EWEML 24

Chapter 24

A few days later.

“So no one is interested at all.”

After receiving information about the land in the central region, I came to that conclusion.

Just as I expected.

It was only natural. The land wouldn’t become valuable until several years later.

As expected, the future was in real estate!

“Start buying up small plots of land around there under an alias.”

At my words, Fiele lowered her head.

“I will convey the order immediately.”

She then gestured to a nearby maid. The maid was one of the servants stationed on the fourth floor.

After observing things for a while, I became certain.

The Argenta people on the fourth floor were completely different from those on the third floor and below.

I was beginning to understand why Dielo had said that the people on the fourth floor were the only ones I could trust.

For one thing, it was as though there were an invisible wall around the fourth floor. The servants rarely went up there without permission.

And those who freely came and went on the fourth floor were, unlike the other servants, people of higher standing who knew how to keep their mouths shut.

“And don’t forget to use my money to buy it.”

I reminded her once again.

Dielo already knew about my plans for the future, and he would probably learn even more eventually, but I would feel guilty if I used Argenta’s money.

“Oh, and one more thing.”

I had almost forgotten something important.

I gave Fiele another order.

“If Argenta’s informants can create a new commoner identity for me, I think they should be able to. What do you think?”

At that, Fiele asked,

“You mean a forged identity?”

“I can’t go all the way there and still be Krua Alloze.”

Just as I pointed toward the location on the map—

“Krua.”

At that moment, a small knock sounded along with my name.

When I looked toward the door, Dielo was peeking his face through the gap.

His fine, jet-black hair shimmered beneath the room’s lights.

And the ocean-blue eyes visible between those strands of hair were even more striking.

“Krua, may I come in?”

He was already halfway inside. Was he really asking me now?

I couldn’t help laughing.

“Come in.”

Only after receiving my permission did Dielo fully step into my office.

Then he noticed the map spread across my desk.

“……”

His blue eyes examined the map.

His gaze settled on the very center of it.

“Are you really going there?”

At his question, I shrugged.

“I have to go. Once the real Pero arrives, she’ll inevitably be bothered by the former wife being—”

Wait.

I suddenly stopped speaking.

Hadn’t it already been quite some time since I saved Rederius Argenta?

The real Pero should be arriving soon.

……No, shouldn’t she have arrived already?

“—You could just remain an Argenta.”

Dielo suddenly finished my sentence.

For a moment, I blinked, wondering what he meant, and then burst out laughing.

“You want to welcome a new wife while the former wife is still living in Argenta?”

At that, Dielo’s blue eyes blinked several times.

“Yes. Would that be a problem?”

His blue eyes sparkled with pure innocence.

I was dumbfounded.

Even if I left this mansion, the fact that his former wife was staying at Argenta itself would surely bother Pero.

Besides, I’d heard that Pero had quite the temper.

“They say there are no friends between a man and a woman. How exactly are you planning to explain this?”

Pero needed to genuinely share feelings with Dielo in order to fully awaken the head of the family’s ability.

If Pero couldn’t open her heart to Dielo, then it was all over.

Besides, noble society in this world was the kind of place where merely seeing a man and woman together could cause a scandal.

And he wanted to keep his former wife at Argenta?

“Hmm……”

At my words, Dielo tilted his head as if thinking.

If I remained at Argenta even after Pero arrived—

Setting aside the gaze of Cartiel, who would discover that I was a fake, or Alloze, whose plans would be exposed, there would be more than one problem.

Above all, there was Dielo’s new wife, the real Pero.

If Pero found my presence bothersome, what could I possibly say in response?

“I’ll introduce you simply as an Argenta.”

Dielo suddenly spoke.

He smiled brightly.

“Become an Argenta, Krua. It wouldn’t be strange for an Argenta to remain at Argenta.”

“Oh, dear.”

In the end, I pressed my throbbing temples.

I had no intention of getting caught in the middle of some love triangle.

I waved my hand.

“I’ll politely decline. My goal is to enjoy a peaceful retirement.”

“What if it’s peaceful?”

Dielo immediately picked up on my words.

I answered without hesitation.

“I refuse to be the woman caught between a new wife and her ex-husband. I refuse to be called the former wife. And—”

If I got divorced, wouldn’t the social circles become noisy as well?

Especially because the social world didn’t know Pero’s secret, they would probably assume that Dielo and I had simply fallen out and broken off our marriage, yet I was still clinging to Argenta.

I waved my hand dismissively.

“I refuse to be in a position where I have to worry about the new wife, and I absolutely refuse to have my name circulating through high society. So there’s only one way, isn’t there?”

I held up my index finger and waved it in front of him.

“I have to leave this place.”

Was there really any other option?

At my words, Dielo rubbed the corner of his mouth awkwardly.

“……”

His silent expression was filled with disappointment.

With that kind of affectionate personality, how was he planning to survive in this harsh world?

I let out a deep sigh.

“Still, I’ll come visit from time to time.”

Dielo seemed far too disappointed.

I gave him a small smile.

“Ah.”

While talking, I’d almost forgotten to ask something important.

“But there really isn’t any news about the real Pero?”

I desperately wanted to ask outright why she hadn’t arrived when she was supposed to, but I couldn’t do that.

Dielo slowly shook his head.

“Not yet.”

Not yet?

I almost asked again without thinking.

Had I calculated the timing incorrectly?

Or had I remembered the order of events wrong?

That couldn’t be.

It had already been quite some time since I saved Rederius Argenta. There definitely should have been news about the real Pero by now.

In the original story, around this point, Dielo Argenta welcomed the real Pero and discovered that Krua Alloze was a fake Pero.

After that, the uncomfortable marital relationship between the real Pero and Dielo Argenta began.

Unfortunately, the original story was mainly narrated from the perspective of the Alloze family’s maids, so I never learned exactly why the two had such an uncomfortable relationship.

But then again, just because two people were destined partners didn’t mean they would necessarily be comfortable around each other.

“Not even a little news?”

When I asked again, Dielo gave a slight nod.

“No.”

What on earth was going on?

The only major thing I’d changed from the original story so far was saving Rederius Argenta.

What did that have to do with the timing of Pero’s arrival?

Where had things started going wrong?

A strange sense of incongruity lingered in my mind.

“……I hope she comes soon.”

But for now, it was time to back off.

“Me too.”

Dielo gave a small smile, looking disappointed as well, before turning around.

I watched his back as he walked away, then suddenly had a strange thought.

……But what did he actually come here to say?

That afternoon.

The peaceful mansion was suddenly filled with the sound of galloping hooves and commotion.

“Huh?”

I instinctively looked outside.

Dielo was there.

Wearing the knights’ uniform he only wore when setting out on a mission, he was hurriedly riding away somewhere.

The knights following him charged after him in a large group, kicking up clouds of dust.

Was he heading toward the Endless Sea?

Just as I was wondering about it, a maid hurried over.

“My lady.”

“Is something happening outside?”

At my question, the maid bowed her head.

“There has been an incident along the border of the Endless Sea, so the head of the family has apparently departed in haste.”

The third and fourth districts had been noisy lately, so there was no reason to assume that trouble couldn’t break out somewhere else.

I nodded slightly.

“He ordered me to tell you not to worry.”

The maid said this to me with a cautious expression.

When he went to the fourth district, he had left without even having time to say anything. At least this time, he seemed to have had enough presence of mind to leave a message.

“All right.”

There shouldn’t be any major incidents before Pero arrived, so there was no reason to worry.

I nodded slowly, then raised my eyebrows slightly.

But seriously, hadn’t it already been time for Pero to arrive?

My thoughts had become unnecessarily complicated.

In the end, I put down the documents about Argenta that I had been reading.

―Rattle.

As I pushed back my chair and stood up, Fiele approached me.

“My lady?”

“I can’t concentrate. Let’s take a walk.”

Fiele immediately bowed her head.

“I will accompany you.”

Apparently, it had been obvious that I couldn’t concentrate.

Fiele willingly guided me into the corridor.

It was evening, and a cool breeze was blowing.

The wide windows along the corridor had been opened completely, so the view wasn’t bad either.

―Whoosh……

As I watched the wind blow through, I fell into thought.

If the real Pero came to Argenta herself—

She probably already knew that Dielo had married her, so she would try to enter very cautiously.

If, on the other hand, Argenta found her and brought her here, there was no way I wouldn’t hear about it.

Either way, there was no way things could be this quiet.

―Tap, tap.

I crossed the corridor and descended the stairs. I thought I would take a look at the gardens in the evening.

But then—

“Huh?”

When I reached the first floor, I suddenly stopped.

The knights on the first floor seemed somewhat different from usual.

Of course, it was impossible for me to remember the faces of every Argenta who came and went through the mansion.

But there was no way I wouldn’t recognize the knights I frequently saw on the fourth floor.

These knights were normally stationed on the fourth floor.

“Why are the fourth-floor people here?”

Fiele answered briefly.

“The head of the family ordered them to be stationed here.”

“Dielo?”

I raised my eyebrows.

He couldn’t have suddenly reinforced the first-floor defenses just because he was leaving, could he?

Just as I felt something strange—

“My lady!”

An urgent voice came from above.

A fourth-floor maid was hurrying down the stairs.

“From the head of the family’s study……!”

The study should have been empty at the moment.

Perhaps she’d gone in to clean it, because the maid was holding a white cloth in her hand.

“The contract is burning in the head of the family’s study!”

“What? Why would that suddenly—”

I was about to ask when I suddenly stopped.

―Whoosh!

I remembered Mirta’s contract, which had burst into blue flames and disappeared the moment Dielo finished signing it.

“Don’t tell me…… Mirta’s contract?”

Mirta—the person who had left Argenta not long ago.

A fourth-floor servant who had signed a blood contract promising never to reveal anything about Argenta.

“Yes. It seems he violated the rules.”

The maid spoke with a grave expression.

“It is betrayal.”

“……Ah.”

I pressed a hand to my forehead.