🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 90
The bizarre status window made my head spin. Not only had it updated itself at will, but it was also activating skills on its own?
I bit my lip hard.
From what I’d experienced so far, skills were nearly all-powerful. If I wasn’t careful, I might end up capturing Hider with just my gaze.
I quickly covered my eyes with my hands.
“Ha ha, it’s been a while, Master Hider! I’m so glad you returned safely!”
I closed my eyes tightly and then opened them again, hoping desperately that the skill would deactivate.
But a new skill activated at the same time.
[Lips That Invite Kisses Lv.1]
Insane! Why! What did I even do!?
I covered my lips with my other hand. I couldn’t turn off the status window—it had no shutdown function, no matter how many times I tried.
Should I wear a mask? At this rate, would I become a femme fatale?
Of course, Lani did have the looks for it.
“Lani.”
I felt a warm hand approaching me as he spoke in a low voice. Since I couldn’t see him, I naturally became more sensitive.
His large, firm fingers gently took my hand, then pulled it away from my eyes.
Through the space between his fingers, Hider’s eyes met mine.
His gaze, full of warmth, looked at me through the gap.
“You have to look at me when we talk. I told you I wanted to see you. How can you cover your face like this?”
My heart sank.
Even through the small gap, his eyes were captivating. Covering my face had only emphasized them.
Ugh, his gaze… he’s so handsome.
Wait, isn’t the skill being used by Hider right now?
I felt my hand heat up under his grip. I hadn’t expected to meet him again. Unconsciously, I tried to push him away and stepped back.
“Uh… uh…”
“Are you going back?”
I swallowed hard. Go back… where?
“You have to be where I am.”
“…….”
Me? Why?
My lips trembled. I had broken free from all bonds—I didn’t need to return anywhere.
“Lani.”
Hider urged me to answer.
Of course, I wasn’t completely unaffected. Dania, Lady Ruella, and the others in the mansion—all of them.
The things I had accomplished there. Everything I had done, I had wanted to show them. One thing I realized after coming here was that, even as the adopted daughter of Count Schultz, there were things I simply could not do.
But as a Cartieron, there were things I could do. All the things that had shone in my hands.
“Lani, hurry. Are you coming back?”
Hider pressed me again.
“If you’re not there, I won’t go anywhere.”
When Hider said that so decisively…
[Status updating.]
Stop updating!
Despite my protests, the status window completed the update.
[A new affiliation has been assigned to ‘Lani Schultz, daughter of Count Schultz’.]
Hider was waiting for my answer, but my gaze was fixed on the status window.
[Name: Lani Schultz
Affiliation: Count Schultz’s family, Cartieron Ducal Family, Hider Cartieron]
Who… am I supposed to belong to…?
[From now on, Lani Schultz’s personal security is under Hider Cartieron. Lani Schultz must remain within the city where Hider Cartieron is located.]
Bang!
It felt as if the door had slammed shut. My heart sank. It was a different kind of confinement than before.
“Lani, answer me.”
Hider withdrew his hands completely and tucked the hair by my ear behind it.
“I can stay here too if you want.”
The status window shimmered, as if reminding me not to forget it.
“…Then I guess I have to go.”
“What do you mean?”
“To the capital.”
If Hider stayed here, all destiny might converge peacefully on the Schultz estate.
“I’ll go to the capital with you, Master.”
There was only one answer for me.
Since Hider returned, the status window had been going crazy.
At the same time Lani decided to go to the capital, Karte was receiving reports in Aites.
He had attached subordinates to Hider.
If there was one thing Karte and Hider inherited from the Cartieron line, it was obsession.
Obsession with what they wanted.
The problem was that Karte and Hider’s obsessions were directed at the same target.
If Hider returned from the battlefield and left, there was only one place to go—where Lani was.
So as soon as Hider arrived in the capital, he assigned someone to follow.
“You let her get away?”
Karte rolled a small dagger in his palm.
“I’m sorry, Lord Karte!”
The subordinate bowed. Karte tapped the table with his dagger.
“I’ll find her again! Even if she’s a person… ugh!”
The man stared at the dagger embedded in his chest in disbelief. The black aura surrounding it precisely pierced his heart.
Karte sighed.
It didn’t matter anyway.
Hider, who shared the same bloodline, would definitely bring Lani back.
Finally, he would see the woman he thought he could hold in his hands—but who had slipped away.
She must have gotten prettier. Not like Princess Ciela.
Karte recalled Princess Ciela, who would run away in fear every time she saw him, despite being noble by birth.
He would find no such behavior in Lani—only perhaps a dignified air.
Karte licked his lips.
“What he can have, I can have too.”
So he would take everything. Karte’s eyes glowed red.
Soon, Lani would arrive. Before that, Karte planned to return to Cartieron.
He calmly called a maid into the room.
The maid, seeing the bodies scattered on the floor, screamed in shock.
Karte coldly commanded,
“Prepare the princess.”
The maid stared silently.
“We’re going to Cartieron.”
“And Princess?”
“She will be there forever.”
Karte smiled faintly, as if unconcerned with losing to Hider. If she resisted, he would drag her by her hair. He made sure the message was clear.
“Now leave.”
The maid crawled out. Thus, Karte decided to go to Cartieron.
Taibern and even Herdun came down to the lobby.
Karte, embracing his wife’s waist with a composed expression, addressed them.
“Grandfather, father. It’s been a while since we met in Cartieron.”
His tone was cold. Karte and Herdun had clashed many times. Karte had tried to pursue Lani, and Herdun had tried to stop him.
When Karte realized Herdun was blocking him, he understood.
Lani was being kept from him.
“What’s going on here?”
“Nothing. Just a son returning home. There’s much to be done, isn’t there?”
Princess Ciela trembled. Her face pale, she bowed her head deeply.
“Do you intend to give the duchy to that filthy bloodline?”
Karte nudged Ciela’s back.
“Humph!”
“Isn’t there a bride who will give birth to the noble heir?”
Taibern’s expression hardened.
The staff, who had gathered to see Karte return, also watched. Among them, Dania glared at Karte from behind with a tense expression.
‘That’s the guy.’
The one who sent Lani away.
At that moment, an invisible status window appeared above Dania’s head.
[Receiving skill through the strong will of an ally.]
An unknown power began to imbue Dania’s body.
