Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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—Clang, thud.
The sound of the door closing echoed in the room.
Now, only Dielo, the Argenta's intelligence agents, and the two traitors remained in the bathroom.
—Drip, drip.
Silence reigned, save for the sound of water droplets falling from the traitors' wet hair.
Dielo slowly turned his gaze to the two traitors.
His mind was still dominated by the lingering echoes of Krua.
'Yes, the head of the family is Dielo, isn't he?'
The voice that had whispered those words. The hand that had patted his shoulder.
Dielo smiled involuntarily.
If he were truly a 'pure' person, he might have willingly been stained by her.
His bride, cute as she was, seemed to think he was a field of untouched, pristine snow.
He wasn't.
He was the kind of person who would taint even those who approached him with darkness.
It was an amusing delusion.
—Tap.
He slowly approached and stood before the bathtub.
"Am I to handle this myself, or..."
As he got closer to the tub, he smelled water.
Perhaps because Krua's touch lingered, it wasn't unpleasant.
—Splash.
Dielo dipped his hand into the water and flicked it.
Perhaps because it was water that had been imbued with Alloze's mana, he felt a tingling resistance at his fingertips.
Nevertheless, the feeling of the rippling water was strangely pleasant.
It should have been utterly uncomfortable for him, an Argenta.
"Is it because you are too gentle to take a life yourself that you did this?"
He murmured.
As he felt the water, he was thinking of Krua.
In his eyes, it was Krua who was truly pure white.
Those who had never easily taken a life could not help but show it.
It was impossible to escape Dielo's gaze, accustomed to blood. He smiled silently.
He was certain.
His bride had never killed anyone.
She was far too pure compared to himself.
"Haa."
Meanwhile, the traitors seemed somewhat relieved after Krua, known as a villainess, had left.
If they were Argentas residing on the 4th floor, they wouldn't have been foolish enough to feel relieved upon seeing Dielo's face.
But, coincidentally, these were Argentas from the 3rd floor or below, where information was limited.
Those who didn't know Dielo's true nature.
They seemed to think of Dielo as he appeared to the outside world, merely a weak-hearted man.
So they immediately tried to appease him.
"Just spare us, please spare us, Head of the Family."
"If you spare us, we will live as if we were dead!"
They looked up at Dielo with desperate faces.
Dielo smiled faintly.
"I can't ignore what my bride has taught me."
The traitors paused at his smile.
Was he really going to spare them?
Just like that?
"Seeing that Krua left you alive, it seems she wants to teach me mercy."
He said in a gentle voice.
Then, a glimmer of hope appeared on the traitors' faces.
Dielo patiently waited for that spark of hope to spread throughout their faces, completely inflaming their minds.
And then, in a soft voice, he continued.
"But unlike my bride's expectations, I am an unrefined beast."
"...!"
The traitors' faces hardened.
There was nothing more to ask them anyway. Thirteen names they had blurted out.
And the location of the list of those traitors, as well as the information that this annex was their main meeting place.
He had found out everything he needed to know.
They were now useless.
"But my bride said that I don't need to kill people directly."
He should keep what he had learned, right? Besides.
"And she would be surprised to see such a beastly side of me."
He leaned towards the traitors.
—Whoosh!
Flames appeared in the empty air, where there was nothing to burn.
Fire on water, it was a bizarre sight.
But the Argenta's flames made it possible.
—Whoosh!
The bathtub caught fire. Dielo turned away.
"I'll let you choose between drowning in that water or burning to death."
He had to fulfill the mercy his bride had taught him, didn't he?
The fire began to spread along the walls of the room.
He frowned at the sight.
The Argenta who controlled fire.
He was the head of the Argenta, who had nothing to fear in the fire, but he didn't like being engulfed in flames.
So he quickly turned away.
"Wh, what is this...!"
Although they were floating in the water, the traitors, with their hands and feet tied, could not get out of the water.
Dielo said as he turned away.
"Let's say this room caught fire in an accident. And bring the list of traitors they mentioned to my office."
"Understood."
The intelligence agents bowed their heads.
"Wh, what is this!"
The traitors, who had only seen the gentle Dielo Argenta, were terrified and struggled.
But it was already too late.
* * *
"It's just the knights from the first floor again."
I stroked my chin.
I was on the first floor of the main building.
Just before I realized Mirta's betrayal, there were definitely knights from the fourth floor here.
The movement of troops was an important issue.
Besides, the Argentas on the third floor and below and the Argentas residing on the fourth floor were definitely treated differently.
There must have been a reason why the knights from the fourth floor were assigned here.
"What's inside if you go in there?"
Pielle answered my question.
"There is a path leading to the basement."
"Basement?"
What was in the basement of the Argenta's main building?
It wasn't specifically mentioned in the original story.
[It was a special space that the servants could not enter.]
That was all that was written.
If it was an important place, the knights from the fourth floor would have guarded it even on normal days, so why were the knights from the fourth floor down there only on that day?
Was there something important inside?
What was important to the Argenta at this time?
It was the moment I tilted my head.
"Have you heard the story of the crazy Count who told his wife that she could go anywhere else, but not the basement?"
A gentle voice was heard.
I turned around and saw Dielo. I blinked.
"Is that Dielo playing the role of that crazy Count?"
In short, he was telling me not to go into the basement?
Dielo corrected me in a light voice at my words.
"It's crazy Duke."
So he was crazy?
I raised my eyebrows.
And then I turned around.
If there was a place I shouldn't go, I had no intention of going there.
I hate people who shout hello and go into abandoned houses in horror movies the most.
Why go where you're told not to?
Then Dielo suddenly opened his mouth.
"Would you like to go?"
I turned to Dielo at those words.
"The Count in the story wouldn't open the door."
"I'm a Duke."
Dielo held out his hand.
Unlike the story, he wasn't a Count, but a Duke, so he wouldn't stop me from going down to the basement?
It was truly absurd logic.
...But I was curious.
If he wanted to show me, there was no reason to refuse.
"Okay."
When I answered, he held out his hand.
As he took my hand, he gently caressed the back of my hand and led me kindly.
"..."
The door opened among the knights on the first floor who bowed silently.
As Pielle said, behind the door guarded by the knights was a staircase leading to the basement.
—Whoosh!
As Dielo entered, the candles in the dark basement lit up on their own.
And what we saw when we went down below was.
"...Statue?"
It was a statue.
Dielo smiled faintly.
"It's a statue of the sea god."
Why was that in the Argenta mansion, especially in the basement of the main building?
Did the Argenta value the sea god faith this much?
It was the moment I thought so.
"Welcome, Madam!"
A cheerful young man popped out.
The man with dark green hair bowed deeply to me.
With one hand on his chest.
"I am Rick, a faithful servant of Argenta."
Rick? This person?
I knew this person's name.
Those who knew him well in Argenta called him a 'cheerful madman'.
He, who was in charge of Argenta's intelligence department, had absolute faith.
But that wasn't in the sea god here...
...It must be absolute faith in Argenta?
"It's a great honor to meet you, Madam!"
"Nice to meet you."
I barely managed to take my hand away from Rick, who was shaking my hand excitedly as if he was going to break my arm.
At the same time, I glanced at the sea god statue.
Rick smiled brightly.
"I was praying to the gods. May they protect Argenta in front of the sea today."
He bowed his head.
[May they protect Argenta in front of the sea.]
But in the original story, the target of Rick's words was not the sea god, but the head of the Argenta family.
In short, Rick was lying now.
Was there really an altar here from the beginning?
"It seems that my bride wants to take a closer look, so go out."
Dielo gestured.
"Yes!"
Then Rick greeted us and quickly disappeared.
"As far as I know, Duke Dielo doesn't believe in the sea god."
The Argenta's family tradition, which especially valued ability, did not allow them to rely on God.
Dielo nodded at my words.
"Yes, so originally there was a dungeon here."
...A dungeon in the main building where the head of the family stayed?
Well, it might be natural to have a dungeon in the place where the strongest person in this mansion was.
"But why is there an altar now?"
"I thought Krua might want it. Alloze believes in the sea god."
Dielo smiled faintly.
In fact, Krua Alloze in the original story was a person who believed in the sea god faith.
In the first place, it was natural since she was a member of a family born with the power of water.
It was a gift that Dielo had prepared with great care.
"I was going to show it to you when everything was ready, but I, or someone..."
Dielo narrowed his eyes and looked up at the stairs we had come down.
"It seems that I made Krua worry."
To be exact, I had just noticed that the knight had changed.
I shook my head.
"That wasn't it."
"That's a relief then."
Dielo smiled beautifully.
His innocent smile was strangely unsettling.
The crazy Count in the fairy tale locked the basement with a key for a secret that had to be hidden.
Of course, as he said, Dielo was not a crazy Count, but his most powerful key was guarding this place.
Wasn't it a somewhat excessive key to hide a gift?
I stared at the silent statue again.
* * *
And that night, I heard about the fire in the annex.
