A Desirable Attitude to Live as an Heiress of a Chaebol Family

Episode 26: What Fate Is (XII)

This was why he despised meeting Gertrude.

She would always put Reinhardt in situations where he wanted to say something but couldn’t. No matter how badly he wants to retaliate, he can’t because she’s the embodiment of his son and granddaughter’s wrath.

This insensitive— no, exceptionally ruthless woman.

“I came here out of curiosity, is there any problem?”

Gertrude murmured leisurely, carefully inspecting her red-petal-dyed fingernails. On her chest was a brooch engraved with a platinum white cat.

The White Cat, a symbol of the Fernburg royal family.

Reinhardt struggled to stop thinking about his pet cat and the other family member it had brought.

When he blinked his eyes shut and open again, the blazing red hue was all he could see. Reinhardt was as placid as he could be.

“You know it’s wise not to pry into other people’s affairs in life.”

“Then I won’t be curious.”

“Towards my clever and quick-witted son…”

I don’t understand why you love him so much.

Teriot’s reason for staying in his room. The catalyst for such a feisty and perverse turn.

Reinhardt stared at Gertrude sternly despite the profanity. There could have been no respect or allegiance on his part for her because he was an Ederka citizen.

“When will the results come out, Duncan?”

Instead of answering, Gertrude raised her hand, and the servant who reappeared brought her a chair.

“It’ll take about an hour.”

“That’s good. I can give you an hour or so.”

“……”

“We’ll be bored while we wait. I’ll play chess with you as an opponent.”

The table was quickly set between Reinhardt and Gertrude by the servant.

“Will you go first?”

“You go first.”

White and black chess pieces began to pile up on the chessboard. Reinhardt had black in front of him, and Gertrude had white in front of her.

Gertrude moved her hand and pulled the knight forward.

“Is my child doing well?”

“Do you think you are qualified to ask?”

Reinhardt also moved his hand sharply like a blade.

He remembered it clearly. Aicila, a 7-year-old girl who was ‘delivered’ to Duncan Mansion with a tired and peeved expression.

The child’s first words after she arrived were truly shocking.

‘You can throw me away if you want.’

It was a perverse remark. It wasn’t something a 7-year-old would say.

And the woman who made her daughter say those words is asking such a careless question.

“I don’t have the right to go and meet her in person, but I think I deserve to take hints.”

“……”

“I even heard she ended her flirtatious love affair with Prince Siena. Personally, I’m glad I won’t have to hear the Prince refer to me as mother-in-law.”

Tak.

This time, she moved the white bishop. Reinhardt followed the movement with his eyes and frowned.

“Don’t pay attention to Aicila.”

“How cold-hearted of you. Even if it’s like this, I’m her mother.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you.”

“I’ll admit that.”

I really don’t understand my son’s taste in women. He couldn’t even straighten his wrinkles, so he just sighed.

On his troubled face, Gertrude burst into a short laugh.

“Certainly, Teriot Duncan is the smartest among the Duncans.”

Reinhardt exhaled deeply and turned to face the woman opposite of him. He was about to lock his gaze on her.

…I wonder if my granddaughter will look like that when she grows up. Aside from her hair color, Gertrude looked exactly like Aicila.

That’s not it. Aicila looked just like Gertrude.

So Reinhardt gave Gertrude a death glare and eventually couldn’t do anything about it.

“Check.”

A languid, ennui-filled voice declared. Reinhardt’s spine tingled as he looked down at the chessboard.

It seems like your brain has gone blank. Oh my God.

A derisive whisper followed at first.

“You get what you deserve, Reinhardt Duncan.”

“……”

“Duncan, who has a good sense, lost at chess… Isn’t that amusing?”

Duncan’s ‘sixth sense’ and ‘hunch’ are all different to the extent that they are good. But Reinhardt Duncan, like Duncan’s immediate lineage, was so good that he was dubbed a prescient.

The only opponent that has ever beaten him at chess was his son, Teriot.

“Your sixth sense close to your ability won’t work on me.”

Gertrude grinned. Reinhardt moved the knight slowly, ignoring the mischievous laugh. It was a precautionary measure to avoid being checked.

“Think about it. About a man with a good sixth sense and a good brain, which resulted in his life becoming boring.”

The King’s long and elegant fingers wrapped around the white bishop. The sound of the bishop striking the chessboard rang out.

“Check. Suddenly, a mysterious woman, whose thoughts and emotions were inscrutable to him, entered his world.”

Reinhardt leaned back, relieved that he had escaped another check. The red-haired woman drew his attention once more.

“Reinhardt, have you ever read a popular novel? The cliché setting becomes boring because writers borrow it a lot. Why borrow so much?”

“……”

“That’s how persuasive it is.”

Gertrude’s fingers caressed the white queen this time. After a moment of thought, she set it down and mumbled, an hour is quite a long time, so she picked up the pawn instead of the queen.

“Talk about being persuasive, it can even happen in reality. You’re the first woman I’ve met like this… such an old-fashioned setting is actually the ideal condition of falling in love.”

Just like I was that kind of woman—

Tak. The white pawn ate the black pawn.

—to your son.

Such a hushed motion. Reinhardt watched as the King’s hand pushed his pawn off the chessboard.

When his goosebumps subsided, he was able to assess the situation calmly. It wasn’t surprising in retrospect.

No matter how talented he was, ‘Reinhardt Duncan’ was just a human being. The woman in front of him was a transcendent being who existed outside the realm of humans.

“Even so, Your Majesty, my son loved you. I don’t know why you took the time to personally visit the Magic Tower.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know I’m crazy about your son. No way, Reinhardt. No way.”

“And didn’t Your Majesty the King celebrate your 30th wedding anniversary last year?”

Aicila is currently 22 years old. Which means Gertrude was already married by the time she approached Teriot.

The woman across from him looked at Reinhardt with boredom and total incomprehension.

“I’ll divorce him whenever your son wants. Is that important?”

“You’re such a heartless person towards my son’s daughter, Aicila—”

“She’s not a boy.”

The only thing I like about my daughter is that black hair your son gave her.

Gertrude added casually, tapping the chessboard. Her red eyes traced the flow of the chess pieces slowly.

And in the next moment, her eyes widened in surprise. She seemed to have realized the mistake her hand made at this point.

Reinhardt moved the queen without missing an opportunity to counterattack. The queen moved across the chessboard, aiming precisely at the white king.

“Check.”

Tak. The sound of the chess pieces moving resounded again. Unfazed, Reinhardt responded.

“Check.”

“This.”

Gertrude slightly clicked her tongue. The white queen rolled over as it fell onto the chessboard, a defeat brought about by her generous moment. The asphyxiating silence dropped as soon as the game was over.

Reinhardt alternated his gaze between the fallen queen’s red king and the master of death’s symbol of defeat.

The King of Fernburg certainly had an abnormal obsession with my son… The trap is that it is essentially close to insanity, as it is a transcendental obsession.

When he remembered his son’s pale face and his granddaughter’s crooked expression, his heart ached. Reinhardt slowly opened his eyes and heard a small knock on the door.

“Sir Reinhardt Duncan.”

A lizard in a long cloak entered the room carrying an envelope.

“The blood test results are out.”

Reinhardt quickly grabbed the envelope and began tearing it apart. As she watched his eyes tremble slightly, the King asked in a voice that erased all her emotions.

“…Is she Teriot’s child?”

Her emotionless voice was filled with vicious agitation, just as you can smell the distinct scent of bleached fabric. Reinhardt looked up from the results table and at Gertrude.

The guide of the phantoms. The kingdom’s supreme monarch, who ruled over all dead and could not be ignored even by the empire, gnashed her teeth. Her alluring face became tense. Her eyes, which seemed to condense flames, expressed her displeasure, and each of her knuckles as she held the table’s end turned white.

“Is she Teriot’s child?”

Gertrude asked persistently. Instead of replying that she didn’t deserve to know, Reinhardt denied it in a monotonous voice.

“No.”

Believe it or not, the decision was entirely up to Gertrude. She lowered her gaze and quietly examined the result table.

They received an unbelievable result.

[The probability that A and B are blood relatives ─ 24.9%. A and B are blood relatives, but not familially.]

[The probability that B and C are blood relatives ─ 49.9%. B and C are blood relatives, but not familially.]

What’s the problem? A is Ronell, B is Teriot, and C is.

…Cat Ruby.

I don’t recall us ever sharing blood with that cat. Reinhardt, who was seriously thinking about it, had no choice but to touch his forehead. Even the human Ronell is less likely to be a cat like Ruby, right?

Leaving Ruby’s fur to the examination was all just a joke.

The moment he opened his mouth to the absurd examination.

“Oops, oops, my mistake. I forgot to include one result.”

A bright voice rang out. Gertrude, who had been watching with bated breath until now, frowned, and an owl that popped out right next to her spoke cheerfully.

“The probability of A and C being blood relatives! Do you know what percentage?”

Reinhardt raised his head, a slight frown on his face. Erzel, a massive owl with sky-blue fur, smirked and looked down.

Tower Lord Erzel. An owl divine beast from Setlain, who was acknowledged by the dragon as the best in the Black Mana category.

“What percentage, Sir Reinhardt?”