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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: A Clever Misunderstanding
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Private Quarters
"Are you a fool? No, you *were* a fool. My apologies for asking something so obvious, when you are, in fact, the most foolish idiot in the world."
"Isn't that a bit harsh to say to your master who just snatched victory from the jaws of a life-or-death battle?"
"All I see is an idiot who picked an unnecessary fight and nearly got himself killed, so no, it is not harsh at all."
"Hmm, what a heartless personal maid."
"Better than a Young Master who seems hell-bent on dying."
In the Vlad family's infirmary.
Parsha, who had hoisted Dion over her shoulder and brought him here the moment the duel ended, spoke with a deadpan expression as she wrapped bandages around his body.
It was no exaggeration. Dion was a complete mess. Covered in blood and wounds from head to toe, it was harder to find a part of him that was unscathed.
As his personal maid, bound to him by a shared fate, and as his former nanny and teacher, it was only natural for Parsha to have a word or two.
But the boy on the receiving end of her nagging, far from being intimidated, simply grinned and replied.
"Well, it was worth the risk, wasn't it?"
"Is your life worth a mere one billion Crotal, Young Master?"
"I wouldn't call it 'mere.' We were desperate, without even ten million Crotal, let alone a billion."
"Had you managed the money you've borrowed and received until now with just a little more care, you would have had no trouble getting by."
"That couldn't be helped. If I didn't Awaken soon, I was as good as dead."
"..."
"Besides, you know as well as I do that a billion Crotal wasn't the only thing I gained from this duel, right, Parsha?"
The dark elf maid, unable to affirm or deny his words, fell silent, glaring intently at her master.
*Knock, knock.*
A light knock echoed.
"Who is it?"
"The Young Lady has arrived."
"Then why knock? Why not just come in like you usually do?"
"..."
"Well, let her in."
*Creak.*
A blonde-haired girl entered through the doors, which the servants swung wide open.
Elise flinched at the sight of Dion, who was completely bare from the waist up, but only for a moment.
From his shoulders to his sides, his neck, his ear, and so on—seeing the bandages wrapped all over the boy's small frame, she let out a light scoff.
"You're quite a pathetic sight."
"Would you mind calling them scars of glory?"
"To think that struggling so fiercely against a mere gatekeeper of my family and barely surviving is what you call glory... How pitiful."
Elise, clicking her tongue in genuine disapproval, gestured lightly. A maid behind her stepped forward, holding a box.
Dion had Parsha accept it for him. When the box was opened, he tilted his head at the sight of the red vial inside.
"A potion?"
"I can't let my fiancé leave my family's estate in such a state, can I?"
"Would it really matter? If I told everyone I came to borrow money from you again, got beaten up, and was thrown out, they'd all believe it."
"Think before you speak. I don't care if you're ridiculed, but what am I to do if I'm falsely accused of using violence against my own fiancé?"
"Well then, for the sake of your reputation, Elise, I'll drink it."
"..."
She had gone out of her way to provide an expensive potion, yet somehow it had turned into a situation where she was the one asking him to drink it.
Dion smirked at the sight of Elise's slightly furrowed brow, then uncapped the potion and downed it in one gulp.
*Crack, crunch.*
The effects were immediate.
Though he had received first aid with medicine and bandages, the numerous wounds that were still seeping blood began to heal at a rapid pace.
A short while later.
After removing the bandages and confirming that his body was perfectly healed without a single scar, Dion let out a brief exclamation of wonder.
"Works like a charm, as expected."
"Hmph, consider yourself lucky. If you weren't my fiancé, you would never have been able to afford the luxury of using a Blood Potion on a wound like this in your entire life."
"I know. It's undervalued because of a few major drawbacks, but there are few potions as exceptional as the Blood Potion."
"...Dion, do you have some sort of complaint against me?"
"Hey, of course not. I was thinking that getting engaged to you, my favorite cust— I mean, Elise, was one of the greatest fortunes of my life."
"Then just be purely grateful! Why must you point out its flaws after using a potion I gave you?"
"Because it's the truth?"
"Ha..."
Perhaps because she had no rebuttal.
Her eyebrows shot up as she glared at Dion, who only met her gaze with a broad grin. She then spoke curtly.
"After Awakening, you've become utterly brazen, haven't you?"
"Living for a while taught me that there's nothing to be gained from worrying about what others think."
"So you've decided not to care at all? You're as dim-witted as ever."
To think he, who used to avert his gaze at her slightest glare, now had the audacity to mention the Blood Potion's drawbacks and act so confident.
How could a person change so drastically?
As Elise shook her head, Dion asked with a constant grin.
"So, what now?"
"What do you mean?"
"The bet. I won, right?"
"To be precise, you didn't win, Dion. The duel was suspended because your opponent, Gerald, met with an 'accident.'"
"A win by default is still a win, isn't it?"
"Are you unaware that my position would become rather awkward if I acknowledge your victory when a vassal dueling under my command died?"
"No, it's the opposite."
"...What do you mean?"
"I mean that people will mock the fool who died dueling someone like me, who just Awakened. No one would bother holding you responsible."
Elise narrowed her eyes at Dion's unexpectedly sharp point.
Indeed, if it had been anyone else, it might be different. But since his opponent was Dion, most would simply consider Gerald an idiot.
Considering Dion had only just Awakened, it was almost a certainty.
Besides...
"More importantly, you were planning to get rid of that 'bat' anyway, weren't you? That's why you deliberately ordered him to turn me away at the gate."
"...How did you know that?"
"You were being too obvious from the start."
"..."
"Isn't it funny? The fact that you and that bat both turned me away at the gate, trying to break our engagement for completely opposite reasons."
Elise, who sought to dissolve her engagement with Dion—who had been nothing but a burden—and find a new fiancé to shore up her faltering position.
And Gerald's true master, who, conversely, intended to use the broken engagement with Dion as an opportunity to sever her connection to the Unlights and completely destroy her standing.
To think they acted in the exact same way despite their different motives. Blood is blood, after all.
Elise, who had been silent as she watched the grinning Dion, finally spoke after a long pause.
"When did it start?"
"My Awakening? Yesterday."
"That's not what I asked. I'm asking when you started this absurd lie."
"What lie?"
"Hmph, are you going to play innocent now?"
Scoffing as if it were truly detestable, she glared at the boy, who had tilted his head as if he didn't understand, and asked sharply.
"—Dion, just how long have you been playing the fool and deceiving everyone?"
***
She had felt a sense of unease from the beginning.
His mentioning their annulment to get a meeting, his proposing a bet to borrow another billion Crotal, and even his suggesting a duel as the method.
It was a side of him she couldn't have imagined seeing even a few months ago... no, even when she met him just last month.
Of course, it was possible for dormant talents to awaken with one's class. All Awakened Ones could become geniuses just by obtaining a class.
That's why it was common for formerly untalented mediocrities to gain confidence and become arrogant or triumphant after their Awakening.
But to suddenly be able to discern which master a gatekeeper from another family served, and even to read and exploit the hidden intentions behind their actions, just by Awakening?
That was, by any measure, an absurd notion.
A [Master Detective]... no, even a high-ranking information-type Awakened One like a [Reaper Detective] or a [Seer] would need years of training to possibly achieve such a feat.
And most of all, his eyes.
Unlike in the past when he always cowered before her, the boy's eyes now held a leisurely confidence, as if he no longer needed to care what anyone thought.
And his demeanor—far from being frightened by his injuries and bleeding, he had only laughed with utter delight and charged forward even more fiercely.
All of it made it impossible for Elise to accept that this boy was the same pathetic coward, the same incompetent fool who was her fiancé.
It would have felt more realistic to believe he had been replaced by someone else. Thus, there was only one rational conclusion that could explain the situation.
Dion had been playing the part of a clown all along.
"...Hey, Parsha. Am I being treated like some dark, scheming strategist who pretended to be an idiot while secretly planning to turn the tables?"
"...It would appear so."
"I'm not my second sister. I never thought I'd be treated like this."
"It does make more sense than the Young Master, who was less useful than an earthworm, changing overnight. The world's rationality is dead."
"Still feigning ignorance. How shameless of you."
Elise sneered at Dion, who was blinking as if he'd never heard anything so absurd in his life, and at Parsha, who was shaking her head back and forth.
No matter what the two said, to her, who had already figured everything out, it all looked like a shameless lie.
The fact that he had been so careful and thorough was all the more reason to believe he had managed to survive in the Unlight family until now.
Therefore, like a master detective who had uncovered the trick of a criminal who dreamt of the perfect crime, Elise opened her jade fan and spoke haughtily.
"Deceiving even me, your fiancée, is infuriating, but considering your circumstances, I will make a special exception and overlook it this one time."
*Click.*
As if understanding Elise's intention from her words, another maid stepped forward from behind.
When she opened the box she was holding, the brilliant light pouring from the vast amount of magic stones inside illuminated the room.
"The promised one billion Crotal."
"So you're admitting I won the bet?"
"The result is what matters."
"Hmm... You're smart but prone to strange misunderstandings, and you're a big spender. My favorite customer was my favorite customer from the very beginning, I see."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing, just thank you. I'll make good use of this money."
"There's no need to thank me. If your abilities don't meet my expectations, there will be no further favors."
Elise scoffed lightly.
Even if Dion was a beast hiding his claws, only time would tell if he would succeed like the Five Heroes or end up as just another common schemer.
So if he showed even the slightest hint of disappointment from now on, her relationship with him would end there.
With those cold words, she turned to leave, but then spoke as if something had just occurred to her.
"Oh, and from now on, use perfume in moderation."
"Huh?"
"Your sense in using a perfume that suits my taste is admirable, but such a strong scent will seem vulgar to others."
"...Ah, this smell? Got it. I'll try to tone it down as much as possible."
"...?"
The dark elf maid, knowing that the boy hadn't used any perfume today, let alone had the money for it, wore an expression that said, *what nonsense is this?*
Dion, on the other hand, nodded as if he understood, then spoke as if he had just remembered something.
"By the way, Elise, I have a favor to ask. For a while, could you make it seem like I'm staying here?"
"...What is this all of a sudden?"
"There's a place I need to go, and I don't want my brother and sisters to interfere."
"So you're asking me to prepare an empty room in my castle to act as a decoy? Dion, are you mistaking the Vlad estate for some kind of inn?"
"Hey, don't be so cold. It's common for a fiancé to stay at his fiancée's family home for a few days, isn't it?"
"Are you aware that those 'common' fiancés usually arrive bearing gifts every time they visit, rather than borrowing money?"
"Don't worry about that. I plan on giving you a gift, too."
"A gift? You? To me?"
"Yep."
Even he wasn't shameless enough to only take things for free.
Dion shrugged his shoulders and, seeing Elise's skeptical expression, asked with a broad grin.
"—Besides the gatekeeper, how about I give you a list of the other bats you don't know about?"
***
"I know it's impossible, but allow me to ask."
"What is it?"
"Did you, by any chance, gain a class like [Seer] or [Reaper Detective] upon Awakening?"
"I might get one someday, but unfortunately, I don't have such a high-ranking information-type class right now."
"Then did you plant an informant within the Vlad family without my knowledge?"
"If I had, you would have known, Parsha."
Nodding as if she had expected as much, Parsha asked in a low voice.
"...Then with what nerve did you say such a preposterous thing to Lady Elise?"
"Calling it preposterous is a bit much. I was just giving my favorite customer a little information as a gift."
"Do you truly consider that preposterous information a gift?"
"Of course."
Parsha sighed, looking at Dion's nonchalant reply.
To accuse the notoriously proud Vlad clan of harboring internal traitors was a truly reckless act, showing a blatant disregard for his own life.
It was only because the one doing it was Dion, who was known for his foolish antics, that Elise had merely scoffed and let it slide.
...At least, that's what Parsha had thought, which was why her eyebrows rose slightly at Dion's response.
"She may have scoffed on the outside, but I bet Elise was actually overjoyed to receive my gift."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Don't you get it, Parsha? The reason Elise didn't dispose of that gatekeeper immediately, even though she knew he was a traitor."
"...Do you mean Lady Elise's influence has fallen to the point where she can't even deal with a traitor without a proper justification?"
"Yep. And it also means she's wary of traitors she hasn't yet identified."
Elise Vlad.
A prodigy of the Vlad family who had been a frontrunner in the succession race since birth.
Normally, she would have been able to dispose of a gatekeeper or two on mere suspicion of betrayal, without any evidence or justification.
The fact that she had kept a known traitor around, and had been trying to secure a new engagement, was a sign of just how precarious her position had become.
Watching Dion speak with a wide grin, Parsha's eyes grew cold.
"I believe the influence of an incompetent fiancé has played a large part in Lady Elise's disadvantage in the succession race."
"That's why she should be grateful to me. Thanks to my Awakening, her shaky position should have stabilized a little."
"It would have been better for her to quickly annul her engagement with a fiancé who causes problems just to solve them, and find a more reliable partner instead."
"I don't think so."
Dion smirked.
In the first and second timelines, Elise had indeed annulled her engagement with Dion and sought a new fiancé to strengthen her political standing.
But in the end, all her engagements fell through, and having lost the shield of the Unlight family, she was quickly cornered.
This was because even if they weren't on the level of his own siblings, Elise's 'competitors' were not to be underestimated.
In fact, before Elise was even born, it was her older sister who had been considered the certain next head of the Vlad family.
And faced with the danger of being eliminated from the succession race due to her sister's schemes and unexpected betrayals, she took a gamble by enrolling in the Labyrinth Academy to turn the tables.
...unaware that the result would be the beginning of even more arduous and brutal days.
'I can't let my favorite customer fall that far.'
Dion smiled brightly as he recalled Elise's future.
Although she had broken their engagement twice, their relationship in the second timeline, if not the first, hadn't been particularly bad.
In fact, he had benefited from it more often than not.
That was why he had gone out of his way to tell Elise about the hidden traitors.
The stronger her power and influence became—she who was destined to be his easy mark for one reason or another—the more he could gain from her later on.
And above all...
'Now that I've given her a taste, it'll be easier from now on.'
Whether she dealt with the traitors or not.
Elise would soon find herself in another predicament, and when that time came, she would naturally remember Dion, who had helped her overcome her previous crisis.
She would be unable to refuse any deal Dion proposed, and would eventually even come to him asking for help herself.
Of course, by then, his gifts would be so expensive that even a billion Crotal would seem like a 'mere' sum.
In that sense, he had a very good customer for a fiancée, Dion thought with satisfaction.
The dark elf maid, who had been watching Dion with narrowed eyes, asked with a blank expression.
"So where are you off to now in such a hurry, without even resting properly?"
"There are plenty of places to go. For example, the things I asked you to look into, Parsha."
"...Are you referring to the things you asked about yesterday?"
"Yes, did you find anything?"
"To assign such a troublesome task and demand an answer in just one day. Does the Young Master lack the capacity to think, or are you the kind of trash who enjoys reprimanding subordinates after giving them impossible orders?"
"If I had to choose, I'd say the latter."
"..."
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not expecting an answer right away."
Dion smirked at Parsha, who was looking at him as if he were the scum of the earth.
He had often been nagged by The Voice to be more considerate of people's feelings, and he had no intention of tormenting his one and only vassal over something like this.
Therefore, Dion spoke with a hint of significance.
"Besides, there's somewhere else I want to visit first right now."
"Where might that be?"
"—Soma Castle."
At that moment, Parsha couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
It wasn't because she didn't know where that was. On the contrary, the problem was that she knew it all too well.
Because Soma Castle was one of the many territories ruled by the Unlight family, and...
"It's been a while since you've seen your family, Parsha. It would be a good chance to visit them, don't you think?"
...it was where her family home was located.