An Ode to Divorce - Chapter 78

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#78

“To His Majesty, Lairinne is just… like a cat he occasionally goes to pet. When I first learned that fact, I thought I should be a little kinder to that child, but…”

Dietrich let out a sigh.

“It’s still difficult. I know that child is innocent and that old man is the root of all evil, but… when I see that child, I remember the day my mother passed away. The image of that young child who came holding her mother’s hand before my mother’s body had even grown cold…”

The memory of that day was embedded in Dietrich like a thorn that wouldn’t come out.

As a result, he found himself unconsciously avoiding Lairinne, and perhaps because of this, Lairinne came to regard people like Gert and Eurich more intimately than Dietrich.

Dietrich thought this was unavoidable. He wasn’t shameless enough to shun his sister while hoping she would come to him.

Not wanting to continue the topic about Lairinne any longer, Dietrich quickly changed the subject to something that came to mind.

“Come to think of it, are you completely at odds with Eurich now?”

Gert nodded and then revealed what Eurich had said at the banquet.

Dietrich’s face contorted with anger upon hearing the story for the first time.

“To think he’s been pretending to be such a good person in front of us all this time… If it weren’t for Orphea, we would have continued not knowing what that bastard was thinking behind our backs.”

Dietrich had also spent a long time associating with Eurich as cousins. Because of this, he couldn’t readily think to suspect Eurich. Rather, even when he noticed something strange about Eurich during the expedition, he would blame himself for being too suspicious.

He thought Eurich had no reason to make the expedition fail.

But now that Eurich’s true intentions were revealed and he looked back, all the things he had suspected about Eurich in the past seemed suspicious.

Dietrich shuddered with disgust and warned Gert.

“You be careful too. If Eurich is such a hypocritical bastard, there’s no telling how he might lash out now that his hidden truth has been exposed. Well, no matter how cunning that bastard is, what could he possibly do to you…”

“Even if he can’t do anything to me, he might be able to do something to Orphea.”

A sinister shadow fell across Gert’s face.

Eurich didn’t harbor resentment only toward Gert. He might target Orphea first, who exposed his identity and got him expelled from the family.

Honestly, Gert was speculating whether Eurich might be the culprit behind this deer incident.

Of course, there was no evidence. It was just Gert’s own intuition.

Then, Dietrich spoke as if something had suddenly occurred to him.

“Come to think of it, Eurich has been frequently going in and out of the royal palace lately.”

“The royal palace? Doesn’t he no longer have the qualifications to visit the palace since he’s no longer a noble?”

“Well, Lairinne must have invited him. Lairinne is soft on that bastard… And in a situation where Eurich is no longer a noble, Lairinne is the only one he can rely on, so he must be clinging to her more persistently.”

“Lairinne…”

Gert stroked his chin. After pondering something for a while, Gert suddenly asked bluntly.

“…What about His Majesty? Has Eurich ever met His Majesty?”

“His Majesty? Why His Majesty? Don’t tell me you’re worried His Majesty might help Eurich?”

At Gert’s question, Dietrich shook his head as if it was absurd.

“Eurich is still a Lübenhartz after all. Would His Majesty, who detests the Lübenhartz, even bother dealing with Eurich?”

“What His Majesty hates isn’t exactly the Lübenhartz but Alkides. If Eurich caught His Majesty’s interest by having hostility toward me, who is Alkides, there’s no telling what might happen.”

“…That’s true.”

Dietrich also nodded at Gert’s speculation.

Even so, it didn’t seem likely that someone as cruel and petty as the king would help Eurich, who had nothing, but they couldn’t let their guard down.

“Alright. Since you put it that way, I’ll watch more carefully to see if Eurich makes contact with His Majesty.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you for what, between cousins. I’m the one who was grateful that you came along on the expedition.”

Dietrich grinned and held out his fist to Gert. Gert also smiled faintly and was about to bump his fist against it when—

“…But you’re really not interested in Tamar, right? Ah, I know, but just in case. You won’t be interested, right? Even if you want to be interested, you can’t be, right?”

“…”

Gert’s face contorted at Dietrich’s persistent words. Seeing Dietrich clinging like a leech and pestering for an answer, Gert sighed and lifted Dietrich up, throwing him out of the room.

Dietrich’s shouting continued even from outside the door.

“Gert! Promise me!”

“Haah…”

Gert pressed his thumb and index finger firmly between his brows. At this moment, he desperately needed Orphea’s music.

***

“Hello!”

“…Why is she he…re?”

I smiled brightly while looking at Lairinne’s displeased expression.

“I wanted to see Princess Lairinne, so I asked Count Tindal’s daughter for help.”

It was impossible for me, a commoner, to invite Lairinne or visit her directly at the royal palace.

Not only because of social status, but also because it would be troublesome if Eurich, or perhaps the king who might be behind him, found out about my interactions with Lairinne.

So I asked Helena for help.

Since Helena often called Lairinne out anyway, no one would find it suspicious.

Not even Lairinne herself, the person involved.

Sure enough, caught off guard by this bolt from the blue, Lairinne glared at Helena. Under Lairinne’s sharp gaze, Helena turned her head away as if playing innocent and made excuses.

“I-if I had told you, you m-might not have come.”

“Even so, this is fraud!”

After getting angry at Helena for a while, Lairinne seemed to think she had shown too much excitement and cleared her throat while composing her expression.

Having quickly regained her usual haughty expression, Lairinne continued speaking with feigned composure.

“…Ahem, ahem. I don’t think we’re close enough to meet like this. I haven’t come to like you, so don’t misunderstand, as I told you before.”

‘This princess is really troublesome.’

When we parted last time, she even gave me a hint to be careful.

‘I thought we had become somewhat close even if she didn’t like me.’

To think she’d change her attitude like flipping her palm after just a few days!

But if she thought I would back down with just this, she was mistaken. I smiled warmly and spoke to Lairinne with shameless charm.

“You don’t have to be close to meet, do you? It’s enough if we have business with each other.”

“Business? I don’t have any.”

Lairinne turned her head sharply and tried to leave.

Seeing her ears turn red through her golden hair, she must have been quite displeased that I had forced this meeting.

But I had no intention of letting Lairinne go like this either. I opened my mouth to stop Lairinne.

“Gert is investigating the golden-horned deer incident. It seems he couldn’t tolerate someone causing trouble in the capital while he was away…”

As soon as my words ended, Lairinne’s body stiffened. Seeing Lairinne’s reaction, I realized I had hit the mark.

My purpose was to figure out how deeply involved Princess Lairinne and the king were with Eurich.

For that purpose, I could use Gert as an excuse as much as needed!

‘It’s not like I lied.’

Gert was actually looking for the culprit. Of course, I had absolutely no intention of revealing the culprit to Gert, but Lairinne wouldn’t know that.

“I thought Princess would be curious about this fact, so I hurried to tell you, but if you treat me so coldly, it hurts my feelings too.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Threatening? If I had to categorize it… it’s goodwill.”

I smiled slyly. Lairinne would have no choice but to listen to my story.

Sure enough, Princess Lairinne, who seemed about to leave immediately, sat down with an expression of suppressed anger as soon as my words ended.

***

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