TVBDP 11

Chapter 11

The “great debt” owed by Rudnain’s father, the former Duke Eels.

It all went back eighteen years.

Kaiser Agenthoz had helped deal with a powerful monster that had suddenly appeared from the Northern Gate.

The monster was exceptionally strong.

Monsters frequently emerged from the mysterious gate located within the glaciers of the northern Empire, but nothing like this one had ever appeared before.

When the monster emerged, the knights, including the former Duke Eels, struggled greatly against it.

The monster could only be killed after its movements were restrained with powerful magic.

A retainer of the Eels ducal family advised them to request assistance from the Magic Tower in the capital, since they needed an outstanding mage.

However, the former Duke Eels—Rudnain’s father—was a knight who trusted only his sword.

He considered fighting with the help of a mage to be dishonorable.

So the former Duke Eels dismissed his retainers’ pleas.

Eventually, the former Duke Eels and his knights went out once more to subjugate the monster threatening the area around the Northern Gate without requesting assistance from the Magic Tower.

They soon found themselves in grave danger.

And that was when he appeared.

Kaiser Agenthoz, a great mage and duke, happened to be passing through the area while searching for medicine for his sick wife.

Kaiser Agenthoz helped the knights in their predicament and defeated the monster with ease.

The former Duke Eels was grateful to Kaiser Agenthoz, but he begged him to keep the fact that they had received help from a mage a secret.

He intended to pay the Duke Agenthoz handsomely in exchange for his silence.

But Duke Agenthoz simply replied indifferently,

“It’s fine.”

He then tried to leave as quickly as possible.

His wife’s medicine was an urgent matter.

However, the former Duke Eels quickly grabbed hold of him and stopped him.

He even wrote up a formal pledge and handed it over.

It contained the oath of the Eels ducal family, along with his handwritten signature.

It was a pledge promising that he would grant any request whatsoever in the future.

Kaiser Agenthoz, however, had completely forgotten about the pledge.

He only remembered it when he heard the news that the former Duke Eels had died of illness.

‘It may not have been a big deal to Duke Agenthoz, but it was different for Father. That pledge was extremely important to him.’

Rudnain remembered his late father, a rigid and taciturn man.

Until the day he died, his father had been tormented by the fact that he had never repaid the debt he owed Duke Agenthoz. Before his death, he even left Rudnain a final request.

If the duke ever came asking for a favor, Rudnain was to do everything in his power to fulfill it, thereby easing his father’s regret at dying without repaying his debt.

<Meet my daughter, Lady Yvonne Agenthoz, in public.>

After carefully rereading the letter from Duke Agenthoz that had been enclosed with the pledge left behind by his late father, Rudnain spoke.

“I hear Lady Agenthoz was deeply heartbroken because His Highness the Crown Prince has officially acquired a lover.”

“His Highness the Crown Prince has never had feelings for Lady Agenthoz. Apparently, it was simply a one-sided love on the young lady’s part.”

Rudnain’s aide, Ant, handed him a document containing the results of his investigation into Lady Agenthoz and muttered skeptically.

Rudnain lightly jumped onto the tall windowsill and sat there, looking toward the distant south.

His long, almond-shaped eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed into the distance.

The place where the heart of the Empire lay.

The capital.

“A villainess, huh.”

The villainous young lady, the Crown Prince whom such a villainess was supposedly in love with, and the illegitimate princess of the Kingdom of Mare who was the Crown Prince’s lover all resided there.

“I wonder just how frightening our villainess young lady will be.”

Rudnain smiled happily and folded his arms.

Ant shuddered as he remembered how, after making that exact smile, the young duke had once brutally slaughtered every monster in his path.

“…Even if you get very angry, please don’t kill the young lady, Your Grace.”

“Hmm. I could be the one who ends up dying. I hear Lady Agenthoz is an exceptionally talented mage.”

He laughed cheerfully, revealing his neat, even white teeth.

“There’s no way you could be killed by a mage, Your Grace.”

Ant was dumbfounded.

He had watched Duke Rudnain Eels’s overwhelming strength from closer than anyone else.

After staring toward the south for a long while, Rudnain finally made his decision.

“All right.”

He turned toward his aide, Ant, and gave him a firm order.

“Notify the Eels townhouse in the capital. Tell them the head of the family is coming.”

“…Yes, Your Grace.”

Ant no longer tried to dissuade him. He bowed and accepted his master’s command.

The Eels townhouse in the capital.

Because the head of the Eels family, the duke, and all the members of his family preferred to remain in their territory, the townhouse was kept locked most of the time.

Nevertheless, it was an enormous and beautiful mansion, considered one of the five largest residences in the capital.

The head butler of the townhouse, who had managed the residence for generations despite its master never visiting, was stunned when he received a letter from the Eels territory.

“The Duke is coming?!”

Upon receiving the news that the head of the family was coming, the townhouse’s head butler was so shocked that he ultimately fainted.

“Oh-ho. Apparently the duke is coming to the capital.”

After receiving the reply personally written by Rudnain, Duke Agenthoz smiled and set the time and place for the blind date before sending his response.

He then heard from his butler that Yvonne was still studying hard every day and felt a pang in his heart.

‘I hope Yvonne feels better. I wonder if Duke Eels will be able to cheer her up.’

Unlike Kaiser Agenthoz’s concerns, Rudnain was diligently preparing for his meeting with Yvonne.

Having inherited his late father’s rigid personality, once he decided to do something, he had to do it perfectly.

He would become the perfect blind-date partner and bring joy to Lady Agenthoz.

He scheduled an appointment with the most famous designer in the capital to have an outfit tailored for the blind date.

While considering what special gift he could give the young lady after their meeting, he selected a rare and unique ore found only in Eels territory and sent it to an exceptionally skilled craftsman.

After completing the preparations for the gift as well, Duke Rudnain Eels departed for the capital to meet Lady Yvonne Agenthoz.

Ah, the weather is wonderful.

These really are peaceful days when absolutely nothing happens.

This is exactly the beautiful world I’d wanted.

I was lying lengthwise on a bench in the garden, leisurely watching the white clouds drift across the sky, when a sudden black shadow fell over me.

What the—

“Ahem. Yvonne.”

“Brother? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

The source of the black shadow was Varden.

I stared blankly up at him while lying there with my eyes wide open.

Varden clicked his tongue.

“…Hmm. I suppose I’m getting used to it after hearing it so often. Even that embarrassingly sweet way of speaking that doesn’t suit you.”

‘Good grief.’

I should have disliked Varden for speaking so irritatingly, too.

But strangely enough, I couldn’t bring myself to dislike him.

Honestly, Varden’s mouth was a mouth of destruction, but if you only looked at his face, he looked like a savior who had descended to rescue a ruined world.

‘I’m not supposed to forgive him just because he’s handsome.’

I’d always encountered Varden indoors, but seeing him outside made him look even more impressive and handsome.

Come to think of it, something was strange.

Wasn’t Varden supposed to at least be a second male lead?

Surely Varden had fought on the battlefield alongside the male protagonist, Adrian, and the female protagonist, Cordelia.

He was handsome, capable, and had an extremely promising future as the future Marquis of Agenthoz.

On top of that, he’d survived dangerous situations alongside the heroine.

Wouldn’t that make him perfect second-male-lead material?

“Hmmm~. Hmm~?”

I slowly sat up from the bench, folded my arms, then stroked my chin as I pondered.

What could possibly be lacking in someone as tall and handsome as Varden?

His personality was bad, sure, but he wasn’t exactly evil enough to be a villain.

When I looked him up and down, Varden seemed to dislike being scrutinized so closely and furrowed his brow harshly.

“W-What are you doing? Have you gone back to being Mad Dog? Why are you sniffing around like that?”

“…Hey, Brother. If you call me Mad Dog one more time, I’m going to start calling you ‘Oppang.’”

I raised my eyes fiercely and threatened him.

Apparently unable to understand me, Varden stared at me blankly.

“What? What kind of bread?”

“Oh my goodness. You don’t know ‘Oppang’? Oppang?”

I grinned.

Then I spread both hands beneath my face like a flower and leaned closer to Varden, thrusting my face right in front of him.

“Do you know what the most wonderful bread in the world is? Our Oppang! Thank you for the spending money yesterday!”

“…You… Don’t, h-how about you stop that.”

Varden’s face turned as red as a tomato, apparently because he found the whole thing unbearably creepy and humiliating.

Damn it, even I was going crazy doing this.

I was cringing from secondhand embarrassment myself, but watching Varden’s horrified expression made it somewhat bearable.

Hehehe.

His honest reactions were so adorable, Brother.

Suddenly, I felt frustrated by the fact that someone as cute as Varden had never become the second male lead.

Simply because he was the older brother of Yvonne, the villainess and mastermind, he hadn’t even been allowed to appear on the main stage, let alone become the second male lead.

Feeling genuinely sorry for him, I casually asked,

“Brother. Aren’t you interested in Princess Cordelia of Mare?”

She was supposedly an incredibly lovable heroine in the original story.

They said she practically radiated light just by being there, had such a gentle heart that everyone around her felt at ease, and could even calm down rampaging monsters.

‘Not that I’ve ever seen her.’

But Varden, who had been staring at me with an oddly intense gaze, suddenly let out a deep sigh and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Yvonne. Are you still having trouble getting over him?”

“…Pardon?”

“You’re trying to get between His Highness and the illegitimate princess and somehow drive them apart, but give it up now.”

“Ah…?!”

Oh my god.

Apparently, Varden still thought I hadn’t given up on Crown Prince Adrian.

Damn it.

Was Varden afraid that I would throw another bomb at the Crown Prince and Cordelia like I had last time and cause them trouble?

I hurriedly tried to explain.

“That’s not it.”

“And I’m not interested in some illegitimate princess. How should I put it? She’s too bland. She’s boring, and she doesn’t really have any charm.”

Varden cut me off and drew a firm line.

His assessment left me utterly dumbfounded.

“What? Did you just say the heroine is bland?!”

“What? The heroine?”

“Ah, no.”

I immediately clamped a hand over my mouth to stop myself from saying anything else.

‘Watch your mouth. Watch your mouth.’