I Wasn't Trying to Seduce with the Male Lead - Episode 90

Eleanor gulped and looked down.

A middle-aged man with his eyes closed lay on the spacious bed. He had light-colored blonde hair that would usually be perfectly slicked back. His skin was clean for his age, but deep wrinkles were etched between his brows. His delicate and distinct facial features proved Duchess Floyd’s words about him being handsome in his youth were true.

‘He’s not bad-looking even now.’

With his sophisticated look, he could easily be called a handsome middle-aged movie star in modern times. However, Eleanor couldn’t just look at him favorably. This was the man who had been so eager to get rid of her.

‘I didn’t expect our first meeting to be like this.’

Eleanor averted her gaze from the Duke of Calabria. She turned around to see a mix of expressions on the faces of the people in the room. The Duchess frowned, while Lian’s face was as calm as ever. Sky, on the other hand, was looking on with shining eyes, as if he found the situation amusing.

“A duel. He’s really doing something ridiculous,” the Duchess grumbled. In her hand, she held the Duke of Calabria’s duel challenge.

“Did he really intend to fight when he sent this?” the Duchess asked.

Lian nodded. “He exchanged one blow with a real sword, then threw himself onto my blade.”

“So he sent it intending to die?”

Lian didn’t answer.

“Where is he hurt? Why can’t he wake up?”

“I only knocked him out. He probably isn’t hurt anywhere.”

Knocking out an opponent who was ready to die without a single scratch would be impossible without a massive skill difference. Hearing Lian’s words, the Duchess frowned even more and sighed.

“If he knew you went that easy on him, he’d probably close his eyes again the moment he woke up.”

The Duchess added, her voice low, as she saw Lian’s expression grow heavy, “Well, it turned out for the best. He needed to accept that he could be wrong and that there might be people stronger than him.”

No one disagreed with that point.

Lian approached Eleanor, who was standing by the bed. “Eleanor, do you have a moment?”

“Yes?”

“The tone of our brief conversation suggested that my father didn’t enter the duel willingly. I’d like to confirm something.”

Lian explained as he lifted Eleanor’s hand. As he pulled the String Stone from his finger, Eleanor involuntarily gulped.

‘The Duke is also under a vow…?’

She watched the situation unfold, feeling tense.

Lian put the String Stone on his finger, approached the Duke, and placed his hand on his cheek.

“What do you see?” Eleanor asked nervously.

Lian answered in a low voice, “A red line has appeared.”

In the heavy silence, he turned his head as if following the line. It was unmistakably pointing north—in the direction of the Imperial Palace.

“Excuse me for a moment.” Sky came over and took the Marking Stone from Eleanor’s other finger. Then he approached the Duke and began to examine his body.

“I hope it’s on his upper body.”

He said this as he unbuttoned the Duke’s shirt, after checking his face and neck. Fortunately for Sky, his wish came true before Eleanor could even turn her head away.

“It’s here,” Sky said, pointing to a spot near the Duke’s left chest.

The three of them waited with uneasy expressions for him to speak.

“It’s a Vow of Truth.”

Eleanor let out a sigh of relief. It was a relief that it wasn’t a Vow of Subjugation.

“We can’t find out the content of the vow, can we?”

“No. We have to wake him up and ask.”

“When will he wake up?” The Duchess seemed eager to wake him immediately and find out.

However, Sky shook his head. “I think it’s better to let him sleep for now.”

“Why, Duke of Phaedra?”

“The Vow of Truth is heavily influenced by the vow-taker’s state of mind. The vow’s sanctions only begin when they believe they have broken it. Nothing happens if they don’t think they’ve broken it.”

“What does that mean?”

Sky took off the Marking Stone, handed it back to Eleanor, and explained. “Let’s say the Duke of Calabria made a Vow of Truth to love someone forever. At the same time, he has a very severe sadistic streak and beats that person every day. A person doing this would be miserable and wouldn’t consider it love. However, as long as the vow-taker believes it is love, it doesn’t violate the Vow of Truth.”

Lian frowned at Sky’s example, which seemed to contain personal feelings and a dig at him.

“Therefore, if he’s in a state where he can’t think, the vow will have no effect. So it’s better to keep him asleep until this whole situation is settled. It’ll be a headache if he wakes up and starts feeling guilty.”

The Duchess nodded in understanding at his explanation and asked, “Is there a way to safely keep him asleep?”

“Please get the herbs I’m about to mention. It’s possible just by burning an incense in the room.”

Sky went to the desk, wrote something on a piece of paper, and handed it to the Duchess. Then he approached Eleanor and said in a faint voice, “Ah, it’s so reassuring to have the Duke here. He’s just so wonderful.”

The feigned feminine tone was quite convincing.

Eleanor frowned and asked with a pouty expression, “…What was that?”

“The voice in your heart.”

Always so slick. Eleanor reacted indifferently, but Sky turned around triumphantly. He then spoke to the frowning Lian.

“You’d better rack up points while you can. It looks like things are about to get flipped.”

Lian responded stiffly to Sky’s provocative words. “This is not a game for points.”

“That’s what the person losing always says.”

Unnecessary tension arose between the two.

“You two, that’s enough!” Eleanor’s rebuke coincided with the opening of the door. It was Herhorn, who had left for the Line of Abrot that morning.

“His Grace, the Duke of Abrot, and His Grace, the Duke of Lowen, have arrived.”

It seemed that Ilias and Herhorn had crossed paths on their way.

Eleanor, seeing an opportunity to change the mood, immediately said, “Let’s all talk together, then.”

So the four of them began to move to the drawing room. Lian and Sky led the way, while Eleanor and the Duchess walked a little behind.

“Are you very worried?” Eleanor cautiously asked the Duchess, whose expression was darker than usual.

“Worried? After marrying that man, the only thing I had left was the grandmothers’ parties.” The Duchess said in a stiff voice, then gestured ahead. “Unlike me, you seem to have a lot of luck with men.”

The Duchess muttered as she looked at the broad shoulders of the two men walking ahead. Considering the hardships in her life that began with getting entangled with these two, Eleanor had mixed feelings, but she smiled, almost imperceptibly.

“Perhaps.”

“Eleanor!”

As they entered the drawing room, Minas’s lively voice rang out. She greeted Eleanor warmly. “Have you been well?”

“Yes, I have. Did you have any trouble on your way here?”

“Well, since we came in secretly, not really… Oh? Duke of Phaedra?” She looked surprised to see Sky.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“What’s going on? Why are you here?”

“We’ve started working together.”

Claude looked like he needed a lot of explanations, but Minas’s interest immediately shifted. “Oh, it’s the Count of Calabria.”

Minas asked with a smirk, “Are you feelin’ bettuh? Did you get all well now?”

Lian’s handsome face twitched. “…Thank you for your concern. I’m all better now.”

His voice was solemn, as if he was conscious of Sky, but it didn’t seem to reach Minas. “Aw, what a shame. You were so cute when you spoke with a lisp.”

At her regretful words, Sky raised an eyebrow. “Oh. So you spoke with a lisp, did you?”

“…My injuries were severe, that’s all.”

Lian said in a low voice, trying to change the subject away from himself. “I think it’s time we discussed the current situation.”

“Al-righty, let’s get goin’.” Minas gave Lian one last jab before everyone headed to the table.

“So this is the group that’s working together.” As they sat around the round table, Minas exclaimed in admiration, looking around the room. “Wow, everyone here is so dazzling and formidable. In Eleanor’s words, isn’t this the ‘K5’?”

Eleanor flinched when Minas mentioned a phrase from her work, ‘Knights Over Flowers,’ which came out this year. ‘The Duke even read it?’

Minas laughed, seeing her flustered. “Ah, I was quite bored being cooped up inside. The Duchess strongly recommended it.”

The Duchess nodded up and down proudly, with a look that said, ‘I did, didn’t I.’

“Since we’re all dukes, let’s call it the ‘DS.'”

Minas looked very pleased when the Duchess also agreed in a solemn voice. “It was quite fun. Claude was even engrossed in it.”

“It was just a good way to pass the time,” Claude said defensively in a stiff voice as the attention turned to him. “And there are six of us, so it should be the ‘D6.'”

“No. Eleanor is the protagonist. The female protagonist.”

“…Alright, let’s get to the point already!” Eleanor struggled to bring the conversation back from another tangent.

And so, in the lightest atmosphere in the history of the Empire, the conspiracy of rebellion began.

“The first thing we need to discuss is the trial that’s happening in two days,” the Duchess said, opening the conversation. As she said, the most important thing to corner the Crown Princess was to win the trial.

“This time, we won’t just recite the summary and move on, so we need to check our preparations.”

“How’s the part we initially discussed progressing?” They started exchanging information on their current progress, as they had divided the tasks by area.

“How’s the supply of the String Stones coming along?”

“It’s going smoothly. We should be able to get the number we wanted by the day after tomorrow.”

Minas clicked her tongue at Eleanor’s answer. “Getting such expensive things in large quantities… The Floyd family’s distribution network is truly incredible.”

“His Grace, the Duke of Bormia, has agreed to be in charge of distributing them to the attending nobles on the day of the trial.”

“That’s a good method. He’s a very trustworthy person.”

Sky, who had been listening to the conversation, spoke up. “May I ask a question?”

The Duchess, the eldest of the group, nodded, and he asked his question. “What’s the purpose of distributing those String Stones?”

“The knights who were guarding us when we were trapped underground were all under the Vow of Subjugation. The plan is to have the Crown Princess appear with some of them and have people see the red lines on them.”

Proving that she recklessly used forbidden magic was a trump card to reveal the Crown Princess’s true nature.

“…Coming here at this moment. The heavens truly helped us,” Sky muttered something unintelligible, then shook his head. “It’s a good plan on a grand scale, but it’s impossible.”

“What? Why?”

“Because those red lines won’t point to the Crown Princess.”

Two days before the trial, Sky dropped a bombshell that upended all of their preparations.

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