Chapter 54
Episode 54
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Redius lowered his head at Dielo's words.
At the end of his gaze, documents related to the Cartiel family were visible.
[Status of Cleaning Crew Deployment]
It wasn't referring to the cleaning staff who cleaned the mansion.
As if sensing his gaze, Dielo turned over the documents as if to show off.
"...You're planning to return it in the same way."
Poison for poison.
Already, assassins under the 'Cleaner' Pielle were moving.
Towards Cartiel.
The head of the family felt a burning rage from within.
Redius Argenta was convinced by that sight.
...He's serious.
That Dielo Argenta no longer saw Krua as just a contract marriage partner.
* * *
Soon after, those escorting Siete Cartiel were struck by a colorless, odorless poison.
Siete Cartiel quickly erected a wind barrier with his ability to block the poison, but others were not so fortunate.
Quite a few key figures of Cartiel collapsed, poisoned.
[Report on Cartiel Intelligence Department's Movements]
Naturally, Cartiel's intelligence department searched far and wide for an antidote to Dielo's poison.
But it would be difficult.
Argenta's poison expert was not someone to be trifled with.
Dielo smiled silently, thinking of Nias, who had quickly created an antidote when Krua was poisoned.
"Dispatch people in advance to where the antidote is located."
To prevent them from obtaining the antidote properly.
In that way, Dielo's revenge was carried out very secretly, but surely.
* * *
A while later.
Duke Alloze received an unexpected gift.
"From Dielo Argenta?"
"Yes."
A box was neatly placed before him.
[Dielo Argenta]
The sender's name was clearly Dielo Argenta.
The indecisive and foolish head of Argenta.
The power sealing the box was indeed Argenta's Magical Power.
"Open it."
At Duke Alloze's gesture, an Alloze knight moved.
He hesitated after opening the box.
"This is..."
As he stopped speaking, Duke Alloze couldn't stand the frustration and rose from his seat.
"What is it?"
Then, he carelessly looked inside the box.
"Huh."
And narrowed his eyes.
A small note was visible next to the 'gift'.
[I hope there will be no more disgraceful incidents.]
It was Dielo Argenta's handwriting.
"I hear the atmosphere in Argenta has been fierce lately?"
Duke Alloze asked, looking at the note.
"Yes, it has become difficult to contact the inside as some of the deployed individuals have been eliminated, but we have obtained crucial information through a trading company that interacts with Argenta."
Those eliminated individuals are here?
Duke Alloze looked down at the neatly placed blue crystal stones, which were supposed to be a gift, and asked.
"What is the information?"
"It seems Dielo Argenta recently had an emotional outburst."
"An emotional outburst?"
Duke Alloze turned to the knight with a puzzled expression.
"Yes. Cartiel targeted Krua Alloze and failed."
"Oh..."
Duke Alloze briefly exclaimed in admiration, then burst into laughter.
The power crystal was placed in his hand.
The soft-heartedness of neatly collecting and returning even the power crystals of the spies who had infiltrated his family, fearing even a trivial quarrel, was indeed like Dielo Argenta.
But such a guy had an outburst...
"What is the extent of the damage to Argenta?"
"None,"
The knight's answer was concise.
"The head of the family had an outburst, and there's no damage?"
"Yes. They only replaced the carpet."
Duke Alloze looked at the knight, then burst into laughter.
"He had an outburst, and that's all?"
He couldn't help but laugh.
The enemy he was going to kill was as fragile as a sandcastle that would crumble easily when stepped on.
However, since it was a sandcastle that someone had painstakingly built, destroying it would bring great pleasure.
"We'll be able to clean up Argenta soon."
He said in a joyful voice.
—Crack!
The crystal stone sent by Dielo Argenta crumbled and fell from his hand.
* * *
"It was indeed as the Madam said."
After sending Rick to investigate Cartiel's intelligence department.
Rick came running to me, excited, not long after.
"I've caught the tail of Cartiel's intelligence department!"
Not only that, but Argenta's Power too! I calmed him down, who was jumping around and trying to continue speaking.
Still, he couldn't erase the smile from his face.
"First, act under the name of Krua Argenta, not Dielo."
Of course, no one reveals their name and ambushes the enemy camp.
But it meant that if the tail was stepped on, I should be revealed.
"...Are you saying that you will step forward, Madam?"
Rick hesitated at my words. I nodded.
This was also my revenge. More than anything, if our tail was stepped on, we had to prevent them from feeling suspicious.
They wouldn't believe it if Dielo was secretly taking revenge from behind.
He wasn't the type of person to do such a thing.
It was better to do it comfortably under my name.
After all, I was the one who was properly poisoned.
"Plant people in Cartiel's intelligence department. Slowly let their hands and feet be stained with Argenta."
I ordered. Then, I handed over the papers.
'Rest a little more.'
Dielo had tempted me like that, but I didn't think I could rest any longer.
Today was the day I had been postponing my return to work.
Even that was done while Dielo was away from his office for a while.
"To think I would have to work secretly like this."
But I didn't want to be seen as a stay-at-home wife in Argenta who was divorced and kicked out.
Even if the three families who knew about Pero didn't think that way, wouldn't the social circles see it that way?
I refuse a life with gossip!
So, the documents I was secretly helping with now were the ones Dielo was originally supposed to handle.
Dielo never stopped me from entering his office, so people didn't think anything of it even when I came in here.
"When you say plant people..."
Rick unusually asked back at my order.
His face was mixed with interest and excitement.
"It's no fun if we blow them away all at once."
We have to get everything we can get and then blow them away.
It was when Rick's expression was dyed with joy at my words.
—Thud.
Among the documents I was processing, a document with a particularly different format caught my eye.
"?"
If it was a document that only Dielo needed to see, he would have put it somewhere else, so there was nothing I couldn't see.
As I carelessly opened the document, my eyes widened.
"...It's about Cartiel's intelligence department?"
And the person who asked to investigate the trends was.
[Head of the Family Dielo Argenta]
It was Dielo.
[Cartiel's intelligence department is focusing all its efforts on finding an antidote.
Accordingly, we have blocked all possible routes for them to head to the glacier zone, the habitat of the herbs, to delay the acquisition of the antidote as much as possible.]
This was a report from the intelligence department.
Something was strange about the report.
Aside from the fact that Cartiel was poisoned, Argenta's intelligence department already knew that the antidote to that poison was only found in cold places.
In short, they also knew the identity of the poison.
If it was a simple poison that other families could easily recognize, Cartiel wouldn't be running around in all directions, so there was only one conclusion.
"...He used poison on Cartiel?"
There was no way Rick, the head of the intelligence department in front of me, wouldn't know this.
"That's right."
Rick scratched his head. I blinked.
"...Under Dielo's orders?"
"Yes."
Rick, who eventually admitted it, had a troubled expression.
He seemed to have thought that I wouldn't come across this information. Or he didn't want me to come across it, or if not that.
"Perhaps, did Dielo tell you to keep it a secret from me?"
The smile that had been faintly lingering on Rick's face disappeared at my words.
There was only a moment when a cheerful madman became serious.
When he was genuinely troubled.
"Is that right?"
Rick lowered his head at my words.
It was then.
—Click.
"Krua?"
Dielo, who opened the door to the office and came in, widened his eyes.
He seemed to have thought that no one would be here, as he opened the door and discovered me.
A slight light seemed to shine in his blue eyes.
The aftermath of the outburst is still there.
It was when I was thinking that.
"Ah..."
Dielo's gaze turned to the document in my hand.
For a moment, a complex emotion flashed across his face.
It seemed that Dielo was really the one who used poison on Cartiel.
I thought he was a soft and squishy pudding-like person who wouldn't think of taking revenge from behind the scenes.
Unexpected?
Our eyes met.
