ITIF Chapter 59

He Just Didn’t Like Wearing Clothes

It was late at night when Giselle Grante returned to the Amaterasu ducal residence.

“Miss, who is that person?”

Lindsey looked at the young man standing beside Giselle Grante with wide eyes.

“Shh.”

Giselle Grante brought her index finger to her lips. Lindsey quickly covered her mouth and nodded.

“Let’s go to the bedroom first.”

“Yes…”

Giselle Grante headed to the bedroom with the slave youth.

‘What should I tell Duke Amaterasu and Mikhail…’

While her mind was occupied with such thoughts, her mouth dutifully spoke different words.

“Could you bring me something suitable for him to wear?”

There was less bare skin than when they first met. Before boarding the carriage after leaving Baron Cypress’s establishment, she had draped the shawl she’d been wearing around his shoulders.

Though it was quite a large shawl for her, it was insufficient to cover his robust frame. Thus, the slave youth’s appearance remained highly provocative.

Lindsey nodded without complaint.

Just as Giselle Grante rarely saw improperly dressed men, the same would be true for Lindsey.

“Ah… Yes! Leave it to me.”

Watching Lindsey’s back as she left the bedroom for the corridor, Giselle Grante glanced at the slave youth.

He stood vacantly, looking around the interior of the bedroom.

“It seems my master has a more impressive family background than I expected.”

Having hesitated briefly about what to say, Giselle Grante belatedly realized they hadn’t exchanged names.

“I’m Giselle Grante.”

The slave youth, who had been slowly blinking as he looked at Giselle Grante, soon opened his mouth.

“It’s sufficient for you to call me whatever name you wish, Master. You could call me after a dog you keep, or perhaps the name of a man you like.”

She didn’t keep any dogs. But the moment she heard “the name of a man you like,” the face of a man with black hair and red eyes flashed through her mind—not by her own will.

‘Right. This is because I’ve been going around saying I love Duke Cardia like it’s a habit.’

As she thought this, the slave youth chuckled and spoke again.

“It seems you already have a man you like. May I hear that gentleman’s name?”

Giselle Grante shook her head firmly. But he didn’t seem to believe her.

Just then, footsteps could be heard from beyond the corridor.

“Miss, it seems there’s no one among the estate’s employees whose build would fit. I happened to find Young Master Mikhail’s clothes in the laundry room, so I brought them… Will this be alright?”

Lindsey displayed Mikhail’s clothes with an anxious expression.

Surprisingly, Mikhail had excellent fashion sense and rarely wore the same outfit twice.

Unfortunately, the clothes Lindsey was now displaying were ones she had seen Mikhail wear multiple times.

After briefly contemplating whether it was really acceptable to dress a slave in the young duke’s clothes, Giselle Grante made her decision.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him wear this recently.’

She concluded that he must have set it aside to discard soon.

Moreover, she couldn’t think of any estate employee with a build similar to the slave youth’s.

The other alternative would be Duke Amaterasu.

‘This would still be better than wearing the head of the family’s clothes.’

Deciding to gift Mikhail new clothes, Giselle Grante spoke to the youth.

“Change into this.”

The slave youth, taking Mikhail’s clothes that Lindsey offered, removed the shawl he’d been wearing without a hint of embarrassment, right in front of Lindsey and herself.

As his bare body, wearing nothing at all, was revealed, Lindsey jumped in surprise and covered her eyes.

‘At that rate, she’ll probably see everything through the gaps in her fingers.’

Watching the gaps between Lindsey’s loosely closed fingers, Giselle Grante turned toward the corridor and said,

“…I’ll step out for a moment.”

The slave youth, who had nodded, slipped his arms into the shirt. Thanks to this, the area of bare skin decreased significantly, and just as she was trying to regain her peace of mind, the slave youth unhesitatingly brought his hand to his waistband.

“…!”

Giselle Grante hastily left the bedroom with Lindsey.

“Miss, what on earth is going on?”

“I’ll explain later.”

Lindsey reluctantly nodded, but her worried expression remained.

Neither Duke Amaterasu nor Mikhail were the type to interfere with whatever she did outside.

However, bringing a half-naked young man to the mansion was somewhat problematic.

“…..”

Just as an awkward atmosphere began to flow between Giselle Grante and Lindsey, the door opened.

“…Wow, clothes really do make the man.”

Seeing him dressed in Mikhail’s clothes, Lindsey exclaimed in admiration.

Indeed, the youth’s beauty stood out enough to look impressive even to her eyes.

****

Meanwhile, Kavelaseth, who had been keeping his eyes on the documents all along, finally looked up at Count Preston.

“Lady Amaterasu went to a slave market?”

It was shocking that slave markets still existed, but it was also shocking that Giselle Grante had purchased a slave there.

“Yes, it was the place operated by Baron Cypress.”

“She bought a slave there…”

“That’s correct. But I heard the slave’s appearance closely resembled someone from Solzakai.”

At Count Preston’s following words, a hollow laugh escaped through Kavelaseth’s teeth.

“Ha…”

Solzakai was a kingdom in the southeast of the Phasis Empire that had once belonged to the Phasis Empire’s territory, but had long since been recognized as an independent nation.

“…They say the noise from the struggle for succession rights never ceases. Perhaps amid the chaos, someone flowed into Phasis Empire territory and was captured.”

“That seems highly likely. Given that his appearance was said to be extraordinary, it appears they intended to trade a young man for the amusement of noble ladies.”

Kavelaseth thought the same as Count Preston. If it were simply for labor, there would be no need to acquire a slave with outstanding looks.

“Extraordinary appearance…”

Suddenly, he recalled the Third Prince of Solzakai, who had recently gone missing.

Having heard that the Third Prince had disappeared during the power struggle for the throne, Kavelaseth had already suspected he had been eliminated.

Though he hadn’t thought as far as him being sold to another country as a slave.

Since receiving information from Giselle Grante, Kavelaseth had been continuously watching whom Count Frederick met and with whom he interacted.

He believed that following him would naturally lead to clues related to Princess Trinity’s death.

Though it was still only suspicion, he thought the Empress was closely related to Princess Trinity’s death.

So he judged that once he found suitable evidence, he could bring down the Empress, who currently wielded unlimited power.

As he had been Princess Trinity’s subordinate, Count Frederick seemed to still be investigating that matter.

Recently, Count Frederick had begun interacting with several new nobles, among them Baron Cypress.

Kavelaseth immediately assigned surveillance to Baron Cypress as well.

Then recently, a problem arose in Count Frederick’s territory, and Count Frederick left for his domain to resolve it.

While tracking the whereabouts of Count Frederick’s subordinates left in the capital, they discovered a suspicious villa operated by Baron Cypress, and Giselle Grante appeared there.

“…I’ve stationed people at Baron Cypress’s establishment. Should we also assess the situation at the Amaterasu ducal residence? What is Your Grace’s opinion?”

At Count Preston’s question, Kavelaseth, who had been contemplating briefly, rose from his seat.

“I’ll look into Lady Amaterasu’s situation myself.”

Having hastily finished his morning work, Kavelaseth headed to the Amaterasu ducal residence.

Despite there being no advance notice of his visit, the Amaterasu family’s butler and employees greeted Kavelaseth with familiarity.

“Kavel, what brings you here? To think you’d come looking for me without an appointment.”

Instead of telling the delighted Mikhail outright that he hadn’t come to see him, Kavelaseth entertained Mikhail for a while.

Only then did he bring up the main point.

“Are you alone in the mansion?”

Mikhail, who had been watching the employees busily sweeping and cleaning the corridor beyond the drawing room, immediately gaped.

“No way! You came to see Giselle today? Really? Is that it?”

Mikhail stared at Kavelaseth with a face unable to contain his surprise.

‘Just what is he thinking on his own…’

Even under Mikhail’s gaze full of emotion, Kavelaseth maintained an unresponsive demeanor.

“She’s not going out today; she’ll be at the mansion. I’ll hurry and bring Giselle here.”

Mikhail tried to stand up rather ostentatiously. Kavelaseth shook his head and said,

“I’d better go find her myself.”

“…Really? Alright.”

Mikhail, struggling to restrain his twitching lips, soon spoke to a nearby maid.

That Duke Cardia wished to see Giselle Grante.

****

“Wasn’t this what you wanted from me?”

Giselle Grante stiffened in place, frozen in the position of having gasped in breath.

‘Why, why on earth… why?’

The next day. The slave youth who entered Giselle Grante’s drawing room to have a conversation was in a half-naked state, just like when they first met.

‘Did he just not like wearing clothes?’

At this point, her thoughts naturally jumped in that direction.

However, she tried her best not to show her bewilderment and said,

“First, put something on… and then let’s talk again.”

Giselle Grante picked up Mikhail’s shirt lying on the sofa and handed it to the slave youth.

“I did so because it seemed my master preferred this more?”

The slave youth, who had quickly put on the shirt properly, smiled brightly.

Giselle Grante put her hand to her forehead.

She was at a loss as to where to even begin correcting him.

“First, it would be better to correct the way you address me…”