Chapter 29: I Don’t Know, You Tell Me!

“Huh?”

“Oh?”

Both Ian and Marguerite were stunned by Duke Frederick’s words.

“Cough… Frederick,” Marguerite was the first to break the eerie silence.

“Are… are you serious? Your precious daughter? An engagement? With this kid? My Lord Duke, are you sober? Do you even know what you’re saying?”

A hint of embarrassment and helplessness surfaced on Duke Frederick’s face.

He took a deep breath and explained, “Marguerite, Mr. Ian, please let me finish. The engagement I’m speaking of isn’t a real alliance. It’s a fake one…”

He looked at Ian, his tone sincere.

“Mr. Ian, I’m not trying to force you to take on any responsibility, nor am I trying to impose Shirley’s future upon you. I just… I just want to stabilize her for the time being.”

“I think you’ve seen it too. Shirley’s dependence on you has exceeded common sense.”

“Given her current state and obsession, I can’t imagine what she would do if she woke up and found that you had disappeared again.”

“Furthermore, Shirley has awakened Spatial Magic. As her father, it’s very difficult for me to stop her from doing whatever she wants…”

“So…”

Duke Frederick paused for a moment.

“I want to ask you to temporarily… pretend to agree to an engagement with her. Once her condition stabilizes, we will find an appropriate reason for you to extricate yourself.”

The Duke’s intention was clear: use a white lie to buy time and avoid a fatal blow to Shirleyveil while her emotions were at their most unstable and her obsession was at its peak.

To put it bluntly, it was a ‘stayed death sentence.’

After Ian heard this, however, he slowly shook his head.

“Lord Duke, I appreciate your trust and understand your painstaking efforts as a father.”

“But I can tell you quite responsibly that this method will not work.”

Ian then provided his reasoning.

“By doing this, you’ll only make her even more dependent on me. When the time comes to separate, it will only lead to even more severe consequences.”

Ian’s words caused the Grand Duke of the Empire, ‘White Light’ Frederick, to fall into silence.

It was true.

Given Shirley’s current state, tying Ian to her side would only cause her behavior to escalate.

But what other choice did he have?

He was just a failure who couldn’t even protect his own wife and daughter.

“Lord Duke, I have a proposal that has a high probability of helping your daughter recover…”

Ian’s words reignited hope in the Duke.

“Please, Mr. Ian, tell me more!”

Ian used what little remained of his sanity to think for a moment and said, “Perhaps we can change our perspective. Let’s transfer Miss Shirleyveil’s dependence to something else.”

Ian paused.

“For example… that Third Prince, His Highness Arthur.”

As soon as he said this, not only was Duke Frederick stunned, but even Marguerite, who was watching the show from the sidelines, raised an eyebrow and revealed an extremely subtle expression.

Ian, whose rationality was nearly at zero, didn’t notice his mentor’s strange look.

He continued, “His Highness Arthur is of noble status and possesses great strength. He is kind, upright, and sincere — an exceptionally outstanding individual. If Miss Shirleyveil spends more time with His Highness Arthur, there might be a pleasant surprise.”

Ian believed in the power of the plot.

He had to quickly lead this troublesome young lady back to the original protagonist.

The power of the plot was strong.

According to the original storyline, there should have been interactions and intersections between them anyway.

Let Amivy, the true protagonist, ‘correct’ Shirleyveil and bring the plot back on track.

He could then complete his task and receive the System reward.

Why not enjoy this win-win result?

“This…”

The dependence transfer method Ian mentioned was indeed a possibility.

However, based on the basket full of invitation letters Arthur Reinhardt had written to his daughter that the Duke had collected from Old Anna…

Why did he feel that this Third Prince wasn’t as outstanding as Ian claimed?

“Lord Duke, you must trust me! I dare to swear on my life that the Third Prince, Arthur Reinhardt, will absolutely be able to help your daughter return to normal.”

“If it doesn’t work, I will agree to your request, Lord Duke. I will stay by Miss Shirleyveil’s side for the rest of my life to help her recover.”

With that, Ian directly initiated a Magic Contract ritual.

Seeing that his disciple seemed a bit too heated and was about to sign a contract directly, Marguerite hurriedly tried to stop him.

“Wait a minute, kid, don’t — “

“Teacher, trust me. I’m sure of it!”

“Actually, I wanted to say — “

“Hey, it’s fine. Just relax!”

“No, you don’t know that I — “

“Shh! Just watch me work!”

Marguerite: “…”

Ian, lacking rationality, repeatedly interrupted Marguerite’s speech.

He successfully rendered the great ‘Stargazer’ silent.

Fine!

If you won’t listen to me, I’ll see how you handle the fallout later.

Marguerite simply stopped talking and watched Ian’s performance with a look of disdain.

Ian cited everything from the luck of heaven and earth to the composition of Mana, even quoting professional terms from *Postpartum Care of Magical Beasts*.

He completely hoodwinked Duke Frederick.

But considering that the black-haired youth before him — who currently looked a bit unhinged — had indeed healed his daughter…

Frederick Connaught decided to follow Ian’s suggestion and let Shirleyveil spend some time with that Arthur character.

In any case, he now held a service contract signed by a certain someone after his rationality had hit zero.

If things really didn’t work out, he could show this to Shirley, which would likely stabilize her.

As for the boy who had confusedly signed his life away, he was already being led away under the contemptuous gaze of his mentor.

Frederick glanced in the direction where Marguerite and Ian had disappeared, then looked down at the Magic Contract that had been mysteriously shoved into his hand. He let out a helpless sigh and left with Shirleyveil as well.

—

The next day, in Ian’s room at the Tower of Stars.

Feeling like his head was about to explode, a certain someone woke up with a look of total confusion.

‘A stranger’s ceiling…’

No, that’s not right!

‘Who am I?’

‘Where am I?’

‘What am I doing?’

Ian clutched his head and sat up abruptly in bed.

After reflecting on his life for a moment, he found that he couldn’t remember some of yesterday’s events.

He only remembered that he had worked overtime at that old woman’s request to defeat the story’s protagonist.

What happened after that?

What went down?

How did he get back?

Why didn’t he have any memory of it at all?

Ian clutched his splitting head and looked around blankly.

The familiar room in the Tower of Stars, sunlight streaming through the stained-glass windows onto the floor, the scent of parchment and herbs drifting through the air.

“Awake?”

A playful voice came from the doorway.

Marguerite was leaning against the doorframe, holding a steaming cup of tea that emitted a strange aroma.

Her eyes held an undisguised look of “watching a good show.”

“Teacher…”

Ian spoke, finding his throat dry and hoarse.

“Yesterday… what happened later? How did I get back?”

Marguerite replied, “I don’t know. You tell me.”

Ian: “?”