Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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"……."
The Argenta mansion had never been this quiet in recent memory.
Nor had it ever been this deadly.
The Argenta servants couldn't comprehend what they were seeing.
The fact that the one creating this chilling atmosphere was none other than their gentle and kind master, Dielo Argenta.
"Emotional Overload……."
Someone muttered so quietly that even they could barely hear it.
They were right.
The master's eyes, gleaming eerily, were fixed on the servants.
The slightest rustle of breath would draw his cold gaze.
Emotional Overload.
A symptom that appeared when Elemental Manipulation temporarily overwhelmed reason, revealing a person's true nature.
Those in the Argenta who knew this fact were aghast.
Is that what our master is really like?
He's like a completely different person!
"……."
Those above the fourth floor of the Argenta were equally shocked.
Even though they had seen Dielo's true self, not just a facade, they had never witnessed the depths of their master's being.
His mind seemed deeper and darker than the ocean.
"Silence isn't always the right answer."
Dielo's low voice echoed.
"You didn't think the family's intelligence division had been idle all this time, did you?"
He looked down at his hand as he spoke.
"The intelligence division has already identified several individuals with ties to other families, and I intend to start with them."
Start what?
The Argenta people had never heard such a chilling tone from their master, a tone laced with murderous intent.
"The priest taught me how to make vermin open their mouths……."
Such harsh language was unbelievable coming from the usually gentle Dielo Argenta.
"I shall gladly follow his teachings."
—Shriiiing……
The tip of the sword he held scraped against the floor.
He hadn't even bothered to bring a scabbard, as if he hadn't considered mercy from the moment he entered the room.
He surveyed the servants lined up in neat rows.
"From now on, I will walk among you. And."
He lightly raised the sword in his hand.
"Anyone deemed a traitor will be cut down without hesitation."
Some gasped.
Dielo looked at them and said,
"You can dismiss the possibility of an unjust death. I've already narrowed it down to those with irrefutable evidence."
His sword reflected the faces of the servants.
"However."
He looked at the servants.
"I do not know mercy, but the priest, whom you dared to target, has taught me mercy, so I will do this."
He slowly approached the servants in the first row.
"Anyone who reveals the name of another spy before I reach them will not die here."
The people on the fourth floor widened their eyes.
It was an act of mercy so unlike Dielo Argenta.
"They will be banished, and that will be the end of it."
He's really going to let the traitors live?
While they were surprised in a way that was somewhat different from the people on the third floor and below, Dielo moved.
He thought,
Whatever accidents happen to them while they're being banished are none of my concern.
"Let's begin."
—Tap.
The sound of his footsteps echoed loudly.
This murderous intent is real.
Dielo Argenta really intends to personally cut down any traitors among the servants.
This isn't the master they know. Is it because of the Emotional Overload?
Everyone sensed something was wrong, but there was only one person who could stop him, or even attempt to stop him.
"Master."
Redius Argenta.
[The master is seriously pissed]
He had arrived in haste after receiving a message from Rick, who used rather cheap expressions for the head of the family's intelligence division.
Only he, the master's teacher and uncle, could speak to Dielo in this state.
"Are you going to stop me?"
But when Redius met Dielo's gaze, he felt as if he were standing before a massive fire that would incinerate him at any moment.
Still, he mustered his courage and spoke.
For the master's sake. For the sake of the Argenta.
"……Please calm yourself."
He hoped that Dielo would regain his reason.
Dielo knew very well what it meant for Redius, who rarely went against the master's wishes, to stand in his way.
But the moment Dielo's sharp gaze turned to Redius.
—Fwoosh!
"!"
Flames erupted around them. Blue flames containing the master's powerful Magical Power.
"Redius, I'm finding it difficult to restrain myself right now."
The corners of Dielo's lips curled up with murderous intent.
The master's eyes were gleaming with an even more eerie blue light.
It meant that the Emotional Overload was intensifying.
"……."
Redius stepped back, but the blue flames that had blocked him didn't extinguish.
Instead, they quietly sank to the floor.
—Flarre!
The blue flames clung to the thick carpet. Everyone held their breath as they watched the carpet burn black and twist.
Redius wanted to curse in admiration.
At the foolish assassins who had managed to shatter the reason of Dielo Argenta, who had spent his entire life suppressing his true nature.
Of course, they couldn't have known that Dielo would be this enraged.
Redius realized that the situation was more serious than he had thought.
Now, there was only one person who could truly stop Dielo.
The mistress.
'But she is currently hovering between life and death…….'
Will she be able to wake up?
Before this Argenta is consumed by the master's rage.
"……."
And then, he saw Rick, the head of the intelligence division, leaving the scene silently after hearing something from an intelligence agent.
Redius hoped that it was good news.
"What's going on?"
I looked at Rick with a slightly bewildered expression as he knelt on one knee in front of the door, his head bowed.
"I know it's disrespectful to address you so soon after you've woken up. Nias, the attending physician, is on his way, so please wait a moment."
Even as he said that, Rick had the maids thoroughly check my condition.
"You've recovered considerably."
"You seem a little tired, though……."
They seemed to have some medical knowledge, as they made surprisingly accurate diagnoses.
They were right.
The Water Manipulation I possessed had rapidly eliminated the foreign substances, the poison, that had begun to flow through my blood.
So, considering how dramatically I had collapsed, I was actually perfectly fine.
'What's not fine is the atmosphere in the mansion.'
Even the maids were fewer in number than usual before Rick called me, so something was clearly going on in the mansion.
"The master is in a highly agitated state, and there is no one who can stop him."
Rick said then.
It was strange enough that he, who was known for being a cheerful madman, was speaking in such a low voice, but the content was even stranger.
"……Dielo is?"
The first thing that came to mind was his gentle smile.
Of course, it seemed that he would somehow draw his sword when he was working as the head of the family.
'I showed you an unsightly side, Krua.'
Dielo's voice, as he said that at the scene of Mirta's death, was trembling.
That meant he was also nervous.
But what could he possibly be doing…… how could he be angry?
As I blinked, Rick said,
"It seems he experienced an Emotional Overload after seeing the mistress collapse."
"What?"
I blinked.
Dielo experienced an Emotional Overload……? He was so agitated that he lost his reason?
There was no way I, who had read the original novel, wouldn't know what an Emotional Overload was.
But Rick, thinking that I was unfamiliar with the term Emotional Overload, kindly added an explanation.
"It means he's completely lost it."
"What?"
Is it okay to use such cheap expressions for the master?
"Redius Argenta was urgently summoned, but he can't stop him."
Rick said with a troubled expression.
"So, if you're feeling well enough, perhaps the mistress……."
He hesitated, unlike his usual self, and then said,
"Could you calm the master down?"
If he's lost it because of me, of course I have to go.
"Mistress!"
"You mustn't move yet!"
Not only the maids but even Pielle, who had rushed up, followed me closely.
But I was already ready to leave.
Nias, who had appeared in the meantime, also tried to stop me, but I waved my hand.
"I'm fine. The poison is all gone."
It was natural that I was fine since I had pushed it out with Water Manipulation.
But the doctor, Nias, stopped me.
"As the mistress once said, the center of the Argenta is the master. But……."
This elderly doctor was the type who would say everything he needed to say even in a desperate situation.
"That applies to the mistress as well."
I widened my eyes at those words.
"Just as the mistress takes care of the Argenta, please allow us to serve you as well."
The doctor's stern words continued.
"We are aware of the circumstances between the mistress and the master, but that is why we are asking this of you."
This doctor, who didn't know how to beat around the bush, spoke frankly.
It meant that he knew that we had a contract marriage.
Well, Nias was an Argenta who frequented the fourth floor, so it was only natural.
Just as I take care of the Argenta, allow them to serve me…….
I looked back at Nias and the maids.
He was right. Even though I knew that I would have to leave someday, I was giving my heart to the Argenta.
At first, I had gotten involved in the Argenta's affairs because I thought that even though I would be leaving soon, I should 'do things properly while I'm here,' but now…….
Looking back, I could see the faces of the maids who had been by my side when I occasionally stayed up all night in the office.
I looked down.
At the place where Dielo would be. They said that he was burning alone in that place.
They said it was an Emotional Overload.
The enraged him might soon burn the people he cherished.
I was worried about that.
About Dielo, who would harm them without realizing it and then grieve, and about the Argenta people, who might be injured by the stray flames.
Yes, I was giving my heart.
Even though I said that I would be leaving someday, I was clearly giving my heart.
And I couldn't stop it.
It was when I realized that fact.
"So, you must confirm that you are well before you go."
Nias said firmly.
It was as if he didn't care whether Dielo was having an Emotional Overload downstairs or not.
But if I thought about it differently, Dielo's emotions had been shaken because I had collapsed.
There was no point in me showing a weak side in front of him.
……Of course, I'm fine now, but there's no way Nias would know that just by looking at me.
"Alright."
In the end, Nias took some of my blood and examined it.
"……You've been completely detoxified."
He said with a slightly surprised expression.
"Then let's go downstairs."
I gestured to the maids.
Pielle put a thick cardigan over me and led me.
"It's beyond this door."
And so, the place I arrived at was the main hall on the first floor of the mansion.
The large hall, which was used for banquets, was filled with silence.
And it was also filled with a heat that shouldn't be there.
"……!"
I opened the door. Beyond the door, which was hot enough to melt, I could see the carpet that had been devoured by blue flames.
And the flames were growing larger and larger, as if they would devour the servants.
In the midst of it, Dielo's cold gaze was directed at the servants.
The suffocating feeling wasn't just because of the atmosphere.
"……!"
The flames were raging wildly, as if they would burn not only the surrounding objects and people but also all the oxygen.
Dielo, in the midst of it, was like something on the verge of exploding.
"Who is it?"
And a chilling voice echoed through the midst of it.
It was a voice so subdued that it was hard to believe it was Dielo's.
As I pushed the door open a little more, I could finally see his figure.
The tip of his sword was stained with blood.
And I could see that several people had already fallen.
Since Dielo was the only one with a sword in this place, probably.
I unknowingly opened my mouth slightly.
"……Dielo."
My eyes met his blue eyes, which were gleaming with a strange light.
