A Mastermind? No, I'm just the Live-In Son-in-Law-Chapter 97: Duel

“Why are you acting like that all of a sudden?”

“...What do you mean?”

“Haah, fine. But can we at least put this down and talk first?”

Whitney’s sudden shift into aggressive skinship was, to put it bluntly, the height of awkwardness.

“I don’t quite understand what you’re saying.”

“...You, ugh.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

Honestly, it was only natural. Neither had any real romantic experience—Whitney, in both his past and present lives, had been completely clueless, and Meredia, the villainess, had barely interacted properly with people at all.

The fact that any skinship between them was happening at all was practically a miracle.

“Whitney, stop it.”

“...No.”

“You bastard....”

Thus, the sudden scuffle between them turned into a bizarre scene where Whitney desperately tried to hug Meredia, and Meredia desperately tried to push him away.

“.......”

Of course, if gossip journalists or thrill-seekers had seen it, they would’ve paid millions to watch.

But for the servants of the mansion, it was pure torture—especially for those who had heard rumors that anyone who witnessed the sensitive or shameful happenings in the mansion would mysteriously disappear the next day.

“From now on, you didn’t see anything and you didn’t hear anything, alright?”

“Hik.”

“...Understood?”

And right at that moment, Sasha, who had been blankly staring toward the garden, began whispering, and the faces of the new servants turned even paler.

“Oh my, look at that....”

“Master is surprisingly bold....”

“...Are you crazy? Lower your eyes, now.”

Some of the younger maids, faces flushed, secretly sneaked glances and were promptly scolded.

Either way, the servants of the Ringaarden mansion buried another horror story deep in their hearts and fulfilled their duties today as well.

“Um, Young Lady.”

“...What.”

“You realize this is your fault, right?”

Meanwhile, Meredia, who was glaring at Whitney half-filled with killing intent, turned her ear slightly toward the brazen voice of Parsha.

“What are you talking about....”

“...You exposed your pheromones fully to see if Master would fall for them, didn’t you?”

At those words, which struck right at her blind spot, Meredia quickly dropped the killing aura from her eyes and turned her gaze away.

“Thanks to that, Master’s completely pickled in pheromones now. In other words, he’s lost his mind.”

“...That’s... definitely my fault.”

Just as Parsha said, it was Meredia herself who caused Whitney’s sudden foolish behavior, and no excuse would change that.

“But that woman wagged her tail right in front of me.”

“......Haha.”

“I was planning to use it as an excuse to kill her if he fell for it. Guess she’s lucky.”

Still, since the greatest provocation had come from Ferris, who dared to wag her tail at Meredia’s fiancé, it would’ve been normal, given Meredia’s personality, for blood to have already been spilled.

“...No, maybe I should just quietly kill her anyway.”

It was only because Meredia didn’t want to sabotage the founding of the Ringaarden County’s knight order that peace was barely maintained.

“Wow, but it seems Master really does like you, Young Lady.”

“......?”

Sensing Meredia’s still-uncomfortable mood, Parsha suddenly spoke brightly, trying to engage her.

“The original owner of the pheromones aside, there are women all over the place here. Yet Master’s only got eyes for one.”

“......,”

“This is practically a miracle. Don’t you think?”

Meredia glanced around briefly, then cleared her throat before answering.

“If the heir of a mere Count’s family is lucky enough to win the only ducal heiress in the Empire, then naturally, he should only have eyes for me.”

Though her words were stiff, Meredia’s voice had softened considerably.

“...Now that you say it, that does make sense!”

Parsha tilted her head slightly at how familiar this pattern felt, but quickly decided it was better to just roll with it.

“.......”

Then came a short silence.

“...Hug me.”

Breaking that silence, Whitney spread his arms wide and spoke with a bright, innocent smile.

Meredia bit her lower lip, struggling internally for a moment, before finally giving up and leaning quietly into him.

“Young Lady, you smell like perfume.”

“...Shut up.”

“Haha....”

If anyone still claiming their relationship was a purely strategic contract marriage saw this, it would have been quite a sight.

“Wait a second. You—watch your hands. How far do you think you’re going?”

“...Is it not allowed?”

“Are you seriously trying to die? Don’t you see all the people around?”

At first, it might’ve been amusing, but as the intensity increased, the atmosphere probably became increasingly awkward.

“Come on now... Ouch, ouch, ouch—”

“...Die.”

Naturally, it was Meredia, who had to endure all the increasing skinship from a completely pheromone-dazed Whitney, who bore the heavier burden.

“I think... we’ll need to pause the interviews!”

As the scuffle continued endlessly, Parsha, who had been peeking in nervously, finally declared a temporary halt to the knight order interviews.

“...I’m not really used to things like this.”

Meanwhile, Lunelle, apparently not very resistant to this kind of scene, covered her eyes with both hands while peeking through her fingers.

“Lunelle, it’s a good chance! Why not catch your breath?”

“......!”

“Your younger siblings are up next!”

Snapping out of it at Parsha’s voice, Lunelle quietly shook her head.

“That’s... a tie ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) from the past.”

Though her face, for a moment, showed a rare girl-like expression, it soon returned to her usual stiffness.

***

During the middle of the interviews, after the unexpected mishap where my head suddenly spun and everything nearly fell apart was somehow resolved.

“Yes, then.... Uh, um.”

“...Here.”

“Ah, yes.”

Barely regaining my senses and returning as the one responsible for conducting the interviews, I hastily grabbed hold of my focus as I took the documents handed to me by the Young Lady, stammering with a dazed expression.

‘...My whole body smells like the Young Lady’s perfume.’

But no matter how much I tried to gather my wits, the lingering scent, soaked into me from the rather rude skinship I had committed while half out of my mind earlier, kept disrupting my concentration.

‘...Did Lady Meredia usually wear such a strong perfume?’

Thinking about it for a moment, wasn’t Lady Meredia someone who absolutely despised obvious perfumes or flashy decorations more than anything in the world?

Could it be that she wore perfume today just because of me? No, even if that were the case, that would be way too self-indulgent of a thought.

“...What are you staring at.”

“Nothing at all.”

I had a strong urge to ask, but the chilling glare that hit me the moment I shifted my gaze made me forcibly suppress my curiosity and focus back on the documents.

“Then, the next ones.... Ah.”

And only then did I realize why the atmosphere among the interviewers, aside from myself, felt slightly heavy.

“...Richard Misthylene and Evangeline Misthylene. Please come in.”

Normally, a family reunion should be accompanied by tears and emotional embraces, but not everything in this world operates by the textbook.

There are plenty of people in this world for whom the word "family," typically synonymous with warmth and unity, evokes quite the opposite emotion.

“.......”

The moment I finished calling their names, a chilling, cold tension filled the air between the two siblings and Lunelle—a textbook example of that unfortunate reality.

‘Is it really okay to have them in the same place?’

Even though I was the one responsible for the interview, I couldn’t help but feel wary of the atmosphere surrounding Lunelle and the two siblings.

“...This is a mess.”

“Hah, what the hell is this supposed to be.”

Scratching my head awkwardly, trying to find a way to open the conversation, I suddenly heard the cold voices of both Parsha and Lady Meredia at the same time.

“What’s wrong?”

“Those two have no intention of sincerely participating in the interview.”

“It’s not the attitude of someone bracing for failure—they came already intending to fail.”

Hearing their shared analysis, I tilted my head in disbelief.

“...They came intending to fail? I don’t really understand?”

“Right? I don’t get it either.”

“Same here. But it seems like they do have another goal. Let’s just wait and see.”

Parsha and Meredia answered my question, while Lunelle silently lowered her head and remained silent.

“Hey....”

“...Let’s just leave it for now.”

Lady Meredia seemed about to intervene, but I decided it was better to observe quietly rather than press Lunelle.

‘Still, it’s a shame if they have no intention of joining the knight order....’

How much time had passed?

Finally, the two siblings slowly began to speak.

“...Richard, eldest son of the Misthylene family, renowned for swordsmanship.”

“...Evangeline, second daughter.”

The look in their eyes as they introduced themselves was filled with clear hostility.

“.......”

And the problem was, that hostility was unmistakably directed at Lunelle.

‘At this point, I’m seriously curious what happened between them.’

While it's an unspoken rule that a boss should not pry into subordinates’ private matters, this situation seemed serious enough that it might be necessary to know for Lunelle’s sake.

“Thank you for participating in the interview....”

As I thought that and tried to proceed with the formalities, it happened.

– Goooooo....

A crushing aura suddenly filled the entire garden.

“......!”

The two siblings, who had been glaring at Lunelle with murderous eyes, flinched and immediately fell into combat stances.

“...Young Lady?”

“I can’t stand seeing brats act all high and mighty.”

It seemed Lady Meredia, resting her chin on her hand with a bored expression, had unleashed the pressure of her jewel eye upon them.

“...Well, at least they’re not completely useless.”

“Ooh.”

Remarkably, both siblings managed to withstand it without collapsing or losing their composure.

For reference, I, having once faced a similar amount of killing intent from Lady Meredia, fainted right there at her feet.

Even now, after realizing the power of domination within me, I’m certain that if I were to face her killing intent again, I would immediately pass out.

Thus, at the very least, these two could be said to have reached a level where they could somewhat maintain sanity even in front of Meredia.

“The test ends here.”

“...Haah, haah.”

“Huff.”

Still, when Meredia withdrew her aura, both siblings wiped cold sweat and sighed heavily.

“Well then. Time to get serious....”

Of course, what Meredia had just done was her own personal experiment.

My test—the trial of my domination power—was still waiting to be administered.

I was quietly gathering my energy when it happened.

“...Master, forgive me, but I have a suggestion.”

Lunelle, who had remained silent despite the appearance of her siblings, finally opened her mouth.

“For the second test, may we proceed in the form of a duel?”

“...Huh?”

Admittedly, that was not quite the suggestion I had been expecting.