Chapter 181
Chapter 181: Master of the Trade Route (18)
“This is Linie Moricone. She used to be a promising dancer. She’s from a baron’s family like you.”
Eric, seated comfortably in the host's seat, introduced her in a relaxed manner.
Following his lead, the woman offered me a radiant smile.
“Nice to meet you, Roger.”
“Pleasure's mine. So you're from Cosmo like me.”
I responded warmly to her familiar tone.
At that, Linie covered her cherry-red lips and widened her eyes with delight.
“Oh my, really? How did you know...?”
“Yes. I noticed the slight lilt in your accent.”
“I tried my best to hide it, but I guess that rustic air isn’t so easy to shake off.”
I laughed heartily at her shy tone and nodded.
At the same time, I kept a close watch on Eric’s expression.
‘Still playing the same game.’
He must’ve done a thorough background check on me.
And among his connections, he likely chose the most beautiful woman—one with the most potential common ground with me.
“It’s strange, isn’t it? Running into someone from a small village like that in such a distant place...”
“It really is. Perhaps we were even neighbors.”
I chuckled, playing the part of the pleased eldest son.
But his expression remained as grim as ever.
His lips smiled, but his eyes didn’t smile at all.
This wasn’t an attempt at seduction.
What he was doing right now...
He was using this woman to judge my character.
He instinctively realized that liquor and money wouldn’t sway me.
So he was testing whether I could be persuaded by some other means.
“I’m glad you two get along. Turns out you’re even from the same hometown.”
He picked up a peanut from the desk in his office and popped it into his mouth.
As far as I knew, he didn’t like snacking on things like that.
“Well, since it turned out like this, you might as well become friends. Linie here is quite interested in business too.”
“Oh, Your Highness, you exaggerate... I’m not starting a business or anything. Just looking for something to pass the time.”
Linie gave a soft chuckle and leaned in closer to me.
Despite the dead of winter in the Nord Mountains, she wore an outfit that accentuated her smooth shoulders.
And her soft skin brushed temptingly against mine.
“……”
‘The businesswomen I know didn’t feel like this.’
They had overcome hardship on their own terms.
They weren’t the type to flirt like this.
Suddenly, memories of three women came rushing back.
The saint I held as we attended an event together.
The Western Grand Duke’s daughter who leaned on me all day in a carriage.
And the Northern Grand Duke’s daughter who had declared she would have me.
‘Or maybe not?’
To be honest, I didn’t think I understood women well.
Still, one thing was certain—they didn’t give off the same feeling as the woman in front of me.
Back then, there was something unexpectedly endearing beneath their images.
But this woman, whose intent was blatantly obvious, stirred a quiet sense of repulsion in me.
Still, there was no need to show my displeasure right away.
I continued to drink the liquor Linie poured for me, one glass after another.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be drugged, so I let myself ease into the mood naturally.
“……”
Eric didn’t miss a single moment of it.
Even as he pretended to enjoy the gathering with us, there remained a sharp, chilling edge in his gaze.
――――――
That stare of his had continued for a full hour.
In the meantime, I’d downed no fewer than six glasses — the most I’d ever drunk in my life.
“Hoo…”
As I exhaled deeply, the acrid scent of alcohol lingered on my breath.
A stinging, expensive smell.
The stench of luxury and arrogance reeking from nobles.
“Are you alright? Your face has turned as red as a beet.”
Despite her words, Linie continued to refill my glass without pause.
She lightly caressed my arm with a soft hand, as if it were the most natural thing.
“The company’s just too good to say no.”
“Well, it’s not every day you get a private audience with Archduke Eric. You should indulge on a night like this.”
I nodded repeatedly, as if to agree with the beauty sitting in front of me.
Meanwhile, Eric sat with his legs crossed, watching us with satisfaction.
“You don’t look it, but you can’t really hold your liquor, can you, Roger?”
“What makes you say that? What about how I look gave you such a misunderstanding?”
I chuckled and asked, to which Eric tapped at the corners of my narrow eyes with a finger and replied,
“You’re seriously asking? Just look at yourself—anyone can tell you’ve got the face of a man with at least three wives.”
“Oh, Your Highness! You’re so mean!”
Linie playfully scolded him, saying she trusted me more than that.
As if she already believed in me more than her own employer.
“How could such a gentleman be like that?”
“The ones who act the most gentlemanly are always the best at charming women.”
“In that case, you must be quite the philanderer, Eric.”
The Northern Grand Duke burst into laughter at her bold retort.
Then, twirling his finger in the air, he gave an order.
“Our Roger here seems rather tired. Let’s start wrapping things up.”
“Y-yes… I might’ve gone overboard. The drink is very good, after all.”
I staggered to my feet.
My vision swam, and the chandelier in the office sparkled almost blindingly.
“You think you can even make it back like that? You’re walking like a newborn foal.”
“I’m alright… I’ll be riding a carriage anyway…!”
As I wobbled and grabbed the armrest of the sofa, Linie also stood up.
She gently held my trembling arm with both hands and, like the gentle swell of an orchestra, elegantly looped her arm through mine.
“You’re far too drunk. I don’t think you can even make it down the stairs in your condition.”
“Eric, maybe he should just spend the night here? He can rest and sober up a bit.”
I shook my head in protest as best I could.
But my unsteady legs gave out and tilted heavily.
“To show such disgrace to someone I just met today… I’m fine…”
“Kyaa!”
Linie let out a playful scream as she almost lost her balance.
Then Eric stood up as well and came over to support me by the shoulders.
“Showing off stubbornness isn’t exactly proper. There are guest rooms prepared on the second floor—get some rest there before you leave.”
“……”
In the end, guided by the two of them, I headed to one of the VIP rooms on the second floor.
The door opened to reveal a room adorned with a luxurious bed and soft carpets.
My body was gently laid onto the plush sheets, and Eric stood at the doorway for a long while, quietly watching.
After a few minutes had passed—
The only thing filling the guest room was the sound of my slow, rhythmic breathing.
“……”
Linie gazed at me in silence, then turned to look at Eric.
They exchanged a glance—quietly, without words.
A gaze entirely different from the affectionate demeanor she’d shown earlier…
A solemn look.
“Begin.”
At Eric’s meaningful command, Linie slowly shook her head.
Then, once the guest room door closed—
As if steeling herself for something, she took a deep breath.
The only sounds in the room were the gentle breathing of a man and the heartbeat of a woman.
And that heartbeat—was loud.
“Haaa… Right. If I just get through this…”
Linie headed to the bathroom.
There, she began changing into the semi-transparent silk nightwear that had already been prepared in the guest room.
Though it was supposed to be an empty space, with no visitors expected—
It was already filled with fresh clothes, fragrant perfumes, and the soft, calming scent of soap.
The door opened.
And back into the bedroom returned a woman so beautiful that even the notoriously picky Northern Archduke had acknowledged her beauty.
At that moment—
“With your heart pounding like that, do you really think you can go through with this?”
Her wildly beating heart stopped cold at the sound.
Her healthy, peach-colored skin turned pale like a cold marble statue.
“Your heartbeat was louder than my breathing, Linie.”
She had thought I was fast asleep—a youthful man in his early twenties, exhausted from drink.
But the one sitting before her now was a chief secretary with a gaze far too dangerous for someone his age.
“Were you pretending to be asleep this whole time…?”
Linie leaned against the bathroom wall, her arms braced as if trying not to collapse.
Even then, her curvaceous hips and smooth shoulders were strikingly beautiful.
Enough to blind most men on sight.
“Who in their right mind would willingly drink from the hand of someone they consider an enemy?”
I reached out to the side table, completely calm.
And, as if purging the stench of the liquor, I rinsed out my mouth.
“So you considered Lord Eric your enemy from the beginning.”
Linie began to slowly step backward.
As if she might rush out any second and inform him that I was perfectly fine.
However—
“Isn’t that the same for you, Linie?”
“……!!”
She flinched as if I had struck a nerve—like I’d just laid bare what she’d tried to keep hidden.
“Why don’t you take a seat? I came here because we have something important to discuss.”
“You came to my room just to have a conversation with me?”
I didn’t bother answering her question.
I simply shrugged, signaling that it was only natural.
“……”
Maybe it was because she realized I wasn’t someone who acted on lust.
Or perhaps… she truly disliked Eric as well.
Bit by bit, the beauty began to approach me.
“Don’t worry. While I’m here with you, these hands of mine won’t move a muscle.”
To reassure her, I shifted to the edge of the bed, putting more distance between us.
Only then did Linie slowly sit on the opposite corner.
“How did you know? My intentions…”
“Throughout our conversation, every time you touched me—you never once changed your expression.”
I gestured between my narrow eyes and her striking blue ones.
“Not even once. It was like watching someone stuck in a dull office job.”
“You figured that out…? But Eric told me you probably had no romantic experience, judging by your looks…”
Well, that stung a little—but I let it slide.
After all, the bastard’s incredible investigation skills were spot-on. I didn’t have any experience in romance.
“It’s true I haven’t dated, but I do have a few female colleagues I work with in business.”
“Did they look at you differently than I did?”
I briefly sorted through those memories, then slowly nodded.
“They never met my eyes so easily. Especially when there was physical contact.”
“If it were a natural encounter, I imagine they’d act that way.”
Linie gave a bitter, lonely smirk, agreeing with my experience.
“When I met men with genuine intentions, they too couldn’t hold my gaze.”
“So you’re confessing to me now that your intentions were impure.”
“What’s the point in hiding it when you’ve already figured it out?”
The most renowned beauty in the North leaned her head weakly against the bedpost.
She looked exhausted—tired of this kind of life.
“You don’t seem to enjoy doing this kind of thing. Then why help Eric at all?”
“……”
The woman slowly turned her head toward me.
Through her slightly tousled hair, her face revealed a kind of decadent sorrow.
“For the same reason as you…”
The same reason as me.
In other words—because of her family.
“The truth is, I wasn’t originally from a baron’s family. My family had been counts for generations.”
A count’s house, not even a baron’s—and now lowered to the level of a cadet barony? That shouldn’t be possible.
Not unless someone in the family committed a serious crime.
“There must’ve been a major scandal.”
“Yes. My older brother—the heir. Because of his violent drinking… he killed his fiancée.”
“Her family outranked yours, didn’t they?”
Linie didn’t seem to like how quickly I responded to her tragic past.
“…Yes, you could say that. Her mother’s side turned on us with fury. And thanks to that…”
She stretched out both arms.
Then, showing the lingerie that clung to her beautiful figure, she spoke with an empty voice.
“…I ended up like this.”
“With looks like yours, surely there were other ways to put food on the table.”
I offered her a glass of water as I asked, calm as ever.
The woman also drank from the glass I offered her without hesitation.
“I just… I wanted to restore my family’s honor, no matter what. My dream was to become a dancer.”
Thanks to the recent work I’d done with Gehenna, I could roughly understand what she meant.
The best dancers usually had to perform on grand stages—like those in the Imperial Hall or Luton Hall…
And to get there, they needed a powerful family backing them.
No, even before that—they’d have to receive advanced training by enrolling in a noble-only dance academy.
“Did Eric say he’d help you with that dream?”
“…Yes.”
Linie covered her face with her hands, as if regretting that decision.
As though it pained her to realize how far her dream had fallen apart.
I looked at her with sympathy.
In some ways, Linie and I were very much alike.
We both had to serve others to save our families.
Only those who had lived it could understand that bitterness.
“Compose yourself. If your makeup smudges from crying, the eldest son will notice.”
I approached the now slightly calmer woman and gently wiped away her tears.
Then, in a quiet voice, I whispered,
“If you help me tonight, I’ll make sure you’re freed from this.”
We were on the same bed, sitting close together.
From afar, by the window, an owl silently observed the scene.
It stared unblinking at the broad back with a half-unbuttoned dress shirt, and the small back where the strap of a bra was faintly visible.