Chapter 54

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: A Quiet Revenge
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At Diello's words, Redius bowed his head.

His gaze fell upon a document related to the Cartiel family.

[Cleaner Deployment Status]

This wasn't about the cleaners who tidied the mansion.

As if sensing his gaze, Diello turned the page pointedly.

“…So you intend to return the favor in kind.”

Poison for poison.

The assassins under the command of Pielle, the ‘Cleaner,’ were already on the move.

Toward Cartiel.

A rage, burning from within, emanated from the head of the family.

Seeing this, Redius Argenta was certain.

…He’s serious.

Diello Argenta no longer saw Croire as merely a partner in a contract marriage.

* * *

A short while later, those attending Siete Cartiel were struck by a colorless, odorless poison.

Siete Cartiel quickly erected a wind barrier with his ability to block the poison, but the others were not so fortunate.

A considerable number of Cartiel’s key members collapsed, poisoned.

[Report on the Cartiel Intelligence Division’s Movements]

Naturally, the Cartiel intelligence division scoured everywhere for an antidote to Diello’s poison.

But it would be difficult.

Argenta’s poison specialist was no pushover.

Diello thought of Nirua, who had quickly prepared an antidote when Croire was poisoned, and smiled silently.

“Dispatch people in advance to where the antidote is.”

To ensure they couldn’t obtain it properly.

And so, Diello’s revenge was carried out secretly, yet decisively.

* * *

Sometime later.

Duke Alloje received an unexpected gift.

“From Diello Argenta?”

“Yes.”

A neatly placed box sat before him.

[Diello Argenta]

The sender’s name was clearly Diello Argenta.

The indecisive and foolish head of Argenta.

The power sealing the box was indeed Argenta’s magic.

“Open it.”

At Duke Alloje’s gesture, an Alloje knight moved.

After opening the box, he paused.

“This is…”

When he trailed off, Duke Alloje couldn’t bear the suspense and rose from his seat.

“What is it?”

He then casually peered inside the box.

“Hah.”

And his eyes narrowed.

He saw a small note placed next to the ‘gift.’

[I hope such an unfortunate incident does not happen again.]

It was Diello Argenta’s handwriting.

“I hear the atmosphere at Argenta has been rather tense lately?”

Duke Alloje asked while looking at the letter.

“Yes, some of our infiltrated agents have been eliminated, making it difficult to make contact internally. However, we have obtained crucial information through a merchant guild that trades with Argenta.”

So these are the eliminated agents?

Duke Alloje looked down at the blue crystal stones, neatly arranged as a so-called gift, and asked.

“What is this information?”

“It seems Diello Argenta recently had an emotional outburst.”

“An emotional outburst?”

Duke Alloje turned to the knight with a puzzled expression.

“Yes. It’s said that Cartiel targeted Croire Alloje and failed.”

“Oh…”

Duke Alloje let out a short exclamation before bursting into laughter.

A crystal of power was placed in his hand.

The pathetic sight of him, so afraid of confrontation that he would neatly collect and return the power crystals of spies who infiltrated his family—it was just like Diello Argenta.

And yet, a man like that went on a rampage…

“What about the damage to Argenta?”

“There was none.”

The knight’s answer was concise.

“The family head went on a rampage, and there was no damage?”

“Yes. They say all they did was replace a carpet.”

Duke Alloje looked at the knight, then burst out laughing loudly.

“He had an outburst, and that’s all that happened?”

He couldn’t help but laugh.

The enemy he had to kill was as fragile as a sandcastle, ready to crumble at a touch.

But just as it was a sandcastle someone had painstakingly built, there would be great pleasure in tearing it down.

“It seems we’ll be able to take care of Argenta soon,” he said in a cheerful voice.

—*Crack!*

The crystal sent by Diello Argenta crumbled in his hand and trickled away.

* * *

“It was just as you said, my lady.”

After I sent him to investigate the Cartiel intelligence division.

Rick came running to me a short while later, full of excitement.

“We’ve got a tail on the Cartiel intelligence division!”

And Argenta’s power, too! I had to calm him down as he jumped up and down, trying to continue.

Still, he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

“For now, operate under the name of Croire Argenta, not Diello.”

Of course, no one attacks the enemy camp openly.

But it meant that if we were traced, I should be the one revealed.

“…Are you saying you will take the lead, my lady?”

Rick paused at my words. I nodded.

This is my revenge, too. More importantly, if our trail is discovered, we can’t let them grow suspicious.

No one would believe that Diello was secretly taking revenge from behind the scenes.

He’s not the type of person to do something like that.

It’s better to just do it comfortably in my name.

After all, I was the one who was properly poisoned.

“Plant our people in the Cartiel intelligence division. Let’s slowly dye them in Argenta’s colors, starting with their key operatives.”

I commanded. Then I turned over a sheet of paper.

‘Rest a little longer.’

Diello had tempted me with those words, but I felt I couldn’t rest any longer.

I had put off returning to my duties again and again, and finally, today was the day.

And I had to do it by taking advantage of the moment Diello briefly left his office.

“To think I’d have to work secretly like this.”

But I didn’t want to be seen as the lady of Argenta who just idled away her time before being divorced and kicked out.

The people from the three families who know about the Pero might not, but that’s how high society would see it, right?

A life followed by gossip is not for me!

That’s why the documents I was secretly helping with were ones Diello was originally supposed to handle.

Since Diello never stopped me from entering his office, people thought nothing of me being here.

“By ‘plant our people,’ you mean…”

Rick asked back, unlike his usual self.

His face was a mixture of interest and excitement.

“It’s no fun if we blow them away all at once.”

We need to get everything we can out of them before we do.

Just as Rick’s expression filled with glee at my words.

—*Thump.*

Among the papers I was handling, a document with a distinctly different format caught my eye.

?

If it were a document only Diello should see, he would have put it elsewhere, so there was nothing I wasn’t allowed to look at.

I casually opened the document and my eyes widened.

“…This is about the Cartiel intelligence division?”

And the person who ordered the investigation was.

[Family Head, Diello Argenta]

Diello.

[The Cartiel intelligence division is focusing all its efforts on finding an antidote.

Accordingly, we have blocked all routes to the glacial region where the medicinal herb grows natively, thereby delaying their acquisition of the antidote as much as possible.]

This was a report from the intelligence division.

Reading the report, something felt strange.

Setting aside the fact that Cartiel had been poisoned, the Argenta intelligence division already knew that the antidote could only be found in a cold place.

In short, it meant they also knew the identity of the poison.

If it were a simple poison that other families could easily identify, Cartiel wouldn’t be running around in such a frenzy. The conclusion was clear.

“…He used poison on Cartiel?”

There was no way Rick, the head of the intelligence division standing before me, didn’t know about this.

“That is correct.”

Rick scratched his head. I blinked.

“…On Diello’s orders?”

“Yes.”

Rick, finally admitting it, looked troubled.

It seemed he thought I wouldn’t come across this information. Or perhaps he didn’t want me to. Or if not that, then.

“Did Diello, by any chance, tell you to keep it a secret from me?”

At my words, the faint trace of a smile on Rick’s face vanished.

There’s only one time when the cheerful psycho gets serious.

When he’s truly in trouble.

“So I’m right?”

Rick lowered his head at my words.

It was then.

—*Click.*

“Croire?”

Diello, who had opened the office door and entered, widened his eyes.

He seemed to have expected the room to be empty, stopping mid-entry when he saw me.

A faint light seemed to flicker in his blue eyes.

The aftereffects of his rampage are still there.

Just as I was thinking that.

“Ah…”

Diello’s gaze shifted to the document in my hand.

For a moment, a complex emotion flickered across his face.

It seems Diello really was the one who poisoned Cartiel.

I thought he was a soft, squishy pudding of a person who wouldn’t think of taking revenge behind the scenes.

How unexpected.

Our eyes met.