CH 77

The air in the carriage grew heavy. What should I say first?

“You didn’t believe me. Well, you’ve said that before.”

“Count.”

“Is it still the same? Do you still have no faith in me?”

Enoch enthusiastically shook his head. I had no intention of blaming him for not believing me. But sadly, it was true. I didn’t know he’d had people attached to me.

I took a deep breath and exhaled to calm down. “All right, let’s go.”

“Count, let me explain.”

I stared at Enoch with expressionless eyes. Lia came to me right after Enoch’s confession at the ball and just before the hunting contest. I knew it’s still a difficult time to believe in me.

“You don’t have to explain it to me. I understand.”

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However, it was hard for me to accept that he had planted a person who was able to convey my feelings and watch over me at the same time.*

“Not now, Count.”

“But even after that, you didn’t tell me that Lia was your person.”

“That…”

While Enoch stumbled with his words, unable to explain, I cut him off. “It’s okay. I didn’t mean to blame you. But now that I know, it’s hard to keep Lia by my side.”

“No, Count. Lia is now your person.”

“Madam…!”

Lia, who had stood and listened like a sinner outside the carriage, suddenly fell to her knees on the floor. “No, Count Spillet.”

Lia changed the way she addressed me and fell flat on the floor.

“It is true that I first went to you under the orders of the Crown Prince. But I later told His Highness that I would live as your person. His Highness agreed, and no report was made after that. Truly,” Lia hurriedly explained.

I stared at her, then turned to Enoch, who lightly nodded his head. “It’s true. I haven’t spoken to Lia since the hunting competition.”

“…Is that so.”

There was no way to confirm what they said, but I didn’t think they were lying. But I still felt unresolved because I was more disappointed in Enoch than in Lia.

I’ve had similar feelings before. I think I calmed down quickly then, but not this time. What was the difference between then and now? The situation hadn’t changed.

Maybe my feelings did.

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“So, Count. Please don’t abandon me. I want to live with the Count.”

Conflicted, I looked at her then at Enoch, who looked at me with eager eyes.

“I’m sorry, Count. Let me explain.”

His serious voice shook my heart. Should I just let it go? After all, Enoch had helped me a lot.

However, apart from being grateful for the help, this was a matter of trust. In a nutshell, I was blindsided.

What if Enoch didn’t like me? What if our relationship didn’t get any better?

Was putting someone to keep tabs on me worth it?

“…Right now, I don’t want to hear it. Let’s go home.”

Suddenly, I felt exhausted.

Fatigue flooded my whole body to the point that the aftereffects of being kidnapped appeared belatedly. I really didn’t want to hear them now.

I knew, too.

Whatever their initial intentions, I knew it wasn’t with malice. But it was hard to move on from it.

“Count.”

“Really, let’s go home. I know what you mean.”

“Then I…”

Lia stood awkwardly and looked at me, and I glanced at her and answered, “Let’s talk later.”

“…”

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Lia bent deeply and returned to her seat behind the carriage. The carriage departed as soon as Enoch closed the door, and he glanced at my complexion.

He seemed to have a lot to say, but he didn’t say anything further because I was completely exhausted.

When Enoch appeared in the unknown basement, Viscount Therien and his men went down on their knees.

“Your Highness, I have searched the place you mentioned.”

“Okay. Is this all you found?”

Enoch looked at the things lying on the floor– a unused piece of magic stone of a transparent color, several small bottles containing the blood of a monster, a talisman with intricate patterns, and a corpse.

“Yes. They seemed to have left in a hurry, so they left quite a bit. But it didn’t seem like they were staying there in the first place. It didn’t look lived in.”

“Who is this?” Enoch asked, nudging the corpse indifferently with his foot.

“One of them, who failed to escape, fainted as soon as he saw us and died on the spot.”

Enoch clicked his tongue and turned over the body with his feet to see a face that had turned purple and lips that had turned black.

“He’s not a magician. Is he just a brainwashed errand boy?”

“Yes. I checked, but this guy didn’t even have a magic stone bracelet.”

Enoch shook his head and handed the package he was holding in his hand.

“May I ask what this is?”

“This is the magic stone that Count Spilet brought from the beach there.”

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Viscount Terrien opened the package. Inside were pieces of magic stone that had turned black.

“She picked it up on the beach.”

In the dark basement, a single magic lamp illuminated the room.

Enoch picked up a piece from the package and stared at it by the light.

“Even if normal magic stones are used up, they only lose their unique light, but they don’t turn black like this. This is proof of black magic. They must have wanted to hide that he used black magic.”

Viscount Therien nodded and shared his guess. “Perhaps they had no way to dispose of the used magic stones, so they dumped them all into the sea. Some of the wreckage must have washed up on the beach.”

The broken pieced that Enoch held looked worn out. However, only the initials engraved on it were recognizable.

“Your Highness, this is…”

“It’s a very good harvest. All this while, I felt like I was scouring the ground, searching for evidence the whole time. I thought it would be somewhere not too far away, but… The Count brought me an unexpected gift.”

Enoch smirked, his eyes gleaming coldly in the dark.

The next afternoon, I sat back and started working on the divorce agreement.

I flicked the quill and filled in the blanks without a hitch.

‘Family Relations… Should I write Not Applicable?’

I knew Erin had a stepmother and half-brother but decided not to bother, as it seemed they didn’t want to be involved with her.

I had heard that she also had close relatives, but after the former Count got buried in debt, they, too, seemed to have cut ties with her.

“It’s a tough world,” I muttered to myself, and pulled out a check from the safe. Fortunately, the bill I had put in my chest yesterday remained unharmed.

At that time, I was worried it might get wet while falling into the sea, but not even a drop of water soaked it because it was sealed with magic. It was a small thing, but once again, magic was amazing.

So, as soon as I woke up today, I went to the bank again.

Since I couldn’t wait for Damon to come, I hired the knights of the Imperial Palace as my escort. Anyway, it was a temporary arrangement, but the request was easily approved under the guise of doing national work.

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Whether rumors or not started because of it, I thought safety was the best after going through such a thing.

So I went to the bank with escorts and changed the bill into a check.

For now, I had four checks worth a billion each.

I put the divorce agreement and four checks in an envelope and closed it with a seal. I wrote the recipient as “Duke Rupert Clifford.”

The small letters shone brightly and then disappeared.

Even though it seemed impossible to see who it was going to, the post office would ensure that no one could open it except Rupert.

After making all the preparations, I rang the bell on the table. Then, Lia ran up to me and bowed her head.

After returning yesterday, I didn’t say a word to Lia, who was beside me. When we came back, I slept immediately, so we didn’t have time to talk.

“Madam… No, Count.”

I tapped my fingers subconsciously. Standing in front of me now, Lia looked sincere. But I never doubted her before I found out the truth.

“So, who’s person are you now, Lia?”

Lia bowed even deeper and knelt in front of me. “Yours, of course, Count.”

“Good, then… What did you tell the Crown Prince before?”

She hesitated at my question and didn’t answer right away.

“Lia.”

“Honestly… Can I say this?”

Why on earth did she have such a reaction? Did Enoch really doubt me that much?

“That, I…”

Lia’s hesitation frustrated me, so I urged her again, “Come on, tell me.”

“What time do you get up in the morning, what you prefer for breakfast, what color you like, what kind of tea you like…”

“What?”

As she continued, my face felt incredibly warm. And Lia also glanced at me with a red face and lowered her head as if to hide her smile.