CH 88

Citrina was ushered into Duke Pietro’s reception room. Harold, who was escorting her, looked as if he wanted to say something to her.

“Tonight’s dinner will be a formal affair, Lady Citrina.”

“Thank you, Harold.”

“Not at all! It’s a day where everyone can be together, so I should be diligent.”

He hummed as he led Citrina into the reception room. It was like watching an overjoyed new groom.

‘His attitude has become strangely burdensome.’

But it wasn’t Harold’s attitude that was a problem, but the final words of the baroness.

Genfiros, Elaina, Desian, and the curse.

All of these things swirled around in her head.

And the last thing that lingered like an afterimage was the baroness’s expression of dread. If not for the sudden drop of the teaspoon, Citrina would have heard the answer on the baroness’s lips.

-Gemma.

It was obvious Gemma meant to drop the teaspoon.

-Why did you do that before?

-I, I just wanted you to be happy!

Gemma began fidgeting around. She flickered around the table.

Looking at Gemma, Citrina whispered to herself.

-So if I heard what the baroness was going to say earlier, I would be unhappy?

Gemma stopped dead in her tracks.

Citrina licked her lips.

She hadn’t planned to pry, but when everyone else kept covering it up, it made her curious.

What could that vicious rumor be? They all seemed to know, but everyone wanted her to stay ignorant.

Citrina whispered to herself.

-I can only imagine what the rumors are about.

She didn’t believe in rumors. However, there was the information guild’s brief report, plus the baroness’s comments. Not to mention Gemma’s attitude.

-Are you suspicious?

-Yeah. But I’m having trouble deciding if my suspicions are reasonable.

-Well…

Gemma swallowed hard.

It was then.

With a click, the door to the reception room opened in a flash.

Desian’s footsteps were more dull and regular. So, naturally, it wasn’t Desian who entered.

“Citrina! I missed you!”

She hadn’t expected Aaron to be here.

Citrina tried to get up to greet him, but there was no need. Aaron was at her side, hopping like a rabbit.

“Aaron!”

Aaron waved wildly in her face before plopping down on the couch across from her.

“I’m afraid I smell like sweat after training.”

She got the feeling he would have sat next to her if he didn’t smell like sweat.

It was really cute.

Citrina laughed and shook her head.

“You don’t smell like sweat, and even if you did, I wanted to see you.”

“Oh? You were waiting to see me? I’ve been too busy with my training!”

“What have you been up to?”

He told her about all of the work he had been doing as a knight. It seemed he really had been busy. Citrina listened to Aaron’s chattering with amusement.

He shook his head in frustration, muttering how difficult it was to be a knight.

He sounded like a kid at times like this.

Citrina smiled and spoke up.

“I’m curious about something.”

Not knowing what Citrina would ask, Aaron shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah, you can ask me anything! I’m a second-class graduate of the Selene Knights Academy.”

At Aaron’s proud face, Citrina spoke in a flat tone.

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“I heard there are some bad rumors about Duke Pietro.”

“…Oh?”

Aaron was as stiff as Gemma. While looking at Aaron, Gemma shook her head in disbelief.

-Ah, what a fool. He’s so obvious.

…You did the same thing a minute ago.

Citrina smiled at Aaron, who was oddly trying to avoid meeting her eyes.

“What kind of rumor is that?”

“I just know there’s rumors going around. I really don’t know what it’s about. It seems like the people the rumors are talking about don’t know about them.”

“No, it looks like you know more than I do.”

Aaron suddenly began to sweat profusely.

“…Oh?”

“I’m just curious.”

“Oh…curious? Why?”

Aaron asked, half puzzled, half expectant.

Citrina immediately guessed the truth. He was preventing the bad rumors from spreading, and he didn’t want Citrina to hear them.

“…Well, I don’t think you need to hear it. It’s only rumors.”

“Aaron.”

“Yeah?”

His shoulders that were relaxed earlier slumped down, dejected. Citrina looked at Aaron with a small smile.

“I like Desian.”

“…Oh?”

“Since I like him, I don’t believe the rumors. I’m just curious about it.”

Aaron’s mouth dropped open.

“Because he’s a really good guy.”

“Th, that’s right. He’s really good to you, isn’t he, Citrina?”

“Yeah. So you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Citrina slowly bit her lip. Aaron was looking at her with a guilty look in his eyes.

Citrina looked into Aaron’s eyes, eyes that were similar yet slightly off from Desian’s.

Aaron bit his lips roughly and looked at her.

“Well, that is…ack.”

Aaron ran a hand through his hair.

‘…is it really something you can’t say?’

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If he couldn’t say it, don’t say it. It’s not like it was that important. She was simply curious about these vicious rumors everyone seemed to know.

‘Honestly, I’m more curious because they’re hiding it like this.’

Aaron sat across from her on the sofa, rubbing his head against the back cushion. It was strangely cute that Aaron was suffering like that.

Still, she didn’t need to know.

But before Citrina could open her mouth, the door to the reception room opened once more.

-step, step-

The door swung open silently, but the heels of his shoes made his footsteps fall heavily.

Aaron’s head shot up as if his savior had arrived.

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s nothing, brother.”

Aaron scrambled to his feet and straightened up. Citrina brought a hand to the corner of her mouth and giggled.

Desian’s gaze met hers.

“It’s really nothing, Del.”

The moment she spoke, facing him, Desian’s entire field of vision was captivated by her. Even Citrina could notice the difference

His eyes fluttered languidly as he smiled.

-See, he really likes you.

Gemma whispered, so low that it was barely audible.

Citrina was impressed. It seemed like a statue was smiling. It was almost too good to be true.

He slowly approached where she was sitting. In an instant, Desian was sitting right next to her.

“I didn’t realize you were here, Rina.”

Desian tucked her flowing hair behind her ear. His white fingertips lightly touched her earlobe.

Citrina looked up at him and smiled brightly.

“I missed you.”

He didn’t know how to respond at first.

Desian, who had imitated her, looked like a big, shy dog.

Across from Citrina, Aaron’s mouth dropped open.

Citrina suddenly remembered Aaron was in the room too. She snapped back to reality.

She had to tell him why she had come by here.

“Ah, I need to talk to you.”

Citrina glanced at the door to see if the entrance to the reception room was tightly closed.

Fortunately, it was sealed shut. Relieved, Citrina began to tell her tale.

“Baroness Foluin came to see me earlier.”

“Are you okay?”

Aaron asked, jumping like a rabbit with its tail on fire. Desian leaned back comfortably. Based on his lack of surprise, he had heard everything from his knights.

“Yeah, I’m alright.”

Desian seemed to realize that Citrina wasn’t very agitated. Nevertheless, Desian wrapped his chilly fingers around her even colder hand.

It made her hand feel strangely warm, even as it grew colder and colder.

Citrina kept her eyes down and spoke in a low voice.

“It went well. I have more important matters to attend to.”

“Oh, oh….”

Aaron, who didn’t yet know the whole incident, made a dumb sound. His eyes fixed on Desian and Citrina comfortably holding hands.

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“Aaron, are you listening?”

“Yeah, I’m listening.”

He blinked his large eyes as he spoke.

Citrina briefly explained what had happened, from what Baroness Foluin had said up till now.

When Citrina was done explaining, Aaron spoke quietly.

“I don’t understand.”

“What is it?”

“Curses harm the one who uses them, yet a paladin is using them?”

Citrina remembered the original work all of a sudden. Aaron had ceaselessly studied and taught himself about curses in order to prove that the twins were not cursed.

“That means the curse giver is going to die as well.”

“You’re probably right.”

“Those people are crazy.”

Citrina thought that was a definite possibility.

Elaina had boarded a runaway locomotive called Vengeance. The conductor was likely Genfiros, her boss. She didn’t know how it had come to this.

Was it due to brainwashing?

But there was no time to think about Elaina. She didn’t have the time or place to convince her sister.

She had to survive and protect her friends, the dwarves, the animal people, the spirits, and all the other species that the church denounced.

Citrina let go of Desian’s hand. She fiddled with the pendant she always wore around her neck.

“I want to respond in a way that harms as few people as possible.”

“I have something in mind, Rina. And…Aaron.”

“What is it, brother?”

Aaron whispered, turning red. He wiped the sweat from his brow. He really did look like a sweet male lead from a romance novel. Just as Citrina was admiring him a bit,

-grumble, grumble-

At that moment, Aaron’s stomach growled.

“Then we’ll talk over dinner!”

She happened to be hungry too.

“Shall we, Rina?”

“Yeah.”

“Aaron.”

Desian looked at Aaron and smiled. At the mention of his name, Aaron clutched his stomach, looking embarrassed.

“Oh, I’m busy, so I won’t be able to stay for dinner.”

Aaron blinked rapidly and stuttered. Citrina tilted her head to the side.

“But it sounds like you’re hungry?”

Even though his stomach had growled, he couldn’t bear to say he was hungry.

Aaron seemed to realize it as well. And yet, he stammered back.

“…Yeah. I just remembered that there was training.”

“You can’t even eat dinner?”

It bothered her.

Aaron’s complexion turned pale as Citrina continued to talk.

“Yeah, I’m busy.”

“You’re very busy.”

“…Yeah. So I guess I’ll have to leave without dinner.”

Aaron said he apparently had to leave, but it looked like he was dragging his feet. Citrina watched him walk away slowly.

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“I’ll see you later then.”

“Yeah, catch you later!”

Aaron waved, tail wagging, as he slammed the door behind him.

What was going on with Aaron?

That small question sprang forth, but Citrina pushed it away at once. That’s because Desian’s hand touched her shoulder

It was a loving touch.

Instead of making her blush, it warmed her heart. She leaned her head awkwardly against his shoulder.

It was the first time she had been so excited, so nervous.

She leaned into his warmth, forgetting about dinner. It was a sweet, lovely day.

Until that evening, when she saw “that” sword in Desian’s hand.