CH 125

Johann quickly wrote a reply note and handed it to Seryl.

〈I’ll serve you a lot of your favorite food. I’ll give you a pretty stamp too.

I’ll be waiting.〉

The content of the note was too sweet and kind for him to be a bad guy.

Was all this acting?

Or was there another side to Johann, like the far side of the moon?

‘What I’m seeing is only half of him…?’

‘Or maybe I’m overreacting to Innocent.’

As I thought that, I slowly crumpled up the note.

‘But this intuition has never been wrong.’

I had a unique sense after suffering through many deaths.

It was like the survival instinct of a human who had died so much that life was rather precious.

So even the smallest clue could not be overlooked.

‘I’ll see today. What is the true form of Johann?’

I organized my thoughts as I looked at the public hearing where the uproar ended.

One by one, people were talking about Deborah and walking away.

How she fell, even after going from baroness to duchess.

The story of the queen, who used her own public hearing as a means to bring down her opponents, also ignited like a spark.

I was already preparing for the next one.

“You should go first. I need to sit down and think about something for a while.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The three chicks quietly followed the nobles out.

‘How long has it been?’

Rixus, who had been talking to Ires for too long, finally sent his lieutenant away and came to me.

“It was great today, Miss.”

I laughed lightly at his shameless way of speaking.

“It would have been difficult if it hadn’t been for a certain Crown Prince.”

“Oh my, you’re beautiful, and even humble…”

Rixus smiled, took my hand and helped me to my feet.

“Let’s have dinner together. Eat and go for a walk.”

“I’m sorry, I have an appointment today.”

Rixus asked right away.

(Note: 3rd person from here on till the end of this scene.)

“With who?”

It was not just an appointment to eat.

The last time he caught her in the garden and they parted — there was still a story left between the two of them.

Rixus had asked for a meal for that conversation.

It was a matter that was delayed for a while because she was busy with preparations for the public hearing, but that did not mean that the problem went away.

She was still hiding something from him.

If he got the ‘Portrait of Madame Artingus’, he might know it, but…

Before that, he had a strong desire to hear from her mouth.

By the way.

She was rather cruel.

“I have an appointment with Archduke Marquis.”

“…….”

Rixus’ beautiful eyebrows rose.

“It’s a bit too much to make me jealous at times like this.”

“…What do you mean a time like this?”

When Berylia asked, Rixus took one step closer and whispered while keeping his gaze tight.

“We’re going to… a long time…”

“….…”

Berylia’s expression faltered for a moment, then returned to her usual composure. He could tell just by looking at her.

That she was having a hard time because she couldn’t tell him right away.

‘You’re going to kill someone.’

Could there be a woman who was so indecisive?

Although they confirmed each other’s minds and even mixed their bodies, there was still a certain space between them.

Even though they were on the same boat, he couldn’t reach her heart.

Between her and himself, the vast space that Berylia had created.

Rixus felt like he would rather drown in that space.

“…Why are you still jealous? We’re already married. You don’t have to be jealous of other men anymore.”

“Don’t meet him.”

He narrowed his eyes as if complaining.

“I won’t allow it.”

Berylia had already read that he was in a bad mood.

‘That’s understandable.’

So she comforted him a little softly. Her hand gently stroked his hair.

“It’s because Archduke Marquis has the things I need.”

These were words to comfort him.

“And I’ll have to get your permission…? For a simple meal like this?”

This was a fact.

However, as usual, Rixus did not lose today because his judgment was twisted.

“You should listen to your husband, my wife.”

He thought this statement was something Berylia would definitely hate.

But unexpectedly, Berylia gently smiled and looked at him.

At the smile he saw for the first time in a long while, Rixus’ heart fluttered fiercely for a moment.

She whispered with her pretty lips.

“Isn’t that who I should be listening carefully to?”

‘……Why, because you’re the wife and I’m the husband?’

Her hand caressed Rixus’ cheek and tapped his chin.

Then she whispered seductively.

“Because it’s regarding my dog.”

It seemed that she had already learned how to handle him.

Rixus glanced around, then naturally went behind the curtain where there was no one around, pulled Berylia back and hugged her.

“!”

Then he hit back as if threatening.

“……If you leave it as it is now, it bites, Miss.”

The tenacious gaze and his eyes that were darkened by his desire made Berylia’s heart beat rapidly.

She already knew where he liked to bite.

“Dogs live to see their master.”

His already thinned eyes narrowed dangerously.

“You have to give it a lot of love… and let it go for a walk without missing a day.”

His fine, sharp nose rubbed on the nape of her neck.

He whispered in an arrogant voice that was not at all submissive.

“On the bed, Master.”

“!”

For a moment, Berylia’s heart pounded as if it was about to fall out.

‘Have you ever seen a dog so impudent to ask for a walk in bed?’

Berylia’s face quickly turned bright red.

“…I’ll play with you when I get back.”

“I don’t know if you’ll think of me because you’re eating with a handsome man, Candy.”

“I’m mostly thinking of you.”

“….…”

That candid confession felt like it bruised Rixus’s chest for a moment.

Berylia whispered sweetly.

“I will be back.”

She made him adore her in an instant, then she slipped out of his arms.

“…….”

Rixus looked at her back and realized.

‘She keeps secrets.’

‘She always runs away and pushes away.’

…….The reason why he couldn’t help but love her so desperately.

* * *

“Your Majesty, I can’t believe you asked me for a meal so early…”

“……”

“I think the video stone has done its job very well.”

Johann couldn’t hide his happy face as he told me so.

It was clear that he had no idea what I had in mind when I got here.

“Yes. It worked, Archduke.”

I sat down in the parlor calmly and continued speaking.

“I was so sick and tired after seeing that video letter, I wanted to finish the meals quickly.”

Johann touched his chest, reacting playfully as if injured.

“Ouch.”

“Am I being too honest?”

“Honesty is your strength. Though it breaks my heart.”

Sitting across from me, he picked up a teacup, smiling softly.

I carefully observed Johann’s face.

‘He doesn’t seem like a really bad person.’

‘What secret is there to a man who can smile like such a gentle boy?’

He was a bit strict, but he had always been kind to me.

I glanced at ‘Innocent’ again. I had been eyeing it since I came in earlier.

‘I can’t even see a corner of the holy relics.’

Innocent’s vivid leaves were beautiful, and the stems were very thick.

There were no traces of the yellow dried leaves that I had seen in the video.

However, the scene I saw in the video was clearly etched in my mind.

It was a scene that gave me a bad and strange feeling.

“……”

I stared silently into Johann’s black eyes opposite me.

‘……Why was it easy for me to believe him?’

It was not simply because he was described as a good character in the original.

One of the real reasons was that I was a ‘reader’ who enjoyed reading novels before my possession.

I knew very well how most novels flowed.

Due to the structure of novels, when the final boss died, no worse villain appeared.

I thought that I, myself… ‘Berylia’, she was the ‘final villain’ of the novel.

I never thought there would be another villain.

‘Even though I haven’t read to the end……’

Wasn’t that how novels usually went?

‘If you’re a minor villain, there’s no way you can keep hiding your identity.’

The minor villains were revealed transparently in the beginning.

If a character had been described as a ‘good person’ in the beginning, unless he or she was a very, very bad person, he would continue to be a ‘good person’.

The later the character was introduced, the more likely it was that he or she was a bad guy.

So I didn’t think that there could be a worse villain in the case where ‘Berylia’ existed.

Maybe I was arrogant as a veteran reader.

‘……But, if I didn’t understand the original very well.’

If I had misunderstood.

‘If Johann is really hiding something……?’

It wouldn’t be at a level that could be taken lightly.

‘He can be a vicious human being that I can’t handle.’

That was why, I, today…

I came prepared to reveal all of his identity.

Johann was expecting a meal with me, not anticipating anything else.

“I told them to prepare all the favorite dishes of Your Majesty the Queen. Even the finest desserts.”

“Archduke Marquis.”

He looked at me normally, raising his eyes that were like the night sky under his black hair.

“Yes?”

I asked without hesitation.

“Has ‘Innocent’ ever withered in this house?”

Sharp questions were the most fatal when thrown at random.

“….…”

Johann’s dark pupils momentarily…

…remarkably expanded.