Chapter 78

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Like a Flame
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Diello looked at him. Redius’s expression was somber.

Yes, she was a false Pero.

And Redius and countless retainers were eagerly awaiting his Pero awakening.

An awakening he could not achieve if he were with the current Croire.

But he had already come too far to deny the fact that he wanted Croire.

“...Yes.”

He finally admitted it. Yet, he did not avoid Redius’s gaze.

“You told me so when I was young.”

At the sudden talk of his childhood, Redius tilted his head slightly.

Diello’s words continued.

“That as I became the head of the house and time passed, I would lose many things, but I must not give up the most precious thing. Or else I would crumble.”

When Diello became the family head at a young age, he was met with a flood of ridicule incomparable to now.

‘The fall of Argenta is just around the corner.’

‘The new head of Argenta couldn’t even stand before a fire until just a few years ago, I hear?’

At the funeral, Diello had to endure the scornful gazes of people from other families all by himself.

‘My Lord.’

The ones who approached him then were Redius and his wife.

To his young nephew who was about to walk a thorny path, Redius became a sturdy shield and a harsh mentor who pushed him relentlessly.

It was the same when Diello experienced his first loss on the battlefield.

When countless Argentas he had cared for and cherished died on the battlefield against monsters, and he thought only a future of losing his people remained.

When he was about to break.

‘You must become stronger, my Lord.’

‘If you are so afraid of losing people that you fear even holding them in your heart, then do not give your affection at all.’

Redius had said. At the time, Diello, feeling as if he were clinging to the edge of a cliff, had spoken hollowly.

‘Then I’ll be left with nothing in my hands.’

At those words, Redius shook his head.

‘You will continue to have and lose many things. That cannot be denied. If you despair each time, you will be offering your neck to your enemies. Therefore.’

‘Find one thing that is most precious.’

‘One thing not for the family, but for yourself, my Lord.’

‘As long as you do not give up that precious thing, you will not crumble, my Lord.’

‘And for you, my Lord, who has sacrificed everything for the family, Argenta will gladly risk their lives to protect it.’

*Not for the family, but for me,* he had said.

Diello, having recited his past teachings, spoke.

“She is precious to me, Master.”

Because I’m so desperate, I feel I’ll waste away if I can’t have her.

“I just can’t give her up.”

The plan to create a Pero was still uncertain of success.

But he would absolutely succeed.

It was then that his somber gaze turned to Redius.

“I heard Benia came as the real Pero.”

But her whereabouts became unknown after that.

He had not told Redius, who was saying this, about ‘the plan’ directly commanded by Rick, the head of intelligence.

But since he had heard about the Pero, he must have guessed where she had disappeared to.

As he was sharp-eared and skilled at gathering information.

“I will not dare to ask where the Pero went... but do you truly intend to welcome a lady who is not the Pero?”

“Yes. No harm will come to Argenta. I will make it so.”

Diello said in a calm voice.

He would not back down.

Perhaps sensing that determination.

Redius smiled faintly.

“A short while ago, I might have opposed it.”

Did that mean things were different now?

Just as Diello narrowed his eyes.

“Please listen to my story, my Lord.”

After saying so, Redius observed him and then spoke.

“I tested the lady.”

“...!”

Diello’s icy gaze shot toward Redius.

Redius almost laughed in spite of himself.

*How can you claim to have hidden your love when you react so fiercely?*

“During this carriage supply incident, I dared to test the lady.”

“...I don't know where your courtesy toward the mistress of the house has gone.”

It was a voice barely clinging to reason.

Yes, for the head of a family, this was the correct response.

Even if he was in a contract marriage with that mistress.

But Redius touched upon something Diello had not considered.

“I dared to do so. But she was someone who needed no test.”

Diello paused.

“She is a perfect Argenta, one who does not need to be tested. And.”

Redius observed the family head and said.

“She is a strong Argenta.”

Diello understood what Redius’s words meant.

As his eyes widened, Redius smiled.

“There have been family heads who failed to awaken their Pero. As you know, each time, their families faced a crisis.”

There were those who never found their Pero until they died, and sometimes, there were those who had already given their whole heart to another being.

The families who had such heads faced crises. Because internal strife arose.

Sometimes, internal division is more frightening than an external enemy.

“But this time is different.”

He looked out the window at the driving wind and rain.

“Unlike the past, where crises arose because they wouldn't follow a mistress who wasn't the Pero, the current Argenta is following the lady.”

I, on the contrary, see this as an opportunity.

An opportunity to make our enemies let their guard down completely and strike.

At those words, Diello let out a short breath.

“It sounds like you're telling me to fall for her without reservation.”

“Yes.”

Redius said confidently.

“Follow your heart. The lady is not one to do anything that would harm Argenta, nor is she so weak that you need to worry, my Lord.”

In any situation, she will act with dignity and composure.

Redius gained that conviction from this incident.

That was why he could say this.

“Move like a flame.”

“Like a flame.”

Diello repeated the words.

A flame consumes its target, not even knowing what it burns.

No matter how large, it burns little by little, eventually becoming a great fire that engulfs its target.

To consume—that was the instinct of a flame.

Once it touches something, it cannot stop, and it will ultimately burn what it desires to burn.

If it does not, it will extinguish itself. Such was the nature of a flame.

In short, Redius was telling him not to hold back anymore.

“...Yes, like a flame.”

Diello nodded slightly.

It felt as if his mind was clearing.

In his mind, now as clear as a shore after a wave has passed, a refreshing feeling remained.

A refreshing feeling she had left behind.

*Why am I holding back?*

‘...Diello.’

She, who had accepted his kiss in the cabin.

And she, who had looked at the mirror with a flushed face, was just beyond a very thin wall.

One that someone could easily break with a bit of courage.

But he had no intention of breaking that wall.

He did not want to make even the slightest unpleasant intrusion.

Instead, he intended to have his lovely bride cross that wall herself.

He was confident he could.

‘Croire.’

He wanted to constantly call her name and ask.

If, perhaps, she found him lovely.

He found her so lovely he couldn't stand it, so how about her?

If she didn't find him so lovely, then why did she look at him with the same gaze he used to look at her?

And when their eyes met, why did she quickly hide her gaze? What did that mean?

He wanted to ask.