Chapter 36

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 36

Chapter Title: Past Entanglements

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“I didn't think they'd stay quiet. Shall we look into not just the Neuta ducal family, but the entire network of houses connected to them as well?”

“Hmm, rather than that—you know the families preparing for their debut in this autumn's social season, and the neutral figures I linked them to when I married Duke Neuta?”

“Yes.”

“Keep an eye on them. They’ll make a move soon.”

They wouldn’t want all-out war either, so the battlefield wouldn’t be the court—it would be high society.

If they planned to stab her in the back, they wouldn’t move their close allies or pawns so obviously.

They’d likely lure in the neutral houses that had ties to Agatha but thought themselves closer to their side now, setting a trap.

Iris Domunia’s eyes gleamed like a hawk’s.

“Hehe, that’s right up my alley. Leave it to me, Madam. I’ll bring you good news soon.”

“I’m counting on you.”

Agatha smiled and summoned her other retainers one by one.

To Lady Vanessa Beatrice, heiress to the marchioness, she tasked investigating the boutiques, perfumeries, and jewelers frequented by the Neuta family.

To Lady Kate Eblain, heiress to the duchess, she ordered tracing the Neuta family’s financial flows with their merchant guilds—then suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

Her gaze, which had been casually checking on her husband now and then, caught sight of a young lady with an unusually distinct air about her.

Pink hair. A satin dress blending light and deep pink tones that perfectly matched those locks—her back view.

The moment she realized that expectant, envious posture was directed at Enoch, an instinctual alarm rang in Agatha’s mind.

She reflexively checked Enoch’s face, but there was no change in his expression.

Of course not—she couldn’t read his shifts from this distance anyway.

“Madam Agatha?”

“……My apologies. Lady Kate, I’ll leave the financial tracing to you then.”

“Yes. Just leave it to me, Madam.”

Agatha sent Lady Kate Eblain, Duchess Heiress, away as if nothing were amiss, then turned to Iris Domunia, Marchioness.

Iris quickly bowed her head and whispered.

“She’s Lady Lucy Liras, daughter of Count Liras. I believe when she was young, she was betrothed to Marquis Aratus, but Count Liras unilaterally broke it off when the marquis’s deployment was decided.”

“And now she shows up before my husband.”

After all this time.

Agatha’s eyes darkened coldly as she idly fanned herself.

The young lady had climbed the stairs against protocol and was now speaking to Enoch, seated near the dais.

He neither offered her the seat beside him nor stood, but he didn’t ignore her either.

The moment the woman one step below opened her mouth, desperately suppressing her excitement...

Agatha’s fan snapped shut with a click.

“What if I went over there right now?”

“……There’d be some leeway, but rumors would fly.”

She could probably stomach that much.

After blinking calmly for a moment, Agatha rose from her seat.

At a glance, he seemed busy exchanging toasts with the emperor and key ministry nobles alike.

But Enoch discreetly paid attention to Agatha’s surroundings without showing it. It was only natural that her gaze, often drifting his way amid his vigilance, caught on him.

Violet eyes filled with meticulous concern and quiet pride.

Enoch lifted his glass to hide the faint curve of his lips.

‘She left without so much as a glance back.’

Just like she’d done several times since luncheon—when the emperor had grabbed him.

Agatha had nodded calmly, as if telling him to go and come back well.

As if she already knew his “brief errand” wouldn’t be brief.

Of course, it wasn’t unexpected, but it had left a strangely lingering sense of regret.

And now, after sending him off like that, she was subtly keeping tabs.

Enoch felt the slight twist in his gut from Duke Theodore Neuta’s appearance ease a bit.

It was then, as he tilted his glass and quietly scanned Asagrat Hall for any potential threats.

“……”

Enoch slowly set down his glass upon spotting very familiar pink hair.

Word had spread through the court that Count Liras—the man who’d nearly become his father-in-law ten years ago—was beside himself with anxiety, barely able to breathe.

The heir to a marquisate everyone thought doomed had returned a triumphant hero, complete with a parade. It was inevitable.

He was even swiftly restoring his house’s power and solidifying his position at court, so the count who’d unilaterally insulted him must feel like he’d been struck by lightning.

Even the emperor favored him now.

‘But sending his daughter as a negotiator?’

He knew the young Lady Lucy Liras back then had done nothing wrong, so he hadn’t spurned her—but she wasn’t someone to welcome either.

“Um, Marquis.”

Enoch looked up at Lady Liras wordlessly. The woman hastily lowered herself and spoke in a slightly trembling voice.

“Could you spare me a moment? I have something to say.”

“Speak.”

Those who knew of Enoch and Lucy Liras’s history reacted accordingly, while the ignorant watched with simple curiosity.

Crown Prince Antoni Roxiba’s gaze was particularly noteworthy.

Suddenly, Agatha crossed his mind.

His wife wouldn’t like seeing this.

Enoch naturally glanced toward where Agatha sat, and faint surprise flickered in his eyes.

His wife, visible through the layered drapes before, was gone.

“Um, first of all, though it’s belated—congratulations on your victory, Marquis. I didn’t dare approach you at the parade or victory banquet, but in my heart, I cheered for your feats as much as anyone else.”

Enoch let Lucy Liras’s words go in one ear and out the other as he quickly scanned the hall—then his eyes locked on one spot.

At the foot of the imperial stairs.

Dispersing the crowding nobles with a mere glance, Agatha was approaching with elegant poise.

No way.

Enoch’s gaze shifted forward. The woman had now fully settled one step below, cheeks flushed as she continued.

“……So Father asked me to inquire if you could spare a moment to let him apologize for his past rudeness. He says if you give him a chance, he’ll do anything you wish.”

Enoch’s expression grew subtly complex. Just as Lady Liras finished speaking, his wife arrived at his side, her eyes blooming with vivid light.

“Enoch.”

Agatha easily caught the faint bewilderment and puzzlement on Enoch’s face.

She could read his emotional shifts even without peering from up close?

Lady Liras, who’d only shown her back until now, finally turned around.

Pink eyes matching her hair. A face still touched with youthful innocence.

“Marquise Aratus?”

The woman, barely past adulthood, looked up at Agatha with wide eyes.

Agatha naturally took the seat beside Enoch.

“Enoch.”

“……What brings you here, Madam?”

“You said you’d be back soon, but there was no word. So I came myself.”

Agatha looked down at the young lady seated one step below.

“And who might this be? I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“Ah, my apologies.”

The endearing girl blushed as she introduced herself.

“I’m Lucy Liras, daughter of Count Liras, Marquise Aratus. I share an old connection with the marquis, so I came to exchange greetings.”

“I’m curious what kind of connection that might be.”

“Ah, well……”

As Lucy hesitated, Enoch answered.

“We were betrothed ten years ago. After my parents passed and I headed to war, Count Liras unilaterally annulled it.”

“Marquis……”

“It’s a connection long in the past. We’re nothing to each other now.”

Lady Liras’s trembling voice clashed with Enoch’s cold tone.

Enoch’s gaze was fixed on Count Liras, who lurked in a shadowed corner below the stairs, watching them.

The flustered count fidgeted before retreating deeper into the shadows.

Having insulted him with a one-sided breakup, now the man who’d returned as a triumph general...

In his anxiety, he’d sent his daughter to spy.

‘Only now do the rumors come to mind.’

She’d acted cold, but the mere fact she’d strode over here proved she wasn’t perfectly rational.

Of course, even if she’d recalled the rumors beforehand, she still would have come.

Click. Agatha’s eyes gleamed coldly as she snapped her fan shut.

“I see. Not a pleasant connection, then—why has Lady Liras come here?”

“Well……”

“Perhaps you think, like ten years ago, the marquis will graciously overlook your family’s rudeness? His wife thinks differently.”

“Marquise…!”

Since she’d stepped forward anyway, shouldn’t she return the insult Enoch had endured in the past?

Agatha slightly raised her voice, eyeing the pink-haired middle-aged man who’d caught her notice below the stairs earlier.

“Return and restrain yourself, Lady Liras. The head of your house stepping forward would be the proper course. Of course, whether there’s a next time is for the marquis to decide.”

“……I’m sorry.”

Lady Lucy Liras fled the scene. Agatha felt the concentrated gazes—known and unknown—and fanned herself leisurely.

She turned to the emperor on the high seat and smiled.

“I apologize for the disturbance, Your Majesty.”

“Disturbance? It’s the fault of the one who sent his child instead of handling it himself. Isn’t it?”

Laughter and flattery toward the emperor erupted here and there.

Having neatly resolved the matter, Agatha quietly caught her breath. Only then did her tense shoulders relax.