Chapter 43 – Indeterminate Polyhedron (2)  

“I thought I made sure to keep the news under wraps, but the Helwin family seems to be quite well connected. The item is only passing by my hands; it’s meant for someone else.”

“What a lucky person. I don’t intend to make you feel uncomfortable, but it’s just that we have heard something concerning.”

“I didn’t expect the Helwin family to be interested in such an item. Alright, I will hear you out. But since we are in the middle of the banquet, let’s talk about it later. I’ll arrange a room for us to talk in a little while,” the Earl sighed after staring at Heretia for a moment.

Heretia slightly nodded.

Meanwhile, Juan let out a deep sigh after Earl Henborn left, and Heretia tapped his shoulder. He sat down on a chair nearby, almost as if he was too tired to even stay standing.

“Thanks,” Heretia whispered.

“Promise me that you won’t say anything when I cut off his head after you’re done with your business.”

“...Let’s not do anything reckless now. I’ve been thinking that I want to maintain a good relationship with you rather than Earl Henborn. You should remember that Earl Henborn is the lord of Hiveden and the one who manages all the gangs here.”

Juan let her warning fall on deaf ears. He had already made up his mind on what to do with Earl Henborn.

“Couldn’t you have just gone up to him and suggested ‘let’s talk’?”

“That’s not the way of the nobles. Our way is to run into each other by coincidence at a simple social gathering, and talk about business as if that wasn’t the primary intention in the first place. Only after repeating that process three to four times do the business talks really begin. But I’m in a rush, so I’m planning to end it here at once.”

“I hope everyone dies,” Juan said as if he genuinely meant it. “Things were so much more simple back in the day.”

“You sound like an old man. I’m sure things weren’t that different in the border area either. Or maybe you just didn’t know.”

Juan wanted to deny it but then realized that it would be difficult to compare his case to that of ordinary people. When he was the emperor, all kings and nobles would submit and kneel whenever he made an appearance; Juan’s words weren’t suggestions, but orders to them.

‘Maybe these processes were conducted behind my back.’

Tradition wasn’t easily created, nor was it easily changed. Juan decided to respect Heretia’s ways.

At that moment, a commotion came from one side of the party to draw everyone’s attention. A small girl about the same height as Juan was surrounded by other girls, as she was looking at Juan with shy eyes.

“It’s the Earl’s daughter,” Heretia informed Juan.

Juan had a bad feeling about this. The other girls around her were whispering to the small girl, almost as if they were urging her to do something. The other girls forcibly brought the daughter of Earl Henborn in front of Juan.

“W-would you like to dance with me?” the girl said hesitantly, her eyes closed tightly out of embarrassment.

Only then did Juan understand why she was acting shy. At the same time, Heretia was a little surprised but soon snickered.

“See? Didn’t I tell you that all women will fall in love with you,” Heretia whispered.

“Shut up.”

To dance with Juan required the approval of his owner. After all, Juan’s position in this banquet was not much different from that of the pet.

However, the Earl’s daughter couldn’t take her eyes off of Juan. Her rosy cheeks and hazy eyes clearly indicated that she had fallen in love with him.

“Do I have to accept her dance?”

“That would be preferable, but you don’t have to, since I’m the one that gets to decide whether you can dance with others. But do make sure to reject her gently…” Even before Heretia could finish what she was saying, Juan took the Earl’s daughter’s hand. The girl flinched as their hands touched, but Juan didn’t let go of her hand.

“It would be an honor, my lady.”

Juan led her to the middle of the dance floor. On the dance floor, there were other servants like Juan dancing with their owners or with those that asked for permission from their owners.

Heretia stared at Juan’s back in astonishment. She felt that there could be no way that Juan knew how to dance while following the proper etiquette. But her concerns were soon proven to be unnecessary. Everyone’s attention was still aimed at Juan. Heretia felt a little bitter, thinking that she had never received such attention even in her birthday parties.

Soon enough, Heretia replaced the Earl’s daughter as Juan’s dance partner.

“...When did you learn to dance?”

“I thought I might need the skills at some point in life, so I learned it. It wasn’t that different from learning swordsmanship.”

Heretia recalled Juan’s dance moves. Although it seemed Juan didn’t know about the current trends, his classical yet elegant moves captured the eyes of even the musicians. Before anyone knew it, the musicians were adjusting their rhythm according to Juan’s moves. By the end of the second piece, the stage had turned into Juan’s solo performance. Partners were changed each time a piece ended, but Earl’s daughter wished to keep dancing with Juan.

However, regardless of her wish, Heretia took the spot of Juan’s dance partner with her authority as his owner.

“Not bad. You continue to amaze me.”

“You told me earlier that women are attracted when men show their unexpected sides.”

Heretia was on the verge of raging out on Juan, but stopped; she had no idea why she was so upset. She didn’t want to waste her emotions and time on such a small boy, but she couldn’t help feeling irritated.

“Are you going to continue dancing?”

“I’ll do as you say, so just give me orders. I won’t be following any of them starting from tomorrow anyway.”

“There’s lots of ladies in line for you, so just deal with them moderately. But you don’t need to deal with all of them. Find your way out after a while and I’ll take care of it after that,” Heretia whispered as she pretended not to feel apologetic.

“Alright.”

Finally, the piece ended. Juan and Heretia separated from each other and moved on to their next partners.

At the same time, almost as if she had been waiting for the piece to end, the Earl’s daughter grabbed Juan’s hand. Her hand tightly clenching Juan’s clearly showed her intention to not let other girls have him.

‘Well, that’s it for more partners.’

As Juan politely lifted his head up, he located a familiar face within the crowd while looking over the shoulder of the Earl’s daughter; it was Anya. Anya was wearing a dress like any other ordinary lady, unlike her usual leather clothing. She was also staring back at Juan with perplexed eyes as she had also recognized him.

The next piece began. Even though Juan was moving his body reflexively, he kept monitoring Anya. Juan could sense that she was hiding weapons under her dress. It was only after dancing three more rounds with the Earl’s daughter that Juan was able to leave the dance floor.

As soon as he escaped the Earl’s daughter, Juan immediately approached Anya, but he stopped as she tried to run away with a flustered look. He couldn’t do anything that might bring trouble to Heretia. That was his only mission today.

Anya soon disappeared into the crowd.

“Where were you going all of a sudden?” Heretia said as she chased after Juan. When Juan left the stage, Heretia expected him to come toward her, but Juan had been going in a different direction instead.

Juan glared at the direction in which Anya disappeared into the crowd, but soon shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it.”

At that moment, a young man approached Heretia and Juan with his face red as if he was already drunk. He glared angrily at Juan as their eyes met.

“What are you looking at, kid?” the young man growled.

“Sir Kelmori. What brings you here?” Heretia answered him before Juan could retort.

The young man called Kelmori looked at Heretia without a response and then turned his head with a scoff.

Juan’s eyebrows twitched at his rude attitude. “He’s the fiancé of Earl Henborn’s daughter,” Heritia hastily whispered.

It didn’t take long for Juan to understand Kelmori’s rudeness. Earl Henborn’s daughter, who was also his fiancée, could practically be considered the heroine of the banquet, as the banquet was organized by Earl Henborn. Kelmori was supposed to be the center of attention, and yet Juan had stolen his spotlight, not to mention his fiance’s heart as well. Furthermore, the kid’s owner was a noble he couldn’t even compare himself to, which meant he couldn’t even take his anger out on the kid.

‘What a poor mass of inferiority complex.’

That was the end of Juan’s description of him.

“Hmph, a barbarian imitating a civilized man…” Kelmori snorted.

“Sir Kelmori. If you have something to say about my servant, tell it to me directly.”

“It’s nothing, my lady. I was just afraid that bringing a barbarian to the banquet might degrade both the banquet as well as your name.”

“Oh my, I wasn’t far-sighted enough to consider that. Thank you for your concern. I’ll be more than happy to share your kind concern with Lady Elemour and Lady Lind. I’m sure they would be very appreciative of you if they knew how their servants were being judged in public.”

Kelmori frowned at Heretia’s words. He was drunk, but he still recognized the names Heretia had just mentioned. Both the ladies had black-haired servants, and came from families that held a powerful influence over the Earl Henborn’s family. If Heretia delivered those words, Kelmori would be forced to bow his head and apologize.

However, Heretia did not intend to do so, as she didn’t want to create a rift between Earl Henborn and herself when she was in the position to make a deal with him.

But Kelmori didn’t know this, and so he had no choice but to back off. Even as he ran away, he decided to provoke Juan in an attempt to make up for his ego.

“What a coward to hide under a lady’s skirt… his size perfectly fits the skirt, huh? I bet he even keeps you satisfied under the banquet tables.”

Heretia kept a smile on her face regardless of his biting remark, as she had many ways to retaliate against him later on; she was a skilled politician.

On the other hand, looking at Heretia not even flinching, Kelmori turned around and snorted.

“Disgusting apostolic family that only survived by kissing the Pope’s ass… They should’ve pulled your family out by the roots…”

This time, Juan moved before Heretia could even part her lips in reply. Juan kicked Kelmori in the shin as he was backing away. Suddenly losing his balance, Kelmori spilt his wine all over his face and fell to the floor.

Everyone’s attention was drawn to the sound of the wine glass shattering, and Kelmori’s face turned red with embarrassment due to the embarrassing situation.

“W-what have you…”

Kelmori stuttered as he looked at the small boy standing in front of him.

Juan coldly looked down on Kelmori, and threw the white glove that he was wearing at Kelmori’s face.

Slap!

The glove was thrown so hard that Kelmori’s head turned to the opposite side.

Juan didn’t stop there, and threw his other glove as well.

.

“The times have changed but dirty bastards like you still remain.”

“You-what, f… Do you have a death w…”

“Let’s duel, you trash. No servant is going to stand and do nothing while their owner’s reputation gets dragged through the mud.”

Kelmori dumbfoundedly stared at Juan, as if he couldn’t comprehend what was going on. The whole banquet fell in silence.

“Juan, your way of requesting duels was abolished forty years ago. This punk probably doesn’t even know that such a tradition existed. If you want to handle the problem with a duel, you would need to file a lawsuit with the Church. You can only duel under the watch of a Priest once the Church approves it,” Heretia whispered as she approached Juan in haste.

“What? Then how does one regain the tarnished reputation of their lady?”

“All you can do for now is to beat the heck out of the offender.”

“Ah.”

Juan knew exactly what he had to do. He swung his fist at Kelmori, who was still blankly standing.