Invitation (3)

The densely written laws, elegant rhetoric, and the document accusing Nicolas Relling of the many crimes he had committed and demanding the corresponding punishment perfectly adhered to Relling’s family law.

The council of elders and the steward of Relling admired it, saying there was no doubt this document had been written by Connie Relling herself.

‘What nonsense. Relling’s family law? We three siblings from the Zack family have lived in Relling longer than Connie Rens ever did. We’ve probably spent more of Relling’s money too. We have Nicolas, the rightful heir designated by the head of the family! No. Nicolas is now the Marquess of Relling!’

Swinging his legs beside the driver, the eldest son of Zack rolled his eyes anxiously.

The council of elders expected Connie to have sent indictments to about three places: the House of Relling, the Imperial Capital Court, and the Assembly of Nobles. If the other two places had received the same document that the House of Relling had, Nicolas Relling’s honor would suffer a grave stain. In addition, he would have to find a capable legal advocate to defend himself.

After receiving the absurd indictment against the heir, the three Zack siblings and Nicolas Relling went to every lawyer said to be famous. But for some reason, whenever they revealed that their opponent was Lady Relling, everyone waved them away.

It was impossible to understand why they were backing off in fear of some noblewoman who had shut herself up in a small room of the manor and done nothing but sew.

“Even if the contents of this indictment are not true, you will not win. Even if the great scholar Lisman came, he would not agree to be your legal representative.”

When they caused such an uproar out of resentment and fury, one lawyer coldly hurled that curse at them.

‘Just how infamous is that Connie in the imperial capital…!’

Having fully entered Tessen Castle surrounded by Tessen’s cavalry, the eldest son of Zack was suddenly seized by fear. What if Tessen dealt with the Marquess of Relling’s party by force and simply handed the marquessate over to Connie? Judging by Tessen’s notorious reputation, it would not be surprising if they did exactly that.

“Stop! Stop! Why do we have to be dragged into Tessen! Th, this should be settled at court! Who knows what those Tessen people might do here! Let’s go back! Turn around!”

“Th, that’s right! Turn around!”

The three Zack siblings tried to turn the carriage around.

“Halt!”

“W, who are you! Who are you to tell us to stop or not!”

“I am Roderick Rosa, aide to the Grand Duke of Tessen. And you are?”

Roderick dealt calmly with the rude Zack siblings.

“I am…! Uh, uh, a sibling of the Young Marquis of Relling! There’s no need for you to know my name! We are going back.”

Roderick flashed a kindly smile.

“That is not possible, Mr. Zack. Step down from the carriage. On Tessen soil, daring to remain seated in your carriage before His Highness the Grand Duke of Tessen is a tremendous discourtesy, and can be understood as looking down on the Grand Duchy of Tessen, for which summary judgment may be carried out immediately.”

“Who are you ordering….”

“Didn’t you hear me tell you to get down!”

Roderick wiped the smile from his face and shouted. The drivers quickly stepped down from the carriages and bent at the waist in salute. The mercenaries accompanying the procession to protect the Relling carriages and the knights of House Relling also bowed their heads.

“The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Tessen are here.”

At Roderick’s introduction, the knights and a few others who knew proper etiquette awkwardly rendered their greetings.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke of Tessen, Your Highness the Grand Duchess of Tessen, it is an honor to behold such exalted persons.”

Among them was the heir to the Marquess of Relling, who had been riding in the very last carriage. At the urging of his much older half-brother and half-sister, Nicolas stepped forward slowly.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke. Your Highness the Grand Duchess. I am Nicolas of Relling. It is an honor to meet you. I understand there is much for us to discuss.”

Unlike his earlier hesitation, Nicolas now spoke in a slick, brazen manner.

“You’ve grown a great deal since the last time I saw you. You’ve become a young man.”

Nicolas was flustered by the familiar tone of the elegant noblewoman. He realized that the lovely lady standing before him, adorned in beautiful lace and elegant lace, was his much older half-sister.

When Connie left Relling, Nicolas had been a child. By the time Nicolas had memories, Connie had mostly been in the imperial capital. Unlike the half-siblings who made a fuss over him and praised him whenever they saw him, the noblewoman who dressed most splendidly and behaved coldly had frightened young Nicolas quite a lot.

Now that he looked again, she was small in build and delicate in appearance. If she had first extended a warm hand to him, he would have shared Relling’s things with her as he had with his half-siblings.

The awkwardness and rift between them had all been the fault of that hollow Lady Relling.

“Sister….”

Realizing who his counterpart was, Nicolas first tried to show the warmth of family.

Smack!

Connie, who had been standing elegantly before Nicolas Relling, swung her hand and slapped the unsuspecting Nicolas across the cheek.

“You wretched thing.”

“……!”

Nicolas had never once been struck by anyone. He did not even properly realize that he had been slapped.

“Y, you…!”

“Hey!”

“How dare a mere baroness strike the young marquis of a marquess’s house!”

It was the three Zack siblings who reacted to Connie’s violence. Connie glanced at the noisy trio and leisurely met the glare of the furious Nicolas Relling.

“Did you think you could privately kill your fiancée and still keep the position of Relling’s heir? You do not deserve to bear the name of Relling.”

With a posture that made it obvious he had done it on purpose, Nicolas spat bloody spit at Connie’s feet. Jamie, who was standing beside Connie, quickly pulled her back.

“My. For the one called Relling’s heir to do something so vulgar….”

“The young Marquis of Relling killed his fiancée?”

“My goodness.”

A stir rose among the watching crowd. When Nicolas saw Jamie, an odd light flashed in his eyes.

“If I’m not qualified to bear the name of Relling, is that bastard? Because he is the son of the woman who used to be Lady Relling. You slap the younger brother you’ve seen for the first time in decades before anything else. Who’s the one who killed a fiancée, anyway? Do you think it becomes true just because you insist on it? You’ll pay for staining Relling’s honor!”

“I never thought I would see a noble raising his voice in front of me, and in Tessen no less.”

Reichardt, who had been standing a little apart from Connie, spoke in a low voice.

“…….”

Reichardt and Alicia had come out to serve as noble ornaments. Alicia’s violet eyes had widened as they remained fixed on Connie, who was displaying lofty dignity. Connie, who was always benevolent and knew nothing but beautiful things, had resorted to violence. That was shocking.

“Alicia?”

“Connie hit someone. He’s a murderer, so it’s fine to hit him, but for Connie to hit someone, he really must be a bad person.”

Alicia whispered in a whisper that everyone could hear.

“……Tessen should stay out of this matter. It would be disgraceful for Tessen to interfere in the affairs of House Relling.”

Suppressing his fury, Nicolas Relling barely managed to frame his threat with courtesy toward the grand ducal couple of Tessen.

“Connie is this person’s family. Tessen does not pretend not to know family, Mr. Relling. Soon you’ll be stripped of that name, but for now I suppose we still have to call you Relling.”

Alicia replied in a courteous and dignified tone, unlike when she spoke familiarly with Reichardt.

“Stripped of my name? Who are you threatening…!”

“These are mountain keepers from the Coral Mountains. The two of them testified that they saw Lady Lily pass through the mountain checkpoint and go to Relling. And the man standing behind them is a worker from Io Castle in Relling who, on Nicolas Relling’s orders, confined Lady Lily in an underground prison. The worker, Pol, committed the irreverence of imprisoning a lady under his master’s orders, but because he worried over Nicolas Relling’s actions in confining and starving Lady Lily, he brought meals to Lady Lily and was beaten by the three Zack siblings.”

At Alicia’s words, Nicolas’s eyes glared fiercely at the worker, then darted about uneasily. His wavering gaze met Connie’s composed face.

“Besides Pol, there are many people of House Relling who saw Lady Lily being privately imprisoned. All of them took the heir of Relling’s crime seriously and gave their testimony.”

At Connie’s words, the workers of Relling gave small nods as though trusting and relying on Lady Relling.

“You ungrateful bastards……. She must have lured you by promising what she’d give you if she became head of the house! No, that’s not it, with Tessen backing her, she must have promised to pour out gold and made you betray your master!”

“I have never used what belongs to Tessen anywhere but in Tessen. Since you trust no one around you, you must see people as tools. You cannot even distinguish between a head of the house with authority and a tyrant of a head of the house.”

Connie revealed pity tinged with contempt.

“You think you can become the heir by doing this! The heir Father chose is me! You aren’t even Relling anymore!”

Nicolas Relling shrieked.

“Nicolas, endure it.”

“Little brother, there’s no need to listen to a greedy woman.”

“Let’s get out of here first.”

Just as the three Zack siblings were about to gather Nicolas, who looked ready to make a scene in front of the Grand Duke of Tessen, and leave.

Creak, creak.

From far away came the sound of wooden wheels rolling. It sounded similar to the wheels of the custom-made chair used by the frail Marquess of Relling, who had difficulty moving about.

“…….”

“…….”

The faces of Nicolas and the three Zack siblings turned white.

It made no sense.

The Marquess of Relling had grown very infirm with age and had left Io Castle to live quietly in the suburbs. The villa in Relling’s lands beyond the Coral Mountains was very far from Tessen. It had taken even them several days to reach Tessen after receiving Lady Relling’s indictment.

More than anything, when Nicolas and the three Zack siblings had gone looking for the Marquess of Relling, it had been after the marquess had suddenly disappeared.

They had thought none of that mattered. In any case, Nicolas held almost all of the real power of the Marquess of Relling already.

He only had yet to obtain the key to the head of the house’s office with its paltry family crest on it. If it was certain that the marquess had disappeared, they could simply watch the family’s mood for a while, then break down the office door and enter.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke of Tessen, Your Highness the Grand Duchess of Tessen. Because I have such an unworthy child, I have shown an ugly disgrace before the two of you.”

The gaunt old man seated in the wheeled chair moved his dry lips.

“F, Father!”

“Nicolas, did you truly confine Lady Lily, your fiancée?”

“That…. I’ll explain that to you privately. If you hear me out…….”

“Did you confine her, or did you not? You trouble your old father.”

Nicolas found it humiliating to have this conversation with his father in front of so many people. Even when they were alone, the shriveled old man was no easy opponent, but he became even more obstinate when others were present.

“I confined her. But that was not my fault! Lady Lily was wagging her tail at a married man! She was engaged to me and was going to cling to anoth…. was going to commit impropriety. I have witnesses too!”