The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] novel Chapter 322

Chapter 322: Count

Now that the tears had dried and Luca had been reduced to the occasional hiccup and sniffle, the world felt quieter.

Not exactly light, not yet—but definitely less suffocating.

Xavier, ever calm and reliable despite looking half-dead, handed Luca a drink and a small packet of snacks, like nothing dramatic had just occurred in the last half hour.

He even gave him a faint, encouraging smile as he sat cross-legged across from him, posture just the right amount of alert and at ease.

Luca stared at the drink, then up at Xavier.

"What about you?" he offered, voice still slightly hoarse.

Xavier shook his head. "Not yet. I have to process the energy inside me first. If I take more, it might overload."

The exchange sounded normal—almost routine, even. But from where she sat, Duchess Amelia’s brow twitched.

She hadn’t interrupted before. Hadn’t so much as blinked throughout Luca’s earlier story.

But this was something else when she was staring at a few questionable things.

She might have spent what felt like five years on here, but even then, she knew about the outside world, one that has had problems for centuries now.

And yet these two were just snacking on food that definitely looked processed.

Those weren’t the same root crops they would occasionally eat inside this dungeon.

So, when she was offered the same snacks, she couldn’t help but ask.

"What...?" She looked at the items before her, which clearly radiated spiritual energy.

The two lads exchanged looks and realized she didn’t really know about their current ventures.

And that was how the Duchess learned she wasn’t done being blindsided.

"Wait, so you’re saying that these are your products?" she muttered, blinking slowly as she inspected what were clearly processed goods.

"You make these from what you and the people of the duchy have grown in your dungeon?" _{fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com}

Luca nodded.

"And you sell them."

Another nod, this time accompanied by a nervous smile and a slight scoot backward.

"Sweet heavens," she muttered.

"I didn’t know much when I started!" Luca squeaked, waving his hands defensively. "I just—I tried eating the local fruits and they tasted really bad, so it was impossible to finish a small one!"

"...So you started a business?"

The little money grubber nodded as he flinched at this.

"I had no money to buy food or anything, so all I could do was open a Star Mall store since they allowed me to open one on credit."

Now that was unexpected, and the duchess looked extremely scandalized.

She was, in fact, beyond just scandalized because her son, of all things, shouldn’t have lacked financial support.

They may not be able to provide for other things, but money? That was one thing they should have been good at.

So, what on Solaris did she just hear?!

"Where were your guardians and attendants?!"

Now that was a question that both Luca and Xavier wanted to know the answer to.

"Gone," Luca said simply. "The double and the caretaker vanished. By the time I came to, there were already no traces of them."

At this, Xavier cleared his throat, politely but with distinct interest.

"Actually," he said, "that brings up something I’ve been meaning to ask. Do you happen to have any other old records or photos of the caretaker and double assigned to Luca?"

"Because the double didn’t come, I had to take the exams, only to be surprised by an Orc Princess claiming that I, well, we...had been engaged to her for a while now."

Duchess Amelia had to lean back at that and couldn’t—or more like, didn’t want to—imagine her baby getting married to an Orc who may even be twice his size.

So she turned to look at someone who better be able to produce an acceptable explanation for this. "And you! Where were you in all of this?!"