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Chapter 129
Nils’ eyes wavered. He had somehow stopped moving, gasping for air.
Realizing the silence had stretched too long, he shook his head in denial.
“No, no, it’s not that I… my father…”
“You must have lied to yourself, saying you loved him. It probably made you feel a bit less cowardly.”
Iona interjected as if she had been waiting for Nils’ words.
Nils’ breathing became even more ragged.
Suddenly dragged to the royal palace, subjected to harsh interrogation, and then hearing the news that his father had taken his own life.
Amidst this, the fierce questioning that followed was more than he could bear.
Nils seemed to have lost even the will to rebel. Although the force holding him was gone, he still couldn’t lift himself off the ground.
“Nils, you’re not hesitating to betray out of genuine concern for your father. You simply haven’t deemed it beneficial for yourself.”
“…”
“After all, you, who never even stepped out of your father’s shadow until the count died, what could you possibly do now?”
Iona looked down at Nils with a smirk, as if to pity him.
Nils’ face flushed with shame.
Yet, Iona did not stop exposing his hidden intentions.
“I told you before, you’re a coward.”
With that declaration, Iona stood up as if she had no further business with him.
To Iona, Nils was nothing more than an add-on, a mere tagalong to Hayden.
Now that Hayden was dead and gone, Nils had even lost his utility as a hostage.
If Nils refused to listen, things might become slightly inconvenient, but not insurmountably so.
It meant there was no need to actively dissuade him from choosing to suffer here on his own.
Iona left with a generous offer.
“If you follow through with the investigation as I command, I’ll send you back to your estate. Live there, playing king in your little realm. Your dear sibling is also scheduled to move there, so you won’t be lonely. Although it might be difficult for the two of you to see each other face to face and correspond.”
“…”
“Or, you could stay here, enduring treatment worse than a stray, if you prefer to hold out.”
Nils did not respond. He seemed to be weighing the previous offer in his mind.
Or perhaps, he was so out of it that he lacked even the energy to ponder such concerns.
Thinking the difference wasn’t significant, Iona continued without stopping.
“But know this. Whatever decision you make, the outcome has already been determined.”
Nils would lose his position as heir. And he would die, sooner rather than later.
If he chose to hold out here, he might preserve his life a bit longer, but it would be a marginal difference at best.
Eventually, Iona would send Nils and Yvonne to their estate, and once out of the public eye, death was all that awaited them.
Iona turned her back on him, as if it made no difference to her which option he chose.
But suddenly, as if remembering something, Iona stopped in her tracks on her way to the door.
“Ah.”
Turning around swiftly, Iona approached Nils again.
As the distance closed, a puzzled look deepened on Nils’ face.
Silently, Iona took off the sword she had at her waist and held it, sheath and all, in her hand.
The sudden appearance of the weapon seemed to startle Nils considerably.
He involuntarily moved back, trying to dissuade Iona.
“What, what are you doing? Put that down... Ahh, ack!”
Iona ignored him and swung the sword at Nils.
The sturdy sheath struck Nils’ shin harshly as it swept past.
Simultaneously, Nils clutched his leg and screamed in agony.
Judging by his reaction and the feel of the impact, it seemed she had successfully broken the bone without fail.
“If you apply a splint properly, it’ll heal as if nothing happened. I’ve been there.”
“Ah, ah, guh, ah…”
As Nils continued to moan in pain, Iona shrugged nonchalantly, her demeanor casual.
His face was grotesquely twisted, streaked with tears. It was a pitiful and miserable sight.
Suddenly, Iona thought that she had come to see this.
To witness this outcome, she had returned to the past, and to this place where Nils was.
“You used to teach me manners, Nils. But thinking about it again, it seems you were never really in a position to teach anyone. Don’t you agree?”
“Uh… ah, ugh.”
“How about it, Nils? Are things a bit clearer now?”
Iona asked as if she were soothing a child.
Nils just glared at Iona, his face turning red with rage, unable to counter her with the harsh tone he had used before.
Nonetheless, dissatisfied with his disrespectful glare, Iona accurately targeted the same spot she had hit before and swung the sheath again.
Nils, struck in the same place, groaned as he clutched the hem of Iona’s clothing.
“Ah! Yes, yes, I get it. Ah, I said I get it!”
“What do you get?”
“I, I was wrong… I made a mistake… Ah, ah…”
Nils trailed off, tears mixed with pain and sorrow spilling from his eyes.
Though Iona could have pressed him to extract a proper apology, she didn’t feel inclined to. She had completely lost interest in him.
Swallowing her sense of futility, Iona clicked her tongue briefly.
“Pathetic creature.”
With that candid assessment revealing her true feelings, Iona left the room without a second glance back.
Now, the end of this tiresome family charade truly seemed in sight.
***
“It seems Dame Iona will be inheriting the title,”
Fin said as he put down the letter he had finished reading on the desk, summarizing its contents.
Fleur leaned back against the chair back, as if she had expected as much.
She crossed her arms and grumbled with a hint of dissatisfaction.
“Somehow, I figured. They said Nils and Yvonne would soon be sent to the estate and told me to leave this place. Our knight is truly heartless.”
Fleur had sensed something different when she suddenly received a message from Iona, who had been silent for so long.
But the eagerly opened letter was frustratingly brief.
Just as she had complained, it contained nothing more than a short message advising her to stay safe somewhere, signaling the end of their contract.
Fleur even had to learn about Hayden’s death through the messenger who delivered the letter.
“Even if we were lovers in name, she could have at least written about the count’s death. That alone would have made it more than ten lines.”
“Well, mine wasn’t much longer, either.”
“Still, as someone who worked together, I felt somewhat neglected. Please make sure to convey that when you write back.”
Fleur said petulantly.
Aware of the sensitivity of sharing such information publicly, Iona had instructed the courier to deliver Fin’s portion of the letter to Fleur, who was staying outside.
Fleur had come to the manor under the pretense of handing it over, sitting in the drawing room.
Insisting she wanted to know its contents as she was the one who delivered it.
“Don’t feel slighted. That’s probably…”
Fin started to say something but then trailed off.
He had shared the contents of the letter with Fleur because it wasn’t something that necessarily needed to be kept from her.
Iona’s reason for cautioning Fleur was likely not so much about drawing a line but out of consideration for her.
‘She probably didn’t want you to feel guilty.’
As Fleur said, she had been, after all, the lover of the late Count Modrov.
Their relationship wasn’t particularly close, which might be why she could side with Iona, but lacking affection didn’t mean harboring bad feelings.
In the end, Fleur had unwittingly contributed to the plans that led to her lover’s demise, which might understandably make her feel uneasy about his death.
“Probably, what?”
“Nothing.”
Fin quietly shook his head in response to Fleur’s question.
He worked for Iona. It wasn’t his place to interpret his master’s intentions freely and speak as if he had found the definitive truth.
‘Though it might be close to the truth.’
The content of the letter sent to him was evidence enough.
Nils and Yvonne were being moved to the Modrov estate. It sounded like they were being sent home, but it was more akin to exile.
Thus, it was likely their stay wouldn’t be long. There was no reason to leave loose ends for longer than necessary.
What, then, could be a plausible method for dealing with them?
The reputation of Count Modrov hadn’t changed much even after he had personally visited the estate.
Sophia, clinging to his side, managed the information so the count couldn’t correct the facts.
Sophia ensured that no bad rumors reached the count’s ears while exaggerating and spreading any of his misdeeds.
The mischief Fleur caused also played a significant part in fomenting resentment against the count.
Putting all these facts together, it wasn’t hard to guess the kind of end Nils and Yvonne would meet.
‘Retaliation from the estate’s inhabitants who harbored grievances against the lord’s family... perhaps.’
Fin picked up the letter from the desk and read it once more.
The direction of Iona’s actions was clear, yet she had not left Fin any direct orders to deal with them.
Even though using him, present within the estate, would have been simpler than doing it herself, it was as if she didn’t want to burden him with such dirty work.
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