The current Duke Camelia also possessed the hundred eyes. However, the year that Lynette came into the story, the Duke"s ability began to gradually disappear. It was because she had inherited the ability.
This ability that was pa.s.sed down through generations of the Duke"s family disappeared from the previous owner once it had been pa.s.sed on to a new generation.
Duke Camelia, who was the previous owner of hundred eyes did not hide the fact that he disliked Lynette from her.
He knew well that it was no use lying to a child who had the ability to distinguish the truth from lies.
Nanelle was able to run away from the Duke"s family by way of early marriage, but this wasn"t an option for Lynette. The Duke kept Lynette out of everyone"s sight. Her debutante, which is supposed to be held when she turns fourteen, wasn"t even properly held.
As a result, n.o.body knew that the Lynette had the hundred eyes. In the public"s eyes, the hundred eyes was still possessed by the Duke.
But what was he planning to do?
Lynette was always curious about this.
The hundred eyes had always been the object of public interest. He couldn"t hide the fact that the hundred eyes had been pa.s.sed on to Lynette forever.
"But why did he call me?"
"How should I know?"
Lynette stomped across the hallway as she conversed with Apple. A servant that was pa.s.sing by gave a sharp glare at this.
"What are you looking at?"
The servant lowered his head and ran away at Lynette"s roar.
The "incorrigible" second daughter was a particularly uncomfortable being for the servants.
Lynette was in fact, able to walk around softly and lightly thanks to the education she received as a child, but she did not really want to. She didn"t have a reason to act in such a way when the place was full of people who didn"t treat her accordingly.
But the maids were a little bit different.
Lynette treated them candidly because of her memory and habit from her previous life. There wouldn"t be a lot of people who could suddenly domineer over hundreds of maids after living in a modern society their entire lives.
Thanks to this, Lynette was known to the maids as the easygoing lady. Of course, d.u.c.h.ess Imelda hated this, as well.
"That"s something you should have found out."
"Why should I?"
Apple pouted.
"That"s your job."
"Well, you"re not paying me more for finding out that information."
Lynette giggled. Apple also laughed.
"Ah, this is so troublesome. He"s probably going to say useless things again."
Lynette took a deep breath in front of the Duke"s office.
Apple chattered beside her.
"What else are you going to do? If you don"t go now, things will get even more bothersome."
"You"re right. Let him know that I"m here."
The first sentence was addressed to Apple, while the second was meant for the Duke"s servant. The servant reported inside, as if already used to Lynette"s way of speaking.
"Lady Lynette is here to see you."
There was no answer.
Instead, the bell in front of the door rang. It was a signal to come inside.
Tsk. Lynette clicked her tongue and walked inside the door that the servant held open.
Duke Camelia"s office was the brightest room in the Duke"s mansion. As if to prove his sensitive personality, the scrawny looking Duke was standing where the sunlight was shining brightest.
Lynette curtseyed elegantly holding her dress. The Duke spoke as he stroked his mustache.
"You"re here."
Lynette thought.
"Ah, he looks so much like my old department head."
The Duke resembled her old supervisor who she had hated.
"Why do they look so alike even if they"re from different ethnicities? Maybe jerks all look similar across all countries."
Duke Camelia continued on, unconcerned about what Lynette was thinking.
"Sit."
"I"ll listen standing."
The Duke did not fancy saying the same thing twice. Nor did he enjoy talking to Lynette longer than he had to.
He went straight to the point.
"I want you to marry Edgar when you turn nineteen."
"……Edgar?"
"Yes. Don"t tell me you don"t know who Edgar is?"
"I"d like to ask if it is the Edgar that I know. And if it really is that Edgar, I"d really rather not know who he is."
Lynette frowned.
"Ar……are you referring to mother"s nephew?"
"Yes. I"m talking about Edgar Varlan. He"s all grown up now and would make a good husband."
I felt sick referring to Imelda as mother, but telling me to marry Edgar Varlan?
Have you gone mad?
Lynette made a huge effort not to spit out the words at him.
Edgar Varlan is Imelda"s nephew. And on top of that, he even……
"What"s that expression on your face? Don"t tell me you don"t like him?"
d.a.m.n. Would you like him if you were me? Lynette tried to straighten her face, but it wasn"t easy.
"I don"t."
"Why not?"
"If I tell you, will you listen?"
Lynette looked the Duke straight in the eye.
The Duke observed Lynette and replied curtly.
"Speak."
"He hits the maids."
"……"
"It"s a well known secret that the maids in the Varlan family walk around in stockings stained in blood. That"s not all. Edgar Varlan already has two illegitimate children. He"s not even married."
"That is of no consequence. He won"t hit you."
"……!"
Lynette looked at the Duke as she strained her eyes.
The Duke spoke with an expressionless face.
"The hundred eyes is pa.s.sed on from its owner to a direct descendant. Just have one child. Then, I will have you two divorced."
"Are you mad?"
It didn"t take long for the words that she only thought about in her mind made their way out of her mouth. Lynette hurried to cover her mouth, but it was already too late.
The Duke glared at Lynette.
"I guess that humble bloodline can"t be helped."
"You"re the one who was fooling around with that humble maid in the first place."
Lynette wanted to say this too while she was at it, but she shut her mouth as she was afraid of the consequences.
"Once you bear a child who has the hundred eyes ability, I will put the child in the family tree as Gallean"s child. Then, I will give you enough money to lay around and spend for the rest of your life."
The Duke was treating Lynette like a breeding mare.
I was going to see what you do without the hundred eyes, but this was it?
Lynette almost pa.s.sed out.
The Duke was trying to replace the hundred eyes that had disappeared from his possession with Lynette"s child.
He had no respect for human rights, whatsoever.
She felt humiliated beyond description.
However, the Duke sent her out of his office before she even had a chance to protest.
Lynette was helplessly kicked out of the office.
Huh, wow. Wow, wow. She was at a loss for words.
Apple, who had been waiting in front of the office, looked at her with a worried face, but Lynette quickly stepped away from the office without saying anything.
Lynette took out the pins from her dress as soon as she got back to her room.
"My lady, wait! Let me do it for you!"
If it wasn"t for Apple, she might have ripped her dress apart.
It wasn"t just because of Apple that Lynette calmed down. It was because she didn"t have many dresses.
Imelda rarely bought Lynette any dresses. Even the dress that she had worn to the Duke"s office was made almost a year ago. The Duke probably didn"t even know that her wrists were all exposed because the sleeves had become too short.
I can"t even get angry as much as I"d like. Lynette was seething with anger.
I know what to do in this kind of situation.
* * *
"G.o.d! I"m so p.i.s.sed!"
Lynette slammed her gla.s.s on the table in a bright restaurant in a commercial area.
She would have preferred it to be a gla.s.s of beer, but what was inside the gla.s.s was fruit wine.
Lynette was wearing a casual green dress that a commoner might wear, which made her look like an employee at some shop nearby. Apple sat next to her with a serious face.
"He"s really going to make you marry Lord Edgar……"
"Yes! He thinks I"m some sort of a breeding horse!"
"This is serious……"
Edgar Varlan was the second son of the Varlan family. He could not take over his family.
The Duke would probably give Edgar Varlan as much money as he had promised Lynette. Then he wouldn"t need to take over something like the Varlan family.
The problem was that, as Lynette had told the Duke, he was a disgusting man.
Edgar Varlan beat his subordinates. Ian Serege beat his maids with at least some kind of reason, however absurd that may be, but Edgar Varlan did not have any reason.
The servants had their legs broken, the maids came out of the Varlan house with bruises on their wrists and swollen cheeks. He already had two illegitimate children from going about inside maids" skirts.
Moreover, he was a gambling addict, and whenever he lost money he smashed the furniture. He was the worst possible person imaginable.
And to tell me to marry such a man. Lynette was dumbfounded.
Apple timidly glanced at my face.
"He said he will divorce the two of you once you bear a child……so if you could just somehow……"
"Are you kidding, Apple? Who can guarantee that the child would have the hundred eyes even if I had one? If I bear a child and the hundred eyes are not pa.s.sed on, I have to have another one. On top of that, you won"t even know if the child has the hundred eyes until at least five years after birth."
To reiterate, Lynette was a person who considered anything wasn"t guaranteed to happen a false possibility.
Moreover, Edgar Varlan was not a person who satisfied the conditions of a happy ending in a fairytale.
"I can"t accept that marrying an oaf like him would be a happy ending. There wouldn"t be a single universe with a fairytale like that."
"Worst case scenario, I have to live with him for the rest of my life. He goes around drinking and gambling like he does; there"s no guarantee that his seeds are sound."
This was an incredible thing to say for an eighteen year old n.o.ble lady, but she was currently dressed as a commoner.
A waitress who was pa.s.sing by heard the last part of what she said and giggled.
"What"s more is that."
"What"s more?"
"I heard this a while back, that he hangs out at Baron Barrel"s gambling house."
"Baron Barrel!?"
Apple was astonished.
"I"ve heard of rumors about human trafficking there……"
"Hush."
Lynette, conscious of her surroundings, put a finger to her mouth.
Startled, Apple looked around. There were about a couple of men sitting afar.
Still, you couldn"t be too careful.
"I heard that the people who gamble there use humans as stake for their bets."
"Forget about betting people, I heard they bet with magic potions."
"Potions……? But distributing magic potions is illegal."
"Yeah."
Baron Barrel"s gambling house was famous for using magic. Organized prior to the decline of the magic tower, all kinds of gambling that use magic was possible there.
It naturally drew in people, and now it was so big that even the Empire couldn"t shut it down hastily.
The problem was that this place was becoming a place for illegal gambling activities.
There was a rumor that they have a separate private gambling place for people with money and power where all sorts of things happen.
That someone that she was to marry was going to such a place was a ma.s.sive problem.
Lynette hammered her head onto the table.
"I want to die……"
"Oh, what are you going to do, lady?"
"Hey. Should I just run?"
"Run? How?"
"Maybe I"ll disguise myself as a maid. Somewhere far away……"
"Don"t talk nonsense…"
"Why! I"m good at doing ch.o.r.es!"
Apple looked pitifully at Lynette.
"The magic tower hasn"t perished, yet…"
That was true. There was the magic tower. It wasn"t that surprising that there would be a magic tower since this was a fairytale.
The only problem was that with the Duke"s financial power, it wouldn"t be that difficult for him to track Lynette down to take her back by force and flog her.
Lynette shivered imagining herself being tracked down by all kinds of strange tracking magic and being dragged back to the Duke.
"And besides, if you disappear, who"s going to write the "Chatters of the Maids?""
"Hey, quiet."
"Who cares? n.o.body"s listening."
Apple giggled.
"Don"t take away my greatest joy."
"Is my misfortune your joy?"
"It"s just an expression."
It was a common sight at this restaurant for two women to be arguing.
And it "seemed" as though n.o.body was paying any attention to them.
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