CH 69

“Why is that?”

“I’m personally curious.”

When she said that she was personally curious, he didn’t ask for more and agreed to do her a favor.

* *

Jess returned, reeking of cigarettes, and Psychke opened her mouth.

“I will set you up with Lillian. Please tell me the date and time you want-”

“Wait a moment.”

Verndia frowned at her and intervened.

He crossed his arms and legs as if he was displeased at this situation.

“Isn’t it different from before, Princess? Are you serious?”

“… Pardon?”

Psychke averted her eyes and let out a heavy breath, looking like someone who had made a difficult decision.

“I think I explained enough.”

Verndia brushed his hair roughly.

“That person is dangerous.”

The eyes of ‘that person’ turned horizontally. He looked like he was interested of what Verndia had to say.

Psychke raised her sly eyes and looked at Jess.

Certainly, having scars on your face looks dangerous at first glance, but…

“I don’t think it’s good to judge risk based on a person’s physical appearance.”

“I don’t mean that.”

He was feeling uncomfortable, so he tapped his lap.

“This is not what I wanted to talk about.”

He pretended to whisper to Psychke.

Psychke was startled and expressed her confusion.

However, since she was basically expressionless, it didn’t work out for dramatic facial expressions, so she pretended to be trembling in fear and turned her back.

“Ah, an assassin!”

“If you say it like that.”

Verndia pointed to his temple in an annoyed manner.

Meanwhile, Jess looked at Verndia in bewilderment.

He thought he knew who he was because he was a man with good information, but he didn’t expect him to tell his fiancée about it.

Psychke said with her still-turned back.

“I’m sorry. I think it’s better to pretend it didn’t happen.”

“I’m glad you understand. Yes, let’s pretend nothing had happened.”

“I don’t know what you want to do?”

Jess, whose affairs had gone awry in an instant, asked, exhaling a lot of air.

Verndia shrugged her shoulders.

“Because I can’t put my future sister-in-law in danger.”

Your sister-in-law?

Psychke’s eyes trembled for a moment. Jess, who hadn’t seen it, cheekily asked.

“What more do you want?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

The way to fret someone is to give and then take.

Sure enough, Jess, who had messed things up right in front of his eyes, lost his cool.

“I don’t mean to kill her.”

Verndia glanced down at the artifact in his hand. It was white.

“Even if you don’t kill, it can mean as a threat.”

“It can’t be.”

… Red. It was a lie.

‘You won’t kill but you have enough personal feelings to threaten. Was it a personal grudge?’

This makes it ambiguous to prepare a seat hastily.

Verndia sincerely frowned at him.

“How should I believe that?”

“The only thing I am afraid is the Duke.”

Jess glanced at Psychke, who was looking back.

It was a threat that he would inform the people of Silkisia that he was tracking Keitan’s necklace.

“Do it.”

Verndia was rather calm.

“If you want to regret it, feel free to.”

“All right. What do you want?”

“Hmm.”

After a moment’s pause, Verndia pretended to persuade his fiancée and put his lips to her ear.

In return, Psychke whispered the answer he had in mind.

‘- I think we can do it.’

‘Great.’

He looked at Jess, pretending to comfort his trembling fiancée.

“In an open place, where I and the princess can see. On the condition that if you do anything stupid, I will blow your throat right away. If it’s okay, we’ll do it right away.”

“I see.”

It wasn’t an immediate answer, but it wasn’t a lie either. It was also a condition where he couldn’t lie.

Assassins were brainwashed so that they would not die on their own unless they were commissioned.

It was because there were a lot of people who made such an attempt due to the shock of killing a person.

In other words, he couldn’t touch Lillian because it is their agreement.

After completing the agreement, Verndia asked for permission to talk about the necklace in secret with Jess.

“I’m sorry, but Princess, could you step aside for a moment?”

Psychke nodded her head and left.

Then she waited outside the cafe, and after seeing Jess left, he returned.

“What did you say?”

“That is…”

Verndia had a somewhat strange expression.

* *

The next day, Psychke sent Lillian a letter asking for a one-on-one meeting.

The answer came shortly thereafter.

「 “Why me?” 」

Psychke stared down at Lillian’s brief, insincere reply.

She pretended that she was a kind person but was so bland to her.

Well, everyone knew what kind of person she was, but it was better than wearing a mask.

“She moved her pen so slow.”

「 “I know you received blessing from the Holy Temple but the holy water turned black.” 」

Two people, Widnix and Verndia, officially participated in Lillian’s discernment ceremony.

At Lillian’s request, the two decided to keep the determination result a secret.

So, to Lillian, it was like a thunderbolt in the dry sky.

She immediately accepted Psychke’s offer.

“How do you know that?”

Lillian’s face was distorted seeing her up close after a while.

At first glance, Melissa’s usual flamboyant dress for her was noticeable yet under her eyes she seemed she hadn’t slept well.

‘There won’t be a farewell ceremony and necklace making.’

Due to timing, the emerald, which will be the main axis of the necklace, must have been broken by Lia’s magic.

The money was spent as it was, but nothing came in, so she must be in a pretty upset state.

‘It’s going to be difficult to make it again since the duke worked with famous craftsmen to prevent the same request from being submitted.’

If the ledger arrives here sooner or later from the Blue Moon, it will be worse. Psychke laughed inwardly.

Lillian, unaware of it, became contemplative, and she murmured.

“No way, Duke Verndia…”

“No. Isn’t it rude to say that when you’re here?”

“Then how about you?”

The fact that the holy water had turned black was ominous to anyone.

The Empire was not a country with a strong theocracy, but it was also not a weak one.

If the outcome of the discernment ceremony spreads, it is certain that the image of the poor princess who returned after all her hardships will be shattered.

Lillian trembled in her astonishment, anger, and shame.

Psychke tried to reassure her with kind words.

Even so, Lillian was indifferent to her.

“Because there are no perfect secrets in this world. I have no intention of ordering people to spread it like anyone else.”

Psychke brought up the rumor that Lillian had spread by ordering Hilvia to be a ‘foul-behaved princess’.

Without a hint of conscience, Lillian snorted at her.

“Would a rootless tree have leaves? Why are you questioning me? Rumors like that spread probably because your conduct was filthy.”

“… Fine.”

You’re not sorry for me, so I won’t be sorry for you either.

After clearing her mind, Psychke coldly parted her lips.

“I will tell you directly. Where is the necklace with the big emerald on it?”

“Emerald necklace?”

Lillian blinked her eyelids with her innocent deer eyes.

“What is that? Why are you finding something you own from me?”

“I heard that it was abandoned with you in the desert 18 years ago.”

“…!”

Lillian’s expression contorted in shock.

Before she could come back to her senses and escape the topic, Psychke said,

“Someone saw what you had right before you came to Silkisia. Speak, where did you hide it?”

“That is mine. Why are you looking for it?”

Her Lillian voice sharpened.

“Why are you taking what’s mine again after taking my father and the duke from me?”

“You know now, too, don’t you? That’s Keitan’s necklace.”

“…!”

“It looks like it will be taken away by the imperial family as evidence if caught, so you must have tried to make a fake one and exchange it with the real one, instead.”

“You… how much do you know?”

Lillian was pale as if she was showered with flour.

When her silver eyebrows and pale lips were combined, the only color left on her face was her blue eyes.

She was usually pale, but when she is like this, she seemed like a walking corpse.

Psychke suddenly remembered the words of her father, which she had overheard.

‘Lillian, she can never come back! With my own hands-!’

“Why do you bully me like this?”

Her fists, tightly gripped by the hem of her fancy skirt, trembled with rage.

Lillian yelled, distorting her face in an awkward way.

“Did I do anything to you? That was not the reason! I was just trying to get mine back. But why are you being so mean? Why?”

Her eyes flashed ferociously.

“With the thought of you, I asked father to not kick you put because I pitied you.”

“….”

“I also stopped Lenox when he tried to hit you. And when he started a rumor about you beating a soldier, I told him how hard it must had been for you!”

“Thank you so much. It brought me to tears.”

“But you!”

Lillian snapped.

“What are you? Stealing my father’s attention wasn’t enough, you even stole the duke’s attention, and now even my necklace?”

Lillian caught her deep breath. Then, raising one corner of her mouth at an angle, she sneered.

“Why, did you think that if you presented that necklace, His Majesty would look at you kindly and prevent you from being sold to Hestie?”

Her absurd words gave her a thick headache.

Psychke decided to listen quietly to see how far that absurd idea was going.

Lillian, who mistook her for her shock to have lost her speech, sighed.

“Oh, didn’t you know? Then take this opportunity to find out. You will be sold to Hestie.”

“…”

“The location is great, but the climate is so-so bad, so outsiders say it’s hard to come out alive once you enter. Well, since you’re going to be the queen, you won’t freeze to death.”

Psychke calmly drank her tea.

Lillian, whose rage intensified at her indifference, fired at her.

“What is that look? Ah- the ‘I’m engaged to the Duke of Berndia, so there’s no way I’ll be sold’. What are you trying to say? Well, the duke would value the north more than you, so how about that?”

Lillian’s eyes was filled with the joy of victory.

“Sooner or later, His Majesty the Emperor, will dispatch an order of knights on the condition of breaking the engagement. If he was me, I would have broken off the engagement right away, but I don’t know how the Duke feels.”

“I heard that the duke gave an answer right on the spot, but you seem unheard of it.”

“Oh yeah. He said he had no intention of breaking up with you. Do you believe that?”

“I believe.”

A sentence of two heavy syllables lay on the floor of silence.

Lillian’s eyes widened, as if surprised by the unwavering reaction.

However, it didn’t take long for it to bend as sharp as his fingernails.

“You are naive.”

“Think whatever you want. Where is the necklace?”

“You’re funny. Why are you looking for a necklace when you believe the duke? And do you think I will tell you that?”

“Oh. Otherwise, I intend to spread the results of your discernment.”

“You said you weren’t spreading it earlier-”

“You believed that?”

Psychke returned exactly what she had just heard.

“You are naive.”

(TN: BURN!)