A Mastermind? No, I'm just the Live-In Son-in-Law-Chapter 96: Pheromone

“Haah, haah....”

“...Hk.”

To get straight to the point, among the two applicants, Johan collapsed without even lasting a full minute under Whitney’s power.

“.......”

No, to be more precise, it would be more accurate to say that he kneeled from the killing intent emitted by Meredia’s jewel eye, not directly from Whitney himself.

‘Foolish.’

The brief glimpse of resistance he showed when he unknowingly opened his eyes slightly was nowhere to be found, and Whitney’s momentum, now beginning to use the power of domination on his own, was frankly pathetic.

No matter how generously one tried to evaluate it, at most, it only gave a slight chill down the spine or an unsettling feeling in the heart.

Fortunately, Meredia, who realized this first, pressured the two candidates by activating her jewel eye, sparing Whitney from disgrace.

‘A monster... Truly a monster.’

However, contrary to Whitney’s original intent, it ended up creating a misunderstanding among the applicants, making him seem like an untouchable being.

“......Uk.”

Meanwhile, the beastkin knight Ferris, standing beside him, fared a little better.

Though sweating profusely, she managed to keep her back straight and stood her ground, glaring at Whitney with her sanity intact, unlike Johan.

‘Quite impressive for a beastkin.’

Knowing very well that very few could remain standing when she unleashed her jewel eye, Meredia observed her with an intrigued expression, falling deep into thought.

‘There were quite a few similar items in the slave market... Maybe I should buy one.’

Of course, true to her villainess origins, Meredia’s inner thoughts were quite impure.

“Lady Meredia....”

“What is it.”

“I might have gained a terrifying power....”

“...Haah.”

However, even Meredia paused her scheming when Whitney, who had turned around from afar with a blank expression, suddenly spoke to her.

“Maybe... I should tone it down a bit....”

“Tone down what?”

“Ah, come to think of it, there’s no time for that, is there.”

But unlike Meredia, who knew the situation, to the two applicants, that clueless appearance looked like the perfect finishing touch to a complete dark mastermind.

‘...This is bad.’

And just as Whitney expected, to Ferris, who had been dispatched under dark orders from Lord Maier, that appearance looked nothing short of despair.

‘I expected a challenge, but this is just... overwhelming.’

Someone of her caliber could roughly predict the outcome of a battle just by sensing an opponent’s aura.

And right now, from her perspective, Whitney was not someone she could ever hope to face.

No, even if every applicant present today charged at him with full force, she doubted they could even scratch him.

– Step, step....

While she was drenched in cold sweat, hastily rewriting her entire plan, footsteps began approaching Ferris.

“You’re quite impressive.”

“.......”

“I almost judged you by your appearance and physique, but with this level of mental fortitude, you’re an outstanding talent.”

Before she realized it, Whitney was standing right in front of Ferris, scanning her with an intrigued look.

‘...What, so he’s a man after all?’

Carefully observing the thick gaze pressing down on her even amidst this oppressive atmosphere, Ferris’s lips subtly curled upwards.

‘That makes things easier.’

One might have thought, at a glance, that she was a pitiful victim tamed by Lord Maier because she was a slave knight, but in truth, Ferris leaned more towards darkness than light.

‘I wasn’t sure if he was joking earlier, but with this, it’s certain—I can reel him in....’

Aside from her natural physical prowess as a wolf beastkin and the assassination techniques she honed while serving as Lord Maier’s shadow, Ferris also possessed an innate talent.

It was the ability to unconsciously emit pheromones that intoxicated others.

In fact, the main reason why the usually cold-blooded sociopath Lord Maier favored a slave like her was precisely because of these pheromones.

It wasn’t by coincidence that she had never once failed a mission when the target was a man.

“Haah, haah....”

Thus, it was no accident when Ferris, who had been silently gauging the situation, suddenly wiped her cold sweat with a weak expression and began to stagger.

“...Ugh.”

“Hm?”

Her every move meticulously calculated, Ferris swayed—and fell toward none other than Whitney’s chest.

‘Good, if this goes as planned....’

It didn’t matter who the man was.

Once her pheromones stuck all over them, it would be over.

And surely, even this assassination target, who smelled more like a beast than a human, wouldn’t be an exception. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

‘...It’s only a matter of time before Lord Maier acknowledges me.’

The good news was, upon completing this mission, her unofficial master Lord Maier had promised to remove her slave brand.

However, Ferris’s ambitions didn’t end there.

Having lived a life of slavery since ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) childhood, she had a deep desire for a higher status.

Even if she gained her freedom, she intended to stay by Lord Maier’s side.

The possibility was slim, but if, after a long time together, the still unmarried Lord Maier grew fond of her and laid a hand on her?

Fortunately, she hadn’t yet fully explained the nature of her pheromone ability to Maier.

Thus, if she could control the output carefully and "pickle" him properly, perhaps—becoming the Duchess of one of the Empire’s ducal houses wasn’t just a pipe dream....

“...Kuh?”

As Ferris chuckled darkly to herself while drenched in sweat, her eyes suddenly widened, and a pained groan escaped her lips.

“Oh dear. Looks like that was your limit.”

“......?”

And then, she heard Whitney’s unnecessarily cheerful voice ringing in her ears.

“Huh?”

Ferris blinked blankly for a moment, failing to comprehend what had happened, until she realized she wasn’t in Whitney’s arms—but sprawled facedown on the cold dirt.

A dumbfounded whimper escaped her as she hastily scrambled to her feet.

‘My pheromones didn’t work?’

Thanks to the pheromones she usually exuded, she often attracted not just humans but even the stray dogs of back alleys.

So it was a first for Ferris that, despite deliberately unleashing her pheromones, a "male" entity didn’t react at all.

‘No way. Could it be he likes women?’

With that, Ferris began doubting Whitney’s sexual orientation.

However, fortunately for her, that misunderstanding was swiftly cleared up.

– It’s one thing for a mutt like you not to know your place.

As she shook the dirt off and tried to stand, a chilling voice echoed sharply in Ferris’s mind.

– But could you please stop leaking that disgusting stench already.

And it was unmistakably the voice of Meredia, who had been silently glaring at her from the beginning.

***

‘...The flies are already starting to gather.’

That was Meredia’s impression as she watched Ferris, who was barely standing with trembling legs, glaring at her.

‘I’d love to kill and erase her right now....’

The only bit of luck for Ferris was that Meredia was currently holding back on using the mind-reading ability, which consumed an absurd amount of power, to avoid overusing the jewel eye.

‘...Either way, she’s a useful talent.’

However, Meredia immediately realized that Ferris had tried to influence Whitney by releasing pheromones, and she shot a rather disgusted glance at Whitney.

‘Maybe I should test it a little.’

And at that moment, Meredia’s pupils, which had been altered, slowly began returning to their original color.

“Hmm?”

At the same time, Whitney’s face, which had been anxiously watching Ferris, began to twitch slightly.

“Congratulations.”

“...What?”

Suddenly, he extended his hand toward her for a handshake.

“You passed. Congratulations on becoming a knight of the Ringaarden County as of today.”

“......!?”

“There’s no need to be surprised. You already met all the standards I wanted.”

As Whitney spoke in a gentle voice, Ferris looked at him with a half-doubtful expression, while Meredia’s face grew even colder.

‘Did the pheromones work after all, just late?’

Whitney’s sudden softness was enough to deepen Ferris’s misunderstanding as she observed the situation closely, but the next words from Whitney only confused her further.

“Ah. You passed too, Johan.”

“Ugh...”

Johan, who had been utterly drained and foaming at the mouth from the battle of wills between Ferris and Meredia, was somehow also declared passed by Whitney.

“Yes. With mental endurance like this... it’s more than enough.”

“.......”

“...In fact, it suits my standards better.”

Only then did Ferris momentarily set aside her doubts about the pheromones, stepping back as a chill ran down her spine.

“...Is he building a meat shield unit, not a knight order?”

“No, it’s the master’s plan. It won’t be anything that crude. Probably brainwashing them slowly to make them give body and soul....”

Something was definitely off about the Ringaarden County.

“I-I guess we don’t have to carry him this time.”

“S-Sasha, he’s still conscious though?”

“W-What should we do?”

“...Hehe, heheh.”

According to her sensitive hearing, even excluding Whitney and Lady Meredia, the interviewers and the servants, all seemed to be completely out of their minds.

‘I have to get out of here.’

Ferris, her body instantly covered in goosebumps, instinctively started stepping backward, forgetting even the mission she had been given.

But it was already too late.

“The waiting room for successful candidates is not that way.”

“......!”

“That way is for those who failed.”

Whitney, turning his head at an unnatural angle to look at her, said so with a smile so kind it was chilling.

“It would be sad if you survived only to take the wrong path, wouldn’t it? Haha....”

“...Hic.”

Thus, the first successful candidates of the newly established Ringaarden County Knight Order had no choice but to obediently head to the waiting room prepared for the passed candidates, just as Whitney instructed.

“...Something’s strange.”

However, amidst the seemingly organized atmosphere, there was something Whitney had not anticipated.

“Why does my chest feel so hot....”

The pheromones Ferris had released when Meredia momentarily released her control for a test had not been completely ineffective against Whitney.

***

“The next participants.... Let’s see.”

A little while later. Contrary to worries, the new knight order interviews were proceeding smoothly.

“Evangeline and Richard Misthylene.”

Checking the documents of the next applicants, Meredia called out the names written at the top and quietly turned her gaze toward Lunelle.

“They’re the siblings you mentioned earlier, right?”

“......Yes.”

“Well, at least they’ll add some interest to this otherwise boring interview.”

However, despite her words, Meredia’s expression was clearly more awkward than usual.

“.......”

And it wasn’t just Meredia. Lunelle and even Parsha, who had been observing the interview, showed similar stiffness in their faces.

“Shouldn’t we stop them...?”

“...Who’s going to stop that situation?”

“Maybe Sasha could do it?”

“...No way. She might die from a heart attack first.”

Expanding the scope even further, even the servants transporting the disqualified candidates, who had already become desensitized to the Count’s household’s absurdities, all looked pale from afar.

“Young Lady, don’t you hear me?”

One might wonder what kind of spectacle they had seen to cause such an uproar, but the situation unfolding in the garden was more than enough to warrant such a reaction.

“...Just a little break for the two of us, okay?”

Whitney, looking completely intoxicated by something, had his arm around Meredia’s shoulder and was continuously flirting with her.