural.
A reply with an unbelievably sharp tone. She had reached the conclusion to just deny it since the situation was complicated.
In fact, against a commoner, it was the closest response to the correct answer. The sophistication she had been educated in as a noble since childhood had finally played its role.
“O-of course not! Of course, I have always thought of you as a reliable, handsome, and capable person, Derek-ssi, but how one feels about that romantically is a completely different matter, isn’t it!!!!”
“I see. I apologize. It seems my self-awareness has become unnecessarily high as I have achieved various things lately. I am embarrassed.”
“Everyone!!! makes mistakes!!! It’s alright!!! Please don’t be too embarrassed!!!!”
Aiseline’s behavior, acting like a soldier at full attention, was overly unnatural.
The person who was berating himself for being embarrassed was Derek, but judging by her tone and actions, it was impossible to tell who on earth was embarrassed.
“Then, since I came to coordinate the schedule for going to the north today, let’s quickly get to the main point.”
“Shall we!!!!”
“Before that, I will just go and get a map. I will be back soon, so please wait a moment.”
“Yes!!!!!”
And so, Derek opened the door and left to head to the supply room.
As soon as the door closed, Aiseline buried herself in the chair like melted ice. Her panting breaths continued for a while.
She sent a silent thank you to Derek, who was rather clueless in these matters.
“...”
Derek, who had closed the door and come out, walked silently down the corridor, then briefly sat on the windowsill and stroked his chin.
‘I shouldn’t take Lady Denise’s words lightly. I might have to be careful for sure.’
Aiseline, who had scant knowledge of male-female relationships, just thought that Derek was a person with no interest or clue in such matters.
But that was too naive a thought. If you roll around in the slums, you see all sorts of gloomy male-female relationships and sticky, fishy love affairs from over your shoulder.
It might have been a scene far removed from the bright and beautiful culture of high society, but it was an environment where, at the very least, a man’s intuition was bound to be developed.
‘It was good to check in advance. I’ll have to get my head on straight.’
To dismiss Derek as a person with no interest or knowledge about women was a naive judgment.
On the contrary, he was a person who judged even a woman’s romantic feelings rationally. He was a person close to what the so-called noble ladies would call a ‘bad boy.’
For the prude Aiseline to try to do anything about him as she pleased, he was an opponent of excessively high difficulty.
‘First, let’s finish the preparations quickly.’
Derek straightened his attire and then proceeded across the corridor.
Whatever it was, it was a matter that would be resolved once he quickly finished his business in the north and returned.
<><><>
Swish, swish—
Late at night, Denise, who was quietly moving her quill pen, flinched and stopped.
Before long, she put down the quill pen, and with her arms crossed, she quietly looked up at the moon hanging in mid-sky.
‘Thinking that Derek’s contract is ending soon makes me feel a bit empty.’
Whatever the case, she had grown very fond of Derek.
The reason she was worried about Derek heading to the north was because, one way or another, she had received a lot from him.
She was worried sick about him leaving to teach Lady Siern with Aiseline, but it was not good to tell a bird that had left its cage what to do.
‘Should I have interfered more...? I’m worried that something might happen...’
In any case, Denise had done almost everything she could.
However, regarding the matter involving Aiseline, a strange sense of frustration continued to remain.
As if something was caught in her chest, it kept nagging at a corner of Denise’s heart.
In fact, it was not something she needed to worry about to this extent, but it was truly a bizarre.