When The Count’s Illegitimate Daughter Gets Married

what is this?”

“I was washing the dishes earlier, and it got dirty, so I took it off.”

“I’ll bring you something clean,” the maid insisted, but Ava draped the apron over her short, fleshy arms.

“It’s fine, I’ll feel less irritable if I’m busy.” Ava recalled about the closet where the maids kept their clothes.
One of them was on vacation, so there was an extra suit, right? She walked down the quiet hallway without hesitation and arrived at the closet.

Naturally, she opened the door, expecting that there would be a maid uniform.
She was horrified at what she saw.
Ian was still there….
“Oh my gosh!” Ava lost her balance.
Ian, who had been sitting alone inside the closet, jumped up and saved the old woman from falling.

“Ah,” Ava’s surprise turned into anger and absurdity.
“What the hell are you doing here? You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“…..Are you feeling okay?” She carefully checked his condition before leaving.
Ian went out into the hallway, his face dry.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t the time to spend time reminiscing over his actions with Laritte.
Even at this moment, her lifeline was shrinking.
All dragon artifacts in the Duchy and the Imperial Palace were collected.
However, every time Laritte consumed an item, he grew anxious.
How much time had she left?

Depending on the dragon’s part used to make those objects, the amount of time they protected Laritte was different.
Some worked for a week and some for hours, but it wasn’t helping.
Humans had little information on mana.
He was impatient because of the limit of analysis conducted by humans.

Seta still hadn’t been found…..
He sighed, walking over to the window.
He looked up at the sky, sweeping the frame with his fingers.
Day by day, his mood changed for the worse.
He was all happy and smiling one moment, and the next, he would feel suffocated as he would pray and swear.

‘Laritte, I can do anything as long as you’re okay with it.’

Meanwhile, Olivia finally found Ian standing from afar, “Duke!”

“But there’s something more annoying,” he murmured grimly.
He turned his eyes away from the ‘annoying’ object.
He had to do what he could.
He thought about sending a letter.

***

Emperor Oscar Iassa, the man with the highest position in the Empire of Iassa, the leader and the master of all, had a headache.
It was due to the meeting that was held every Wednesday morning in the First Imperial Grand Conference Hall.
He held a letter in his hand, contemplating his position.

The protests of the ministers were reaching their climax.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs chimed in.
“It wasn’t enough to give the Duke a place in the Imperial Palace for a few months……”

“….Even all the royal treasures were sent as he demanded….,” the General slammed his fist on the desk.
The last one was so displeasing that no one knew who said it.

“Now does it make sense to even send a letter to borrow the Emperor’s powers? The Duke is clearly crossing the line!”

Oscar read the letter Ian had sent again.
He was going to send items believed to be dragons’ remains from all over the Empire to the Imperial Palace.
Oscar was an orthodox descendant of the imperial bloodline—a distant descendant of dragons.
He had the ability to determine whether the claimed dragon artifacts were real or fake.
In other words, he was asked to evaluate the objects.

The ministers participating in the Imperial meet were the main figures of the Imperial Palace.
They each occupied a position in the palace.
Since their honor was nothing but their money, the Duke had no choice but to be a thorn in their eyes.

“You must punish the Duke!”

“He appears to be challenging the throne!”

Oscar sighed quietly.
‘It’s just an honest request Ian made, but I can’t help it.’ When he was the Crown Prince, he could not help Ian much.
He felt nothing but helpless.
But, now that he had become the Emperor, he had decided to accept even unreasonable requests.

As he looked at Ian’s letter, he sighed again.
‘Isn’t he looking at me as a tool just for identifying objects?!’ He was his old friend! He could have at least said hello! Was he an idiot?

Oscar stood up from his chair.
In any case, the opinions of the ministers were always ignored.
“Maybe you don’t like the Duke…..,” he sighed for the third time.
It had only been a while since he ascended to the throne, but he had a rough mouth whenever he spoke, “but are you the Emperor?”

That’s right.
That stopped them.

Oscar walked out of the conference hall.
As long as the Duke had the Emperor on his side, no one across the seas could harm him.