Chapter 38

# 38

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Theorban glanced up and down at Nabiya, then a sinister smile spread across his lips.

Ever since he heard the news that Nikan had taken in a foster daughter, he had found it difficult to gather any information about this girl.

However, the rumors that reached him suggested that the girl was exceptionally beautiful.

'But she’s still just a kid.'

Theorban thought this, but when he saw Nabiya today, he was taken aback.

This girl would undoubtedly have a beauty that no one in the capital could match in five years.

'Even if the Empress says beauty isn’t everything, as a prince, he wouldn’t be immune to the allure of a beauty.'

He had planned to establish his daughter as the successor to Esselred, thereby swallowing this family and eventually making his daughter the Empress.

However, in the morning, he heard that the successors of Agnes had invaded Esselred.

Theorban burst into laughter the moment he heard this.

'Heaven is helping me!'

The competition for the position of Empress, which he had feared, had now turned into an invasion, with the competitors walking right into Esselred!

Nabiya’s stunning beauty, which had been a formidable weapon, had ultimately become useless.

"Are you Agnes’s foster daughter? Your appearance in a nightgown at this hour speaks volumes about your character."

Theorban mocked Nabiya’s pitiful situation without restraint.

"Indeed. Born to a low-ranking noble, what else could you be? I can clearly imagine how worthless your parents must be!"

Nabiya stared at him blankly.

In fact, none of his words affected her.

She wasn’t from a low-ranking noble family, and she didn’t know her biological parents. Her foster father was fair game for insults.

Theorban seemed to regard Nabiya as a mere straw man, and he looked around without a care.

"Lark is a washed-up guy. How could he give a room to a criminal who dared to launch a surprise attack on another family? He must be out of his mind."

Nabiya stood quietly, trying to gather information from his words.

'He’s completely ignoring the Duke of Esselred.'

However, the man with red eyes didn’t seem like someone who could be easily ignored.

'He looks like someone who has killed many times over.'

Did they deliberately let Theorban run wild?

If that was true, why? Nabiya thought, feeling the faint scent of anesthetic herbs rising from her body.

Theorban had an anesthetic herb farm. Not just a legal one registered with the state, but also an illegal one, which she had learned about in the 8th cycle.

Anesthetic herbs.

She sensed a connection between them.

Theorban spoke with a sinister smile, his voice low.

"It’s absurd for a girl like you to have a place here. Anyway, tomorrow the letter will—"

He stopped there and chuckled.

'Letter?'

Nabiya lifted her head in response to his words.

"Th—"

At that moment, a cold, sharp scent wafted from behind.

And.

Thud!

A large hand grabbed Theorban’s arm, which was holding Nabiya, as if it were about to break it and yanked it up.

Nabiya turned around, her eyes wide.

The man who had saved her, with red eyes, was there.

As a regressed person, Nabiya had much sharper eyes than an ordinary person, likely due to the vast amount of information she already possessed.

The man’s physique, as seen through Nabiya’s eyes, wasn’t just aesthetically pleasing.

It was a body built for 'combat.'

Theorban forced a smile and said,

"...Lark."

'As expected.'

Just as Nabiya had guessed, the man with red eyes was Lark Esselred.

'How did he appear behind me...?'

There was no sound, and no staircase leading to other floors behind her.

Was there a hidden staircase she didn’t know about?

"Cough. Oh, you’re up early today."

Theorban inwardly cursed at Lark, who had appeared like a ghost.

'You drugged-up brat, how dare you...?'

He tried to act calm, despite his tense eyes, and subtly tried to free his arm from Lark’s tight grip.

However, Lark didn’t let go. He tilted his head slightly and looked down at Theorban with his eyes.

"Indeed. Who woke me up?"

Theorban swallowed hard.

Lark was a powerful magician, though the exact nature of his abilities was unknown.

'But his magical abilities are the very reason he’s a problem.'

Lark, despite his handsome appearance, was a reclusive, powerless figure who depended on drugs.

So, Theorban thought it was fortunate. He could manipulate this fool and do as he pleased.

Theorban mustered his courage, reminding himself that Lark was socially dead.

"Still, it’s good you came. I was so surprised to hear the news today..."

Lark looked at him silently, as if daring him to continue.

"This girl is a criminal who dared to launch a surprise attack on a territory. Why would you give her a guest room? If this gets out, our family will be a laughingstock."

Nabiya observed the situation quietly, her lips sealed.

She felt a very familiar sensation from Theorban’s actions.

'...Agnes.'

People who believed in their meager status and deceived others were commonplace.

Nabiya felt a deep sense of disgust at that moment.

Theorban, despite his lower status, was acting as if he were the master of Esselred.

He seemed accustomed to and entitled to enjoying what this place and Lark had to offer.

Nabiya’s lips curled into a mocking smile.

Even if she fled from Agnes, the noble society was still full of the same kind of people.

But Theorban had chosen the wrong opponent this time. She was a regressed person and knew his weaknesses well.

Nabiya asked innocently, with a worried expression,

"Um... won’t Lord Alvin be in trouble...?"

Her frail voice drew their gazes downward.

Theorban glared at Nabiya, annoyed by her incomprehensible words.

"What nonsense!"

"Lord Esselred is the head of the family, and Lord Alvin is his representative. If this situation gets out... it will be said that the family’s hierarchy is being disrupted, starting from the great ducal family."

Nabiya deliberately paused, as if choosing her words carefully, before continuing.

"Surely... noble families are sensitive about such things, aren’t they?"

Isn’t that right, Lord Alvin, the representative of the family head?

As Nabiya spoke, Theorban’s expression twisted and turned red with anger.

He knew that the social circles were gossiping about his pretentious behavior as a family representative, despite his lower status.

But he ignored it.

This family would soon be his!

'Just wait. The moment I swallow the Esselred ducal family, I’ll crush all of them!'

He endured the current humiliation with this single-minded determination. But Nabiya had exposed his dirty secrets.

Theorban trembled with rage.

How dare a lowly noble like her criticize me?!

He took advantage of Lark’s loosened grip to free his arm and shouted,

"Ugh! No need to see more. I’ll beat this girl to death and send her limbs to Agnes!"

Theorban raised his hand to strike Nabiya.

He intended to punish this deceitful, insolent girl immediately.

Just as he was about to slap her.

"I said, be quiet..."

A suffocating aura of killing intent emanated from Lark.

Theorban, overwhelmed by this intent, felt as if his entire body was wrapped in chains, unable to move.

His eyes shook violently, and his voice trembled pitifully.

"L-Lark...?"

"I don’t know how much more you want to test my patience."

Theorban clearly saw a dark aura in Lark’s eyes.

But that boy still needed him.

Otherwise, how could he get such a large amount of anesthetic herbs at such a low price?

Theorban forced down his fear. His strong belief that Lark wouldn’t harm him gave him courage.

Still, the instinctive fear was unavoidable, so he tried to act as if nothing was wrong, trembling as he spoke.

"A-Ah, right. Haha... My brother would handle it, but you went too far, didn’t you?"

Lark leaned forward slightly, his voice threatening.

"So, brother."

Nabiya couldn’t understand why the word 'brother' sounded so alien.

"Now, get out of my house."