Chapter 50

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Emotional Outburst
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“……”

The Argenta estate had not been this quiet in a long time.

Nor had it ever been this chilling.

The servants of Argenta couldn’t comprehend what they were seeing.

The fact that the one creating this frigid atmosphere was the gentle and mild-mannered Lord Diello Argenta.

“An emotional outburst…”

Someone muttered so softly that even they could barely hear it.

They were right.

The lord’s eerily glowing eyes were glaring at the servants.

The slightest waver in a breath would draw his cold gaze without fail.

An emotional outburst.

It was a symptom that occurred when one's control over the elements temporarily overwhelmed their reason, revealing a side of them closer to their true nature.

The people of Argenta who knew this could only be dumbfounded.

*Is that the lord’s true self?*

*He seems like a completely different person.*

“……”

The Argenta staff from the fourth floor and above were just as surprised.

Even though they had seen Diello’s true self, not the act, they had never witnessed the abyss within their master.

His mind, it seemed, was deeper and darker than they had ever imagined, like the depths of the sea.

“Silence is not always the answer.”

Diello’s low voice echoed.

“You don’t think the family’s information division has been idle all this time, do you?”

He said, glancing down at his own hand.

“The information division has already identified several individuals with ties to other families, and I intend to start with them.”

Start what?

A murderous intent laced the lord’s chilly voice, a tone the people of Argenta had never heard before.

“My bride has taught me how to open the mouths of vermin…”

The words that came from the lips of the usually gentle Diello Argenta were unbelievably harsh.

“So I shall gladly follow her lesson.”

*Shinggg…*

The tip of his unsheathed sword scraped against the floor.

As if he had never considered mercy from the moment he entered, he hadn’t even brought a scabbard.

He looked around at the servants, who were lined up at regular intervals.

“From this moment, I will walk among you. And.”

He lightly lifted the sword with one hand.

“Anyone I judge to be a traitor will be cut down without hesitation.”

There were those who gasped.

Diello looked at them and said,

“You can set aside any possibility of a wrongful death. I have already singled out only those for whom I have secured definitive proof.”

The servants’ reflections shimmered on the tip of his sword.

“However.”

He looked at the servants.

“I know no mercy, but the lady you dared to target taught me mercy, so I will do this.”

He slowly approached the first row of servants as he spoke.

“Before I reach you, anyone who names another spy will not die in this place.”

The people from the fourth floor widened their eyes.

It was a mercy truly unbecoming of Diello Argenta.

“I will end it with an order of exile.”

*He’s really going to let the traitors live?*

While they were surprised for a slightly different reason than those on the third floor and below, Diello began to move.

And he thought.

*If they happen to have an accident on their way out after being exiled, that’s none of my concern.*

“Let us begin.”

*Clack.*

The sound of his footsteps echoed with unusual loudness.

This killing intent was real.

Diello Argenta was truly about to cut down any traitors among the servants himself.

This was not the usual lord. Was it because of the outburst?

Everyone sensed something was wrong, but there was only one person who could stop him, or at least attempt to.

“My lord.”

Redius Argenta.

[The lord is seriously pissed.]

He had rushed here after receiving a message from Rick, who used rather crude language for the head of the family’s information division.

As the lord’s former mentor and uncle, he was the only one who could speak to Diello in this state.

“Do you intend to stop me?”

But when Redius met Diello’s gaze directly, he felt as though he were facing a great fire that could incinerate him at any moment.

Still, he mustered the courage to speak.

For the lord’s sake. For Argenta’s sake.

“…Please, calm yourself.”

He hoped Diello would regain his reason.

Diello surely understood the meaning behind Redius, who rarely opposed the lord’s will, standing in his way.

But the moment Diello’s sharp gaze turned to Redius.

*Fwoosh!*

“!”

Flames erupted around them. Blue flames, carrying the lord’s potent mana.

“Sir Redius, I’m finding it difficult to hold back right now.”

The corners of Diello’s lips curled up with murderous intent.

The lord’s eyes were shimmering with an even more uncanny blue light.

It meant his emotional outburst was worsening.

“……”

Redius stepped back, but the blue flames that had blocked him did not die down.

Instead, they quietly settled onto the floor.

*Fwoosh!*

The blue flames clung to the thick carpet. Everyone held their breath as they watched the carpet begin to char and twist.

Redius felt an urge to swear in admiration.

Admiration for the foolish assassins who had managed to shatter in one fell swoop the reason of Diello Argenta, a man who had suppressed his true nature for nearly his entire life.

Of course, they probably hadn’t expected Diello to erupt into flames quite like this.

Redius realized the situation was far more serious than he had thought.

Now, there was truly only one person who could stop Diello.

*The lady.*

‘But she is hovering between life and death right now…’

*Will she be able to wake up?*

*Before this Argenta estate is burned to the ground by its master’s rage.*

“……”

Just then, he saw Rick, the head of the information division, quietly slip away after hearing something from one of his agents.

Redius prayed it was good news.

***

“What is it?”

I looked with some bewilderment at Rick, who was kneeling on one knee before the door, his head bowed.

“I know this is a discourtesy to one who has just awoken. The physician, Nias, is on his way up, so please wait just a moment.”

Even as he said this, Rick had already sent maids in to check my condition thoroughly.

“She seems much better.”

“She looks a little tired, though…”

Possessing some medical knowledge, they gave a surprisingly accurate diagnosis.

They were right.

My control over water had quickly eliminated the foreign substance—the poison—that had begun to flow through my blood.

So, despite my dramatic collapse, I was perfectly fine.

‘If anything, it’s the atmosphere of the estate that isn’t fine.’

Even before Rick called for them, the number of maids had been small, so something was clearly happening in the mansion.

“The lord is in a highly agitated state, and no one can stop him.”

Rick said then.

It was strange enough to hear him, famous for being a cheerful psycho, speak in such a low voice, but the content of his words was even stranger.

“…Diello?”

The first thing that came to mind was his gentle smile.

Of course, he seemed to wield his sword one way or another when acting as the head of the family.

*‘I showed you an unsightly side of me, Croire.’*

At the scene of Mirta’s death, Diello’s voice had trembled as he said those words.

It meant he had been nervous, too.

But for him to be… angry? How?

As I blinked, Rick said,

“It seems seeing you collapse, my lady, triggered an emotional outburst.”

“What?”

I blinked again.

Diello had an emotional outburst…? He was so agitated that he lost his reason?

Having read the original novel, there was no way I didn’t know what an emotional outburst was.

But Rick, thinking I was unfamiliar with the term, kindly added an explanation.

“It means he’s completely lost it.”

“What?”

*Can you use such crude language about the lord?*

“We hastily summoned Sir Redius Argenta, but he is unable to stop him.”

Rick said with a troubled expression.

“So, if you would be all right with it, my lady…”

He hesitated, uncharacteristically, before speaking.

“Would you be able to calm the lord down?”

***

If he’d lost it because of me, then of course I had to go.

“My lady!”

“You shouldn’t be moving yet!”

The maids, and even Pielle who had rushed up, trailed after me.

But I was already dressed and ready to go.

Nias, who had appeared out of nowhere, also tried to stop me, but I waved my hand.

“I’m fine. The poison is gone.”

Having pushed it out with my water control, it was only natural that I was fine.

But the physician, Nias, blocked my path.

“As you once said, my lady, the heart of Argenta is the lord. However…”

This elderly physician was one to speak his mind, even in an urgent situation.

“The same is true for you, my lady.”

My eyes widened at his words.

“Just as you look after Argenta, please allow us to attend to you as well.”

The physician’s stiff words continued.

“I am aware of your and the lord’s circumstances, which is precisely why I am making this request.”

This doctor, who didn’t know how to beat around the bush, spoke plainly.

He meant that he knew ours was a contract marriage.

It was only natural, since Nias was an Argenta who frequented the fourth floor.

*Just as I look after Argenta, let them attend to me…*

I looked back at Nias and the maids.

He was right. Even knowing I had to leave someday, I was giving my heart to Argenta.

At first, I had gotten involved in Argenta’s affairs under the pretext that ‘even if I’m leaving soon, I have to do my job properly,’ but now…

Looking behind me, I saw the faces of the maids who had stayed by my side on the nights I occasionally worked late in my office.

I looked down.

To where Diello would be. They said he was there, burning alone.

An emotional outburst, they called it.

In his anger, he might burn the very people he cherished.

That worried me.

I worried for Diello, who would grieve after unknowingly harming them, and for the people of Argenta, who might be hurt by an errant spark.

Yes, I was growing attached.

Even while saying I would leave someday, I was definitely growing attached.

And I couldn’t stop it.

It was at the moment I realized this fact.

“Therefore, you must let me confirm that you are well before you go.”

Nias said firmly.

His tone suggested he didn’t care if Diello was having an emotional outburst downstairs.

But thinking about it differently, it was my collapse that had shaken Diello’s emotions.

Showing him a weak side of myself now would do no good.

…Of course, I was fine now, but there was no way for Nias to know that just by looking.

“Alright.”

In the end, Nias took a small sample of my blood for testing.

“…You’ve been perfectly detoxified.”

He said, looking slightly surprised.

“Then let’s go down.”

I gestured to the maids.

Pielle draped a thick cardigan over my shoulders and led the way.

“It is beyond this door.”

The place I arrived at was the main hall on the first floor of the estate’s main building.

A deep silence filled the area around the grand hall, which was typically used only for banquets.

And an unnatural heat filled it as well.

“……!”

I opened the door. Beyond the door, which was hot enough to melt, I saw a carpet devoured by azure flames.

And those flames were growing, as if to consume the servants.

In their midst, Diello’s chilly gaze was fixed on the staff.

The suffocating feeling wasn’t just because of the atmosphere.

“……!”

The flames flickered violently, as if they would burn not only the surrounding objects and people, but all the oxygen as well.

Diello, standing in the center of it all, looked like something on the verge of exploding.

“Who is it?”

A cold voice echoed through the center of it all.

It was a voice so low it was hard to believe it was Diello’s.

As I pushed the door open a little more, I could finally see him.

Blood was dripping from the tip of his sword.

And I could see that several people had already collapsed.

Since Diello was the only one with a sword in this place, it was likely his doing.

I unknowingly parted my lips slightly.

“…Diello.”

My gaze met his blue eyes, which glittered with an uncanny light.