Chapter 279: Marta’s Feelings (1/2)

Aegir POV–

The winter morning is refreshing.

I’ve gotten hungry from last night’s workout so I refill my bowl countless times with the soup filled with pasta and vegetables even though it’s breakfast.

「More~」「Moreee.」

While I’m at it, I feed the small kids too.

Nonna would complain if she was here, but she’s not.

「She might be upset if she suddenly shows up. We have to go back soon.」

「Yeah, we should. Although you’re probably saying that because you miss Nonna’s breasts, am I right?」

Celia pokes fun at me, making Melissa and Myla giggle as well.

「Oh yeah, I don’t see Alma. Or Kroll.」

Celia lets out a snort when Melissa curiously looks around.

「That perverted brat is stretching in the room. He was prancing around with that dirty tool first thing in the morning……I thought I would crush him.」

「It doesn’t seem like the sex drug from last night wore off. He must be proud of his larger dick.」

「Ahaha……」

Melissa smiles bitterly while Celia is so mad you could see steam coming out of her ears.

「Hentai?」「Mama, what’s a dirty tool?」「Dick~? Large dick~?」

「Ahem, the small children are here.」

Dorothea voices her complaint.

「Sorry, sorry. Disregard all that.」

I ruffle the hair of the small girl who approaches me.

Celia becomes unhappy, though endures flaring up at the little girl.

「All of you don’t need to worry about anything besides eating, playing and sleeping. Once you grow up, I’ll teach you everything.」

「’Kay~ I’ll eat~ Eat, eaten~」

The little girl returns to the table and resumes her meal. Eat lots so your breasts and ass grow.

When the peaceful meal time finishes, Marta goes over today’s schedule with me.

Before she could open her mouth, a voice calls out suddenly from beside me.

「Margrave Hardlett.」

「What is it?」

It was Tristan. I was sure he usually calls me simply Margrave instead of addressing me with my name.

「It’s something important so please come as soon as you can to my room.」

Hearing this guy speak so politely throws me off.

「It’s top secret so could Marta-san leave us alone for now?」

「……understood.」

Entering the room are me, Leopolt, Tristan, Myla, Celia, and Irijina.

In other words, everyone required to be present for a serious discussion.

「So, what’s going on? Gathering everyone here must mean it’s important.」

「Well, everyone didn’t need to be here.」

Mine and Myla’s hands grab Tristan by the throat.

「Gueh, that hurts. Anyways, I had wanted to show that we convened here.」

I don’t get it. What does he mean?

「So it’s about that girl Marta?」

Tristan nods quietly at Leopolt’s inquiry.

Don’t have a silent conversation with each other. Is she pregnant or something?

「There is a high possibility that she is…… actually, it’s pretty much confirmed that she’s a spy.」

Myla and Celia become seething with anger when they heard the disturbing word. Irijina was one step behind everyone in understanding the situation and getting upset.

「What makes you believe that?」

Marta’s a newcomer here, but she’s a woman. It isn’t good to suspect her without reason.

「I thought it was relatively obvious…… well, whatever. This is the first piece of evidence.」

Tristan takes out a single letter. There was no sender name on it and several places were glued tightly shut.

Written on the surface are the words “opening forbidden”.

「A letter? And an unopened one too. I’m opening it.」

As I take a knife and cut through the seal, Tristan makes a comment.

「It’s completely glued, isn’t it?」

「Hm? I guess so. What a troublesome person, taking the time to glue four places.」

When I glance at the contents, there were rows of cryptic numbers and letters written on the piece of paper.

At first I thought it was just a typo, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of the contents from beginning to end.

Is this just harassment, if so I’m sending Irijina to wherever that sender is.

「No, this letter was sent anonymously by me.」

「There’s the culprit. Go, Irijina.」

「It’s skewering time!」

「Lord Hardlett, time is wasting.」

Unless the conversation progressed, Leopolt would sit Irijina and I in the corner of the room.

「So, I actually glued the letter once and then dried it. Once it dried, I reglued the letter in three places before sending it. There were marks in four places where glue was applied, you see…… and just now this letter was completely reglued.」

「……meaning someone hid the fact that it was opened.」

「Right, there’s a possibility one of the children opened it by mistake, however wouldn’t it have remained open if that was the case? Even if we consider someone was tempted to open it, resealing the letter by matching the glue marks perfectly is too skillful for an ordinary person. Incidentally, who is the one that carries letters addressed to Lord Hardlett?」

「That’s…… Marta.」

Celia answers with a grave expression.

「I see. Someone certainly snuck a peek at the letter and put it back in place…… that is unmistakable. You’re saying the person who did that is Marta. I understand up until this point, but you still can’t say with finality she was the culprit.」

The person delivering the letter could have been the spy. She’s a newbie here, but I still don’t want to doubt her.

「……well, the answer will soon reveal itself. Read what the letter says carefully.」

「How should I read this nonsensical letter?」

「It’s a code. So that’s how it is……」

Leopolt was able to understand right away. Tristan also nods silently.

Like I said, stop having this mutual understanding without saying anything. It’s off-putting.

「Umumu……」「Guuuuh……」

Celia and Myla stare intently at the code. I take another look as well, but I don’t understand it at all.

Enough, just tell us what it says.

「I got it! “Let’s meet at the ruins in the southern district tomorrow night. I have something important to tell you regarding our future”, right?!」

「Wha-!?」「N-no way!」

Surprisingly Irijina was able to decode the letter.

Celia and Myla fall to their knees dejectedly.

Well, don’t worry about it. There are plenty of mysterious things in this world.

「I see, this is to lure out anybody who can read it. But if they can’t decode this……」

「No, Marta-san definitely understood it.」

「「Guh!」」

Celia and Myla fall flat on the floor, almost like they were prostrating themselves.

「It’s not an extremely hard code or anything, although you wouldn’t be able to figure it out with one glance, meaning you would need a relatively sharp mind. We shouldn’t leave her alone.」

Tristan takes out the decoding table.

I’m not really interested, but Celia and Myla trouble themselves by looking at the paper.

「In any case, it would confirm our suspicions if she appears at the actual location. If a different person shows up, that would tell us something too.」

Fumu…… I want to hurry back to my territory, yet there’s still so much to do.

Late Night.

「……what a shame.」

I head to the southern district without divulging my business, and send Leopolt, Celia, and the others away from the mansion for trivial reasons.

It was all to set up the ideal conditions for Marta to sneak out of the mansion.

And sure enough, she is sneakily tailing me.

I was thinking we could get along in the future too.

Now that I know she’s a spy, I can’t just leave her alone. I’ll have to move according to the plan.

Even though I was wary of it beforehand, Marta’s tailing is bad to say the least.

She’s following too close, she stumbled along the way, plus she even let her voice slip a few times.

I can’t imagine her being a veteran spy.

I arrive at the ruins on schedule and search for the person who is supposed to be waiting.

Marta hides behind a wall and monitors me.

……at least find a hole or something. I can see part of your face peeking out.

「Hardlett-sama.」

「Oh, you’re here. Sorry to keep you waiting.」

A single female appears from the darkness. I feel like I heard Marta gulp.

「You did nothing of the sort, Hardlett-sama…… no, my beloved Aegir-sama!」

「Natalie, good to see you.」

Natalie jumps into my chest and we embrace each other passionately.

「So you read the letter. I finally decided to abandon that perverted husband of mine and become your lover. Our future together will begin from now on!」

「I’m glad, Natalie. I’ll make so much love to you today that you’ll faint.」

I feel like I heard Marta sigh.

The plan was for me to meet with a wife, who is cheating on her husband.

It was a good enough reason to support the exchanging of secret letters, plus it wasn’t important enough to report to anybody.

Even if the fact that I, as a renowned womanizer, stole the wife of the infamous pervert Andrei, gets out in public, it would only be dismissed as a funny story.

The whole purpose of this ruse was to create a situation where there would be no problem even if someone besides Marta was monitoring the area.

Natalie was hesitant at first to take on this role, but then she agreed readily later.

She even said that she was willing to act out all the way to the end.

Natalie and I even exchange a kiss during our hug until a single flash of light pierced through the darkness.

That was the signal for “no abnormalities”, meaning the only person watching us here is Marta.

「Thank you. You don’t have to do anymore.」

「Ahn…… I wanted to do more though.」

I separate from Natalie and turn to face Marta.

She quickly hides in the shadow of the wall, but I can see her butt sticking out.

「Marta, it’s too bad. I wanted to believe you.」

「Uu!?」

Marta desperately tries to escape. Running through ruins in the dark was not a good idea, seeing as how she easily tripped on the rubble strewn about the floor.

Standing in front of the fallen girl are Celia, Irijina, and Christoph.

「Kuh.」

Comparing the three people before her, Marta picks the shortest one – Celia – and charges at her.

Unfortunately, that’s the wrong choice. She may have had a chance if she chose Christoph.

「Haa!」

Celia swiftly sidesteps Marta, grabs her arm and tosses her.

She makes a clean spin above Celia before landing flat on her back, the wind getting knocked out of her lungs before she writhes in agony.

「Now, explain your-…… not good!」

Marta reaches in her pocket for a small knife.

She points the tip at her own throat.

Seeing that, I quickly knock the blade out of her hand, and stuff my fingers in her mouth. She could bite her tongue after all.

「Seeii!」

「Gufh! Auu……」

Without delay, Irijina’s fist lands on Marta’s solar plexus, knocking her unconscious.

……she better not be dead.

「I held back!!」

That should be fine then.

「The plan was successful. Looks like there weren’t any other spies watching us.」

Leopolt, who was keeping an eye on the surroundings, shows himself.

「It would have been a good opportunity for reinforcements since there was information on a specific location, but perhaps they didn’t trust the girl too much or maybe the organization she works for is smaller than we thought……」

Tristan also springs up from his hiding place.

「Anyways, we need to get her to tell us what’s going on.」

I carry Marta on my shoulder and all of us return to the mansion.

The first voice that greets us when we get back to the mansion is Natia’s surprised voice.

「……what’s that?」

It’s been a while since I’ve seen her, though I can’t give her a hug right now.

「Where were you all this time. I was worried because I couldn’t find you.」

After leaving a message that she would explore Goldonia, Natia disappeared.

Goldonia might be a relatively safe place now, but there are still many places in the remote areas where brigands run rampant.

The thought of Natia, who I plan to make my woman, getting injured made me feel uneasy.

「I’m used to adventuring so I wouldn’t make such a mistake. Besides, I don’t remember saying anything about becoming your woman…… more importantly, is this even the right time to bring that up?」

「Hm? What do you mean?」

Natia appears curious of Marta who is resting on my shoulder.

「Where did you kidnap her? Kidnapping a young girl to violate her…… I misjudged you.」

「You’re misunderstanding. I’m going to fuck her but I didn’t kidnap her. ……let’s see, why don’t you help out too.」

I have to interrogate her right now.

Making sure that none of the kids have a chance of finding out, I carry Marta to the underground room used as a food storehouse, then bind both her hands and stuff cloth in her mouth so she can’t commit suicide.

「Now, how am I going to make her spill the beans?」

「She even tried to kill herself. Despite her failed tailing, she’s got guts. A half-hearted method may not be good enough.」

「Not knowing who’s behind her makes things one-sided. I would have wanted to grasp the entire situation if possible.」

Leopolt takes a step forward.

「If you leave it to me, I promise to make her talk.」

What a disturbing aura he has.

「By the way, what do you intend to do?」

「Pluck her teeth or nails…… and if she still doesn’t speak, her eyeballs.」

「Rejected, stupid!」

「But if we leave her alone, it will surely lead to a greater crisis in the future.」

「Like I can allow a woman to be tortured! I would rather face the future crisis.」

I lightly brush the face of the unconscious Marta.

Her sleeping face is still that of a young girl’s. Her age was said to be 16, but she looks younger than that.

Being the same age as Alma means she also has young silky smooth skin.

Licking it would feel great, I’m sure…….

「Aegir-sama?」

Not good. My hand moved down to her breasts.

「Anyways, I don’t want information obtained by hurting a woman. We can ask her questions after she wakes up, and let her go if she doesn’t want to speak. She’ll likely run off somewhere. No, actually I’ll get her to let me embrace her once at least.」

While everyone was offering their complaints, Natia nervously raises her hand.

「There is one.」

「You mean breasts? Sure, they’re small but they’re there.」

I get smacked in the head.

「There is a way of making her talk without hurting her!」

Everyone focuses their attention to her.

「If I crush the mushroom, the fruit and that caterpillar I picked up during my adventures…… I can make a truth serum. If she drinks it, she’ll be in a drunk-like state and she’ll answer any question you ask truthfully.」

「That’s it!」

I don’t feel comfortable asking her to talk against her will, but she also tricked me so it can’t be helped.

More importantly, it’s great that we can make her talk without injuring her.

Leopolt and the others should be satisfied if they get the information they’re looking for too.

Natia quickly prepares the drug and makes the unconscious Marta sniff it.

She opens her eyes, although they don’t look to be focusing in one place, as if she was drunk.

「What should we ask first?」

「I’ll ask her.」

Leopolt questions the woozy Marta.

「What were you planning to do by getting close to Lord Hardlett?」

「…… to gain information.」

「What kind of information?」

「…… any kind…… all information that seemed important.」

「How vague.」

Tristan instinctively mutters.

「Who requested you to do so?」

「……His Majesty Alexandro.」

Everyone let out a groan. Well that’s to be expected…… Marta was handed to me by the King after all.

「Are you a member of the information officers?」

「……No, I’m not.」

「I didn’t think so. If she was one, people should have shown up back there.」

Leopolt’s interrogation continues, while Tristan summarizes.

「She is an orphan without any relatives who was picked up by the King on a whim as she was begging in the capital……」

If that was it, it could have made for a moving story.

「She grew up as a servant and naturally felt extreme gratitude to His Majesty, even willing to become his plaything……」

That’s great. I should have embraced her right away then.

「But the King was not interested in her at all, even neglecting her while she was servicing him in the bath. She felt troubled, thinking she was useless……」

I would have embraced her then and there.

「Then she was requested by His Majesty to stay by Lord Hardlett’s side and report any information gleaned from him. She basically accepted the request to show that someone as useless as she is can be a little bit useful……」

I also heard from Erich that the King was trapped by feelings of distrust.

But he could have used any other information officer for this job.