Episode 009
Matthias raised his handsome eyebrow.
He leaned elegantly against the back of his chair.
“Lady Eleanor seems to prefer getting straight to the point.”
“It doesn’t seem like something that can be hidden, so I don’t like inefficient methods.”
“Then what’s your idea of an efficient approach?”
“Instead of the baby, I’ll fulfill what Your Grace desires.”
A smile curled at Matthias’s lips.
He nodded for her to continue.
“Your Grace didn’t come all the way to this rural village to find me.”
“Why not? I could be here to recruit the Empire’s treasure, Lady Eleanor, because I covet her talents.”
“If that were the case, the Hilliard Duchy would have contacted me by now. Even if you were interested, since the imperial family made an offer, you likely stepped back. Of course, that’s not important right now.”
“You’re right.”
“If I may presume, Your Grace failed to locate Charlotte, so you came to me next to use the child as leverage?”
“…That’s correct as well.”
Matthias’s smile deepened.
“You’re quite clever, Lady Eleanor. Clever enough to make me want to get my hands on you.”
It was a smile too intimidating to simply call it admiration for her beauty.
But Eleanor didn’t flinch.
She had already resolved to cooperate with him, so there was nothing to fear.
“Use me instead of the child. It’ll be better that way.”
“Does that mean, to Charlotte, you’re more special than her own child?”
“Why do you think you failed to find Charlotte, Your Grace?”
Matthias’s question was difficult to answer directly.
Instead of responding, Eleanor countered with a question of her own.
“With information networks capable of tracking my residence, even with the Magic Tower’s help.”
“Well, it seems Lady Eleanor knows the answer.”
“In my opinion, Charlotte possesses the divine blessing right now.”
Only then did a glint of interest flash in Matthias’s eyes.
He straightened from his relaxed lean against the chair.
“She has a holy relic?”
“Yes. And the divine blessing has a special effect: it thoroughly erases the holder’s traces from people’s awareness, concealing their presence.”
If even Matthias’s information network couldn’t detect her, a holy relic was the only explanation.
In the original story, the relationship between Eleanor and Charlotte never recovered.
The older sister tried to kill the younger, and the younger had to flee to survive.
At that time, Charlotte used the holy relic, the “Divine Blessing.”
With the divine blessing, even someone right beside the holder couldn’t perceive them.
It was a protective device that perfectly erased one’s presence.
Charlotte used its power to safely escape her sister, who sought to kill her.
“Well, she did run off with that holy knight…”
Matthias muttered lowly.
Since Alexis, who fled with Charlotte, was a holy knight working at the temple, he seemed to find it a plausible deduction.
Matthias fixed his gaze on Eleanor.
“But if Charlotte used a holy relic to escape, don’t you also lack a clear way to find your sister?”
“That’s true, but I have other information.”
“Other information?”
“The letters exchanged with Charlotte during my seven years at the academy.”
‘In truth, not letters, but knowledge of the original story’s future.’
From the moment Charlotte eloped with the sub-male lead instead of the main lead, the original story was already derailed.
But that didn’t mean all the information was useless.
Eleanor decided to leverage that knowledge to cooperate with Matthias.
‘Since my hideout’s been exposed, escaping the duke is impossible anyway.’
Unless she had the divine blessing.
The power of a holy relic was something even a villainous duke couldn’t overcome.
But for Eleanor, who was neither the heroine nor a saintess candidate, accessing a holy relic was impossible from the start.
‘The duke’s goal isn’t the baby anyway.’
He simply wanted to use the child to retrieve the missing Charlotte.
‘So, there’s no need to expose the baby to danger.’
If Eleanor fulfilled his desires in the baby’s place, that would suffice.
‘I’m worried about what happens when the duke actually finds Charlotte… But he’s the type to at least pretend to obey the heroine, so it should be fine.’
Moreover, Eleanor and Matthias shared some aligned goals.
She also needed to find Charlotte.
To return Charlotte’s child to her embrace.
For now, she was protecting the baby from parents who wanted to kill them, but an aunt who wasn’t the biological mother couldn’t pretend to be a parent forever.
Above all, the child needed their birth mother.
“I know things Charlotte didn’t even tell our parents.”
Eleanor whispered conspiratorially.
To fully capture Matthias’s interest.
“Like where she dreamed of going with a lover in the future, what kind of wedding she wanted, what romantic fantasies she harbored.”
“Are you calling such trivial details ‘information’?”
“Charlotte loves those trivial, cute little things. They’re her childhood bucket list, in a way.”
Eleanor shrugged and added, “With the divine blessing hiding her traces, she probably thinks our parents can’t find her. So, she’s likely fulfilling those long-held dreams one by one. If we follow that trail, we might find her.”
“Hmm…”
“And she’ll slip up eventually. She can’t hide with a holy relic 24/7. Unless she’s stealing food, she’ll need to buy it, and unless she’s sleeping rough, she’ll need lodging. We just need to catch her in those gaps.”
Matthias fell deep into thought.
Eleanor fidgeted with her clasped hands, anxiously awaiting his response.
She appeared confident outwardly, but inwardly, she was quite tense.
“Not a bad plan.”
“…!”
“Of course, assuming that information is true. How can I trust you’re not feeding me false leads? If I hear Charlotte dreams of visiting a kingdom across the sea, cross it, and find neither her nor you there?”
“…You could find someone like me anytime.”
“But discovering I’ve been deceived would put me in a very foul mood.”
Matthias smiled chillingly.
The room’s temperature seemed to drop by five degrees.
“Hm? What do you think, Lady Eleanor?”
Shivering slightly, Eleanor pulled a small notebook and pen from her skirt pocket.
She scribbled something on a blank page.
It wasn’t long.
Finishing, she tore out the page and handed it to Matthias.
“Check this first.”
Matthias raised an eyebrow.
Eleanor said confidently, “To see if my information is useful. You must have lackeys with you. Have one verify it while you keep watch to ensure I don’t run. Or vice versa.”
“…Is Lady Eleanor always this fearless?”
“I don’t fear what I can handle.”
“Ha. Hahaha.”
Matthias burst into loud laughter.
After laughing heartily, he said with a raised corner of his mouth, “You truly are a researcher. Thinking of treating me like a lab rat to manipulate.”
“…That wasn’t my intention.”
“Fine. I’ll play your lab rat as you wish.”
Leaning forward, he slowly cracked his knuckles.
“I’ll be the one watching you, Lady Eleanor.”
Thus, their temporary cohabitation was decided.
