chapter 27
27 – Grand Duchess’ Birthday Party (End)
“Uh… la….”
What is it?
Her lips are burning. No, is your face burning? It’s as hot as being cut by a knife, but I don’t feel any pain at all.
Rather, it’s soft and sweet, so I think I’m going to get addicted to it.
“Ilen… Shia… ?”
“From now on.”
Illensia looked at me, staring blankly in bewilderment, with satisfaction, and put her index finger to her own lips with a smile.
With just that act, the scene from just before flashes back, and her face, which had been so hot to the point of exploding, gets even hotter.
Her tongue, long and red, runs over her lower lip and disappears back into her mouth.
“Sir… !”
Unknowingly, I felt that my instinct as a prey set off an alarm, so I covered her mouth with the back of my hand and stepped back from her.
“Call me Sia. Cain.”
Nickname.
A name that only friends, parents, and family members who have been together for a long time call. I can also include it if I want to be included in that ‘fence’.
The problem.
No one calls Elencia Shia.
Since I have no family, no parents, no friends, not even me. Illencia gave me her nickname for the first time.
The predator in front of her smiled as she trembled slightly in such a strangely eerie mood.
Is the one in front of my eyes an 11-year-old girl or is it her nine-tailed nine-tailed fox?
Her eyes were curved like crescent moons and she was smiling, but the pupils inside them were like those of a predator looking at its prey.
“…… I’ll try.”
A stride.
“Huh?”
A stride.
“Why are you coming… ?”
I asked, unknowingly frightened.
Illensia took one step at a time and approached me. As if she didn’t like my answer, she frowned and tilted her head slightly.
“Call me Sia.”
“… It’s okay.”
Illensia’s cold words were more like her orders than her invitations or requests.
“Huh?”
Illencia approached me and pressed her body against me again. As the fragrant scent flowed out of her hair once again, I involuntarily swallowed dry saliva.
“Ah, I understand… !”
“Name.”
“Yes… ?”
“Name.”
Her red eyes shine fiercely.
After thinking a little about the meaning of Illencia’s words, I thought of something about her and carefully opened my mouth.
“Okay, Sia….”
“Yes!”
Huhu.
Illensia burst into a satisfied laugh and backed away, spinning her body around.
With the fluttering hem of her skirt hovering in the air, Ellencia raised her arms on the railing of her terrace and called me.
“Cain! Come here quickly!”
“…… Huh.”
I am confused as to whether this is the Illencia I knew.
When I see her smiling brightly again now, she is the Elencia I used to know, but the one she was up until now is not the Elencia I used to know.
I let out a small breath and sat down next to Illencia.
The sun had already gone down, and the night sky was enveloped in darkness. Only the moon and stars were shining brightly.
“Isn’t it pretty?”
“… That’s right.”
All I could say was that the sky seen from the Northern Grand Duke’s House was truly beautiful.
I looked up at the sky, intoxicated with the beautiful night sky, making me forget my fears from earlier.
The party that started around evening seemed to be coming to an end.
“Happy birthday, Sia.”
“Thanks Cain.”
Responding to my belated congratulations with a small smile, Illencia looked up at the sky with a smile.
“I am so happy that Cain congratulated me and that Cain was by my side. It is all thanks to you that I am so happy.”
“… It was nothing.”
What… If I’m happy right now, maybe that’s it.
Although I don’t intend to be satisfied with that.
At some point, I found myself overly concerned about Illencia’s happiness.
At first, I felt sorry for her and felt sorry for her.
Because I saw a little girl who couldn’t even smile properly because she was weighed down by the title of Grand Duchess.
So I helped.
It wasn’t because he had any dark feelings, it was probably just to do his duty as an adult.
Then, what about now?
I shook my head slightly as I gazed at Illencia’s face, which shone brighter than the stars in the night sky.
Now… I do not know.
What am I thinking? Is it because my body has become younger and my mind has become younger, or is it the first time that someone rushes at me like this, so I have no tolerance.
It is said that a woman’s heart is a reed, but my heart was shaken by the wind called Elencia, even though I am not a woman.
I am shaken even more strongly by the strong wind that blows out of control.
I tried to rationalize that there was no need to think deeply about what I wanted to do, and erased my thoughts.
“Why do you look like that?”
“… Too close.”
My relationship with Elencia felt like it was about to face a major change starting today.
Always shy, she asked, thrusting her face into me as if she could easily do it now.
Startled at her bashful smile, I pulled her neck back and muttered as I tried to look away from her.
“Do you want to do it one more time?”
“M… Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Why? Once and not twice?”
“You never did it by force. Please don’t talk about it as if it was mutually agreed upon… ?”
Hmm.
Illensia let out a snort and stepped back again with an expression that seemed to be looking after her today.
I’m glad. The fruity scent wafting from the tip of her nose was so irritating that I was losing my mind.
I let out a sigh of relief and lowered my head, pressing my fingers on her heated eyelids to cool them down.
Illensia only looked at me with a funny expression.
It’s dangerous… Chastity is dangerous….
#
The grand duke’s party ended late at night.
Belatedly thinking of her mother, who would be alone, Cain ‘run away’ to her party.
Of course, it wasn’t her filial piety, but it was more about trying to escape from Ilensia who was launching a physical attack.
Fortunately, Clementine said she didn’t even notice the time passing because she was having fun talking with Anna.
Except for the people of Balenciaga, all the visitors had left, and silence returned to the Grand Duke’s house.
Cain was ushered into her guest’s room, and Clementine left to have a chat with her wife, Anna.
The Grand Duke headed to the office to take care of the overdue work, and only the servants remained to quietly clean up the party hall.
It was a peaceful, beautiful party. It was also large and splendid, befitting a grand duke’s family.
Those who left said so in unison.
Yes, it seemed that way.
——At least that’s what it looked like on the outside.
The grand duke’s house was large and splendid from the outside, but there was an even bigger and deeper darkness beneath it.
Two footsteps descending the stairs through the secret door of the grand duke’s house.
They were both walking with frowns on their faces. A faint smell of blood was rising from the dark and damp basement.
“… Twenty barbarian warriors tried to make a surprise attack on the party venue, and a column moved to infiltrate the inside and dig up information. We’ve got it all covered.”
“Any survivors?”
“All but one of the rebellious barbarians died, and four of the traitors survived. All of them have been detained underground.”
“Status.”
“The barbarian warrior has both legs broken. There are also a few cuts, so it will be difficult to survive for a long time without treatment.”
The man who was listening to the report, Berman, shook his head left and right as he clicked his tongue.
“Melon child… Do it in moderation and capture it alive.”
“…… According to the story, the young lady and Master Cain suddenly appeared, and there was nothing they could do about it.”
“Then why did you drag him all the way there?”
“… I’m sorry. I will warn you.”
The man making the report lowered his head slightly as if it were his own fault, and Berman shook his hand, raised his head, and calmly moved on.
“This is an order from His Excellency the Grand Duke. Traitors should annihilate their families, and the barbarian warriors should be decapitated and sent to that country.”
“Okay.”
“Until then, all information that can be gleaned is information.”
“Chung!”
After the report, the person lowered his head and left, and Berman went down the stairs alone.
Berman stepped on the stairs with an emotionless face straightening his face.
“Rose!”
“Cosmos.”
“Chung!”
After the password was given, two soldiers standing in front of the door saluted and opened the door.
Nodding his head, Berman calmly walked into the prison.
“Quaaa!!”
“Four… help me… please….”
Inside the prison was hell.
Literally Abigyuhwan. Those who were tortured cried out in agony as they bleed, and many of them fell to the ground already covered in blood.
If you are weak… No, Berman silently watched the scene where an ordinary person would have held on to the wall and vomited up everything he ate.
As Berman entered the prison, a knight hurriedly approached him.
“Chung!”
“Did you find out anything?”
“We don’t have any important information yet.”
“… Is it.”
Everyone involved in the incident knows why the barbarians attacked this place.
The only information the grand duchess tried to find out from them, even while doing such terrible things, was information about barbarians.
From commonplace information to valuable top secrets.
Find out everything you can find out.
Berman, who stared at them with cool, cold eyes, spoke again after a while.
“It doesn’t matter. They are the ones who tried to threaten the lady’s life because they didn’t want to ruin her precious party.”
Lady, Elencia, Grand Duchess, sole heir of the Khan Derdamius family.
If the current grand duke resigns, he is a person who will surely rise to the position, and the ‘master’ they must serve.
“Be sure not to die easily. When they die, there is no other than when they obediently tell all the information about the savages, or when they suffer as if they fell into hell.”
“Chung.”
After his words, Berman turned around without hesitation.
In the basement of the peaceful Grand Duke’s house, endless screams rang out.