Chapter 22
Chapter 22
====
Dielo stared at the spot where Krua had disappeared.
It was a bizarre night for him.
He was clearly tired and should have been able to fall asleep, but a strange tension kept him awake.
After much deliberation, he realized that the source of his tension was the priestess, who was sleeping soundly before his eyes.
More than anything…
Dielo looked down at his hand.
“It’s Alloze.”
Could Alloze create such heat?
Moreover, her breath, the ripples created by her small movements, dominated his mind, making it impossible to sleep.
‘You promised. We’d only hold hands and sleep.’
Thinking that he strangely regretted those words, he held Krua’s hand all night.
He clenched and unclenched his fist for no reason, narrowed his eyes, and then got up from his seat.
Trying to erase the maddening dawn from his mind.
Today, his bride had set up a spot in the garden, citing the good weather as the reason.
Her work was laid out on a simple outdoor table.
It seemed like a good way to change the mood, but he didn’t bother to follow Krua outside.
“……”
Instead, Dielo chose to look down at her from the terrace.
Behind him stood Rick, dressed in black for his report.
Having finished processing the aftermath of the last battle, he had brought new news.
“Duke Alloze sent Krua funds for maintaining her dignity?”
At his question, Rick replied with a bright face.
“Yes, about 1/10th of the amount.”
That was still a large sum of money for an individual to use.
Dielo narrowed his eyes.
He could guess where his bride would use that money.
She wouldn’t buy clothes or engage in social activities like other noble ladies.
Instead, she would use it to advance her future plans.
Krua’s face, seen from the terrace, looked very happy.
“……”
Dielo raised an eyebrow slightly.
—Swish…
As he looked at her, he seemed to hear the illusion of the sound of waves.
The sea, sparkling all over with water.
Her figure, the most dazzling of all in that place.
“Krua.”
Dielo, who had uttered her name, tilted his head slightly.
As far as he knew, the next head of the Alloze family had been virtually decided.
Her brother, Pentas Alloze.
The qualities Pentas possessed were said to be incomparably stronger than Krua’s.
Dielo tilted his head further.
“Pentas has more qualities than that?”
If that were the case, the Duke Alloze family wouldn’t have needed to resort to the dirty trick of using a fake Pero in Argenta.
Even if a strong flame could evaporate water, fire and water were fundamentally incompatible.
Moreover, Dielo Argenta, he himself, did not yet have Pero.
“It would have been faster to declare war instead…”
If the goal was to destroy Argenta.
But Alloze didn’t do that.
Why?
Was Pentas less qualified than rumored?
If so, it didn’t make sense to use Krua, with her level of ability, as a disposable card.
Of course, she would have hidden her abilities.
“……”
An accomplice, she had said.
Dielo thought of the words he had heard from her on their wedding day.
A short sigh escaped his lips.
“…Even if you’re an accomplice, my bride.”
He said softly.
You only told me that you were a card to make Alloze lower their guard.
You didn’t say you were such a desirable card.
He laughed in embarrassment.
“If you were going to hide your abilities, you should have hidden them from me too.”
How could he not covet her after seeing that powerful ability in the sea?
Especially in Argenta, where he had to protect the Endless Sea with fire.
Dielo stepped back from the terrace.
At that moment, another informant entered his room.
The informant, who approached him with hurried steps, bowed silently.
“Lord, there is someone who wishes to contact you secretly.”
“Secretly?”
Dielo raised an eyebrow. The informant lowered his head.
“Yes. He claims to be the real Pero.”
“……Oh.”
Dielo exclaimed briefly.
If the informant was reporting directly, the person claiming to be Pero must have already shown the informants sufficient evidence that he was Pero.
But the informant’s words were not over.
“But… Lord, it’s someone you know.”
Someone I know?
Dielo frowned.
He didn’t have a good feeling about this.
“……Ha.”
Dielo let out a short breath as soon as he saw the person claiming to be the real Pero.
It was closer to a sigh of disbelief.
“It’s been a while. I never thought I’d come here on my own two feet.”
The woman claiming to be Pero spread out her hands. A worn bracelet dangled from her wrist.
The pure white pearls on the bracelet were dull and faded.
She was empty-handed, as if all her belongings except for the accessories had been taken away, and she had no weapons on her waist.
“It’s been a long time since you saw me as a child, right?”
The woman, who didn’t even get up from the sofa when Dielo entered, was a woman with dark brown hair.
As reported, Dielo knew her too.
“……”
Dielo, holding his forehead, closed his eyes.
It was known to the public that his parents, the former Duke and Duchess Argenta, had died in a carriage accident, but the truth was different.
And unlike the misconceptions of many, Dielo knew the truth.
“You must be very happy to see me?”
The woman who was speaking shamelessly in front of him was the one who had defected from Argenta when Argenta was in turmoil due to Alloze’s scheme before his parents died.
To be exact, she was the one who had provided information about the Duke and Duchess Argenta to Duke Alloze and ran away.
A traitor to Argenta.
That person is Pero?
“……Confirmation?”
Dielo turned to the informant.
The informant bowed respectfully.
“It’s already over. She is definitely the real Pero.”
Venya, the woman who came as Pero, looked up at Dielo with a confident face.
Even if she had sold not only Dielo’s parents but also something else in the past, as long as she was the real Pero, Argenta would not be able to harm her.
Far from harming her, they would have to treat her with respect.
Venya’s smile deepened.
“It’s the first time since the former Duke and Duchess Argenta died, I think. Right?”
She was shamelessly spouting nonsense.
Dielo narrowed his eyes.
What bad luck.
The person who had sold his parents to the enemy was the Pero, the person he had to try to fall in love with.
“Don’t look at me like that. I walked in here safe and sound, are you surprised?”
Venya shrugged.
Dielo replied in a subdued voice.
“A little.”
Then he turned to the informant with a cold gaze.
What had they been doing until Argenta’s traitor walked in safe and sound?
Of course, she was Pero, but didn’t that mean they had been standing still until she revealed that she was Pero?
They should have subdued her as soon as they saw her?
“Don’t blame them too much. It’s just that they couldn’t dare to touch me.”
“……Dare?”
Dielo narrowed his eyes.
Then, instead of answering, Venya tapped her teacup.
Then.
—Splash!
The tea water, empowered by her ‘water power,’ soared up.
“!”
Dielo paused for a moment.
Water dominance?
How could someone who was originally from Argenta…?
But Dielo, who had a keen sense, caught a strange sense of incongruity in the water power she was using.
It felt different from the pure water power used by Krua or the Alloze people.
A slightly more murky feeling.
It was when he frowned.
“Duke Alloze is behind me, so he told you not to touch me.”
“Oh……”
Dielo exclaimed without any soul in his voice.
That was a clear lie.
Duke Alloze had already sent Krua as Pero.
‘If he knew that this woman was the real Pero, he would have either bought her off or killed her.’
Rather, Duke Alloze didn’t know that this woman was the real Pero, let alone that she had come here.
This murky power also didn’t seem to have been obtained through normal channels.
If the head of the family had directly granted the power, it couldn’t have felt like this.
So, what secret was this traitor hiding?
“……”
Dielo, smiling deeply, sat on the sofa opposite Venya.
“Anyway, I was surprised.”
Venya said to him.
After all, she was Dielo Argenta’s Pero.
No matter what she did, she wouldn’t harm him, so she leaned her arm arrogantly on the sofa and crossed her legs.
“I thought ‘that’ Dielo Argenta wouldn’t be able to burn even a single flower, let alone a person…”
She unfolded her legs and sat closer to Dielo.
“To kill my parents.”
At those words, Dielo raised an eyebrow.
“Duke Alloze may think my plan was successful, but I, who went back and forth between Alloze and Argenta at the time, know.”
Venya smiled.
“That Duke Dielo Argenta condoned the deaths of the former Duke and Duchess.”
At those words, Dielo’s expression hardened coldly.
Venya whispered.
“You could have saved them, but you didn’t, right?”
Confidence and arrogance were revealed on her face.
After all, I’m Pero. No matter what I do, I won’t harm you, right?
As if he could read her thoughts, Dielo gave a cold smile.
It was a completely different smile from the one he had shown Krua.
“—Why did it have to be you who is Pero.”
Why is the person I have to love someone like you?
At Dielo’s words, which sounded like a lament, Venya burst into laughter.
“I know, why me?”
She rolled up her sleeve as if to show off.
The words ‘Dielo Argenta’ were clearly engraved on her arm.
It seemed like she had deliberately engraved it like Krua, but it was soaked with moisture, as if she had already applied ointment to the wound. But the name was clear.
It meant it was real.
Venya shook her arm.
“I’m not bad either, am I? I kept your secret even though I knew it.”
Of course, it was probably because she was afraid of being caught by Argenta’s intelligence network if she spread the rumors.
Dielo stared at her silently.
Without knowing what he was thinking, Venya became even more arrogant and began to chatter.
“But so, what is that fake one?”
Venya pointed outside.
She must be talking about Krua.
At the word ‘fake,’ Dielo’s mood began to twist again for some reason.
Even though the word ‘fake’ was the truth.
He frowned.
