I Was Marked as the Grand Duke Male Lead’s Stepmother - Chapter 66

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

Chapter 66

“It’s been a while, Sir Rino.”

“Indeed it has. Have you been well, Porel? Is His Highness in the main manor office? Or the administrative building?”

“He’s been working in the administrative building continuously these days.”

“Then I should head straight to the administrative building. Thank you, Porel.”

Rino changed his direction from the main manor office toward the administrative building.

Thanks to Porel, he felt slightly pleased to have avoided a wasted trip.

He wasn’t originally scheduled to return today. However, the field investigation had revealed strange findings that required a face-to-face meeting with Morgan.

“Hey there, Morgan! My friend!”

As he often did, Rino flung open the office door without knocking.

“Oh my!”

Marisselle, who had been concentrating on work, cried out in surprise.

“…It was Sir Rino…”

Marisselle patted her chest in relief upon realizing it was Rino who had startled her.

“Yes… uh… but why is Nanny Marisselle here…?”

Rino, who had naturally expected Morgan to be alone, was quite flustered to find Marisselle there.

“Welcome, Sir Rino. It’s been a long time.”

Marisselle stood up to greet the bewildered man.

“You must be very surprised to find me in His Highness’s office, right? Starting today, I’ve decided to help His Highness with his work whenever I have time.”

Marisselle smiled and kindly resolved Rino’s confusion.

“Ah… I see.”

He nodded and glanced at Morgan.

Morgan merely glanced at him once without even a greeting asking if he’d arrived, then continued with his work.

‘Indifferent fellow.’

“You must have had a hard time during this period?”

Marisselle looked at Rino’s rough skin and sunken eyes with pity.

“Ah… yes… I did have quite a hard time… Thank you, Nanny. For recognizing my efforts… His Grace the Grand Duke only knows how to work people but knows nothing about comfort. What a thing to witness in my lifetime.”

Rino spoke in a whining tone while shooting a glare at Morgan.

“Stop talking nonsense and give your report.”

Morgan treated Rino with indifferent annoyance. However, he knew well what it meant for the busy Rino to come specifically to report.

“Your Highness? Should I step out for a moment?”

Rino looked at Marisselle, then immediately turned his gaze to Morgan.

Morgan seemed to think for a moment, then spoke calmly.

“No need to leave.”

‘Huh? No need to leave? What’s this?’

Rino found this situation extremely interesting.

It was already unusual for Marisselle to be in the administrative building office together…

But to let her listen in when he came to report?

This wasn’t something that required ordinary deep trust.

Morgan had already brought Marisselle into his inner circle.

‘When did things develop to this extent?’

Rino was burning with curiosity, but the report came first for now.

“The investigation revealed strange findings. As already reported, no one was injured. However, more houses were burglarized than reported. And what’s strange is that today, suddenly many people began canceling their reports, saying they simultaneously recovered their stolen items.”

‘Recovered simultaneously?’

“Hmm… that’s certainly strange. They wouldn’t have found them voluntarily…”

“Right. Someone with a covered face who identified himself as a trainee knight brought a bundle to the village chief. The chief announced it to the village so people could retrieve their belongings.”

“…To cover one’s face while doing good deeds…”

Morgan tapped his fingers on the desk as suspicion arose while listening.

“Another strange thing. The descriptions of the perpetrator given by the theft victims are identical. It’s probably the same person. It seems right to assume that one person quickly committed crimes over several days.”

Morgan considered various possibilities while listening to Rino’s report.

First, was it coincidence or someone’s plan? If it were coincidence, that would be fortunate, but even that wasn’t particularly pleasant from the duchy’s security standpoint.

However, Morgan leaned toward this incident being planned.

An unusual incident had occurred, and before he could assess the situation and take action, the matter was resolved. As if to say, ‘Look at this incompetent Grand Duke.’

‘But why would he do such a trivial thing… What is he after…?’

“What’s the possibility that the robber and the apprentice knight are the same person?”

“The possibility is quite low. The robber was rather small in build, while the knight who returned the items was said to be large in stature.”

“What about the possibility of it being one of our knights?”

“None. Just to be sure, I checked not only the apprentices but all the knights, and it wasn’t anyone from our side. Besides, if it were one of ours, there’d be no reason to hide their identity.”

Morgan had his suspicions, but without clear evidence, it was difficult to act rashly.

Meanwhile, Marisselle was pretending not to listen while actually perking up her ears to hear Rino’s report.

‘There’s definitely something there…’

When the thought seemed about to come but didn’t, Marisselle bonked herself on the head, rolled her eyes around in the air, and put forth every effort she could manage.

But nothing came to mind.

‘Given how uneasy I feel, there’s a high chance this is related to Zelkova…’

It was frustrating, but what could she do when the thought just wouldn’t come?

Just as she was about to give up thinking and reach that conclusion!

‘That’s it!’

Zelkova.

Security authority!

Zelkova had used every trick in the book to steal the security authority that Morgan possessed.

Though he ultimately failed to take the security authority, he had achieved some success in dealing a significant blow to Morgan.

A large-scale but trivial incident with no evidence that had to be covered up as an unsolved case.

Using this as a starting point, bigger incidents occurred that dragged Morgan’s honor through the mud.

This very large-scale theft case!

In the original story, Morgan couldn’t find either the culprit or the hero, and ultimately had to close the case as unsolved.

But this handling of the matter later came back as a huge boomerang.

When the strange theft case was still fresh in the Empire’s citizens’ minds, that hero was revealed to be Zelkova’s apprentice knight, allowing Zelkova to claim that glory.

Afterward, even more problems would arise within the Duchy, and coincidentally, before the Duchy could even try to handle them, they all faced the coincidental inevitability of being resolved by Zelkova’s people.

As a result, the reputation of House Count Zelkova naturally rose, reaching a level of national adoration second only to the Emperor.

Morgan’s honor was tarnished while conversely, Zelkova gained the adoration of the Empire’s citizens.

This was it.

‘No wonder the Duchy region near Zelkova seemed strange.’

It wasn’t a coincidence. It was all planned.

Morgan had said there wasn’t much difference from usual, but there were subtle differences.

Zelkova had already used the Monsan District as a rehearsal.

Marisselle confidently took the chart and incident distribution map she had made and walked boldly toward Morgan.

“Ahem.”

Marisselle cleared her throat a couple of times and interjected into their conversation.

“Um, Your Highness? Could you take a look at this?”

“…?”

Marisselle smoothly presented the distribution map she had drawn before them.

But as soon as they saw the distribution map, Morgan frowned and Rino looked at Marisselle with a puzzled expression.

“What is this?”

“It’s a distribution map.”

“A distribution map?”

“Yes. Here is the Duchy like this, and this place is the Monsan District.”

Morgan’s frown deepened as he listened to the explanation.

“You’re saying this is a map?”

“Yes!”

Pfft.

Rino burst into laughter he had been barely holding back by pinching his thigh.

Marisselle’s expression crumpled.

‘I put my heart and soul into drawing this.’

Her spirits deflated.

“Ah. Ahem! Nanny. Well, now that you mention it’s the Duchy, it does look like the Duchy.”

Rino belatedly offered comfort, but what was the point? He had already laughed.

Marisselle knew her drawing skills well enough, but she still felt hurt by their reaction.

“Rino. I already saw you laughing. You don’t need to try so hard to hide it.”

“Ah, I’m sorry, nanny. I didn’t mean to do that on purpose…”

Rino apologized politely.

“It’s fine. I’ll accept your apology. And it’s true that I’m bad at drawing. But it’s not that bad, is it? I put quite a bit of effort into this one.”

Marisselle felt disappointed and defended herself while seeking agreement.

“Mm… Now that you mention it, it does look like the Duchy.”

Morgan’s soulless agreement. Marisselle felt even more hurt in her pride.

‘What’s with him. He should just stay quiet.’

“Never mind. I’m not desperate enough to receive soulless sympathy. Anyway, this is a map of the Duchy. The different markings here…”

Marisselle first explained each symbol and its meaning, then expressed that there had been signs related to what Rino had already reported.

“The thieves’ accomplices had already completed their rehearsal before this large-scale theft incident occurred. Look here, similar items were stolen, right? But coincidentally, these were quite important items to these people. That’s why they came up in routine reports.”

Marisselle concluded that Zelkova was likely behind the thieves, citing that the affected areas were adjacent to Zelkova Viscounty and most of the stolen goods were worthless items.

“And what’s more important is this. Based on the stolen items, what they’re aiming for is to make people dismiss these incidents as trivial and insignificant.”

Rino, who had been listening intently, tilted his head and asked.

“For what reason?”

“I think it’s to make people let their guard down so they can make whatever comes next much bigger. Even a huge dam can collapse because of a small crack, right?”

“Oh. Now that I hear it, that makes a lot of sense, nanny.”

Rino’s eyes sparkled with admiration at Marisselle’s deduction.

“Then what do you think the forces behind the thieves are after?”

Rino asked again.

“That is…”

When Marisselle hesitated to speak while glancing at Morgan, Morgan, who had been listening quietly, raised his head.

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