Chapter 127. No Banquet is Complete Without a Young Lady (6)
Before Gilbert Thornton was yet Viscount Gilbert Thornton.
Gilbert had always been tornted by anxiety.
'Is this truly the limit of your ability? A pathetic wretch who can't even match his own younger brother.'
'Your mother must be lanting from the afterlife.'
'Had you been the second son rather than the firstborn, you would never have dread of the head of the family seat.'
His father always regarded Gilbert with eyes full of dissatisfaction. And at his back, a younger brother brimming with talent was pressing close behind.
'Apply yourself further. You are still lacking.'
Perhaps it was a strictness ant to urge him never to slacken his discipline for even a mont. Devoting oneself to the family's future rather than its warmth and closeness. That, after all, was the worldview of Britannia's nobility.
Gilbert tried. As the eldest son, he threw himself aboard trading vessels among rough seafarers, and on swaying decks he kept his training as a Knight from falling behind. For primal power ultimately ca from strength, and personal martial force was the proof of one's right to power.
That effort went unrewarded.
'The title will pass to your younger brother.'
'Father! Have I not done everything in my power! Have I not struggled with every last bit of my strength! This is my very best!'
'Then devote your very best going forward to supporting your younger brother. While ruminating on why that is the limit of what you can offer.'
'Father……!'
'Leave.'
What had gone wrong.
Himself, for not having pushed to the very brink of death in his efforts? His father, for insisting on ability over the right of the firstborn? Or his younger brother, who comforted him to his face while laughing and sneering behind his back?
In the ti when Gilbert was swallowing tears of blood and suffering.
'The fault does not lie with you.'
On a drizzling night, they ca to him. Those draped from head to toe in white robes did not introduce who they were or what organisation they belonged to. Even so, Gilbert recognised at once what they were.
The End Order. The most feared beings lurking in the shadows across the continent.
'Your lantations and hatred have reached even our ears. Please, speak with those lips what it is you desire.'
Gilbert took hold of the devil's lamp.
His father, who had been in good health, died suddenly of illness. His younger brother, who had been aboard a trading vessel, was swallowed without a sound into the depths of the sea, caught in a storm.
The will held in trust at the bank bore a single line, stating that all rights and assets of the family were to be inherited by the eldest son, Gilbert Thornton.
It was his father's handwriting, beyond a shadow of doubt.
And so Gilbert beca Viscount Thornton.
'Viscount Thornton, shall we go sowhere quieter? Sowhere away from prying eyes.'
'Lord Thornton, let us discuss the logistics venture.'
'Please, just hear this proposal of mine once!'
Those who had subtly disregarded him ca flocking. Young and beautiful noble ladies, promising entrepreneurs, the nobles of the North.
If asked to na the most brilliant and beautiful mont of his life, Gilbert would choose these days without hesitation.
'I have no more regrets in life. What shall I give in return? Money? Shall I offer up won? Or shall I procure prisoners to be used for human sacrifice?'
Gilbert asked the End Order devotee who had been with him all along.
'Nothing at all.'
'Why?'
'Because paynt has already been received.'
She answered with a gentle smile. Gilbert smiled back.
Having shed even the sense of debt that had lingered in one corner of his heart, he had at last beco the true protagonist of his own life.
Just as he always had——enjoying parties, indulging in drink and revelry, boasting of his dazzling Way with Won, strangling entertainers to death, draping himself in fine clothing, burning children alive, herding vagrants into cargo fleets.
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He would be the great Viscount Thornton.
"I'll kill them. How dare they, how dare they subject
to such humiliation……!"
Face twisted like a worn-out rag, he muttered endlessly before the front gates of the Ashford Marquis Family's mansion.
How was he to repay this humiliation?
"First, Penelope——that loose woman——I'll kill her. Then the utterly lowborn Commoner scum at her side——I'll kill him too. Vivian——that woman who's all mouth for her station——I'll kill her as well."
The problem was. The mont 'but how?' was appended to the end, the answer was nowhere in sight.
The power of the Thornton Viscountcy was considerable, but however one looked at it, it was not possible to coolly do away with a noble lady in broad daylight as one might a Commoner. A revenge of half-asures was not even remotely satisfying.
"Lord Gilbert."
Soone gently placed a hand on his shoulder, complicated as it was with fury and troubled thoughts.
"There is no need to make this so difficult."
"Petsy."
"Will you leave it to us?"
That was right. He had the devil's lamp.
***
"They said it was for distinguished guests. It really is lovely."
Penelope strolled through the courtyard set within the north Annex building and nodded approvingly.
Rosemore, which held tradition in high regard, had a mansion that was rather old-fashioned for its prestige. The Ashford Marquis Family, by contrast, had a splendour that seed to incorporate every last fashionable trend. Snow roses blooming vibrantly even beneath the snowfall, and a fountain gilded all over.
The guests staying in this Annex numbered a re dozen or so, and the night was bitterly cold. Much to the magnificent garden's misfortune, its only audience was two people.
"Certainly. It is the most beautiful garden I have seen thus far. A bit cold, though."
"You're a man. You can handle a bit of cold."
Penelope, who had changed out of her party dress into comfortable clothing. And Jurgen.
"Are you sure you're not hurt anywhere?"
"How many tis are you going to ask? I said I'm perfectly fine."
"You seem precarious sotis. It's like you think you have nine lives."
Seeing Viscount Thornton or whoever he was, that worthless wretch, with his hand around Jurgen's collar—— She had been so alard she could hardly say. She had blasted the wind she'd drawn out through Alchemy straight into his forehead for now, but……
"You ought to be a bit more careful yourself. Are you certain you're alright? Viscount Thornton, whatever else he may be, is still a Viscount."
"What are you scolding the person who ca to help you for!"
"He seed obviously petty, and I worried he might retaliate out of spite."
"h, it doesn't matter."
The Thornton Viscountcy ran its family business primarily around mariti logistics and wielded considerable influence, but……
There was no real point of contact with Y&P Trading Company. They were still in the midst of delivering goods to various parts of the kingdom, and exporting overseas was a distant prospect.
"It's funny hearing you say that. I'd wager Elder Sister Clarisse is five hundred tis more frightening than Viscount Thornton. You're not frightened of Elder Sister, but you're frightened of that man with the long philtrum like a horse?"
"Is that so?"
"That's what I'm saying."
Even at Jurgen's concern, Penelope laughed with a quiet giggle. It occurred to him that he had been seeing her laugh quite often lately.
"I've been thinking about sothing a little today."
"About what?"
"I've been wondering whether I might be keeping too tight a hold on you."
Jurgen looked at Penelope quizzically at the sudden strange remark.
"You know, well. Even though our goal is Y&P Trading Company, when Vivian ca with her scouting offer, I stepped in and shut it down on your behalf."
"Ahh, was it that? Think nothing of it."
"No, I'm the one thinking about it. If you were to just up and leave one day because of it, I'd be left all alone in Y&P Trading Company, wouldn't I?"
Jurgen's aims were firm. Even if it had not been Vivian but the Queen herself who ca asking him to work together, he would have declined. But Penelope appeared to feel her own sense of indebtedness.
Fidgeting restlessly with her fingertips, drawing out her words, and so on. When she showed signs that were unlike her usual self, she was generally in that kind of state.
"So……."
Penelope suddenly drew in a deep breath and spoke.
"……I want to give you a gift."
"A gift?"
Penelope hesitated, then drew a rolled sheet of paper from inside her clothing.
"Read it."
"Is this not a contract?"
He unrolled it to find that it was, indeed, a contract. Thinking she might be adjusting the stake arrangents, Jurgen opened it up and was caught off guard by its unfamiliar contents.
[Contract for the Fulfilnt of a Wish]
"This contract, established on the basis of mutual trust between Penelope Rosemore (hereafter 'the Contracting Party') and Jurgen (hereafter 'the Empowered Party'), is intended to set forth the following rights and obligations…… What on earth is all this?"
"No, wait! Why are you suddenly reading it out loud! Just look at it!"
Penelope flustered and panicked. The contents below were equally remarkable.
Article 1. Grant of Right. The 'Contracting Party' hereby grants the 'Empowered Party' the absolute right to demand and have fulfilled any single wish of any nature the 'Empowered Party' desires.
That was to say, it was a Wish Voucher. The only difference being that it was set down in an orderly format that would hold up before a notary, written in Penelope's elegant cursive hand.
Along with that, stipulations to the effect that wishes compelling acts of treason against the kingdom or inhumane acts that would violate mutual trust could not be granted—— True to the ticulous Penelope, there were also diligent fine-print clauses.
"Anyway, you understand, don't you? I'll give this to you."
Penelope, apparently embarrassed herself, fanned her hand before her face and shot him a sideways glance.
It was a charming gesture, unlike her usual self. Serena would be absolutely delighted if shown this, but it would be cruel to Penelope, so let us refrain.
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
"I was wondering what wish I ought to make."
"Already?"
"I can't squander such a fine opportunity carelessly, can I? I must consider it seriously."
As he teased her playfully, Penelope gave a start and abruptly drew her shawl tightly around herself. But soon, her grip on it loosened.
"Anything."
"Pardon?"
Penelope cast a steady gaze toward him.
"……I said anything."
Without either of them going first, they each quietly looked away. It was a night bright with moonlight.
***
When they returned to the mansion, there was an unexpected visitor.
"Miss Penelope, oh my——Jurgen is here as well?"
No, calling her a visitor was not quite right. She was the owner of this mansion, after all.
"It's gotten late and I couldn't sleep. I ca for a drink. I hope I haven't interrupted anything?"
It was Vivian Ashford, holding four wine bottles threaded between the fingers of both hands. Whatever the two of them had talked about in the anti, they looked considerably closer.
It was already around four in the morning, but Knights were creatures who were half made of iron to begin with.
The three of them moved to a corner of the reception room and laid out a simple spread of drinks.
Penelope joined in willingly. Seeing how Vivian had handled Viscount Thornton, the talk of friendship had not seed entirely dishonest——and if that was the case, there was no harm in growing closer.
"Was it alright to treat Viscount Thornton that way?"
"How so?"
"Well, you stood up for ."
More accurately, she had driven Gilbert out.
"Ahahaha!"
Vivian laughed brightly. Her rolled bun swayed like a spring.
"I intend to live at least another hundred years. At minimum."
"……?"
"So I have to choose with consideration for who holds more promise in the long run. Not just the present mont. And besides, you are Clarisse's sore spot."
"Ah……."
Penelope felt as though everything suddenly beca clear. Vivian and Clarisse had been rivals since their university days——two prodigies in different fields.
Well, it was not particularly botherso. Operating on calculations was not a bad thing.
"What was Elder Sister like at university?"
"A woman who made my appetite completely disappear."
Since things had co to this point, Penelope asked sothing a little more personal. Vivian scrunched her nose thoroughly, but answered well all the sa.
And around that ti.
"Mmmmgh…… mmmm……."
Serena, who had co back to her suite earlier than the others and was sleeping soundly——drool at the corner of her mouth——in the premium distinguished-guest suite provided by the Marquis Family, on what was an extraordinarily comfortable bed under exceptional room conditions——
"EEEEK!!!!"
Bolted upright in bed.
"Wh-wh-what, sothing feels ominous……."
And yet goosebumps were prickling all up and down Serena's arms.
"I, I need to get to Jurgen……!"
She didn't quite know why, but the cry of instinct was whispering to her.
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