The Peaceful Life Of A Maid Who Hides Her Power And Enjoys It - Chapter 33
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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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Chapter 33
The expressions of the two men who had been exchanging trivial jokes became subtle.
“…You’re not asking what I think of her as a marriage prospect, are you?”
I shrugged my shoulders and answered.
“With that level of skill, wouldn’t becoming the family head be a sure thing? The newspaper company will go to your older brother, so unless you work under him, you’ll need to find another path. Being a duke’s husband would be perfect for living comfortably.”
Quincey burst out laughing.
“Funny guy! Jin Berkleighton is hopeless. The next Duke Berkley Greytown is already decided. It’s so overwhelming that it’s unimaginable for any other successor to rise up.”
This was quite a surprising story.
“A genius capable of using sword aura has no chance?”
Volkawin answered nonchalantly.
“Yeah. Because there’s an even greater genius holding the position.”
“An even greater genius?”
“Garoush Berkleygraton. As long as that guy is alive, Jin Berkleighton can never hope for the ducal title.”
Garoush, huh. I’d like to see just how great a genius he is at least once.
“…Ah, come to think of it, didn’t that woman suddenly show interest in you yesterday?”
“No.”
“Hmm. You are quite handsome though. Jin, that woman only knows swords. She wouldn’t have approached you based on looks. She doesn’t even speak first unless you’re an outstanding swordsman.”
Quincey, who had been scanning me with suspicious eyes, whispered quietly and asked.
“Grey, are you by any chance a swordsman?”
Scary guy. His intuition was so good that I almost burst out laughing without realizing it.
‘So Jin really was interested in me out of pure competitive spirit?’
But that couldn’t be.
According to the Assassin Butler’s testimony, Jin was the guild master of 【Clone】. Wasn’t she the one who received clients’ requests and sent assassins to the Weatherwax family multiple times?
She definitely had other intentions.
‘Conversely, if I use her… I could extract information about the client through Jin.’
I didn’t care about others, but I absolutely had to find out the client’s identity.
According to Quincey’s information, the client wasn’t just stirring up Weatherwax but various other places. Wasn’t this proof of their particularly strong obsession with Dian Cecht relics?
‘There’s never been a sane person who’s obsessively fixated on something. I need to find out who it is before they cause bigger trouble.’
There’s an old saying that to catch a dragon, you must enter the dragon’s lair.
The outline of how I should use Jin was gradually taking shape.
“Oh my. Look at this. Grey, you have quite a nice body too, don’t you? I heard the former Weatherwax Baroness was an excellent warrior. Have you ever learned under her?”
“No way. I’m terrible at physical work. I build muscle well but there’s no substance, should I say? Swords… I just have a romantic notion about them?”
Along with my words, I ostentatiously spread out my palms that didn’t have a single callus. Volkawin, who examined my palms, shook his head.
“Definitely not a warrior’s hands. They’re so soft you couldn’t even imagine they’ve held a sword.”
We chatted like that for a while, and only returned to our respective cabins when it became 11 PM.
It was probably from that day.
Me, Quincey, Volkawin. The number of people in our group gradually increased from some point on.
It was only two days at most. But three becoming six and six swelling to fifteen happened in the blink of an eye.
“Huh. I wondered where everyone had disappeared to, and here you’ve dug a cave and secretly gathered? Where’s my seat?”
Look at this. Even though we rented one more large cabin, adding a few more newcomers packed it full.
“Wait a moment. You’ve got the order wrong. If you go to that table by the window, you’ll find the Weatherwax Baroness sitting there. He’s a tall, handsome blond man, so you should be able to find him easily. We’re all in the position of sharing a table with him, so it would be proper to greet him first.”
“Ah. Was that the story? Thanks, Etly. You’ve grown taller.”
I didn’t gather you, you know? I was just sitting quietly, but you all gathered around me.
“Greetings, Weatherwax Baroness. I am Henry Port from Portsa. It’s truly an honor to meet you…”
Various polite greetings followed after that, but as always, it would be forgotten in 10 minutes.
I nodded roughly, promised to acknowledge each other in the future, then turned my attention back to the cards.
Thanks to the kind explanation from Mr. So-and-so whose name I don’t even remember, our cabin gained its sixteenth uninvited guest.
‘Troublesome guys.’
The reasons why these people whose faces and names I didn’t know came to attach themselves one by one were varied.
“I see some familiar faces. Would it be alright if I joined you?”
“Hello, Mr. Volkawin. How long has it been? We’re trying to play team card games, and it looks like your group and our group match in numbers. Would you like to play together?”
“Mr. Quincey, Mr. Volkawin? Oh, I was right. It’s been a while. How have you been?”
Still, the biggest cause had to be Quincey’s presence.
“Quincey, you haven’t even shown your face lately. Where have you been and what have you been so busy with?”
“Oh my, Quincey! Who is this new handsome gentleman? If you’ve made friends with such a wonderful person, you should introduce him to me too!”
Quincey… has many friends.
‘Unnecessarily sociable guy.’
Guys with many friends and good social skills are inconvenient.
New people stick to them like magnets, and I have to acknowledge those people too.
In that regard, Raphael was a friend who matched quite well with me.
Despite his striking handsome appearance that drew attention, he was quite shy by nature and had an atmosphere that made it difficult for others to approach him first, and Raphael didn’t approach others first either.
Everyone conveyed their business to Raphael through me, which says it all.
“Should we raise the stakes a bit?”
Only at times like this did Quincey act tactlessly, threatening me with capital.
“Don’t raise them. My family is poor. I have no money.”
“You’re the first noble I’ve met who says such things so openly, Grey. You really are a peculiar guy the more I see of you.”
“Should we just call you Pied Piper Quincey Panula? Who’s the popular guy who gathers people just by breathing?”
“…You don’t seriously think all these people gathered because of me, do you?”
When I glared at him with a ‘of course’ look, Volkawin, who had been seriously examining his cards, smiled quietly.
“Grey is sometimes really innocent.”
“Is that an insult?”
“Grey, I often find it amazing that you hang out with us too. You have absolutely no interest in your surroundings, you know? Sigh. …Anyway, all these people gathered because of you, my friend.”
When I stared silently without answering, Quincey looked a bit surprised.
“Oh, you really didn’t know.”
“Haha. Think about it carefully, Grey. Weren’t all their methods similar? Using Quincey or me as an excuse. Using card games as an excuse. If it was simply for friendship, other large cabins should have been packed too… I wonder if they really were packed.”
I looked around with a sense of novelty.
Everyone seemed busy freely drinking and enjoying various games, whether card games or board games.
However, the glances I occasionally met held secretive curiosity.
My sixth sense told me.
All of them were focused on me.
‘I was vaguely aware of it.’
I had thought the reason was simple curiosity. Since a member of the Nobility Council had started activities after 4 years, wouldn’t they be curious?
“Now, here’s a question. Why is everyone curious about our Grey Weatherwax?”
But it seemed it wasn’t just because of simple curiosity.
“Because I’m handsome.”
When I answered shamelessly, both men froze for a moment.
“I like that confident side of you, Grey.”
“Thanks, Volkawin. I like myself too.”
Quincey laughed helplessly as he picked up a card and asked.
“The day I first met Grey. Do you remember what I said, Volkawin?”
Volkawin answered calmly as if reciting a line of poetry.
“What you said then. ‘The guys who follow around here like it’s their daily bread, even if they pretend otherwise, they only try to hang out among themselves. If it’s your first time, it would be hard to fit in.'”
Come to think of it, I seemed to have heard such advice during my first meeting with them. Though I didn’t know he could reproduce it word for word without missing a single syllable.
“Your memory is amazing, Volkawin?”
At my sincere praise, Volkawin smiled shyly.
“Thanks. I… don’t forget what I see and hear once. Um. Quincey’s expression feels a bit raw, but it’s not wrong. Probably most people aboard this Black Regal would agree.”
“Nobles with nobles, upper class without titles with their own kind. But that’s just broad classification.”
After deliberation, Volkawin raised the stakes by half.
“Right, exactly. If you look closely, even among nobles there’s a wall between families that belong to the Nobility Council and those that don’t, and among the upper class there’s a wall between those with deep connections to nobles and those without.”
“Hmm. To divide it a bit differently, we could separate them into the Magic War Participant Faction and Silence Faction, Beneficiary Faction and Non-Beneficiary Faction. Within the Nobility Council, we could divide them into Pro-Emperor Faction and Pro-Jenail Faction.”
The Pro-Jenail Faction seemed to refer to people on Raphael’s side.
Now I finally understood what these two were trying to say. I took the cards from the table and said.
“That sounds like you’re saying my position is quite ambiguous?”
And then, I went all-in with my bet.
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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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