Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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After the banquet.
We naturally entered the same room.
It wasn't the bedroom at the Argenta mansion, so it felt unfamiliar, but the servants had taken good care to ensure we wouldn't feel uncomfortable.
Of course, the Argenta people from the fourth floor were guarding the surroundings without a single gap.
"We managed to get through the banquet for now..."
At my words, Dielo turned to look at me.
"Duke Alroze doesn't seem to suspect that the Lily's energy is hidden for now."
Dielo's gentle voice echoed.
I nodded.
"But he's such a suspicious man, he'll probably try to confirm it himself."
I don't know how he'll confirm it, though.
I was tilting my head slightly when it happened.
The dim lighting, lit only by candles, was obscured by shadows.
Before I knew it, Dielo had leaned in close to me.
"...My Lily is probably fine, but I'm worried about Krua."
"Me?"
What? I blinked.
His hand, which had been tidying my hair, reached the back of my neck.
"...Ah."
The moment I widened my eyes at his unusually clear warmth, he said,
"He might call Krua again, you know. Especially, call you and then..."
But he couldn't finish his sentence.
His hand came close to touching the back of my neck, where Dielo Argenta's name was engraved, but stopped. The wound that Duke Alroze had stirred up earlier.
"It's okay."
I grabbed his hand and pulled it down, seeing his worried gaze.
It was just a slight irritation, not enough to require treatment. It still stung a little, though.
I felt my heart warming up again.
Someone worrying about me was a more heartwarming thing than I thought.
"It's really okay. He won't call me again because of the name. The name probably hasn't been erased yet."
"It's not just that."
But Dielo shook his head slightly.
He loosened the tie around his neck and sighed.
"The fact that you said you used the power of the Source."
Dielo looked at me worriedly.
"You have to draw blood to use the power of the Source. He'll try to see if you have any major injuries."
"Ah, that."
That's no problem! I have it all planned out!
I smiled brightly.
Dielo blinked, seemingly a little taken aback by my unexpectedly relaxed expression.
His pale Blue Eyes, filled with pure light, were cute as they blinked.
I held out my hand in front of him. It was the hand that had bled because of the contract with Nirua last time.
"I'm going to use this."
"This is..."
Dielo's gaze stopped on the bandage wrapped around my finger.
"As you know, the wound was deeper than I thought."
It was difficult to even hold a quill for a while.
Even though I wasn't used to handling sharp objects, I didn't expect to cut myself this deeply.
I wondered if I should have just asked someone else for help back then.
But that thought completely changed at the banquet a little while ago.
The power of the Source.
The Argenta use it by burning their bodies, and the Alloze use it by drawing water, that is, blood, from their bodies.
As such, using a large amount of the power of the Source inevitably results in a wound that bleeds a lot.
I was planning to show Duke Alloze this deeply cut wound.
I used this much power of the Source!
...Even though I didn't use any power of the Source at all.
"Did you perhaps calculate even this and do that?"
Dielo was impressed.
His eyes sparkled.
It was the kind of eyes that contained exclamations like, 'How far ahead are you seeing?'
I enjoyed the gaze of admiration from my husband, who was too pure for his own good, but in the end, I couldn't overcome my conscience and said,
"...No, I just made a mistake because I'm not used to handling swords."
"Pardon?"
Dielo blinked at my words.
Then he let out a low laugh. As if he couldn't help it.
Ha, he even seemed to exhale a short breath.
He straightened up, lifting the body that had been casting a shadow over me. And he ran a hand over his face.
He seemed embarrassed too.
"Next time, be sure to borrow my hand when using sharp objects."
When the hand covering his face was removed, what was revealed was a helpless expression.
"Even if you were lucky enough to be able to use it this time, it would be troublesome if you get a big injury next time."
Okay? He asked, caressing the tip of my hand.
I nodded.
"Okay."
That's when it happened.
-Knock knock.
At the sound of the knock, we both turned to the door at the same time.
"At this hour...?"
What's going on?
While I was getting up, Dielo approached the door in his shirt.
"What's going on?"
At his question, a troubled voice came from outside.
"M-Master."
The Argenta outside was from the third floor, judging by the voice I had never heard before.
"The formal attire you're supposed to wear tomorrow has disappeared. I definitely put it away properly, I definitely brought it, but it's gone!"
He was almost about to cry.
Dielo turned to look at me, holding the doorknob.
Our eyes met.
There was a tradition on the last day of the meeting.
In the sense of resolving the accumulated emotions and starting with a new heart, they would attend wearing newly made clothes.
But the clothes had disappeared?
"...Is there a tailor in this area?"
It was too late to go back to the Argenta main house and find a tailor again.
They had to find someone who could make clothes that looked like formal attire as quickly as possible, even if they were just roughly fitted.
"I'll find out quickly."
I heard the maid stomping her feet and stepping forward.
-Click.
Dielo, who had closed the door again, had a troubled face.
"Losing formal attire has never happened before."
At those words, I shook my head.
"There's no way it could have been lost in the Argenta. It seems like someone has done something."
"He must know that if the formal attire disappears tonight, a new tailor will have to be called..."
Dielo said with difficulty.
"It seems like he's planning to find out through the tailors who will make the new clothes whether my Lily has disappeared."
It was indeed a method that Alloze would use.
* * *
We couldn't sleep thanks to Alloze.
The tailor from the neighborhood who had been urgently found was horrified by the fact that he was making formal attire for the last day of the Three Families Meeting.
Of course, there was no time to just stand there with his mouth open.
"I, I can't make such clothes..."
The tailor, who had been dragged along while saying that, had a troubled face.
"Please, please allow me to bring even the assistants who worked in my workshop!"
"I contacted them, but I couldn't find them, so I brought the ones from the workshop next door."
It was the Argenta informant who answered that.
The tailor, who had been dragged along pitifully like a prisoner of war.
Dielo, who was looking at him with an apologetic face even though he was the one who told him to drag him along.
And Argenta, who had a calm expression throughout.
Seeing the three people at a glance was a comedy in itself.
Pielle had said that he had left his seat due to a sudden matter.
Alloze probably made that happen too.
"Alloze has probably made a move on the tailor's assistants."
Alloze's goal was to check how much of the Black Lily had been erased from Dielo's body.
He was clearly trying to get him to take off his clothes somehow under the pretext of taking measurements.
The problem was that if they discovered even a hint of disguise while being close, it would be a big problem.
"If it's just a rough fitting, I can somehow make it fit before the banquet starts..."
The tailor said after hearing the situation.
"The problem is that it's been twenty years since I worked on such fancy formal attire..."
He must have been a tailor with 'my-clothes-are-bad disease'.
I patted the tailor on the back.
"So, you're saying it's been 20 years since you've been doing this job?"
The tailor immediately corrected me at my words.
"It's been 47 years."
"Yeah, that's enough."
You have experience, there's no way you'll make something weird. You've been making a living off this for 47 years.
"Y-Yes? N-No!"
While the tailor was doubting his skills again, I drove a wedge into him.
"Of course, I'll definitely give you a reward for those skills."
There's no one who refuses a reward anywhere.
"...!"
The tailor's face instantly turned rainbow-colored when I whispered the amount in his ear.
"I... I will do my best!"
And the tailor, who had suddenly overcome his my-clothes-are-bad disease, shouted.
Well, it was too much money to refuse, after all?
That's when other people approached.
They were definitely not Argenta maids.
"We are the ones who work at the tailor's workshop next door..."
They looked at each other with troubled faces.
"We came together to help with measuring the formal attire."
It was exactly as expected.
But if possible, I had to prevent them from seeing Dielo's body up close.
"Wait a minute."
In the end, I stopped them.
Dielo and the informant turned to look at me.
"Even if there are no clothes, there must be measurements taken at the mansion before. Isn't there anyone who has them in the documents or remembers them?"
At my words, the informant lowered his head.
"As you know, things related to the Master are confidential, so we don't leave them in documents."
I understand that it's a secret, but do we have to keep Dielo's three sizes a secret too?
"Then is there anyone who remembers?"
"Pielle would remember, but he's away."
I could feel his determination to check Dielo's Lily condition no matter what.
Then at least, I had to prevent them from seeing him up close so that they wouldn't be able to tell that he was disguised.
Then there was only one way.
"I can't help it. Then."
It was when the tailor's assistants, who were clearly bought by Alloze, were approaching Dielo at my words.
My words weren't over yet.
"I'll measure."
"Yes?"
The assistants visibly flinched.
They were overly nervous, knowing Krua's personality well.
To be exact, it was the personality of the original Krua.
Thanks to that, it seemed easy to persuade (?) them.
Krua was rumored to be a villainess who wielded authority arbitrarily, and she was also very possessive.
About her things.
I narrowed my eyes. And I crossed my arms and scanned them.
"We're newlyweds, you know."
As I said that, I glanced at Dielo.
Dielo was blinking and looking this way.
"Even if it's because of work."
I never thought I'd say these words in front of such innocent eyes.
But this is also acting.
I gave a villainous smile.
"I don't like other women touching him."
Dielo's eyes widened at my words.
