Chapter 392

Chapter 392

For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Episode 392: Nidavellir (3)

Having used all her strength, Faye melted down as soon as they arrived in the room.

Elisha, in Faye’s stead, became angry.

“What kind of household is this?! I get it. Since Faye is an illegitimate child, and while everyone else is obsessed with hammering away, she’s holed up stirring her alchemy pot, it’s natural she’d be disliked. But this is just too much!”

“Kkeueuk…”

Faye, hit by the harsh truth, flinched, but since it was all true, she couldn’t find a way to refute it and slumped again.

Whether the person in question sniffled or not, Elisha pounded the bed she was sitting on as if unable to contain her anger.

With a whack, dust exploded, and she frowned, casting Clean over the entire room.

“In any case, it’s absurd that even a commoner would look down on her, but for the head steward, who directly serves the Jarl, to dare to treat Faye with such contempt!”

“Mm-hmm. Elisha is right. Either way, the young lady of Yareunshade does have the Jarl’s blood. The current treatment is akin to spitting in the face of their own master. What on earth is Jarl Rohan doing?”

Iris, nodding in agreement, also had a rather fierce aura. As if she wouldn’t let him get away with it if she knew where he was.

The others had similar reactions, though their ways of expressing them differed.

Iona, flashing her fangs with a meaningful smile; Helena, fiddling with her mace while reciting a prayer; and even Carla, who was touching the slave mark on her neck, saying that ignoring his woman, Faye, was no different from ignoring her.

If he hadn’t stepped in first, he felt that a real physical conflict might have occurred.

…Dragon Fear was a show of force, not of conflict, so it should be fine, right?

While nodding inwardly, Faye, who was slightly intimidated by the fierce atmosphere even though she knew they were angry for her sake, trembled and said,

“E-everyone, calm down! It wasn’t this bad before…”

“It wasn’t this bad before? Could you tell us what it was like, Senior Faye?”

“Yeah.”

Faye, who had been wriggling on the bed, crawled over and rested her head on his lap, opening her mouth.

“Before I left this house, it was like this…”

According to Faye’s explanation, they simply didn’t make eye contact, didn’t talk to her, and ignored anything she said unless it was absolutely necessary. There was no subtle mockery like today.

In other words, her treatment had worsened.

“…That’s strange.”

“That’s right, Master. Senior Faye proved her abilities at the academy, and even if that weren’t the case, she’s your exclusive artisan.”

“Plus, it’s well-known that Faye and I are lovers. Of course. Since I publicly exposed the Boiling Silence’s spy with the help of Senior Faye, it’s only natural.”

Godslayer, half-human, half-dragon, saint of the Church of Righteous Radiance, son of the Circulating Life, hero of the Empire, Count of Lindelheit, and so on.

He hadn’t had many opportunities to truly feel it because he was always holed up in dungeons, training rooms, or the bedroom… but all these flamboyant titles referred to him.

Recently, as he showed his face at various social gatherings, he realized that their weight was by no means light.

And his lover was Faye. He had even personally shown that he was willing to become an enemy of an Evil God for Faye’s sake.

Only a madman would dare to subtly criticize Faye in front of him.

“I thought it was just an old habit coming out unconsciously even though I was restraining myself in front of Master.”

“Me too. It made me wonder what it was like when only Senior Faye was around, if they acted like this even in front of me.”

As he slightly frowned at the rising displeasure, Faye, looking like something good had happened, wore her characteristic gloomy smile.

“Hehe…”

“What’s so funny that you’re smiling like that?”

“Just… Junior looked a little cool when he was angry earlier?”

“Seriously, you find anything cool. I was really pissed off.”

“Junior also sneers every time I roll around whining that it’s hard for me, looking at my swaying chest.”

“Hmm. That’s the fault of Senior Faye’s body being too alluring.”

“You’re the same. Even though I’m still half-dwarf, you protect me with Dragon Fear? I can’t stand that, you know?”

“That’s right. Speaking of which… it seems like dwarves are particularly weak against Dragon Fear, but that’s not just my imagination, is it?”

At his question, Faye, who had been rolling around on the bed, slowly sat up. She seemed to have recovered a bit, as the melty state was gone.

“Yeah. Dwarves are actually very sensitive to Dragon Fear.”

“That’s fascinating… don’t they usually resist the fear of other monsters?”

“You know your stuff! Skilled warriors never flinch even in front of all sorts of large monsters like cyclops, ogres, behemoths, and so on. Only dragons are the exception.”

Come to think of it, Faye had moved around just fine even when facing powerful monsters in Paracelsus’s dungeon last time.

She was even gleeful, saying she could get good materials.

It might not have been just because Faye had a mad scientist streak, but a unique characteristic of dwarves.

A new piece of knowledge… he nodded for a moment with that feeling. But soon, he couldn’t help but gape at Faye’s next words.

“All the dwarves who resisted Dragon Fear died!”

“Ah.”

Usually, only those who resisted and fought and won against fear survived and passed on their lineage. If they couldn’t resist, they would have become a monster’s meal, which was only natural.

But dragons were an exception. Overcoming the fear was one thing, but wasn’t fighting and winning against them too overwhelming?

If all the dwarves who resisted the fear died, and only those who cowered and lay flat survived, then it made sense to a degree.

Unlike monsters, dragons didn’t eat dwarves.

Everyone froze as if their brains had stopped at the cruel truth, but Solaris, the oldest among their group, was different.

“Ah, the good old days~ Dragons used to use dwarves as slaves. It seems the influence from then was significant!”

“…Just asking to be sure, but when was that story from?”

“When the first king of Nidavellir revolted against the dragons?”

“That’s almost a thousand years ago!”

He had no idea it was something that happened so long ago!

“For reference, the one who extorted the most viciously was Fafnir. Before the Great War, he was just a thug. Could it be that he reacted so sensitively to my husband’s fear, which is still lacking compared to a real dragon, because–”

“Not you again, Fafnir?!”

He shuddered at the name that popped up when he had almost forgotten it, but only for a moment. He then realized that the tense atmosphere caused by Faye’s situation had eased.

Faye herself had relaxed and was laughing along with them. That was a relief. Faye had seemed quite composed, but he had felt that she was pushing herself.

Thanks to that, they had casually put aside their worries and were having a friendly conversation.

Knock knock.

“I’ve brought the bedding, Lady.”

A young maid who had come to carry out the task Faye had ordered before coming up to the room.

Since there were many people, the stack of blankets was taller than her height, but she was carrying it comfortably as if it were nothing.

She hadn’t even learned mana or aura separately, yet she was this strong. He knew dwarves were strong, but it was surprising every time he saw it with his own eyes.

Faye, being a half-blood, was also quite strong compared to her build, but not to that extent. Maybe she put all her strength into maintaining the elasticity of her chest. It looked quite heavy too.

He idly thought to himself and accepted the bedding with telekinesis magic.

He was spreading it out on the bed when, for some reason, the maid didn’t leave even after finishing her task and just kept her head bowed.

He was about to say something but looked at Faye instead. It would be much better if the daughter of this house stepped forward rather than him.

As if respecting her authority, he gestured silently with his eyes. Only then did Faye, as if coming to her senses, straighten her posture.

“What is it? If you don’t have anything else to do, you can go now.”

“Th-that is…”

The maid hesitated for a moment, pursing her lips, but then, as if having made up her mind, she tightly closed her eyes and continued speaking.

“The Jarl has no ill intentions in calling for the Lady. Please do not misunderstand his intentions.”

“What?”

As he subtly expressed his displeasure, the maid, who immediately prostrated herself on the floor, continued.

“I know it will be hard for the Lady, who has suffered humiliation as soon as she arrived, to believe. But… most of the employees, including the head steward, are people of the Madam, not the Jarl.”

“What are you…?”

“Almost a year has passed since the Jarl fell ill with an unidentified disease. During that time, the Madam has been handling all the major and minor affairs of the Yareunshade family.”

Wait a minute. He had a feeling he knew what was coming next.

“She must be trying to drive the Lady out, thinking about what will happen after the Jarl passes away.”

“Heop.”

“She even spread rumors that the alchemist Lady Faye poisoned the Jarl’s food and caused his illness. Of course, there’s no real evidence, but…”

“S-so, it sounds plausible to a commoner who doesn’t know the political situation, right?”

“Yes.”

Faye, feeling so wronged, stuttered slightly. Taking this as a sign of distrust, the maid added.

“My father is Baron Baru, who escorted the Lady here. My father and I are loyal only to the Jarl. We don’t care about succession disputes or power struggles. We simply earnestly hope that the Jarl’s intentions are not distorted.”

Come to think of it, Baru had been polite to Faye throughout, even though he seemed awkward.

Perhaps recalling this, Faye paused for a moment, but soon opened her mouth with a firm expression.

“…I understand about this matter. But the past doesn’t become something that never happened.”

She was right. This incident might have been the work of Rohan’s wife and son.

However, it was Rohan himself, not anyone else, who had treated Faye as if she didn’t exist since she was a child.

The young maid didn’t say anything more at length and only bowed her head even deeper, apologizing again.

“I am sorry for troubling you. I spoke presumptuously because I was afraid that the Lady might leave as she is.”

“It’s fine. After all, I came here intending to see Father from the beginning. Anything else to say? Then you can leave now.”

“Yes.”

With those last words, the maid closed the door and left.

Faye, who had been laughing mindlessly just a moment ago, frowned and began to ponder something.

Until news came that Rohan had woken up, she remained that way.