The Second Queen.
Serena Soladin entered the carriage, throwing aside the various complicated ornaments in her hair and sweeping back the long strands from her forehead, frowning.
Her appearance was somewhat fierce for a queen of a nation, but Serena didn’t care about that.
It was enough to put on a forced smile and flatter people outside. In a place completely cut off from the outside through various magical procedures, engaging in such tedious behavior would just give her a headache.
“Everyone is supposedly dying, but they seem perfectly fine. What’s going on here?”
The man sitting opposite her straightened his lips into a line at her razor-sharp voice that seemed ready to cut someone down.
He was one of the Second Queen's close aides and a vassal of the Bedfur family, and he had anticipated this complaint. After several years of staying by her side, he naturally became accustomed to her temper.
“I’m sorry. I should have been more attentive.”
“Exactly. You should have. At this rate, we’ve completely wasted our time.”
As Serena threw a bottle that had been in her lap, her aide rushed to catch it.
Inside the bottle was a precious medicine with a special effect against numerous diseases. It was far too valuable to be tossed onto the carriage floor.
“Instead of receiving gratitude, I’m treated like an annoying guest.”
She was a woman desperately trying to make her foolish son a king to grasp power.
Having come here, spending valuable time to gain even a tiny favor from the Barrow Duke family, Serena had obtained nothing.
Instead, she felt like she was being a nuisance and had to leave as if she were being chased away.
“Starting with that arrogant brat from the Alrn family, nothing is going my way.”
Before visiting the Barrow Duke family, Serena had tried to charm a girl named Lucy Alrn to gain her favor.
While her inherent value was significant, she believed that by attracting Lucy, she could also draw in Benedict Alrn, who stood behind her.
However, today’s conversation had been a complete failure.
The Barrow family, which had been hesitant about visits, had suddenly sent a message to come, but that had interrupted their conversation. Even before that, Lucy Alrn’s attitude had been off.
“That girl didn’t say a word.”
From the moment their conversation began, Lucy Alrn hadn’t even offered a light greeting or a nod.
She merely remained silent, looking at Serena as if evaluating her.
She was not just a mere arrogant brat.
Annoying.
“Thanks to that, today has turned into a complete waste. Ah, it’s frustrating.”
While Serena was disheveled, the flustered man spoke in a defensive tone.
“It’s not entirely without gain. Didn’t the atmosphere in the Barrow family seem unusually quiet?”
“What nonsense are you talking about? It’s been like that ever since they lost their eldest son.”
“I know that, but the atmosphere today...”
“Shut up. I might direct my irritation at you.”
Seeing her aide hurriedly close his mouth, Serena nodded in satisfaction when someone knocked on the carriage entrance.
“Queen, it’s Nabil.”
“Come in.”
Nabil entered the carriage and didn’t react to the chaotic scene inside before closing the door.
“Did you have a good conversation with that brat?”
“No.”
“...Huh? What do you mean?”
“She was a bit rude.”
“Lucy Alrn?”
Having decided to use the Duke of Partlan, I headed straight for her dormitory to meet Zoe.
Being the daughter of a duke, she should have a means to contact her father.
There was no concern for etiquette or procedures. I needed to tackle the dungeon as quickly as possible; why would I care about such things?
First, I would confront her, and if I hit a wall, I could think of something else.
“Are you saying you want to contact your father?”
‘Yes. Is it possible?’
“Sure. I have something to ask the Duke.”
“Is that feasible?”
“Of course, it’s possible, but I’m not sure if my father will answer. Just a moment... no, wait. Just a second.”
Breaking off the conversation, Zoe hurriedly closed the door. A short while later, I could hear a commotion from inside.
<Looks like the room is a mess.>
A mess would be a relief.
As I had seen so far, while Zoe appeared to be a perfect villainess on the outside, she was utterly sloppy on the inside.
This characteristic applied to her own room. Zoe's room, which no one else saw, was a mess, constantly renewing its state of disarray, claiming it was truly chaotic.
Knowing it would take a long time to tidy up, I decided to go to my own dormitory to compose myself instead of just standing around.
Even though I had taken my time, when I returned, the sounds from Zoe’s room had not ceased.
After waiting about another five minutes, Zoe emerged from the door, breathing heavily.
“Sorry to keep you waiting... Come in...”
Her room didn’t differ much from what I had seen in the game.
It was an elegant room with an overall reddish hue.
Anyone would nod in agreement that it suited Zoe well.
However, upon closer inspection, one could feel the sloppiness visible here and there.
Trash slightly sticking out from under the bed. Ends of various clothes peeking out between the closet gaps. A bookshelf hastily stuffed with items, appearing to have been thrown in without any order.
At the moment one would touch anything, the elegance would collapse, and I felt a momentary mischievous urge to say something, but I suppressed it.
If I did that, I would end up wasting a whole day before even talking to the Duke of Partlan.
“I’ve found it. You can use this crystal.”
Zoe seemed to have located the crystal during the tidying process and casually handed it over.
If that was the case, she could have just let me in and given me the crystal without the fuss, but I decided not to point that out.
Taking the crystal from Zoe, I skillfully infused it with magic, causing it to start flashing blue.
Once this flashing stopped, I would be able to contact the other person.
Hmm.
No response.
After waiting for about a minute, the flashing of the crystal did not stop.
Benedict always picked up before even a second had passed, so there wasn’t even a chance to see the crystal flashing.
“It seems like he’s very busy today.”
‘It seems so.’
“Is he ignoring a cute girl like me when I try to contact him? That’s just too much.”
It couldn’t be helped if there was no response. I had told Zoe about this, so I would eventually be able to reach him.
If it really didn’t work, I could go through Alsetin or the Newman family. There’s no need to rush. There’s nothing good that comes from being hasty when tackling a dungeon.
“Um, Lady Alrn. You’ve been waiting a long time, so why don’t you have some tea and relax a bit more...”
It was then. The flashing crystal suddenly stopped, and a face appeared above it.
It was a fierce face that, even with an evil laugh, would draw no suspicion.
“Sorry about that, Zoe. I have something urgent to attend to.”
Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.
It was the Duke of Partlan.
With a smile that seemed to suit smoking, he began to apologize but raised one eyebrow when he saw my face.
“Lady Alrn? How peculiar. Isn’t this Zoe’s?”
‘Yes...’
“Ah, I see. I should have known. Zoe asked me to contact you and said she wanted to speak with you.”
“To Zoe? How peculiar. This neat room is definitely not my daughter’s.”
“Father?”
“Oh, were you beside her? You should have told me earlier. I would have been surprised.”
With his characteristic tone, he chuckled sinisterly, then clasped his hands together under his chin and asked,
“What’s the matter?”
As expected of a noble, instead of asking for pleasantries, the Duke of Partlan got straight to the point. “Father.”
Did that come off poorly? Zoe spoke up, but the Duke was firm.
“Lady Alrn didn’t contact me just for casual greetings, did she? It would be better for her to get straight to the point, so don’t say anything.”
As he guessed, I preferred to get to the main point faster than small talk. For me, casual greetings were like a minefield.
He had grasped my character after only a brief conversation. He was indeed a capable person. It’s just that his sloppiness often led to mistakes.
‘Then let’s get straight to the point. So...’
“Since it seems the Duke has trouble managing his time, I’ll cut to the chase. To put it bluntly, I want to visit the Barrow family.”
“It seems it will be difficult to visit through normal channels, so you want to use me?”
Without needing further explanation, the Duke of Partlan quickly caught on to my intent and continued,
“It’s not a difficult task. No matter how much the Barrow Duke family tries to avoid visitors, there’s a limit to it. I should be able to pull some strings.”
It was as expected. Since the Barrow Duke was nearby and held an equal status, I figured the Duke of Partlan could indeed pull some strings.
“Will you help me? It might be a waste to use the name of the Duke of Partlan for this.”
That was certainly true. The personal power of the Duke of Partlan was enormous, no matter which way it was directed. It felt regrettable to use it for such a trivial matter.
But through my experiences with various RPG games, I realized that if you keep holding onto something precious, you often end up not using it until the very end.
So as long as I was confident that I could use something effectively, it was right to utilize it. Unless it was something unique in the world, of course.
‘I’d appreciate it.’
“I’ll judge the importance of the matter myself, so just grant my request. Duke.”
“Ha ha. I understand. I accept your wish.”
Accepting my request with a smile, the Duke of Partlan promised to arrange a visit to the Barrow family within three weeks but did not ask why I wanted to visit or what I planned to do there.
Was it unnecessary to ask since he had agreed to help?
After the crystal’s light dimmed, I stood up and stretched, organizing my thoughts.
With this, the first problem was resolved.
Now, the task ahead of me is to compile a list of the possible anomalies in the Barrow family and gather methods to detect them.
I have midterms coming up soon, and it seems I’ll have to juggle both sides.
It’s going to be a hectic time for a while.
“Lady Alrn.”
As I pondered this, I turned my head at Zoe’s voice. She was looking at me with a somewhat bewildered expression.
What? Why is she looking at me like that? Like a child who has just had her doll taken away...
“Are you interested in the Barrow Prince?”
‘...Yes?’
“...What?”