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Chapter 28
“A man named Oscar Spina visited Madam, Your Highness.”
Joseph narrowed his neat forehead at Dante’s words.
“Do you mean Cardinale’s watchdog?”
“…Yes. I heard that’s his nickname.”
Oscar Spina, a man who accumulated wealth and power by licking the Count’s feet and doing his dirty work.
‘Rita was naive and didn’t know how the world works.’
Joseph seemed to have a wrong idea about Rita.
Oscar was such a bad guy for her to befriend. Not to mention, his strange gaze toward her.
Oscar’s gaze was too persistent to dismiss as simply looking at people who belong to the same family.
“I get it for now. I will directly ask my wife about his visit.”
“But will Madam be honest with you?”
Joseph nodded without any hesitation at Dante’s question.
“Is there anything to hide?”
Dante tried to hide his hesitancy with an awkward smile. His Master seemed to believe that Rita wouldn’t hide anything.
However, the young assistant, Manuel, suddenly chipped in.
“Why are you so sure that she has nothing to hide?”
“What?”
“Who knows if she’s having a secret love affair with that guy, right? Madam is young and beautiful, she can do as much as she-”
Thud!
Manuel, who was busy running his mouth, stumbled when Dante hit the back of his head strongly.
“Come to your senses already, Manuel!”
Before Manuel could even rebel, Dante quickly dragged his nephew out of the room.
“Aargh! It hurts, Sir Dante!”
“Didn’t I tell you not to talk recklessly about Madam?!”
“Sir Dante! I was whipped by Madam! Look at my calf! Didn’t you see the wound?!”
“It’s because you deserved to be whipped! You were going to take her kindness for granted if you weren’t punished heavily!”
Wrinkles creased Dante’s forehead as he looked down at his rebellious nephew who listened to no one.
‘How could you tell residents about the Grand Duchy internal affairs?’
Rita was being very forgiving by letting him off the hook after giving him a few whips.
‘Madam is very generous toward you.’
The fact that Manuel was Dante’s nephew, and a child who he cherished like his own son, may have influenced her judgement.
‘As I thought, she’s different from what I expected her to be.’
Dante clicked his tongue as he glanced down at his nephew, Manuel, who kept letting him down recently.
“You stupid punk….”
“Huh! Why are you cursing me!”
“You need to get hit more!”
Is it right to send Oscar to Notte alone?
Oscar told me with so much confidence to trust him and left the Grand Duke Castle, but I could hardly trust him.
‘What if he steals the Holy Grail?’
Oscar wasn’t someone who knew the true value of a Holy Grail like the Goddess’s Crown, but he was someone who did miscellaneous work on a daily basis, so he might have known about it.
In a religious empire like Las Vecchia, Holy grails weren’t extremely rare to the point you might see it at least once while living there.
Each temple had its own Holy Grail to keep, and not only did the Emperor have one, but even a religious nobleman used them as an accessory on their cravat.
‘But the Goddess’ Crown is different from other cheap Holy Grails.”
The Goddess’ Crown wasn’t just an object that had holy power, it also conveyed God’s voice.
George interpreted the oracle he heard from that Holy Grail as he pleased, and announced it to people for his own benefit.
‘The oracle that Yvonne will become the Northern half-blooded king also came from the Goddess’ Crown, not the Holy Grail of the Great Temple.’
If I could discover how to destroy that object, I could protect Yvonne from being tied to such an oracle.
Unfortunately, Holy Grails couldn’t be destroyed by any force.
The reason why Odobelli of the Mado Empire lost the war to Las Vecchia was because of the indestructible Holy Grail.
Mana stones and artifacts could be destroyed with Holy Power, but they couldn’t even make a scratch in the Holy Grail that was used as a weapon.
“You’re not going to tattle on my father, right?”
He wasn’t someone who pledged loyalty to one person at all, but you never know.
“What are you mumbling about by yourself?”
As I was restlessly biting my nails, someone came up to me from behind and placed his hand on my shoulder.
“Your Highness.”
Surprised, I hurriedly turned my back to see him. As if trying to comfort me, he briefly held my hand before letting go.
“Your complexion doesn’t look good.”
“I’m fine, so you don’t have to worry.”
I hastily turned my head to avoid Joseph’s gaze.
“I’ve received a report that a man named Oscar Spina visited the castle.”
The fact that he heard about Oscar’s visit made me a little surprised.
‘Is Dante keeping tabs on me?’
Well, no matter how much effort I put in for Katan, as a butler of Katan’s household, I couldn’t blame him if he was suspicious of a Madam who was born in Cardinale.
“I had a favor to ask him. Oscar often ran errands for me, you see.”
“If it was a simple errand, Dante or Manuel could have taken care of it, no?”
Joseph’s face became stiff as if he was displeased by the fact Katan was visited by Cardinale’s top dog.
“I didn’t want to trouble your butler with my personal matters.”
I didn’t want to offend him, so I hastily added.
“As you can see, Dante is busy.”
It wasn’t an excuse, but rather a fact.
Notte’s auction house, also known as the night market, was only held in the underworld and attracted people as dangerous as the various objects being auctioned there.
It was impossible to send Katan’s old butler to such a place where sometimes fatal accidents could occur.
“….But he’s also your butler, Wife.”
Joseph, who had been silent for a while, raised my chin.
“I think you keep forgetting that fact.”
“…..”
“Aren’t you my wife?”
Why do his words which gently remind me that we were married touch me this deeply?
I nodded shallowly, briefly touching my hot ear in embarrassment.
“Thank you for saying that. But I really think that Dante has many things to do.”
“It’s not entirely true.”
I smiled at Joseph’s stuttering words. I’m sure Dante would be sad if he heard it.
It hasn’t been long since I came to Katan, so if I did my job very smoothly as soon as I arrived, I’d garner more suspicion from people.
So I intentionally handed over some of the tasks I had to deal with to Dante.
“It seems that Your Highness is not quite aware of how busy Dante is.”
“That’s not true. He’s free enough, so make sure to leave your work to Dante next time.”
“Ahem, ahem.”
At that time, I heard an awkward cough from somewhere, and I could see the gray-haired butler shaking his head firmly just behind Joseph when I tilted my head.
Joseph turned his back to me. I didn’t know what kind of expression Joseph made, but Dante, who saw his face, opened his mouth heavily.
“….Yes, Madam. I’m very free, so you can send me anytime.”
“I’ll make sure to do that next time. I left my work to Oscar, but I was uneasy.”
Dante, who was loyal to Joseph, may be more reliable than Oscar. After contemplating for a while, I grabbed Joseph’s sleeve.
“I, I need to go to Notte.”
“…With Oscar Spina?”
“Yes. He looks like a ruffian, but he’s the head of the black thorns, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
I said this to reassure Joseph, who seemed to think that I was so fragile that I’d fly away or break my bones just by the wind blowing, but he frowned.
“He threatened you, Wife.”
I tilted my head as I recalled his first meeting with Oscar.
“Umm, well, he’s a little vulgar, but he’s not such a bad person. You don’t have to worry.”
“…..”
“I’m telling the truth.”
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Oscar was someone who did anything for money and his reputation was as an assassin, but he wasn’t such a lowly man who would threaten a weak woman.
However, Joseph, who would normally be persuaded by my words, only remained silent.
“Your Highness?”
“…Secret affair.”
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