Supporting Characters Also Need Some Love

CHAPTER 2: SPRING COMES TO EVERYONE (XVI)

Part 033

As Adrian sat with his chin resting on his right hand and tapped the desk with his left index finger while staring at the door where Damian and Homer had disappeared, Cale could not stand it and spat out.

“That’s right, I knew it would turn out like this from the time you applied for such a flirtatious relationship.”

“Noisy.”

“A courting request is in a place with a good atmosphere, right? Prepare a gift and confess your feelings! Isn’t that the only way for her to accept it?”

“You’re being noisy.”

Cale turned to the desk and stood facing Adrian. Then Adrian frowned and straightened his posture.

“Is it a problem that I’m noisy right now? This is happening because you always work and don’t go out on dates so you suffer, and even if we are talking about the lady, someone else will come into her eyes if you don’t act now.”

“I’ll do it right again.”

“When? You’ll miss the lady like this. Didn’t you see that cold-blooded Homer growling?”

The gap between Adrian’s eyebrows deepened. Whether Adrian frowned or not, Cale muttered with a serious face.

“My lady, you can’t fall for that guy…”

“You and Ethan are like that, are the titles you call the lady getting weirder?”

“No, if we don’t call our lady ‘our lady’. What do we call her?”

Adrian’s question seemed uncomfortable, but Cale answered sullenly. He looked at Adrian with a face the size of a room containing a disbelief he hadn’t seen before. Then he twitched his lips so that he couldn’t hear what he was muttering.

“Doesn’t ‘Duchess’ or ‘Madam’ suit her better?” said Adrian, leaning long against the back of his chair.

Cale, who was momentarily at a loss for words at Adrian’s words, put on a bewildered expression for a moment, then grinned.

“It’s perfect for her.”

Master and worker, who had become one, looked at each other and exchanged deep smiles for a while.

* * *

A week later, the Marquis of Talus’ trial was held. At the trial, in which Adrian participated as the Duke of Vigor, rather than as a commander, he strongly demanded that the Marquis be sentenced to prison, but in the end it was not carried out. As expected, King Ortega IV finalized the decision by handing over the Marquess to Alexander, the eldest son of the Marquis of Talus. However, most of the embezzlement of the former Marquis of Talus, which Damian had worked hard for all week, was acknowledged, and the refund was confirmed as 14 million gold.

After Talus had to arrange his property to raise his redemption money, rumors circulated that the former Marquis, who inherited only his name, was chased by his son and descended to the Marquisate. With the prospect of not being able to pay even a kind of aristocratic tax collected in the name of subsidies, rumors spread that the five marquis families might become four.

After the trial, the embezzlement case that shook the aristocratic family seemed to be coming to an end as the former marquis went out of his way. However, the members of ‘Moon’ and ‘King’s Eye’, who were investigating the former Marquis of Talus in pursuit of the whereabouts of the smuggled weapons, were looking for the former Marquis of Talus, who had disappeared after being teased by their superiors. While ‘Moon’ was tracing back to where the weapon was sold, ‘King’s Eye’, which had gone down to the Talus Manor to find the former Marquis, returned to Midok.

Homer organized the information the members knew, ordered a report to Adrian, and headed directly to Talus territory. It was two days before Damian’s military training period ended.

* * *

Faced with a conclusion she did not want to admit, Damian frowned and was reviewing the ledger of the Milton Merchant Chamber for the last time. After closing the last chapter with a deep sigh, Damian stood up holding the three ledgers. Realizing that he was coming towards her, Damian, who got up, sat down again on her couch facing Adrian.

Looking anxiously at Damian’s frowning face, Adrian asked.

“Is it as you thought?”

“Yes, double, no, triple ledger.”

“Did you check when the ledger was manipulated?”

“I think it’s from last winter. Before that, the difference between the amount of the transaction with the military was as much as the embezzlement money of the Marquis of Dallas, but since last winter, the entire fund flow is strange. A large amount came in under strange names. I’m not sure yet, but the actual transaction history must have been made in a different ledger.” 

“Are you guessing from the arms trade history?”

When Adrian opened his mouth heavily, Damian also responded in a subdued voice.

“I don’t know much about weapons, Adrian. It could all be my guess. But, it’s true that a rare amount of money has come and gone from the small and medium-sized upper classes. It’s from last winter.”

“The fact that the ledger was written in three folds…”

“That means there are at least two opponents we still don’t know.”

Damian listened to Adrian’s muttering.

“One must be in the capital city, and the other was also the Marquis of Talus? Then, is the Marquis of Talus not related to the bad guys who smuggled weapons?”

At Damian’s question, Adrian thought for a moment. The former Marquis who renounces the title of Marquis simply becomes a member of the noble family. This meant that a short-term detention investigation could be conducted under the authority of the commander. So, as soon as the trial was over, he tried to secure a new recruit, but after the trial, he disappeared. Even though they knew that the former Marquis was being investigated by the commanding department and the Royal Inspector Corps, they were quiet. Was the former Marquis of Talus had nothing to do with arms trafficking, or did he not even know about it? If that’s not the case, was he keeping his mouth shut?

“It’s hard to say for sure until I investigate the former Marquis.”

“I guess so.”

“You’ve worked hard so far. Now the military will take care of the rest, so don’t worry too much.”

“There’s nothing more I can do to help.”

As Damian regretted it, Adrian looked at her and smiled. She came as a probationary magistrate, and she worked harder than anyone else even though he dissuaded her. With her, he quickly completed what would have taken a long time. He was sorry that he would have to let her go, but he really enjoyed the last few days he spent with Damian. Two days later, he already regretted not being able to be with her in this space.

He had started to be greedy and there was no end to it. At first, he wanted to hear her laugh one more time. He made eye contact and smiled because he missed her smiling face, and he liked calling her name, so he kept calling her. He was delighted to have her little hand on top of his, so he waited for the opportunity to reach out.

As Adrian stared at Damian for a long time, she made puzzled eyes and tilted her head. Her round eyes were pretty, so Adrian smiled brightly. To his regret, the afternoon of the day when he was constantly spying on Damian, the Royal Inspection Corps came to report the delivery. It was said that the body of the former Marquis of Dollars was found in the Marquis Territory.

“Is there a possibility that it is not the body of the former Marquis of Talus?”

“The body type and the clothes matched. Since the members of the Marquis family confirmed his face, it is certain that he is the former Marquis of Talus.”

Damian, who had been listening to their story in place, suddenly stood up from his seat. She spoke with a stiff face and a trembling voice.

“Tell me again.”

Adrian and the inspector turned to her. As the inspector stood there, puzzled and silent, she spoke in a slightly louder, more determined voice this time.

“Say what you just said, repeat it.”

“The body of the former Marquis of Talus was found in the river”

“Not that, the last thing you said!”

Adrian stood up from his seat when Damian’s momentum was not serious. The inspector said it again even though he was openly disapproving of her.

“My family confirmed, so I’m pretty sure it’s the former Marquis of Talus.”

“One more time.”

The inspector looked back at Adrian puzzled, but he nodded. She said it over and over again.

“I’m sure.”

Damian came forward to the inspector, her face full of surprise. Her reaction was so serious that Adrian, who was worried about her, turned around from her desk and stood by Damian’s side. Unable to stand close to him, Damian, who stood a few steps away and stared at the inspector’s face, raised her arm and pointed at him with the tip of his index finger. Her fingertips were trembling. The frantic voice trembled at the end.

“Is it you?”

“Yes?”

“It’s you who gave me medicine.”

As soon as Damian finished speaking, Adrian blocked her way and glared at the inspector. Cale, who was standing by the window, put his hand on the handle of his sword and took a posture to unleash it at any time. At Adrian’s momentum, the inspector took a big step back and reflexively took a stance to counterattack her, but she soon softened her stance and shouted with his oppressed face.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!”

Stepping out from behind Adrian and standing in front of him, Damian spoke clearly in a cold, subdued voice.

“A few days after the New Year’s party, I’m sure you were the one who passed out with the medicine in the tea I was drinking with lady Eilene at the cafe ‘Chocolat’.”

After the inspector, whose expression collapsed for a moment, proved Damian’s words with that gesture, Adrian also stretched out his right hand toward Cale with a face full of excitement. Cale quickly recognized his master’s will and threw his scabbard. As soon as he received it in his hand, Adrian drew his sword and pointed the tip of the sword at the inspector’s neck. When Adrian came out like this, the inspectorate was sweating. He couldn’t help but panic.

“Duke Bigor, should you not do this? I belong to the Royal Inspection Corps.”

“Are the young lady’s words true?”

“I cannot divulge what happened while on official duty.”

“I have to hear it? It was official duty to knock out two young girls in broad daylight? What on earth do you do that you call it ‘official duty’? How scared I was!”

“All official affairs of the King’s Eye are confidential. I cannot tell you.”

When the inspector general responded boldly and confidently, Adrian brought the tip of his sword aimed close to his throat.

“What if I want to listen?”

Unable to do this or that, the inspector replied in a shrunken voice, weighed down by Adrian’s ferocious spirit, as if he were really going to get stabbed at this rate.

“Please make a formal request to the captain. Even if I die here, I will not be able to tell you.”

When the inspector general mentioned Homer, Damian let out a screaming exclamation. Why hadn’t she noticed until now? The voice of the man standing behind Ailene, she thought it was not unfamiliar, she thought she had heard it somewhere, but she never thought to associate it. It must have been Homer’s voice. As Damian lowered her head on her desk, Adrian, frustrated at not knowing the situation, asked even more viciously.

“Where is the leader? I need to meet him now.”

“The captain went down to the Talus estate. I don’t know when he will come back.”

She stared at the inspector, and then Adrian looked back at Damian. When the inspector general came out like this, he sweated and bit his tongue. He had completely forgotten about the young lady that fainted with the lady they were chasing since she was not their objective. Regarding the “Queen’s Star”, it was a secret among secrets. He couldn’t say anything recklessly, but Adrian’s momentum in front of him didn’t subside. At the end the inspector could only speak words like excuses.

“I didn’t do anything harmful to the young lady. I just had something to check with the ther lady. It’s true.”

Damian stood up and let out a sigh. She calmed down at the sight of Adrian’s hideous figure standing with a sword pointed at him. She seemed to have nothing to gain by wiping out the interest in front of him now. Besides, since they were the ones working with Adrian’s subordinates, she didn’t want things to go wrong because of her.

“When Homer returns, tell him he must see me.”

The inspector, who was sweating at Damian’s words, nodded several times. When he nodded his head to Adrian, who was looking at him with worried eyes, he retracted his sword while making a disapproving face.

“Send someone to call him back as soon as possible.”

“Yes, I will definitely do so.”

As the inspectors escaped the commandant’s office as if he was running away, they were left alone by Cale who had read Adrian’s mood. To Adrian, who asked about Damian’s condition, she explained what had happened that day, but neither of them could guess the full story of the strange incident.