IPAMB 16

Chapter: 16

“…Scheming?”

I blinked at the duke sitting in the seat of honor.

It had been less than five minutes since I entered the reception room, guided by the secretary, and already he was talking about scheming.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t quite understand what you mean…”

I thought he was going to ask about the future, but was he just planning to interrogate me?

Whatever the case, the weight of the duke’s presence made me instinctively bow my head.

On the table, the cocoa I hadn’t even touched was steaming gently.

Then, suddenly:

“Drink it.”

Huh?

Startled by the abrupt command, I lifted my head and saw the duke pointing at the cocoa with a glance.

“Drink it.”

“Ah… yes!”

What was this? With his repeated insistence, I grabbed the teacup without understanding why.

“Ah, it’s hot!”

I nearly dropped it.

For a moment, the duke’s gaze sharpened.

I quickly moved my hand from the body of the cup to the handle. Luckily, that was fine.

The duke… I noticed, had shifted back to a calm expression.

Phew.

‘Anyway… he just wants me to drink it, right?’

The duke didn’t take his eyes off me, as if he intended to watch until I drank it all.

‘Could it be some kind of truth serum?’

To make me tell the truth?

No wonder it felt like an interrogation.

After some hesitation, I finally brought the teacup to my lips.

Unlike the hot cup, the cocoa was pleasantly warm.

‘It’s… delicious.’

Even thinking it might contain a truth serum, it tasted far too good to care.

It felt like my body was melting into relaxation.

Suddenly, something slid toward me—a plate with madeleines.

“Eat.”

The duke said firmly and then looked back at me.

‘Did he put truth serum in this too?’

Why would he split it up? Wouldn’t it be easier to just put it all in one place?

Though I had my doubts, I couldn’t go against the duke’s instructions.

And so, I had an unexpected tea time.

By the time I finished the plate and cup, the duke spoke again.

“The reason I asked if there was scheming is because of the temple. No temple would send a candidate for a saint to the Argent family without expecting something in return.”

Huh? I wasn’t the suspicious one?

I looked at the plate, now clean of crumbs, and realized something.

Come to think of it, even if I had taken some truth serum, I felt perfectly fine. Maybe because it was sweet, it even made my head spin a little.

Then why did he want me to drink it? I didn’t know the reason, but the duke continued.

“Especially if it was because the future posed a threat to the Argent family. Then it must definitely serve a purpose.”

Apparently, the duke was suspicious not of me, but of the temple.

‘But… was there bad blood between the Argent family and the temple?’

I wasn’t sure.

‘Cain didn’t react much when I said I was a candidate for a saint.’

Still, it would be problematic if the duke had a negative view of the temple.

What if he didn’t believe me? What if I got kicked out of the Argent residence for no reason?

I restrained a curious tilt of my head and opened my mouth to defend myself.

“I…”

At that moment, a knock sounded, followed by the secretary’s voice.

“Duke, Lord Cain has arrived.”

Cain? Here?

‘Why all of a sudden?’

It wasn’t someone who shouldn’t be here, but it was unexpected.

He hadn’t shown any intention of speaking to the duke until now, so why now?

“What is it about?”

As the door opened, Cain bowed.

“I apologize for the sudden visit. I came despite the rudeness because I wanted to hear about the future as well.”

What!?

I nearly jumped up and grabbed Cain’s arm, shaking him to see if he was serious.

‘Cain’s interested in what I have to say!’

I didn’t know why he suddenly became curious, but I was genuinely happy.

“……”

However, unlike me who wanted to just launch into a full speech, the duke silently stared at Cain.

His expression was emotionless, his gaze cold.

Someone seeing it might think he hated his son.

‘But what matters isn’t appearances, it’s the heart.’

Despite his expression, the Duke of Argent loved Cain. That much was certain from the story.

“…….”

“……?”

“Sit there.”

For some reason, the duke glanced at me, then spoke to Cain.

‘See? He still allowed it in the end.’

I breathed a sigh of relief and waited for Cain to take a seat.

But… the seat Cain was going to take was odd.

It was at the far end of the sofa, the one the duke had pointed to.

‘With such a wide sofa, why make him sit at the edge?’

It felt like the duke didn’t want him sitting close. Still, since he didn’t tell him to leave, it didn’t seem like dislike.

Cain, however, sat exactly where the duke had indicated, without complaint.

It felt natural, as if it had always been decided this way.

‘Is this just an Argent family rule?’

I tilted my head in confusion.

A little later, cocoa was also placed in front of Cain.

“……”

The reception room was filled with a suffocating silence.

‘They’re waiting for me to speak, right?’

The pressure hit me. It felt like I had to say something important.

“Before I talk about the future, I’ll continue what I was saying earlier.”

The Duke of Argent nodded. I turned fully to look at Cain, seated far from me, and he nodded as well.

“……”

This distance… it’s awkward.

I nearly lost my words at the enormous gap between them, but I focused.

“You asked if there was scheming. To be honest, there is, somewhat.”

At my words, the duke furrowed his brows.

I gulped and quickly explained.

“I wanted to ask for help catching a certain villainous organization, in exchange for delivering information about a future that could threaten the Argent family.”

Here, honesty was the right approach. Pretending otherwise wouldn’t make things less suspicious.

After all, I was planning to ask them to take down the villainous group.

“The temple sent you?”

“No. The temple doesn’t know I’ve seen the future. I escaped before telling them.”

“Escaped? If you’d told the temple, you wouldn’t need to come all the way here.”

“……The temple people wouldn’t listen to me. So I thought the enemy of my enemy is my ally, and came to the Argent family, the enemy of the villainous organization, for help. I want to stop them no matter what.”

The two of them were silent for a moment.

They were probably surprised—of course they wouldn’t expect I didn’t come on the temple’s orders.

“Why won’t they believe me? If a saint candidate saw the future, they should accept it.”

“That’s true, but no one likes me. Maybe it’s because of my background… I’m not a noble.”

“Because a common orphan without support became a saint candidate.”

The duke muttered, his voice even lower.

‘But I haven’t told them I’m an orphan yet.’

Still, I didn’t ask how he knew.

‘They must have investigated me already.’

The duke’s family would surely have looked into it; I hadn’t hidden that I was a saint candidate.

“Yes……”

Still, saying it aloud made me uneasy.

No matter how just or noble a family was, nobles were still nobles. They could dislike a common-born saint candidate.

I nervously lowered my gaze. The duke’s intense stare made it impossible to look ahead. He seemed… really angry.

Then:

“Understood.”

I jerked my head up at the short reply.

“So, what do you want the Argent family to do?”

“You’ll… help me?”

“Yes.”

I stared blankly at the duke, then remembered.

‘Just agreeing isn’t enough.’

The important thing was when. The duke was busy, so he probably wouldn’t act immediately.

I lowered my expectations and asked:

“It’s urgent… so I was hoping you could start tracking them right away.”

“I am busy, yes, but what you’ve done in this residence is also true. While it may not be top priority, we can start tracking immediately.”

Done…!?

I was shocked, eyes wide.

Of course, I hadn’t imagined it would be accepted so easily.

But I wasn’t the only one surprised.

“…!”

For some reason, Cain, who had been quietly listening, also had his eyes wide open.

…Why you?