Chapter 9.1

“F-Father!”

“If she was a spy, she wouldn’t be sleeping the whole time. And I’ve certainly come to a conclusion about the child.”

“But you said you’d listen!”

“Stop it, Lexit. I said I’d listen, but I didn’t say I’d accept it.”

Even though I wasn’t there, I shut myself up at the moment.

“I don’t know why everyone is saying no.”

But Lexit still hasn’t given up.

Others were even breathing quietly, but Lexit was busy blabbering with his mouth.

“Father, I want to ask. Why on earth would you keep her around? Are you sure she’s your illegitimate child? If that’s the case, I’d rather admit… ”

“Lexit, why do you hate her so much?”

“I hate how creepy she is. I just hate her.  I don’t like the fact that she’s my little sister, and I don’t want Allen to get stupid and adore her because she’s his little sister.”

“If that’s the case, leave it at that.”

Because of that statement, their murmurs grew louder and louder again.

“Why do you want to let the child of someone else’s father come into our family? It’s not like she is one of us. We don’t even have similar hair color or eye color! What would other people think?”

“Since when did the Grand Duke fear the eyes of others?”

“That’s…!”

“If you ever go against my decision again, I won’t forgive you even if you are my son, Lexit, or any other retainer. After this, if you dare to call me in to say these things, I’ll kill you.”

“Father!”

“That’s it for my generosity.”

“Or at least give me a reason for why that girl shouldn’t be here, then I might think about it.”

I heard the sound of the chair scraping against the floor. Perhaps it was because of the Grand Duke rising from his seat after speaking so sarcastically.

The door opened and closed with a loud noise once again, as if it had gone out one after another.

‘As expected, he is the one I needed!’

The way he talked about me and said that to his vassals and even his own children.

As expected, he really is amazing!

I could not help but laugh.

But the meeting didn’t end there. After the session, Lexit seemed to have followed him and others had gone out, but I could still hear some men murmuring in there.

“Fuck it.”

“I don’t know what kind of lightning bolt that was.”

The men who made different murmurs seemed to be unable to control their anger.

“We should kill her or drive her out later… but what about that woman?”

It was then…

I heard a creepy voice that sounded as harsh as nails scratching against a silver tray.

“I was going to put my daughter in the empty seat of the Grand Duchess, but then the girl and the woman appeared out of the blue. We can’t just wait and see.”

“…What about using Little Prince Lexit?”

“I think that would be better.”

The voices of the retainers came over the wall.

Their intentions were clear, though it’s difficult to tell what it’s like on the other side of the wall.

He hated me, and he’s ready to do anything to kick me out.

“Little Prince Lexit is not that easy.”

“Well, unlike what it looks like, he is not favorable towards us. But I don’t know what will happen if I leave it like this. I think Prince Allen might be better off.”

“Yes it would be better if it’s Prince Allen! He’s more naïve than I thought, so I don’t know if it’s possible.”

They were preoccupied suggesting solutions to each other, as if it was the best idea they could think of.

It was then…

“Hush.”

“What?”

“Quietly. You don’t know who’s listening.”

“But Marquis…”

“Hush, I don’t feel good about this.”

“Ack… okay.”

With those words, the room quickly became quiet.

“Anyway, we’ll talk about it later.”

“All right.”

I was thinking about going back at that time, when I could clearly hear someone walking towards me.

At that moment, I shut my mouth. Did he just notice that I was here?

“There are a lot of rats in this kind of place.”

“What are you looking at?”

“Is there anything there?”

The old man, who screamed at the person who made a sound from asking him, swept his eyes across the walls.

“The Great Wall, which has been invaded for a long time, has better evacuation routes than anywhere else. Although that did not happen after the current Grand Duke ascended, there was a passage made by his ancestors in the past.”

“Do you mean it’s even here?”

“Of course I don’t know where, but you’d better be careful.”

‘Oh, so it’s the escape route!’

But that room with them was obviously different from mine. There was definitely a door in my room that could lead to this passage, but there was no door connecting the place in front of me and where I stood. There were only thick bricks.

“So we won’t be able to come in here all of a sudden.”

A little relieved, I slowly attached myself to the wall behind me just in case.