Chapter 40

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Measurement
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After the banquet.

We naturally found ourselves in the same room.

It wasn't a bedroom in the Argenta estate, so it felt unfamiliar, but the staff had prepared it well enough that it wasn't uncomfortable.

Of course, the Argenta guards from the fourth floor were posted all around, leaving no openings.

“Well, we made it through the banquet…”

At my words, Diello turned to look at me.

“It seems Duke Alloje doesn't suspect that the lily's energy has been concealed.”

Diello’s gentle voice echoed in the room.

I nodded.

“But he’s such a suspicious man. He’ll probably try to confirm it for himself.”

Though I wasn’t sure how.

Just as I tilted my head slightly.

The faint, candlelit glow was obscured by a shadow.

Diello was leaning over me before I knew it.

“…My lily should be fine, but I’m worried about you, Croire.”

“Me?”

What about me? I blinked.

His hand, which had been gently brushing my hair back, came to rest on the back of my neck.

“…Ah.”

My eyes widened at the distinct warmth of his touch, and just then, he spoke.

“He might summon you again. And if he does, he might…”

But he couldn’t finish his sentence.

His hand hovered near the back of my neck, stopping just short of touching it. Right where the name Diello Argenta was engraved.

On the wound that Duke Alloje had aggravated earlier.

“I’m fine.”

Seeing the worry in his eyes, I took his hand and gently lowered it.

It was only irritated for a moment; it’s not serious enough to need treatment. Though it does still sting.

Still, my heart felt strangely warm.

Having someone worry about me was a warmer feeling than I’d ever imagined.

“I’m really okay. And he won’t call me about the name again. It hasn’t been erased yet, after all.”

“That’s not all.”

But Diello shook his head slightly.

He loosened the necktie around his collar and sighed.

“You said you used the power of the source.”

Diello looked at me with concern.

“Using that power requires shedding blood. He’ll try to look for a major wound.”

“Oh, that.”

That’s not a problem! I’ve got it all figured out!

I gave him a bright smile.

My expression was so unexpectedly relaxed that Diello seemed a bit taken aback, blinking in surprise.

It was cute, the way his pale, innocent blue eyes blinked.

I held up my hand for him to see. It was the one I’d cut for Nirua’s contract.

“I’ll use this.”

“This is…”

Diello’s gaze fell on my bandaged finger.

“As you know, the cut was deeper than I expected.”

It was hard to even hold a quill for a while.

I know I’m not used to handling blades, but I never thought I’d cut myself this deeply.

At the time, I thought maybe I should have just asked someone else to do it.

But a little while ago at the banquet, that thought completely changed.

The power of the source.

The Argentas use it by burning their bodies, while the Allojes use it by offering the water within their bodies—in other words, their blood.

Therefore, using a great deal of that power would inevitably result in a wound that bleeds profusely.

I planned to show this deep cut to Duke Alloje.

As proof that I used *this* much of the source’s power!

…or so I’d claim. Of course, I hadn’t used any such power.

“You didn’t calculate all this and do it on purpose, did you?”

Diello was amazed.

His eyes sparkled.

They were filled with an admiration that seemed to say, ‘Just how far ahead are you thinking?’

I enjoyed the admiring gaze of my far-too-innocent husband for a moment before my conscience finally won out.

“…No, it was just an accident. I’m not used to handling daggers.”

“What?”

At my words, Diello blinked.

Then, he let out a low laugh, as if he couldn’t believe it.

Ha, it was like a short, sharp exhale.

He straightened up from where he’d been casting a shadow over me and ran both hands over his face.

He seemed embarrassed himself.

“Next time you need to use a blade, please, borrow my hand.”

When he lowered his hands, his face was a picture of helplessness.

“Even if we were lucky enough to use it to our advantage this time, it would be troublesome if you got another serious injury.”

Alright? As he asked, he gently stroked my fingertips.

I nodded.

“Alright.”

Just then.

*Knock, knock.*

At the sound of the knock, we both turned toward the door.

“At this hour…?”

What could it be?

As I started to get up, Diello, still in his shirt, walked to the door.

“What is it?”

In response to his question, a flustered voice came from outside.

“L-Lord Argenta.”

The Argenta outside had a voice I didn’t recognize, so he must have been from the third floor.

“The formal attire you are to wear tomorrow has vanished. I’m sure I put it away safely, I’m sure I brought it, but it’s gone!”

He sounded on the verge of tears.

Diello turned to look at me, his hand still on the doorknob.

Our eyes met.

The final day of the conference had a tradition.

To let go of old feelings and start anew, everyone was to attend wearing newly tailored clothes.

And now those clothes have disappeared?

“…Are there any master tailors nearby?”

It’s too late to go back to the Argenta estate and find another tailor.

We need to find someone who can make something resembling formal attire as quickly as possible, even if it’s just a fitting.

“I will find someone at once.”

I heard the sound of a maid scurrying off, her feet pattering anxiously.

*Click.*

The door closed again, and Diello turned back with a troubled expression.

“We’ve never lost formal attire before.”

At his words, I shook my head.

“The Argentas wouldn’t have lost it. It seems someone is playing games.”

“They must have known that if the attire went missing tonight, we’d have to call for a new tailor…”

Diello said, looking troubled.

“It appears they plan to use the new tailor to find out if my lily has faded.”

Just the kind of method Alloje would use.

* * *

Thanks to Alloje, we didn’t get any sleep.

The local tailor they’d hastily summoned was in a state of shock at the fact that he was to make the formal attire for the final day of the three-family conference.

Of course, there was no time for him to stand there gawking.

“I-I-I can’t possibly make such… such clothes…”

The tailor said, looking helpless as he was dragged in.

“P-Please, at least let me bring the assistants from my workshop!”

“We tried to contact them but couldn’t find them, so we brought people from the workshop next door.”

An Argenta intelligence agent replied.

The tailor, dragged in pitiably like a prisoner of war.

Diello, who had ordered him brought here, looking at him apologetically.

And the ever-composed Argenta agent.

The three of them together were a sight to behold, a comedy in itself.

Pielle, I was told, was away due to a sudden emergency.

That, too, was likely Alloje’s doing.

“Alloje probably got to the tailor’s assistants.”

Alloje’s goal had to be confirming how much of the black lily on Diello’s body had faded.

They would undoubtedly use the pretext of taking measurements to get his clothes off.

The problem was that if they got too close and noticed any sign that it was makeup, we’d be in serious trouble.

“If it’s just a fitting, I can s-somehow have it ready before the banquet begins, but…”

the tailor said after hearing the situation.

“The problem is, it’s been nearly twenty years since I’ve worked on such fine formal attire…”

He clearly had a case of ‘my-clothes-are-terrible’ syndrome.

I patted the tailor on the back.

“So you’re saying you’ve been doing this for at least twenty years?”

The tailor immediately corrected me.

“Forty-seven years.”

“Right. That’s more than enough.”

With that much experience, there’s no way he’d make something strange. He’s made a living off this for forty-seven years.

“W-What? N-N-No!”

While the tailor was second-guessing his own skills again, I delivered the final blow.

“Of course, you’ll be compensated handsomely for your skills.”

No one refuses a proper reward.

“…!”

When I whispered the amount in his ear, the tailor’s face instantly flushed with a rainbow of colors.

“I… will do my absolute best!”

And just like that, the tailor, now cured of his ‘my-clothes-are-terrible’ syndrome, exclaimed.

Mm, I suppose it was too much money to refuse.

Just then, the others approached.

They weren’t Argenta maids, of course.

“We are from the tailor’s workshop next door…”

They exchanged uneasy glances.

“We came to assist with taking the measurements for the formal attire.”

It was exactly as I’d expected.

But I had to stop them from getting a close look at Diello’s body at all costs.

“Wait.”

Diello and the agent turned to look at me.

“Even if the clothes are gone, there must be measurements from the estate. Isn’t there a record, or someone who remembers them?”

At my question, the agent bowed his head.

“As you know, matters concerning Lord Argenta are confidential and are not kept as written records.”

I understand the need for secrecy, but must his chest, waist, and hip measurements be a secret too?

“Then is there anyone who remembers?”

“Lady Pielle would remember, but she is currently away.”

I could feel their determination to confirm the state of Diello’s lily, no matter what.

At the very least, then, I have to prevent them from getting close enough to see that it’s makeup.

That left only one option.

“There’s no other choice, then. In that case…”

As I spoke, the tailor’s assistants, who had clearly been bought by Alloje, started to approach Diello.

But I wasn’t finished.

“I’ll take them.”

“What?”

The assistants stopped in their tracks.

They tensed up, as if they were well aware of Croire’s personality.

The original Croire’s personality, to be precise.

Thanks to that, persuading (?) them would be easy.

Croire had a reputation not only as a villainess who arbitrarily wielded her authority, but also as someone extremely possessive.

Of what was hers.

I narrowed my eyes. Then I crossed my arms and looked them over.

“We’re newlyweds, after all.”

As I said this, I glanced at Diello.

Diello was blinking, looking my way.

“Even if it’s for work.”

I never thought I’d say something like this in front of those innocent eyes.

But this, too, is an act.

I put on a villainous smile.

“—I don’t like other women’s hands touching him.”

At my words, Diello’s eyes widened.