The Hierro Marquisate (2)
The Hierro Marquisate (2)
"Martin, so this is where you were?"
I waved at him, beaming.
Martin, who had been talking with two mercenaries, turned to look at me.
He looked pleased to see me. But the moment he spotted Bianca following behind me, his expression stiffened.
"Martin..."
Bianca was the same. She bowed her head, looking tense.
An awkward silence settled between them.
"I didn't expect to see you again so soon."
I approached Martin as though I hadn't noticed the awkward atmosphere at all.
The two mercenaries beside Martin stared at me in bewilderment as I drew near.
It was only natural for them to react that way, seeing a little kid suddenly act so familiar with him.
The male mercenary asked Martin, "Who's this?"
"Someone from the Gracia Dukedom."
"Ah, the one who came along with you."
At Martin's reply, the two grimaced.
It seemed they weren't pleased to run into me.
What a pity. And here I was, so glad to see them.
I smiled brightly as I sat down at the table where Martin was seated.
"I'm so glad to see you. Slipping out of that stuffy Lord's castle was definitely the right choice."
Since I couldn't tell him I'd come out to conduct a preliminary investigation, I offered the sort of excuse a typical young child would make.
At my words, Bianca and Hugo turned to look at me.
Uh, wait. I feel like they're looking at me with pity or something...
Don't tell me they misunderstood and thought I'd used work as an excuse to come out and play?
No, I can understand Bianca, since she only met me today, but Hugo, you shouldn't be doing that too!
I sighed inwardly.
To think everyone would actually believe me when I acted this childish.
I realized once again that being young could be a formidable weapon.
Naturally, Martin and the two mercenaries believed me, too.
"Since we ran into each other like this, would it be all right if I hung out here for a while? It's almost lunchtime, so let's eat together before we go."
At my words, Hugo nodded, looking slightly troubled.
Even if this was an outing, we were only wandering around the safe city where the Lord's castle was located.
A preliminary investigation hadn't been part of the original plan anyway, and since I'd just implied that was merely an excuse, it was only natural for him to give his permission.
Seeing that I had no intention of leaving, Martin let out a soft sigh.
From his perspective, it must have been difficult to refuse my request.
The two mercenaries immediately stood up.
"Let's talk again later."
"We should do that."
Martin nodded, too.
Huh? They're leaving?
"Are you both mercenaries? Won't you join us for a meal? It's my first time meeting real mercenaries. I'll buy, so please tell me some mercenary stories."
I looked at them with a bright, sparkling smile and innocent eyes.
"Sorry, little young master. We aren't the sort of people who should be chatting with high-born folks."
"We have some business to attend to, so we'll be off."
The female mercenary wagged a finger as she spoke, while the male mercenary bowed politely. Then the two of them slipped out of the inn.
Damn, I failed. I wanted to gather more information...
For now, I had to be satisfied with having found them.
"Wow, to reject me so easily, those two must be really amazing mercenaries."
When I made the slightly sarcastic remark, Martin defended them.
"It's just because they're both really busy. Benjamin is the commander of a fairly large mercenary corps, and Noah is the vice-commander, so they have a lot on their plates."
Did I finally get their names? They were probably aliases, but just knowing what names they used here was helpful enough.
Martin, Sir Hugo, Bianca, and I had lunch in the inn's dining hall.
Sharing a meal with a knight, a maid, a little kid, and a man who looked like a mercenary was incredibly awkward.
I shamelessly kept the conversation going, but Sir Hugo and Bianca ate in silence, and Martin only gave half-hearted replies.
No one came near us. There was no way the mercenaries would welcome a knight showing up in a tavern crawling with them.
The meal ended awkwardly, and after bidding Martin farewell, we left the inn.
Though it was brief, I managed to glean a few more pieces of information by slipping questions into our casual conversation.
'They said it was the Red Bear Mercenary Corps, right?'
The name of the mercenary corps the two belonged to, where they stayed, and their relationship with Martin.
It wasn't much information, but it was enough.
There were a few more things I wanted to know, but there was no way Martin would answer. Besides, I had someone else who could tell me instead.
After leaving the inn, our group explored the remaining areas.
We went from the bustling commercial district to the top of the outer fortress wall, which offered a panoramic view of the city.
As expected, there were no places that seemed dangerous, and we were able to return to the Lord's castle before it got late.
After passing through the inner wall of the Lord's castle, we parted ways. Sir Hugo seemed to be heading off to report our return, while Bianca said she was going to see Adria.
Since Bianca hadn't been by Adria's side when I'd seen her earlier, I thought they weren't in contact right now, but that wasn't the case.
I didn't head straight to my room, either.
I sought out the soldier Juan and asked him to investigate the Red Bear Mercenary Corps.
Asking a soldier from our own territory to investigate a mercenary corps in the Marquis's territory was far from ideal, but I had no other alternative.
Fortunately, Juan agreed to my request this time, too.
I felt as though I'd caught a glimpse of the benevolent smile of an adult watching a child play detective in my past life, but I did my best to ignore it.
Once I'd finished my business and returned to my room, Adria's maid was waiting for me.
She held an invitation card in her hand.
"An invitation to a tea party?"
"Yes. She wishes for you to join her tea gathering with Simon. She has some questions regarding tomorrow's event."
When I tilted my head in confusion, the maid explained why I'd been invited.
But even after hearing her explanation, I still couldn't quite understand.
She had never called for me before, and tomorrow was just an outing with Brother Simon, so there was no reason to invite me to a tea party.
'Did she invite me to be a third wheel? I feel like I'll just end up walking on eggshells around Brother Simon...'
Still, refusing would be impolite.
Sunset was still far off, so having a tea party before dinner wouldn't be a problem.
I washed up quickly and followed the maid.
As expected, her drawing room was clean and simple.
Simon furrowed his brows when he saw me enter.
I knew this would happen. Lunch had already been hard to stomach, and now I felt like the tea would taste incredibly bitter, too.
"Welcome."
Adria greeted me warmly.
Contrary to my expectations, I was the main guest at this tea party, not Simon.
"I heard from Bianca just a moment ago. She said you met Brother Martin today?"
As soon as I sat down, she revealed the real reason she'd invited me to the tea party.
"I heard you even traveled here with Brother Martin. I had no idea, because Young Lord Simon didn't tell me."
She glared at Simon, who subtly turned his head away.
A blue-blooded noble like Simon would never bring up another noble family's illegitimate son, of course.
In any case, she'd invited me because she wanted to know about her half-brother.
Still, her demure manner kept bothering me.
There was no way her personality had changed in just a year, which meant she was putting on an act...
It seemed the one who was bothered would have to speak up first.
"You can speak comfortably with me. I'm much younger, after all."
When I said that, Adria stopped speaking abruptly.
She glanced at Simon, then looked around the room.
All the maids had left the drawing room, so there was no one else to hear us.
Soon, her face began to twitch, and Simon let out a sigh.
In the end, she dropped the act.
"Hahaha! I can really speak casually, right? I was dying trying to hold it in."
I'd told her she could speak casually, not to drop her ladylike act altogether.
Well, to be honest, that was exactly what I'd meant, but I hadn't expected her to take it so literally.
It was a good thing I already knew her true personality. Otherwise, I would have been startled out of my wits.
Ah, right. I should act surprised.
"Are you really surprised? This is my real personality. Simon was shocked when he found out, too."
When she said that, I glanced at Simon, who had his eyes closed and a dark expression on his face.
It seemed he'd already found out during the few days they'd spent together. Then again, if she'd spilled the beans to me this quickly, there was no way she'd have kept it in for days.
"You have no idea how much the adults nagged me to keep acting like a refined lady, warning me that the engagement would be broken. They said that if Simon found out, the engagement would be canceled, and I'd be locked in my room all year, doing nothing but flower arranging and etiquette lessons day and night."
She grinned at Simon.
"But they were completely wrong. Even though Simon was surprised to find out it was all an act, he didn't mind at all. He's a good man."
At her words, Simon smiled back, though his smile was overshadowed by a dark, gloomy expression.
Unfortunately, Adria had misunderstood Simon.
He hadn't accepted her true nature because he was a "good man."
At that moment, Simon's face was filled with sheer agony.
He seemed completely unable to understand himself—why he'd fallen for a woman with this kind of personality, or rather, how the woman he loved could possibly be like this.
And Adria calling him a "good man" sounded incredibly pitiful.
A good man. A nice guy.
Single guys in my past life always heard that kind of thing from their female acquaintances.
I'd heard it several times, too... No, no, now was not the time to think about that.
I sent my silent condolences to Simon, who was staring at Adria with a melancholy expression.
'That's just how first love is, brother.'
After that brief commotion passed, the atmosphere in the drawing room became much more comfortable than before.
I wiped the surprised expression from my face, too, and told Adria everything that had happened.
From the moment I met Martin, to our conversation, and even our duel.
Adria thoroughly enjoyed listening to my story.
She was amazed when I told her how I'd met Martin, tried to commit his words to memory, and her eyes sparkled when I mentioned dueling him.
Uh-oh, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the duel.
In any case, she looked like someone listening to news about an older brother she'd parted with long ago.
Indeed, even in my previous life, she'd refused to believe that Martin was behind the incident. Looking at her expression now, it seemed they'd been very close since childhood.
"It seems you and Martin were on very good terms."
"Yeah. He didn't get along well with our other siblings, but he and I got along great. I was so worried because I hadn't heard any news from him since he left home."
Okay, it was finally time to ask the question I wanted to ask.
"Why did Martin leave the Lord's castle? It seems he has even awakened..."
"Alex!"
At my question, Simon called my name loudly, warning me not to ask unnecessary questions.
And the very first time he called me by name was just to scold me.
What a truly wonderful brother he was, no matter how you looked at it.
"Ah, am I not supposed to ask? Since we're both illegitimate sons, I was just curious about how he ended up like that."
I put on the most pitiful expression I could as I spoke.
I had to make good use of this before it was too late. In a few years, it might not have any effect at all—or worse, it might backfire.
Adria thought it over for a moment. She looked at Simon, then turned her gaze to me.
One was the person she'd come to be engaged to, and the other was his younger brother—an illegitimate son who shared the same plight as her own brother.
She looked around the room once more, then began to speak in a hushed voice.
"The reason Brother Martin left home was partly because his inherited ability was far superior to others, but in the end, it was because of his younger sister."
A secret about the Marquis's family began to spill from her lips.