CH 30

Chapter 30: Whoever manipulated these ruffians

I ran without looking back.

From around here, I can see the location of the Duke Svald house.

However, it is very far away.

It is a place with many mansions with large plots of land. It became inevitable because the vassals from the founding of the country built mansions next to the palace.

So I continue to walk along the side of the brick and stone walls that continue endlessly, but I get out of breath before I can reach it.

“Those ruffians can’t get within a hundred steps of me.”

I expanded the range, but I’m not sure if it will be effective.

I also have doubts about this skill…

Before my doubts come true, I wonder if a normal noble will pass by and help me.

While thinking this, a black painted carriage appeared in front of me.

I excluded carriages, so it is natural to approach.

I braced myself, thinking that the ruffian’s companions might come out.

An unexpected person appeared from the open door.

“Oh, isn’t this Miss Linea?”

“…No.”

Why, I whispered to myself.

The person who got off the carriage had a hair color that I had seen somewhere, a golden brown. And the gray-blue eyes were… Albert’s… father.

“What’s the matter with you in that outfit? You look troubled.”

As I watch him walk towards me, I think (oh no).

I can’t use my skills.

Even if the ruffians from earlier were making a fuss about [I might have skills], I can make excuses and push it aside as [it was their imagination].

But this nobleman, Count Herkuvis, won’t work.

His persuasive power is different from that of those ruffians.

If he talks to nobles or the temple, it will be transmitted as a fact, and no matter how much I lie or try to conceal it with someone’s power, it won’t disappear.

“No, are you mistaken for someone else?”

I quickly chose to not reveal my identity.

“Is that so? That beautiful, glossy hair and beautiful posture is exactly the young lady I know?”

Count Herkuvis, who knows for sure that I am Linea, pursues me like that.

Or rather…

(Even at a time like this, you can’t express the color of my hair beautifully…)

Most humans can’t decorate this subtle hair color with flowery language. It’s just not something that can be called beautiful.

Even if it is said that it is not a bad color and that flowers and decorations stand out, it is a difficult color that is different from black but not brown, a color with a strong black taste like milky tea.

I can’t help but laugh.

(Only Oji-sama.)

.

It was Oji-sama who used such a cute expression like a chocolate with milk added to the hair color.

That’s why I can only feel frustration with Count Herkuvis, Albert’s father.

“My Lady has a more beautiful hair color. It is not like my swamp-like color.”

Even I can’t think of anything bad to say, so it’s hopeless.

By the way, [swamp-like color] is an insult that a “certain young lady” said at the Academy.

Count Herkuvis seems to be getting impatient with me, who stubbornly refuses to acknowledge it.

“…I was worried because I heard a story about a curse that I didn’t understand when I checked to see if you had suddenly stopped coming to the Academy because you were sick. Your father seems to not understand your value very well.”

My mood drops a little.

There is no need to discuss it because my father has never cared about me.

But the value that Count Herkuvis feels for me is something like eventually getting the Count Elvasti family or it’s advantageous to have a son engaged to get out of debt, isn’t it?

It makes me angry when he talks about it as if it’s a good thing.

“Could it be that you’re angry about my son and purposely lowering your own value by skipping Academy and pretending to be angry?”

Count Herkuvis showed a sad expression.

“Certainly, it’s a reprehensible thing for my son to have feelings for a servant. But it’s not good to leave it as it is, Miss Linea. If you don’t go to Academy, you will become a lady who cannot graduate. At that time, you will be the one to suffer dishonor.”

…If he’s worried about that, shouldn’t the Count do something about it, like breaking up his son and the servant?

But instead of doing that, it’s strange for me to be the one worrying about it, so what do you mean by telling me to go back to Academy?

In the first place, I did not absent myself from the Academy of my own accord.

I also found out why Count Herkuvis was so worried about me.

He would be troubled if his child’s fiancé were a crude product who couldn’t even graduate from the Academy.

That’s why he tried to get me into the Academy no matter what.

I think he used the ruffians for that.

The carriage Count Herkuvis was riding in was the same one that passed through the dirt road earlier, so those ruffians must have been hired by him.

Perhaps he threatened the servants to make my father think that he couldn’t leave his daughter in that small mansion.

At first, he thought he could achieve his goal by threatening all the servants who came to visit me.

But my father didn’t move me.

So…did he attack the servants at home?

Did he relentlessly chase me, perhaps thinking that he could catch me and directly threaten [Count’s daughter, Linea]?

In any case, I have to escape from this person somehow.