Mess 176
by Cristae176.
“How could I possibly leave someone so lovable alone…?”
He pressed gentle kisses to her slender nape. Then, to the spot he’d just grazed with his tongue, he slowly sank his teeth.
“How could I possibly leave you be?”
The sensation of his teeth worrying her skin drew a faint sigh from Seraphie. She wanted to kick him away, but for that, he was simply too dear.
‘It’s my fate, then.’
I’m utterly caught in his grasp.
The damnably sweet temptation continued, unbroken.
Seraphie, too, soon found herself drenched in want, unable to resist. Ignoring it was impossible for how thoroughly she’d been steeped in desire.
At last, it was only when Seraphie muttered, “You wretch,” and wrapped her arms around his back, that Orchis answered with a sly smile and a kiss.
In the arms of the man who seemed ready to tear her apart, Seraphie exhaled excited, ragged breaths, shivering in the ecstasy consuming her.
“…At this rate, you’ll be finished for good, you know?”
The Marquess Kia had come out to see them off, and offered his deeply genuine advice to his granddaughter, grown hollow and wan.
“They always say too much is as bad as too little.”
“You could have told me just a bit sooner…”
“Never thought the day would come when I’d be giving my granddaughter advice about moderation in consummation…”
With a click of his tongue, Kia withdrew, and Batisa stepped forward, offering Seraphie an awkward but warm farewell.
“It was so good to see you, after so long.”
“I’m sorry for presenting such a sorry sight.”
“No need to apologize.”
Batisa hugged Seraphie.
“…I’ll be heading up to the capital soon.”
At that, Seraphie’s eyes widened in surprise. Batisa only shrugged, as if she had anticipated such a response.
“I can’t stay here forever. I’m the family’s heir, after all—it’s time to return and take up my responsibilities.”
“That madman is still in the capital.”
During the last ball, Count Baglosa’s son had made his appearance—and continued to linger in the capital until Seraphie’s own departure.
“I’ll be all right.”
But Batisa showed no sign of concern.
“I may not look it, but I am the daughter of a Marquess. If I put my mind to it, the likes of him won’t dare approach.”
“Batisa…”
“I’ve made my preparations.”
She smiled, exuding a quiet confidence that put Seraphie at last a little more at ease.
After exchanging another farewell with Batisa, Seraphie climbed into the carriage.
“You all right?”
Runi, already inside, giggled teasingly.
“They say those who learn thievery late become the most obsessed.”
“Be quiet unless you want your pay docked.”
“This is worth teasing you for, even if it costs me my salary.”
“Lu, stop it.”
Even Cal, trying to rein in Runi, was barely suppressing a smile.
They say the meddling sister-in-law is always the most vexing. Seraphie found Cal even more exasperating than Runi.
“But where’s Sir Phelikia? I thought she’d come as well?”
In answer to Runi’s question, Seraphie jerked her chin toward the window.
There was Orchis, being cornered by the Countess Dowager.
The Countess, tears streaming down her face, begged in earnest,
“Please, don’t be too hard on my daughter…”
Her daughter, who had departed healthy, now returned pale and staggering—her mother’s heart broke to see it.
The Dowager wholeheartedly supported her daughter’s love, but at that moment, she felt compelled to speak out as a parent.
“She may seem well, but she’s still very fragile.”
“……”
Orchis bit his lip, as if to hold his tongue.
If the Countess had seen her daughter kicking over a Council table, or breaking down a tightly locked inn door with one swift kick, she would have never called her frail.
Nevertheless, Orchis could read the room.
“I have been remiss.”
“That’s the problem—it’s because you haven’t been.”
“……”
“In moderation, if you please…”
He kept his silence as best he could, but hearing a warning about nighttime moderation from his mother-in-law was not particularly welcome.
Thankfully, a savior stepped in.
“Enough now, dear.”
With Marquess Kia’s intervention, the Dowager finally ceased her uncomfortable nagging. She, too, took little joy in having to say such things to her daughter’s beloved.
“Something you can only experience in the bloom of youth. I envy it.”
“Mother!”
“You’re not exactly one to talk, are you?”
Kia narrowed his eyes.
“Like mother, like daughter.”
He left the rest unsaid, but the atmosphere in the area was positively scorched.
The Dowager’s face reddened; Orchis vowed never to recall this moment.
“They say it’s a grandmother’s role to look after her granddaughter’s husband.”
Kia tapped Orchis’s back lightly with his cane.
“Off with you, now.”
The gesture was careless, but deeply affectionate. Orchis bowed his head.
“Young master.”
Raven, who had been standing at a respectful distance, came forward.
“Safe travels, sir.”
“……”
“As always, please call me Sir Durla. I would rather not be addressed as ‘Father’ myself.”
“I’m glad we feel the same.”
Orchis nodded his gratitude to his peer, his almost-father-in-law.
“I entrust them to your care.”
“I would lay down my life to protect Lady Fire and the Marquess.”
Raven responded with unwavering resolve.
“Father!”
Just then, a head of blue hair peeked out from the carriage.
“Take good care of Mother! And Grandma too! If you come visit the estate, I’ll make sure you’re well treated!”
Seraphie waved her arms in farewell to Raven.
“……”
“…Sir, please don’t glare at me like that.”
I was startled too, you know.
A bead of sweat rolled down Raven’s cheek.
The carriage ride back to the capital was silent.
Perhaps sated from their time away, everyone but a few had drifted off into a doze, eyes closed.
“So—who do we need to bring down next?”
Seraphie posed the question quietly, as Runi and Cal, seated ahead, leaned on each other fast asleep.
“The Crown Prince is…”
Orchis, likewise lowering his voice, replied,
“The only way to topple him is deposition.”
Deposition.
The word carried heavy, even baleful weight. To not only knock the heir apparent from his position but to have him utterly cast out was a deed near as perilous as outright rebellion.
“It will require immense preparation. And, in the end, it must be X who stands before the Crown Prince.”
Seraphie nodded solemnly.
No matter what they did, unless there was an alternative more viable than the Crown Prince, the Emperor would never discard his murderous eldest son.
That made X’s role all the more critical.
“Then we keep doing what we’ve always done.”
Undermining the Crown Prince’s power base.
It was a chilling task, just to say it. Yet Seraphie felt no special weight—by now, it came as naturally as breathing.
But she knew the path ahead would be grueling.
“We’re in for busy days when we return.”
Count Loria was certainly no ordinary foe. Their usual methods would not suffice against him, she was sure.
Smack.
As she pored over her worries, something light pressed to her forehead.
“Plenty of time to worry after we arrive at the estate.”
Orchis brushed her bangs upward from her brow, revealing her round, smooth forehead.
He pressed his lips to it.
“Until we arrive, at least, we are still on holiday.”
“You’re right.”
Seraphie replied with a gentle smile. She held out her hand, and her beloved cuddled closer, nuzzling her face like an affectionate puppy.
She was grateful for his concern, even for her habit of seeking out trouble.
“Shall we close our eyes for just a little while?”
Leaning into that warmth, Seraphie let herself doze. The mischievous hand entwining fingers with hers—she found it tremendously endearing.
While she slipped into sweet, light sleep, the carriage continued on its way.
“…Summer is upon us.”
Even in her drowsiness, Orchis’s words found her ear.
Covering a yawn with her hand, Seraphie looked out the window.
“My, how green the world has turned.”
The carriage was making its way along a wooded road near the capital. Where once bare branches bore only the tiniest buds, now lush leaves waved in abundance.
“The air’s warmed up, too!”
Awake now, Runi cracked the window, and the scent of grass, richer now with the season’s heat, drifted in.
Summer had beaten the carriage to the capital.
Upon arrival at the estate, the butler and household staff came out to greet their return.
“You shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble.”
“How could we do otherwise, my lady, when you come home?”
Seraphie regarded the laughing butler. Only a year ago, his face had been drawn and shadowed, but now he seemed ten years younger, robust and lively.
He was, in fact, a rather handsome man.
“How is the Countess Dowager faring?”
“You’ll be amazed to hear about my mother, I think.”
“Ha ha, it sounds as if there have been many blessings in her life.”
The butler smiled, as pleased as if the news were his own.
Inside the manor, he came forward with a silver tray heaped with letters.
“Now it truly feels like vacation is over.”
Seraphie gave a wry laugh as she took the letters from the tray. Runi also took her own stack of correspondence, wearing a tragically sad face.
Cal’s pile was thick, and even Orchis was already tearing open his share to read.
“Sir Phelikia might as well just live here at this point.”
She practically only went home to sleep.
Runi giggled, saying it was now the talk of the town. Seraphie felt herself blush.
“My lady.”
At that moment, the butler brought two pieces of news.
“Count Baglosa has filed suit against the Kia Trading Company and the Countess.”
“It would have been strange if he hadn’t.”
Seraphie immediately found a registered letter from the court in her pile.
“It was dismissed for lack of evidence, but Baglosa’s own double books have come to light—which are now the subject of a separate trial.”
Indeed, the court letter confirmed as much.
During Seraphie’s absence from the capital, the Baglosa Company had also come under suspicion of tax evasion.
A serious crime, tax fraud brought swift retribution from the Imperial authorities, who sentenced Baglosa’s trading operations to a three-month suspension. The court concurred, making the decision effective immediately.
‘I’ll have to steer clear of him for a while.’
She could practically hear the Count grinding his teeth from afar.
“And…”
The butler continued with the next matter.
“A message has come from House Loria.”
Seraphie, rifling absentmindedly through her letters, froze. The room fell silent, all save for the butler, who continued matter-of-factly.
“They’ve announced a funeral in a few days.”
She had been requested to attend.
“……”
It was an unexpected chance to investigate her enemy, but Seraphie felt nothing but reluctance.
‘Count Loria…’
Rolling the name over in her mind, she found it unspeakably loathsome.