Ever After [5]

The man was given the mission of monitoring the actions of David, the Count of Ramis. All he had to do was roughly know where David went and whom he met with. This kind of mission was very easy for him because he had the experience of doing close surveillance where his own life was threatened. He felt dissatisfied because the mission was too easy. He wanted to get more dangerous and important missions.

So, he thought that if he found something important about the Count of Ramis, it would be a great boost to his career. Without realizing it, he drew closer and closer to the target within a few days.

'He's punctual today too.'

After coming down to the Ramis territory, David often went to the village pub to hit the bottle. In the Ramis territory, there were no high-class bars that attended only to nobles like in the capital. When the son of the territory lord entered the shabby bar where ordinary villagers went to, everyone drinking alcohol inside held their breath.

The noisy pub became silent in an instant and David alone drank in the set atmosphere. After a couple of customers that were about to leave were clubbed by David's attendants, no one was able to leave and they all just sat there, holding their breaths.

The man secretly watching David felt uneasy to see this display of authority. The man was commoner-born. In his hometown, he got into trouble because he didn't fawn over the haughty nobles and ended up leaving his hometown with gnashed teeth.

David got up and left the pub. And the man who was disguised as a customer also got up secretly. As soon as he left the pub, he quickly looked left and right, but he didn't see David.

'Where did he go?'

Inside the dark path leading to the village, a human shaped shadow flickered. The man carefully moved his feet.

Wham!

He was slammed hard on the back of his head and lost consciousness on the spot.

"Find out who he is."

David's eyes blazed with bloodthirst as he looked at the man collapsed on the ground. His attendants bowed their head in reply.

"No. Throw him into prison for now. I will do the interrogation later."

David ground his teeth. He could roughly guess who had put a tail after him.

'So he sends me down to the fief and even puts me under surveillance. Father.'

***

Anita was informed by the staff that a VIP had been escorted to the VIP suite. She entered the VIP suite with a cunning smile on her face. With a face reddened from intoxication, David saw Anita and heartily called out to her.

"Oh, Countess. I have come."

Anita sent out the female employees serving at the side with her eyes.

"If you had sent word of your arrival, I would have come sooner."

"Are you uncomfortable because I suddenly came to find you?"

"Of course not. It is the greatest honor for Your Lordship to come find me often."

Hearing the extravagant title that didn't match his status, David just chuckled and said that it was nice.

"As expected, the only one who understands me is Countess."

"I told you. Call me Madam Juel, not Countess Anita here."

"Yes, you did. Yes, you did. Madame…Madame Juel."

After throwing the unknown man following him in prison, David was enraged and recklessly came to the capital. When he got to the capital, he realized that he couldn't go home. If he went to question his father about the man following him without concrete evidence, he would be scolded severely instead. As he was looking for a place to go, he thought of the very agreeable Countess and went to her bar.

David stopped by Anita's bar everyday until he was chased down to the fiefdom. Fabian wanted to know what exactly the two of them were talking about, but even if he had the ability to know, there was nothing of value to be found. The two of them had only just gotten close in the meantime. To be more precise, Anita was in the process of getting David's trust.

Anita was skilled in the art of eloquence and was good at bettering a man's mood. In addition, she had a moderately broad knowledge on topics that men were interested in, such as politics and the economics field. Most of the men that talked to Anita were completely enraptured after conversing with her.

The only man that had been unaffected after talking to Anita, even with their deep relationship of spending the night together, was the Duke of Taran. This was because Hugo did not have genuine conversations with any woman.

When Anita realized that the Duke of Taran would look annoyed when a woman chattered noisily at his side, she cautiously kept her mouth shut as much as possible. So Hugo did not know the flirtatious side of Anita. But even if he knew, he probably wouldn't have cared.

***

"Are you returning back to the capital now? If so, I will be able to see you often again." (Anita)

"Rather than that…"

The intoxicated David began to mumble and make a racket. Most of David's words were typical. He resented his father, he felt sorrow for his mother, and a hostility towards the Duke of Taran that was more like obstinacy. David's insides were quite twisted unlike what one would expect from the precious son of a Duke. And that was why Anita liked David. People like him were easier to use.

Anita steadily built up David's confidence in her so that David could open his heart to her. She sincerely agreed to everything he said and sometimes, she didn't even charge him for his drink. She said she wanted to be his friend and comfort him. When David touched her while he was drunk, she pushed him away and made a saddened expression.

[I believed I could be true friends with your Lordship. Was I foolish to believe so?]

David, who had treated her as a bar hostess at first, began to show decorum to her as a Countess.

[You are better than a hot-blooded man. I have never thought that I could be friends with a woman, but I think it can be possible with Countess.]

Deep in Anita's heart, her resentment towards the Duchess had grown bigger and it was swallowing her like a pitch-black abyss. She constantly denied her terribly declining position, but she couldn't stop working as the hostess of the bar. When she sold her smile to numerous men and received their reverent gazes, she felt like she was alive.

But she could not admit that it was her nature. And she blamed the Duchess for pulling her down to this level and harbored hatred in her heart. Her power was too weak to threaten to the Duchess. But isn't it said that even a cornered mouse would bite the cat.

Anita searched for an opportunity. And the person she had set her eyes on as an excellent tool, was David. She didn't plan to rush anything, but looking back on the situation, things seemed to be progressing smoothly. David's anger and jealousy was growing bigger and bigger.

"Why would my father even get someone to follow me! There is definitely someone slandering me. That Taran guy is driving a wedge between us. He is lingering around like a thorn in my side!"

Even if he was the heir to a Duke, he was merely just a Count, yet he says the Duke of Taran was scheming against him and slandering him?

'There is no way.'

While ridiculing David in her heart, Anita comforted him.

"Then Your Lordship shouldn't just endure but make a counterattack. If it is to the extent of humiliating the Duke of Taran, I can also manage."

"Humiliate…? How?"

Anita hid her satisfied smile and continued speaking in an unimportant tone.

"Spreading a rumor that you are in a deep heart-to-heart relationship with the Duchess. Even if such a rumor spread, the Duke of Taran cannot come to dispute it with Your Lordship. And if he does, that is humiliating in its own way."

David was hesitant. He was uncomfortable with doing something that would smear the reputation of the Duchess. Despite his negative feelings towards the Duke of Taran, the Duchess remained as fluttering puppy love in David's heart.

"And sometimes rumors become real. A man and a woman who meet because of a rumor, grow close, and then dependent on each other."

David was confident that the Duchess would be charmed by him as long as he had the opportunity to properly talk with her. If there was a rumor about them, he could use that as an excuse to talk with her. Anita who was well aware of David's cunning heart, took hold of the opportunity.

"Mm…but if we make a fake rumor, it will be revealed quickly…" (David)

"Fake? No. We should make the real thing." (Anita)

"What do you mean?"

"When it comes to rumors, all you have to do is provide a clue. If there is a scene where two people meet secretly, and people see it, the rumors will spread in no time."

The Duchess mostly participated in quiet social activities and only attended tea parties. And it was a wide-spread rumor that the ducal couple's marital relationship was good. It was human nature to feel awe towards an unattainable target, but the ugly human heart also feels delight at the fall of that unattainable target.

If they created a scene where David who was known to have gone down to the fief, and the Duchess, were found to be secretly meeting, the scandalous rumors would spread in a flash like fire on a dry leaf.

The number of scandals circulating in the social circle were so many that it was ridiculous, but the impact of adding a scandal to noblewoman with a very clean reputation was completely different from adding one more rumor to someone with many rumors about them.

Authenticity did not matter. Even if the rumor was later revealed to be untrue, there would still definitely be someone who will voice out that such rumors turned up in the first place because there were grounds for it. Once a rumor spreads, it could settle down, but it could not be eradicated.

"In a few days, it will be the founding day."

It was the first founding day since the ascension of the new King. The Duchess rarely went to balls, but she would not miss the founding party.

"There will be an extensive party and opportunely, the Duke of Taran is not in the capital. There is no better chance than this."

"The biggest problem with this is how can the Duchess and I, be together alone without being seen?"

"I will make that opportunity for you."

"Hmm…But why is Madame Juel helping me so actively?"

Anita teared up and confessed that she had once been a lover of the Taran Duke but was cruelly abandoned. And that if she had the chance, she wanted to exert a small revenge on the Duke of Taran.

David was thrilled and exclaimed that as expected, the Duke was a wicked and disrespectful man.

"Your Lordship only needs to help me with one thing."

"And what is that?"

Anita visibly worried over whether to talk or not and only when David promised that he would help her in any way possible, did she open her mouth.

"I heard that the Ramis House had a magical tool that can change one's appearance. Please lend that to me for a while. That's all you need to do."