A Mastermind? No, I'm just the Live-In Son-in-Law-Chapter 93: An Uncomfortable Meeting

While Whitney was making a troubled expression at Parsha’s sudden report, at the front gates of the Ringaarden estate—

“O-Oh, welcome, Lady Meredia....”

“P-Please, come inside first....”

The servants standing there, visibly nervous, quickly opened their mouths as the carriage bearing the now-familiar crest came to a stop.

“Where is Whitney?”

Emerging from the carriage with a drowsy expression, Meredia lazily scanned the servants before tilting her head and asking.

“Ah, um....”

“The Master is conducting knight order interviews in the garden.”

“Sh-Should we bring him here right away?”

At their answer, Meredia’s face immediately twisted into a scowl.

“Tch, he’s really got a talent for standing people up.”

Muttering in clear displeasure, her words made the faces of the bowing servants instantly pale.

“Is he thinking that I’m completely his now? How utterly rude.”

“......”

“When a fiancée comes all the way to your house, it’s basic courtesy to come and greet her at the gates, don’t you think?”

Naturally, for the newly hired servants, seeing the Empire’s one and only duchess-to-be seriously muttering like that must have been overwhelmingly intimidating. However, anyone who knew Meredia even a little would have been flustered for a different reason. Because, despite her scowling, there wasn’t a trace of killing intent from her. Rather, the way she was pouting her lips and grumbling seemed far removed from her usual cold demeanor.

“...W-We’ll go fetch him immediately!”

“No, that’s unnecessary. I’ll go myself.”

“E-Eek! Y-Yes, ma’am!”

Of course, the new servants had no way of knowing this, so as Meredia began walking toward the garden, they hurried after her, looking as if they were about to die.

‘Still, it’s starting to feel like a proper noble house now.’

Watching them out of the corner of her eye, Meredia quietly raised the corners of her lips in thought.

‘The number of servants has increased, and they’re all properly disciplined. With this, we won’t be disgraced if guests visit.’

Thinking that, she smiled proudly, but the truth was that the recent revitalization of the Ringaarden estate was largely thanks to her. Even though the mansion’s internal reputation was abysmal, Whitney had recently been selected as a Hero in the Prodigy Selection Tournament and had formalized his engagement to her, making him a rising star of the Empire. Additionally, the Embergreen Duchy had begun investing suspiciously large sums into businesses, all of which were quietly connected to ventures the Ringaarden Count had initiated before his disappearance, greatly improving the family’s finances.

Of course, most of that investment was, for some reason, being funneled under Parsha’s supervision into a mine excavation project. Still, it was enough for the Ringaarden estate to hire a large number of servants.

‘I’ll need to reorganize the servants’ titles soon. And I should secure financial control early....’

Confirming that the estate had regained some of its former liveliness, Meredia busily mapped out future plans in her mind, before stopping and letting out a bitter smile.

‘...Why am I acting like the lady of the house?’

Even though they had confirmed their love for each other, she knew she could not truly become the mistress of the Ringaarden estate. The current situation was only tolerated because Whitney was the live-in son-in-law of the Embergreen Duchy. If it were reversed, and she — the heir and leader of the Empire’s only duchy — entered Whitney’s family, everything would collapse. She would essentially be handing all the power and foundation needed to protect herself and Whitney straight into the hands of Maier, who had recently been unusually quiet.

“...Haa.”

Stopping in place, Meredia let out a cold laugh, her face full of disgust.

“What a complete mess.”

The vulgar curse spilling from the lips of the graceful duchess made the servants following behind her all flinch and lower their gazes.

“...Power really isn’t as great as it seems.”

With that self-deprecating mutter, Meredia began walking forward again through the chilling atmosphere.

‘Well, it’s still a happy problem to have, I suppose....’

The guilt she felt at the thought of dragging Whitney into her cursed family name was immense. But what truly weighed on her mind was something else entirely. Because even an arranged marriage might not happen — she simply didn’t have much time left.

“......”

Feeling a faint ache in the back of her hand, Meredia’s gaze darkened further. Though she fully trusted Whitney’s declaration that he would break her curse no matter what, the fear still gnawed at her.

When she had nothing to lose, fear hadn't existed. Now, with something unbearably precious in her life, it was a different story.

‘If only we had met a little earlier....’

Unable to suppress her anxiety, she even found herself biting her fingernails without realizing it.

“This, this way, please....”

“...Huu.”

As she neared the temporary interview grounds in the garden, where Whitney was, Meredia shook her head vigorously and took a deep breath to gather her composure.

‘...Focus on the present.’

It was an unusually uncharacteristic thought for her, who had always been obsessed with long-term plans.

“Ah, Lady Meredia. You’re here.”

“...Tch.”

“Come, sit here. We’ve already prepared your seat.”

And the reason for that change, Meredia could no longer deny, was the man sitting before the makeshift tea party table, wearing his usual unnerving smile.

***

"An interview at a tea party? Are you trying to imitate the Emperor or something?"

"...Uh, let’s pretend I didn’t hear that just now."

"Yeah, I really hope you’re not the kind of noble who enjoys watching people melt under the blazing sun just because you gave the order, like her."

As I was preparing for the second round of interviews at the temporary venue, I forced a smile and turned my gaze aside at the dangerously timed comment from the lady who had just arrived.

'The Emperor’s eyes and ears are literally everywhere, and yet she’s got guts.'

Thanks to Parsha, whose ability to judge people was impeccable, our estate was relatively safe. Still, the Emperor would scatter magic tools plastered in gold ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) dust even in places he couldn’t plant people. In a place like this, open and crowded with servants, only Lady Meredia could dare to criticize the Emperor so openly.

"Haha, Lady Meredia, please think about the servants too."

"Why should I?"

"If you keep making those mischievous jokes, we might have to rehire all the servants from scratch."

Since it would be a huge headache if the servants resigned en masse out of fear, I smiled as kindly as I could and tried to persuade her.

"...I suppose that’s true."

Thankfully, after glancing at the distant servants, Lady Meredia nodded reluctantly, though with a slightly uneasy expression.

"D-Did you hear that just now?"

"...Shh. Pretend you didn’t hear anything."

"Hiccup..."

It seemed the servants hadn’t caught our conversation either, as they were busy whispering among themselves, so thankfully a mass resignation seemed unlikely.

"So, why exactly did you call me here today?"

While I was breathing a sigh of relief, Lady Meredia had already dragged a chair over and naturally sat beside me, asking with a slightly pouty expression.

"We're establishing a new knight order for our family. We respectfully invited you to act as an advisor."

"Do you really need me for that?"

Looking genuinely puzzled, she glanced between Lunelle and Parsha, who were sitting on either side of me.

"With those two, I think you could fully delegate all knight-related matters."

Although she said that, there was a clear sense of unease in her gaze.

"Both Lunelle and Parsha are certainly extremely capable, but experience matters too, right?"

"......."

"In that regard, no one could match you, Lady Meredia. The Electron Knight Order of the Embergreen Duchy is the strongest in the Empire, after all."

Though I couldn’t pinpoint the cause of her unease, I could at least explain why I had asked her to take the time out of her busy schedule.

"True, if they fought the Imperial Knights, it’d be mutual destruction at best."

"...You didn’t have to explain that so vividly."

Because of her dangerous comment, I once again had to nervously glance at the servants, but it seemed my persuasion had worked.

"Fine, I’ll help."

"Oh!"

"I know all too well how important a knight order is to a noble family."

Coming from someone who, in the original story, commanded a private army that devastated half the Empire, it was honestly a bit terrifying. Still, the main reason I had called Lady Meredia to assist with the interviews was to establish dominance. No matter how talented Lunelle was, she would still be seen as young and inexperienced by knights, whose pride and honor were sky-high. We were starting a completely new knight order. It would be far too easy for others to underestimate us.

But if Lady Meredia herself was sitting there at the interview table, that would change everything. Anyone with even half a brain would think carefully about their career prospects before behaving disrespectfully.

"But... something’s strange."

"Huh?"

Just as I was silently congratulating myself on my success, Lady Meredia, leaning on her hand, suddenly spoke up.

"That girl over there — her expression’s pretty bad."

Turning my head at her words, I found that Lunelle’s expression really did look abnormal.

"......."

Unlike her usual stoic face, she looked somehow anxious and uneasy. There was even a line of cold sweat trickling down her forehead.

"...Parsha, did you tell her about it?"

"No? You told me not to, Master."

"Hmm..."

"Well, even before I said anything, she did notice something was odd. But she wasn’t acting this strange at the time."

At first, I thought Lunelle might have figured out the identity of the "assassin" Parsha mentioned. But judging from what Parsha said, that didn’t seem to be the cause.

'Right. Even if Lunelle was alone, maybe she'd get nervous. But with Lady Meredia here too? No way she'd lose her cool over just one assassin.'

Then what on earth was causing Lunelle’s strange reaction? Was there some other problem Parsha and I had missed?

"Ah."

As I was scratching my head in rising unease, Parsha, who had been quietly flipping through the first-round applicants’ files, suddenly widened her eyes and let out a small gasp.

"...What’s wrong?"

I turned to her and asked, and after glancing between me and Lunelle, she finally opened her mouth.

"...Evangeline Misthylene. And Richard Misthylene. They're the final successful applicants from the interviews."

"...Misthylene?"

Staring at the end of the documents Parsha handed me, I frowned at the familiar family name, then quickly turned back to look at Lunelle.

"Don’t tell me..."

"My apologies."

Finally, Lunelle, who had been clenching her teeth in silence, opened her mouth in a low voice, her face darkened.

"...They are my younger siblings."

And thus, an awkward silence fell over the temporary interview ground.