Chapter: 241
2nd Queen.
Serane Soladin entered the carriage and tossed aside the intricate ornaments in her hair while pushing her long hair off her forehead, frowning.
Despite looking somewhat fierce for a queen, Serane didn’t care about such things.
It’s enough to play the charming role on the outside. In this place, completely isolated from the outside world through various magical procedures, doing something bothersome would make her head explode.
“Everyone’s supposed to be dying, yet they seem just fine. What’s going on here?”
With a voice sharp enough to slice through flesh, the man sitting across from her straightened his lips into a line.
He was one of the 2nd Queen’s loyal subordinates and a vassal of the Bedfer family, having anticipated such complaints after years of being by her side.
“I’m sorry. I should have been more observant.”
“Exactly. You should have. This has been a complete waste of time!”
As Serane carelessly threw a bottle from her lap, her loyal subordinate hurriedly caught it.
Inside the bottle was a precious medicine known for its effectiveness against numerous diseases. It was far too valuable to be sacrificed to the carriage floor.
“Instead of receiving gratitude, I’m treated like a bothersome guest.”
She was hell-bent on making her foolish son a king to gain power.
Having taken the time to come here hoping to gain at least a small favor from the Burrow Ducal Family, Serane walked away with nothing to show for it.
Instead, she left feeling like a nuisance.
“Nothing seems to be going right, starting with that arrogant brat of the Allen family.”
Before visiting the Burrow family, Serane had tried to win the favor of a girl named Lucy Allen.
The value of Lucy herself was one thing, but she thought that if she could draw her in, she might also bring along Benedict Allen, who was behind her.
However, today’s conversation was a complete failure.
The Burrow family, which had been hesitant to accept visitors, suddenly sent her an invitation, cutting off the conversation. Even Lucy Allen’s attitude beforehand had been less than favorable.
“That girl didn’t say a single word.”
From the beginning of their talk, Lucy had not even greeted her with a nod or a smile, merely staring at Serane with an assessing look.
She was not just a mere arrogant brat, that was for sure.
So annoying.
“Thanks to her, today has ended up being a total waste. Ugh, it’s so frustrating.”
As the 2nd Queen ruffled her hair in exasperation, her flustered subordinate spoke defensively.
“It’s not like there hasn’t been any harvest. Didn’t the atmosphere of the Burrow family feel unusually quiet?”
“What nonsense are you spouting? They’ve always been like that since they lost their firstborn.”
“I know that, but it felt different today.”
“Shut up. Don’t take my irritation out on you.”
Watching her subordinate hurry to silence himself, Serane nodded in satisfaction just as someone knocked at the entrance of the carriage.
“Your Majesty, it’s Nabil.”
“Come in.”
Without reacting to the chaotic scenery inside the carriage, Nabil closed the door behind him.
“Did you have a nice chat with that brat?”
“No.”
“…Huh? What do you mean?”
“The girl was a bit rude.”
“Lady Allen?”
Deciding to use Duke Partlan, I headed straight to Joy’s dormitory to seek her out.
Since she was the Duke’s daughter, I figured she might have a way to contact him.
There was no concern for manners or procedures; I just needed to delve into the dungeon as quickly as possible.
I could think of the boring details later if I hit a wall.
“Do you wish to contact your father?”
‘Yes. Is it possible?’
“Sure. I have a favor to ask of the shoddy Duke. Is that possible?”
“Of course it is, but I’m not sure if my father will take the call. Just a moment… Ah, wait. Hold on.”
Joy suddenly interrupted and hurried to close the door. Moments later, a loud commotion erupted from inside.
[Is her room a complete disaster?]
I’d consider that being lucky.
As I had seen before, the Foolish Young Lady appeared perfect on the outside but was quite messy on the inside.
This trait of hers extended to her room as well. Joy’s room was an absolute wreck, constantly reaffirming its messy state.
Knowing it would take a long time for that place to be tidied up, instead of waiting, I returned to my own dorm to get myself ready.
Despite chillaxing for a while, even when I came back, the noise did not stop from Joy’s room.
After about five more minutes of waiting, Joy emerged, breathless.
“Sorry to keep you waiting… come in…”
Her room looked much like those in the game.
Overall, it was an elegant room with a reddish hue.
It would be a place that anyone would nod at as suitable for her.
However, upon closer inspection, the sloppiness was evident.
Trash peeking out from under the bed. Edges of various clothes sticking out between the closet doors.
A bookshelf jumbled together as though hastily stuffed in.
The moment I touched anything, the elegance would come crashing down, and I felt a mischievous urge, but I suppressed it.
If I didn’t control myself, I might waste a day before even talking to Duke Partlan.
“I’ve found it. You can use this crystal sphere.”
It seemed Joy had found the sphere during her tidying process as she casually offered it to me.
I couldn’t help but think, if she was going to do that, why not just let me in instead of giving me the sphere? But I refrained from saying anything.
Taking the sphere from Joy, I skillfully infused it with magic, causing the sphere to start blinking with blue light.
Now, once this blinking ended, I would be able to contact the other party.
Hmm.
They’re not responding.
Even after waiting for about a minute, the blinking of the sphere did not stop.
Benedict had always picked up the call before a second had passed, leaving me no time to see the sphere blink.
“Looks like he’s really busy today.”
‘Yeah, that seems to be the case.’
“Can you believe he’s ignoring a cute girl like me? That’s just rude.”
It’s unavoidable if he’s not picking up. I informed Joy, so he would contact us eventually.
If all else fails, I could use Alsatine or the Newman Family’s channels. I won’t panic. There’s no benefit to rushing while tackling the dungeon.
“Miss Allen, I know you’ve waited a long time, but let’s relax with some tea…”
It was at that moment. The blinking sphere abruptly stopped, and a face appeared above it.
With a malicious smile, the fierce face wouldn’t strike anyone as odd.
“Sorry, Joy. I’ve got something urgent.”
It was Duke Partlan.
He began with his suitable chuckle for such a face, but when he saw me, he raised one eyebrow.
“Lady Allen? How curious. Isn’t this a matter for Joy?”
‘That’s right…’
“Lord Shoddy, surely we can see you realize what’s happening? The Foolish Young Lady asked if she could contact you.”
“To Joy? How curious. This neat room is certainly not my daughter’s.”
“Father?”
“Oh, you were next to me? You should have told me earlier. Weren’t you surprised?”
Highly amused, he continued with his trademark laugh as he clasped his hands under his chin and asked,
“So what’s the matter?”
As a nobleman, rather than small talk, Duke Partlan got straight to the point. “Father.”
I guessed that might not come across well. Joy spoke up, but Duke Partlan was firm.
“Lady Allen is not calling for a casual chat. Forget it, it’s better for her to get straight to the point.”
As he surmised, I preferred to skip through small talk quickly.
At least for me, casual chatting is like walking through a minefield.
Having barely spoken, he had a fair grasp of my character. Truly a capable man, it was just unfortunate that his shoddy side caused mistakes often.
‘So let’s get to the main point. I want to…’
“Shoddy Duke, you seem like you struggle with time management, so let’s skip straight to it. To be blunt, I want to visit the Burrow family.”
“It seems it would be difficult to visit through normal channels, so you want to use me?”
Despite me not elaborating, Duke Partlan instantly caught on to my objective and continued,
“That’s not a hard task. No matter how much guests are rejected at the Burrow family, there’s a limit to it. A person like me could easily push my way in.”
Just as I predicted. With a territory nearby and being of equal status, Duke Partlan could certainly pull strings.
“Could you please help me with that? It might be a waste to use the name of Duke Partlan for something like this?”
Indeed, that’s true. The power that Duke Partlan possesses is immense in whatever direction, so to use him for this seemed a bit disappointing.
But from my experience playing so many RPGs, I’ve noticed that if you save items out of regret, you’ll never use them until the end.
Thus, if I’m confident that anything could be used efficiently, I should just use it. Unless it’s something unique in the world, anyway.
‘Please help me.’
“I’ll determine the gravity of the situation, so just grant my request. Shoddy Duke.”
“Haha. Understood. I accept your wish.”
With a laugh, Duke Partlan accepted my request, saying he would arrange it for three weeks to be able to visit the Burrow family without bothering to ask why I wanted to go or what I would do once I arrived.
He said he would fulfill my request, so maybe that wasn’t necessary after all.
After the light from the sphere dimmed, I stood up, stretching and organizing my thoughts.
This settled the first issue.
Now the next thing I needed to do was compile various oddities that might occur at the Burrow family and devise a way to detect them.
With midterms approaching, I guess I have to juggle both things.
It’s going to be a chaotic time ahead.
“Lady Allen.”
Lost in thought, I turned to Joy’s voice. She was looking at me with a strangely flustered expression.
What’s this? Why is she looking at me like that? Like a child who’s had their doll snatched away…
“Are you interested in the Duke Burrow?”
‘…Huh?’
“…What?”
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.