Episode 76. Strange Scandal (1)
Locard stared at Grayon. He didn’t know that this was the moment to appease him. However, even though he knew, his heart didn’t move.
He didn’t always act according to calculations. Just as Tagar’s lofty arrogance was, Kydel’s stubbornness and pride were also inflated.
“I regret that you think so, Your Highness. I didn’t know that my belief that Your Highness would easily subdue Her Highness would become the reason for Your Highness’s distrust.”
“...”
Grayon roughly shook Locard’s collar. He clenched his fist and glared at Locard, then narrowed his eyes.
“Be honest. What do you think of Lorisha Loire?”
“The liquor is buried in the yard.”
“...What?”
“A wine that will have a flavor unlike any other, if given enough time. If you give it wings, Lorisha Loire might accomplish things Your Highness and I could never imagine. You saw how she, with no political experience whatsoever, solved the iron ore problem.”
“She...”
“Yes. An illegitimate child. But didn’t Your Highness notice? The daughter who resembles the third lion is not a legitimate daughter, but her. When that prudent man allowed his illegitimate child into the palace, he believed it was a winning gamble.”
“Director Royman said that if you had been just a little later, she would have died.”
“Then you understand my actions.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Locard. Your actions are nothing more than those of a man who has fallen for a woman.”
Locard glared at Grayon and let out an arrogant laugh.
“I am Locard Kydel, Your Highness.”
At the vain retort, this time Grayon laughed in vain.
“Why did you give up the valet’s medal? Why are you going to Miliora’s tea party?”
“I told you. I am indebted to her. Someday, I will use her as my own.”
“Whoever you want.”
Grayon came up to Locard’s nose and said.
“I have you. I don’t need two Locard Kydels. So what I have to do is prevent Orl and Miliora from having their Locards.”
Locard’s gaze sank even colder.
“I didn’t know you would acknowledge her so much.”
“Yes. I can’t help but acknowledge her when I see her captivating you this much, Locard. This is all your fault.”
“What are you trying to say?”
Grayon’s eyes twisted strangely.
“Seduce her. In public. It won’t be hard, since the fact that you ran to her during the competition will soon be known.”
Locard’s eyes wavered for the first time.
“Your Highness?”
“The suspicious Milliora wouldn’t keep her by her side even after seeing her like that. Then Milliora would be sorted out naturally.”
“...That’s a mean method.”
“Merciful.”
He didn’t kill her or destroy her.
“And what if the competition itself is unfair?”
“We should consider that it’s already past that point. From now on, it’s my fight with you. I don’t have time to worry about Milliora.”
Grayon’s eyes were blazing with cruel determination. It was the determination that the war had forged in the human being.
However, Locard’s response was light and firm.
“No.”
Grayon, who momentarily doubted his own ears, opened his mouth slowly in surprise.
Locard’s voice was calm. His face, with a faint smile on it, was truly calm.
“Your Highness’s order right now is the same as throwing her entire life into the gutter. I can make you the Crown Prince without doing that, Your Highness.”
Grayon glared at Locard.
On the eve of a fierce battle, Locard would walk around the barracks with that exact face, rousing the soldiers’ morale.
And the next day, he would stir up the battlefield until the doublet was soaked in blood.
So he couldn’t help but feel faint fear when Locard smiled softly with those sparkling eyes.
If it weren’t for the shackles of loyalty and family interests, Locard could strangle him with that face. Grayon believed it.
Finally, he said softly, almost gritting his teeth,
“I’ll take her as my maid after the competition. The maid of the Crown Prince is a position that an illegitimate child cannot attain.”
But Locard shook his head. He took a step closer and said affectionately.
“Give her a title.”
“Locard!”
Locard grinned and spoke to Grayon, who doubted his ears.
“Please give that bastard a title. So she can live her life alone and carefree.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Then I’ll seduce her. With this ‘this’ face.”
Locard held his chin between his thumb and forefinger and smiled seductively.
“I’ll be the playboy of the Tagar Empire for once.”
“Ha...”
Grayon really thought Locard was out of his mind. But the damned lion cub was serious now.
Fortunately, she was registered in the Loire family’s family register, so it wasn’t impossible to give her a baronetcy or something.
If that meant putting a firmer shackle on Locard’s ankles, then it was a deal he couldn’t refuse.
“I promise.”
Locard bowed when Grayon gave him permission. Then he smiled and said,
“But she’ll never come to me.”
“Why?”
“But she will lose the trust of Her Highness Milliora. Imperial society will be full of gossip. I promise you that.”
“This crazy bastard!”
“It’s been a while since I’ve heard from you. Then this crazy bastard will go to bed. I have a lover to think about in bed.”
Locard left without waiting for his answer.
Seeing Locard’s sly laughter, Grayon began to doubt whether he had done what he wanted.
Promising her a position as a maid, promising her a title.
But it was already spilled milk.
If he could proceed with the competition without the variable of Milliora, and if he could calm Locard’s discontent and focus on himself again, that would be enough.
Perhaps the truth was that Grayon also wanted to keep Lorisha as his subordinate rather than abandon her.
***
Whined glanced at Locard, who was sitting in his chair.
Locard was looking at Lorisha, who was sleeping with her arms crossed, with a stern expression on her face. Her gaze was so sinister that it seemed like it would cause nightmares for the sleeping patient.
If it had been someone else, Whined would have immediately kicked her out, but because of her friendship with Prince Kydel, he endured it for the time being.
Lorishia regained consciousness in the morning and fell asleep. She had overcome a dangerous crisis. Now that she was awake, she could return to her room and receive treatment.
As his anxiety about Lorisha’s condition subsided, Locard’s mind suddenly became complicated.
He forced himself to repeat to himself several times,
“I have a sick lover. This is when I need to be sincere.”
“I should have tried dating a long time ago. Practice without practice? My father always emphasized practice after practice...”
“What does Lorisha Loire like as a woman? I thought I knew her well...”
Amid his frustration, Locard recalled one of his vassal knights who had fought in the Tunbar War with him. His nickname was 'The Lover'.
He had a knack for ending every sentence he said with a nickname for his fiancée, and it was so funny to hear him.
Many people around him wanted to kill him while he was sleeping, but Locard could only think of himself as the only one.
Locard felt devastated by that fact.
'Nickname... Will that help? Lorisha, so Lori? My Lo? No, is 'Sha' better? Lisha?'
"What are you doing?"
Locard came to his senses, startled to the point where his chair rattled at Whined's nervous voice.
"What, what did I... Sir?"
"What did you just do? You were rounding your lips and puffing them out."
"Ha... ha. There's no way I would have done that. Sir, too. Hahaha..."
But Whined truly sympathized with him and said gloomily,
“I knew that His Highness risked his life for the competition, but I really didn’t know it would be this much. Your Highness, are you stressed out too?”
Locard had already suffered a mild shock from ‘Pouting Lips’.
The successor of the Kydel family would never go anywhere and purse his lips and do things like that.
However, he was not shameless enough to criticize Whined, so he covered his head in agony and washed his face dry.
‘Locard Kydel. What are you doing now?’
He closed his small lips slightly and looked at Lorishia, who was asleep.
This woman almost died at the hands of the royal family, but she was sleeping so comfortably.
Isn’t she amazing?
He snickered and rested his forehead on the armrest of his chair with his elbow.
He had to start the play now. The clear-eyed Lorisha Loire would surely despise his intentions, but he had to make people believe that she was his lover.
That way, she could lose her trust and get kicked out of her position as a maid. It was something only the most shameless people in the world would do.
But Locard decided to follow Grayon's request.
'For her?'
Locard snorted lightly. It seemed pathetic to deceive oneself just because one had to deceive others.
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