When A Villain Meets A Villain - Chapter 50

After finishing the conversation with Esma, Atalante stepped away, suppressing the rising feelings of discomfort that welled up for some reason.

“Excuse me.”

However, a voice called for her before she could take more than a few steps.

“You’re…”

A tall man with red hair and hazelnut-colored pupils. It was definitely a familiar face.

“What was your name again? Pizza?”

“It’s Pietro!”

Embarrassed to be screeching, Pietro, who noticed that Atalante’s face had turned chilly, bowed his head in alarm.

This is because the memory of the ‘education’ he’d received that day was still clearly hammered into his mind.

“How old are you? Haven’t you had your debutante a long time ago? What are you doing here?”

For some reason, he didn’t get angry when a woman that’s younger than him, one that wasn’t even a noble, spoke obliquely to him.

“That’s what I want to ask. How are you… And as Lionel Blanc’s fiancee, of all things, what the hell are you…”

Pietro rambled while rubbing his face a few times, before he covered his face and said something strange.

“After you disappeared like that on that day, and I… I was worried.”

“Hooh, why?”

“W–wanted posters for you had been scattered everywhere, so I’d obviously be worried! When I think about how frustrated I was because of you…!”

The more he spoke, the clearer the realisation Pietro came to.

What feelings he held towards the villain before him.

However, Atalante was seriously obtuse in that aspect.

“Why are you worrying about me, when I don’t worry about myself? Thank you, but worry about yourself. Even if it’s by mistake, don’t pretend to know me or look out for me.”

“I…”

“Even if you got involved with me, it won’t be advantageous for you.”

Brother.

[T/N: referring to Ch3, when she was pretending to be his sister Milvia. Also, this is spoken but it doesn’t have any quotation marks any (“”) as I’m sticking to the raw’s formatting. Sorry for any confusion!!]

After reminding him of the incident they were involved in, Atalante passed him with a snicker.

‘At this rate, it might really be the last time.’

Pietro stood there blankly, and then chased after her belatedly.

Perhaps because her steps were swift, Atalante was already about to arrive at the main banquet hall, the Rose Garden.

“Ata…!”

“Hey, Pietro!”

But just before he could call for her, the potent scent of alcohol pierced his nose.

A heavy object was also slung onto Pietro’s shoulder.

After he confirmed the identity of the man that called him, his face immediately darkened.

“Cherman, just how much did you drink?”

“There’s quite a number of pretty young ladies in this year’s debutante. I can’t help but drink as my heart keeps pounding.”

“Don’t overdo it. It doesn’t look good.”

Pietro spoke bluntly, and removed the arm of Cherman, a young lord of a Viscounty in the Imperial faction. Cherman looked at Pietro with a strangely disappointed gaze, before stumbling and passing by him.

“In the past, you also went to the debutante to watch the ladies, but you’ve changed.”

“That!”

“Ahh. Today’s… Atalante? That lowly woman stood out the most. How can a woman that has just become an adult be overflowing with that much sexiness already?”

Pietro managed to suppress the urge to rip apart his mouth with difficulty.

‘If I leave it as it is, it will become a nuisance to other nobles.’

Just as Pietro was about to show his final affection and reached out a hand to take him to the lounge, Cherman suddenly rushed forward recklessly.

“There you are!”

He mumbled unintelligible words with a slurred pronunciation.

“Cherman! Stop!”

But Pietro’s words did not reach him, and Cherman approached Atalante fearlessly with a repulsive smile and grabbed her hand.

“Wow, you look even better up close. However, you managed to tie up that Grand Duke with just those pretty items. That fellow, who wasn’t interested in women to the point where rumours of him preferring men arose.”

“Hey, let go if you don’t want your hand to be severed.”

Atalante didn’t want to cause any more trouble, so she held back the urge to spit on that man’s red face and gave him a warning.

“Right, women should play hard to get like this! You, are your skills at night as outstanding as your life in the underworld? That’s why His Highness, the Grand Duke of Blanc…”

He trailed off mid-speech with an insidious smile, and moved closer to Atalante to whisper.

“Before you became the Grand Duchess, would you like to… Urgh!”

However, his vomit-inducing lines didn’t end.

That’s because a large hand suddenly appeared and lifted his neck.

The identity of the man that grabbed Cherman’s neck was too obvious.

“Grand Duke!”

Atalante was quite glad that those offensive words were cut off, but there was a bigger problem.

Vivid signs of anger, or perhaps madness, were contained within the blue eyes of Lionel, who was squeezing the neck of the man that was already beginning to turn white.

That was also the most breathtaking and precarious light that she’d ever seen.

“Stop! That’s enough, so let him go.”

Even now, it was as though he didn’t hear Atalante’s shout.

‘It has completely changed.’

Lionel lifted Cherman a little higher with a hand that had bulging veins, and opened his mouth with unfocused eyes.

“Since when have piglings been allowed into the palace?”

“Keugh, s–spare me……!”

“I’m asking. How did a pigling get here?”

“Grand Duke, please stop.”

Only after hearing the third time she tried to dissuade him did Lionel’s gaze reach Atalante.

“Just now, did you tell me to stop?”

His stiffened cheeks seemed to indicate how angry he was.

While his chilly and terrifying gaze caused her body to tremble for a moment, Atalante managed to say what she wanted with difficulty.

“You’ve heard me correctly. Please stop that right now.”

“I’d clearly heard this man say something insulting to you, but you want me to stop?”

“I was the one that was insulted. And not the Grand Duke.”

“No. Insulting you is akin to insulting me.”

“…Why?”

When he heard the slow question, a despondent light appeared in Lionel’s eyes.

He instantly threw Cherman to the ground roughly and confessed with a suppressed voice.

“It’s because I love you.”

The drug made by Esma was really the best.

How can he confess his love with such a rueful look? To the point where she forgot that it’s all because of a drug.

No, was it more accurate to say that she had an urge to disregard it like she couldn’t remember?

Perhaps it’s because the big disturbance hadn’t been discovered, an elegant dance tune resounded in the outdoor garden.

Lionel and Atalante left Cherman, who was coughing like crazy, alone beside them, and faced each other for quite a long while.

“……I’m not.”

It was the truth, and it must remain the truth.

With a bitter smile, Lionel held Atalante’s hand with a woeful movement.

“I know. But didn’t you promise to give me some leeway?”

As he laughed slowly, he kissed the back of Atalante’s hand. The contact only lasted less than a few seconds, but that part felt feverish, like it had been burned.

“Stop the music.”

With his words, the music that filled the garden slowly died down.

“I’ll believe that the people present here are talented people that will lead the Empire’s future and make a few requests, so please keep them in mind for the rest of your lives.”

After pressing his leather shoe gently against the back of Cherman’s neck as he tried to crawl away, Lionel continued.

“From now onwards, if anyone dares to look impurely at Miss Atalante, who will become the Grand Duchess, I will pull out their eyes, and if anyone touches her recklessly, I will make it so that you’ll never touch anything again.”

The gruesome expressions caused terrified looks to appear on the faces of these young aristocrats.

What’s more terrifying was that Lionel Blanc was the type to do as he had just said.

“Last but not least, if you babble nonsense like this man…”

After confirming that everyone’s eyes were on him, Lionel lifted Cherman’s hair like he was notifying everyone.

“I’ll pull out all of their teeth.”

At those words, the faces of all the nobles present, including Cherman, turned pale as if they were drained of all their blood.

“P–please forgive me! I–I made a slip of the tongue while I was drunk…!”

“Drunk? It seems that you’re able to sober up selectively, depending on your opponent, right?”

“Grand Duke.”

Lionel stretched out his hand like he was about to pull out all his teeth at once, but stopped upon hearing that calm voice like it was a lie.

“I don’t want to associate with that person anymore, so let him go.”

Lionel looked at her with a subtle gaze for a while, before letting go of him unhesitatingly, and Cherman was unable to raise his head after sharing a deep kiss with the floor.

“I’d like to hold your hand, but I’d touched something dirty, so can I ask to do so after washing them?”

“That would be great.”

After letting out a deep sigh, Atalante brushed the hair that was askew due to the wind at night and continued.

“I’m tired. Shall we take our leave now?”

She had entered the palace after dressing up as much as she could and roughly experienced what the aristocrat’s banquet was like, so there’s nothing more that she could ask for.

Though she didn’t know if Lionel had properly enjoyed the banquet as he was with her the entire day.

There’s still a period of time left before the debutante ends, but Lionel answered without hesitation.

“If that’s what you want.”

After getting permission, Atalante turned and left the garden first. It was a bonus to step on Cherman, who was lying on the floor, with all of her might.

Even though it has been several minutes since they left, the aristocrats in the garden stared blankly at the entrance in their places.

It might be because the warning left by the Grand Duke was still deeply hammered into their heads.

There was still a long way to go before winter arrived, but some youths got the chills and crossed their arms.

It was obvious that they were trembling with the foreboding that the villainous couple of the century would soon be born.

⋅⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅⋅

When they arrived at the grand duke’s townhouse, Atalante left Gianna, who kept asking questions persistently, and entered her room by herself.

‘I’m so tired.’

But it was quite interesting. All of the nobles were less than satisfactory, but the pleasant sound of music by her ears and the presence of food everywhere were amazing.

Above all, even now, when she closed her eyes, she could vividly picture the scene where she was dancing with Lionel. She could see his face vividly, as if time had stopped in their surroundings.

As she danced in Lionel’s arms, Atalante couldn’t help but burst into laughter several times. Like she was happy.

‘To be honest, that’s the most memorable…’

Atalante almost had a strange idea, and shook her head lightly to shake off its afterimage.

When she recalled the grand duke’s angered expression before leaving the banquet, her heart, which had been beating uncomfortably, regained its original rhythm.

“He’s a complete madman, really.”

The one that’s insulted was her, so why was he angered?

⋅⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅⋅