Value (4)
Delia, who had completely finished preparing for her debut, came to Rosea Salon the very next day.
The mansion inspection schedule had been wrapped up, and the salon membership procedures were also progressing to some extent.
Since it was an extremely rare case for Delia, who was on bad terms with countless noble young ladies, to personally reach out to Rosea Salon, interest in the man named Derrick, who had supposedly subdued and brought along this snarling lion, was soaring to the skies.
They said he had a silver tongue so dazzling that even famous merchants would envy it, or that with his outstanding looks he could steal any woman's heart, or that he was the hidden child of some noble hiding great wealth and honor.
Denise, however, found those rumors ridiculous.
Most of them were groundless, but in any case, the fact that the man called Derrick had completely persuaded Delia and brought her here was an impressive achievement in itself.
"Hello, Young Lady Denise. I've reviewed all the letters you sent last time."
However, even if she had been led into Rosea Salon by Derrick's persuasion, her personality had not been completely tamed.
In any case, although she had promised to maintain an amicable relationship with Rosea Salon, she had no intention of stopping her efforts to take Derrick away from the Beltus family.
As soon as Delia arrived at the meeting place, she drew everyone's attention at once and first went up to greet Young Lady Denise.
Since Denise naturally held no ill feelings toward Delia, she welcomed her with a heavenly beautiful smile.
"I can't tell you how happy I am that you submitted an application to join Rosea Salon. For us, it is a great honor that Young Lady Delia, like a beautiful jewel of the Duplein Ducal House, will grace this place."
"Well, thanks for that. Anyway, I listened well to the proposal you presented. How about we have a magic duel next week or so?"
There was absolutely no sense of noble etiquette in Delia's way of speaking.
As if she did not care about Denise's intention to start with some light conversation, Delia ignored the surrounding gazes and brought up the main point first.
It was a somewhat rude attitude, but from Denise's perspective, it was not all that bad. If the other side was that eager to take Derrick away, it was simply something to be grateful for.
"I see. I've often heard rumors that Young Lady Delia's magic skill is outstanding, so I've been wanting to see which of us is superior."
"If I win, the Beltus family must completely nullify the contract regarding Derrick."
"That would be for my father to decide, wouldn't it? You must have brought a suitable price for that."
At those words, Delia paused for a moment, then lifted her chin with her arms crossed and spoke.
"If I lose, I'll buy the painting 'Panorama of the Korhes Granary Region' in your mansion with the Duplein family's budget. I've already obtained the approval of my elder brother Valerian, the next Family Head."
At those words, Young Lady Denise's expression stiffened for an instant.
It was hard to immediately grasp the meaning of what Delia had just said. In fact, Aiselin and Ellente, who were sitting nearby, were tilting their heads in confusion.
"Panorama of the Korhes Granary Region" was the name of a large painting that was carefully stored in a warehouse prepared in the basement of Denise's mansion.
As the name suggested, it was a landscape painting depicting the Korhes granary region in the southwest of the continent, and it was famous as a masterpiece painted by the renowned female painter Countess Repondor.
How could saying she would "buy it" become such a shocking condition?
Before the people around could even feel a sense of discomfort at that fact, Denise stepped forward first and said with a smile.
"Certainly, just having our artwork bought at a good price is enough for its value to be recognized, so it's a good thing. If it's the Duplein Ducal House, and moreover Young Lady Delia, who is deeply versed in watercolor painting, buying it at a proper price, then even my reputation as the one who chose that painting will be acknowledged."
Denise quickly spun her head and came up with a plausible reason.
At those words, Delia snorted for a moment, but did not add anything more.
"Are you sure that's fine? Paintings that Countess Repondor painted during her lifetime often get priced at truly ridiculous amounts."
"I'll buy it at whatever price you call, so don't worry. Of course, that probably won't happen."
"I see. If it's to that extent, my father will also likely review it positively."
Denise replied with a gentle smile.
In any case, it was enough as long as they brought conditions under which the duel itself could be established. After all, she had no intention of winning the duel.
However, the condition Delia had put forth itself was shocking.
The other young ladies in the salon were tilting their heads, wondering if buying a single painting was really such a big deal, but Denise alone did not relax her guard.
Still with her arms crossed, Delia snorted and turned her body sharply.
"I'll send more details in another letter."
After saying what she had to say and leaving, several lower-rank nobles followed after Delia's side.
Even though she had been making such threats, there were still nobles who wanted to curry favor with her.
*
That day, as soon as Denise returned to the mansion after the meeting, Derrick was there to greet her.
Derrick had been reviewing today's training schedule while waiting for Denise to return, and the sight of him was so natural, as if he were family, that Denise ended up sighing.
She had to admit that Derrick's presence had gradually become as natural to her as air.
"Young Lady Denise. You worked hard today as well. After dinner, let's go a bit deeper into training on 2-star Search Magic..."
"Did you hear from the head butler?"
"..."
"Young Lady Delia of the Duplein family challenged me to a magic duel. If I lose, you'll be going over to the Duplein family."
Strictly speaking, it would just mean ending the contract with the Beltus family.
After that, whichever family he went to would be Derrick's decision, but looking at the situation, anyone could see that going to the Duplein family would be the most advantageous.
Since Delia was the type to be completely taken in by every word Derrick said, it was obvious that siding with Delia would be far more beneficial for Derrick's status.
However, as soon as Derrick heard Denise's words, he immediately went straight for the core of the matter.
"Wasn't this something Young Lady Denise designed?"
"...Ugh."
This man named Derrick was sharp in strange ways.
He acted like a simple man who only knew magic, but when he seriously started to think things through with his chin in his hand, he was not easy to deceive.
In fact, Derrick could easily infer that this situation had been orchestrated by Denise.
It was a conclusion he reached after considering her actions, her conduct in the salon, and even the fact that she did not show any particularly strong hostility toward Delia.
Denise half-opened her eyes and let out a deep sigh.
In any case, she had been thinking that it was time to sort her stance regarding Derrick.
"Fine. I'll honestly admit that you're a good magic master."
After changing into a pretty frilled dress, Denise sat down on the edge of the bed in one corner of the room. Her glossy silver-gray hair spread out like a blanket.
That white-haired mercenary, as always, did not even twitch his expression. When he expounded on discussions about magic, he would get excited and talk more, but even then he was a person who maintained his composure to the end.
"At first, it was really hard to adapt to your teaching method, and it didn't suit my way of just lazing around every day... but well, working that hard did have its own meaning. And mastery of magic was kind of fun too."
"...Hearing you say that makes it sound strange. I thought you would absolutely never admit that magic is fun, no matter what."
"I mean, it's not like I have no pride at all, right? I kept stubbornly shaking my head like that, and then one day suddenly admitting that it's actually kind of fun is a bit embarrassing, you know."
Denise is completely different inside and outside the mansion.
Outside the mansion, she may be the most beautiful young lady admired by all, but at least inside the mansion, she was a sloth that could not be more pathetic.
Perhaps because her pride was rather strong, she could not even accept Derrick's straightforward goodwill as it was.
"Anyway, I know you're a good magic master, but that just makes it even less beneficial for you to stay with the Beltus family.
Let alone staying on as my master, that's not a very good decision. While I'm giving you the chance, move over to the Duplein side."
"Young Lady Denise is the most beloved young lady of the Beltus family, famous even in Ebelstein. I understand that everyone wants this position."
"You know one thing but not the other. Yes, since things have turned out like this... and it seems the Duplein family also knows everything they need to know, it wouldn't be bad to tell you as well."
With her arms crossed, Denise quietly stared at Derrick.
Then she snorted and said,
"I'm not as valuable a person as you think."
And then, she got up and went down to the basement of the mansion together with Derrick.
*
"Do you know what Young Lady Delia put up as the condition for the magic duel? She said that if she loses, she'll buy the painting called 'Panorama of the Korhes Granary Region' that's stored in this mansion's basement."
"What does that mean?"
The stairs leading to the basement of Denise's mansion were dark and filled with damp air.
For the basement of a mansion that was otherwise entirely luxurious and antique, it felt rather eerie.
Derrick manifested a small Light Manifestation to illuminate the path ahead for Denise, and Denise honestly thanked him as she continued down into the basement.
"Is buying a painting really that big of a deal?"
"You probably don't understand yet. But once you know the whole story, you'll realize that Father has no choice but to accept this condition."
When they went all the way down the basement stairs together, a large wooden door soon appeared before them.
On the door, which was carved with countless antique engraved patterns, the words 'Art Storage' were engraved.
When Denise took out the seal of the Beltus family and drew in mana, the door reacted and slowly began to open.
She then made an indifferent expression and told Derrick to follow her inside.
As if the plaque at the entrance was not lying, the basement was filled with all kinds of artworks.
Famous paintings, large sculptures, small musical instruments, and even clay dolls were on display.
Seeing that each item even had a luxurious plaque, it was clear that each one was a precious object. However, it felt strange that such things were piled up in a mansion built for a young lady active in Ebelstein High Society.
"I didn't know there was an art storage like this underground."
"Normally, you wouldn't make an art storage like this in a mansion in Ebelstein where a noble young lady lives. And I'm not like Young Lady Delia, who's deeply versed in art, so it's strange, right?"
Denise let out a deep sigh and roughly looked around.
She had hardly brought even any servants. In this dark and damp underground storage, there was only that blunt white-haired mercenary.
As if it didn't matter, Denise drifted forward between the artworks and showed Derrick various precious items.
Derrick also wasn't particularly knowledgeable in the field of art, but even to a layman, there were many items that looked extremely valuable.
Going deeper and deeper inside like that, they soon came upon a display case covered with a huge curtain.
There was a simple plaque explaining the artwork attached there.
[ Panorama of the Korhes Granary Region - Logdel Agnes Repondor ]
"Is this it? The painting she said she'd buy as the price if she loses the duel."
"Want to take a look?"
Denise pulled away the draped curtain.
She was wondering just what kind of painting it was to be put up as such an important wager.
-However, the canvas revealed when the curtain was removed was a complete blank.
"..."
"So? Do you understand the artistic perspective that Countess Repondor had during her lifetime?"
"I've often seen artistic expressions that make use of blank space through Young Lady Delia's works, but... a painting that is nothing but blank space itself is hard to judge. Honestly, to my eyes, it just looks like blank paper."
"Ahaha... That can't be helped. The painting called Panorama of the Korhes Granary Region doesn't actually exist."
When Derrick quietly looked at Denise, Denise swept up her neatly arranged hair and tied it up, then sat down roughly on top of the dusty display stand.
Seeing her not even care about dust getting on her luxurious dress made Derrick feel a sense of discomfort.
Denise was about to tell him something.
"It's a painting that exists only on the books. Countess Repondor was prolific, but she never painted anything like that."
"Officially, it's recorded that I bought it using the family's funds. The amount is considerable, but anyway, buying expensive art to decorate a noble young lady's mansion isn't all that unusual. You can also use a nice-sounding excuse like it being an investment to improve my artistic knowledge and insight."
At that point, Derrick did not ask anything further.
He could tell that what would come next was not something to be told to a tutor from a commoner background.
Derrick held his breath for a moment and recalled the overall view of Denise's mansion.
The scale was impressive, but compared to other noble young ladies' mansions, there were fewer artworks and less extravagance.
He had thought it was a reflection of Denise's own temperament, but that was not the only reason.
"Did you divert taxes at the family level?"
"If you want to do big things, you need independent funds and forces that don't catch the Empire's eye. To do that, you sometimes need to calculate the taxes you pay to the Imperial Palace a bit lower."
"Is that Young Lady Denise's opinion, or Duke Beltus's?"
"Does that matter? Father and I are one family."
Denise was laughing in a hollow way.
In short, this mansion in Ebelstein where Denise resided was also being used as a kind of money-laundering site for the Beltus family to siphon off taxes.
Of course, there was no way that Denise, the mistress of the mansion, didn't know that fact. But that didn't mean she could refuse to cooperate.
From time to time, at the Imperial level, they would probably rummage through the ledgers as part of audits or dispatch people to inspect the territory.
However, they wouldn't usually go as far as to search the underground warehouse of a mansion prepared for a daughter's High Society studies.
This basement of the mansion in far-off Ebelstein was precisely a blind spot of such Imperial audits.
That wide canvas claimed to be an artwork, but nothing was drawn on it.
Perhaps that empty scenery felt rather ridiculous, because Denise made a smile that didn't suit her.
"It seems Young Lady Delia noticed something like this. She's someone who's very interested in art history and the works of famous female painters."
"...Is it really okay to tell me something like this?"
"Young Lady Delia doesn't hide anything from you anyway, does she? If someone from the Duplein family already knows this much, there's no point in keeping it secret now. All that's left is compromise."
This dark art storage was probably one of Denise's biggest secrets.
Of course, using tricks like this to lower the reported taxes and form independent funds is something influential frontier nobles do whenever they're bored. The Empire is probably troubled by it as well.
It's just a matter of how skillfully it's hidden. You couldn't say that the Duplein or Belmiard families don't do any such shady things at all. The Empire just turns a blind eye.
However, whether it comes to light or not, and whether a noble young lady is directly involved in such misconduct, are completely different matters.
"...She said she would buy this painting, didn't she."
How could Delia buy a painting that doesn't even exist? But thinking about it carefully, it wasn't impossible.
In the end, it was a matter between families. Buying it on the books wasn't that difficult.
It was just a matter of dipping a quill in ink and writing a few lines in the ledger.
Only now did Derrick seem to see the true intention behind Delia's superficial words about buying this painting.
It meant that the Duplein family would take on the accounting loophole formed around this non-existent painting. And on top of that, they would even hand over immediately usable cash, so it was a very unprecedented condition.
For a family of the Duplein family's scale, hiding a single such loophole is not that difficult. The wider and denser the forest, the more places there are to hide treasures.
That was usually how dealings between noble families worked.
They often ended up as matters of how to hide and pass on misconduct that the Empire was turning a blind eye to.
Delia knew that well, and she had seen through the fact that Young Lady Denise also could not be free from such problems.
"Young Lady Delia has a good eye. We shouldn't underestimate her. I didn't expect her to openly stab at such a sore spot."
She is young, inexperienced, and overbearing.
But the glimpses she sometimes shows of her perspective as a noble and her bearing as a ruler make it impossible to guess what kind of person Delia will grow into as she ages.
Right now, in this Ebelstein, the only person who could hold those reins was Derrick.
"The people who represent the names of the three great noble families in Ebelstein High Society are all like that. I've tried teaching them in many ways, but not a single one was easy to deal with."
"You're right, Derrick. Young Lady Aiselin and Young Lady Ellente too, they're all people who know how to properly wield the power they hold. They're not swayed by power, they naturally embody the way to grasp power itself."
The influential young ladies of Rosea Salon were generally receiving abundant love from their Family Heads and were being entrusted with full authority over their mansions, gradually taking on the appearance of influential figures.
In just a few years, each one of them would likely be making a name for herself.
However, Denise alone let out a hollow laugh and lowered her gaze.
Seeing that appearance, Derrick felt as if all the sides of Denise he had seen so far were coming together into one.
She was a girl whose goal in life was to lack motivation in everything, be stingy with achievement, and just guard the mansion, read some novels, and waste time maintaining a lifeless existence.
He recalled the words Denise had said to him when she was drained of energy in Laspa Great Cave. The reason she lost interest in magic was because she realized that no matter how hard she tried, her achievements would only ever be a part of the enormous Beltus family.
"I'm just like a chess piece."
Denise said as if spitting it out.
She had received the full support of her family like Young Lady Aiselin and Young Lady Ellente, but the very motive behind that support was different.
There wasn't even a grain of love for a daughter, or affection as family.
In the cold eyes of Duke Beltus, who looks down on everything in the family, there is no family love.
She is merely one of the many components that make up the great Beltus family.
In fact, that was quite a common type among high-ranking nobles.
"Now you understand a bit, right? I'm being revered at Rosea Salon, and the Beltus family treats me like gold and jade, but it's all just out of necessity. In the end, if needed, they'll either make me take responsibility for the tax embezzlement and be punished, or sell me off in a political marriage, or something like that. They'll use me in the most efficient way possible. Honestly, that's only natural."
"..."
"It's just that the other young ladies of Rosea Salon are too unusual. They have strong convictions, they grasp their family's atmosphere, and they know how to make such grand decisions themselves... If you're going to invest, wouldn't it be right to invest in that side?"
She thought she was just wagging her tongue to send Derrick away, but more sincerity than expected was mixed into those words.
Although she always groaned and complained whenever she trained with Derrick, in one corner of her heart she had already acknowledged him.
Derrick's eyes narrowed. He quietly looked down at her sitting there with her lush silver-gray hair spread out over the display stand, looking dejected.
She, sitting there with her head bowed in silence, already had her wings broken.
Countless experiences from her childhood must have made her accept the current reality. What followed after that was, in the end, nothing but chronic lethargy.
But even so, she can't throw everything away.
In this cold Noble Society, those with no value of use are eliminated. So she has no choice but to become that strange kind of person who fulfills at least the minimum duty while maintaining a line of moderate lack of motivation.
She is a bird with a broken leg.
Even if she wants to come down to the ground and walk, she has to keep flying, even with her broken wings.
The end of that endless flight is probably not going to be good. She herself already senses it to some extent.
That is why Denise is telling Derrick. Go to the Duplein family.
Whether it's Aiselin or Delia, they will become the central figures of their families and grasp power far more adeptly than Denise. They are fundamentally different in terms of future prospects.
Moreover, those two fully trusted Derrick. Where could you find better conditions than that? Being next to power is always the wisest way to conduct oneself.
It would not have been easy for a proud noble young lady to say such things openly.
Even so, in Denise's eyes, someone like Derrick was meant to play in such wide waters.
At first, the focus had been on reclaiming her peaceful daily life, but after facing Young Lady Delia, she had gradually come to think like this.
In the end, Denise herself was nothing more than a horse driven by the Beltus family.
"So? You can't refute that, right?"
"Certainly, there is no room to refute what Young Lady Denise says."
"Good. Then when the situation is settled, contact the Duplein side."
When Denise let out a hollow laugh, Derrick finally replied, so simply that it made her long-winded explanation seem meaningless.
"I don't want to."
"..?"
At that utterly clear answer, Denise had to tilt her head for a moment.
When she became certain that she hadn't misheard, Denise opened her eyes wide and quietly stared at Derrick.
"I appreciate the consideration, but isn't it okay for me to decide my own place to stay?"
Denise ended up making a dumbfounded expression.
For anyone to claim to be Denise's master was, no matter how you looked at it, a choice that brought only losses.
At least, that's how it looked to Denise.
However, Derrick quietly moved and sat down on the display stand next to Denise.
She couldn't help but question that action.
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