The Precious Sister of The Villainous Grand Duke

"Why did you break a completely good pen?"

"……."

"There's dust flying around."

Dietrich didn't reply to my chiding and only gave me a sullen gaze.

He had a firmly angry look on his face, but the one who should be angry was me and not him.

'I also want some romance!'

Dietrich was the most precious person to me in this world, and I'm certain that I'm also that kind of existence to him.

However, was he thinking of skipping the dating and the proposal and jumping straight to the wedding ceremony?

'Dylan would have been more romantic.'

I didn't know where Dylan, who was so affectionate that I mistook him for a flirt went, and only left this blunt fool who makes my insides burn.

I pushed him aside, forgetting the past when I thought that it was enough that we had each other like a squirrel forgetting its acorn.

"Why did you push me?"

He protested at me with a low, subdued voice as if holding back his anger.

"Go away. So annoying."

"Why are you annoyed?"

"You said you'd buy the Viscounty? If I left you alone, you'll just be a pushover, so it's better if you just stay out."

"Ha."

Dietrich let out an exasperated laugh.

I knitted my eyebrows so as not to lose to that cold reaction.

"Leave. Yuric and Veronica, too. All of you."

Olivia's eyes popped out restlessly as the atmosphere became instantly frozen.

"Oh, man. That zero dating skills jerk."

At my words, Yuric was the first one to click his tongue and turned his back as if to leave.

"That's right. My sister is too young to get married!"

It was followed by Veronica, who giggled as if she found the situation funny.

'Now, Hermann just has to leave.'

I looked at Hermann, who was tactlessly shaking his finger between me and Dietrich with wide eyes and I pointed to the door.

"You leave too, Hermann."

"What are you talking about right now? Marriage? Duchess?"

I opened my mouth with a sigh at him who was stammering in surprise.

"I'm telling you to leave."

"What do you mean marriage with Dietrich Lagrange?! Are you saying you're going to marry that cold-blooded man? I will never give my permission over my dead –!"

Hermann began to raise his voice, seemingly having no intention to leave his place.

Unable to be patient with him any longer, I cut off his words coldly.

"It's not for you to dispute, Hermann."

"That's right. Why do we need your permission?"

Dietrich, who pretended not to hear me tell him to leave, stood beside me and added.

I whipped my head around and glared at him strongly like my eyes would fall out.

"But don't you need my permission? Before I really get mad, take Hermann and leave."

"……..."

At my words, Dietrich took Hermann who had fallen into a daze.

'I can't believe they're so difficult to send away.'

After I made sure the door was completely closed, I sighed deeply and began to tap Olivia's abacus.

"Countess. Shall we proceed with the contract now?"

"Ah, oh! Yes!"

It was then that she understood the situation and hurriedly nodded her head.

Just in time, the maid served a cold tea with ice.

As I was drinking cold tea and calculating the numbers, my reason finally came to me as if someone had poured cold water on my heated head.

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'Even if the Viscounty had a long history, it doesn't have any significant property since it was all wasted in the previous generation's business.'

With a clear mind, I began to lightly evaluate the worth of the Viscounty.

'I can no longer use the Viscounty since it's all destroyed…..'

"On a rough estimate, I think I can give you this much money."

Olivia shook her head in horror at the abacus I thrust at her.

"Princess, this is only the price of the land."

I held back her hand which had tried to furtively touch the abacus.

"You have to take into account that the territory is not particularly fertile."

"Are you aware that there is a mine owned by the Viscount?"

"I know it has been cut off."

"We've discovered a new mineral called the Orharicon, but it's a difficult mineral to excavate, so we just need a little capital."

I smirked at Olivia's words as if I were copying Dietrich.

"However, you don't have that capital."

Maybe my expression was quite plausible that her face became crestfallen and she hesitated.

"Orharicon is a very precious mineral……We are looking for investors in our establishment."

"Keep looking. I can give you about 10 percent of the initial development cost."

"That's really only about the cost of labor!"

"You can think of it as compensation for the years of exploitation of Donovan by deceiving me over a false debt."

"I'm really sorry about that, but isn't the debt of my brother and nephew enough compensation for that? The Grand Duke even went so far as to ruin the Viscounty without His Majesty's permission."

I took out a coin, looking into the eyes of  Olivia who was standing tall as if she wouldn't lose to me.

"Fine. Then should we make a bet?"

"What….?

"Let me guess whether the coin landed on its head or tail. If I get it right, you will have to accept my offer."

"Are you leaving it to chance?"

"That's what I'm saying."

I added a blatant lie to convince her.

"It's a fifty-fifty chance."

"........Very well."

Compared to Dietrich and Hermann, there wasn't much known about my ability, so Olivia couldn't have known about them.

I smiled secretly as I felt the aura slowly rising again.

────── 〔✿〕──────

"Here."

It was him who wanted to acquire the Viscounty, but Dietrich didn't even show any signs of liking it when I gave him the certificate of ownership.

"Why aren't you taking it?"

I stuck the certificate that was still fluttering in my hand to his chest since he didn't receive it.

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Why won't you marry me?"

I kept my mouth shut at Dietrich's expression. Even though he only had his eyebrows knitted together, he looked so sad as if the world had collapsed.

'Is he still bothered about that?'

"That talk again? Let's just go and eat something."

It was already evening when I left the room after finishing the deal because I had been arguing with Olivia, who realized I had cheated on her.

I let out a sigh as I skimmed over the landscape where the waning sun was coloring the sky in vermilion.

As if waiting for my answer, he opened his mouth again with a slight frown.

"Don't tell me there's someone else?"

"Huh?"

"Devonshire?"

That damn Devonshire!

I didn't even remember his name, who had now become Count Devonshire, so how could he be my hidden lover?

I let out a frustrated exclamation while touching my head and then shook it.

"I'm asking if you have a guy you're hiding."

Seeing me at a loss for words in shock, he made a groaning noise and chewed his lips nervously at whatever he was thinking.

"If it's not Devonshire, then who is it?"

"That's not it. I don't have a man."

My maid life was so swamped with work that I couldn't dream of dating even when I pretended to be Annie.

'Come to think of it, wasn't it Dylan who had women and not me?'

"On the contrary, aren't you the one who has women around you?"

"What?"

At my question, Dietrich's eyes widened as if he didn't know what I was talking about.

I opened my mouth as I watched with interest the process of his always cold and indifferent face being colored with embarrassment.

"When you came to play in the estate, weren't there many rumors of women going in and out of your room?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I heard you played with Sarah, too. I've heard everything there is to hear."

"I don't even know who Sarah is."

Liar.

Sarah was a beautiful woman who stood out in the territory, so no matter how indifferent he was, he would surely have heard her name.

"Ah, I don't know! I'm going to go and date other guys as much as you did!"

Before that, I won't get married even if it's unfair.

And no matter how much I was already at the marriageable age in this world, I was only in my early twenties.

"I'm going to become promiscuous from now on!"

Dietrich stood still in the hallway with his mouth wide open, shocked at my argument.

"As much as you! Understand?!"

"What did I…..What kind of women came in and out of my room? I have never."

────── 〔✿〕──────

'Promiscuous….'

Dietrich, who seemed to be stuck in the quiet hallway, looked at Anissa's back as she moved away and fell into anguish.

"All right."

He soon made up his mind.

'I can just kill them all.'

He would regain his notoriety which Anissa had barely put to sleep, but what did that matter?

However, even if he cleared up all the men around Anissa, the misunderstanding would remain.

'She'd been like that ever since she knew me as Dylan. Why on earth?'

"Why are you just standing there?"

"………."

"Hey. Perhaps, have you seen the maid named Sarah?"

Dietrich, who found Yuric entering the hallway with a grin on his face, moved the shadows using his ability with his body that clearly have not yet recovered.

"She's a girl I've met for a while when you were pretending to be a servant~huh? Why are you suddenly attacking me?"

"Come here."

"Wh-What's wrong with you?"

"I didn't mean to keep you alive."