Chapter 82 – 082. New Little Duke (1)
In order to prepare Erin’s dress for the banquet, Eun-hyeon took Erin and Eleanor to visit ‘Ringert Dressing Room’, which regularly supplies costumes to the royal family and high-ranking nobles in Pernin.
The reason why Eleanor accompanied the two of them to visit was because she wanted to entrust Erin’s coordination to Eleanor, who is also the flower of the social world, and because Eleanor, who is usually kind to Erin, obediently agreed to Eun-hyeon’s request.
When Erin went into the dressing room with the dress, only Eunhyun and Eleanor were left in the dressing room.
“What else are you thinking? You, you hated being involved with people.”
Eleanor thought it was strange that Eun-hyeon readily expressed her intention to attend the banquet they were hosting.
She asked the question because she had a suspicion that she was up to something.
“Now that I have already shown my face in court, how many nobles in this country do not know my face? I have decided not to do that now.”
At his words, she naturally recalled the image of Eun-hyeon she had seen in the courtroom.
While solving the serial raid case, from Eleanor’s point of view, who did not know what kind of change of heart was in Eun-hyeon’s mind, it was only embarrassing that he revealed his identity to the kingdom of Pernias in the form of being imprisoned and being tried.
“Why did you do that? Even being imprisoned and being beaten like that…”
“That was for the best.”
The public court where many nobles of the kingdom gathered in one place was the best place to showcase Erinn’s grown-up and elevate her status.
However, Eun-hyeon herself was imprisoned and assaulted so that the public trial could be made, and in the end, there was a risk that she could be executed if she made a mistake in the public trial that was held by playing with and provoking Krasir and Walter.
Looking at Eun-hyeon, who seemed to be walking on a tightrope above the judge, Eun-hyeon did not know how much Eleanor was shaking her heart.
“At least you could have given me some words.”
“It was something I discussed with Duke Riod and Armitas. Same goes for Alex.”
Although the plan went awry due to the awakening of Erin’s Divine Beast, the original plan was to subdue the succubus to gather information, and intentionally create a situation where the succubus would strike the last blow for Erin, who had grown little by little, to give her credit. .
In the process, he was imprisoned for various tricks, and the initial plan was to compose the board so that his image was revealed at the center of the public trial.
When he first talked about this plan with the rich man of the Duke of Armitas and Riod at a drinking party with a strange arrangement, didn’t Abros and Alex treat Eun-hyeon as a madman?
The two father and son of the Duke of Armitas were even fed up with the way they made and provided an excuse for themselves to be put on trial and even thought of using the trial.
“I am not talking about my father and my older brother. You should have told me too.”
“To the princess?”
“Yes.”
Eleanor, who answered with her determined voice, opened her mouth as she stared at Eunhyun.
“I was the first among the members of the duke’s family to meet you. At least you could have tipped me in advance, not others.”
“… ?”
Eunhyun looked at Eleanor with an expression of not knowing what she was saying.
Eleanor also noticed that she didn’t realize what she was talking about.
“As you said, if we were really in a symbiotic relationship… At least if they have consulted in advance to help you. I could have found a way other than that way where you have to go to jail like that and endure a lot of beatings.”
“…”
Weird.
The logic doesn’t fit.
The present Eleanor’s appearance was different from her usual intelligent appearance, and was not cold-hearted.
In her eyes and expression as she stared at Eun-hyeon, it was revealed that she was sincerely sorry for Eun-hyeon.
Why is she making such a face at herself?
Eunhyun didn’t understand that.
“If… Are you worried?”
When Eun-hyeon himself asked in a suspicious tone, which was rare, Eleanor, who had been stiff, was startled.
“I, I… ? What nonsense! Why am I worried about you! Even if thrown into a dungeon, he will crawl out on his own and come back alive!”
Eunhyun laughed at Eleanor’s hurried denial and caressing behavior.
“Oh, is that so?”
“…”
[Eh…]
Eleanor’s expression hardened again at Eunhyeon’s conclusive tone.
“Isn’t there anything else you can say just like that?”
“… What?”
“Is it so strange that I care about you?”
“No, it is not…”
“At least I feel indebted to you.”
The first meeting was not so good.
Eun-hyeon leaked false information, and Eleanor and Eun-hyeon’s meeting began as she was deceived by the information and went in search of an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the night.
It was Eun-hyeon who protected herself by exerting tremendous power against the dangerous death threat she had received for the first time in her life.
His power was also forceful, but Eleanor was quite interested in the mentality in his head that seemed to hide his identity and create a situation to his advantage, bewitching people.
Moreover, it was also true that Eun-hyeon’s attitude, the only one in a suffocating aristocratic society that did not treat herself like an aristocrat, was repulsive, but also allowed her to breathe.
Eleanor had a special, unknown feeling for Eun-hyeon that she didn’t even realize.
Because she was Eleanor who was not fully aware of it, her words were illogical and even incoherent, and she was spewing out words that were not even cool to herself.
“So, it’s not strange at all that I worry about you.”
Could that be what Eun-hyeon was saying?
Or is she talking to herself close to an excuse she makes to herself?
She herself couldn’t know for sure.
Eleanor’s heart fluttered when she recalled the sudden kiss of the two through Illyana’s sudden action at her courtroom.
“… Thank you so much for that.”
Eunhyun nodded and thanked Eleanor for her kindness.
When the conversation between Eunhyeon and Eleanor came to an end, Erin, who had just finished dressing up, appeared from beyond the curtain at just the right time.
“Uh… Aren’t I weird?”
Finally Erin emerged, changing her dress in her dressing room.
Erin, who showed up hesitantly, looked at Eun-hyeon’s reaction even though she was clearly embarrassed.
Eunhyun stared at the figure she was planning to show at the banquet.
Erin’s evening dress, which was selected as her evening dress, was very beautiful.
The indigo shade that matched her hair color, her soft fabric, and the tight fit that clung to her body revealed her Erin’s chest and the curve of her narrow waist.
Erin’s body, which had grown rapidly, was now called a girl.
Showing off her first dress she was trying on, and looking at Eun-hyeon with her eyes, shy and expectant at her awkward self-image, her Eun-hyeon smiled and looked at Erin, who had finished her dressing up. Praised
“It is pretty.”
“Me, really?”
“Huh. When the banquet starts, it will definitely catch the attention of other men.”
“Ugh, I hate that…”
Her face brightened as soon as she heard her praise, but her Erin’s complexion darkened at her words afterwards.
She still felt reluctant to be the center of attention from strangers.
“Because I will stop you from doing nonsense. Don’t get too carried away. It’s a banquet I’ve been invited to, but I should enjoy it thinking of the Duke who invited me. Yes?”
“Huh!”
When she said that she would protect her, Erin nodded her head happily.
Eleanor, who watched Erin’s crush beside her, only smiled bitterly at the thought of this simple girl.
“Is it okay if I don’t provide Illyana-sama’s dress?”
“He has clothes. And maybe because of her personality, she didn’t come along today, so I’ll make Illyana’s preparations.”
Illyana, who prefers to stay at her house, saying it is a nuisance, did not accompany them despite Eunhyeon and Eleanor’s urging.
On Eleanor’s part, her illusions about Illyana as her high mage had long since been shattered, so now she nodded with a look of disapproval.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Are you nervous?”
“Everything, of course…”
In her carriage, courtesy of the Duke of Armitas, Erin in her banquet dress was fidgeting with her, and she wriggled her hands.
She felt like she wanted to find her mouse hole even now, so she thoughtlessly followed Eun-hyeon’s will and expressed her intention to attend, and her own decision became her regret.
Erin’s hands in her long gloves repeatedly interlocked and then untied, and as her expression hardened, Eunhyeon stroked her hair to calm her down.
Normally, if you do this, Erin’s mood will be relieved and she will laugh, but she seemed to have no time to enjoy Eun-hyeon’s touch to Erin now.
The carriage arrived at the front door of her duchy as if Erin had no intention of recognizing her condition, and Eun-hyeon, who was the first to get off the carriage, reached out her hand and asked her Illyana to get out of her carriage. Escorted her.
“I live and live and come to a place like a party with you.”
“By the way, is this your first time?”
“It’s the first time.”
Eunhyeon and Illyana had similarities in that they were extremely reluctant to show themselves in front of others.
“Not bad.”
It was extremely rare for Illyana, who prefers to stay at home, to attend an event outside like this, and it was the first time she had Eun-hyeon next to her to escort her.
Illyana smiled as if she was in a good mood, took Eunhyun’s hand and got out of her carriage.
Erin also took her hand, escorted her, and showed the invitation with the duke’s seal to the soldiers guarding her door, and the three of them passed through the front door without much trouble.
“Don’t be scared. We have been proudly invited.”
“Yes.”
“Baby.”
“Yes?”
At some point, Erin stopped caring about what Illyana called her.
The first time she was called that by Illyana, she once asked why she called herself that, but ‘then you act like a baby right now. What do you call it?’ She couldn’t say anything.
From Illyana’s point of view, a third person’s point of view, when Erin was in Aether, she always clung to Eun-hyeon, and she looked like a baby bird receiving food from the mother bird.
It was a joke that Illyana also put on an expression of fun because that appearance was so ridiculous.
To Erin, who didn’t know what she looked like in the eyes of those around her, she didn’t like being teased as a child.
However, that was also a nickname that only Illyana, who was kind to her, called her now, so she had a complicated feeling that she didn’t hate it quite a bit.
“Can you tell me how to relax?”
“A way to relax?”
“There are two main ways to annoy people. Isn’t that it?”
“What is it?”
“The first is to stop talking halfway through, and the second is…”
Illyana, who had only been talking to her until there, suddenly cut her off and looked at her Eunhyun.
“What is it?”
“Don’t be silly, let’s go quickly.”
“Ah, Miss Illyana! Please teach me!”
“I’ll let you know sometime.”
Erin puffed out her cheeks at Illyana’s giggling behavior and gave her a resentful look.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
“Go, go together!”
Illyana, who casually passed Erin’s gaze, crossed Eunhyun’s arms and the two of them started walking side by side, and Erin hurriedly took the empty seat opposite Eunhyun and walked along.
Many aristocrats who were having social gatherings in the banquet hall turned their attention to them when Eunhyeon and his party appeared.
“Oh, is that the Black Witch?”
“I heard that you are the same age as the Marquis of Olivion.”
“It’s a great off-white.”
Unlike Erin, Illyana, who is completely unbelievably in her 40s, wears a tight fit that shows off her mature and bewitching body and an unconventional black dress that exposes the bare skin of her waist and back. , It is the appearance of a ‘witch’ that bewitches people.
And it was only natural that the eyes of the girl, Erin Hersha, who had recently regained her status as an aristocrat, naturally began to be drawn to her.
“But who the hell is that in the middle?”
Seeing the man with silver hair in the center who seemed to be walking along with two women with black and navy blue hair like flowers in each hand, a nobleman muttered, looking displeased.
It seemed that the nobleman had not been able to attend the public trial that had previously stirred up Pernias.
