Chapter 82

“Have you come to love him?”

“….!”

My head went blank at the unexpected question. Even though I should answer no, the answer didn’t come to me right away.

Why?

No, since I’ve gotten rid of the lilies, I should say I didn’t love him, however…

My eyes widened in an instant at the complex emotions. As I stood there in a daze, unable to say anything, I heard him click his tongue.

“Even so, you’re a fake Ferro. Do you think Diello Argenta will accept you once he knows the truth?”

Duke Alors continued in a cold voice.

“You will return to Alors eventually. Keep that in mind.”

Standing firm before such clear murderous intent without using any of my abilities was scarier than I thought. Duke Alors knew this, which was why he was unabashedly intimidating me.

‘Know your place. You cannot change anything with your power.’

Nevertheless, I did have abilities, and today would be the last day of my humiliation.

“Don’t get hurt and come back, Krua.”

I thought of Diello, who had held my hand tightly as he said those words. If I returned with my name engraved on my back again, he was bound to notice.

He was bound to sense that I’d been hurt and suffered… because that was the kind of person he was. He would be furious for my sake, as would Vielle and the maids, Rick, and the other servants who would be riding in the carriage with me.

There were people who would be furious for my sake.

That was why I could endure it.

…So that they could be furious at the right time. So that we could get revenge together.

So that we could kill him.

I steadied my breath and continued.

“I… I want to survive after the plan is over, too. But I saw him go berserk…”

I pretended to tremble in fear as I spoke.

“He’s bound to go berserk again once all three lilies are gone from his body.”

“Even if he goes berserk, he’s just going to burn the carpet. Are you afraid of that?”

He must have investigated that as well. He was thorough.

I said to Duke Alors, who was frowning.

“He’ll be angry with me… and he might try to burn me this time.”

My heart sank just imagining the sight of him glaring at me in anger.

“….!”

I suddenly remembered Rick stiffening under his cold gaze. If I were to receive that cold gaze myself… would I freeze up as Rick did?

Rather than that…

I stopped thinking. It was scary, yes, but I wasn’t afraid that he would hurt me…

I desperately shook off the thought. Regardless, for now, I planned to stick with the concept that I couldn’t get rid of the lilies because I was afraid of Diello. Then, I looked up at Duke Alors with the most earnest eyes I could muster.

“Will I be able to survive?”

Duke Alors replied.

“You will be fine as long as you carry out the plan properly.”

His cold voice held not a shred of emotion for his daughter. It was as if he were looking at a mere tool.

“As you said, Diello Argenta will be furious once the lilies are gone and he fails to awaken. But what will change even if he is furious?”

Duke Alors laughed coldly.

“He’ll just be a weakling with a feeble flame.”

Then, with eyes that had softened for a moment, he continued.

“You have Alors of Water behind you. What is there to worry about?”

Liar.

If he were really going to protect me, he wouldn’t have made it so I couldn’t breathe in water or threatened me in the first place. His eyes were filled with the intent to make me feel at ease so that I would carry out the plan.

“…I understand.”

Nevertheless, I pretended to be relieved as I spoke.

“I’ll… be able to get rid of them soon.”

Duke Alors smiled in satisfaction at my words.

“You will. Just stay focused on your goal and don’t waver.”

I almost raised an eyebrow at his words. It was such an affectionate tone, so unlike Duke Alors as if he were giving me advice.

“Put aside your personal feelings for now and focus solely on erasing the lilies.”

Personal feelings?

I wondered what he meant, but then an idea struck me, and my mind went cold. It was something I hadn’t thought of before. According to Duke Alors’ plan, Diello and I would fall in love, share our hearts to the point of erasing the lilies, and then…

I would have to watch him die.

…The man I had shared my heart with.

As the head of the family, Duke Alors, who had awakened because of the Ferro, couldn’t have been unaware of this. He had known all along. Whether Krua—whether I—came to love Diello or not, whether my heart was torn or not, I was to kill Diello.

How cruel.

It was an utterly heartless plan.

Duke Alors, who had been watching my expression, asked me with feigned concern.

“Are you worried about him?”

As he pretended to be a caring father, worried about me, I nodded. It was because it was true… I was worried about him.

This was a matter that did not require acting.

I decided to take this opportunity to go a step further. I was truly both terrified and fond of Diello, like a person who could neither erase nor keep his lilies.

“…You will kill him?”

At my words, Duke Alors had an expression as if I were asking an obvious question.

“At that time, could you allow me to greet him one last time?”

Of course, the one who would be unable to greet him would be Duke Alors. As I asked with that in mind, his expression twisted.

“Tsk.”

Duke Alors clicked his tongue as if he had seen something disgusting. Then, he made a gesture.

“Come closer.”

That gesture wasn’t directed at me. At his gesture, Alors’ assassins, dressed in black, emerged from the shadows.

“You must have known that the time to carve your name would come? Remember while carving your name. The purpose for which you went to Argenta.”

The assassins approached me.

And they grabbed my arms roughly.

“….!”

Duke Alors, who had forcibly turned my body around, touched the buttons on my clothes. From the place he touched, an unpleasant sensation spread.

“Diello Argenta is the one causing you this pain. If he dies, we won’t have to carve your name. You’ll be free.”

It was not even funny. Whose fault was it that this plan was made in the first place? Why was it Diello’s fault?

“Don’t move.”

Duke Alors, who had completely exposed the nape of my neck, regardless of whether the assassins could see or not, stopped moving.

“Hmm.”

…What? Did he perhaps sense something strange? Had I been suppressing the water power all along?

At a moment when I was unknowingly tense, Duke Alors turned me around.

“Whew.”

―Thud!

As I was turned around roughly, my body hit the table and the arm of the chair. Regardless, Duke Alors looked straight at me.

“I heard that Argenta has been in chaos lately. You must have been busy.”

Then, he said something out of the blue.

“Yes?”

There was no way this man would worry about me. No way.

“The name hasn’t recovered properly. It would be strange if it suddenly got worse now.”

He waved his hand.

Soon after, the assassins, who had roughly buttoned up my clothes, hid themselves in the shadows again.

“You must contact me as soon as the name is erased. Unless you want to be caught by Diello Argenta for being a fake and die.”

I was annoyed by the way he emphasized that Diello was dangerous to the end. Still, was it true that the name on my back hasn’t faded a bit?

It was true that I’ve been busy lately with an unreasonable schedule, not to mention resting. There were times when I collapsed from exhaustion. It was not an environment where wounds could heal properly. Even so, since I was human, it wasn’t like the name on my back wouldn’t fade at all?

While I was tidying up my clothes, Duke Alors continued.

“And contact me as soon as you erase Diello Argenta’s lily.”

“How do I contact you?”

You couldn’t send someone to Alors, right?

At my words, Duke Alors clicked his tongue.

“With your ability… I don’t know if it will be possible. Use the power of the source if it’s not enough.”

If anyone heard his words, they would think that using the power of the source was easy.

I recalled the faces of Alors’ assassins, who had been distorted in pain as they used the power of the source.

In the meantime, Duke Alors pointed to my teacup.

A soundless ripple spread across the tea water, which was dotted with pink flower petals. Above it, blue magic power was seen carving letters.

“Float the letters on the flowing water towards Alors. No.”

He looked me up and down and went on.

“This method must be unreasonable for someone of your level.”

The next moment, he took out a memo, inscribed Alors’ magic power on it, and handed it to me.

“If you send this paper into the flowing water, it will reach me. Send it by infusing it with your magic power.”

It seemed that I had hidden my strength well.

“If the lilies are erased, send one dot. If there is a problem with the name carved on your body, send two dots. You won’t get confused, will you?”

There was a somewhat condescending tone in his voice.

“I will do that.”

Of course, I received it with an expression that wondered if I would be able to do it again. He would faint if he knew that I could make water do anything I wanted.

“Then, leave.”

As Duke Alors stood up, before I knew it, my hair and clothes were dry as if they had never been wet with water.

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