TPOTLPIM Chapter 37

One late autumn afternoon. Count DeNeuve's study was thick with tobacco smoke. In the hazy white smoke, the Count nervously gnawed and chewed his pipe.

["The Serin family's secret that's not in the blueprints is right here."]

Cecilia, pointing to her temple and shouting those words - that small woman's declaration had been stuck in the Count's mind, never leaving him alone.

As if to prove her words, some of the clients who had received weapon shipments began expressing complaints about defects.

The Count muttered, as if trying to shake off the anxiety in his head.

"No. That level of defective products is inevitable. It was the same when we supplied Count Otmin Serin's weapons. Perfect weapon production was difficult from the start."

Originally, complaints coming in about weapon defects were something that happened from time to time. But the single phrase Cecilia had planted in him kept foretelling unhappy days ahead without end.

Would it be alright to keep producing weapons this way? What if the few defect cases now swelled like a snowball, and he'd end up with his back bent from damage compensation alone?

"I should have captured that woman from the beginning..."

He wanted to kidnap Cecilia immediately, lock her up, and force her to reveal the weapon-making secrets. But now that she had become a Marquis's wife, he couldn't act recklessly.

The Count clutched his head and blew out a lungful of tobacco smoke.

He didn't want to acknowledge it, but regret came flooding in. If he had known that secrets not in the blueprints existed, he would have pretended to help Cecilia when she was cornered by the explosion incident from the beginning and slowly extracted the secrets. But having already revealed his true colors completely, it was useless to regret now.

The Count looked down at the garden visible beyond the window. At a table placed in the garden, Cecilia, Rosein, and Dmitri were playing a word puzzle game together.

These days, Cecilia visited the DeNeuve family strangely often. As if she was waiting for Count DeNeuve.

Meanwhile, Rosein sitting at the garden table stole a glance at Dmitri seated beside her.

Lately, there was almost no time spent alone with Dmitri. Ever since Teros went on campaign, Dmitri had been trying to wedge Cecilia between Rosein and himself at every tiresome turn.

Today as well, at Dmitri's entreaty to invite the lonely Cecilia to the DeNeuve estate, the three of them were putting their heads together playing a tedious word puzzle game.

Cecilia, who Rosein thought would surely refuse, kept accepting invitation after invitation that Rosein extended, turning her insides completely upside down.

"Haha, ladies. I've won again!"

"That's impossible! Lord Dmitri, from now on, diplomatic terms are forbidden words."

"Very well. But in return, Miss Cecilia, strange metal and chemical compound names should also be forbidden words."

The words the two created included all sorts of rare terms, so they had placed a thick dictionary on the table to look things up while playing.

Whether this was play or study was unclear. Rosein's facial muscles ached from pretending to enjoy the uninteresting game.

Then Count DeNeuve appeared in the garden, wearing a thick wool coat.

"Oh my, isn't it cold? Rosein, how about escorting our guests to the drawing room."

The Count's gaze turned toward Cecilia.

"It's good to see you frequently, Marchioness. Please continue to give guidance to my daughter through your good friendship going forward."

Count DeNeuve's wrinkled face put on quite a gentle smile. There was the reason that he had to imitate a good person in front of Dmitri, who would soon become his son-in-law, but without knowing it himself, he was reading Cecilia's expressions.

Cecilia spoke in a clear voice.

"Count, you look worse than when I last saw you. Is there something troubling you?"

"Troubling me? There's nothing like that."

"If you have any worries, please tell me about them. Who knows? I might be able to help solve them."

Though it was a kind offer, Count DeNeuve clearly read the mockery that crossed Cecilia's face. Was she acting arrogantly because she had something to rely on? The Count struggled to hide his wounded pride and crumpling expression.

"Then please rest comfortably. I have business to attend to, so I'll take my leave."

Even after the Count hurriedly left, the three remained in the garden, spending time playing more word puzzle games.

Only when the short day declined and sunset draped across the sky did Cecilia rise from her seat.

"Rose, I should be going now. I should stop interfering with you two's date."

Then Dmitri jumped up and grabbed Cecilia.

"Cecilia, stay and have dinner with us. It's better than eating alone at the Serin estate, isn't it? Right, Rosein?"

Dmitri looked at Rosein as if seeking agreement, but Rosein couldn't readily respond. She had endured much all this time. She couldn't understand him trying to keep wedging Cecilia into their time together as two. Her fingertips trembled violently as she held back the hurt feelings surging up, but she forcibly put on an affectionate way of speaking.

"Dmitri, Cecily might want to spend time by herself."

At those words, Dmitri's eyes turned toward Cecilia as if asking if that was really true.

"Is that so? Then it would be difficult to detain you further. Let's meet again next time, Cecilia."

Watching her fiancé see Cecilia off with a regretful expression and drooped shoulders, anger boiled up in Rosein. She couldn't stand it anymore. Today she had to speak up.

When the Serin family's carriage departed, Rosein grabbed Dmitri's collar and said,

"Dmitri, do you prefer spending time with Cecily and the three of us more than spending time alone with me?"

"What are you suddenly talking about, darling? Time spent together, time spent as three - it's all enjoyable. Don't you think so?"

When Dmitri gently pulled Rosein's waist into an embrace, Rosein primly avoided his touch and turned her body away. She spoke with her back turned to Dmitri.

"I like Cecily, but I prefer the time we spend together, just the two of us."

Was it her imagination that she heard a snickering laugh from behind? Rosein turned around with a strange feeling and could tell that what she had just heard was not her imagination.

Dmitri was laughing. What was seated on his delicate face was not his usual gentle smile, but clear mockery.

"Darling, you've finally become half honest?"

At the strangely changed atmosphere, Rosein felt unsettled and almost stepped backward.

Dmitri walked toward Rosein, closing the distance between them, and gently stroked her red hair.

"Since you've become honest, why don't you go further? It would be perfect if you spoke truthfully about your feelings toward Cecily too."

Rosein could only blink, unable to grasp the situation as if she had been hit in the head.

"It would be fine to maintain that attitude as well. Don't try to oppose Miss Cecilia. Don't try to subtly torment her like you did in the powder room either. Even your father has judged the situation and changed his attitude now. Can't you see it?"

Tears welled up in Rosein's eyes that had been blinking ceaselessly, not understanding, and finally began flowing down her cheeks. Dmitri knew everything. From what she had done in the powder room at the eve ball to all of it. The moment she realized this fact, Rosein felt stripped naked and her spine went cold. She felt ashamed and loathsome of herself for having pretended to be the most affectionate woman in the world in front of him all this time.

"You knew what kind of thoughts I was having all along?"

Dmitri gently cupped Rosein's cheek with his warm hand and wiped away her tears.

"Darling, don't be ashamed of your wickedness. I like that about you. It's cold, so let's go inside quickly."

He took off his coat and draped it over Rosein's shoulders, then entered the mansion with his arm around her shoulders. The maids who saw the two in the mansion corridor looked enviously at how the handsome nobleman cherished his fiancée so much.

Sitting across from each other with the drawing room table between them, the two warmed themselves drinking tea the maid had brought.

Rosein gazed at Dmitri as he drank his tea. His warm-toned hair and slightly upturned lips that seemed to be smiling - he looked exactly like the lover she had always seen, yet seemed like a completely different person.

The words pouring from his mouth were even more unfamiliar.

"Since you've become honest, I'll be a little honest too. The DeNeuve family can't beat the Serin family anyway. Rather than confronting and being unable to win, wouldn't it be better to aim for a cooperative relationship? I'm doing what you can't do in your place."

"You're building friendship with Cecilia to maintain a cooperative relationship with the Serin family?"

"That's right. Since you and the Count only think about making enemies with the Serin family, I had to step forward myself. I told you before to tell Count DeNeuve not to be too greedy for the Serin family's things. You didn't convey that message, did you?"

Rosein bit her lip hard.

"Cooperating with the Serin family means... returning to the past. Living in constant fear not knowing when transactions might be severed, becoming slaves to the Serin family."

"Slaves? Count Serin would have thought of us as partners. Just like Miss Cecilia thought of you as a friend."

Though Dmitri spoke casually with his smooth lips curved in a smile, Rosein hunched her shoulders, feeling like a sharp blade was tearing deep into her chest.

"I'm not saying to maintain a cooperative relationship forever. We have to watch for the right moment. Look at it now. Without independent technology, trying to steal isn't going as intended. Besides, now that Miss Cecilia has married Teros, the Serin family will rise again. What are you going to do when that time comes?"

"What about you? Teros can support the Serin family, but you don't have that power? You're the heir to a ducal family!"

Rosein's sky-blue eyes looked at Dmitri filled with resentment. As if it was an unexpected reaction, Dmitri, who had been leisurely drinking tea, set down the teacup he was drinking from. His face drained of laughter looked colder than an ice sheet, but strangely, curiosity and pleasure flickered in his brown eyes.

"It's good to see so many honest sides today. I keep liking you more and more, but what should I do about you becoming disappointed in me? If you met me with those kinds of thoughts, you picked the wrong person."

Under the shock rushing in all at once, Rosein found it hard even to sit in her seat. She felt stripped naked knowing that Dmitri had seen through all her actions while pretending not to know, and she was also greatly shocked that he was a completely different person from what she had known.

She briefly bent her waist to steady her breathing, then straightened her posture as if squeezing out her final strength. Then she asked about something she had never once asked about, never even doubted.

"Do you love me?"

Then the fact she had believed like scripture all this time returned as an answer. In a slightly different form from what she had thought.

"Of course, I love you. Your joy is my joy. Even your sadness is my joy."

Meanwhile, Count DeNeuve who had left the estate hurriedly boarded a carriage and moved. While Cecilia was leisurely playing word games at the DeNeuve estate, he had business to hurry with.

The DeNeuve family's carriage headed toward the Serin estate.

Count DeNeuve had known Count Serin for years longer than Rosein's age. As friends and business partners coming and going to each other's houses, he knew every corner of the Serin estate well. The Serin estate, rare among the capital's nobility, owned vast land including forests behind the mansion. It was a small village where weapon manufacturing facilities and lodgings for the workers who worked there were located.

Just before entering the Serin estate's land, Count DeNeuve stopped the carriage and sent a servant somewhere.

The youthful servant who appeared to be a young boy ran to where the Count had instructed - in front of a building that looked like a workshop.

The servant carefully entered the building. Inside, the building was full of sultry heat, and large machines that appeared to produce weapons were running with loud roars. At the same time, people who appeared to be workers were busily hammering iron chunks.

"Hey, kid! What brings you here?"

A man with a sturdy build and bushy beard approached and patted the boy's back.

"Yes! I'm Midanel, here to help with work starting today!"

"Help with work? I haven't heard about that. With deals already cut off and work decreasing, why hire more workers?"

When the sturdy man raised his voice, the young servant became increasingly intimidated but forced his shoulders straight.

"Well, bread is enough for daily wages! I also have a letter of introduction written by Count Otmin here!"

"The Count?"

The sturdy man snatched the paper document the boy offered and scowled as he examined it. But being unable to read, he had no choice but to call the most educated person among the workshop workers.

"Maksian! Read this. Says it's a letter of introduction written by the Count?"

At his call, a middle-aged man with a gloomy expression walked over listlessly and took the paper document.

"It is indeed content about giving this child work. It's in the Count's name. The document was written three months ago, so it's from before going to find tanir."

"The Count really left such a document? He's never assigned work to outsiders before."

The man called Maksian glanced at the boy, then spoke in a somewhat softer tone.

"It says he's an orphan with pitiful circumstances. Since it's his first day, I'll teach him step by step."

Just as Maksian was taking the boy to a corner of the workshop to explain the work procedures, the boy grabbed his sleeve and whispered urgently.

"Thank you, sir. Actually, I came to fetch you. A high-ranking lord is waiting for you. Someone you know well."

At the sudden words, Maksian frowned.

After the boy grabbed Maksian and pleaded desperately, he was finally able to bring him to the carriage where Count DeNeuve was waiting.

The Count, who had been smoking in the carriage, heard the sound of footsteps running over fallen leaves and came out of the carriage with delight.

"Well, Maksian! My old friend!"

Count DeNeuve opened both arms to welcome Maksian, but Maksian only hesitated and remained wary.

"Maksian! Why is your face so damaged? I heard that you passed through the Forest of the Demon God with Count Otmin and barely survived? Count Otmin was getting tanir, but why go through that dangerous Forest of Demons? Tsk, nearly getting a talent like you killed. Anyway, you suffered much."

Count DeNeuve patted Maksian's shoulder. Whether the trauma Maksian experienced in the Forest of Demons was severe, he had lost so much weight that his gaunt shoulder blades could be grasped.

"What business do you have with me, my lord?"

Despite the blunt response, Count DeNeuve put his arm around Maksian's shoulder and whispered intimately.

"The Serin estate is still producing weapons, I see? But Maksian, you know it won't last long either. Since you're cooped up here just doing work, you might not know, but in the capital the Serin family is already finished. Treason charges! Even just being suspected of that makes other nobles not want to be connected by even a hair's breadth."

Maksian simply listened to Count DeNeuve's words without making any particular response.

"Maksian, is your wife healthy and well? Her chronic illness meant a lot of money went to medicine costs, didn't it? Your daughter also needs steady treatment, taking after her mother. Even if the Serin estate collapses, your young daughter has to live, doesn't she?"

At the Count's mention of his daughter, Maksian's eyes shook for an instant.

"What is it you want to say?"

"Make one secret deal with me."

Count DeNeuve raised one corner of his mouth at an angle and smiled as he bit his pipe.