When A Villain Meets A Villain - Chapter 45

It’s an actual thesis that a person would become speechless when he or she is driven into a corner.

‘Damn it, I never thought that I’d prove that with my body!’

Tross fell to the floor without even letting out a small scream.

It was fortunate that he was cushioned by the dense trees, and he escaped with his life. Perhaps God was merciful to him.

“I, I almost died……!”

Both Lionel, and that unidentified woman. It was the first time in his life coming across a mansion full of monsters.

While he had encountered some difficulties, he was still able to complete his task, so there was no need for him to remain in this place any further.

He’ll never come near this place again. No, as Tross vowed to not turn his head in the direction of this mansion ever again, he hurried towards the carriage that was at the main gate.

“Hey!”

Words that didn’t match the girl’s refreshing voice at all could be heard.

That seems to be the way the County’s coachmen called each other.

Turning his head reflexively, Tross was rooted in place like he was a statue.

He could spot a slender girl with crimson hair standing on a balcony and looking down at him in the distance.

As she shone under the moonlight mysteriously, she was like…

‘A fairy?’

Tross, who had an unscientific thought unwittingly, shook his head, but began to wonder why there weren’t any fairies in a world where magic existed.

“Dummy. Don’t stand there like a fool, and receive this.”

Though he didn’t know if a fairy with such a foul mouth existed.

Without waiting for him to respond, the woman threw something down.

She was an excellent pitcher. Tross, who had near zero athletic ability, managed to receive the object that was thrown from the second floor safely.

“W— what’s this……?”

Sadly, Tross didn’t finish his words.

The thing that settled in his palm giving off a suspicious light was none other than.

‘…It’s the marble given by the emperor.’

He had definitely left it in the room he was imprisoned in just now, but why…why was it back in his own hand?

He wondered how the girl that was looking down at him from the balcony interpreted his futile expression, as she gave a radiant smile.

“That’s yours, isn’t it? I’ll return it back to you.”

Oh, if you’re dead if you lose the item I gave you.

At her following words, Tross grasped the inner pocket that contained that item reflexively. Just like he was proving that he would never lose it.

Only then did the woman’s eyes become satisfied and she gestured for him to go.

But he couldn’t move his body unlike his thoughts. Until an unfamiliar coachman came to pick him up, Tross stared dazedly at the place where her red hair had vanished, with his blushing face revealed without being concealed.

He felt like he had met an actual fairy.

When he got into the carriage and regained his sense of reality, he was then struck with an awful realisation that everything was ruined.

He had failed to perform the task given by the emperor, he was tormented by the Grand Duke, and even bungee jumping, which was beyond his means.

‘Meeting that woman wasn’t that bad, but still…What’s ruined is ruined…’

Weren’t ‘vain effort’ a phrase that referred to the actions he had done today?

Even though the carriage stopped, Tross held his forehead while making a pained groan, instead of getting off the carriage.

⋅⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅⋅

After confirming that Tross had safely escaped from the mansion, Atalante left Paul, who was placating the long faced knights, behind and headed to the grand duke’s room.

There were two reasons why she had endured the hassle and secretly let Tross go today.

The first reason, it’s because she had an important favour to ask of Esma.

She would also be attending the debutante, but Atalante wasn’t tactless enough to pretend to know Esma in the presence of other nobles.

‘A charming young lady, who has just become an adult, having ties with the head of the underworld, it was the perfect ammunition to be swept into the rumour mill.’

Atalante didn’t like to cause inconvenience to others, and neither did she like being affected by inconveniences.

As such, she decided to utilise her brother, who had just so happened to step into the lion’s den.

The important request she had for Esma was none other than ‘to make an antidote for the love potion’.

‘The situation wouldn’t allow for me to contact her separately in the future, so it’s expedient for me to make good use of the opportunity that fell into my lap.’

Also, it was obvious that after the debutante has ended, Esma will soon get married like the other young ladies. She mentioned that she would stop her apothecary work once she got married, so the sooner she placed an order for the antidote, the better.

And the second reason is…

‘It’s to verify how the grand duke will react when I really did as I pleased.’

Regardless of the reason, Tross was someone that the grand duke personally detained.

Atalante had loosened that guy’s restraints as she pleased.

No matter how much he loved her, he would definitely be displeased.

It was also a good opportunity for her to check the efficacy of the love potion, that is, how much of the ‘line’ was she allowed to cross.

Soon after taking a deep breath, Atalante knocked on the tightly closed door of the grand duke’s room.

She did knock on the door hardly, but there wasn’t any response from within. She only heard a frigid voice after knocking again.

“Leave.”

It was merely a syllable, but it caused Atalante to stiffen reflexively.

It was such a cold and imperious voice that made it hard to believe that it was coming from the man that called her saccharinely.

‘So this is the real Lionel Blanc.’

After swallowing dryly, Atalante tried her best to speak in a nonchalant manner.

“You must be busy. I have something important that I have to tell you, but I’ll…”

However, she didn’t finish speaking her words.

It was because the door, which conveyed an atmosphere of ‘enter and you’ll pay for it’, opened so widely that it was absurd.

Lionel appeared through the opened door with a strangely flushed face. Above the slightly reddened cheeks, his urgency could be seen within his sky-coloured eyes,

“What’s, What’s the matter?”

Not only that, Lionel stammered uncharacteristically.

Just like that day, when he had just woken up after taking the drug.

In the face of his defenceless appearance, which she hadn’t seen in a while, the one that was embarrassed instead was Atalante.

“Oh…Weren’t you really busy?”

Like it was evidence that he had just been in the midst of work, he was comfortably dressed, and his hands were lightly stained with ink.

After hurriedly hiding his hands behind him, Lionel answered while lifting the corners of his mouth.

“I’m not busy. Not at all.”

“Didn’t you tell me to leave?”

“I obviously thought that it was Paul. If I had known that you were the one knocking on the door, I would have opened it for you right away.”

I’ll pay attention when listening to it next time.

Atalante’s eyebrows slightly frowned at the added words.

‘Being able to tell a person apart by their knock is an impressive ability, if it’s even possible.’

Atalante began stepping forward in order to enter his room, while holding the meaningless thought that Lionel might be capable of that.

“Can I come in for a moment? The conversation might be a little too long for us to chat about it here.”

But before she could take more than a few steps, a firm arm that was confined within a wide shirt blocked her path.

“Erm, I’d naturally like to invite you in, but the room is too messy. And I…”

The person that blocked Atalante, the grand duke, rambled out fragmented words.

“Are you feeling unwell? I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

“That’s not it, it’s not essential but my room isn’t that big. The table and the bed are too close. As such, the two of us being in the same space is a little… difficult.”

It’s also nighttime.

As incomprehensible words poured out of the grand duke while he rubbed his face roughly, he covered his mouth with a large hand immediately.

Maybe it was because of his blushing face, even the hands that were blocking his face seemed to redden.

Of course, Atalante, who didn’t understand Lionel’s feelings, had merely tilted her head.

‘What’s wrong with him? Is he trying to act cute, which was unbefitting of his age?’

Though he was thinking something else internally, the grand duke, who was unable to meet her endlessly innocent purple eyes, eventually lowered his head.

“I’ll just talk here if you feel uncomfortable. The truth is, I had set the person that the grand duke detained free. ‘As I pleased’.”

Emphasising the last sentence, Atalante looked up at him with the most unabashed face she could muster.

Astonishment filled Lionel’s eyes, and soon after, his expression slowly began to harden.

While she knew that it was already too late, she suddenly became worried about how he would react.

Why was that so? She should be glad to know to what extent the line that the drug induced ‘love’ was at.

Was she afraid that the grand duke, who had only ever been kind to her, would be angered?

‘No, the truth is… she wasn’t afraid but terrified.’

She was terrified that ‘love’ would change.

She would rather say that it’s fake.

There were always two thoughts that overlapped in Atalante’s mind. Along with the knowledge of the drug’s ‘line’, she just wanted to… she wanted to treat Lionel as a drugged idiot.

As she realised how devious of a person she was, Lionel’s lips, which had been tightly sealed, started to move slowly.

“Miss Atalante, personally?”

Just as Atalante was about to nod without thinking, she recalled what Paul had said earlier.

“If His Highness finds out that you were with two other men, a catastrophe will occur. Come back quickly.”

While she didn’t know the reason, she didn’t want to cause any trouble to other servants.

“No, I requested that the lord chamberlain do so.”

At those words, Lionel’s expression softened noticeably.

“You’ve done well.”

“What?”

Why did you do that as you pleased? If not, consult with me next time.

Atalante had expected such a sermon about being mindful.

Though she waited for him to continue speaking, there was only a friendly smile on Lionel’s face, as per usual.

“That’s it? Aren’t you going to… get angry?”

“Angry?”

His eyes were widened, like he was asking what she was saying.

As Atalante unconsciously thought that that face looked very cute, she shook her head violently and shook off that unusual feeling.

“That man, isn’t he someone that Your Highness had personally detained? I had set him free at will, so isn’t it natural for you to be displeased?”

“There seems to be a misunderstanding, but I didn’t detain him. It was a beneficence. Everything to Paul was… Didn’t you hear about that?”

The words that Paul had asked came to mind belatedly.

He wanted her to praise the ‘beneficiance’ that the Grand Duke had performed and pretend to possess a ‘cup of tea’ that she didn’t possess for the time being.

Paul had also complied with her demands, so Atalante was obliged to fulfil her promise.

“I’ve heard about it. How do you know I like a man who is kind, generous, and knows how to be magnanimous?”

At her words, Lionel’s face brightened up, to the point where it couldn’t be any more radiant than this. If she exaggerated a little, he looked just like a child that has received the gift he wanted.

“Is that so? I had no idea about it.”

“Ahh, so you didn’t know…”

“You had mentioned before that you didn’t have a particular taste, but it’s a relief that you know now. I’ll do my best to match your taste.”

He seemed to truly think his actions to Tross today was a beneficence.

If he has done beneficence twice, one out of the two people would be sent to their coffin.

Swallowing back the following words, Atalante looked at the man whose kindness was of another world with a tired face.

⋅⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅⋅