Chapter 238 : Chapter 238
Chapter 238: Elaine (2)
Grand Duke Aratus's eyes widened.
That Elaine.
That was the expression. Then it immediately turned ferocious.
"You are not Elaine."
Suddenly the world became heavy.
It was Grand Duke Aratus's Aura.
That sensation was unfamiliar to Elaine.
It was an Aura never directed at a child. But it had crushed Harad several times.
It was a plausible misunderstanding.
To Elaine, Grand Duke Aratus had always been a difficult existence.
It was proper for a Grand Heir to be that way.
"What are you talking about?"
"……?"
"Please call me Ellen for now."
Grand Duke Aratus swept his gaze over Elaine with widened eyes.
It was a look that said, are you not Elaine right now?
"There are only the two of us anyway."
"……"
The Grand Duke's mouth opened and then quietly closed.
His face said he did not know how to react. It was an unfamiliar sight to Elaine.
"I am sorry. I cannot explain, but there is something like that. Right now, I hate hearing that name."
"……"
"Please understand, Father."
The Grand Duke silently nodded slightly.
He tried not to show it, but he liked the term Father.
"If you dislike being the Grand Heir……"
"No. That is fine. I know it must be done too. I just came to hate the name Elaine."
Elaine.
Hearing that name, Ellen no longer thought of herself as the Grand Heir.
The dream came to mind, and the Imja from the dream came to mind.
The sight of that woman constantly making advances on Harad flickered before her eyes.
"I will endure it outside. But when we are alone, please call me by my original name."
"……I will do that."
The Grand Duke agreed despite his confusion.
Whatever form it took, you were his child.
Elaine had been unnecessarily cautious. Because of an obsession with needing to be perfect.
It was an obsession that had now disappeared.
Actually, such things might not matter anymore. What was the point of being perfect? That was the path that woman had already walked.
Even as she thought this, Elaine sat across from the Grand Duke.
She did not remove the Magical Item. The Grand Duke had summoned the Grand Heir. Not his daughter.
"Why did you call for me?"
However, her posture was comfortable.
In the form of the Grand Heir before the Grand Duke, but like a daughter.
She thought this version of herself was unfamiliar.
It was not a bad feeling at all.
It seemed she was not the only unfamiliar one.
Grand Duke Aratus's eyebrows twitched.
"Is it because of that bastard?"
Elaine's eyebrows twitched too.
"Not that bastard, it is Harad."
"So it is because of that bastard."
Unlike Benus, the Grand Duke did not yield.
A Grand Duke was indeed a Grand Duke.
"It is not because of Harad."
It is because of me.
Precisely because of myself from another world.
That woman had lived as Elaine in front of Harad first. She had thrown the first punch.
"There is something like that. Father does not need to know."
"……"
The Grand Duke's eyes trembled slightly.
He seemed shocked.
"I will tell you everything later. Later."
If that woman manifested now.
How would that Grand Duke react? Ellen became newly curious. Would he recognize her if that woman acted?
'Harad recognized her though.'
The Grand Duke pressed two fingers firmly against his eye sockets.
His fingers were so large they seemed like they would not fit in the eye holes. As the Grand Heir, there had been times when she envied or found such things reassuring.
Not anymore.
She did not want to become like that. Having a large build did not make everything reassuring. Harad's size was sufficient.
Then the Grand Duke spoke.
"Exercise restraint."
It was a random statement.
"What?"
"I said exercise restraint."
"About what?"
The Grand Duke tried to maintain dignity instead of opening his mouth.
He seemed angry, but looking closely, his lips were fidgeting.
"Ah."
Looking at it now, he was not angry but embarrassed to say it out loud.
"The kiss?"
"Ahem."
The Grand Duke cleared his throat.
Certainly. It was not something to point out openly to a daughter.
He was referring to when Seria's training began.
At that time, Harad had kissed Ellen saying the Grand Duke was watching.
The Grand Duke had indeed been watching.
The Aura lurking in the Inner Fortress had wriggled as if to kill Harad.
Ellen found it absurd.
Even more so now.
"You called me because of that? Over a mere kiss?"
Grand Duke Aratus had agonized for nearly a month before summoning her.
"If someone heard, they would think we did something other than kiss."
Ellen recalled the Village of Embers.
There was one fogey there too.
"These days people outside do everything."
"What……!"
Bloodshot appeared in the Grand Duke's eyes.
He was a more hardline fogey than Manoa.
"And, you should have called Ellen. It was that one who kissed."
She said this while tapping her chest.
Right now she was Elaine.
That hard, flat chest gave realization.
The Grand Duke had deliberately summoned Elaine.
"Ah."
Unlike Ellen, Elaine was obedient.
Which meant warnings would work better on her.
"Because if you tell Ellen, she will not listen."
If Ellen was the daughter at home, Elaine was the daughter outside.
After all, families were supposed to reveal their True Nature within the house.
"……"
The Grand Duke avoided eye contact.
It seemed she had hit the mark. She felt both exasperated and let out a chuckle. He was a fogey, but his worry was genuine worry.
"Do not worry. I do not do that where others watch."
"……"
"That time was a mistake. I will exercise restraint."
"……"
The Grand Duke said nothing.
Instead the world became heavy. It was the Grand Duke's Aura.
"Why are you suddenly angry?"
"……"
The Grand Duke muttered something.
"What?"
"Where others do not watch."
"……?"
It was a question that made her tilt her head.
Such an obvious thing.
"Father should not know that."
"……Am I an outsider?"
"You are not an outsider, but only Harad should know that."
It was an utterly natural statement.
But even as she said it, her face reddened.
It could not be helped.
Because others should not see it.
* * *
"Grand Heir?"
He met Elaine.
And right in front of the Grand Duke's manor at that.
"Harad?"
Elaine's eyes widened as she emerged from the Grand Duke's manor.
"It has been a while."
"……Ah, right, it has been a while. It has been a while."
Perhaps because it had been a while since the Grand Heir, Elaine fumbled slightly.
Harad tried hard to hold back laughter.
'There must be a reason she absolutely must hide her gender.'
That secret should not be exposed yet.
If Harad did, Ellen would certainly show it.
He had to pretend not to know until he learned Grand Duke Aratus's intention and an alternative to replace it.
"What brings you here? If you are looking for Ellen……"
"Ah, that is not it."
"Why?"
"What?"
"It is nothing."
Elaine was openly sulky.
Her acting, which already lacked sincerity, became even less sincere.
"Then why are you wandering about?"
"His Majesty the Grand Duke summoned me."
Harad pointed at the Grand Duke's manor.
Elaine's eyebrows twitched.
"His Majesty? Why?"
"I will know when I go."
Grand Duke Aratus was the type to speak of the main point only when meeting face to face.
"When you go, do not concentrate too hard. He will probably just talk about something meaningless."
Harad nodded and then showed surprise.
It was something Ellen would say, not the Grand Heir.
"You can even speak ill of him?"
"If I do, well. Who will say anything? I am speaking ill of my own father."
Elaine giggled as she spoke.
Harad found that appearance both familiar and unfamiliar. It resembled her previous life but seemed lighter.
'She has become a different person.'
It was the influence of the regression.
Which meant the responsibility lay with Harad.
He would have to resolve it someday without fail.
"This worked out well. Ellen has been talking about you a lot."
Elaine spoke as if it were someone else's business and moved a few steps.
From there on was a place Grand Duke Aratus could not eavesdrop.
"Is that so?"
Harad naturally accepted and moved positions.
"Yes. That you two are close these days. Is it true?"
"It should be."
"Should be?"
Elaine's eyes narrowed.
"It is."
Her eyes curved into a smile.
"How pleasant to see."
Elaine came closer and tapped his shoulder.
It was not rigid but soft. The tapping hand was somehow fondling.
Harad naturally stepped back.
Only then realizing her mistake, Elaine cleared her throat.
"Just looking at Ellen's face tells me. What she is thinking."
"That is true. Roughly."
"……By any chance, if she lies, do you know that too? Just from her face?"
Elaine asked casually.
This seemed to be the main point.
"I do not know everything to that extent. I just roughly see emotions."
"You said you know her thoughts?"
"If I see emotions, they roughly show. It is Ellen, is it not?"
"……"
Elaine's eyes narrowed.
She seemed unsure whether it was an insult or a compliment.
"That is why it is good."
"Mm."
Elaine nodded once as if satisfied.
"If Ellen is lying, and you are being deceived……"
"Please speak."
"Then would you truly be upset? Would you be hurt too?"
It was something Harad had once said to Arika.
Ellen seemed still bothered by those words.
"I would not be upset. I will not be hurt either."
"You said you would be if someone close deceived you."
Elaine seemed tense.
So laughter came.
Over such a thing.
"It is fine if someone too close does that. It would mean there is a reason for it."
"……Someone too close?"
Elaine's ears perked up. Those ears were red.
"Yes. When the time comes, would she not tell me? If she is truly lying."
"……Mm. Mm! That is right. Of course. When the time comes Ellen will tell you. If she is truly lying."
Eventually Elaine said heartily.
Her face was red too.
"I have taken your time. His Majesty probably will not say anything. Go in quickly."
Elaine spoke quickly and turned her back.
Looking now, even the back of her neck was red.
Harad barely restrained himself from scratching it for her.
* * *
He probably will not say anything.
Elaine had said that.
Because the Inner Fortress was under Grand Duke Aratus's control.
Though inaudible, that Grand Duke must have seen or sensed the scene of Harad and Elaine conversing.
Therefore, tardiness would be explained.
Because it was the Grand Heir who detained Harad.
But that was the correct answer only from Ellen's perspective.
Ellen was Elaine.
Harad knew this while pretending not to.
Arika and Benus knew that fact.
Naturally it would have reached Grand Duke Aratus's ears too.
From Ellen's standpoint not knowing the truth, the Grand Heir had made Harad tardy.
"I told you to exercise restraint."
He did not know what he was told to restrain.
"How dare you."
In any case, from Grand Duke Aratus's standpoint.
"Do you mock me?"
He was a scoundrel who was tardy after fooling around with his daughter.
"It was Ellen who detained me."
And one who threw his daughter under the bus to save himself.
"Is that all you have to say?"
Harad immediately sensed it.
Tardiness was not the end.
'The kiss is the problem here too.'
They had kissed in the Inner Fortress.
And it was Harad who did it, not Ellen.
"She probably has not gone far. If you crush her right now……"
"Die."
Grand Duke Aratus broke the agreement.
Before he knew it, the world painted jet-black crushed Harad.
CRACK!