Hopefully, at Your Mercy - Chapter 2

Chapter 2.1

But even in this moment of uncertainty, one thing was clear.

‘This guy gives me the creeps.’

Lord Cavila just had this appearance of a con-artist. She needed to investigate him more thoroughly.

‘Besides, when making a contract, one must be in control. You have to assert dominance, slam it down with authority! If you’re cornered into signing it, the other party will already be looking down upon you.’

Therefore, in her judgment, now was not the right time to sign the contract.

But unfortunately, the duke didn’t quite understand Delinda’s intention.

“That’s right, Delinda. I’m certain that glory is finally returning to our family.”

“Is it really glory? Maybe I should pray a little more…”

“It seems your prayers have been answered today, Delinda.”

Sensing the tension in Delinda’s words, Lord Cavila eagerly rubbed his hands together, exclaiming,

“Your father is right! This is the moment when House Schultz will begin to walk the path of glory once more! I am honored to witness this shining moment alongside you, Your Grace.”

“Haha… Is that so?”

“Yes! Many other nobles have made offers, but I refused them all and came here by my own will. After all, how often does one get the opportunity to serve the great House Schultz, a founding hero of the empire?”

The smooth-talking con-artist’s words were clearly enchanting the duke.

“Therefore, Your Grace, I hope you will appreciate my sincere admiration for your family.”

Lord Cavila, with a respectful bow, continued to flatter the duke with polished words.

As soon as he finished speaking, Delinda knew instinctively.

He’s fallen for it. The duke’s completely fallen for it.

Noble honor. Great founding hero. The words from this con-artist were enough to sway the duke’s prideful mind.

Seeing how things were unfolding, Delinda decided to blurt out anything that came to mind.

“It’s a fake, Father! This is fake! It’s a fake gem!”

It didn’t matter whether it was real or fake. Her words were just a tactic to buy time.

Lord Cavila, looking wronged, clutched the spirit stone tightly.

“Fake? Even those without magic or spiritual energy can crush this gem if they use this glove… See for yourself! Doesn’t it burn perfectly?”

The spirit stone’s effect was undeniable. As he crushed it with his strength, a flame ignited in the empty air.

The fire blazed wildly. Now, the next step was the real problem.

What should I do?

As she pondered, the flame mocked her as it flickered and swirled in the air. After a brief moment of thought, Delinda made a simple decision.

Chaos!

I’ll cause a scene and disrupt everything here!

Having made up her mind, Delinda lunged for the flame without hesitation.

“Oh, goodness! My lady!”

“Kyaa! It’s hot!”

Delinda’s eyes widened, and she hurled the flame towards the side of Lord Cavila’s seat. The blazing flame smacked against the sofa’s fabric, igniting the cloth.

“What? A fire! Argh! It shouldn’t create flames this big, especially from a lower-quality stone like this!”

Lord Cavila shouted in panic as he hastily pulled out some magic sand from his pocket and sprinkled it all over the fire.

The servants quickly rushed into the room, realizing the seriousness of the situation.

“My lady! Are you alright?”

Philip, the chief steward of the mansion, rushed toward Delinda.

“No! His Grace’s favorite sofa!”

Varmo, butler of the mansion, clung to the burning sofa.

Everything was in chaos. It was loud, frantic, and completely disordered. Exactly what Delinda wanted.

After the fire was finally extinguished, Lord Cavila muttered to himself, looking utterly dazed.

“How on earth did the lady touch this with her bare hands… It’s impossible for an ordinary person to even hold it…”

Delinda stood tall right in the middle of the now riotous drawing room. Taking a deep breath, she shouted at the top of her lungs, using the loudest voice she could muster in the mansion.

“I don’t like things that are this dangerous! I don’t like hot things, and I don’t like that man who showed me something so scary! Please tell him to leave my house right now, Father!”

* * *

Perfect.

I looked like a complete fool.

I appeared incredibly stupid.

Delinda smiled as she walked back to her room with her maid, Rose.

She was replaying her brilliant performance in her mind.

What kind of situation had unfolded in the duke’s drawing room just now? Well, the sofa had caught fire, everyone had panicked, and the contract had gotten soaked. During the commotion, a cup of tea had tipped over, smearing ink across the document. It had become so illegible that they had no choice but to postpone the signing.

Seeing that his daughter was quite surprised, Duke Schultz sent Lord Cavila away, instructing him to rewrite and bring back the contract later.

In any case, now there was a delay. She had time to thoroughly review the contract.

Delinda was pleased with her display of foolishness, but as she neared her room, her smile gradually faded.

‘…Wait. Is this really something I should be happy about?’

In a way, today’s incident had only served to make Delinda’s reputation as a fool shine even brighter.

“…”

As she fell into a gloomy silence, she decided to accept reality.

‘Eh, who cares? This isn’t even my real body anyway. If acting like a fool can protect the family’s wealth, then that’s a good thing. Besides, it’s not like I’ll be here forever.’

With that thought, her mind soon found peace.