A contract (5)

'That was close.'

Adelaide rubbed her knee joint lightly as she listened to the ongoing conversation between her brother and father.

Teleporting here after bidding farewell to Samuel was not hard with the map skill providing her the place's entire blueprint.

'I just have to knock this stupid knee into the wardrobe, huh? Fortunately, I disintegrated myself into atom-form, or else Alfred would have found me.'

'Hah…. It felt weird, looking and feeling like particles.'

'Anyways, Esine leaves? That's new.'

Adelaide had chosen herself a pretty good spot to eavesdrop as the conversation continued.

"What do you want?" the duke started, his expression firm. "You know there's no benefit blowing this matter up. You are the future lord; you will have to clean the mess if it ever gets dragged to your time."

It was true: there was no benefit in doing so. Even if the blow only occurred in Duke Charles' reign, the bad reputation would be carried to his time regardless.

Alfred also did not want the Esine incident to be exposed, but he had his ways to at least push all the blame on Duke Charles and retain Winford's dignity. It was like how high officials were caught in a corruption case, but it was the individual's fault, not the entire nation's.

"I want us to sign a contract regarding Adelaide's safety."

"A contract? Sure."

"A blood contract, Your Grace."

Duke Charles' face was distorted as he tried to keep his emotions in check.

"You want a blood contract for something that has always been my duty? You don't think I couldn't protect one little girl?"

"No, it's not that, Your Grace." Alfred slowly explained. "I want Sir Samuel to be appointed as Adelaide's personal knight. The blood contract will be about leaving Samuel alone."

"If he's so precious, why expose him?"

"He's talented, Father. Surely you wouldn't want such a loyal, capable man to go to waste?"

'Yes, we shouldn't do that to talents. Attracting and retaining talents are every company's priority, you know.'

Adelaide nodded in agreement unconsciously in the closed wardrobe.

Why wouldn't she be happy? A young and talented swordsman was about to be her personal knight! She could now rest at ease about growing up beautifully, without a scar.

"…"

No one likes being put in such a passive position. It was the same for Duke Charles.

"You sure have a lot of courage, putting someone important right before my nose."

[Putting someone talented right at my disposal and exposing him right in front of my face when he was still so useful.] was what the duke actually meant. Contrary to how calm he looked on the outside, Duke Charles' mind was a mess as he tried to recall certain memories.

Did he say anything confidential when Samuel was there? What was Samuel's on-guard schedule? Though unrealistic, was Samuel stronger than he thought and was hiding his abilities? Was that the reason why Alfred succeeded in getting his hands on the Esine news?

Alfred smiled; his expression still unreadable as ever.

"What do you say, Your Grace?"

Duke Charles felt threatened; a terrifying thought continued to rise inside him – what if all the other talented people that he kept close as personal guards were all Alfred's?

It was a ridiculous assumption, but once planted, the horrifying thoughts always grow like a contagious plague. Even Adelaide could decipher what her new body's biological father was worrying about.

'As shameful as it sounds, we are both doubtful in nature.'

Despite being the family's pride, heirs had always been someone that the current Head guard against the most.

For instance, other princes and the king could be wary against the crown prince as he slowly built his force. While the other princes either gave up on the throne or prepared anxiously, the king himself worried about his own well-being.

It was one thing if the crown prince's authority and support weren't that great yet; but what if it was?

Dethronement, pressure to 'pass down' power slowly, even…assassination. If no proof was found, then even if the crown prince was the real culprit, he would still step on the throne legitimately.

It had always been a 'tacit agreement'.

There's no kinship in politics. Therefore, no matter how much a king treasured his own children, he would still prepare backdoors for himself, especially if the royal family was a mess internally.

As politics, power, and benefits go hand in hand, humans and their greed could be even more dangerous than the devil himself.

Of course, not all prestigious and noble families face such situations – families where every member treated each other like how they should, without ulterior motives despite their house's wealthiness, also existed.

Nevertheless, the current Winford Duchy did not belong to the happy-and-cheery family scenario. If Adelaide was the duke, she would definitely try to get rid of Samuel before he had the chance to grow. In fact, she would try to get all the suspicious people out of her sight before she could sleep soundly at night.

Talented employees are important, but one's life is more valuable.

"You want me to let him roam in my territory freely? In case you forgot due to all the praises that cover your eyes, I am the master, for now, and years to come. The future is unpredictable, my son." Duke Charles said with a provocative look.

"I just want Samuel to focus on guarding Adelaide aside from his future knight duties. We all know what this meant, Father. In fact, you are a veteran, while I am just a kid. This shouldn't be that hard, right?"

'Yes, I would think so too.' Adelaide pondered. She folded her arms, one of her fingers tapping the other arm unconsciously.

'Alfred is still young; his force is small no matter how you think about it. He's absent most of the time due to school. Refusing him outright and he could even blow this matter up without care while it's still fresh and unrelated to him…'

'He's holding the rope, Father. The demand is acceptable. All you need is a little bit of attention to avoid any future Samuels.'

The contract only applied to Samuel, so he could still pay attention to those talents if he found them suspicious.

It seemed like the duke also thought the same as the pair of father and son began a quick pre-contract Q&A session.

"My condition is that you have to keep quiet about the Esine leaves. Can you do that?"

"Of course, Your Grace."

"Hand over the evidence to me."

"Will you make sure Duchess Elicia keeps her hands to herself?"

"What are you doing, talking about your mother like that… fine."

"Can you assure Adelaide the best education?"

"Nonsense. How could a lady of a duchy be an uneducated brat?"

"I want the best possible, Father. I'm sure our duchy has more than enough capability to do that."

"Fine. You got my words. We'll include all of the above in the contract."

"Then yes, I'll hand you the evidence personally tomorrow before I go."

"You can let someone do that for you."

"Please don't underestimate me that much, Father."

Duke Charles smirked in annoyance at his son's fast, but relaxed response. If Alfred agreed to let someone deliver such important documents, then that person was, no doubt, his.

"Then let's proceed now." Not only Alfred, but the duke was also in a hurry to seal the deal and shut his son's mouth for good.

Duke Charles bent down slightly as his hand reached one of the locked drawers and took out a piece of pure red metal from it.

It was not simply metal coated in the color of blood. Unreadable runes were inscribed fully on one side of the piece, while the other side remained clean with beautiful cursive handwriting.

With her good vision, Adelaide could somewhat see the other side's content. It was nothing special – just a contract form for both parties to fill in.

The duke also took out two sharp letter openers and clean feather pens. Without hesitation, both of them used the knife and slit a clean cut on their palms.

Blood dripped down to the prepared empty inkwell. The duke then used the mixed blood to write the contract without tending to his wounds.

Surprisingly, the blood contract absorbed blood greedily like it was hungry. She finally understood why both of them did not treat the wound immediately.

What seemed to be more than enough as writing material in Adelaide's eyes turned out to be insufficient.

'…won't you bleed to death if there are too many conditions?'

The duke's hand stopped after a while as he gave the contract to Alfred. The young boy's eyes skimmed through the contents before nodding slightly.

With another drop of blood, the piece of metal shone brightly before losing its color and turned into a normal piece of paper. While Adelaide was drowned in confusion about how physical properties used to work on Earth, the two men heaved out a sigh of relief.

"Then, please excuse me, Father." Alfred stood up, fixed his sleeves, and bowed.

"Fine, just go."

Alfred smiled slightly before walking out of the room, his footsteps still as quiet as a cat's. He did not need any form of light with his elven vision and mini hovering flames lightening the way.

'I also need to go, too.'

Adelaide watched the silent duke for a moment before deciding that it was time to go. She wanted to stay a little longer in case something unexpected happened, but what if Alfred decided to check on her?

The silent room remained silent even after Adelaide teleported away. Duke Charles, with his eyes closed, tapped his right foot on the floor. Exhaustion and unwillingness could be seen as he decided to stand up and get himself another glass of whiskey.

It was an eventful night, but not in a good way.

He had shattered his previous glass. Pieces of broken glass could be seen reflecting the moonlight and shining like crystals.

The duke's steady steps stopped before his transparent wine cabinet. He reached out and placed the new glass on the table nearby.

"Something's missing", he mumbled to himself.

The wooden table before him used to hold Duchess Elicia's nutcracker. After scanning his surroundings, the duke finally found the familiar wooden soldier lying motionless under the table.

Duke Charles picked the nutcracker up and gently placed him back. He remembered it was Alfred telling him about the thing falling due to its imbalanced legs.

Alfred did not pick up the fallen nutcracker.

As if facing his imprudent son, the duke gave the innocent nutcracker a cold glance before walking away with his new whiskey glass in hand.