CH 64

After leaving the magic lab, Aster frowned at the musty smell that lingered on his body.

“How should I take care of it?”

“Treat him enough for him not to die. I’m only going to treat him like that for the length of time he borrowed money in the name of the Waieos family, no more, no less.”

“Are you saying… until seven years later?”

Aster, who was walking in the hallway, looked back at Louis. His red eyes glistened as if they contained madness.

“Why? Do you think it’s too much?”

“I don’t think it’s too much, but I think it’s a waste. Is it necessary to use up your energy on such a person?”

“What I had done to his legs and arms wasn’t enough to pay off the debt he had owed so far.”

“Hmm.”

“The Viscount’s wife and daughter were also sold as slaves because of him, so shouldn’t we give the Viscount a chance to pay for his sins? Only then is it fair.”

Aster brushed his red lips with his thumb and smiled languidly. “I can’t neglect the price of his sin to save me trouble. Moreover, it is his sins against Lusi.”

In the end, he meant that he had no intention of killing him comfortably. Even though Louis fully understood his feelings, he couldn’t get rid of the thought that how it was handled was terrifying.

Perhaps he had guessed it. Aster stopped and stared Louis in the face. “Do you think my punishment is too cruel?”

“It’s not without excess.”

“I don’t think so.” Aster’s expression twisted grotesquely as he twisted his lips. “I’m holding back so much right now, Old Man. I barely hold back from wanting to shave off each piece of his flesh, marinate it, and stick it in his mouth.”

“…Your Excellency.”

“If it weren’t for him!” Aster’s red eyes flashed with murderous intent. “Lusi wouldn’t be like that. No, her situation could be even more disastrous. Do you still think I’m doing too much?”

“…”

“I’ve given enough consideration to him right now. It’s only because my Lusi is alive and breathing in this mansion.”

Aster smiled, putting his face close to Louis’s. “In front of Lusi, I can’t let her smell this dirty and unpleasant smell, right?”

The eyes that Louis encountered were overflowing with endless murderous intent. He replied with a reluctant sigh. “…My thoughts were small.”

With a satisfied smile, Aster began to walk again as if he had never done so.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Camilla’s room. In front of Camilla stood a maid with her head bowed, shaking as if her neck had been put on the guillotine.

“So, they hadn’t met?”

The maid, who clasped her hands tightly, answered with a slight bite on her lips. “For the time being, they said she won’t go to work.”

“Hmm, really?”

Camilla smiled softly and looked in the mirror in front of her. Unlike her smiling lips, her eyes weren’t smiling at all. That made her look even scarier.

“Is that all?”

“N-no. As Lady said, I ordered flowers for the ball to be held in fifteen days.”

“Good job. Did you tell them to ensure that woman would be in charge?”

“Yes, Lady.”

Only then did Camilla’s eyes fold as if she were satisfied. The tips of the maid’s hand, who was getting her hair done behind her back, trembled slightly.

“I can check her face on that day.”

She sent a knight to find out where Noel was heading, but that knight went missing. Only recently was she able to figure out where Noel was heading. The place he went to is called ‘Fragrant Garden.’

At first, she was so stunned that she couldn’t speak properly. A servant planted in the Klaus Viscounty told her, but to be honest, she didn’t believe everything. However, Camilla had to admit that the place where Noel headed every day was the commoner’s area, and at the end of that place was the ‘Fragrant Garden.’

That place must be really special. That was probably because Noel went to the ‘Fragrant Garden’ branch in the commoner district instead of the main branch.

Camilla murmured, sweeping away her red lips. “What was her name again?”

“It’s Lusi, Lady.”

“Uselessly… it’s a good name to remember.”

Camilla stopped the maid’s hand and lifted her hair ornament. The  emerald hair ornament sparkled brilliantly in stark contrast to her red hair. She put the hair ornament in her hand on her head, drooping the corners of her mouth.

“Still—”

The burdensome colorful hair ornament flashed strongly as if devouring the light. Camilla, who was staring at it, soon smiled satisfactorily and said, “It’s so common that it’s easy to forget.”

Camilla’s red lips curved eerily as if recalling the excitement of that day.

* * *

When Aster returned to his office after leaving for a while, the sun was already half down. Unlike usual, his face looked very tired, but it seemed dark this time as if something big had happened. But Elusiana didn’t ask. He would tell her first if she needed to know anything. 

“Good job. You can go home for today.”

Elusiana left the Grand Duchy Sestein with a feeling of uneasy, left behind. Even as she climbed into the prepared carriage, she briefly regretted that she should have asked the grand duke if something was wrong. However,

It’s presumptuous meddling.

Elusiana closed her eyes, pushing away the anxiety that clung to her like soot. And after a while, she arrived at her destination, Fragrant Garden.

“Thank you.”

After confirming that the carriage of Grand Duke Sestein was leaving, Elusiana took out the key to her store. It was quite late, and the store door was already closed.

Creek. Elusiana, who opened the door and entered the store, somehow put her mind at ease. It was as if she had visited her hometown, which languidly released her tension. She swept the table’s surface with my finger stains and smiled as if wet with emotion.

“It’s only been a few days since I didn’t come here.”

Her longing was like she hadn’t come here for months or years. It was time for Elusiana to smirk at the unspeakable affection. Suddenly, the store door burst open, and a disturbance came in.

“Lusi!”

“…Noel?”

Noel, who came running like a puppy welcoming his owner, suddenly hugged her.

“Gasp!”

“Lusi! Where the hell have you been all this time? Do you know how much I missed you?”

Elusiana, pressed by the tight grip that gave her no time to breathe, tapped his arm mercilessly. “What are you doing? Won’t you release this hand right now?”

Elusiana screamed and looked at Noel’s face, releasing the force she had in her hand. Her flushed face was more lovely than any face he had ever seen.

“I knew it was a lie.”

Noel folded his eyes gently, smiling and leaning his forehead on her shoulder.

“What do you mean by lie? Rather, wait a minute— Get away from me, Noel. Why are you burying your face in someone else’s shoulder?”

“For a moment. Stay like this for a moment, Lusi. Okay?”

Elusiana put on a puzzled expression when she saw Noel clinging to her excessively after not seeing each other for a few days.

“Calm down for now, Noel.”

“How can I calm down? Do you know how many times I’ve been here in the past few days?”

Elusiana asked back in a slightly discouraged voice as Noel, who raised his head, shouted, holding her shoulders. “Uh… How many times have you come here?”

“Ha, look. You have no idea. I always visited two or three times a day. I wanted to see your face.”

Elusiana was slightly surprised. Although Noel usually visited her every day, she couldn’t understand why he was constantly looking for her even though she wasn’t there. She asked with a face full of doubt. “Um, did we promise to meet separately?”

“Do we have to promise to meet?”

“Do we?”

“It’s not like that. I was wondering why you came every day.”

“Ha. Why? Are you asking because you really don’t know? I can’t believe you quit working here.”

Noel, who nervously swept the hair that covered his eyes, frowned. For a moment, she was surprised by the angry expression on his face.

“I quit working here?”

“Is it no?”

“Of course not. I’m the owner of this store. Noel knows that, right?”

Noel frowned slightly on the nose and let out a deep sigh. He believed it wasn’t like that, but he was somehow relieved to hear it directly from her. At least as long as this store exists, she won’t disappear.

“But who said that?”

“No, forget it. I guess something happened to my ears. Seeing that, I listened to the nonsense and worried about you. In the meantime, really—”

Noel stretched out his words and looked through Elusiana’s scarlet eyes. “I missed you a lot, Lusi.”

His purple eyes looked straight ahead and sank deeply. That gaze was so serious and sticky. That action suffocated her breath.