Chapter 63

Even though the sun had fully set, there was still no sign of the noble young lady. Chaos broke out at the estate where the Elandria siblings were staying.

Though it was called a dormitory, it was a grand mansion fit for the children of a ducal house. While it had been difficult to bring all of Valentin’s belongings as she wished, there were still about a dozen attendants staying with them.

Everyone was in a frenzy searching for the whereabouts of Lady Valentin.

Eventually, Delma returned with Valentin, who was covered in dirt and red in the face.

“Brother!”

Unaware of when exactly she had disappeared from the mansion, Nellusion was sitting gravely in the drawing room, waiting for his sister’s return.

The moment Valentin saw him, she burst into tears again, the ones she had just barely held back earlier, and ran into his arms.

“Valen.”

Though Carten was considered relatively safe, Valentin was still a child and a daughter of a duke, making her a special case. What if a political enemy had kidnapped her?

Relieved that his sister had returned safely, Nellusion embraced her tightly.

“Where did you go? Delma said you were in your room.”

Now that she had been found and brought back from outside, it was clear that had been a lie. Delma, under the sharp gaze of Nellusion, turned pale and apologized.

“I’m sorry, young master.”

“What the hell do you think of the lady’s safety? You let my precious little sister go out alone? And you call yourself the Elandria family’s nanny?”

At Nellusion’s harsh rebuke, which was out of character for his usual gentle demeanor, the temperature in the drawing room dropped by at least twenty degrees.

Delma couldn’t say a word. She had decided it was better to stay silent. Instead, Valentin glared up at her brother with fiery eyes.

“Brother, this isn’t the time to talk about that! Bring that wench Nerys here right now! Beat her until her legs break and lock her in the basement! She lured me out and locked me in a filthy shed!”

“What?”

Beating and locking someone in the basement was a punishment reserved for servants who committed serious crimes. So why was she suddenly saying such things, and why was Nerys’s name being brought up here?

Nellusion was bewildered. His hand, which had been patting Valentin’s back, froze without him realizing.

Valentin burrowed deeper into her brother’s arms and whined.

“I even called her sister earlier, but how could she do this to me? She told me to come out for a bit! She said she wanted to be friends, so I went with her even though I didn’t want to!”

Nellusion’s hand slipped off her back. But immersed in her performance, Valentin didn’t notice.

“Then suddenly, she locked me up in the dark! And she said she didn’t owe our family anything! How could she be so shameless? Doesn’t she know what it means to be grateful?”

Delma covered her mouth.

She was the one who planned the details of this incident.

Given her track record of handling countless “insolent ones” for Valentin, she had even prepared an explanation in case things got exposed.

The original plan was for Valentin to sneak out briefly in the evening, lock Nerys Truydd in the lakeside shed, then return quickly and act as if nothing had happened so she could have dinner with Nellusion.

Delma’s role was to cover up Valentin’s absence.

If Delma weren’t visible, Nellusion would naturally suspect something was wrong with Valentin. Otherwise, he would never have let his precious sister wander a rural town alone.

But the plan went awry when Valentin didn’t return as early as expected.

Even if something went wrong, the biggest potential issue Valentin had anticipated was Nellusion discovering the plan.

In that case, she planned to insist she truly wanted to build a friendship with Nerys Truydd. Even if Nellusion found it odd, she expected her one and only brother would let it slide if she acted cute.

But now, Valentin was so furious over the unexpected outcome that she said far too much.

Enough for Nellusion to sense something was truly off—something he couldn’t ignore.

“Nerys said that to you?”

“Yes!”

Nellusion grabbed his sister’s shoulders. Valentin tried to keep hugging his waist, but she couldn’t withstand the force of the older boy pushing her away.

“Valentin Elandria.”

With a voice sharp as if stepping on thin ice, Nellusion looked straight into his sister’s face and pressed her.

“Nerys lured you out and suddenly imprisoned you?”

“Uh-huh!”

Valentin answered confidently—only then realizing her brother’s gaze had turned icy.

“Where exactly were you?”

Only after seeing that stern expression did Valentin realize something was wrong.

With a frightened look, she glanced at Delma. But before Delma could intervene, Nellusion’s calm, cold voice cut in.

“Valen, your brother just asked you something. Don’t look at Delma.”

Valentin hesitated, unable to answer immediately. Seeing her eyes darting, Nellusion furrowed his brow.

Soon, he turned to Delma with a firm tone.

“Delma, answer clearly. Where did you bring Valen back from? You knew where she was, didn’t you?”

Delma swallowed hard. Though she was much older than Nellusion, she had never found it easy to face him.

Even with Valentin’s absolute favoritism, Delma was still merely a servant employed in the household Nellusion would one day inherit.

“Young master, the lady is still young. There weren’t many places she could have gone. So I checked a few and brought her back.”

“Th-that’s right!”

Bolstered by Delma’s voice, Valentin spoke up loudly.

“I-I was at the house by the lake. That empty house near the pavilion you took me to last time! Delma came to the lake and heard my voice, so she let me out.”

“The lake?”

Nellusion’s eyes gleamed coldly.

“Nerys, a freshman, somehow knew about the lake, told you to meet her there, and you believed her, left Delma behind, and went out at dinner time? Even though you were trying to get along, Nerys suddenly found some empty house and locked you inside it?”

As Valentin’s words continued to spill out, even her flustered mind began to see the flaws in what she had said.

“Valen, do you think I’m an idiot?”

At Nellusion’s icy question, Valentin shut her mouth tightly while Delma stood frozen, not knowing what to do.

“Y-young master…”

“Be quiet, Delma. If Valen hadn’t been so undeservedly fond of you, you’d have been kicked out long ago.”

Everyone in the room could tell he meant every word. Delma shrank under Nellusion’s sharp gaze.

Suddenly, Valentin lashed out in anger.

“Brother, who’s more important to you—me or her? I was locked up in a filthy, dark place for no reason and just barely got out, and you’re taking her side?”

“Valentin Elandria, you’re my sister, and I’ve always protected you. That’s an undeniable fact.”

Valentin was about to continue voicing her anger, but she bit her tongue when she saw Nellusion’s frosty expression. Looking down at his sister with cold eyes, Nellusion warned her.

“If you can’t get along with Nerys, I won’t force you. I know you’re not the type who can pretend. But Nerys has value. Don’t mess with her.”

Put another way, it meant, ‘You’re too stupid, so stay quiet.’ But Valentin didn’t protest. She just clamped her mouth shut in frustration.

Nellusion’s gaze bore into her, demanding a response to end this situation. In the end, Valentin gave a reluctant reply.

“…Fine.”

“Good.”

Nellusion responded with satisfaction. The usual gentle smile returned to his face.

“You had a tough day, didn’t you? Valen. Go wash up and eat something. Or just go to bed after washing. You’ve got classes in the morning—don’t tire yourself out too much.”

Valentin quietly nodded. As Nellusion left the drawing room, Delma rushed to her lady’s side, fussing over her.

“Oh my, my lady. You must be so upset. The young master, really. After everything our precious lady went through, he couldn’t even offer a word of comfort.”

“Hmph.”

While Delma made a fuss ordering a maid to bring hot water and towels, Valentin sat upright on the sofa, grinding her teeth with a face full of resentment.

“That wretched girl toyed with me! Just wait—I’ll make sure her true nature gets exposed in front of Brother!”

* * *

Nerys woke up to the crisp morning sunlight and walked over to the window. She opened the small window to let some air and light into the room.

Since she had arrived just before the semester started, the room was still somewhat unorganized, but it was clean. Traces of Isabel’s sweeping, scrubbing, and dusting from the night before remained.

When Nerys returned shortly after locking Valentin in the storage shed last night, Isabel had jumped in shock like she had seen a ghost.

That reaction confirmed to Nerys that Isabel had known about Valentin’s plan as well.

She had never expected much of a moral compass from this servant pair anyway. Nerys had assigned Isabel laundry and room cleaning, and Isabel hadn’t left the building until after midnight.

So it was likely that news of Valentin’s failed plan wouldn’t have spread until much later.

After all, it had just been after locking up Valentin. If Isabel had immediately reported Nerys’s early return to Delma and the rescue happened too quickly, it wouldn’t be any fun.

Nellusion’s questioning didn’t scare her. He would quickly realize his sister was the root cause of all this, and given the current phase where he was trying to stay on Nerys’s good side, he would likely scold Valentin instead.

Nerys’s gaze drifted toward the door. While staying in Ferrisher, she hadn’t received any more letters from Cledwyn. So she wondered if one might arrive now that they were at the academy.

If the semester had begun and he still hadn’t returned, that alone would be a topic of conversation. Surely, he must have attended classes yesterday.

‘Not like either of us is the chatty type anyway.’

Nerys judged the situation ‘objectively.’ She and Cledwyn didn’t regularly talk, and there was no reason to exchange letters without any specific purpose. They were both busy people.

‘I do have…’

Well, some reason now.

Nerys muttered gravely in her mind.

She had already heard from Betty that her younger brother Rob had safely arrived and was tending to the land Cledwyn had given her.

But Betty only knew Nerys as the ‘introducer,’ so she didn’t provide any detailed updates.

They needed to start growing shepherd’s purse on that land beginning next year. It was necessary for Nerys to check the conditions personally, so she was planning to visit Sedona this weekend.

However, if a young girl went alone, Rob would surely become suspicious.

Both Rob and Betty, as well as the people of Sedona, believed the land was purchased and the workers hired by an adult noble from the mainland.

‘There’ll… probably be a lot of people.’

If it were Cledwyn, he could easily arrange a proper entourage to visit the area with her. Just thinking that far made Nerys irritated.

This wretched child’s body. There was so much to do, yet it would still be years before she could be an adult.

Of course, that gave her time to prepare everything slowly and carefully.

‘Once I become an adult…’

Once she became an adult, there would be no more time to prepare like this. It would finally be time to clash with her enemies head-on, fighting until only one of them remained standing.

And Nerys had no intention of playing the role of the loser.

Chirp. Chirp.

The sound of birds snapped her out of her thoughts. She sighed and poured water into the basin on her dormitory table.

Last night, Isabel had filled even the water jars in her room. Likely cursing Nerys to herself the whole time.

Still, she had done it—this was the best treatment Nerys had ever received from Isabel in either her past or present life.

Splashing the chilled overnight water onto her face and drying off with a towel cleared her mind. With bright, refreshed cheeks, Nerys sparkled with deep determination as she made up her mind.

If the letters weren’t coming, then she would just go meet him.