Let the Whales Fight, This Shrimp is Leaving! - Chapter 40

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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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Deyan asked blankly.
Regardless of his reaction, I tapped his head again and muttered to myself.
“No wonder. Unless you were an absolute fool, there was no way you’d struggle so helplessly with a physical specimen like this.”
“Lady Hubert. My head…”
“Were you born without a sense of self, or perhaps lacking in intelligence since childhood? Is that why your parents were so attentive?”
“I am not lacking.”
“No. You are definitely lacking.”
Particularly in the intellect department.
Tap, tap, tap. As I knocked on his skull as if striking a door, Deyan finally caught my wrist again.
Undeterred, I used my free hand to keep tapping his head.
“Lady Hubert, please.”
Only after catching my other hand did Deyan manage to reclaim the freedom of his head.
I glanced at his tightly clenched jaw, which was straining to hold back a sigh, and let out a smirk.
“Half of that was a joke, and half was serious.”
“It all sounded entirely serious to me.”
“Did it?”
“It did.”
The moment I lightly shook my wrists, Deyan submissively loosened his grip.
With my hands freed, I rested my chin on my palm and stared intently at the man’s face.
Deyan averted his eyes from me once more.
“As expected, I cannot bring myself to trust you. I have never seen a person so utterly devoid of desire.”
“Is it not a good thing to lack desire?”
“No. A lack of desire means a lack of lingering attachment. And since you have no attachments, you wouldn’t feel any regret over losing me.”
I felt regret for everything that had been dealt to me.
I lamented our deficient national strength, I lamented my past helplessness when I was young, and I bitterly resented this unchangeable reality.
Because things were always lacking and filled with regret, I pitied myself.
Yet this man, despite accumulating a past just as tragic as mine, seemed to harbor no self-pity whatsoever.
‘That is why he has no sense of self.’
Because he lacked an ego, he could easily surrender himself to others.
Even if I took this man to meet that spy, Deyan would not run away.
However, if for some reason I had to send Deyan back to Adorif, he likely wouldn’t return to me either.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
With a smile curling the corners of my lips, I lightly traced Deyan’s neat jawline with my fingertip.
“Very well. I will make contact with the spy you mentioned. However, I am coming with you.”
I would accurately ascertain Joaquin’s true motives and thwart the war he intended to provoke.
Meanwhile, Holdin would return with the messengers from Adorif, so making the Agavni United States grow anxious over the ominous atmosphere brewing across the continent would be trivial.
‘Even so, I cannot drag this out for too long.’
I must locate the demon Beval desires and reclaim my power for my revenge to succeed.
Of course, whether that fickle demon will cooperatively assist me is another matter, but at the very least, he will have no choice but to faithfully obey his contractor’s words, so it will suffice.
I straightened my knees from where I sat.
“It is already time for a walk. Shall we head outside? Let us go to the back garden today.”
If possible, I wanted Joaquin to witness me walking side by side with this man with his own eyes.
‘Just to turn his stomach.’
Turning around first, I stepped out into the corridor, sensing Deyan’s presence following closely behind.
He truly was an obedient man.
“Sir Nemanic.”
“Yes.”
“Walk beside me. And escort me.”
When I commanded him while keeping the potential onlookers in mind, Deyan instantly moved to my side.
I gently rested my hand on his forearm, a sensation that had now grown familiar, and walked at a leisurely pace.
I smoothed my expression into a gentle one, making sure to smile from time to time as if I could barely contain my affection for the man beside me.
“We will head out tomorrow afternoon, at this exact time.”
“Understood.”
“I do not wish for you to memorize the surrounding geography, so I will blindfold you.”
“As you wish.”
“What a fool, truly.”
“I am not.”
Pretending to share a pleasant conversation with him, I laughed brightly and playfully tapped his sturdy forearm.
Deyan did not seem particularly surprised or responsive to my affectionate gestures, merely walking forward in silence.
“It seems you have grown somewhat accustomed to this.”
“Because I am not a fool.”
“And you hold quite a grudge.”
“I do not.”
I smiled at him as he instantly denied my words, and it was right when we were strolling through the back garden.
“Ugh, hiccup…”
The sound of someone sobbing reached my ears.
As Deyan’s head naturally turned toward the source of the noise, I altered my steps as well.
Upon checking, a maid had collapsed in a corner of the garden, retching against the trunk of a tree.
“Sob, ugh!”
The maid repeatedly sniffled and wept, dry-heaving into the empty air.
“I shall wait here.”
Deyan discreetly halted his steps first.
Stopping at a distance where the maid would not be able to discern his face clearly, he turned his body toward the garden, maintaining his position while masquerading as a gentleman who would not mindlessly gawk at a weeping lady.
Pulling out the handkerchief I always carried tucked into my dress sash, I approached the maid.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah. I—I am sorry.”
The maid scrambled to her feet, frantically wiping her face with the back of her hand.
Judging by her flushed face and swollen eyes, she seemed to have been crying here for a considerable amount of time.
‘Is she Joaquin’s maid?’
Her face was unfamiliar to me.
Even the attire she wore differed from the uniform of the maids in the Grand Ducal Castle.
Looking closer, I noticed dark stains on her black skirt, as though something had spilled and soaked into the fabric.
“Did something happen?”
When I offered the handkerchief and asked, the maid hesitated before timidly accepting it.
However, she couldn’t bring herself to use it and merely clutched it in her hands, prompting me to urge her gently.
“Your face is a mess.”
“Th—Thank you, thank you.”
The maid stammered to an unusual degree.
The hand she finally managed to bring to her face was trembling violently, and her movements as she wiped away her sweat and tears with the handkerchief were somewhat frantic.
Unable to watch any longer, I took the handkerchief back and began to gently dab and wipe her ruined face myself.
Perhaps because she had been retching, the capillaries in her face had burst, leaving tiny red dots scattered across her skin like freckles, and her eyes were bloodshot.
I probed the maid, masking my intent with a thoroughly sweet voice.
“Are you feeling unwell? Shall I call a doctor for you?”
“No, no. I am fine…”
“You do not look fine at all. What happened?”
“It is nothing, really.”
“Were you perhaps violated?”
“Pardon?”
Startled, the maid’s eyes widened like a frightened rabbit’s.
I gave her an understanding look and nodded my head slightly.
‘That bastard.’
Lest I frighten the maid further, I merely clicked my tongue inwardly.
It seemed his habit of stretching his hands toward any woman in his vicinity whenever the urge struck him had not disappeared.
Fixing a stray lock of her disheveled hair, I began to coax her softly.
“It is alright, you can tell me. If there is any way I can help, I will. This is the Plene Grand Duchy, the Grand Ducal Castle, and I am a member of the Grand Ducal House.”
“No, Lady Hubert. It is truly nothing like that.”
The maid even waved her hands frantically, desperately denying the accusation.
As she tried to step backward, I gently caught her wrist and pressed further.
“Do not lie to me. If that is not it, then why were you weeping so sorrowfully here?”
When I softened my voice to make the interrogation feel more like genuine worry, the maid looked utterly distressed.
Keeping her head bowed low, her eyes darted around frantically before she finally squeezed them shut.
“The—The truth is… I am terrified because the Prince is furious…”
“Is the 3rd Prince displeased? What is the reason?”
“…”
The maid closed her mouth once more.
‘Her lips are sealed tight.’
Or perhaps she was simply paralyzed by fear.
Still, since she appeared to possess a fragile temperament that grew deeply unsettled before those in power, I subtly applied pressure.
“Could it be that he felt my hospitality was lacking?”
“No!”
As expected, the maid gasped and shook her head vehemently.
I offered her a slight smile and leaned in closer to listen.
“It is alright, you can tell me. What happened?”
Even a whisper is fine, so just tell me what it is you witnessed.
Her trembling lips parted and closed repeatedly in hesitation before the maid finally squeezed out her voice in a breathless whisper.
“The Prince… he killed someone…”
She ultimately confessed the horror she had witnessed.
That Joaquin Perez had murdered a person inside my castle.

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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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