Chapter 13
Until recently, I didn’t know Adrian’s surname. It was never mentioned in the novel. Adoptive parents? I didn’t even know they existed.
To begin with, the information I knew about Adrian was limited. I only learned that Adrian had taken the Delgado surname after seeing it in my dream.
Ah, no way. Did I call Adrian’s name while dreaming?
“You seemed uninterested in me, so I thought you wouldn’t notice.”
Certainly in the scene I saw, Ashley didn’t seem to have any special interest in Adrian.
Aside from greetings, they didn’t even converse with each other or give each other glances.
Adrian wasn’t someone who wouldn’t notice such indifference.
When I roughly understood what the situation was, relief washed over me. I made an expression showing I had been caught.
“I thought you wouldn’t remember me. Honestly, just from looking at your eyes, I wasn’t certain either.”
“I remember.”
“…”
“You were the only one at that place who welcomed a viscount family from the rural frontier. It was very impressive.”
I recalled Ashley’s expression from my dream. Her face welcoming the Delgado couple was relaxed enough to seem soft.
Instead of guessing Ashley’s feelings, I asked a question.
“Ah… Um. By the way, are the two of them doing well?”
“They passed away.”
I chose the question completely wrong. Rather than finding words to say at his calm answer, I couldn’t speak. I was racking my brain to find other words when fortunately Adrian spoke first.
“My lady.”
“Yes…?”
“I have one question.”
“…What is it?”
“When did you realize I was a Delgado?”
It was a difficult question. What realizing—if I hadn’t dreamed, I would never have known.
I racked my brain as much as possible. After thinking of a convincing sentence, I opened my mouth.
“I was invited to this mansion before. Before you were adopted…”
“I see.”
“Yes. I didn’t realize right away, but when I went to the study, that’s when I knew. Since you wouldn’t harm them to take over this mansion… So I thought you might be the adopted son I saw then.”
Adrian nodded as if my answer made sense. There seemed to be no more questions.
Whether it was because I had just woken up after a long time, or because I had to think about unexpected things, my mind was a bit hazy.
“My lady.”
Just when I thought I could rest a little, Adrian called me.
Weren’t the questions over now?
This was the first time my heart beat so fast at his call. I was scared wondering what else he might say.
“You must be confused having just woken up, but I have something I must tell you now.”
“Do you have to say it now…”
“Yes.”
Adrian, who gave a firm answer, slowly stood up. Then he bowed toward me.
What’s wrong with him today, really…
I was surprised by Adrian who kept saying and doing unpredictable things and almost jumped up from the bed. Adrian stopped me.
“What are you doing?”
“You can listen while sitting.”
“What is this all of a sudden…”
“I wanted to apologize to you as soon as you woke up.”
“For what?”
“I’m sorry for the delay.”
I made a stupid expression at the sudden apology.
“By now you should have been in the capital, but because of my mistake, you were hurt and became ill.”
“No. My getting hurt and sick isn’t your fault. But… a mistake?”
Adrian hesitated then slowly opened his mouth.
“The threat letter sent to the Reynolds ducal house disappeared midway.”
“…What…?”
What are you talking about?
“I’m sorry. I definitely checked the magic coordinates before sending it, but it disappeared.”
“Is that… possible?”
“I’m also investigating how this happened. Recently, the Duke and Duchess and the Ort side have been acting strangely, so when I checked, there’s no trace of the threat letter reaching them. I found out a few days after you collapsed. It’s all my oversight.”
I blinked because I couldn’t understand Adrian’s words well.
Adrian made a mistake?
Adrian was set to be quite a capable mage. For such an Adrian to make a magic mistake was clearly a setting error.
I simply organized the current situation and asked Adrian.
“So… the threat letter disappeared, and my family and others don’t know my whereabouts at all?”
After Adrian nodded, he added.
“The Ort count family and Reynolds ducal family suspect you’ve been kidnapped. Count Ort is currently asserting that someone kidnapped you, using the evidence that an intruder entered that day.”
“So they don’t know exactly whether I was kidnapped or left voluntarily, right?”
“Yes…”
I had thought it was strange. Both that the protagonists who cherished Ashley Ort were quiet, and that the time limit in the <Supporting Character’s Helper> quest wasn’t passing.
The threat letter disappeared…
I had no way of knowing whether this was the system’s intention or not. It was frustrating not being able to accurately grasp the flow of the side story or the system’s intentions.
Anyway, there was nothing bad about the current situation. In conclusion, I had gained time to perform the quest.
“My lady.”
What brought me out of my thoughts was Adrian’s call. I looked up at Adrian.
My heart pounded at the sight of Adrian standing with a troubled expression.
“There’s another thing I’m sorry about.”
I’d had enough surprises already. Now I was afraid to ask what it was.
“It’s a bit difficult to say, but…”
But I have to hear it…
“I’m afraid to hear it too, but go ahead and tell me…”
“It’s… about rumors concerning you.”
“…Yes. I’m prepared to listen, so it’s okay to tell me.”
Even at my words saying it was okay, Adrian hesitated then spoke to me with a determined expression.
“There’s a rumor going around that you were caught having a secret meeting with a man late at night and ran away with him.”
“Secret… meeting…?”
A secret meeting? That was a word that would never exist in Ashley’s life.
Ashley had never met a man. Ashley who rejected all marriage proposals that came because of her childhood friends.
Ashley who was incredibly dense and stupid, thinking that was right and laughing stupidly… a secret meeting…?
Even though I wasn’t really Ashley, this scandal was too unfair. Moreover, it was a rumor that would greatly interfere with the future.
When I returned to the count’s mansion, I was planning to date and marry a decent man…!
My beautiful future plans were in crisis of being ruined.
I grabbed Adrian’s arm.
“A secret meeting? That doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m sorry. Because I kidnapped you…”
“Never mind that. The threat letter! If you send the threat letter, it’ll be solved, right?”
“Yes. I was planning to send it after telling you.”
I was about to nod saying I understood when a status window appeared before my eyes.
[Time remaining until hidden quest ends: 48 hours]
Suddenly time began to flow. I tried to focus amid the rush of events.
This notification meant the protagonists had begun to move in earnest.
I quickly grabbed Adrian’s wrist as he was about to leave the room.
“W-wait a moment!”
“My lady?”
The protagonists probably didn’t come knowing exactly. Since there was no threat letter. Then did they find this place purely by intuition?
I got goosebumps. It’s not like they’re wild beasts…
For now, the situation wasn’t entirely bad.
Since there was no threat letter, there was no way to identify these people as rebels, and there was no evidence that I was kidnapped. That meant they had no justification to kill these people.
I glanced at the window still floating on one side. And as naturally as possible, I checked the failure penalty of the hidden quest.
It said ‘Death of the rebels.’ Perhaps this was the loophole in the quest.
“Lady Ort.”
Assuming this loophole was valid, all that remained was for me to have a reason to come here voluntarily.
“Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
I looked up at Adrian’s voice full of concern. Meeting that face, a good idea occurred to me.
“Leader, don’t send the threat letter.”
“What?”
Adrian looked at me questioningly as I suddenly changed my attitude. I opened my mouth to explain the reason.
Then the door burst open and Chloe came in shouting.
“Leader! This is bad! The atmosphere on the Duke and Duchess’s side is serious!”
Adrian’s eyes became extremely sharp. Eyes from the battlefield. I squeezed my eyes shut.
I wasn’t certain this was the right path, but I couldn’t just sit there in despair. I had to try whatever I could.
As I clenched my fist with determination, my eyes met Chloe’s. Her round eyes widened.
“Sister…! You’re awake!”
Chloe, who had been tearful, ran toward me with open arms. But she couldn’t embrace me because Adrian blocked her in the middle.
“You still need to rest.”
At Adrian’s words, Chloe nodded and just peeked her head out to look at me.
“I’ll definitely hug you when you get healthy.”
It was an affectionate sentence. I was about to answer that I would too when I was interrupted by Lucian who entered urgently.
“Chloe! What are you doing instead of bringing the leader?”
“Uncle! Sister woke up!”
“What?”
Lucian, facing my fine face, visibly relaxed.
“Miss, are you feeling better?”
“Yes, thanks to you. By the way, Chloe, the Duke and Duchess? You mean Reynolds, right?”
At my question, Chloe looked at Adrian and Lucian. Lucian spoke instead of Chloe.
“It’s not a story for you to hear, miss. We’ll step out for a moment.”
“No, let me join the conversation too.”
