Chapter 93

I narrowed my eyes, and Diello pointed to the document.

“If you don’t like that place, tell me, and I’ll find another one.”

He smiled as he spoke, and no matter how I looked at it, he seemed to be seriously interested in my real estate business.

It meant that I had to compete with this man to buy land in other areas. Being one of the three great ducal families of the Empire, who had accumulated wealth over a long period of time, and who could have anything they wanted… how could I compete with that?

I crossed my arms and spoke coldly.

“That’s cheating.”

Then, Diello got out of bed and came to me. He approached me with light steps, handed me the document, and tilted his head.

“I was so greedy that I even committed a foul…”

A faint smile spread across his lips.

“I wanted to keep you by my side.”

As if he wouldn’t hide anything, he was revealing everything. Kissing the fingertips holding the document, he met my gaze without avoiding it.

It wasn’t unfamiliar.

It seemed as if he was revealing the things he had been showing me little by little. It seemed that he had been suppressing his true self as much as possible until now. And now, he said he wouldn’t hide it anymore…

As I looked at him with that thought in mind, Diello said.

“So, I had no choice.”

Somehow, he seemed overly interested in my buying the forest. I ended up putting the document on the table.

“What are you going to do with the forest?”

Diello asked. What do you mean, what am I going to do?

“I’ll keep it for now, in case I need it later.”

If I sell it again, wouldn’t I just look stupid?

Diello laughed at my words.

“Then, would you please look at the last page of the document?”

…The last page?

I flipped through the document and looked at the last page.

[ Diello Argenta, the head of Argenta, delegates all ownership and profit rights to the land he owns (commonly known as ‘Daisy Forest’) to Krua Argenta. ]

Below it was already Diello’s seal. Only my seal was empty.

“Did I do well?”

Diello smiled. I blinked.

“Didn’t you buy it, Diello?”

“Yes, because I thought Krua might run away to this forest.”

He narrowed his eyes.

…He was so quick to notice.

“But if I run away with just the forest like this, what are you going to do?”

“This forest is a forest given to ‘Krua Argenta.’ The paperwork isn’t complicated, as it’s a land transfer within the family. However…”

He looked at me quietly.

“Once Krua gives up the Argenta name, it will get a little complicated.”

“….”

He was as cunning as a fox.

Stamp.

Although I stamped it with the quill and ink next to me, I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy. When I glanced at Diello, he smiled.

“Are you disappointed that I’m such a beast?”

It was natural to be disappointed.

When I didn’t answer…

Smooch.

His soft lips touched my fingertips.

“But I’m worried.”

He soon looked up at me with a darkened expression, and he really looked worried.

“What’s wrong?”

It was just before the war, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the situation changed rapidly. Still, what came out of Diello’s mouth was something completely different.

“Now that you know everything about me, what if you decide to leave, Krua?”

He was talking without hesitation, as he said he wouldn’t hide anything.

Smooch.

This time, his lips, which had risen slightly, touched the back of my hand.

“I’m worried about how to seduce Krua so that you’ll stay by my side.”

He smiled beautifully.

His captivating smile caught my eye.

* * *

While there was a commotion in Argenta, the situation in the Alors Duchy had been changing rapidly recently.

“We’ll be able to punish Argenta soon!”

“Waaaaah!”

Unlike the Alors knights, who were in high spirits, Duke Alors’s expression was dark.

“For the next Lord, Pentas Alors!”

As he heard the shouts, the Duke’s face turned ashen. He began to tremble as if he were anxious.

‘I didn’t get the symbol!’

Not long ago, his son had said something out of the blue.

‘What?! Are you saying nonsense when my power is clearly waning!’

When the symbol of the head passes to the next head, there would be no major change in the power of the current head immediately after that. Then, after some time, the power of the current head began to decrease rapidly.

Duke Alors was already feeling his power waning rapidly.

‘Pentas, you should have told me if the symbol had appeared!’

As soon as he realized that, he went to his son and shouted at him, but his son looked as if he didn’t know anything. Pentas showed no signs of the awakening fever that usually preceded the manifestation of the head’s symbol.

In fact, he seemed to be in perfect health.

“It’s really not me!”

“Then, who the hell is it—!”

The Duke of Alors, who had been shouting, froze in place.

“Are you really not the one?”

“I really am!”

He couldn’t believe it, so he had his servants strip his son naked, though there was no sign of the head’s mark anywhere.

“W-what is this…!”

It was a real emergency. He had thought that Pentas was the only suitable candidate for the next head. But did it go to one of the collateral family?

Who the hell was it?

“Immediately, investigate all those with blood ties!”

The collateral bloodlines of the Alors family were people who never dared to think that they would become the head. He had been careless, thinking that they were people who didn’t even seem to have the ability to control water.

Maybe they’d been hiding it, waiting to strike him from behind.

Even though he knew it was unlikely, the Duke of Alors couldn’t help but grit his teeth.

“No one has shown the head’s mark!”

At that report, the Duke of Alors hurriedly gave an order.

“Immediately find, no, create a pretext to invade Argenta!”

He had to take down Argenta somehow before his power waned.

No matter how weak Diello Argenta was, he was still the head. If the Duke of Alors himself lost the power of the head completely, he would be a formidable opponent. That was how this war was prepared so quickly.

The problem was…

“Nothing is going according to plan!”

Bang!

He slammed his fist on the table.

“Krua Alors, what the hell are you doing?”

He shouted in exasperation.

He had told her to contact him as soon as she had completely eradicated the lilies of Diello Argenta. He had even threatened her life to make sure she didn’t betray him, so she wouldn’t dare have any other thoughts.

Then again, Krua Alors wasn’t brave enough to betray him in the first place.

Villainess?

She wielded her power over her inferiors, though that was all. She was Krua Alors, who couldn’t say a word to a head stronger than her.

People wouldn’t change unless they have a major life-altering event.

The Duke of Alors, who had no idea that Krua’s life had been turned upside down, didn’t know that someone else had possessed her.

That she still wouldn’t dare betray him.

And so, he had waited for her contact, but even now, when talk of negotiations was in the air, that stupid thing hadn’t contacted him. Unable to contain his frustration, the Duke walked out into the garden and found an unexpected thing.

“God is on Alors’ side!”

[ . ]

A white piece of paper was floating on the water that crossed the garden. It was a message from Krua, marked with a single dot.

It meant that the lilies were gone?

A triumphant smile spread across the Duke of Alors’ face as he fished it out of the flowing water.

“Prepare the troops to go to the negotiation hall. Disguise the knights and assassins as servants and maids. Immediately.”

He burst into laughter.

Now, it was time to deal with that useless Krua and Argenta.

* * *

On the morning of the negotiation day.

Diello was trying on the formal wear he would wear for the negotiations. Usually, those with high status tended to have servants do even the smallest tasks, but he was different. He found it more cumbersome to be waited on for even trivial matters like dressing.

That was why the servants had retreated and were waiting outside the room at this time.

As he took off the shirt he was wearing, his well-defined muscles were revealed. The wife of Redias, who had watched him grow up, had jokingly said that his body was something that everyone in society would envy, but Diello didn’t feel anything special.

…No, he had recently started to feel something. To be precise, he wished someone would take an interest in him.

Thud, thud.

‘Don’t come over here.’

…But the someone he was interested in, far from wanting his body, had built a wall of pillows between them.

He let out a short sigh and looked in the mirror.

“….?”

Diello narrowed his eyes.

It was even more visible when he completely took off his shirt.

“The lily…”

He reached out and rubbed the mirror, but the sight remained the same.

His expression gradually filled with surprise.

The lily, which should have been engraved in a deep black color, was blurred.

—