“Attend the noble’s party as a dealer?!”

Pablo let out a fresh scream.

“This is absurd.”

Unfortunately, wearing a hood seemed to hide my rapidly deteriorating expression from Pablo.

“Even though I’ve received plenty of cards, I’ve never dealt them. You expect Pablo, with the hand of luck, to deal cards? Ridiculous.”

I bit my tongue.

“Is that something to brag about now?”

It’s fortunate that Matt was sent away; otherwise, Pablo would undoubtedly have been a liability, only talking about what happened while I was held by the security office.

“I know what you did while you were detained by the security office.”

Pablo carefully observed my reaction again.

“W-What could that be…”

Pablo hastily raised his hands.

“I was asked a lot about Mr. Ant by those guys, but I didn’t say anything! I really didn’t spill a word!”

“Will throwing out an impossible excuse help?”

I clenched my fist.

“Whether you knew or not, you blabbered about everything.”

If it weren’t for Pablo, how would Hys have known about the connection between the gold bars and Ant?

“Because of your loose tongue, the security office came to me as well.”

“Yikes!”

Finally aware, Pablo jumped from his chair.

“Pablo.”

I sighed and leaned my head against my fist.

“Do you know how much money I spent on you?”

Pablo only rolled his eyes without a word.

“Even if I sold you to the mine, it wouldn’t recover a tenth of the amount I spent.”

At the mention of the ‘mine,’ cold sweat began to appear on Pablo’s forehead.

“Do you know how much I value money?”

Pablo nodded his head silently.

“Why do you think I haven’t recovered even a tenth of the spent money, Pablo, before regretting it?”

I showed Pablo a kind smile, unseen to him, while clasping my fingers.

“Let’s try to make things go smoothly between us.”

Kilian’s hand mercilessly crushed the invitation, and the torn pieces of paper fell slowly to the ground.

“Debutante ball?”

In response to Kilian’s question, the marchioness, who had been staring at the portrait absentmindedly, nodded her head. She seemed oblivious to the fact that the invitation had been torn apart by her son.

“Yeah. Lady Majenne is hosting a debutante ball this time; that’s why the invitation came.”

The marchioness sighed slightly.

“You know, our Reyna’s friend.”

Friend, my foot. Though Kilian internally blamed Esmeralda for endangering Reyna on the day of the festival, he didn’t show any signs of it outwardly.

As the condition of his mother worsened day by day, Kilian didn’t want to agitate her.
“Originally, Reyna would have participated in the debutante ball as well…”

At the mention of Mother’s words, my heart tightened for a moment. When Kilian swallowed his saliva, the marchioness finally took her eyes off the portrait.

“Come to think of it, Kilian, you became an adult this year, and I haven’t properly held a congratulatory party for you.”

A tinge of guilt flashed across the marchioness’s face.

“It’s okay, Mother. I’ve never enjoyed parties anyway.”

As if it were a disgusting thing.

The marchioness faintly smiled.

“That’s true.”

Only then did the marchioness look at the scattered pieces of the invitation on the floor.

“Then you should decline the debutante ball party. Don’t worry; I’ll send a rejection letter soon.”

Though the marchioness dismissed it lightly, Kilian couldn’t help but lower his head in the gradually distant gaze of the marchioness.

“I’ll go to the debutante ball.”

“Really?”

Kilian nodded slowly. The marchioness was a woman who couldn’t find her way out of the marquisate. This might be an opportunity for her to get some fresh air and uplift her mood.

“Yes. Let’s go together, Mother.”

As we approached Marquisate, I involuntarily clenched my fist in embarrassment.

It was the day of decision.

According to Esmeralda, securing the position of the next marchioness would satisfy the marquis. She said that he would no longer engage in useless activities if I disappeared.

However, the more information I obtained about the Marquis, the more I felt that it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him with just that.

So, I immersed myself even more in digging into the Marquis’s background, fearing that he might harm the people I left behind. I was always vigilant, wondering if he would not be satisfied even after I left and would plot something.

Since I was the only one who knew the true identity of Marquis, I wanted to protect my precious people as far as my influence could reach.

Of course, as a marquis, he could undoubtedly handle the Marquis without my help. However, I couldn’t just watch; my heart was not at ease.

“Everyone remembers their roles, right?”

Number 5 nodded with a fierce face, swallowing his saliva.

“Is it too late to exclude me now?”

Pablo, who seemed to be trembling, timidly spoke about stepping into the noble family.

“If I go wrong, who will take care of my son?”

I chuckled.

“As if you ever took care of Matt as if he were your own.”

Just then, the carriage carrying us stopped in front of the main gate of the Marquisate.