A Mastermind? No, I'm just the Live-In Son-in-Law-Chapter 8: The Live-In Son-in-Law

But the girl now standing at Whitney’s side showed ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ none of the despair Meredia remembered from the newspaper photos.

“I thought you had a twisted hobby—buying fallen nobles and using them as slaves. But I see you’ve outdone even that.”

She hadn’t been sure from afar, but now that they were close, she could feel it clearly—Lunelle’s mana resonating.

In fact, the resonance was so strong it was likely he’d performed multiple rituals. But the important thing was this: the mana of Lunelle, once hailed as the Sword’s Saint, had been restored.

And more than that—she was genuinely loyal to Whitney.

There was no way to fake that. Oaths couldn’t be forced or tricked. So it had to have been Whitney who restored her mana.

“I’ll give you that much. You really are quite capable, Whitney Ringaarden.”

With that realization, Meredia’s irritation from the past week began to give way to curiosity.

After all, unless someone crossed a line like proposing marriage out of nowhere, she tended to find unexpected developments intriguing more than annoying.

“As I said last time, if we can understand each other, we could make excellent partners.”

If she determined that these unpredictable events might work in her favor, Meredia could be surprisingly generous.

“However... I can’t just let this slide.”

“...Pardon?”

Her evaluation of whether the man in front of her would be an asset was not yet finished.

“I specifically asked to speak with you alone.”

“Ah, well...”

“And yet, you brought your guard? A female guard? One who has sworn an oath to you?”

Her unannounced visit had been precisely to confirm this.

“And this is just a week after you proposed to me?”

For a moment, the crushing weight of disappointment and pressure pressed down on Whitney and Lunelle.

—Rrrrrumble...

Meredia had merely released a fraction of her suppressed mana, but already no one in the garden could keep their footing—except for Whitney, who remained seated, wearing an awkward expression.

“Looks like there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding—”

“No, that’s not the point.”

“Right...”

When Meredia narrowed her eyes and spoke in a chilling voice, Whitney had no choice but to fall silent with a sheepish grin.

“The point is that I feel insulted.”

“Ahaha...”

“...So.”

She pressed harder, inwardly adjusting her appraisal of Whitney for standing his ground, while also trying to discern what he was still hiding.

—Clack.

Just then, Lunelle, trembling beside Whitney, grit her teeth and glared at Meredia with eyes full of menace.

“Restrain yourself.”

The very next instant, she grabbed the knife from the tea table and in the blink of an eye, held it to Meredia’s throat.

A dead silence fell over the garden.

“Hoooh.”

Naturally, the poor maids nearby went pale from shock. They didn’t even have time to blink.

But Meredia? She simply smiled, amused, her eyes locked on Lunelle’s.

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“You can move... even like this?”

“Kh...”

“...Your body doesn’t even seem fully healed. Impressive.”

With her head tilted slightly, Meredia spoke softly. Cold sweat trickled down Lunelle’s brow, but she didn’t lower the knife.

“You were quite something, you know. Back when you crushed my brother’s pride at the tournament.”

Still, even with a blade at her throat, Meredia seemed thoroughly entertained.

“Have you considered serving me instead?”

“I refuse.”

“...Huh?”

Lunelle’s rejection was immediate—and laced with bite.

“You’ll regret that.”

“That’s for me to decide.”

Just as the air in the garden began to thicken with something dangerous—

“Miss Lunelle. Lady Meredia.”

Whitney, who had been silently observing the chaos, finally spoke, gently taking Lunelle’s wrist.

“Let’s ease up, shall we?”

All eyes turned to him, and once more, silence descended.

“We wouldn’t want any accidents now, would we?”

Only Whitney remained oddly cheerful, his light tone completely mismatched with the situation, as if he were trying to pacify a bomb.

***

What the hell is going on?

Even though I’d finally managed to open my mouth in this near-explosive atmosphere, my hands were still shaking uncontrollably.

I blacked out for a second and everything went to hell.

It made perfect sense. Meredia’s mana pressure had overwhelmed me just before I passed out, and the first thing I saw when I came to was that scene.

Not even reciting every mantra I knew for boosting mental strength had helped. I’d still collapsed.

If I hadn’t fallen when I did, I’d probably be on the floor like the maids right now.

But I couldn’t let this situation spiral any further.

“Miss Lunelle, please head back inside and rest for now. I’ll continue my conversation with Lady Meredia.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Just as Lunelle began to step away, her shoulders drooping, I quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

If things escalated here in the garden, it would only mean more work for the poor maids cleaning up after the mess.

“Understood.”

Thankfully, even while she had a knife pressed against Meredia’s throat and a storm of killing intent swirled around us, Lunelle backed down without resistance at my words. She lowered the blade and retreated, giving me a subtle nod before walking off toward the mansion’s rear entrance.

Her figure, oddly slumped, reminded me of a loyal hunting dog punished for disappointing its master. I felt a twinge of guilt. But to be fair, holding a dull tea knife to Meredia’s throat was never going to restrain her—so she hadn’t really lost anything.

Besides, Lunelle had already served her purpose by being here. There was no need to provoke Meredia any further.

“Lady Meredia, would you mind withdrawing your killing intent now as well?”

“Is that an order?”

Now it was my turn to do some talking. I didn’t have power, influence, or any kind of backing—only my mouth. That made this tongue my best survival tool.

“I wouldn’t dare. I simply thought it would help clear up a needless misunderstanding.”

“Is that so?”

At those words, Meredia tilted her head slightly. The heavy pressure in the garden eased ever so slightly.

“Then, go ahead and explain.”

She fixed her gaze on me and spoke in a near-whisper, a command thinly veiled as an invitation. Her expression was as cold as ever, but the faint glow in her eyes—praised as jewel-like across the Empire—was a good sign.

According to everything I knew as a former player, that gleam meant Meredia wasn’t just angry. She was intrigued.

And that... was my only possible way out of this nerve-wracking situation.

“First, I had no intention of threatening Your Ladyship. Even if everyone in this estate banded together against you, I doubt it would matter.”

“And if Lunelle offended you, I sincerely apologize. If I had any ulterior motives involving her, I wouldn’t have paraded her in front of you like this.”

I knew how ruthless Meredia could be. But few people realized she was also surprisingly tolerant—and even amused—by unexpected developments and challenges.

She had grown up getting everything she ever wanted. The things that bored her were the people who bent easily, or those who stood in her way without daring to push back.

“I merely wanted to show you how useful I can be to you.”

“......”

“Even if Lunelle has sworn herself to me, I still intend to work with you. That only makes her a more reliable ally for you, doesn’t it?”

That was the real reason I brought Lunelle with me today.

Ideally, I would’ve kept her presence a secret. But if I was going to align myself with Meredia, I would eventually have to show her everything anyway.

So I decided to gamble—use Lunelle as bait to draw Meredia’s attention elsewhere and deflect her suspicions.

Granted, the bait almost turned the garden into a crime scene, but all risky moves come with a price.

“And yet you conveniently left out your ‘achievement’—restoring a destroyed mana circuit, something no one in history has done before?”

Looks like Meredia’s attention had landed squarely on me, not Lunelle.

“Haha, I’m sure someone like you could figure it out too, with a bit of research.”

“Don’t joke. If word got out, the entire magical community would be flipped upside down.”

All I’d done was copy a ritual from the game’s lorebook.

And if Meredia started asking technical questions about the rite, it wouldn’t take long for her to figure out that I was bluffing.

“Then I’ll be blunt. I want to form an alliance with you, and I’m willing to accept most of your terms.”

“Glad to hear we’re on the same page.”

Thankfully, Meredia spoke first this time.

“But what the hell was that proposal?”

Her tone had mellowed quite a bit, but the look on her face shifted to one of genuine confusion.

Only then did I realize—

That was why she’d come all this way today.

“To be honest, I was... blinded by your beauty and proposed on impulse—”

Crack.

“...Not really. I just thought it’d be a convenient way to mislead others.”

Now that we were getting to the heart of the matter, I tried to lighten the mood with some flattery—but the way Meredia’s eyes turned icy in an instant made me switch gears fast and launch into my prepared explanation.

“I’ve heard you’ve been under constant stress lately due to all the marriage and engagement talk. Of course, no groom would ever be worthy of someone like you, but still...”

“Just don’t cause a scandal.”

“...Your true goal is to become the next head of the ducal house, isn’t it?”

That, at least, was the publicly known objective.

But in the game, Meredia’s real ambitions were never revealed. Most routes ended with her as the final boss, and even the game over scenarios didn’t explain what came next.

“For now, let’s say yes.”

As expected, Meredia gave a noncommittal answer.

It was a bit disappointing, but I’d never expected her to just hand over her real plans.

And besides, that wasn’t the priority right now.

“In that case, I’ll become your shield.”

“...What exactly do you mean by that?”

For the sake of a crumbling noble family.

For the sake of my younger sister’s future.

And above all—for the sake of my own survival.

This was the moment I declared my intent to walk a route no player had ever completed. No—one that no one had even attempted.

“Starting now, for as long as needed...”

A proposal that would shake not just Meredia’s fate, but the entire trajectory of this worldline.

“I’ll marry you and become the Duke’s live-in son-in-law.”

...Assuming she doesn’t kill me on the spot, that is.