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Chapter 144: A Tragic Failure

Holding hands—this is a gesture with many different meanings. At its most basic, it is the physical contact of two individuals’ hands, but the action has come to mean much more. For instance, it can be interpreted as the fruition of courtship or, understood figuratively, an agreement between two powers to join hands with one another. When used in the context of an engagement, however, it carried some intimate undertones.

And then, there was Roel and Charlotte.

“...”

“...”

“Say, can’t you move a little?”

“How do you want me to move?”

“Just use more strength!”

Under Charlotte’s urging, Roel finally exerted a teeny tiny bit of strength, turning what was just pure physical contact into what vaguely resembled the traditional concept of hand-holding.

“It isn’t working. Like I have told you before, the chances of it working out are very slim.”

“As long as there’s a chance, we’ll have to give it a try. It’s better than searching aimlessly elsewhere.”

Despite grabbing onto Charlotte’s slightly chilly but tender hands, Roel’s expression remained completely nonchalant. But unlike what his face was showing, his heart was racing wildly. Putting aside her personality, Charlotte could truly be described as a delicate artwork. It wasn’t just about her appearance; even her touch and scent were satisfying to the senses.

Her lustrous skin had a quality that was as smooth as silk, and from proximity, Roel could smell a gentle and faint fragrance coming from her. Standing so close and being so intimate with a young lady as pure and impeccable as Charlotte was was honestly a bit enticing.

Roel grumbled many complaints, but his body was earnestly enjoying the sensation.

On the other hand, Charlotte had her head lowered, thinking up her next plan.

Do we need more intimacy than this?

Charlotte recalled the divination and prophecy spells she had learned in the past, and admittedly, the level of connection through holding hands was simply too low. In some of the old records, there were even cases of magicians consuming another person’s blood in order to trigger a vision.

Of course, such a method was too primitive, and Charlotte adamantly objected to it. However, if it was just an escalation of intimacy, that was still tolerable to her.

“Hug me.”

“What?”

“Hug me. It should increase the chances of our bloodlines resonating with one another. I’ll pay you 2000 gold coins, so hurry up!”

“This...”

To sell my own dignity for 2000 gold coins, this is simply too... Nay, 2000 gold coins is much more important!

Roel deemed his own dignity to be less than 2000 gold coins, so he gritted his teeth and did as he was told. In order to ensure customer satisfaction, he made sure to exert a bit more force than before, causing Charlotte to cry out in alarm as she was pulled straight into his embrace.

“Roel, can’t you be a little gentler?”

“Weren’t you the one who told me to use more strength?”

With their bodies pressed tightly against one another, Charlotte discovered her cheek was now leaning against Roel’s shoulder. For the first time since the start of the ‘experiments’, she found her face heating up. She quickly took two deep, silent breaths as she tried her best to control her own accelerating heartbeat.

“That’s before! Besides, I didn’t tell you to suddenly assault me!”

“Alright, alright. You’re the client here, so anything you say goes.”

It wouldn’t be right for Roel to complain after accepting Charlotte’s money, so he released his hands and left Charlotte to lean lightly against him. He found himself feeling more enticed than ever, so he quickly averted his head away, seeking to avoid those emerald eyes.

On the other hand, Charlotte also tried her best to control her breathing and heartbeat as she did everything she could to avoid looking at Roel’s face at proximity. In the end, she decided to focus her line of sight on his neck instead.

Unexpectedly, this action that she made out of shyness ended up bringing her attention to something suspicious.

“Hm?”

Charlotte stared at Roel’s fair neck in confusion as she noticed the absence of the love mark she saw earlier in the afternoon. Why was it no longer there?

Love marks were caused by sucking too hard on a part of the skin, resulting in the bursting of small blood vessels. Ordinary mortals would take around a week to recover from it, but transcendents, who boasted greater recovery ability, would only take around two days. The duration could be further reduced to just a single day for those who had physical type abilities.

That was clearly not the case for those of the Ascart House, who were known to be a house of magicians. It had only been several hours since the afternoon, so it was rather puzzling for the mark to have vanished within such a short span of time.

“You healed your neck?”

“Hm? What do you mean? Was there something on my neck?”

Roel turned his head over upon hearing Charlotte’s words. The hint of confusion in his eyes as he blinked blankly at her made him appear truly innocent, which made the situation even more puzzling to her.

What’s going on here? He doesn’t seem to be aware of it... Hold on a moment! Why is there a mana pulsation here?

Charlotte raised her hand and touched the skin where the love mark was previously, and she could sense a slight mana pulsation that was at odds with Roel’s mana.

This was the lingering trace of a spell, suggesting that the love mark was nothing more than a congregation of mana. It appeared that the spell was supposed to last for quite a while, but the earlier explosion of mana when the vision occurred had blasted the spell away, revealing the truth.

I... have been tricked?

Charlotte widened her eyes as she finally stumbled upon the truth. While Roel had quite messy interpersonal relationships with other women, he didn’t seem to be the type who would be so tactless as to get intimate with another woman prior to their first meeting and even leave a piece of evidence behind.

The realization that she had wronged Roel left her feeling a little self-reproachful, but she had no idea how to start apologizing about the matter either. Before she could do anything, however, a slight commotion sounded from the doors.

“Young miss, you have just returned, so you might not be very familiar with the current situation. Miss Charlotte is still present...”

“Yes, I understand. Don’t worry, I’ll console Lord Brother.”

“No, young miss, that’s not what I...”

Bam!

Without bothering to listen to the full situation, Alicia, in accordance with the plan, headed toward the dining room, where Roel was likely to be, so as to console him. If everything had gone according to Carter’s script, Roel should have already been rejected and was currently being criticized by Charlotte.

Alicia’s job here was none other than to barge in and clarify that the love mark was only a prank before apologizing to Roel about it.

With this, the engagement would be successfully canceled, and Roel’s reputation would be salvaged as well. Admittedly, Alicia would take the blame for the matter, and she might even incur Roel’s wrath, but she felt that it would be all worth it if she could get rid of that darned engagement.

Alicia hurried ahead so anxiously that Anna didn’t have the time to stop her. In the end, the door was slammed open, and a scene she had never expected to see unfurled before her eyes.

In a room without anyone else around, a boy and a girl had their bodies leaning against one another. The girl was tenderly stroking the boy’s neck, and the boy’s face was averted sideward out of shyness.

W-what’s going on?

According to their plan, shouldn’t the two of them have fallen out with one another by now? Why would they...

The silver-haired girl, who just barged in, stood in the doorway in bewilderment.

Charlotte, however, sharply sensed the aura Alicia was giving off. She compared the aura to the lingering traces of mana left on Roel’s neck, and her emerald eyes immediately narrowed.

It’s her.

...

Roel found himself in an awkward position with Alicia suddenly on the scene.

In his view, Alicia had headed out earlier in the day as a mini act of protest against his engagement, and yet, as soon as she returned home, she was met with the sight of him and Charlotte hugging one another.

Had he been in Alicia’s position, such a scene would have definitely been a huge blow.

Roel immediately tried to explain things to the stunned Alicia, but before he could say anything, a doubtful voice sounded right in front of him.

“Darling, who is she?”

???

The words coming from the auburn-haired girl in his embrace left Roel completely blanked out. He directed widened eyes toward her, only to find that her nonchalant face had faded to reveal a coy smile. She looked so adorable that for a split second there, he thought that he was hugging his lover.

“Darling? Are you listening?”

Seemingly realizing that Roel was a little out of it, the girl in his embrace pinched on him lightly, causing him to quickly snap out of his daze. He immediately glared at her, only to hear a soft whisper in his ear.

“3000.”

“Hahaha... Miss Charlotte, please calm down. She is my younger sister, Alicia...”

As soon as Roel heard the money offered, he straightened his back, and with a soft chuckle, he began introducing Alicia to his customer, Charlotte. The two girls greeted one another with what could have been described as near perfect etiquette, just that the expressions on their faces were vastly different.

Charlotte had a friendly smile reminiscent of an older sister meeting her love’s younger sister for the first time, but Alicia’s face was ghastly pale. Her ruby eyes were filled with confusion, and the atmosphere she was giving off was as if she had just fallen out of love.

“Lord Brother, w-what were the two of you doing?”

“Ah! Alicia, we were actually...”

“My apologies, Alicia. This is the first time Roel and I are meeting one another, so we ended up allowing our excitement to get ahead of ourselves. It’s indeed inappropriate for us to be so hasty.”

Charlotte unhesitatingly interjected into Roel’s words, cutting his explanation off short. She took a step toward Alicia, conveniently positioning Roel behind her back as she offered a sincere apology.

“As an engaged couple deeply in love with one another, I view it my responsibility to fulfill the needs of my darling. However, you can be assured that I’ll pay careful heed to propriety in the future. There are indeed some things... that would only be appropriate for after marriage.”

Charlotte shot a shy smile at the boy behind her before lowering her flushed face, almost as if a bride waiting for her fiancé to bring her back home. Roel’s lips twitched at that sight. He felt like he had just uncovered new horizons before him.

How could someone be this good at acting? Also, what do you mean by ‘fulfilling my needs’?

Roel could only stand there stupidly, and it was even worse for Alicia. The silver-haired girl stared at the couple before her, who looked as if they were going to marry the very next day, with her mouth agape, completely unable to comprehend just where their plans had gone wrong.

“M-Miss Charlotte, Lord Brother has a very complicated love life. I think that you should better understand him first before coming to a decision...”

“Oh? Are you referring to those women who are interested in my fiancé? It doesn’t matter to me at all. I’m not too concerned about them.”

Charlotte looked at the staggering Alicia with her brilliant emerald eyes, a gentle smile sitting on her lips.

“I understand that my darling is an outstanding man, be it his appearance, his character, or his talents. It’s perfectly normal for many women to covet him. There are bound to be other women in his life prior to our meeting, and I’m fine with that...”

As she said those words, Charlotte turned around and pounced right into Roel’s embrace. Then, she turned her head backward and added with a blissful smile.

“... because his future belongs to me.”

Alicia’s pupils dilated in shock. She stared at how Roel remained completely still despite Charlotte’s bold act, not bothering to shake the girl away at all. All of a sudden, she felt extremely powerless. Her body swayed weakly from side to side as she confusedly bade her farewell and bolted off.

“Say, can you not bully my little sister like this? She’s still a child.”

“A child? Hah. Would a child leave a love mark on your neck?”

Charlotte took a step back from Roel before straightening upright. Then, she divulged everything that had happened earlier from her perspective to him. Hearing the full story, a bizarre look surfaced on Roel’s face.

Alicia, Nora, Anna, and the others had worked with one another to put on an act before Charlotte? Such a thing... doesn’t sound very probable.

He knew that Alicia was very concerned about his reputation, and she always made sure not to say anything that would blemish his name. Nora was a sadist, but she was careful to never reveal it before others, let alone implicate him in it. As for Anna, that was even more impossible. Back then, when Alicia was still giving him the cold shoulder, Anna made sure to seek his permission first before making a move.

“Hold it for a moment, you mentioned an army of professional spies...”

Roel blinked his eyes blankly for a moment before a spark flashed across his head.

The concept of professional spies led Roel’s train of thoughts toward the military, and the first person that popped into his mind was his father. All of a sudden, everything seemed to make perfect sense to him.

Goddamnit! So, you were actually the mastermind behind this, father! You already have your hands full dealing with rations at the frontline, yet you’re still secretly pulling strings over here, huh?

Having finally figured out the truth, Roel felt utterly speechless, not knowing whether he should laugh or cry at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. Carter’s maneuver had really complicated things between him and Charlotte.

While Roel was brooding over the chain of events, Charlotte fell into deep thoughts as well.

“I see. But even though she isn’t the mastermind, she’s still an accomplice. If I leave her be, it’s likely that it’ll interfere in our work...”

“What are you intending to do?”

“100,000 gold coins. Send her off for a month.”