When A Villain Meets A Villain - Chapter 58

After reading the letter given by Paul, Atalante realised how a piece of writing can touch someone for the first time in a while.

For a period of time, she didn’t want to look at any print as the entire country was plastered with the irritating wanted posters, and so this letter seems to have resolved her trauma.

There were a total of three letters within that thick envelope.

When she saw Lillica’s painting-letter, which was the first that she’d opened, Atalante burst into laughter and was impressed by Paulo’s neat penmanship in the following letter.

The content was as neat and clean as his polite handwriting, but deep gratitude towards her was also conveyed.

‘I thought he’d be weak in the literary department as the Union family is a family of knights, but it seems to be a prejudice of mine.’

The last letter that she opened was from Count Union, and it was very short.

However, since she’d roughly heard about the Union family’s circumstances from Paul, she was able to understand the count’s feelings that were contained within that short sentence to some extent.

‘Although it’s difficult to forget about the past, please treat your daughter nicely if you know that she’s precious, Mister.”

Apart from the sharp thoughts she had internally, Atalante was in a very good mood.

She was rarely appreciated for what she had done, and the members of the Union family were the first to convey their gratitude with an item that she could keep with her.

After resealing the letter, Atalante placed it in the jacket that she wore when she was Argo’s boss.

With the thought that she’ll take it out and read it whenever she feels bored.

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The grand duke’s return, as well as Atalante’s preparations to move, were completed very quickly and perfectly.

As it was a trip with a clear purpose, Lionel didn’t have much luggage and it was similar for Atalante.

Now, Atalante got into the carriage with Lionel’s escort with familiarity and extended a hand out to him as soon as she sat down.

Other than quickly snatching the hand like it was bait, Lionel only looked up at her dazedly with eyes filled with incomprehension.

“What are you doing? Grab it and come up here.”

“What?”

It seems that he still didn’t understand Atalante’s intentions. With a slight frown, Atalante grabbed Lionel’s shirt collar with her other hand. To be exact, it was by his neck.

Lionel, who was pulled into the carriage, was seated opposite Atalante in an instant.

“What are you doing…?”

As this was the first time he was thrown by someone else, Lionel couldn’t help but look surprised.

But unlike him, Atalante shrugged nonchalantly like she was asking what’s the problem.

“I was escorting you.”

Where would a harsh escort like this exist in this world? But she was sincere. The gleam within her purple eyes was clearly that of pride.

“Haven’t the Grand Duke been escorting me all this while? I’m the type that can’t live in debt.”

“That, escort…”

“Isn’t it considered an escort to help someone up a carriage and drag them somewhere?”

Atalante, who had never received an ‘escort’ in her life, had a solid misunderstanding of its meaning.

Only then did Lionel understand why she had flung him into the carriage, and his eyes were filled with a subtle gleam.

‘From now onwards, I’ll escort you… with more sincerity.’

It was clearly his mistake that Atalante misunderstood the word’s meaning, so Lionel made himself a promise instead of explaining what it meant.

However, his reflection on his manners had only lasted for a while, and his lips drew a soft arc immediately.

With that as the beginning, Lionel burst into a short and clear laugh.

‘What are you smiling so prettily for…’

She didn’t even have the time to ask him why he was suddenly laughing. Atalante was inadvertently distracted by that smiling face of his.

His laughter stopped shortly afterwards and Lionel, who covered the fine curve of his mouth, opened his mouth with a voice that seemed to be suppressing something.

“I appreciate your kindness, my beloved Atalante.”

“You aren’t teasing me, are you?”

“What do you mean, teasing? Your consideration deeply touched me. It’s the first time I’ve been escorted like this by a lady, so I’ll have to work harder.”

“…You seem like you’re teasing me.”

“How could that be?”

Contrary to his firm answer, a playful smile was written all over his face.

Although she had a brief staring contest with Lionel, Atalante was, as always, the first to avert her gaze.

‘I’ll do it again next time since it seems like he likes it a lot. Because just being on the receiving end isn’t my cup of tea.’

Unintentionally having such thoughts, Atalante’s eyes were dyed with embarrassment.

‘Wait, why would I do what that man likes? Why…would I?’

When she was asked if she was feeling discomfort anywhere, Atalante shook her head lightly and continued to ruminate over the question that she couldn’t figure out an answer to for a long time.

She couldn’t figure out why she had thought of that, even though it was definitely something she’d thought of by herself.

There was always an acceptable reason for her actions. She’d never been like this before, so why?

Atalante soon concluded that the reason for such a thought was that it was no longer necessary for her to test the love potion’s efficacy.

Lionel found everything she did loveable. Therefore, she didn’t need to make him hate her.

‘Before Esma makes an antidote, there’s no need to get on his bad side. All she needed to do was match this guy’s beat, and remain as a temporary Grand Duchess.’

At those thoughts, her feelings, which became agitated for no reason, seemed to settle down.

Whenever she felt her heart flutter, Atalante fiddled with the artifact that was in the pocket that Gianna had attached habitually.

Whenever she recalled the organisation’s members, who she was responsible for, she would always calm down.

“Ah.”

However, when she happened to make eye contact with Lionel, Atalante’s hand jerked without her realisation, and the artifact, which had always been in her pocket, fell to the floor.

Before the flustered Atalante could reach out, Lionel gracefully picked up the item that had hit his toe.

“Connector?”

“Do you know what this is?”

“Yes, it’s an artifact that you can send a message to someone that has another connector.”

At his reaction, Atalante brightened up visibly and asked with shining eyes.

“Do you know how to use it?”

Lionel’s cheeks flushed subtly, perhaps because Atalante drew closer to him.

Nevertheless, her gaze was still aimed straight at him.

“Well. I guess the answer depends on who is in possession of the matching Connector.”

“How can that be?”

“Why not.”

He’d spoken in a meltingly soft tone, but Atalante immediately noticed an odd anger on his face.

If she spoke mistakenly, Lionel might just eliminate that ‘who’ from the world.

“Including the one belonging to me, there are a total of four Connectors, and the other three are with Argo’s executives.”

Atalante carefully chose her words and opened the eyes that were as calm as a merchant at the crux of an important deal, and opened her mouth.

If he knew how to use this ‘Connector’, he’d easily find out that she was able to contact the members of her organisation.

His expression softened a little, perhaps relieved that it wasn’t a one-to-one connection.

“Men?”

Oh dear. Should she say none?

But… she didn’t have the confidence to bear the consequences of deceiving him with a ridiculous lie.

“…Of course there are men.”

“Is it the man that Miss Atalante said she had to take responsibility for?”

Has he remembered that all this while?

Atalante’s calm expression instantly disappeared as awkwardness rose on her face, and she began to explain all about the executives that had connected Connectors.

A connector is owned by Mia (female), who’s in charge of medical and strategy, and the twin siblings Devon (male) and Jenna (female) have one each.

“Well, there were three executives? According to my investigations, there’s another man.”

“Ugh, did you conduct a background check on me?”

“Rather than a background check, it’s not just Miss Atalante, but Argo’s four executives that are very famous, so I couldn’t help but know about them.”

What were they called…was it the four great emperors?

Her face warmed at the sound of the executives’ nickname that left his lips. She gave them such a name when she was immature and thought that it was cool. Now… It became one of her embarrassing past that she wanted to pretend that it had never happened.

“The weapon maker, Devon, the murderer Yuffie. Which of these two is the one that Miss Atalante has to protect?”

“Didn’t I already tell you everything about the people that have the Connectors? What are you going to do with that…?”

“I was just thinking of reducing Miss Atalante’s burden a little.”

To reduce her burden, was he intending to get rid of him so that she doesn’t need to protect him?

“Although Devon perseveres despite his shrewdness, and contrary to his notoriety, Yuffie is very innocent… type of person. He’s stuck with Jenna.”

“Hooh, so Yuffie’s the man that’s a burden.”

Following those words, the identity of that which rose within Lionel’s eyes clearly was bloodthirstiness.

Apart from being lacking, Yuffie was one of the sturdiest and strongest men in Argo. But he definitely wouldn’t be Lionel’s opponent. Both he, and the grand duke won’t die.

With a deep sigh, Atalante slumped across from him and opened her mouth.

“You seem to be having a strange misunderstanding, but there isn’t any relationship between that child and I.”

“Even if Miss Atalante doesn’t think so, it might not be the case for that man.”

“That can never be.”

“No. As any decent man will fall for you. So I’m always anxious.”

His declaration was flawed. As Lionel, who wasn’t that decent, loves her right now.

Atalante let out a series of sighs and stressed that she had nothing to do with Yuffie several times. But Lionel didn’t seem to believe her.

“Let me repeat myself, as long as he’s a proper man that’s interested in the opposite gender, he would definitely be attracted to you…….”

“Ah! I’ve already said that he isn’t! He’s not interested in the opposite gender!”

She could state with certainty that Yuffie’s interest was in delicious food and the compliments that he received from Atalante.

But how did Lionel take that sentence that caused him to ask back with widened eyes.

“If he isn’t interested in the opposite gender, it means that he has unconventional tastes… right?

Although there clearly was a misunderstanding, Atalante didn’t have any more energy to deny that they didn’t have any sort of relationship. Since he has already misunderstood, she’s sorry, Yuffie, but…

‘No matter how I look at it, it’s for your sake, Yuffie.’

Atalante swallowed dryly and slowly nodded, which caused a friendly smile to appear on Lionel’s face immediately.

“May I ask if it’s with that guy called Devon?”

“Yes, well.”

Atalante apologised to Devon in her heart, and replied with a small voice.

Perhaps because he found that answer was satisfactory, Lionel gave a wide smile, and held the Connector as he opened his mouth.

“Well, let me explain how to use this.”

Unintentionally getting what she wanted from him, Atalante nodded tiredly.

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