When The Count’s Illegitimate Daughter Gets Married

Ian returned to the banquet hall after a conversation with Oscar.
He spotted Laritte surrounded by some young ladies.

“Laritte.”

Glancing back at Ian, Laritte introduced her hobby club friends.

“You’re here? They’re my friends.
We just had a wonderful time together.”

“Friends?”

The word friend got him intrigued.

How would they know her?

He was a bit jealous.
His eyebrows raised a little as he turned to look at his opponents.

“Looks like you enjoyed your short little time with them.
We’re going to see the fortune-teller now.
Ladies, can I take my wife?”

“Of course!”

The girls bowed to them, promising Laritte that they would also enjoy the next time they met.

“Madam, please wait for me to show off my dress next time!”

Laritte also gently waved to them.

“Goodbye, everyone.”

Ian asked as they walked under the grand chandelier.

“They were nice, weren’t they?”

“They are around my age, but they’re nice.
Although, we had a strange encounter in between.”

Ian stopped.
People dressed in beautiful attires passed by them.

He carefully chose his words.

“If Laritte feels her opponent is strange, maybe it’s because…..”

Maybe it’s because they are indeed strange.

Ian tried hard to hold back the words and asked a question.

“What happened? Who was this strange opponent?”

“It was the Empress.”

“The Empress? Oh, no!”

“Nothing happened.”

In order to know what happened with Laritte, it would be easier to ask someone else.

Worried, Ian ran a hand through his hair.
The hair that the maid fixed was now messed up.

Oscar! He said he’d take care of it!

“Well, that’s good.
Anyway, I received a lot of information from His Highness,” muttered Ian coldly.

The fact that the Empress burned suspicious herbs in the Emperor’s room meant one thing.

‘Back then, I thought the Empress rose in power just for the Emperor’s convenience, but she has been conspiring all along.’

If he could find out the identity of the leaves Oscar gave him, he might be able to return the Emperor’s consciousness.

If the Empress’s sins were revealed, her foul desires to harm Laritte and the Duchy would disappear.

There would be no need to reorganize troops of the Duke’s Decree and battle hard to suppress her by force.

It would be an elegant counterattack.

“Anyway, if you have gotten along with the ladies before, invite them to the mansion later.
Our maids will be glad to serve them.”

There was no longer anything wrong with the way Laritte was progressing.

Ian was happy with the thought, but he frowned when his eyes landed on Seta.

‘There will be no more troubles after I find out what the fortune-teller means!’

“When you’re together, bad things happen like the girl who came earlier!”

I couldn’t believe that he could not be with Laritte.
It was ridiculous, but he was going to dig one more time.

He approached Seta.

The nobles—who were talking to Seta—bowed down as they spotted Ian.
They were also people who needed the courage to talk to him as if they were close.

“I, I guess the Duke also wants to speak to him! Of course, anyone would’ve been curious.”

Ian knew how to throw them out of the scene, “oh, well.
Is that so?” He replied lazily.
With his short reply, they noticed it would be better for them to step down.

Ian smiled politely as he turned to Seta.
It was so scary to look at, some could get goosebumps on their skin.

Seta returned the smile, his pointed canines showing.

It was a war of nerves.
The two smiled at each other as if they were having a staring contest.
It was frightening to the others who watched.

Ian was also annoyed.
He didn’t like how his opponent looked interested in Laritte.

‘It’s extremely rare to have a conversation with someone inferior to me.’

Seta also hated Ian.
Because with Ian, he couldn’t approach the human woman with composure.
However, since the woman was going to die early, he was in a hurry.

Seta’s eyes shifted to Laritte.
It was the most perfect face he had seen in a long time.
Too bad it was short-lived.

Noticing his gaze, Ian shifted to block the view.

Finally, Seta broke the silence.

“Have any questions, human?”

“Didn’t you say we should talk later because you had something urgent to attend? I wish to listen to what you said last time.”

Seta shrugged, “it’s the same as what I’m going to say.
You two shouldn’t be together.
It’s the reason why the woman keeps getting hurt.”

“We’ve been together for a long time.
It’s only been a few weeks that my wife has been in a lot of accidents.”

It will be fine as long as they’re not together.
Why is he arguing?

“Don’t you know it’s usually slow? The ma–”

He closed his mouth before he could say that ‘mana originally acted slowly.’

He was only here as a fortune-teller, wasn’t he?

Dragons and Swordmasters were the only ones who knew how to sense the presence of mana, but he almost got himself caught.

Seta gave a rough idea of what he wanted to say.

“Anyway, do whatever you want.
Try to revive your past memories before you deny what I’m saying.
There wasn’t a problem when you were far apart!”

Since he made a mistake, he decided to flee.

“You!”

Ian reached out to grab him.
However, Seta’s fast momentary acceleration helped him to escape the grip.

“And you better finish what you’re trying to do as soon as possible, man.”

His eyes grew wide in shock.

He let his guard down, but how could I miss him?

It was definitely a disciplined movement.

Letting down his empty hand, he stared at Seta’s back as he disappeared.

Seta—who seemed relaxed—looked down at his wrist as he walked out of the banquet hall.

“Crazy one, wasn’t he?”

There was a mark left by Ian’s hand.
He shook off his wrist.

“The Swordmasters I met a long time ago weren’t this bad either.”

Seta gave him advice even after his pride was hurt.

I’m more amazing than any human!

Though the advice was from a childish heart, it would be better for Ian if he should follow it.

Because it was a dragon’s advice, not anyone else’s.

 

***

 

Ian was sitting on a long armchair in one corner of the banquet hall.

What the fortune-teller said did not leave his mind.

‘There wasn’t a problem when we were far away?’

As the fortune-teller said, he recalled his past.
It was shocking to realize.
There have been situations where Ian was away longer than he expected.

When the traces of the dragon were suddenly spotted on the Magee Plateau.
He arrived at the Plateau but found nothing of the dragon.
At that moment, he was far away from the mansion Laritte was staying at.

In other words,

When they were together, he received the news about the dragon’s appearance.
But it disappeared as he moved away from Laritte.
Which meant, the problem disappeared as they separated.

‘It doesn’t make any sense at all…….’

Laritte began to get hurt all of a sudden when Ian returned.
There were even more strange happenings.
Including, the gathering of mana in the air around Laritte.

And the last thing Seta said was also strange.
As if he knew that Ian was looking into the Empress’s conspiracy.

While he was deep in thought, Laritte approached with two glasses of drink.
She held out one of them to him.

“Drink this.”

“Thank you…..
What happened to your clothes?”

Ian stood up as he received the cup.
Laritte’s dress was messed up from the spilling of drinks.

She shrugged, “I tripped while I was on the way.”

People around her laughed, but nothing happened.
She was grateful that her friends angrily glared at those who laughed, but she seemed really fine.

“I was going to bring a drink, but you shouldn’t have…… I’m sorry.”

Ian took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.

“Let’s go back to the room first.”

Laritte was staring straight at Ian.
Feeling her gaze, he asked.

“What’s wrong?”

“It seems like you’re thinking about something.
Is it because of the fortune-teller?”

Just like Ian could read Laritte’s feelings, so did Laritte.

Ian blinked.

Ah, even though my wife is blind, she is quick to catch on to unusual things.