Ch.83Court (3)

“Um, excuse me…”

“Yes?”

The henchmen who had received orders from Chloe and Ines in the dining hall simultaneously approached Jeanne.

Both men had stiff muscles with straightened joints, trembling voices, and slightly flushed faces—anyone would think they were confessing to a woman they had a crush on. Seeing this scene, others in the room smiled, focusing on the three as if an interesting love drama was unfolding.

In truth, both men did harbor feelings for Jeanne. After all, what man in the world wouldn’t be attracted to a girl with such beautiful looks, adorable behavior and speech, and an innocent nature completely unaware of men’s attention?

Before receiving Jeanne’s blessing, they would have moved solely for the sake of orders, but now that their worn-down emotions had recovered and their fanatical loyalty and fear had faded, their own feelings had become more important than such commands.

“…Someone is looking for you.”

“They said you would understand if I mentioned ‘the promise from prison.'”

Of course, orders were still orders. Even if one didn’t follow them wholeheartedly, obeying superiors’ commands was necessary for smooth social functioning.

Ines’s henchman, avoiding mentioning her name because there were too many eyes around, invited Jeanne with roundabout words, while Chloe’s henchman relayed exactly what his master had told him and gestured for her to follow.

“Um… if both of you are asking me to follow at the same time…”

“It’s fine. The destination is the same.”

“What…? Oh… okay, I understand.”

Jeanne tilted her head with a puzzled expression at hearing their destinations were the same, but soon nodded with an awkward smile. Judging from the energy emanating from the two men, while there was some desire present, they seemed decent enough to be considered good people.

Having determined that good people wouldn’t do anything bad, Jeanne obediently followed the two, causing others watching to gasp slightly. To anyone observing, these looked like suspicious men making plausible excuses to lure a woman to a secluded place.

“Wait a minute, hey.”

“Yes?”

“You shouldn’t just follow strangers. Besides, you haven’t finished mopping yet.”

Seeing the innocent girl following men she’d just met, people stopped Jeanne and the two men. The flustered henchmen tried to say something, but cold gazes from all directions made them close their mouths without uttering a word.

“Which department are you from? Ah… must be newcomers, that explains it.”

“Can’t you see she’s cleaning our dining hall? It should still be working hours, so why are you wandering around?”

“I’m just following orders—”

“Orders? Whose orders?”

“That’s…”

There was no way they could say.

Loyalty aside, it was obvious that mentioning Chloe and Ines’s names here would cause enormous problems.

Losing their jobs after being expelled from the palace would be the least of their worries; they might even be dealt with by assassins.

“…”

“…Sigh. Boys, throw these guys out.”

“Yes, supervisor.”

Seeing the henchmen keeping their mouths shut, the servants reacted with “Just as I thought!” expressions and forcibly expelled them from the dining hall. Knowing they couldn’t return empty-handed, the two tried desperately to extract Jeanne, but the fierce determination of the servants protecting her made it impossible.

The two henchmen were thrown out the door by the servants, while Jeanne could only blink and slowly look around, unable to follow them.

“Good, forget about those guys… So, you’re entering university?”

“What? Oh… yes, I’m working at the castle on the condition that I enter university.”

“Wow, I heard even nobles were struggling to get in, so you must have some powerful backing? Oh… was that too rude of me?”

“Ahaha… not at all, you’re funny.”

With the intruders gone, the servants resumed cleaning and asked the newcomer Jeanne various questions. While answering them, Jeanne thought about the two men from earlier.

‘So it was those two.’

She had sensed a familiar, unpleasant energy from them, albeit faintly. That meant the people looking for her were probably Chloe and Ines.

And the promise from prison… She did have that kind of conversation with Chloe when she visited in the middle of the night before departing for the city.

[Don’t tell anyone who I killed.]

[Are you afraid of being hated if your identity is revealed?]

[No, I’m worried it would shock my brother. If you don’t listen to me, you’ll never see my brother again.]

[…Then you could just kill me now, couldn’t you? That would be the most certain way to silence me.]

[No, you need to tell me what Ines has done. If you do that, I’ll ask my brother to improve your treatment.]

‘Hmm…’

At that time, she had vaguely said she would need to see Ines directly to know for sure.

The promise they mentioned must be about that, and since they were taking her to the same place, they probably wanted her to see Ines in person and figure out what she had done.

“You’ve been living alone until now?”

“Yes, but not anymore. I’ve found my only one.”

“Your one? Oh… that’s a shame. You already have someone.”

‘Heh, my treatment?’

Her body was already free, and she could work at the Saint’s shelter—her treatment couldn’t get any better than this.

The only step above would be becoming one with the Saint, but judging by those witches’ personalities, while they might allow controlled physical intimacy, they would never permit her to freely mix with the Saint on her own initiative. She had no such interests anyway.

Why should she keep a promise when she already knew the outcome? Why keep a promise made with evil people?

“Well, it makes sense that someone like you would have someone.”

“Ah…”

“No, this is better. Rather than everyone being cautious, let’s just be pretty colleagues.”

“Hehe…”

‘Then it’s better to pretend I don’t know and not go at all.’

While cleaning and chatting with others, Jeanne continuously thought about what to do next.

……….

Knock knock—

“…Yes.”

“Come in.”

Recognizing that the rhythm, pitch, and speed of the knock were completely formal, Chloe and Ines cautiously granted entry, different from their usual manner.

“…Excuse me.”

“Leclerc?”

“I’m here to see Your Highness Ines.”

“Ah…! It’s been a while, Sir Leclerc.”

“It’s been a while for you too, Lady Chloe.”

When Leclerc appeared at the opened door, Ines, who had delegated authority to him, tilted her head with a curious expression, wondering what matter had brought him. Chloe greeted him with an expression like someone seeing a grandfather after a long time.

Leclerc greeted both of them using the formal greeting reserved for meeting relatives of one’s lord. Seeing this, Chloe nodded with satisfaction and a pleased smile, while Ines was slightly annoyed that he had given such a greeting to Chloe as well, but let it pass since she was indeed a relative.

Getting angry over such things would only harm the child in her womb. Besides, he had greeted her first, so she could certainly tolerate this much.

“I have business with Lady Ines this time. I would appreciate it if you could review these documents.”

“Documents…?”

Ines took the documents Leclerc handed her with a puzzled expression, sat on the bed, and began reading them.

While Ines’s expression appeared perfectly peaceful as she read the documents, Leclerc, who was observing her face, inwardly sighed deeply.

‘Though she’s trying to appear calm, the corners of her eyes and cheekbones occasionally twitch for very brief moments, and most importantly, her pupils have contracted slightly compared to before.’

He had suspected it, but it was actually true.

…This matter would need to be reported to His Majesty.

Confirming Ines’s reaction, Leclerc realized that the assumption that “Ines had deliberately planted such baseborn individuals” was correct, and he inwardly lamented.

‘Most of them must be connected to the Laurel Duchy.’

Otherwise, hiring individuals with unclear backgrounds couldn’t be explained.

Not following proper hiring standards and planting individuals connected to her family home within the court—depending on the circumstances, this could certainly be considered an act of treason.

“…Fine, do as you wish.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Ines returned the documents to Leclerc with slightly trembling hands, and he received them respectfully with a bow.

As he was about to leave the room with the documents, Leclerc turned his head upon hearing Chloe’s voice from behind the curtain.

“Leclerc, what’s the matter?”

“Ah, Lady Chloe. There’s a slight issue with court business, so I came to get Lady Ines’s approval. I am her proxy, after all.”

“Hmm… is that so?”

Hearing Leclerc’s answer, Chloe realized that Ines had caused some trouble and inwardly burst into laughter.

With the curtain drawn across the room, she couldn’t see exactly what had happened, but to think it was something like this. Ines’s voice had sounded slightly off somehow, which had made her suspicious.

While she was angry that Ines had caused trouble that might harm her brother, she was pleased that it would damage her brother’s image of Ines.