When The Count’s Illegitimate Daughter Gets Married

Chapter 9

“It tastes good… I enjoyed it.”

Ian was not very eloquent. However, it was only a few times that he felt sorry for that.

‘How can I express this subtle feeling!’

‘Damn my tongue.’

But Laritte felt proud and content just by watching Ian eat.

She was already having thoughts about what she would prepare for their next meal.

“How do you wash the dishes after you eat? Can you show me?”

Laritte’s eyes became sharp as he tried to get up to do the dishes.

Her eyes were on his abdomen.

‘If you move another foot towards the sink, I will stab you in the wound again.’

…..It was clearly like a line of poetry.

She was not the only one who could see his dreadful condition. Ian faltered and had to sit back on the chair.

He noticed that there was only a rocking chair instead of tables and chairs on the first floor.

So it was clear that they took away the ones that were existing and sold them. A table must have been brought out from the dusty second floor.

Ian sighed, aware of the fact that Laritte had worked hard for him again.

He needed to get well soon so that he could help Laritte in getting more comfortable around the house.

“Ah.”

Thinking of something, Ian exclaimed suddenly.

‘Come to think of it, there is something we can talk about.’

Which was to explain to her the truth about him being framed for treason.

The last time he tried, he collapsed and lost his consciousness.

‘Sometimes, I forget that she treats me like a normal person and not as a traitor.’

“Do you have anything to do right now? If not, there is something I have to say.”

“What is it?”

Ian hesitated for a moment.

It was not that he didn’t trust Laritte now, but he had some doubts that it would be difficult for her to understand.

“Maybe you would not believe me, but….”

He uttered hollow words again and again.

‘What is the hold up for?’

Laritte waited patiently, but she was curious at the same time.

“…..that I was framed for the conspiracy.”

“Huh?”

He thought she would say, “Oh, I see. It’s not a big deal” and would just let it go.

The first time they met, Laritte was quite surprised when Ian had blurted out, “I didn’t do it.”

But she was not sure if it was about the treason.

But he was not really a traitor.

If this was true, it would be a serious injustice.

The Duke of Reinhardt was the sole owner of the Duke’s position in the Iassa Empire.

It meant that the Reinhardt family was the second most noble family after the royal family.

In fact, the Duke owned a great amount of power and a fleet of knights.

Ian himself was one of the four swordmasters in the Empire.

It was even greater, considering that one of the four swordmasters was over 60 years old and was out of active duty.

In addition, half of the eight talented swordmasters were members of the Duke’s Knights.

When Bartolt, a candidate and a close associate of Ian, betrayed him, only three people were left.

Laritte opened her mouth after thinking for a moment.

“If that was not a treason, then was it….. the Imperial family’s doing?”

Laritte was expressionless but Ian was surprised.

It was not because she just came straight to the answer.

Of course, the royal palace was the most threatening place for the Duke.

Ian knew how much she could not trust him.

So she tried to satisfy herself by stating the truth.

Ian had to make his own efforts for clearing himself of the blame anyway.

Did she think he was irrelevant?

But a light of trust flickered in Laritte’s soft blue eyes.

Ian started.

“…..at least I am positive.”

“Do you have any evidence?”

“The man who attacked me is the first.”

Ian elaborated what Bartolt had said when he stabbed him, as soon as the war ended.

“You shouldn’t have become an enemy of the Imperial Family.”

Bartolt said, sneering.

“And the second evidence is….”

He put his hand inside his shirt and pulled out a necklace.

‘When did he have something like that?’

Laritte stared at the necklace.

There was a beautiful tiny glass bottle with a transparent liquid inside it, held by a thin silver chain. At a glance, one could tell that it was very expensive.

However, Larrite had developed a habit since she started living here.

If she saw expensive things, she would replace them with potatoes.

‘Just how much potatoes can I get from it?’

But the liquid inside it was more important than the glass bottle she was after.

It seemed as if it was priceless.

“They fear that this bottle contains a Dragon’s purified tears.”

“Dragon’s tears….!”

Dragon.

It was a species that understood and dealt with the flow of mana from their birth.

Among human beings, only the swordmasters knew the way of using magic like the Gods.

Originally, there was no encounter between the humans and the dragons.

Although the dragons were few, they lived in a place that had a very hot temperature, that could even melt the iron.

Or they lived on a mountain that lacked sufficient oxygen.

But there were times when a dragon could not even withstand its own mana.

It was a long time ago when the unstable dragons were flooded with human blood.

So if they hurt humans, they had to punish themselves.

The ordinary dragons never interfered with the human world.

Even if their race caused troubles with the humans.

One of the inferiors, De Ragon, who was a runaway, was not even considered in the same race.

Even if they were weak, runaway and unstable dragons, the swordmasters were the only ones who could withstand their mana.

Some of the swordmasters were especially important.

John Jae was the only one who stopped the runaway dragon that killed thousands of humans in a short time.

“I can’t believe you have a Dragon’s tears. Tha-that’s…”

The dragon’s whole body, that was caught, was boasted as an outstanding value.

It was because it contained mana and displayed many special filial piety.

For example, it was also used to identify paternity.

When the blood of one of the biological parents was mixed with the blood of the child and was dropped on the top of the tail scales, the reaction was observed.

It was a method by which Laritte was identified as the daughter of Count Brumayer.

Among all of these ‘treasures’, the tears that were collected when the dragon stopped breathing were the rarest.

“The effect of the ‘last tears’ was…..”

Laritte muttered. It was a very famous rumor.

“The drinker answers only the truth.”

“That’s it. There are only two pieces of evidence in the world now, one of which is with us.”

Laritte looked up at him curiously.

‘Why is it in his hands when it was that important?’

There was no one in the world who carried a family heirloom, even if he was a swordmaster.

It seemed that Ian could read her questionable look.

“I started to carry this before the Emperor ordered for my assassination.”

“…….?”

“There was someone who advised me to carry my family heirloom when I left for the war. It was the Prince.”

They were the only heirs to the throne of the Empire of Iassa.

Ian smiled brightly while fiddling with the necklace.

“I didn’t know about the reason then. But he knew it. The fact that this was going to happen, and if I survived……the only way to fight the injustice was this Dragon’s tears.”

“…..I don’t understand. They shouldn’t have framed you in the first place.”

“I agree….”

Ian grabbed the necklace.

It seemed as if each of his fingertips were filled with complex emotions.

“I believe it was the best thing the Crown Prince could do.”

But he was only met with the faint sound of a snowstorm from outside the window.

Like a whistle…. Or like a distant howl of a wolf.

Laritte was no longer prying into him.

Instead, she asked something else.

“How are you going to clear yourself up with this?” Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“You said you haven’t received any invitations so far, have you?”

No one would send an invitation to a traitor’s wife.

She shook her head.

But Ian already had a plan on his mind, which he began to explain.

“A long time ago, the Iassa Empire, which was born with the unification of the continent, was troubled by the aristocrats. I believe you already know.”

Since the aristocrats were from different countries, internal strife continued.

Thus, to give the aristocrats a sense of belonging, they adopted various methods of showing off.

One of them was to send invitations only to the families above the Count for the Imperial Social Gathering on the day of National Foundation.

National Foundation Day was in early spring.

So, there was going to be an invitation for Laritte.

Ian was planning to enter the gathering by himself.

He would prove to everyone that he was innocent with the help of the Dragon’s tears.

“Will that be possible……?”

“The Crown Prince will also be present, remember?”

But what mattered to him now was a complete recovery.

Even if he entered the castle through an invitation, he would have to subdue the guards before proving his innocence to everyone.

Suddenly it stung Larrite, after listening to his plan.

‘Is he….’

“Will you be going ‘alone’ with my invitation?”

×××