A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 117

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Krraaaagh!”
“You’re welcome to keep your mouth shut.”
“Ugh… I… I really don’t know…!”
Duke Escra grasped the right hand of the man bound to the chair, his fingers interlocking as he applied pressure.
Crack!
“Aaaaagh!”
“Human bones are far more fragile than one might think.”
“Pl… please… just kill me…!”
“Of course you’ll die.”
“Ugh…”
“The only question is whether you’ll die peacefully or not. So speak.”
Duke Escra locked eyes with the man.
“Tell me, and I’ll end it for you right away.”
“Ugh… I don’t know… I really don’t know anything!”
“Tsk.”
Duke Escra stepped back, unfastened his cuff buttons, and rolled up his sleeves. Then he approached the man and seized him by the hair.
“Seems you’d prefer to live.”
“Aaaaagh! Ughhhh!”
“Still worth living for, apparently.”
As the man’s screams resumed, Duke Escra’s eyes gleamed with savage intensity. Yet the smile at the corner of his mouth only deepened.
‘He’s lost his mind.’
Count Alton, who had been observing everything from the side, exhaled a long sigh.
He hesitated for a moment—should he stop his lord, who had clearly gone mad? This was plainly just venting frustration.
‘Even Kaise knows.’
That this man truly knows nothing of any mastermind.
Usually only the higher-ups would know; these low-level assassins who directly carried out the work merely received orders and possessed no information whatsoever about who stood behind it.
Keeping someone ignorant of everything was the best way to maintain secrecy, even if they were captured and tortured.
Duke Escra surely understood this fact well, and yet he continued nonetheless.
Moreover, he hadn’t personally lifted a hand in recent times…
Count Alton shook his head slightly as he watched him display his cruelty so freely, like a fish in water.
“Speak. I’ll grant you a peaceful death.”
“Krraaaagh!”
It seemed the screams would not cease for some time.
* * *
“…What did you just say.”
“The Imperial Court orchestrated it!”
Marquis Gabriel shot to his feet.
“Why would the Imperial Court—!”
Duke Sorpel, already enraged by news of the assassination, was turning the entire Empire upside down searching for the mastermind.
How was he managing to uncover the branches of Assassination Guild Kan scattered covertly throughout the Empire so effectively!
News kept arriving that branches were being destroyed day after day.
“The Gracia Empire has officially submitted a request.”
“The Gracia Empire?”
They claimed that the attack on Camilla Sorpel, who had come as an envoy, was a scheme by a sinister faction attempting to drive a wedge between the two nations, and a formal request had been submitted.
“They’re demanding that we find and eliminate those responsible.”
“Since when have they cared so much about envoys!”
“The Gracia Empire said they would provide active assistance in finding those behind it—”
Crash!
Marquis Gabriel was utterly bewildered by this unexpected turn of events.
No matter how secretive an assassination guild might be, things changed entirely when the Imperial Court itself stepped in.
If a nationwide manhunt were launched? The leadership could be captured. And then it would only be a matter of time before his name surfaced.
“Damn it!”
Marquis Gabriel paced his study, unable to hide his anxiety. Then, pausing briefly, he lowered his voice further.
“I need to act first.”
“Sir?”
“Lure out the leadership and eliminate them.”
“Lure them out? But….”
“Submit a new contract! Do whatever it takes to get close to the leadership! We’re running out of time! Hurry!”
“Yes, understood.”
* * *
“So….”
Camilla paused, then continued without taking her eyes off Duke Escra.
“This ring belongs to you, Your Grace?”
“Yes.”
“You’re the one who gave this ring to my mother?”
“That’s right.”
Camilla paused again, pressing her temples as if her head ached terribly.
“Do you understand what that means?”
“More or less.”
“So you’re saying….”
So you’re saying you….
“Are your father?”
“It would seem so.”
It would seem so?
“Ha!”
Is that all? Do you have nothing more to say?
‘What is this!’
Like someone receiving a mundane question such as “Have you had breakfast?”, Duke Escra simply nodded calmly, and Camilla found her words catching in her throat.
But realizing this was no time for silence, she hurried to continue.
“As you can see, it’s a very common ring. It’s just an ordinary ruby ring you could find anywhere at any jeweler in town.”
So Camilla attempted to deny the situation first, suggesting he must be mistaken.
“Give it to me.”
“The ring?”
“Yes.”
She hesitated briefly, then slipped the ruby ring from her finger and handed it to him. As he took it, he gently infused it with his own energy.
Ssshhh.
Then something extraordinary happened. Crimson light poured from the ring, lightly scorching the paper on the table and leaving a mark behind.
A red rose. The emblem that symbolized House Escra.
“It’s a ring that served as the family seal.”
…Stay calm. Stay composed. Yes, the ring could belong to him.
“Mother must have lied. She said I received it from Father, but it could just be something I picked up off the street—”
“Red eyes.”
He cut off Camilla’s attempt to deny the situation once more, swiftly and decisively.
“It’s a characteristic of those who carry the blood of House Escra.”
That’s why when I first saw that child, my gaze kept drifting to her without my realizing it. I recognized the family’s distinctive features.
“Are you claiming that everyone with red eyes belongs to your bloodline?”
“That’s not quite it, but isn’t it unreasonable to insist that all of this is merely coincidence?”
…It is unreasonable, isn’t it.
‘Damn it.’
Looking at everything, it really does seem like I’m that man’s daughter….
Camilla clamped her mouth shut. If she opened it even slightly now, every curse imaginable would come pouring out.
“I understand you’re quite shocked. For now—”
Don’t you dare speak!
Camilla shot to her feet abruptly.
“C-Camilla?”
“So what?”
Is that man really my biological father?
“Are you joking?”
Father? A father? What the hell!
Whether it’s that world or this one, why do all these so-called fathers have to be such disasters!
“Do you have any idea how old I am?”
Seventeen years old, no less. So what exactly has that man been doing all this time? He never even thought to look for me?
A man sitting in the position of Duke could have found me countless times if he’d simply made the effort.
He just didn’t bother looking!
“Keep the ring, Duke. The owner has appeared, so you should return it to them.”
With that, Camilla turned and walked away immediately.
She couldn’t bear to stay here any longer. If she remained, she’d genuinely tell that man off.
“Camilla!”
At that moment, Count Alton called out to her urgently.
“Wait, please wait just a moment!”
At his earnest cry, Camilla exhaled a short sigh and found herself unable to continue walking.
After all, he had shown her nothing but kindness during her time here—it felt wrong to dismiss him so callously.
“Is there something else you wish to say?”
“You’re simply leaving like this?”
“What if I don’t?”
“No, but still…!”
Count Alton, who had hastily seized her arm, found himself unable to finish his words.
“C-Camilla.”
Tears. They were streaming down her face.
“Ugh… hic….”
With her lips pressed tightly together, she continued to shed tears—a sight that was truly pitiful.
Even Duke Escra, witnessing her distress, gazed at her with bewildered eyes.
“Camilla, please calm yourself first….”
“So I must shed tears before departing?”
Count Alton’s mouth fell open again in shock. Her expression and tone had shifted once more.
With a swift brush of her hand across her eyes, all traces of sorrow had vanished from her face.
It was impossible to believe this was the same person who had been weeping just moments before.
Rather, her gaze, now tinged with a bitter smile, was as cold as ice.
“If you desire a touching reunion between father and daughter, I can certainly oblige….”
I’m quite capable of acting, after all.
Family? The pull of blood? I never harbored such expectations even in my previous world, and I see no reason to lament that this world’s biological parents are no different. There was nothing to regret.
‘I’ve lived well all this time without knowing. What does it matter?’
Camilla cast one final glance at Duke Escra, who remained seated with an indifferent expression, then turned to leave.
Click!
“Kaise.”
As the door closed, Count Alton turned to him with evident frustration.
“You could afford to be more honest in situations like this.”
He had arranged this meeting so that matters could be explained clearly, so there would be no misunderstandings—yet he sits there with his mouth sealed shut! What was he thinking?
“….”
Despite Count Alton’s gaze, Duke Escra remained silent, his lips firmly pressed together, staring intently at the ring Camilla had left behind.
* * *
“Sigh.”
Back in my room, I collapsed into a chair and exhaled a long breath.
My mind was still foggy. My thoughts felt congested, unable to function properly.
I had feigned composure before Duke Escra, but my heart was pounding so loudly I could hear it in my ears.
My biological father. I didn’t even know he was alive, and I never imagined meeting him in a place like this.
‘I thought he was dead.’
No one had ever volunteered to tell me about my father.
I had never been particularly curious either. To me, he had always been nothing more than a dead man.
‘What if….’
What if, at that time, I still hadn’t found the ring those servants had hidden?
Or what if I hadn’t received the mana stone mine from Duke Sorpel? What if I hadn’t been included in this congratulatory delegation in the first place?
‘I probably would have lived my entire life without knowing.’
I would never have had the chance to meet my biological father.
“Would you care for some tea?”
“No, thank you.”
I shook my head lightly at Dorman’s offer of tea.
Shouldn’t I be drinking something stronger than tea right now? I’d just discovered the secret of my own birth, after all.
‘They sell alcohol to seventeen-year-olds in this place anyway—why not just drink myself silly?’
“It seems you’ve returned the ring.”
….
My gaze turned toward Dorman with agonizing slowness.
My crimson eyes, fixed upon him, grew progressively colder.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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