Succession Round 1, Behind the Scenes with Ransel. (3)

5.

“From the secret organization Darkhood, which follows the great Lancel Dante…”

Darkhood.

What an amateurish name. Lancel chuckled and read on.

—Please listen carefully. It may be hard to believe, but I am a long-time follower of Lancel Dante, and I know your future very well.

How suspicious.

—Lancel Dante is not someone who should be stuck in a place like this! It’s a waste of your talent and ability to just stick around a rich nobleman’s house and laze around. It’s like eating bread without jam.

‘What kind of analogy is that?’

To be called lazy by the mooch Marigold.

—But don’t worry, Lancel Dante. I’ll take care of everything. I will nurture this secret organization called Darkhood and fully support you so that you can become a great and influential nobleman that even the empire can’t treat lightly.

If anyone else received this, they would mistake it for a rebellious group.

—For your information, our organization currently consists of 30 members and 5 executives.

‘Is that a lie?’

I won’t believe it. Absolutely not.

—I will send you a letter every night starting tomorrow. I will report the organization’s achievements every day, so please reply if possible. Oh, if you want anything, please write it in the reply at any time. I will do anything for you. Just trust me. Lancel, your life is now in full bloom.

—From Lemon Verbena, the leader of Darkhood.

“……”

Lancel stared at the last part of the letter for a moment, then neatly burned it in the lamp.

“Should I sleep?”

The next morning, Lancel saw Marigold pacing around him, looking somehow restless.

“Why do you keep walking back and forth?”

“Huh? It’s just… um… nothing…”

From the muttering of the girl who retreated with a sullen expression.

“…Why doesn’t he have any reaction…”

He didn’t know exactly, but he seemed quite disappointed that he was too normal for someone who had received a letter from the secret organization Darkhood.

‘What am I supposed to react to, then?’

It wasn’t that Lancel was so cold that he couldn’t indulge in the whimsical actions of the regressor Marigold.

He simply didn’t know what kind of reaction a ‘person who received a letter from a secret organization’ should show, so he quietly continued his breakfast.

Only Marigold’s pouting face occasionally lingered in the corner of his vision.

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Thump! Thump! Thump!

That dawn, Lancel was awakened from his sweet sleep again. The culprit was a crow diligently pecking at the window from outside. It was probably around 3 a.m.

‘If you’re going to send it, send it early, why so late.’

He yawned and opened the window.

Flap, flap, he quickly snatched the crow that fluttered its wings and jumped into the room.

-Caw! Caw!

The crow, covering its eyes and trembling, as if expecting something, was pathetic.

“I won’t poke you.”

He took the letter hanging on his ankle back to the lamp.

—Yes, this is Darkhood. I know it may be hard to believe since it’s a sudden letter. But Darkhood is real. We are a truly influential force in this empire that follows Lancel Dante! This is not a joke. Please believe us!

‘Marigold must be very disappointed.’

It seemed that Lancel thought that the letter he had sent the day before was just a prank thrown by someone with nothing to do.

In fact, he couldn’t deny it because he didn’t think so at all.

—But I’ll admit it. If I suddenly received a letter like this, I would think it was a little suspicious. It was my misjudgment. Very rarely, unlike me, I made a slight misjudgment.

Lancel glanced at the crow that had climbed onto his shoulder, then returned to the letter.

—Therefore, we will show you proof of our organization. Please give us any task you want in your reply. Yes, please give us an order. We’ll do anything.

—From Lemon Verbena, the leader of Darkhood.

“Hmm.”

Interesting?

Lancel smiled and quickly picked up a quill.

‘What should I write to give Marigold a good blow?’

Let’s start simple. I don’t know what will happen if I order something too difficult.

Lancel wrote a simple reply in the blank space below the letter.

—Bring me the jam that is sold at the bakery on 12th Street in Rodniss at lunchtime. That is all.

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“Ouch!”

The next day, Lancel saw Marigold falling at the entrance of the mansion with a crash. The jam jar she was holding in her arms rolled on the floor, spilling its contents.

“No! My jam!”

“Mary! Where are you coming from!”

“I, I just went out for a while…!”

“What’s that on the floor? You spilled it all! Clean it up quickly!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

‘I’m doomed.’

Was this much of a request too much?

-Caw!

“Huh?”

But that dawn, unexpectedly, the crow that knocked on the window had a string in its mouth. A string wrapped around a jam jar.

Lancel brought him inside and quickly opened the jam lid.

‘This is…’

It’s not the scent of the jam sold at the bakery on 12th Street. When he took a bite, it tasted strangely familiar.

She must have filled it with what she made.

—We have delivered the jam you requested. Will you believe in our existence now?

How brazen.

Lancel picked up a pen.

—Yes, I believe you. You are indeed my follower.

The crow on his shoulder fluttered its wings and flew away.

It looked satisfied.

—Send me a bottle of fruit wine made from apples. It’s not easy to find around here.

The next day, the crow brought fruit wine.

—There used to be a puppy that occasionally came to the garden, can you bring it to my room?

The next day, Lancel received a puppy in his pocket.

—What kind of clothes would suit me? Please get me something nice.

The next day, Marigold’s Familiar struggled to carry four pieces of clothing.

Unexpectedly, the clothes suited him well.

At this point, Lancel also developed a sense of competitiveness.

The amateurish secret organization, which in all likelihood only Marigold belonged to, was fulfilling his requests quite faithfully.

Lancel played with his quill, wondering, ‘Can they do this too?’

—Bring me one gold coin. I’m in a difficult situation because I don’t have any money.

The next day, the Familiar appeared with a gold coin, he didn’t know where he got it.

-Caw!

As he received the shining gold coin, Lancel was slowly finding it difficult to hide his embarrassment.

‘Where did she get this?’

As far as he knew, Marigold had been cooped up in the mansion all day today. She was working moderately and taking naps while hiding, just like usual.

But how did she get the gold coin?

If there was a possibility, it meant that she found it somewhere in this mansion, but this didn’t make sense either. The miser Baron Ibil Shen was very thorough in managing his money. He wouldn’t go around dropping something as precious as a gold coin.

He quickly unfolded the letter.

—This is the one gold coin you requested! This is the power of our secret organization! We will get you as much as you need!

Lancel stroked his chin.

‘They’re more capable than I expected.’

What should I say.

‘Rather than a secret organization, aren’t they just errand runners?’

Well.

Strictly speaking, Lancel was the one who made Marigold do that, but anyway, based on what he had done so far, she was just a convenient errand runner. It was far from the something great and secret organization she originally wanted.

Lancel gave the gold coin back to the crow and sent it back. Along with the words to put it back where it came from, since it was money he didn’t know where it came from.

‘There aren’t really dozens of members, are there?’

…Surely not. That can’t be.

6.

“Speaking of which, the Imperial Capital is bustling these days.”

“Yes?”

“I’m talking about the Imperial Ball.”

At Baron Ibil Shen’s words, Lancel put down the meat he was about to put in his mouth. It was the evening dinner.

“I don’t know what wind blew, but they’re opening up the Imperial Palace for the Harvest Festival in two years. It’s great news for young and promising nobles like Lancel.”

“Two years from now…”

Marigold had her seventeenth birthday not long ago. In two years, she would be nineteen, old enough to have a ‘marriage ending’.

“Of course, Lancel, you have to participate this time, right? I heard that quite a few people even got married at the Imperial Ball in the past. It was a long time ago, though.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Take this opportunity to seduce a Miss and bring her to Viscount Dante. When else would you try to win over the precious Misses? Don’t you think so?”

Baron Ibil Shen was already excited even though it wasn’t his business. Marigold, who was filling his water glass next to him, perked up her ears.

She seemed to be quite concerned about the words Imperial Ball.

‘It’s definitely an opportunity.’

Opportunity.

‘An opportunity to make Marigold the Empress.’

For the nobles of this world, ‘marriage’ was usually just a means to form a marriage network. They chose someone who would benefit their family and forced them into a marital relationship.

The fact that Lancel had been engaged to the Iceford Heiress, who was called one of the three great beauties of the empire, in the last round was all part of that trend.

But the Imperial Ball is different.

You could even propose there.

It was possible to form an engagement relationship with just the will of the two people in that place. Surprisingly, it was a culture that was like an unwritten rule in the Imperial Capital’s aristocratic society.

Lancel already had an idea why this culture was created.

‘There were so many scenes like that in the game. Whether it’s a breakup or a proposal, anyway, a romance fantasy event that takes place against the backdrop of the Imperial Ball…’

As a result, this Imperial Ball remained the last romance and the last romantic area of the empire.

Of course, even the Imperial Family would participate.

‘If I get Marigold to participate in this? Isn’t this a chance to turn things around in one shot?’

The problem of how to seduce the Prince was next. The important thing was that the opportunity was given.

Yes. The Imperial Ball is not a frequent event. This was only the third time in the hundreds of years he had lived. It means it’s a very rare opportunity.

“Can all nobles participate?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t someone like Lancel be able to enter?”

“What about commoners?”

“Isn’t it obvious that they can’t even come close?”

“What if it’s in between?”

“They might be able to enter.”

The middle between nobles and commoners.

It was referring to the title of honorary noble called ‘Baronet’.

“…But how do you become a Baronet?”

Baron Ibil Shen looked like he was asking why he was asking such a thing, but after seeing Lancel urging him, he opened his mouth.

“First of all, you have to donate at least 50 gold coins…”

“And?”

“And if you get a lot of recommendations from nobles… I remember that the Imperial Family would bestow the title around the end of the year… Why suddenly…?”

It meant that the Imperial Family would consider the money and connections and bestow the title. In a word.

“Hmm…”

“Hmph…”

For some reason, Marigold was following him and pondering something next to him.

That dawn, Lancel immediately began writing a letter to Marigold’s alias, Lemon Verbena.

—This may be sudden, but I recommend one person to be an executive of Darkhood. There is a maid named Mary in the mansion where I am staying. She is an obedient child, so be sure to include her in the organization.

I plan to have Mary receive the title of Baronet as soon as possible and send her to the Imperial Ball. It’s all for the organization, so don’t think too deeply. I’ll stop here.

‘Will it work if I write like this?’

Lancel himself was a little unsure, but he couldn’t help it.

He only had two years. He had to somehow get Marigold into the Imperial Ball within that time.

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“…Lancel…Young Master is…”

“Yes?”

Marigold was dazed as she received the letter.

“Does he…want to…want to propose to me?”

“What are you talking about so early in the morning?”