It was a remarkably stiff attitude.
Ivelin hesitated, worried that if Richel, who had let all of this slide until now, would do so again this time as well, she would have to refuse—
“Your Grace!”
All at once, the nobles bowed their heads toward Ivelin’s back in greeting.
Lotte had brought Richel with her.
It had been a while since she last saw him.
Rather than feeling glad, Ivelin’s expression stiffened with anxiety, afraid she might have said something unnecessary.
And yet, for some reason, his gaze lingered on Ivelin for a long time.
“?”
The nobles, too, seemed to sense something odd and looked slightly taken aback.
“Your Grace…?”
When they called out to him cautiously once more, only then did Richel’s gaze leave Ivelin and settle on the nobles.
Ivelin strode up to him and reached out her hand.
But the moment she did, Richel took a step back.
A snort of laughter burst out among the nobles.
She froze and turned around, only to find the nobles looking at her with gazes mixed with mockery and contempt.
They seemed to be saying,
‘What did you think you could rely on to act so brazenly?’
Ivelin’s head dipped sharply.
The servants looked as if they were choking back emotion as they glared at the nobles, but in a society built on rigid ranks, insubordination couldn’t be tolerated.
If the servants stepped forward to take her side, it would only make things worse.
They knew that too, which was why they remained still.
If Richel hadn’t been here, she might have tried to push through by sheer force somehow, but for now, the one with the greatest authority was Richel.
Ivelin had no choice but to step back, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
Since Richel didn’t seem to think very highly of her either, she assumed he would just let it pass.
But unexpected words slipped from Richel’s mouth.
“Why are you laughing?”
“…Pardon?”
The nobles who had burst into laughter went stiff and stared at Richel.
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“What?”
“Return.”
Ivelin blinked rapidly.
‘What is this?’
No matter how she looked at it, it seemed like Richel was taking her side.
When she looked at Lotte standing behind him, Lotte was smiling with deep satisfaction.
The nobles looked as if fire had fallen at their feet, not knowing what to do.
“G-Grand Duke.”
“I have already heard everything. I merely left your arrogance alone because it was troublesome, not because I permitted you to treat members of my household carelessly.”
“Y-Your Grace! We have committed an unforgivable sin!”
The nobles dropped to their knees and prostrated themselves. Only now were they begging for forgiveness, and it was a thoroughly unpleasant sight.
On top of that, they weren’t even begging her.
Ivelin swept her irritated gaze over them from head to toe.
It was satisfying to see them groveling at her feet, but it was frustrating that it wasn’t because of her own power.
Ether was still clinging to Ivelin’s dress and showed no sign of letting go, but he seemed to have understood at least that they had treated Ivelin badly.
“Don’t…”
Ether spoke toward the nobles.
Perhaps thinking that begging a child might work better, the nobles hurriedly changed tactics and began pleading with Ether instead.
But Ether shouted sharply.
“…Don’t bully my mom! She is my mom!”
It was the first time he had called Ivelin “mom.”
As Ivelin stood still to hear what Ether was saying, her expression filled with emotion.
“B-b, you trash-like bugs!”
But she had no choice but to be shocked by what followed.
“E-Ether…”
Trash-like bugs, really.
Ivelin called Ether softly. The child met her gaze firmly and broke into a bright smile.
“Mom, Ether will protect you!”
He was bright. Far too bright.
‘At least it’s not outright swearing, so should I be relieved?’
Ivelin’s face, which had remained composed even when the nobles ignored her, flushed red.
Though they had been struck down one after another by father and son, the nobles still clung on as if they couldn’t give up on the compensation issue.
Richel looked sick of them, as though their shamelessness bordered on thick-skinned audacity.
“I already said that I will no longer pay compensation.”
Rather than going back on his words, he drove the nail in deeper.
He had no intention of retracting what he had already said.
Then the one who had been the most rude from the beginning, Count Alketa, whom even Ivelin had been keeping an eye on, crossed the line.
“Your Grace does not protect the World Tree Forest because you wish to, anyway. You are cursed and cannot endure without killing, so you hunt demonic beasts, yet you cannot even do that properly and end up causing damage to our territories!”
Was he insane?
Not only Ivelin, but even the nobles who had come together with him looked startled and restless.
When she glanced at Richel, his already cold eyes had sunk even deeper into icy stillness.
When that gaze fixed squarely on the Count, he finally seemed to realize his fear and clamped his mouth shut, but all the words had already spilled out.
What would Richel do now?
Ivelin watched the situation with keen interest, as if eating popcorn, silently cheering him on.
‘Please, hit him with something!’
But Richel didn’t act the way she expected.
“Very well. I will compensate you.”
What?
Ivelin blinked blankly.
Count Alketa looked just as stunned and asked back like a fool.
“You will compensate us?”
“Is that not why you came? I am tired, so let us end this here—”
“Waaait!”
Ivelin shouted, raising her hand high.
“What are you compensating them for?! You said you would not! Are you going to keep getting bled dry like this?! No, no!”
“…Did you not hear what Count Alketa said?”
“What about it? That idiot who can only spew personal attacks is blaming everything on Your Grace, is that it?”
“I-idiot?!”
Count Alketa shouted angrily, but Ivelin ignored him cleanly and spoke to Richel.
“Why does it matter that House Lekach is cursed and kills the demonic beasts of the World Tree Forest?!”
It wasn’t even a real curse, nor did it bring harm to society.
Foolishly, House Lekach had held its breath for far too long.
Yes, perhaps they had been afraid of public opinion.
They could have obeyed the words telling them to avoid catching the Emperor’s eye and live here while reflecting on the meaning of their existence.
But at the very least, she couldn’t stand by and watch them endure being treated like this.
‘My child! Being treated like this even after growing up! Over my dead body!’
Ivelin was roaring inwardly, but on the outside she steadied her breathing as calmly as possible and replied.
“He never killed anyone.”
“You are missing the essence of the matter—”
“What essence? Is there a crime called being a potential murderer? Have any of you ever heard of that?”
Ivelin swept her gaze over the servants as she asked, and they all answered in unison, “No!”
“You heard that, right? Murder is murder. There is no such thing as potential murder. His Grace is simply a good noble, a person who has never killed anyone. House Lekach has always been that way. And yet you extort compensation from them, saying they didn’t even kill demonic beasts properly and caused you harm?”
Ivelin sucked in rough, ragged breaths.
“Your Grace, at this point, you might as well cut their heads off right here.”
“What?”
Richel’s eyes widened.
The nobles shrank back with a squeak, terrified that the Grand Duke might actually lose control and start swinging a blade.
“I mean, it is unpleasant to be treated like a murderer. This might be a good opportunity to actually kill them.”
Ivelin looked at the nobles with eyes that seemed completely unhinged.
“H, haha…”
At that moment, Richel suddenly let out a small laugh.
Ivelin thought, ‘What is this, why is he suddenly laughing?’
But the servants, especially Lotte, stared at Richel in shock, rubbing their eyes again and again.
Lotte had spent nearly half her life here, yet she had never once seen the Grand Duke laugh, so she was stunned. As for the other servants, for the same reason, and because they had always kept their distance from the vaguely terrifying Grand Duke, seeing him laugh made them realize that he too was human.
The nobles were just as shocked, but when Ivelin’s voice rang out next, they were sent into utter panic and could do nothing but flee.
“So, what will you do? Will you have your heads cut off here?”
Contrary to the elegance of her tone, her words were utterly bloodcurdling.
***
Ivelin was simply delighted.
After all, she had landed a solid blow against the nobles and driven them away, and Ether had called her Mom!
“Ether.”
“Yes?”
“What did you call me earlier?”
“Mo-mom… Mom…”
Ether answered belatedly, his cheeks flushing.
Ivelin squealed and stamped her feet in excitement.
“Are you going to call me Mom now?”
“Yes. You were Mom already. I just didn’t know before…”
Ether rubbed his cheek against her and nestled into Ivelin’s arms.
Drunk on joy and delight, Ivelin hugged him tightly.
“No. It was Mom who did wrong. Ether didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No. Ether did wrong.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I should’ve called you sooner, but I was scaared…”
“See? Mom scared Ether. Mom was wrong.”
“Nooo… That’s not it….”
The two went on for quite a while with meaningless back-and-forth about who was at fault, but their expressions were bright.
The servants watched the two of them with very pleased smiles.
Only Richel watched them as if observing.
Just then, Tami cautiously approached Ivelin.
“Lady Ivelin, um, more importantly, I think Young Master Ether should wash up a bit…”
Now that she thought about it, having rushed out earlier, Ether was still completely smeared with paint.
Ivelin burst out laughing.
“Eek.”
Seeing Ivelin laugh, Ether seemed to realize the state he was in and whined softly in protest.
“Wash me, please.”
He had said he would protect her and even insulted the nobles looking like this. If it had been her, she might have died from how cute it was.
“Let’s wash together with Mom.”
“Yes!”
In any case, since Ivelin also had paint on her thanks to Ether, she started to move to wash up, then noticed Richel still standing behind them.
Seeing that he didn’t seem to have any intention of moving, Ivelin glanced at him curiously as she passed by.
Richel turned his body to follow her as she walked past him.
As if he hadn’t expected her to pass by like that, his expression looked quite flustered.
In truth, Ivelin was well aware of Richel’s behavior.
On top of already being her type in appearance, her gaze kept drifting toward him, but she pretended not to notice.
He was the one who had drawn the line, telling her not to approach first, and she had promised she wouldn’t.
And since he was looking at her like a pitiful puppy, as if he had something to say, it felt even more like Richel was the one who should speak first, so she pretended not to notice even more.
Somehow, it also felt a little irritating.
When this was translated on a different website. I think it had 40 chaps. But that site was taken down and it took me years of constant checking to see if someone had picked it up. 🥹 tysm for translating this. Patiently waiting for your updates ❤️