Chapter 59
The servant, seemingly deciding that it would be more effective to target Lucian than me, clung to him and began to protest his innocence.
"M-my lord, no. It’s a misunderstanding. There is no way I would ever embezzle your money. My only crime is being loyal to you. P-please, you must believe me!"
"……Then why are you apologizing? You said you did nothing wrong."
"I didn't know that hiding your private affairs would be considered a crime. The idea that I would steal your money is truly absurd!"
At the servant's desperate excuses, Lucian’s eyes wavered, unable to find a focus.
"Oppa, think about this clearly."
I poured out the truth to ensure he wouldn't be swayed by sentiment and make the wrong judgment.
"If someone had a sound mind, they wouldn't hide the fact that you were being blackmailed by your biological father. They would report it to the Duchess immediately. That is the right thing to do."
"But……."
"Yes, you wanted to keep your private affairs hidden from the Duchess, so you were grateful to the servant. But he used that psychology to act as if he were on your side."
"A-acting! I did my absolute best for you, my lord!"
The servant tried to interject, but I continued without paying him any mind.
"Figure out who is actually capable of helping you. Hiding your private affairs like that for the rest of your life won't make your life any better."
Are you going to live your whole life under the shadow of your biological father?
Lucian, chewing over my words, gasped for air and shook his head.
"No, I want to escape. I hate that man with everything I have……."
Lucian walked forward with a firm, determined expression. He stopped in front of the kneeling servant.
"If it is true that you have been embezzling my money, I will punish you severely. I will show you absolutely no leniency."
"M-my lord……."
"What are you all doing? Hurry and seize this servant so he cannot escape!"
Sir Aiden and Lucian’s escort knight firmly restrained the servant.
I looked at the servant, who was now unable to move an inch, and smiled gently.
"You know, aren't you curious how the Duchess will react once she finds out about this?"
The Duchess, who had been infinitely kind to me, was actually stricter and colder than anyone else when it came to rewards and punishments.
It was a fact evident from the moment she ascended to the position of Duchess, when she personally cut the throats of all the collateral relatives and elders who opposed her.
The servant’s complexion turned ashen, as if he had intuited his own future. The way his lips and chin were trembling was quite pathetic.
"I will try to put in a good word for you with the Duchess. But there is one thing you need to do for me. How about it?"
"I-I will do anything. Please, just spare my life……!"
"It’s not a difficult task. You just have to keep doing what you’ve been doing."
My turn ends here.
Now, all that remained was for Lucian’s 'real' guardian to take over.
✦ ✦ ✦
Late at night.
A quiet alleyway where few people passed. Two men emerged from between the dark shadows.
Lucian’s biological father grinned from ear to ear as he looked at the large sack the servant had brought.
"Hahaha! So, the brat finally managed to get the money?"
The servant wrinkled his nose slightly at the pungent smell of alcohol wafting from him, but answered as if he were used to it.
"Yes. The new young lady who arrived recently has the ability of 'Precognition', so they went to the racetrack and hit the jackpot."
"My goodness, Precognition?"
Greed that could not be hidden glistened in his eyes.
"Then that means he has an inexhaustible source of funds!"
"……Well. They say it costs one's lifespan to use Precognition, so I doubt he can use it as often as you think."
"What do you mean he can't? If we keep harassing him, just like now, Lucian will eventually pester his sister and end up doing it, yes."
"You should remember that if the tail is too long, it gets caught."
"Don't you worry. He’s a coward just like his mother; would he dare defy me? I know that brat better than anyone."
The servant handed over the sack filled with gold coins without any change in expression.
"Here is your share."
"Hehehe, I was thinking that if that damn brat Lucian couldn't get the money this time, I’d sell him off for a high price and leave this country……."
He opened the sack of gold coins right there and then, licking his lips as he gazed at the gold filling it.
"Seeing this gold, I don't think I can leave. It seems I can keep milking him for quite a while longer."
"I have one question."
The voice was quite serious, but since Lucian’s biological father had all his attention fixed on the shimmering gold, he answered carelessly.
"Yes, yes, go ahead."
"Wasn't the money you took every month already a significant amount? Why did you suddenly need this much money?"
"Hah. I lost a huge amount of money gambling a while ago. So I wrote a letter thinking I should get some benefit from the only child I have who made something of himself, and……."
His hand, which had been fiddling with the gold coins, stopped abruptly. He grew angry, as if genuinely annoyed.
"Ah, well. He kept saying he had no money, didn't he? I’m sure he had some stashed away somewhere."
"His claim that he had no money was likely the truth. He brought it after leaving behind only the bare minimum for his Dignity Maintenance Allowance."
"But in the end, when I squeezed him, the money came out, didn't it? There must have been plenty of ways, yet he lied to me……. Ptooey! Talk about bad luck."
"You seem quite drunk today."
The servant tried to stop him, but Lucian’s biological father only raised his voice further.
"I’m living here enjoying all sorts of wealth and luxury, while this father of his is starving to death! Anyway, he’s a rotten brat, that one."
It was then.
From the quiet alleyway where only the voices of the two men had been heard, a refined woman’s voice echoed.
"For someone who is starving, you seem to have quite a lot in your belly."
"Who are you!"
Lucian’s biological father, unaware of the fate unfolding before him, immediately began to lash out at the person who had insulted him.
*Click, clack.*
As the woman who had been hidden in the shadows drew closer, she gradually revealed her form.
Viviana Papiope Dilum.
Upon identifying the owner of the voice, the lips of Lucian’s biological father slowly fell open.
It felt as if his drunken mind had been jolted wide awake.
"Aren't humans truly fascinating?"
"Y-Your Grace……."
"There are those who cannot keep their pants on and, after fathering a child, treat them like their own property, while there are others who take such children in and raise them."
Lucian’s biological father signaled to the servant, as if asking what he should do.
The servant ignored his gaze, snatched the sack of gold coins he was holding, and moved behind the Duchess.
"M-my gold! W-what are you doing!"
"You, try to grasp the situation. Do you still think this gold belongs to you?"
The servant said with a distorted face, as if resigned to his fate.
"It’s over for both you and me."
"T-this can't be happening!"
Lucian’s biological father screamed in disbelief, stumbling backward.
*Thud.*
Having hit a dead end, he shook his head and stared at the approaching Duchess with terror-stricken eyes.
Cold, blue eyes looking down at him haughtily.
She was a woman who appeared only beautiful, but he, too, had heard the rumors about her.
It felt as if he were standing before an executioner.
*Gulp.*
His Adam's apple bobbed up and down heavily.
"Your Grace, there seems to be some misunderstanding. I will explain everything, so please, first calm your anger……."
"Lucian is not your child; he is my child."
"O-of course. Indeed! I, after handing over parental rights, have never once thought of Lord Lucian as my son."
"If that is what you think, why did you treat my son so poorly?"
The more Lucian’s biological father tried to make excuses, the colder the Duchess’s gaze became.
"T-treat him poorly? It’s a misunderstanding. I was merely, Lucian! No, I only received the money that Lord Lucian gave me out of old affection……!"
"I heard every word you spat out with your own mouth from beginning to end. You tell such pathetic lies."
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