Chương 47: Blackmail
Austria, January 3rd 1795
4:00 PM
For a moment, Lukas could see Ingrid's grin appearing, which made him raise his brow. 'What? Well, she finally showed some suspicious behavior. Whatever, nobody's perfect. Too bad, Ingrid, you have done well, so far,' the blonde boy thought.
Elisabeth looked at Lukas. "C'mon, Lukas! Don't be so shy! Let's start dancing already!" she said as she grabbed the blonde boy's hand.
Ingrid chuckled. "Calm down, Elisabeth. Mr. Lukas does not even know the choreography of the dance yet," she said.
Elisabeth blushed slightly. "Oh, you are right," she turned to Lukas. "I'm sorry, Lukas," the brown-haired girl said.
Lukas blushed slightly. "Huh... it's okay," he finished with a smile.
Elisabeth just smiled back at him. "You are so kind!" she said.
Lukas just laughed awkwardly. 'I don't think a normal kid would notice, but this is SO suspicious! Ingrid doesn't mind that her daughter is flirting with a powerful noble ALL the time! Any adult could notice it! This is a dangerous move they're pulling off,' he thought.
"Well, pay close attention to this, Mr. Lukas. It's not a simple dance," Ingrid said.
Lukas just nodded his head. 'Should I pretend that I am not that focused on her explanation because I'm looking at her daughter? Nah, I don't like it when people explain me the same thing twice,' he thought.
After giving a brief explanation of the choreography of the dance, Ingrid asked both Elisabeth and Lukas to start dancing while she gave them the instructions.
'Okay, doesn't look like a very complex thing. It's like training swordsmanship... hope this comparation even makes sense,' Lukas thought.
Then, Lukas and Elisabeth grabbed each other's hands and looked into each other's eyes. Soon, Lukas could see that Elisabeth raised her brow for a moment.
'Why's she finding it strange? Do the kids she usually interacts with act awkwardly shy all the time?! Sorry ma'am, but there's no way in hell I'm going to do that,' Lukas thought.
Then, Lukas and Elisabeth started dancing slowly. Ingrid casually clapped her hands during their dance in order to create some kind of rhythm that the both of them could keep up with.
Finally, the dance ended with Elisabeth leaning backwards and Lukas above her with both her faces relatively close.
Ingrid applauded their performance. "Great job, Mr. Lukas! Had you ever trained dancing before?" she asked.
Elisabeth and Lukas went back to their normal postures and the blonde boy just shook his head at Ingrid. "Not really. I just learn fast," he said.
Ingrid chuckled. "I can see that," she said. 'This is weird. This boy has a very good mobility, does he already have military training? Besides, he didn't blush, not even once while he was dancing with my daughter! Was he just extremely focused?' the brown-haired woman wondered.
Ingrid smiled at Lukas. "There is just a tip I would like to give you. You are too hasty," she said.
Lukas raised his brow, but then he realized what she meant. "Oh, you mean that I have to keep up with Elisabeth's rhythm?" he asked.
Ingrid nodded her head. "That's right. Even as I clapped my hands, you only seemed focused on your own rhythm. Dance is a task where you have to adapt to your pair's rhythm," she explained.
Lukas nodded his head in understanding. "I see," he said. 'It's weird when someone teaches me so kindly. Herman usually called me an idiot when I made a mistake. Also, I'm glad to see that this woman is not here only to make her daughter seduce me, it looks like she really wants me to learn how to dance, that's kinda cool,' the blonde boy thought.
"Well, let's do it again," Ingrid said.
So, Elisabeth and Lukas went back to dancing again. It was a dance with a lot of physical contact, there were some instances where even Lukas got genuinely embarrassed. Of course, he didn't show it as much as when he was putting on an act.
After a few more dances, Elisabeth was already panting.
'I can see Elisabeth is in good shape, but she's still a child, unless she had some kind of training as I did, she naturally wouldn't be able to endure it so much,' Lukas thought.
After panting for a while, Elisabeth looked at Lukas. 'What is wrong with him?! He doesn't even seem to be tired. We have been dancing for almost an hour!' the brown-haired girl internally complained.
Meanwhile, Ingrid was showing a happy expression. "Very good, Lukas. You do learn very fast. I don't think we will need more than 5 classes for you to learn this dance," she said. 'I can't just increase the number of classes and make him dance the same choreography over, and over again. He will eventually complain and it would be bad for our image,' the brown-haired woman thought.
Lukas smiled at Ingrid. "Thank you very much," he said. 'To be honest, I thought I wouldn't take as long as I am to learn this dance, however, it's more difficult than I thought, you have to adapt to your pair. It's not like swordsmanship where you only have to be faster than your opponent most of the time. Stopping to think about it, this stuff is actually very complex,' the blonde boy thought.
Lukas pocketed one of his hands and looked at Ingrid and then at Elisabeth. 'Well, I can't just let them go after these few dance classes. I kind of took a liking to them,' the blonde boy thought.
Ingrid looked at her watch and then smiled at Lukas. "Well, it is time to end the class. Great performance today, Mr. Lukas," she said.
Lukas smiled back. "Thank you, but I would like to do something before the two of you leave," he said.
The both of them raised their brows in doubt.
Lukas approached Elisabeth with a smile and grabbed her hands. "Would you go for a walk in the garden with me?" the blonde boy asked.
Elisabeth tried to keep her composure, but, on the other hand, Ingrid just let her jaw drop. 'What the... this boy... what's wrong with him?! Is he out of his mind? He's betrothed! We were supposed to take our time with this!' she internally complained.
Elisabeth's cheeks blushed. She moved her mouth a few times without saying anything, before she could finally give sound to her words. "O-Of course," she answered.
Ingrid sighed as she crossed her arms. 'What's wrong with this boy?! This thing he just did is so stupid that I don't even know how to handle this situation anymore! If we refused, it could hurt his pride and he wouldn't want to talk to my daughter ever again! But now that we accepted, it may cause a political problem, and the fact that we are in times of war doesn't help it!' she thought.
Lukas and Elisabeth held each other's hands and the blonde boy looked at Ingrid in the eyes with an innocent smile, which made Ingrid apprehensive.
"Sorry for not asking for your authorization, Ms. Ingrid, but it is very obvious that you would accept it, isn't it?" Lukas asked with a sarcastic tone.
Apparently Elisabeth didn't notice it because she was still very confused with the situation that was taking place right now, however, on the other hand, Ingrid immediately showed a dumbfounded face once she heard Lukas's sentence. 'H-He knows?! H-How?! How can it be?!' she wondered.
Lukas controlled himself not to laugh and lead Elisabeth out of the room. Ingrid didn't even dare to intervene. 'H-How did this boy knew it?' she still wondered.
"Huh... where are we going, Lukas?" Elisabeth asked.
'This girl really is confused, she already forgot that I told her we are going for a walk in the garden,' Lukas thought. "To the garden, I would like to spend some time alone with you," he answered.
Elisabeth's cheeks got red once again. "O-Okay," she said.
'Well, apparently without her mother's instructions, she is just a normal child. I am not going to do anything special, anyway, so whatever,' Lukas thought.
Finally, the both of them arrived to the garden.
Lukas walked Elisabeth closer to a bench. "Please, sit down, Elisabeth," the blonde boy asked with a smile.
Elisabeth simply did what Lukas asked for and sat on the bench.
Lukas sat beside her and looked calmly at the girl. "Elisabeth, I know of your and your mother's plans," he suddenly said.
Elisabeth just gasped after hearing Lukas's sentence. Elisabeth quickly grabbed Lukas's hand.
"P-Please, don't tell it to anyone! I will do anything you want! Please!" she pleaded.
Lukas just sighed. 'I was not going to tell anyone, anyway. Considering the circumstances we are living nowadays, I wouldn't say her deeds are particularly reprehensible. The marriage is a tool used all over the continent to gain more power and influence, if we think about it that way, they just adapted that strategy to their own way. It's smart, that's why I even took a liking to them. Besides, if I criticized them for breaking the kids' hearts, I would be a hypocrite,' he thought.
Soon, tears started forming in the corner of Elisabeth's eyes. "P-Please, Lukas, don't!" she kept pleading.
Lukas then showed a calm smile. "It's okay," he put his other hand on Elisabeth's. "It is not something that I find reprehensible, you are just trying to do it on your own way, there's nothing bad about it," the blonde boy explained.
Elisabeth just widened her eyes as she smiled. "R-Really? Are you going to let us go?" the brown-haired girl asked.
Lukas chuckled. "I'm going to do even more than that," he said. "But first, I still have a few doubts about that plan of yours, however, it's okay if you can't answer them by yourself," the blonde boy said.
"P-Please, ask whatever you want," Elisabeth showed a slight blush as she smiled. "I want to help you," she said.
Lukas smiled. "Thank you," he said. "Well, first, is this the first time you are trying to pull off this trick? If it is, congratulations, you have done very well for your first time," the blonde boy complimented.
Elisabeth shook her head. "No. We have tried to pull it off with nobles all over Austria," she said.
"Why didn't it work?" Lukas asked. "Looked like a very solid strategy," he said.
Elisabeth shook her head once again. "Sorry, I don't know that. It was Mama who took care of all those parts," she answered.
Lukas raised his brow. '"Mama"?' he wondered.
Lukas stood up. "Well, thank you for your time," he said.
Elisabeth raised her brow. "W-What?! Is that all? Did you figure out everything else by yourself?" she asked.
Lukas nodded his head. "Pretty much. It's not like I needed that information, anyway, I was only curious," he answered.
Elisabeth was truly dumbfounded.
Lukas could only laugh at Elisabeth's face. "Well, let's look for your mother. I am afraid she will make some kind of ruckus in the mansion," he said.
----
Austria, January 3rd 1795
5:15 PM
Ingrid was sitting at a table in the kitchen with a lot of servants around her as she drank some tea. "I-I am okay now, thank you," she said.
"You need to tell us what happened, Mrs. Bauer! We have to help you!" a servant said.
At that moment, Elisabeth and Lukas walked in the kitchen. "I told you she was in the kitchen," the blonde boy said with a smile as he turned his head to Elisabeth.
Klara, who was amongst those nobles immediately realized that Ingrid's state had something to do with Lukas.
"Young master!" Klara said with a pissed face as she walked closer to Lukas. "What did you do?!" she asked.
Lukas showed an innocent face as he tilted his head. "Me?" he asked. "Anyway, I would like to talk to Ms. Ingrid and Elisabeth alone if it's possible," he said.
Klara raised her brow. "Why would we-" she was interrupted by Ingrid.
"P-Please, leave us alone," Ingrid pleaded.
All the servants looked at each other and nodded their heads at the same time. "Excuse us," Klara said as she bowed.
All of them left, leaving only the three of them alone.
"W-What do you want? Do you plan to blackmail us so you won't tell our secret to everyone? What do you want? Perhaps my daughter as a concubine once you get older?" Ingrid asked.
Lukas raised his brow. 'The consideration you have for your daughter is impressive,' he thought, but he still decided to joke.
Lukas put his thumb on his lip. "Hey, it's not a bad idea," he said with a sarcastic tone, but Elisabeth still gasped.
Lukas laughed. "No, I was just kidding," he said.
Ingrid just snorted. "So what do you want?! Money?" she asked.
Lukas raised his brow. "Why would I want money?" he asked, then he sighed and looked at Ingrid with a serious expression. "I don't want anything like that from you. I just would like to ask you a question and then make a request. And it's up to you if you want to answer my question," the blonde boy answered.
Ingrid raised her brow. "What about the request?" she asked.
"In that case you are right, I'll blackmail you," Lukas straightforwardly answered.
Ingrid just gritted her teeth.
Lukas sighed. "First, I already know that you tried to pull off this trick with a lot of other nobles. Why didn't the engagements go ahead?" he asked.
Ingrid smirked. "Well, I guess even you can still be a bit dummy. It's not easy to marry a noble with a commoner, therefore we decided to do this with a lot of nobles all over Austria, so it would be more likely for my daughter to get a broom," she answered.
Lukas raised his brow. 'You say that like your daughter played a big role at planning all this stuff,' he thought.
Lukas sighed. "Well, then, my request is: if you ever receive an engagement proposal from any of those nobles, refuse," he said with a serious expression.
Ingrid raised her brow. "Why?" she asked.
"Who said I need to give you a justification? I am asking because I want to!" Lukas answered.
Ingrid just clenched her fists. 'This brat!' she sighed. "Fine!"
"Well, I have another request. Yes, I did lie about being just one," Lukas said.
The blonde boy turned to Elisabeth. "Elisabeth, please leave," he asked.
Elisabeth looked at her mother who just nodded her head at her. "O-Okay," she said, before leaving.
Ingrid gritted her teeth. "What is it that you want now, you brat?" she asked.
"It's about your daughter," Lukas said before making a short break. "Please, treat her with more respect. I told her that if you ever make her do anything that she doesn't want, she could send me a letter whenever she wanted and you would not see her ever again," the blonde boy lied.
Ingrid widened her eyes. "W-What?! Are you questioning my upbringing methods?" she asked.
Lukas frowned. 'Ridiculous,' he thought. "Whatever, just do these two things I asked," he said. "Believe it, it's not worth it to be an aristocrat nowadays. With this mess that happened in France, the aristocracy will just lose more and more power as the time passes by, it doesn't matter whether or not Austria wins the war... besides, I don't believe in that noble superiority, I never did," the blonde boy explained.
Lukas then looked at the door of the kitchen. "Well, regarding your daughter..." he showed a smile. "...I don't even need to explain that one, right? She's your daughter. Don't use her as a tool to gain more money or influence. She doesn't deserve it," the blonde boy said.
When Lukas paid attention to Ingrid, he noticed that she was whining, which made him shocked. 'W-What?!' he yelled internally.
"S-Stupid boy! I hate to admit it, but you are right! My baby... the way I treated Elisabeth... she really doesn't deserve it," Ingrid said while whining.
She then stood up from her chair and hugged Lukas gently. "I'm not going to lie, I still hate you for having hurt my pride like this, but... I'll never forget that you made me open my eyes like this... thank you," she said.
Lukas then smiled. "Oh, there's one more thing," he said.
"What?!" she immediately pushed away and looked at Lukas with anger.
"Teach me what I still need about dance. Don't worry, your payment won't change," Lukas said.
Ingrid raised her brow. "A-Are you serious?" she asked.
Lukas smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, but please, no more funny tricks," he said.
Ingrid stayed silent for a bit, but then she bursted out in laughter. "W-What an idiot you are!" she said while laughing.
After calming down, she looked at Lukas with a smile. "I accept that last request of yours," she said.
'You say it like you have a choice,' Lukas thought, but he still smiled. "Thank you," the blonde boy answered.
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