Chapter 41

A pack of people’s voices could be heard in the small alley between Ver and the main streets where the shops were located. However, the small sound dispersed without reaching the main street.

“This wonderful drug, everyone’s heard of it, right?”

Ralph smiled mischievously. The people who came to see him were the servants of his regular customers.

“Since you are all regulars, I’m giving this to you.”

Ralph handed a stack of rolled paper to the people who came to buy the goods on behalf of their owners.

Their faces lit up. They would be able to enjoy the goods that the owners told them to buy even at high prices. It was a nice bonus.

“Since this is a freebie, you guys can have it.”

Ralph spoke in a genial tone and then left the place first. Only then did some people hurriedly open the paper, while the others hid them, as if dealing with something precious.

“You don’t even know that it’ll ruin your life, what’s so good about it.”

Looking back at the pathetic sight, Ralph clicked his tongue. Although the orders from the aristocrats were the only ones that would get paid, he deliberately distributed goods from his own pocket. In the eyes of the servants who were close to nobility, everything these nobles did seemed a virtue.

But that was a lie. Not every expensive object was good, and not everything the nobles did was right.

They envied the lives of the nobles who lived falsely; it was an illusion they were following. But all of it was just a man-made illusion.

“Well then, let me give you a taste of it.”

Ralph, thinking of Ben bragging about himself, laughed merrily and left the place.

***

The next day, Ver stopped by Jack’s office as soon as his training was over. Jack had summoned him.

However, even after arriving, Jack remained silent for a long beat.

“Viscount Grant.”

“Yes.”

“Are you busy lately?”

It was a typical question to ask someone you haven’t met for a while.

“No. Do you have anything you want me to do?”

He was worried that Prillance might have been sick again. It had only been a few days, but he hadn’t been able to see her while he had been wandering around the bars and gambling dens nearby.

“Or is the lady sick again?”

Ver guessed that the reason Jack was lost in contemplation was because he was apologetic towards him. But when it came to Prillance, he didn’t have to be. Since he didn’t mind overdoing things several times over for her.

However, Jack glanced at him sharply without answering. He wanted to find out whether Ver’s concerned face was genuine or false.

“Are you worried?”

Jack calmed himself and asked.

“Yes.”

Ver answered his question without hesitation.

“For someone who’s worried, you’ve been moving around quite a bit.”

“Pardon?”

“I heard you’ve been going in and out of the gambling dens.”

Jack asked, sarcasm blatant in his eyes.

Now he was openly testing him. Ver clearly recognized what his glare meant as well.

“…How did you know?”

He was taken aback by his question. However, it would not have been possible to know of these facts if Jack hadn’t sent someone to the gambling house himself. Or if Jack had attached someone to watch him.

“Did you originally enjoy gambling? Or is there another reason?”

“It seems like you’re suspicious of me.”

“It’s not just you. I doubt the people of the mansion, the people outside the mansion, and anyone else conceivable.”

Jack’s eyes were still sharp, but his heart seemed to be for his daughter. Moreover, Jack bore a thinner face due to lack of sleep for the past few days.

“So tell me the reason. I am listening.”

When he had heard word about Ver from the investigator who was sent to catch who was behind the accident, he felt a sense of betrayal. With Prillance being so dependent on him, him being at a gambling house sent doubts to Jack’s mind, and he wondered if his suspicions were right.

Perhaps similar to Prillance, he had implicit faith in him. Maybe that was why he had called Ver and was asking about it in a different approach than he usually would do.

“I went there because I wanted to catch them myself.”

Ver confessed, not avoiding his eyes. Jack continued to listen to his story.

“I figured their goal in striking Lady Weiand might have been directed towards the Weiand family, not Lady Weiand herself.”

He added.

“If I don’t catch them this time, I was worried something similar might happen again in the future.”

“So you acted on your own on behalf of our family?”

Even after Ver’s assertion, Jack’s face showed little change.

“Why should I believe those words?”

He was someone who would not get swayed just by mere emotional appeals.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe them.”

“Why is that?”

He was different from others who would instead insist on their innocence.

“Whether or not the Marquis believes me, I will continue looking for the culprit.”

It was purely out of his own will that he was investigating.

“If I don’t allow you to do those things, what are you going to do about it? How can I trust someone whose actions I won’t be able to monitor?”

The two seemed to give no concessions toward each other’s opinions.

Ver ended up being the first one to avoid Jack’s gaze in the unyielding confrontation. But rather than avoiding it, this action was only for a moment as he moved to take out his badge.

He put the badge symbolizing the commander of the knights on the table.

“I will not only put my honor on the line,”

He took off the button on the sleeve of his uniform without hesitation. This button was also placed on the table. On the button was the pattern of a wolf symbolizing the Grant family.

“…but my family’s honor as well.”

The uniform of a family’s kin always held a button which bore the pattern of the family. It was a reminder that one should not lose their honor and pride as a member of that family.

If Ver were to tell a lie, Jack could present this button to the imperial court and bring charges against Ver’s family.

That was how significant Ver’s gesture was.

“Why are you doing this?”

Jack’s face remained unchanged, but his mind became shaken.

What was the reason he was so determined to catch the criminal to the point of putting his honor and pride on the line?

Looking at it in a broader sense, he was simply just the commander of the order of the knights of the Weiand family. Ver didn’t need to intervene in the matters of the family himself. Was it merely a sense of duty as someone who belonged to the order? If not…

“Is it because of Prillance?”

His gaze – which had stayed firm ever since he said he would become a knight of their family – seemed to indicate that even considering the wounds he had sustained while saving Prillance, seeing her suffering was more painful for him.

“…I apologize.”

In fact, Jack had long known. And as expected, the young knight did not know how to hide his heart. That was why he acknowledged these feelings rather than hiding them.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let my heart affect Lady Weiand or my duties toward the Weiand family.”

He was probably talking about Prillance’s engagement.

He didn’t hide his heart for her, but he didn’t expect anything out of it. Rather, he even knew the effects it could have.

Jack felt the sincerity in his wistful answer and found his attitude likable.