CH 4

The four stood on a sloping hill, passing through jagged thorn bushes.

The ground, which had become muddy due to the rain for a few days, was suffocating that even with just one step on it, if you weren’t careful, you could easily fall over.

[Ah…]

How many times already, she wondered.

Although she said she was careful, when she saw her right foot that had fallen into the mud again, Sellonia gave an empty expression on her face.

[Lady, this way.]

[Miss Sellonia, the terrain is rough, so please hold my hand.]

[Selli, can I pick you up?]

At that moment, three voices were heard at the same time. In turn, they were Ian, Reyev, and McLion.

When she looked up, she saw all three of her men reaching out to her.

Like white clouds floating in the clear sky, they looked at her while smiling innocently and brightly.

Those smiles were so bright that they were more dazzling than the blazing sun.

[Thank you all.]

Sellonia smiled and reached out her hand. Naturally, her hand took Ian’s.

The two went hand in hand. Smiling wide like a flower in full bloom.

After that, Reyev and McLion, who hid their bitterness, followed.

Their empty hands were cold as if they were stroking their cold eyes, but it was okay. If they could be with her even like this, that was enough.

***

“Miss. Miss.”

“…”

Sellonia, who had fallen asleep, slowly opened her eyes to Ella’s voice.

She then realized.

While she was sleeping for a while, she had a dream of one of the most splendid days with them.

She worked hard all the time with them.

Since her pair had already been decided, she tried hard not to give Reyev and McLion room for nothing.

Even though she thought it was cruel, she couldn’t help it. Because I didn’t want to hurt them with an ambiguous attitude.

They were precious colleagues and friends to her.

It was all useless memories and useless relationships.

“Miss, the Duke is looking for you.”

“Father?”

“Yes. When he found out that you had missed dinner, he said he would be waiting in the dining room.”

On Ella’s delivery, Sellonia raised her body, which had been curled up on the bed, and looked out the window.

When the sun went down, it was so dark outside that she couldn’t see the garden.

After Reyev and McLion left, her head hurt, she closed her eyes for a moment, then she seemed to be asleep.

Sellonia sat right down in front of the mirror. When her father called, she had to go see him.

Duke Galloway Basin.

In the original story, he was a very caring father to his only daughter.

He loved his wife very much, and after the Duchess left first, he cherished his daughter even more.

For Sellonia was the proof and fruit that he and the Duchess were in love.

Therefore, her father strongly discouraged her when she announced that she would join the Demon King Subjugation squad.

However, he eventually followed her stubborn insistence since there are no parents who can beat their children.

Yet the daughter didn’t come back safely and was sick for three months…

Sellonia understood that her father would visit her dozens of times a day after she regained consciousness.

[Sellonia, are you okay? Are you in pain anywhere?]

She understood all the expressions on his face, full of worry and concern with the same question every day.

Ella told her that while she was collapsing, in the house, exceptionally talented doctors and healers, furthermore, even priests from all over the country came by.

It was a father’s love to save his daughter who had fallen due to unknown causes.

[Right away, that bastard…!]

[Father, calm down.]

[Are you going to calm down now?! Rude bastard! I agreed to an unwelcome engagement, but now what?]

A few days ago, her father was very angry when he heard that Ian had gone to divorce her.

Sellonia then had to sweat to stop him, who held a sword.

In the first place, the Duke of Basin didn’t like this engagement.

Ian, the male lead, looks sly like a pretty snake or something.

This was an engagement that Sellonia’s grandfather, the previous duke, proceeded to with the Duke of Cherville’s family without her father’s knowledge.

Because of this, her father told her that if she didn’t want to get engaged, she didn’t have to, yet Sellonia didn’t refuse.

As the daughter of a duke, a marriage for the prosperity of her family was natural for Sellonia.

The meeting between the Basin family, which tightly holds commerce, trade, and mining, and the Cherville family, who controls politics, has been a hot topic for a long time.

Cherville, who can control the gods of the golden family Basin, who is said to have more gold ingots than the Imperial Treasury.

If the two families were harmonious through marriage, they would dare to gain wealth and power beyond the Imperial Family.

Naturally, it was a marriage that even the Emperor had no choice but to be wary of.

It didn’t work out in the end though.

“Come to think of it, Father must have felt something…”

Sellonia murmured as her hair was brushed.

She thought that her father’s objection to Ian was just a small conflict in the original story, but suddenly she thought that it might not be.

They say that adults’ eyes are accurate.

Her father must have sensed something about Ian.

For example, this betrayal that is different from the original story.

“Miss, it’s done.”

At Ella’s words, Sellonia checked the mirror in front of her.

In the mirror was her neatly adorned face.

Although she was a little thinner than before, her skin was as clean as white paper and her eyes were blue like the sky beneath her long eyelashes.

Her nose, a little short but straight and high below, matched her characteristic small face, her cheeks as fresh as a freshly harvested apple, and her red lips plump.

Plus, her thick, wavy, rich, light purple hair.

Her face was exactly the same as that of her mother, who was admired in society.

She was so famous in the Flanagan Empire that they even said she surpassed her deceased mother.

It was a beauty that immediately convinced her why she was the female lead. She couldn’t believe she was the one who had been lying down for months.

It was thanks to the nutrient-condensed preservation magic potion, that her father fed her every single day.

She was able to walk right away thanks to that, with little muscle loss in her body.

“Let’s go. Father will be waiting for me.”

She made her way to the dining room, fluttering her shining honeytail-like mauve hair.

***

“I heard about it. You asked Finnest for information on her.”

“Yes. Father.”

Sellonia replied as she sliced the well-cooked veal in front of her.

The Finnest Guild was an information guild run by her father, Duke Basin.

Finnest, the largest information guild in the Flanagan Empire, was one of the businesses that were created during the first lordship and are still in operation.

It was thanks to the belief of the Basin family that information is both power and money.

That’s why she entrusted them with the job.

Since it’s a guild run by her family, she’ll be able to get transparent information that hasn’t been manipulated.

“Selli, do you have any regrets? If so, I’ll tell the Duke of Cherville…”

“No. No, Father.”

Selonia hurriedly raised her head at her father’s completely unexpected words.

“Absolutely not. Don’t get me wrong.”

She waved her hand and said no, but her father’s eyes were suspicious.

“Is it really? If you’re saying that because of me…”

“Father, I just want to confirm.”

“Confirm?”

“Yes. As Father knows, today Reyev and McLion came. But, what a coincidence, they also confessed to liking Lady Bennett.”

She shrugged her shoulders with a nonchalant expression. To show her father that she’s fine.

As she didn’t want her father, who must have dried up after seeing her not waking up for three months, to worry about her again.

But that didn’t mean that her heart wasn’t at all.

Even if she wanted to dismiss their betrayal like a grain of dust, she couldn’t.

Because they were friends she thought with whom she shared her heart and mind more than colleagues.

Their sudden change of heart had a huge impact on her.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, yet she also felt guilty about doing something wrong.

‘Was their feelings towards me only for the sake of the original story’s progress…’

It even made her think so.

Her request for information about Grace Bennett was partly because she didn’t want to blame herself.

She didn’t care whether Grace was suspicious or not.

If she’s suspicious, she’s the cause they changed, and if she isn’t, it’s simply that people’s minds have changed.

Maybe she just wanted to confirm that she wasn’t at fault while looking for problems outside.

“What? These bastards just!”

Throwing away the sword Duke Basin was holding, he jumped to his feet.

He emitted a fearsome energy, I won’t let those who dare to hurt my daughter live.

“Father, I’m fine, so please finish your meal. I’m still hungry.”

“What? That won’t do. LeBell! Come on, bring more meat! Hurry!”

Galloway, the Duke of Basin, who had lost his temper, hurriedly ordered the chef at the word of her daughter that she was hungry.

Sellonia smiled softly at her father’s affection, which she felt instantly.

She didn’t know how lucky she was to have a family who always supported her at times like this.

“Selli, I heard from the servants that you seem less energetic these days than before. In times like these, you should eat better. Don’t skip it because you don’t have an appetite.”

“Yes. I’ll take good care of myself. Anyway, the timing was perfect as if it were planned, so I was just curious to find out.”

“Yes. It’s definitely a bit strange. Find out as soon as possible.”

“Thank you, Father.”

Feeling reassured that her father was the head of the information guild, Sellonia munched the tender meat in her mouth.

As her father said, she should eat well at times like this. It was her own loss if she had to starve.

“Selli, how about taking a little break from work? There is still time left for the leave of absence. At this point, quitting work…”

“First of all, I will take a break as much as I took the leave of absence. I’ll think about quitting a little more.”

She flatly refused her father’s offer to quit.

Originally, she was attending a healing center run by the Imperial Family in order to utilize her innate healing ability.

She should have returned to the healing center after the Demon King’s subjugation, but her father gave her a leave of absence because she collapsed.

Six months, the longest period that could never be allowed without the Emperor’s approval.

As expected of a diamond spoon.

“Yes. I see. And talking about that. His Imperial Majesty wants to host your celebration.”

The Duke, who had nodded at his determined daughter’s answer, opened his mouth.

“A celebration?”

“Since you couldn’t attend the victory ceremony, he’s saying that he wants to at least praise your hard work like this.”

Victory ceremony.

She had heard that talk.

When they killed the Demon King and returned to the capital, the Emperor held a large-scale victory ceremony.

The victory ceremony, which continued throughout the week, was said to be as large and splendid as the Emperor’s birthday banquet.

She couldn’t attend because she herself had collapsed and was wandering between life and death.

She heard that Ian, Reyev, and McLion attended the victory ceremony.

“If your body is struggling, I will talk to His Imperial Majesty.”

“No. He acknowledges my hard work and congratulates me on my recovery, but I can’t refuse.”

There was no reason to refuse to do it.

“Alright. I’ll tell His Imperial Majesty. By the way, Ian, what are you going to do with him? I heard you got a written oath when he broke off the engagement.”

“Ah, that one?”

Sellonia grinned as she took out the freshly grilled meat from Chef LeBell.

“I have an idea.”