I Was Summoned To Be Sold as a Son-in-Law

28 – Shared Compartment

Inside a carriage as the scenery of the royal road passes behind.

“Uh, why are you here, sir?”

“Why, am I not allowed to go out?”

“No, it’s not that…”

‘What? They’ve made a big fuss about some secret meeting!’

I felt wronged.

“Hmm, I can tell what you’re thinking just by looking at your face. hehehe.”

“Ah, hahahaha… No, it’s not.”

I shut my mouth because this lad was frightening.

But then, the old man’s eyes sparkled with intrigue.

“Ohho… You, you’re carrying something quite interesting.”

And he extended his wrinkled, scary hand towards my back.

“Why, why are you doing that!?”

‘What? I didn’t provoke him this time!’

I felt wronged.

Nevertheless…

“Arg! Master! Save me! Let go! Old human!”

“Eh?”

In the grip of the old man’s hand, Beagdol was struggling.

‘Didn’t I definitely leave that guy at home?’

I recalled the scene just before I left the mansion.

———

“Master! Where are you going! Take me with you!”

Now out of his cage, Beagdol, having groomed himself, shouted at me.

“No.”

I cut him off coldly.

In such situations, the best approach is to be sharp and decisive, leaving no room for persuasion.

“It’s not safe outside! I can’t protect my master if I stay at home!”

Beagdol quickly crawled over, clinging to my trousers with his front paws.

“Do you have the ability to protect?”

The creature’s only talent was turning his mouth into a portal.

In truth, the issue wasn’t his lack of skill, but his status as a beast.

Who would bring such a beast into the royal palace?

“If we muster our strength, we can prevent it once!”

I wonder where this damn creature’s loyalty comes from.

‘After I fed it…’

At first, I fed it dog food but it wouldn’t eat. So I ordered an extra portion of my meal, and it…

‘Dearly treating the master! Offering leftovers is impolite, an entirely new meal!’

Cried out as such, while gulping down everything off the plate in one go.

Since then, at every meal, the creature has been enjoying the luxury of eating the same dishes that I do.

The creature probably doesn’t worry about how to survive in another world, like I do.

‘It’s not a dog, it’s a lucky charm. Truly.’

Anyhow, his abnormal growth of loyalty, made things a bit inconvenient when I tried to leave the house.

“You’re a pet, you don’t need to.”

But he doesn’t seem to like that, raising a paw in protest.

“I want to be of use!”

“Oh…”

I sighed and raised the creature, still attached to my clothes, to eye level.

“Then, I will give you a task from now on. Guard this room while I’m gone today.”

“Guard… the room?”

“That’s right, if any bad guys try to sneak in, you chase them away.”

I put him on the bed and left the room.

I would have found it strange that he didn’t answer…

——–

Returning from my thoughts to reality, the old man hands the creature back to me.

“What a fascinating creature. I’ve seen many beasts in my long life, but I’ve never met one like this before.”

‘This rascal is a bit unusual.’

I stroked the creature which was bristling and threatening the old man with a sound akin to ‘Kyaak!’.

“But Carol, didn’t you notice it clinging to the back of my robe?”

I asked Carol. She had been following me around since we got on the wagon.

“Yes… There was nothing on your back, Mr. Thomas.”

‘Carol wouldn’t lie.’

But suddenly the old man chuckled.

“This little rascal wasn’t attached to your back.”

“What?”

“He squeezed himself into a rift in dimensions and has been following you, shifting coordinates.”

“What?”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Dimensional magic… without even using mana… No, amassing mana in another dimension? Hmm… Theoretically it’s conceivable, but…”

The old man suddenly murmured to himself, lost in thought.

‘Are all magicians like this…?’

Like the elf teacher, Betty’s sister, the typical mad scientist in my original world.

“What did you do?”

I asked, while patting Beakdol (White Stone).

“I’m not sure either! I just wanted to follow my master somehow and it happened!”

He had unintentionally awakened some ability.

‘But what to do with this guy…’

It’d be a problem to leave him in the carriage.

If someone from the palace looks inside the carriage, it’ll be a big trouble.

“Can you do that hiding thing again?”

“I can!”

The creature opened his mouth wide, as if opening a void, and his body contracted like being sucked into that space.

Then, just as if he had vanished, he disappeared without a trace.

“Oh… That’s how it was. Interesting… It’s not a talent humans can mimic. Hmm hmm hmm”

The old man chuckled as if he realized something after witnessing Beakdol’s trick.

‘He is indeed a frightening old man.’

The old man had forcibly pulled Beakdol out from hiding behind the dimension.

I can’t sense Beakdol at all now.

After learning some magic, there were certainly times when I was overly confident in my talents.

But when I see the old man’s behavior, I get a taste of the despair of Dunning Kruger’s valley.

I advise Baekdol in thin air.

“If you end up in the palace, never leave. Stay hidden.”

In just a moment, he materializes from thin air. “Got it!” he shouts, and then pops back into the void.

Soon after this brief commotion, our carriage reaches the entrance of the palace.

The royal residence was built on a low hill, surrounded by fortification walls, with the palace perched at the highest point.

So it could be seen from anywhere in the royal city.

‘From a close view, it’s more magnificent…’

The palace seemed less like a luxurious abode for the king, but more like a sturdy fortress.

On the outer side of the walls surrounding the palace, a moat of about ten meters broad had been dug, from which emanated a heavy sound of a drawbridge coming down.

“Seems we have visitors, ho ho ho.”

As he says this, the old man’s body starts to become transparent.

The old man vanished in an instant.

As I watch this, the idea ‘I want to learn that…’ briefly crosses my mind, but I shake it off as folly.

When I peek out the carriage window, I see a carriage waiting at the foot of the descending drawbridge.

It was of a design both splendid and restrained.

After the drawbridge fully descended, that carriage precedes us in, and we follow suit.

Soldiers guarding the palace line up two-rows deep, drawing their swords and raising them high enough to cover their faces.

The two carriages drive through the gap.

‘I wonder who’s in the high standing one…’

I deduce the person in the leading carriage is of high rank.

Eventually, the two carriages stop in front of the palace main hall.

I disembark from the carriage and eye the leading vehicle.

‘I wonder who it is.’

As the door opens…

“Oh, Betty?”

“Tom!”

‘So she was with the Tylers’

Betty runs towards me.

“Eh… Uh”

I was surprised by her quick pace and could only assume a defensive stance.

But as soon as Betty reached me, she halted abruptly, as if she ran into a wall.

‘She is defying the law of momentum…’

“Oh, long time no see!”

“Hm, ha-ha… indeed…”

Yet it was only two days ago.

Even while internally berating her, the corners of my mouth lift naturally as I look at Betty.

I berate myself too, but I do not bother changing my facial expressions and instead show her a smile.

She reciprocates.

Then, Duke Tyler descends behind her.

Seeing us facing each other, the Duke exclaims.

“Beatrix Tyler! Maintain your etiquette. Remember, this is the royal palace!”

“Yes, mother!”

Betty, startled, straightens up at attention. She looked like a soldier who had just disappointed their captain.

Though the Duchess scolded with a stern face, I caught a glimpse of warmth in her expression.

———–

After the theater terror incident, the Duke of Tyler sent a note to the Andersons.

Unable to visit them directly due to the need to stabilize the kingdom, he corresponded via letters.

His message held an apology for deceiving the count’s family, and a willingness to peacefully accept a divorce.

He still promised to protect the Anderson family, even if they spread news of their family’s deceit within the kingdom.

However, the Andersons did not respond.

‘They must be really busy too.’

That’s what I thought, and decided to put the issue aside for now.

There were too many pressing matters.

Today, I stopped by the royal palace to report on the progress of these matters.

In response to the king’s request to see Betty after a long time, I also brought my daughter with me.

Just so happens, we ran into the Andersons.

Unaware of her own speed, my daughter ran towards young Anderson as soon as she spotted him.

‘Betty…’

Once again, the Duke was filled with trepidation at the thought of his daughter getting hurt once more.

However, against his expectations, young Anderson responded to Betty with a smile.

“That was not an act.”

Rather, he was reacting like someone who felt embarrassed about his uncontrollable expression.

And the Duke caught something even more surprising.

In his eyes, which were watching Betty, there was something akin to desire that is shown towards the opposite s*x when attracted!

The Duke, who prided himself on his unparalleled insight into people as he climbed to the position of supreme commander, indicated that this judgment will not be wrong.

Watching the two of them, blushing like lovers in the early stages of a romantic relationship, the Duke felt it hard to control his own expression.

While trying to calm his cracking smile, he deliberately reprimanded them more harshly.

“Beatrice Tailor! Maintain your dignity! This is a royal palace!”

“Yes! Mother!”

‘This is the royal palace. I must first calm my emotions.’

The Duke approached Maria, who just alighted.

After finishing their formal noble greetings,

“Did you, by any chance, check my letter…?”

No matter what the parties involved were thinking, if Anderson’s supreme commander decided to separate, it would be hard to stop.

He must have felt humiliated.

But this time also, the Duke’s predictions were wrong.

“Our Anderson decided not to discuss that matter.”

Maria replied with a gentle smile.

“We also haven’t heard anything since the incident and I apologize for not being able to reply. Ah, also.”

Maria brought her mouth close to the Duke’s ears with a glinting smile.

“Actually, I knew from the beginning.”

“Ah… So, you did.”

The Duke let out a sigh as if he had lost.

In fact, the sigh was more than 90% relief.

“Then, shall we go together to meet?”

“Why not”

The Duke agreed to Maria’s proposition.

Leaving their servants behind, three women and one man entered the main building of the royal palace.

Along with an invisible elder and a monster hidden in another dimension.