071 – Concubine

At first, I intended to simply kill the fellow after he had divulged all the information…

But, as I listened, I found the ‘client’ or ‘clie’ or whatever Dukedom he mentioned rather bothersome.

“From this moment, I will grant you a chance to escape from this place.”

“..!! R-really?”

“In assassination, it is not only the assassin who is at fault, is it? The one who ordered it is also guilty of wrongdoing, is he not?”

“Y-yes…! That’s right…!”

Both to gauge the assassin’s skill…

And so I commanded him to escape from the mansion unnoticed, allowing him to use Aether.

“Wow… undeniably impressive.”

Watching through observation, the assassin’s skills were astonishing to say the least.

To escape so naturally from within the mansion, so meticulously guarded by the Eloise family’s private soldiers…

Of course.

“Silence.”

The moment the assassin was a certain distance from the mansion, I once again cut off the Aether from his body.

*Flounder…!*

Startled by the disappearance of Aether from his body, the assassin collapsed right there.

No doubt, he thought he was safe, freed from my surveillance, but my unseen power had startled him.

“Hurry.”

He couldn’t hear my voice, but.

In the spirit of a Korean, I wished for him to move quickly, quickly.

“Silence, Silence Dispelled, Silence, Silence Dispelled.”

To the fellow who struggled to even walk properly without Aether, I repeatedly granted and revoked the power.

Making him return to his own mansion as quickly as possible.

And so, when he returned to that Clear-something Dukedom’s mansion.

—

Heist’s Client (64)

“`

[KIDNAP] – ACTIVE

[ESPIONAGE] – TAYLOR PINN

[SLEEP] – ACTIVE

[INFILTRATION] – ACTIVE

[SILENCE] – ACTIVE

—

Because he was able to locate Duke Clein.

Right there, immediately.

“Kidnap.”

He up and kidnapped a Duke, just like that.

…

After sinking a dagger into Duke Heist’s thigh.

Kidnapping the assassin Taylor, and returning him to the Clein Ducal House.

The Kidnap skill allowed for the swapping of a held object’s location with that of the kidnap target.

Sending the Duke back to his mansion, ensuring he couldn’t guess where he’d been taken from.

Of course.

“Wh-what…!”

“Sleep.”

The assassin, to whom no promise of life had been given, was put into a deep slumber.

Trusting the Eloise family to deal with the rest, he decided to convey the information gained here to his mother-in-law.

‘Just how much did he manage to find out?’

Ascending the stairs back to ground level, he considered how much Duke Heist might have learned about him.

He’d stabbed him with the dagger with such speed and decisiveness, ensuring the Duke was too disoriented to think clearly.

And the assassin wouldn’t have had nearly enough time to provide any information about him to the Ducal House.

‘Mikhail will have a rough time for a while, that’s for sure.’

Having informed him of the existence of a kidnapper named Mikhail, Duke Heist would no longer be able to focus on the Eloise Ducal House.

Think about it.

Knowing that someone could suddenly kidnap him from anywhere, at any time, would he still be concerned about the Eloise family?

He’d pour all his efforts into preparing for Mikhail, just to survive.

This was why he’d revealed his identity to Duke Heist, even at the cost of exposing his true name.

…

Upon hearing the report concerning the Clein Ducal House, his mother-in-law headed straight for her study.

Clearly, a political struggle he was unaware of would erupt between the Eloise and Clein Ducal Houses.

And she was starting preparations now to brace herself for it.

“What did you do?”

Thus, while spending time conversing with Isabella in the guest room.

He asked her what she had been doing here.

“I’m in trouble.”

“Hm?”

“The son of this house likes me.”

“`

I could see Isabella, spitting out the tale of how Altima Eloise had feelings for me like it was the most dire thing in the world.

“I could tell from the way she was looking at you during dinner.”

“I want to kill her.”

“Now, now, Isabella-ssi…”

This, honestly…

I tried to calm Isabella down, her face twisted in a look of utter loathing that threatened to shatter her little sister persona.

I had to ask why she was reacting with such obvious animosity.

“She said she was thankful you saved her life.”

“Ah, well, that’s nothing.”

Just a perfectly normal expression of gratitude, is all.

“She said she was thankful you saved her life.”

“That’s just a standard thank you—”

“She said she was thankful you saved her mother’s life.”

“A regular filial son, then.”

“She said she was thankful you saved her sister’s life.”

“Seems like she really cares about her family…”

“She said she was thankful you didn’t get angry at the cooks for making things difficult.”

“…”

“She said she was thankful you kept the soldiers from having to clean up the corpses.”

Good grief… how many things did she even say?

Our Altima Eloise, with almost zero experience with the opposite s*x at such a young age.

It seemed she wanted to talk to Isabella by any means necessary.

“Thankfully, Lady Ella grabbed Altima by the scruff of her neck and dragged her away later.”

Altima Eloise would have to be grateful to her sister for the rest of her days.

If it weren’t for Ella-ssi, she might have truly died by Isabella’s hand.

Wiping a person off the face of the earth without anyone knowing a thing was child’s play for Isabella in her human form.

“Still, you did well. You didn’t kill her.”

“I did good?”

“That’s right. And try to understand a little, Isabella knows it too, but her human form is so pretty, other men are gonna swarm.”

Regardless of how it all went down, I showered Isabella with praise and kind words for managing to hold back from killing someone.

“…”

“..Ah, really, not here.”

“The owner was the one who started it.”

“Uh-uh! Call me ‘oppa’.”

“The owner is the one who started it.”

“Uh-uh…!”

It seemed like a sudden, obligatory defensive battle was about to begin.

“Seol-ah…!”

“…!”

“Now, now, Seol-ah!”

“..Okay.”

“Sit.”

“Alright…”

*Sigh*

Thank goodness the name Seol worked.

“..Just you wait. I’m gonna get permission from your mistress later and pounce on you, Master.”

“..?”

Isabella’s words were so perplexing that I wondered if I’d understood her correctly.

Though, since anything was okay as long as I had Ella’s permission…

“..If you refrain from threats and get permission from Ella, I can do anything you want.”

“Really?!”

“Of course.”

I assured him it was fine, so long as she gave her consent.

*

The atmosphere in the house wasn’t great, so I reluctantly sent Mihaen back to the dormitory.

It was already late, so I decided to get some sleep.

Of course.

“..Can you untie me now? Isabella’s gone…”

“..Why do you embarrass your older brother like this?”

I didn’t untie the ropes that bound my younger brother, who kept pestering Mihaen’s younger sister, Isabella.

“No, …if you can marry my brother-in-law, why can’t I?”

“No. You need to learn to stop hitting on women when they show they dislike it.”

“She didn’t dislike it! She was just annoyed!”

“That *is* disliking it.”

I felt pathetic towards my brother, but… I could understand him to some extent.

After all… even a woman would agree that Isabella was excessively beautiful.

“And even if what you say is true, should someone who’s been shown grace bother that person like that?”

“That’s…”

“I shouldn’t bother, nevermind.”

Aside from everything else.

Isabella was also the first person to notice something was wrong with the food at dinner.

I decided to give Isabella a proper thank you soon.

‘Things will be hectic for a while, huh.’

I was about to fall asleep, planning to go to the Imperial Palace tomorrow to explain what happened at the Clientz Duchy’s mansion.

Myaaong~

The familiar meow made me open my eyes in bed.

“Seol-nim?”

Myaong~

Seol-nim, Mihaen’s cat and the Primordial True Ancestor Vampire, was somehow lying on my bed.

“I was wondering why Seol-nim was here, even though I know she’s busy.”

*Pat… pat…*

“I couldn’t resist her cuteness, and before I knew it, I was stroking Seol-nim.”

“Mistress.”

“Yes?”

“Are you interested in eternal life?”

“Seol-nim… She was offering me a tale so enticing, it made my ears perk up.”

“…Eternal life?”

“Yes, living forever.”

“Oh… well… I’ve never really thought about it.”

“You and Master can live together forever.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

“Eternal life…”

“To live forever with the man I love…”

“What a dreamlike prospect.”

“I can make it happen.”

“Seol-nim could even bring about this miracle.”

“Ah, perhaps… does that involve becoming a vampire?”

“Correct.”

“It seemed a shame that I couldn’t live forever as a human, but the thought of living as a vampire alongside Mihan-nim, who had become the Lord, the ruler of all vampires, wasn’t entirely unappealing.”

“But there’s a condition.”

“A condition?”

“I can turn you both into True Ancestor vampires, granting you eternal life, right before you’re about to die, or at whatever time you desire.”

“My ears perked up at Seol-nim’s condition..”

“You have to let me marry Master too.”

“…Excuse me?”

“That was… more unexpected than I thought it would be.”

“Just as I said. I want to marry Master too.”

“Uh…”

“You can be the first wife! I just want to be married to him. I want to be a wife too.”

“??”

“I couldn’t picture Mihan-nim marrying a cat.”

“Besides, the fact that the primordial True Ancestor vampire was negotiating with me like this was beyond my comprehension.”

“Oh… I guess so.”

“Yay! Thank you, Mistress!”

“Seeing a being who could easily have taken Mihan-nim for herself, completely and utterly, rejoicing at having received permission…”

“‘…So cute.'”

“I stroked Seol-nim enthusiastically, thinking about how cute she was.”

“Mihan-nim had gained a concubine, but the fact that I wasn’t jealous was interesting, even a bit peculiar.”

“But, you know, Mistress…”

“Speak, Seol-nim.”

“When will you have a child?”

“..!”

“I want to be a mother too! Ugh!”

“Go to sleep! Please leave!”

I finally understood why Mihan-nim threw the cat.

“But the Mistress is kind. She throws me onto the bed, at least.”

“N-Next time, I’ll throw you on the floor!”

“That’s alright! The Master throws me out the window.”

“That’s…! Th-That’s…”

“By the way, if you become a vampire, you can’t get pregnant. So you should hurry up and get pregnant now, Mistress.”

“I’ll, I’ll throw you out the window if you keep saying that…!”