CH 78

Shaking my head at the childish rhetoric that circulated overhead, I approached May.

“May, why aren’t you helping me?”

“I was thinking about who to cheer for now.”

“I think Schumann is better.”

“I hate both, but I hated Schumann more, so I was just thinking that the duke might be better.”

“Do you really have to cheer on them? I’m telling you to stop it….”

Neither here nor there.

“She’s my miss Ria.”

“Ha, she’s my little sister tho?”

I couldn’t stand the two of them arbitrarily claiming my ownership, so I raised my fists and hit their heads.

“Both of you stop!”

In the end, it was I who mediated the childish fight between the two.

***

We moved to the second-floor terrace of the mansion. The spring energy surrounding the mansion was good to enjoy tea time outdoors.

I glanced at the cold tea.

Schumann noticed my gaze and spoke playfully.

“Are you sad that the duke is not here? Did you think you had to hold him from going?”

“Nope.”

“No way. Your face tells me that you extremely regretted it.”

Dillian, who had been sitting next to me a while ago, left due to Neison’s request to come back.

Schumann noticed me who felt an awkward glimmer when the warmth I felt in my side disappeared.

Schumann tapped my shoulder and joked around.

“Looking back, you guys seemed like a real couple.”

“Hm, nonsense is banned.”

As soon as Schumann’s bullshit was struck out at once, he chuckled and bit the cookie.

“Seeing that you are still ruthless, you are fine I guess, but are your mood going up and down?”

“Is it homesickness? Or depression? I think it’s because you’re frustrated because you’re just being locked up.”

“I don’t think so.”

I shook my head at May’s guess.

“It’s a lot more comfortable than the house I had in Wilhelm, and I like it.”

Saying that I’m locked up is an understatement, I just don’t go out because it’s annoying. I went out whenever I wanted to.

“There must be another concern then. Tell me. This brother is good at counseling.”

I glanced at the confident Schumann. He was gorgeous from head to toe today.

Looking at it, I suddenly remembered Dillian’s birthday present.

‘Can’t I get some help from Schumann?’

“Hmm. It might be surprisingly fine.”

Schumann likes to style himself, so it will definitely help.

Schumann’s face changed strangely at my twinkling eyes, soon he covered his chest with both arms.

“What is that, those eyes? How can you look at your brother with that kind of eyes…!”

“May.”

May slapped Schumann in the side at my signal.

“Ouch!”

“Schumann, bullshit is banned.”

“Ugh, so what is it? Why are you staring at me with those eyes?”

As he was beaten, Schumann asked, rubbing his throbbing side.

“It’s sir Dillian’s birthday soon, and I don’t know what to give as a present.”

“No way, was that the problem?”

I nodded at May’s absurd question.

“Dillian Sinaize. You’ve made it.”

May, who mumbled alone, gulped down the cold water.

“Have you decided what to do?”

“I’m thinking of giving him a brooch or cufflinks, wait a minute.”

After asking Schumann to wait, I asked Sera to bring me the catalog.

“There’s something I’ve seen beforehand, but I don’t know what it will be like.”

I touched on a few ornaments made of ruby that resembled Dillian’s eyes.

“How about something like this?”

“The color is fine, but I think the duke would be better with something more fancy.”

Schumann, who quickly scanned the catalog, thought more seriously than I did.

As expected, my choice wasn’t wrong.

He, who is always serious about styling, forgot his fight with Dillian a while ago and fell into shopping.

“This and this. I think these two would suit the duke.”

Schumann glanced at one of the catalogs, revealing a white bandage under the curled-up cuffs.

Startled by the wound, I stretched out my hand.

“Why are your arms like this?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

He pulled his arm out of my grasp and pulled down his sleeve.

“Nothing, huh? It’s bloody.”

As I grabbed the fleeing hand, Schumann ruffled his bangs, thinking he was caught wrong.

“Ah, shame on me.”

I knew that Schumann would be hurting his arm around this time. Because of that wound, Aina and Schumann meet.

‘But why hasn’t it been treated yet?’

When Dillian slapped his hand, he said it hurt, so it was because of this wound.

“Why didn’t you treat it? You should have gone to the temple.”

“Temple? Why did I go there just because of burns?”

“Burn?”

No, as far as I know, Schumann had a cursed object next to him, and then he was afflicted with a weak curse.

“… How did you get hurt?”

“Do I have to tell you? Please protect your brother’s pride.”

“Sshh, speak quickly.”

“… It exploded while making a potion. Apparently, the ruptured liquid splashed on my arm and burned it.”

Really ashamed, Schumann, who was blushing, placed a slight punch on May’s head, who was ignoring him.

“That damn little sister put in the wrong ingredients.”

“Hm. Why are you saying that?”

“It’s because I feel unfair to think that Ria will stamp me as clumsy.”

“Ah, I already said sorry. You decided to keep your mouth shut by doing half of what you had to do.”

So, it’s mean, this was truly an accident.

In the midst of chaos in my head, my hands were steadily treating Schumann.

“Schumann, don’t you have any new items you recently bought?”

“I didn’t buy anything, instead, I tried to buy and failed.”

Tsk, Schumann licked his tongue and drank the tea roughly.

“I can’t sleep just thinking about that day.”

“Again, he’s starting again.”

May explained the situation instead of Schumann who was grinding his teeth.

“He found a necklace he liked at the street vendor, and it was stolen by someone else right in front of him.”

“To whom?”

“Saintess.”

“What? Aina?”

I raised my voice at the appearance of an unexpected person.

“Ah, I guess that was the name. But when did you even start calling each other by name?”

May asked a question as if interrogating me, but I had no intention of answering.

“Why is Aina…?”

“I don’t know, she said she had to take it, so she took it away?”

Schumann, who was silently listening to May’s words, wrinkled his eyes.

“There was daylight robbery, how could such a woman be a Saintess? Huh, I’m so mad.”

Schumann, who had blown his bangs with the wind in his mouth, could not calm his emotion for a while.

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at the negative emotions felt in his voice.

No, it shouldn’t be like this…?

‘How did Aina know that and put it away? Is it a coincidence?’

But it was too accurate to be a coincidence.

I also searched for the necklace to help Schumann, but I never found it.

But when Schumann was about to buy the necklace, she showed up and snatched it.

‘Sure, it’s suspicious.’

She didn’t go to the Great Temple, staying in the Imperial Palace to save Cassis, being overly wary of Dillian, and completely erasing contact with the sub-male lead, Schumann.

Doesn’t she act like she knows what’s going to happen?

As expected, I’ll have to meet Aina and check it out.

***

The next day, as soon as the day dawned, I headed straight to the Great Temple.

But it was Aaron, not Aina, who greeted me.

“Pardon? Aina is not here?”

“Yes. It will be difficult to see her for a while because she is going on a long-term mission.”

What kind of event is this again? Just then, while I was bewildered, someone popped out of Aaron’s side.

“For what purpose does the pre-duchess seek the Saintess out?”

It was Fabian who treated me with a harsh attitude.

Why does he always let cold air whenever he sees me?

“Do I have to have a reason to come to see my friend?”

“Friend?”

Fabian was visibly bewildered by the unexpected answer.

“Are you saying that you and Aina were friends?”

How bewildered he was, for him, who always called her Saintess, called her by her name.

“Yes, we decided to be friends. Do you have any problems?”

“No, it is not. There is no problem.”

Lie. You seem to have a lot of problems.

As if an earthquake had occurred, his trembling eyes spoke of his true feeling.

His only childhood friend, he maintained that position all the time, but when I appeared, the relationship was broken.

‘He must be jealous.’

That’s why you need to do well from the beginning.

To lose Aina because he was caught up in the useless thought that he couldn’t connect with the Saintess.

Fabian, he was Aina’s first love.

As a result, it was Cassis that captured Aina’s heart, but for sure Fabian also had a chance to win her heart.

It was Fabian, who threw it.

“Oh my, you didn’t know. Aina and I were supposed to be friends. First. Friend.”

I hate Fabian, who sharpens his teeth whenever he sees me, so I tease him slightly and his face turns white.

“… First friend.”

“We talked to each other while being friends, and Aina really liked it. I was happy too. As her first friend, I want to get along well for a long, long time.”

As my words continued, Fabian’s body staggered.

Somewhere ‘Critical!’ It was as if an alarm could be heard in my ears.

As you can’t spit on a smiling face* I attacked Fabian with a broad smile.

*It means that you cannot spit on people who treat you with a smile, and you cannot treat people who treat you badly.

“Aina’s first friend is me! We are childhood friends!”

“Oh my, did you? But what should I do? Aina seems to think otherwise.”

That’s a lie. How do I know if Aina’s heart has changed or not?

“We didn’t! Me and Aina are still…!”

“Still?”

“Still…. Urgh!”

The voice, which was raised with rage, gradually diminished, and then could not be heard.

Fabian, who had been devastated by my attack, fell down, and I looked back at Aaron with a fresh face.

“It’s so nice to see the temple full of vitality.”

He smiled warmly and spoke like a grandfather.

“But for what reason did Aina go?”

“We have roughly found the location of the Darkness. She is following him.”

“Location of the Darkness? How did you find it?”

Does Aina have the power to find the Darkness? She was the Saintess, so perhaps it was possible.

Naturally, I thought it was Aina’s power, but the answer that came back was completely unexpected.

“Didn’t His Grace tell you?”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

Why is sir Dillian’s name coming out here?

“With the location tracker he gave, we were able to follow the Darkness.”

“What? Location tracker?”

Bewildered, Aaron informed me of the Great Temple’s plan.

From capturing the alter ego to planting a location tracker.

‘Is this what you were hiding?’

You kept it a secret how would you catch Lexter and the Darkness, I do not expect you would have teamed up with the temple.

It was a way I hadn’t thought of.

The deep-rooted hatred towards the temple will not be erased easily….

I didn’t say it out loud, but Aaron seemed to know what I was thinking.

“His Grace loves Ria-nim enough to overshadow that hatred.”

“Me, it’s because of…?”

“Yes. Because we have a common goal of protecting Ria-nim, His Grace reached out to me first.”

Aaron bowed his head and thanked me. Actually, I didn’t know anything.

“Thanks to Ria-nim and His Grace, things are going smoothly. Thank you.”

“Is it true that things are going really well?”

“Yes, we have sent an expedition of specially selected people so that we will do well. You don’t have to worry.”

If so, I’m glad but….

My plans were completely shattered.

At that moment, when my strength was draining from my disappointment, I heard a muffled voice next to me