The Second Son of the Marquis Wants to Laze Around-Chapter 54: Side Story: Mereoleona

Later, Lilian gently combed through Mereoleona’s hair as she sat in front of her ornate vanity mirror. The young noblewoman’s eyes moved across a small pile of opened letters on her desk—most of them invitations to tea parties or social gatherings hosted by other noble ladies.

With a sigh of annoyance, she casted Burn. A small flicker of flame danced at her fingertips and lit the letters one by one. They turned to ash before Lilian could stop her.

"Did you really have to burn them?" Lilian asked, carefully working through a tangle.

"They’re all just fake smiles and shallow insults," Mereoleona said with a scoff, crossing her arms. "They just want to mock me or find something to gossip about. Why should I hand them the opportunity on a silver platter and visit them?"

Lilian said nothing, though her brow furrowed slightly, feeling worried.

She understood. Ever since Mereoleona’s engagement to a member of the Valmont family had been announced, the noble circles had been buzzing. But not with celebration. No, but with jealousy, suspicion, and political scheming filled the air.

The Valmonts were among the most powerful families in the Kingdom of Aisman. Though officially marquises, their influence and wealth rivaled that of dukes. The d’Armand family’s unexpected alliance through the marriage with them had taken everyone by surprise.

None of them were really congratulated her. Instead, they questioned how her father managed to secure such a match and even convince the Valmont Marquis to accept the marriage, and now many nobles were trying to cozy up to the d’Armand household—some even attempting to befriend and get close to her father. And the worse thing was, sending their daughters to get close to her or even bully her.

Mereoleona clenched her fists, rage simmering beneath her calm surface.

"Oh—you missed one," Lilian suddenly said, spotting a letter that had slipped under the table. She bent to pick it up, studying the seal.

"Hm? Isn’t this the Valmont crest..." she murmured.

Just as she was about to read the name of the sender, the letter vanished from her hand in a blur.

Mereoleona had snatched it.

"...."

Lilian blinked, surprised by her lady’s sudden speed and pink cheeks.

Seeing Mereoleona clutching the letter tightly and looking slightly panicked, Lilian slowly raised a hand to her lips and giggled behind her fingers.

"Oh my~ I didn’t realize it was a love letter~"

"It’s not a love letter!!" Mereoleona shouted, her face redder than a boiled tomato.

"Okay, okay,"

Lilian said playfully, backing off. But the smug smile remained firmly in place as she watched her flustered lady carefully hold the letter tightly in her hand like it was a priceless treasure.

.....

After Lilian finished dressing her and left the room, Mereoleona was finally alone. She stared at the letter crumpled in her hand, her brows furrowed in frustration.

Rumors about Eren Valmont being interested in her—and his public apology as he have send many gift and flowers—had already spread among the servants and everyone in the mansion. That was because she agreed to his proposal of pretending to be on "good terms," just like he suggested.

And, as promised, he had sent her a large sum of money every week as a ’Gift’—more than enough to support her family’s financial situation and aid the knights and the problems.

Unfortunately, instead of keeping the shared money to herself like what Eren told her, she gave it to her father instead. Because when she reported to him, her father demanded to had them over to save it and used them all for the household.

But she then regretted doing that ever since.

One of the main reasons their family had been falling over the past years was because of the amount of large debt they have, due to her father—the Count—being scammed multiple times.

After all, the man was a general warrior, not a businessman. And although someone else was supposed to manage the finances. And it was his right-hand man, Mr. Lockworm

Mereoleona remembered Eren’s third (Hate) letter. He had advised her to investigate everyone working for her family, especially those close to her father. He also added that if their financial situation still hadn’t improved despite the large sums he’d sent, then it could only mean one thing: there was a traitor.

At first, Mereoleona didn’t believe him, ignoring his advice as she thought he was showing off his superior intellect than her. But when she asked her father about the state of their debts, she was stunned to find out that the money wasn’t enough—even after she handed everything over to him. That was when suspicion crept in, and Eren’s warning began to make sense.

Days later, it didn’t take long for her to find the real culprit. Yep. it was none other than Mr. Lockworm himself.

What made it worse was how easy it had been to catch him.

How, you ask?

Simple. She just leaned her ear against the wall next to his office and focused all her senses. And, surprise surprise, the man was cackling like one of those corrupted noble villains. He was shouting about how rich he’d become thanks to all the money they received from the Valmont, and bragging about how dumb her father was, making it easy for him to fool the Count.

Mereoleona had taken a deep breath that day, doing her best to stay calm and restrain herself from blowing up the wall with her magic and confronting him.

So in the past days after learning the true, she began to gather more evidence as a prof of his betrayal to her father.

"Just a little more... and I’ll have enough evidence," she whispered as she looked down at the letter in her hand.

Honestly, she wasn’t sure what can of message Eren has send her. One thing she knows it will contain the same, insulting, mocking words as the last time.

After a few moments of silence, she finally opened it.

----

"To my Not dear, Not my Beloved, and Not Beautiful Lady in the world,"

"Honestly, I’m too lazy to write down too many sweet words for you, redhead, but whatever."

----

Mereoleona’s eye twitched violently as she read the very first line. She knew it was coming—he always started with something irritating—but that didn’t stop the wave of anger that bubbled in her chest. Her grip tightened on the letter, crinkling the edges.

Why did she even bother hoping he’d show some basic decency?

---

"Anyway, today I’m sending you this message to inform you that I won’t be sending any more letters for the next month... or maybe two months."

----

’Wait—what?’

Her eyes widened in surprise. That... she did not expect. She blinked several times, confusion creeping in.

----

"The reason is because I’ll be away from home for a while on a long trip... for training. I won’t return until I’m done."

----

"Training?" she murmured the word like it was foreign to her tongue. The image of Eren Valmont—dead-eyed, slouched in his chair, wrapped in a blanket like a lazy cat—did not fit the word "training." Let alone going outside.

Was this a joke?

----

"Yes, you heard me right. I’ve left for training. And yes, I left my house. So stop denying it in your imagination like I’m incapable of doing things, you muscle-headed orangutan."

----

A vein popped on her forehead when she read this.

----

"So, while I’m away, you don’t need to worry about the money support. I’ve already instructed my butler to continue sending it every week like usual. Fortunately for me, that means I don’t need to waste time writing you any more love letters. Good for me."

----

–Crack.

Her jaw clenched. She was kind of relieved the money would still arrive—after all, her family and the knights needed it—but the part about no more (hate) love letters and feeling relieved made her want to laugh and punch something at the same time.

Though, deep down... she was also curious.

What exactly made him, of all people, suddenly decide to train? Wasn’t he supposed to be some sickly, lazy noble who couldn’t be bothered to lift a spoon, let alone a sword?

----

"You must be wondering why I left and decided to go on a training trip into the wild. I can already hear your voice in my head: ’Why is he training now, despite his lazy reputation? Is he planning something? Blah blah blah.’"

"Well, good for you. Since you’re my hateful fiancée and I won’t have to talk to you for the next few months, I don’t mind telling you."

----

Her brows lifted a little, genuine surprise flickering across her face. Was he... actually going to explain?

---

"The reason for my trip is simple: It’s none of your business, obviously. You expect me to tell you, despite knowing the real me? If you were hoping for a touching revelation, then I’m extremely disappointed in your underdeveloped IQ."

----

Mereoleona’s face turned dark as her Aura began to seep out like smoke. The temperature in the room spiked, and the furniture began to shake.

This guy–

----

"Well, that’s everything from me. I was going to give you some (hateful) advice at the end like usual, but I ran out of ideas. So no P.S. this time. Tsk. Good for you."

"Bye now..."

----

Mereoleona inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, forcing her aura to settle. She even managed to finish reading the letter while also keeping the room intact—no broken furniture, no fire, no craters. For her, that was serious growth in restraining her rage and controlling it.

"Hah..." She sighed, then flipped the letter over to examine the back out of habit. Just in case.

But then—she saw it.

---

"P.S.: If you’re reading this, unfortunate for you, I did manage to come up with a helpful piece of advice right before I stopped writing."

"And don’t worry, this one might be useful for you in the future. Something I learned from my past: I heard if you eat cakes and chocolate with lots of sugar, your chest size might grow. Although, I advise you not to eat too much, or you might get fat like my mother."

---

–BOOM!

Mereoleona’s fist slammed into her desk, shattering it to splinters. The letter went up in flames in her hand, incinerated within seconds.

A sneak attack. A low blow. A final insult just when she let her guard down.

She gritted her teeth so hard she thought they might crack.

"...I hope he dies during that trip," she muttered through clenched teeth, smoke still curling from her fingertips.

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(Warning! And Attention!!!)

To my Readers who are spending Coins.

This is the Author.

I want to say it’s my first time using the Privilege and one of my friends told me the 5 Chapters privilege was too expensive, Despite the novelkiss system has clearly suggested to put 395.

I honestly don’t know how his work yet, but if you guys are real displeased by the prices, then tell me.

I’m trying to figure out which is the Right amount I should put.

So, in the meantime, I suggest you don’t use your coins and wait for the next month update, if you are impatient.

Sorry about that.🙏

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