Chapter 15
A refreshing, ringing laughter echoed through the air.
Even Dwayne, pretending to look away, couldn’t hide that his shoulders were trembling.
He was clearly struggling to hold back his laughter.
‘What exactly is so funny?’
Aria checked the card again but couldn’t find anything unusual.
The vassals of the Viscount were truly at risk because of parasites.
“So, the parasites themselves got parasitized,” the Duke said, rubbing his red lips with his fingertips, still smiling.
He seemed surprised at his own laughter, as if he hadn’t expected to laugh so loudly.
“If that’s true, I can roughly guess the situation. Honestly… ridiculous.”
Valentine was known for having abundant resources, enough for self-sufficiency.
Among them, the most famous was the Daimont mines.
‘Daimont is the only ore that can produce mana stones.’
Although mines existed worldwide, none had crystals as hard and pure as Valentine’s Daimont.
The price was sky-high.
Viscount Cavendi tried to gain trade rights for the Daimont but was rejected. Out of spite, he tried to extort money in a petty way.
‘The problem was that resources were abundant.’
Valentine’s creatures were strong—both animals and humans.
‘…Even the parasites.’
The viscount’s vassals had caught a snake by chance and, seeing its brightly shimmering, rainbow-like scales, thought it was sacred and roasted it on the spot. Ridiculous as it sounds.
The result was disastrous.
Some were paralyzed, their bodies stiffened, and some lost their sight. Death soon followed.
All of this was reported by the future Viscount at Count Cortez’s salon.
‘Ah, now I get why it’s funny.’
To trespass in another’s territory, kill wildlife without permission, and risk life and death—then blame others and demand compensation—it was absurd enough to laugh.
“Also, anyone not born in this duchy who drinks water from the forest without boiling it gets sick. All life here is considered monstrous,” the Duke explained with amusement, looking at Aria intently.
“How do you know that?”
[Dana said I was weak because I’m from outside the borders. Betty said I could get infected if I ate raw food.]
“Did you deduce it from the fire in the forest?” the Duke asked in awe.
‘Not exactly…’
Feeling a little guilty, Aria hugged the wolf tightly.
The wolf panted and licked her cheek.
“Dwayne.”
“Yes?”
“Tell the Viscount that the worms he carried in his stomach will only respond to our duchy’s deworming medicine. If he wants treatment, he’ll have to pay the corresponding cost.”
“Understood.”
“And since he poached in the Ingo Mountains without my permission, he has to pay that price separately. How much…”
He tapped his desk thoughtfully, considering the amount.
Aria stretched her arm and pointed exactly to the compensation the Viscount demanded.
‘1 billion Char.’
The Duke followed her hand with his gaze, then stared at her again.
‘Wise.’
A smile spread across the Duke’s lips—a devilish smile that sent a chill down her spine.
He seemed ready to make Cavendi pay dearly for underestimating Valentine.
Aria imagined the Viscount rolling in the mud, begging at the Duke’s feet to be killed, holding onto vain hope.
‘Scary… back then, I would’ve thought the same.’
But now she felt disgust instead.
For those who trample on others’ rights and indulge greed unjustly…
‘They need to experience it themselves to truly understand the pain they caused.’
Aria looked at the Duke with admiration.
She needed to learn the devilish way he ensures justice is repaid tenfold.
Dwayne, watching her, cleared his throat.
Then, he whispered into the Duke Tristan’s ear, who was smiling eerily:
“Your Grace.”
“Yes?”
“Please… contain some of your ferocity. The young lady seems afraid.”
Huh? Why would he think that?
Overhearing this, Aria quickly took out a card and wrote what she had wanted to say:
[Father, you’re amazing.]
“…”
Amazing? Where?
Dwayne seriously wondered if the girl’s sense was broken, especially her sense of fear.
“She says you’re amazing,” the Duke read the card, then naturally took it from her hand.
‘Again?’
Aria looked at her empty hand, puzzled.
“Maybe I actually have a knack for taking care of children,” she thought.
Did he think that before speaking?
Dwayne couldn’t help but think impiously about his master.
No matter how shocked Dwayne looked, the Duke ignored him and asked Aria:
“You received help from me, so there must be something you wish for. Anything?”
A reward.
Actually, Aria did have a wish.
Not to be kicked out.
‘Lloyd told me to leave once he recovered.’
But even if she asked not to be expelled now, nothing would change. Surviving at Valentine’s Castle wasn’t enough.
If she wasn’t accepted as part of the family, she couldn’t intervene before the Valentine incident.
She needed to approach the Grand Duchess quickly.
‘It’s best to make her an ally.’
Aria thought for a moment, then smiled brightly, folding her eyes into crescents.
[Today, I want to meet and play with you every day, Father.]
As she lifted her head, her rabbit ears perked up adorably.
Her cuteness made her heart tighten.
Dwayne, watching seriously, whispered into the Duke’s ear:
“It’s clear. She’s never been properly cared for by an adult.”
“Ho, and?”
“So among all adults, she relies on Your Grace… aaagh!”
Dwayne, ever the loyal servant, still insisted on speaking even with a knife at his throat—and got punished, rolling on the floor.
Aria couldn’t tell where the Duke had struck him; it happened so fast.
Hearing his groans of pain, she gently patted his back.
So angelic…
But before Dwayne could be impressed, the Duke grabbed Aria by the scruff and lifted her.
“Stop. Don’t touch him; he’s dirty.”
Treating his aide like a germ.
“If you want, come see me yourself. If you ride my hound like today, I can find you anywhere.”
He said this surprisingly willingly, taking the card from her hand again.
The Duke had said:
‘If you ride my hound, I can find you anywhere.’
Aria, casually atop the wolf, was surprised.
The wolf ran straight in the opposite direction.
‘This side has the mountains…’
It was the Ingo Mountains she had passed before.
She considered stopping the wolf but decided to wait and see.
She was curious why the Duke would send her this way.
‘If he wants me to come meet him, he wouldn’t put me in real danger.’
The wolf ran and finally stopped.
It was a familiar estate.
Built on the edge of Valentine’s territory, it was where the Duke had “acquired” Aria.
‘Right, this was where outsiders are screened first.’
Black-armored knights guarded the estate.
The 1st Order, Valentine’s elite—Black Falcon Knights.
Their uniforms bore the Black Falcon emblem.
‘In the Imperial capital, the crowd would part like a miracle just seeing that emblem.’
Valentine’s influence likely made the Black Falcon a symbol of power and fear.
One of the knights noticed Aria.
“Ah, milady…”
Shh.
Aria quietly raised a finger to her lips.
Then she pressed her ear to the estate door to hear what was happening inside.
