Startled by an unexpected sound, I hurriedly turned on the magic lamp.
Then, a woman came into view, curled up on the floor and trembling violently.
“Ugh… Uhh…”
A red shoulder.
It was the mark from where I had struck her.
My heart pounding with shock, I covered my mouth and took a step back.
“Hmm….”
What was I supposed to say?
At a glance, she didn’t seem to be an intruder.
For now, I lowered the club and took a closer look at who it was.
And finally.
The identity of the woman who raised her face was….
“Lady Lugner?”
“U-uh… Hello…?”
The star of today’s party.
It was Sonia Lugner.
“What are you doing here?”
It was an unexpected encounter.
Why was Sonia here?
Ah, could this be—
Had the servant guided her to the wrong room?
But the answer lay with Sonia.
“…I was preparing to pay the price.”
“Excuse me?”
“The price for the poker… That is me.”
“Hmm?”
At her absurd words, I grabbed my throbbing temple.
No way.
Brother Lugner.
Did you like me so much that you would give me your daughter?
“Phew~”
A sigh escaped me.
***
The sight of Viscount Silberg heaving a deep sigh.
Before that sight, I couldn’t help but feel intimidated.
It wasn’t because I had been struck on the shoulder.
It was because I felt pathetic for having underestimated Silberg.
“For now, please sit over there.”
Leon Silberg looked at me shifting about nervously and pointed to a chair in the corner with the switch he was holding.
The moment he entered, he had grabbed a switch, and after punishment, he immediately began giving orders.
“…Yes.”
But I had no choice but to obey.
This place was no longer my room.
It was territory he had seized—
no, conquered.
“So, Brother… ah no, the Count sent you to me?”
“Yes.”
I answered his question honestly.
Strictly speaking, my own will had played a part in my coming here, but broadly speaking, it had been Father’s proposal first.
Just a short while ago, as the party was nearing its end, Father had come to find me.
And delivered news like a bolt from the blue.
‘From today onward, the House of Count Lugner… shall serve Viscount Silberg as its master.’
‘What? Father, what do you mean?’
‘We were caught in a trap from the very beginning. Sonia… I am truly sorry.’
The events that had transpired in the party hall.
I was told of the entire situation of having fallen into Viscount Silberg’s trap.
At first, I couldn’t believe it.
I even thought it wasn’t real.
But seeing Father shed tears before me for the first time in his life, I had to accept the reality that our house had fallen.
‘The land rights, assets, and everything shall be documented and sent to him. The Imperial Finance Minister just so happens to be in attendance as well… Ha. Could this… have also been part of Silberg’s plan? Ha. Hahaha.’
The sight of Father laughing as if his soul had left him.
My heart ached at the sight of Father crumbling, who had always shown a strong front.
So I mustered my courage.
My name is Sonia Lugner.
The sole heir to the House of Count Lugner. And a young lady once called a prodigy at the Academy.
‘Father. Instead of that, what if you offered me?’
‘…What? What did you just say, Sonia! That is… w-wait… could it be?’
Father immediately understood the meaning of my words.
Even as he thought it absurd, the plausible situation must have formed in his mind.
‘After all, I am the only bloodline of the House of Count Lugner. Therefore, if you offer me, Silberg cannot help but acknowledge it.’
‘B-but still…!’
‘And think about it. House Silberg is in the same situation as us. Leon Silberg… is the only direct descendant. So think about it differently. If I approach him and bear his child… I become the lady of House Silberg, and the House of Count Lugner becomes an in-law to House Silberg.’
‘Gasp!’
Father must have seen it as a crisis, but to me, it felt like an opportunity.
And immediately, I had a servant bring him to my room.
I deliberately had him go around and around the hallway to buy time. In the meantime, I finished my preparations.
I let my hair down and sprinkled perfume.
It was an urgent situation, so my mental preparation was lacking, but it didn’t matter.
With the house on the verge of ruin, it was right to set my personal feelings aside for now.
‘Sigh… To think the day I would wear this before marriage would come.’
And I took out the negligee my mother had left me before she passed.
It was the general shape of a one-piece dress, but made of semi-transparent thread, so my body lines showed right through.
She had given it to me, saying the day I needed it would come.
On top of that, I turned off the lights and lit scented candles for a subtle atmosphere.
Thus, I completed my preparations to seduce Leon Silberg.
But he was not easy.
A good while had passed since the door opened.
He came into the room, having induced all the scented candles to go out with a gust of wind.
Leon Silberg grabbed the disciplinary switch left by the entrance the moment he entered.
It was a switch customarily placed in noble estates for servant training, but grabbing it while entering someone else’s room itself was an act contrary to common sense.
Yet he picked it up and slowly approached where I was.
My heart pounded.
Anyway, the first image was important for seduction.
It was my first time in practice, but I had heard from the Academy and other couples that there was no man who wouldn’t fall when a woman of my caliber seduced him with her body.
So I waited.
The moment Leon Silberg approached, my plan was to throw myself into his arms and rub my chest against him.
But after coming close to a certain point, he stopped stock-still.
And furrowed his brow.
Frowning between his brows with a half-lidded expression I couldn’t tell was open or closed, a strangely eerie feeling washed over me.
Could it be… he had seen through everything?
And that thought—
—Thwack!!
“Kyaaaack!!”
I was sent flying by the intense pain.
Leon Silberg, having seen through everything, had struck me.
And now this situation.
“You must be mad.”
Leon Silberg opened his mouth as if scolding me while brandishing the switch.
No, he was definitely scolding me.
“Such a cheap trick. It seems Count Lugner does not know how to properly pay a price.”
A chilling question.
Only then could I realize.
This was not a scolding aimed at me.
It was aimed at Father, Count Lugner, and further, our entire house.
I couldn’t let him misunderstand like this.
If that happened, everything our house owned would be stripped away, just as Father had said.
“That’s not it!”
“…It is not?”
“That was… an excuse! This… this is because I wanted it. It was my proposal. It has nothing to do with Father. I did it because I wanted to… It’s true.”
So I begged.
Whether he had caught on or not.
It was my desire to end this entire situation with me alone.
I wanted to tell him that everything was planned by me and that it was my mistake.
So I spilled everything.
“I tried to seduce you! …Because if only that worked, everything would be resolved. That’s why. Father actually opposed it. But I was greedy… so…!”
I blabbered.
I rambled on with whatever came out.
I wanted to explain more logically, but my choked-up heart made it difficult.
“Hmm~ Is that so? Interesting. Haha. So that’s how it was.”
But fortunately.
Leon Silberg ‘pretended to be deceived’ by my words.
Within the sharp gaze visible between his eyelids, everything was contained.
He knew everything, but his heart of ‘letting it slide’ by acknowledging my courage pierced into my heart.
Could it be… I can be forgiven?
But like Father, I too had to pay the price of the gamble.
“Very well. Then come with me.”
“…Pardon?”
“I mean let us go to my territory and take time to learn about each other. If your words are sincere, I too must verify them to that extent, must I not? Ah, by the way, I am not yet prepared to accept you.”
A gentle voice.
Had one heard it without knowing, it would have sounded like one of the love confessions of countless couples seen at the Academy or blossoming on the battlefield.
But I could tell.
It was a warning sent to me.
A cruel warning that instead of being deceived, he would take me as a hostage to test the House of Count Lugner’s loyalty toward Silberg.
“…I understand. Please… look kindly upon me.”
And so I became Leon Silberg’s.
And I intuited.
That he had likely thought this far ahead.
***
The next day.
After finishing breakfast, I slowly prepared to return to the territory.
Most of the other nobles had already departed for home, and only a few remained, myself included.
We could have left much earlier if we hurried, but I had deliberately stayed to be among the last.
Since the situation had turned into taking the daughter with me, I wanted to allow time for goodbyes.
“Haahm~”
“Did you not sleep well last night?”
As I yawned from fatigue, Cecil beside me asked.
A gaze that seemed to glare slightly.
I shook my head at the question that clearly contained some ulterior motive.
“No, I slept well, but I’m tired.”
“Hmm? Is that so?”
Cecil was likely asking about last night’s affair with Lady Sonia.
Indeed, having seen me exit the same room as her in the morning, she must have been curious.
But contrary to Cecil’s expectations, nothing happened.
Though I was surprised by the sudden confession, it wasn’t something I could accept immediately.
The room was spacious enough, and the sofa large enough to serve as a bed, so we simply slept apart.
And I was the one who had suggested it first.
‘Let us sleep separately tonight.’
‘Tonight… ah… yes.’
Lady Sonia likely didn’t realize because it was her usual sleepwear, but her nightgown was so revealing that her undergarments showed through.
Had we slept together, would I have lost control and caused an incident?
No matter how slow I am in that regard, I am still a man.
By the way. Thinking about it again, yesterday’s events were truly shocking.
A woman hiding in the room claiming to be the price for poker….
And Sonia’s appearance, shedding tears in defiance of her parents to find her love, honestly made my heart flutter a bit.
But I couldn’t accept it.
There was a reason.
Judging by the situation, Lady Sonia seemed to have had a connection with Leon Silberg from before.
After all, it was unlikely she would confess her love on the very first day they met.
If so, the person she loved was strictly speaking not the current me.
I don’t know what kind of love story there was, but she likely loved Leon Silberg before the possession.
Therefore, I couldn’t accept her confession as it was.
Since I possessed him.
Leaving aside whether the old Leon Silberg could return.
Accepting the confession while knowing nothing felt like driving a dagger into her heart.
As could be felt from her desperate confession.
Sonia seemed to truly love Leon.
“I’m jealous.”
“Excuse me? Of what?”
“Nothing.”
So I chose my own best course.
I decided to spend some time together briefly, getting to know each other.
My calculation was that if we learned a little about each other, perhaps she and I could both sort out our feelings to some degree.
If her love was real, she would quickly realize I was not Leon; if not, she could erase the old Leon through me as a person.
“Here she comes.”
In any case, while I was briefly lost in thought, I saw Sonia approaching from afar.
Count Lugner was with her.
“From now on… please take care of me!”
Sonia with an excited expression.
Perhaps nervous, her trembling shoulders were quite cute.
On the other hand, Count Lugner with a dark expression.
In his expression, I could see the heart of a father who had ultimately failed to bend his stubbornness and had to send his daughter away to another man.
It was pitiful just to look at.
So after some thought, I decided to say a word before leaving.
Brother Lugner.
Rest assured.
Your precious only daughter.
“I will take good care of her.”
I greeted him with a smile, and Count Lugner staggered.
Perhaps the tension left him due to my reassuring greeting.
Hahaha.
And so, with Sonia aboard the carriage,
I departed from the House of Count Lugner.
It was summer.
***
The Northern Plateau.
Even on this harsh land beset by ice storms year-round, humans existed.
A man with a rugged impression sat atop the castle wall, looking down below.
And beside him stood a woman with red hair.
“Your Grace, the Grand Duke! A letter!”
Just then, seeing a subordinate climbing the stairs shouting, the man turned around.
His name was ‘Derek Eisen.’
He was the Grand Duke of the North.
“A letter? From where?”
“From the south!”
Derek looked at the urgently approaching subordinate and snorted.
Because of the meaning the word ‘south’ carried.
“With the North in its current state, why bring some trivial news from the south? Just take it back down.”
To him, who had spent his entire life on the Northern Plateau, ‘south’ was a lazy word.
Derek turned away, not even looking at the subordinate, unwilling to even hear it.
But the subordinate did not turn his steps after hearing the Grand Duke’s order.
Instead, he shouted as if telling him to listen.
“Silberg has moved!!”
“…What?”
At those words, Derek, who had been turning away, looked at the subordinate again.
It was because he had heard words difficult to ignore.
In the end, Derek descended the stairs and opened the letter.
His demeanor was so urgent.
At his unfamiliar appearance, the red-haired woman beside him made a puzzled expression.
And between her alluring lips, she spoke.
“Silberg? That… viscount from the south who lent money?”
It was a statement only someone with a different worldview could make.