At first, I thought I should stop her.
I actually started to rise a little from my seat and for a brief moment, I even considered shouting "Again!" in my mind, but—
Well, would Alice have stayed seated and calmly listened to the conversation if I rewound time and stopped her from throwing the chair?
Even knowing the situation, and even as a man who's lived quite a long time—if I, with my own experiences, felt disgusted by the story, could I really expect a teenage girl with illusions about love to not be outraged after hearing it?
If I stopped her from throwing the chair, she’d probably end up throwing herself at him.
In the original, Leo, the son of a baron, couldn’t do much to George Lindbergh, who was closely related to the Duke, even though Leo was very familiar with how to leverage weaknesses. Instead, he gathered evidence and pressured George subtly, eventually leading to Roti’s mother being freed.
Hmm.
I thought this over as I looked down at George Lindbergh, groaning from the kick Alice had just given him.
At first, I wondered if it was really okay to beat up someone from the Duke's family, but thinking about it again, maybe this could be seen as groundwork for granting Roti a knighthood, right?
“Your Highness.”
I called Alice’s name, but she didn’t seem to hear me.
“Alice.”
When I called her name again as she raised her foot, she finally stopped moving.
“It would be better to stop here.”
Fortunately, the parlor was well soundproofed, and it seemed the servants hadn’t noticed what had happened inside.
Though, they’d probably figure it out soon enough.
I leaned slightly forward to check George Lindbergh’s condition.
Unfortunately, it looked like the sharp edge of the chair had hit his head, which was now slightly torn and bleeding, and his right eye was swollen. His lips were also cracked, but it seemed like his teeth hadn’t been damaged.
He was clutching his stomach and lying on his side—he’d probably been kicked there too.
“Even so, if someone were to die, it would cause serious trouble. In the future, when the royal family and the Duke’s family exchange words, this might be used to settle a debt,” I said, thinking carefully.
From the way the Duke treated George Lindbergh, it didn’t seem like he was particularly fond of him, but as the head of a family, he wouldn’t just let something like this slide. It wasn’t about the injuries George Lindbergh had suffered; it was about the Duke’s family name being tarnished.
“Lydia... or rather, ‘Asha,’ is a case where you don’t have the authority to make decisions,” I added.
‘Asha’ was Lydia’s real name. When the Empire colonized the southern continent, they erased the native surnames and unified the names in the Empire’s language. That’s how the name ‘Lydia’ came about.
Well, I’m sure George didn’t care much about that.
When I spoke, George Lindbergh briefly raised his head to look at me, his expression as if asking what I meant by that.
“Actually, Asha has always been a free person, hasn’t she? This country, or rather the Empire’s laws, don’t allow slavery in any of its external territories or colonies. All the servants working here are in the same situation. They’re not enslaved; they’re just working off debts because they can’t repay them in money.”
I stared quietly at his wide eyes.
“Actually, the money here didn’t even have to be given to you. We just came to deliver it because we weren’t sure what might happen if we gave it directly to Asha.”
I didn’t know how Asha would manage such a large sum of money, and I wasn’t sure how the other white maids and servants at the mansion would react.
Human nature, after all, isn’t bound by skin color. If someone has more than they do, there are always people willing to take it by force. Once one person does it, others will inevitably follow.
“I came to you because I knew that Asha’s debt was tied to you, but honestly, we didn’t have to come here. We could have gone straight to the Duke and made a deal,” I continued.
Perhaps the Duke’s cousin, after moving Asha to his mansion for whatever reason, had affected George Lindbergh’s thinking in a profound way.
...Though, if that hadn’t happened, perhaps Roti would have been the only child.
“...”
George Lindbergh didn’t speak.
“Moreover, considering Asha’s legal status as a free person, it would be entirely possible for her to file a lawsuit for the wrongs done to her,” I said.
After all, there are no slaves in this country.
If slavery had existed, there would be no need for complicated excuses to justify discrimination. This was meant to show that the country was far more civilized than the other nations that still had slavery.
The colonial police, made up of Empire citizens and the oppressed natives, didn’t readily resolve incidents when a colonial native was wronged. If something happened between an Empire citizen and a colonial native, the police would always side with the Empire citizen.
But what if the royal family stepped in and directly handled the legal process?
Nobles might protest, calling it internal interference, but—
...
So what?
“If you just take this money and quietly step aside, everything will be fine. Otherwise, the Duke’s family will face a massive scandal. The Duke is already preparing for the upcoming scandals, but if you make one yourself before that, you’d be doing him a favor, wouldn’t you?”
Jake, the Duke’s second son, and Roti, whose bloodline contains colonial native ancestry—just their engagement or marriage would be a huge scandal. But the reason the Duke could allow it was because Roti wasn’t a full-blooded native. It’s because she has the Lindbergh blood in her.
When speaking with me, he showed some leeway, but that was because of who I was. If someone like Leo, a lower-ranking noble, had spoken, it wouldn’t have worked at all.
Still, even so, the mere news of this would cause a slight crack in the Duke’s name. The Duke’s eldest son, who was to inherit the title, marrying someone with a different skin color—how could that not create a stir?
Thus, in order to minimize the damage, the Duke would already be making preparations. Most likely, he would try to frame it as a sign of how close he had become to the royal family by granting his approval for the marriage.
But if this scandal about his cousin raping a native woman and fathering a child came to light before his preparations were complete...
“...”
“If you continue to remain silent, I’ll take that as a yes,” I said, turning to leave.
However, even as I made my way to the door, I heard a voice from behind.
“Even if you try to stop my love...”
I stopped in my tracks at those words.
“If you say anything more, I can’t guarantee what will happen,” I said, turning back.
I approached George Lindbergh, who had barely managed to sit up from the floor.
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“I didn’t step in earlier because Alice already moved first. If I had gotten involved and killed you by accident, things would have become far more complicated,” I said, staring at him.
Perhaps noticing something in my expression, George Lindbergh closed his mouth.
“If you, in any way, get any closer to Asha, my ‘friend,’ who happens to be Roti’s mother...” I paused for a moment, locking eyes with him.
Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his eyes were trembling slightly. It was a look I hadn’t seen before, not even when Alice kicked him earlier.
Was he only now realizing that he could actually die? Did he really not understand the consequences of his actions?
“You will die, one way or another. So, you will stay here in the south for the rest of your life. If you ever return to the mainland, I’ll personally come for your throat.”
After a brief pause, I thought for a moment.
“On second thought, that might not be such a bad idea. Please do visit the mainland at least once. When you do, I’ll personally greet you. I’ll even prepare someone for you to share your love with. Just like how you treated Asha, I’ll make sure you experience it properly. I’ll let you feel what it’s like to be beneath someone else, from the bottom up.”
I said that with a slight smile.
I didn’t wait for an answer.