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Chapter 17

Strange things I’ve believed in (5)

‘Wow, I’m in a real mess.’’

To come into the room of a man who was doing well, hit him, forcibly close his eyes, and to lay him on the bed.

But objectively speaking, I’ve always been a mess in front of Ian.

I had done more than this, so it was nothing new to me.

“Don’t get me wrong!”

“You, you…”

“I know it’s a misunderstanding, but I don’t care a bit about your body. Let’s make that clear.”

My image could not get any worse, so I got up without even blatantly apologizing.

“I know I’ve done a lot of bad things.”

I crept toward the book and chatted about anything.

“But if you swear at me, I’ll kill you.”

Ian put on a look of absurdity.

Regardless, I checked Ian’s condition once he was fine, so all I had to do was grab a bookmark and run away quickly while he was panicking.

‘So why did you confuse people by having a nosebleed and not even avoiding the kick?’

If he had acted the way he was supposed to, the situation would have been over already, but it was unfair.

“And I’ll take this book.”

Ian raised his body and frowned.

“No, why the book?”

“It’s actually a book I really wanted to read. It just so happens that you have it.”

“…That book?”

“Yes! It’s a book I’ve been dreaming of!”

First of all, I was surprised.

The title was… Damn it.

〈The Understanding of Muscles [Detailed Illustration] Men’s Edition〉

This crazy swordsman pre-ordered this type of book…

You’re the heir to the duke’s family, so shouldn’t you be reading books like history or politics?

I thought it was a very profound book because he was staring at it so seriously before.

It was time for me to look at him with my slightly stunned eyes.

Ian, who had a bewildered look on his face, straightened his body and made a serious face.

“You mean my body is worse than that book’s illustration?”

He sounded very serious and angry.

“Why aren’t you interested in my body but want this book so badly that you can only dream of it?”

Oh my god, was that something to be offended about?

I didn’t know, but he seemed to be proud of himself.

Well, I was a bit underwhelmed.

“I will say this because you don’t know well, but the illustrations are always exaggerated…”

It was then.

The bookmark in my hand exploded quietly with a bang.

“Annabelle!”

Ian jumped up while shouting my name.

Of course, I expected the bookmark to explode by now, so I quickly dropped the book on the floor to prevent a disaster that would hurt my eyes and hands.

I also had enough reflexes to avoid the expected explosion.

But when the book fell, it hit the top of my foot hard.

Of course it was all calculated as well.

“Ugh!”

I sat down while pretending to hold my foot, but quickly swept up the flower-shaped bookmark that was lying on the ground and stuffed it in my pocket.

Without this bookmark, there will be no trace of me.

Ian, who rushed toward me in contemplation, grabbed my shoulders and shook them.

“Are you alright? No, what the hell is going on here…!”

“What could it be? You’re the one who got involved in this, and it’s a bad thing!”

I stepped back, shaking off his arm.

“In that sense, when you wake up tomorrow morning, I hope you’ll get a lot of pimples on the tip of your nose! And if you squeeze it, it’ll only swell bigger and redder! It’ll be like that for two weeks!”

I had to swear before I left. That was the only way to avoid Ian’s suspicions.

I had already cleared the mission. That was enough.

Fortunately, Ian’s room was on the second floor.

It was enough to land on the ground with one step on the garden tree.

I jumped out of the window and started running across the garden like I was running away from him in case I was caught.

Of course, the tip of my foot where the book hit me tingled, but I could still run.

“Annabelle Nadit!”

“Don’t follow me!”

I screamed out loud.

Ian’s expression on the window looked stunned.

“That book is suspicious, so look into it quickly. And don’t forget that you’ll also get a slight cut on your hand from the pages as you flip through them!”

Having completely concealed the evidence, I fled proudly.

I could feel Ian’s eyes following me running with one foot limping.

Even if he suspected something, I stole the evidence, so it will definitely be okay.

~*~

After all, it was a night out.

After having dinner with Robert at lunch yesterday, I got drunk, passed out, and slept in the duke’s mansion.

Even now, it was a dark evening so it was almost like spending two full days outside.

When I opened the door to the house, Reid was playing cards with his friends.

The stakes were a big gamble.

“Annabelle?”

While smoking a cigar and looking at the gambling board with a serious expression, he turned toward me.

“Wait. I’ll withdraw from this one.”

He put the cards down, looked at me, and stood up with a serious expression.

“Where did you get those clothes?”

“I got it as a gift from a fan.”

It was a bit exaggerated, but it wasn’t a lie.

“Fan? You have someone like that? But it doesn’t look like an expensive outfit.”

It wasn’t cheap because it didn’t have decorations, but Reid didn’t even have an eye for it.

He then said with a serious voice.

“Follow me. Let’s talk.”

I was going to tell him to shut up and point my sword if he said anything about me staying out.

But as soon as Reid entered my room, he asked with a look of anticipation

“Well, did that item explode well?”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you go to check it out?”

After all, he didn’t even care that I stayed out, and he seemed more curious about what happened to Ian.

So I replied with a smile.

“Yeah. I went to check.”

“What’s the result?”

Seeing the smile on my face, Reid licked his lips in anticipation.

“Did you escape properly?”

“Yes. I acted very well.”

I nodded my head and said.

“Even now, his eyes were very pink and strange. The book exploded, so it looked like they’re doing a background check right away, but I have already retrieved the bookmark.”

“Oh, Annabelle. Good job.”

Reid clapped.

“Finally, it’s done. Good, good. It’s over now.”

“That’s why.”

I said, crossing my arms.

“I think I’m going to win no matter what. I don’t have anyone to compete with except Ian Wade.”

“Right. It’s because there’s a big difference between being in third place and from first and second.”

“So, I think you can bet your money with peace in your mind.”

“Huh?”

“The swordsmanship contest. Because of Ian Wade, my payout is very low.”

Reid’s eyes lit up when he understood what I was saying.

“If I do well this time, you could become a millionaire.”

I gently comforted him and coaxed him.

“I know you have taken good care of me all this time. So, even if you give me this mansion and property again, as you said, I’ll still like you. But this is a win-win gamble, and you get all the money from it.”

To Reid, my money was his money, and his money was his money, but my proposal was a temptation that gave him no choice but to think about.

“…That’s good. I didn’t think of that.”

Reid greedily laughed.

“Your dividend is 35 times or so…”

Seeing that he saw through my dividends and weighed it on the betting board.

“But like you said… Even if you lose your sight, there is still a chance.”

I became annoyed inwardly.

This guy had a good memory for things like this needlessly.

“Are you afraid that I won’t be able to beat Ian who lost his sight?”

“…”

‘You’re suspicious of this, right?’

At this rate, Reid would never risk his entire fortune.

Eventually, I decided to do one more annoying thing to put him in the abyss.

“Let’s do one more thing if you’re a little nervous.

I grinned and suggested it first.

“The drug we discussed before. That’s 100% effective, isn’t it?”

At that moment, Reid became excited and nodded his head.

Finally, if I deceive him up to this point, he will be left without a house or money.

This was because, in light of his usual greed, he would surely walk all the way home and try to pull off as much as he could.

If I had the skills, I would be able to live well if I joined the knights or became a swordsmanship teacher, but Reid was literally an incompetent parasite.

So, going bankrupt was a set procedure.

‘I can’t hurt you with my hands because it’s bloody, but you should, like me, eat garbage and have only two pieces of clothes and live like a beggar.’

Thinking of the expression on his face when I would be called out for abstention on the day of the swordsmanship competition, I was just as excited as I was right before I drank the cider.

In order to do that, I’ll have to save Ian one more time. Really, one last time.

~*~

“The book exploded?”

At the scene of the accident, the Duke’s men flocked into Ian’s room.

“But you’re saying that Annabelle got hit instead of you and hurt her foot?”

Leslie worriedly asked after hearing Ian’s explanation of the situation.

“And she was limping and left without treatment?”

“Miss Annabelle…”

It was Braden, Leslie’s husband, Ian’s father, and the owner of the Duke Wade’s mansion, who responded with a serious look.

He had the same shiny blonde hair as Ian and nice blue eyes. He was also quite in good shape despite his middle age.

He never missed first place in a swordsmanship contest when he was young, so his son being in first place was natural for him.

He had no interest in Ian’s swordsmanship contest itself because it was his dream to pass the dukedom to Ian and just retire with Leslie.

So, of course, he didn’t care about Annabelle who was in second place at all.

But these days, Leslie had been talking about her and it had been a subject he had been paying attention to.

“You mean that girl saved you again?”