He tilted his head with a smile. There was confidence as if to say that his guess was right.
“Did you forget? I never went up to the second floor on that day…”
“Fanora, if you’re going to do something big like that, you should have looked around. Even though the area around the terrace is not often visited by people, it’s clearly visible from below because of the light.”
“…”
“But thanks to you, I had a good view. Let’s see, so… did you pick him up and throw him over the railing?”
He said this in a low voice and walked past Fanora to the door. Soon Aloken locked the office door and turned around.
…I certainly looked under the terrace before dealing with Naverius. She never expected to meet her first witness like this.
Fanora rolled her head, clenching her fists invisible. Where on earth did he witness the crime? Did he look up at me? Maybe on the second floor of the next building? Or the royal orchard nearby?
The royal guard stated that there were certainly only two people on the second floor terrace. So there were two places to think about.
What is the reason Aloken is outside the banquet hall…
To make matters worse, Aloken is a man with black hair and often wears dark overcoats. It was even difficult to discern him under the night sky.
But Aloken said he had important business with other nobles that day, so he stayed in the room the whole party.
Aloken looked still at Fanora with a relaxed smile. It was as if he enjoyed her reaction. Fanora remembered it only after seeing her fiancé’s eyes.
“…”
Right. For sure. Before going to be, she thought it was weird once. Aloken told me he had been with his colleagues all along…
That day, several nobles came out smoking cigars in the room that Aloken claimed to have been in throughout the banquet. If he spent time with those smokers, of course, he would smell smoke too. But in reality…
“…”
For a moment, Fanora recounted the summer ball situation.
Aloken, this man…
When the unexpected situation came to reality, her hands didn’t stop shaking.
“Now you realize what you’ve done.”
Aloken sat back on a nearby sofa, watching Fanora’s reaction leisurely. Maybe his hands were bored. He touched the crystal glass on the table for no reason.
“I must say, even though I’m looking like this, I don’t take particular interest in what women do behind. I don’t have the hobby of following them around.”
“…”
“So it was Naverius whom I had attached to tail… But then suddenly, I heard he went up to the second floor, and I thought he might be having a secret meeting with a lady, so I went to take a look and was really surprised by what I saw.”
Tak. Aloken forcefully put down the glass that was rolling in his hand.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Aha, did you decide to come out like that?”
“Isn’t there something wrong with you? If I was on the second floor with Naverius, then I would have already been arrested based on the guards’ testimony.”
“I’ve been questioning about that too. I thought you threw him and ran into the curtain, but I didn’t know how you weren’t caught. Did you, by any chance, bribe the guards?”
How did things turn out like this? Fanora came to her senses belatedly.
“Aloken, are you thinking of driving me into a criminal like this? Who would believe this when there is no proof?”
The evidence was a witness anyway. Since the incident had already passed for a long time, there was no reason to go to jail just because of the duke’s words without physical evidence.
“There is evidence.”
However, the luck that protected Fanora over the past time also ended today.
“Not Naverius’s case.”
Aloken erased his smile and began to speak calmly. “The disease the previous duke suffered from has been actively studied under my support, and everything has been revealed since last year’s end. This means that we also discovered how the fruit called popira worsens the disease.”
“…”
“But it’s really strange. Knowing that fruit shouldn’t be fed to the previous duke, why did you feed the butler with that when he had the same symptoms?”
When he asked that question, the black-haired woman was silent. Aloken raised her eyebrows and pitied her as he looked at her and closed her mouth. Of course, he wasn’t being sincere.
“What did you hate about Ronwe and killed him?”
She didn’t know he’d even investigate this. Fanora looked at the floor, with her complexion turned blue. Then Aloken rose from his seat and approached her again.
“I think you think something complicated in your head. Can I help you? I’ll give you time until the end of the week.”
“…”
“If you don’t bring me Europa or meaningful information about it… I’ll tell the public that you’re a murderer.”
Aloken held Fanora’s shoulder roughly, with her head down. The pain occurred in the shoulder that was caught, but Fanora didn’t even think of frowning.
“You better not assume that you would stay unharmed. I’ve always been curious for a long time whether the owner of the holy relic would die even if they were killed.”
Was everything really a trap for Europa? Did he seduce me to get my holy relic? How could he use his time with me just to make me suffer… She understood in her head that he had betrayed her, but hearing his voice kept reminding her of what Aloken had whispered in the past.
Fanora bit her lip, trying not to escape the reality that he didn’t love her. Then, with her reddened eyes, she suddenly realized. Wait a minute…
As everyone knows, Carl Andras wanted Europa. Aloken speculated that Fanora was related to the holy relic because she was close to Carl. Besides, Aloken had never properly seen her using the power of holy relics.
Since before… why does Aloken only talk about Europa?
So, of course, Aloken thought that if Fanora was involved in the holy relic, it would be Europa.
He…
Which means…
…didn’t know… I’m the owner of Io?
Fanora widened her eyes and clenched her fists quietly. Since she lowered her head, it wasn’t shown what expression she was making.
* * *
Aloken is mistaking the holy relic in my hand.
Aloken wouldn’t have expected this either. It was only her personal grudge to have Io in her hand, which was said could change the face of the kingdom.
“…”
Due to his misunderstanding about the holy relic in her possession, he was letting his guard down. Moreover, they were in a situation where they were alone.
If you know how to handle a sword, so what? You don’t even have a weapon right now. With the power of Io, you’re not a match for me…! How dare you deceive me? Threaten me with my life?! Her anger already reached its peak.
Trembling, Fanora looked at him. “Aloken.”
“Why?”
But the moment he turned to his call, she realized.
“…”
Ironically, she couldn’t kill him. Fanora began to stiffen her expression vainly.
He doesn’t love me. He told me clearly that it was all lies. Retaliation was impossible, except for the fact that this was the mansion of Duke Jalier.
Only a few days ago, his proposal made her heart flutter, and she tried to put down her revenge, which she considered her life goal, just to become his wife. As he said, Fanora swore to make him her first love, but how could she forget everything about him overnight?
“Sob, huhu…”
One emotion called love completely destroyed a person. Fanora couldn’t hurt the man she gave her heart to. That’s happened little by little.
“What part is so sad? Is it the part that if you don’t offer the holy relic, you’ll be killed?”
“…”
“Or that I didn’t love you?”
She couldn’t even lift her hand even though she had the power of a holy relic. Fanora’s self-loathing grew more than her anger at him as time went by.
“Still, you’re my fiancée, and it breaks my heart to see you so miserable.”
“…”
“Alright. If you give me the information about the holy relic, I’ll gladly keep you as my wife. What do you think?”
“…”
“I can be just as sweet as I used to be.”
Obviously, he was lying when he said he would take her as his wife if she gave her the holy relic. Even if she gave the holy relic, the result of being thrown away would be the same. And yet, just a little bit, she thought, ‘If I give him the holy relic, will he treat me like before?’
“…”
She was so stupid, which made her shudder at herself. Fanora eventually lost her words and stood in a daze.
Aloken said this while looking through her. “Fanora Celsius, then think carefully for the next week. How you should behave in order to stay alive.”
“…”
“In the meantime, I don’t want unnecessary trouble with exile or anything else. It’s too bothersome. So, from today on, you’re going to stay in this mansion.”
He opened the locked door and ordered the servant into the hallway. It was an old butler who was closest to him.
“That’s what happened, so keep an eye on Fanora from your side for a week from today.”
“I understand.”
“It’s a good thing that I prepared my wife’s room in advance.”
Fanora was dragged by his hands without even thinking of covering her eyes with traces of tears. Soon, she arrived at the spacious bedroom. It was a room that might have been for their honeymoon.
“Ugh!”
He threw Fanora into the bed in the center of the room and explained it briefly. “There are still a few pieces of furniture missing, but it won’t be uncomfortable.”
“…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell your family. Now that you’re a decent lady who has completed debutante, they won’t be angry that you’re invited to your fiancé’s house.” His light tone was enough to cloud the seriousness of the situation.
Fanora listened to Aloken’s explanation and tried to move her parched lips. “Time… give me a little more.”
“Time?”
“I know what you want. But I can’t get that information in a week.”
Thrown onto the bed, she slowly raised her upper body, her hair, which had been combed finely to meet him, was now disheveled, just like before regressing.
“You don’t know these feelings, but I need time to calm myself down.”
“…”
“Give me more time. I’ll make sure you get what you want…”
Tears formed in Fanora’s eyes. It swayed dangerously as if it would fall at any time.
“Nothing changes even if you drag on time. Do you expect other people’s help now?”
Aloken did not seem to feel a bit of sympathy at the sight of her wretched expression.
“I don’t even have any useful allies around me. I’m being shunned by my family, and my position as the duke’s fiancée is my only value in society.”
“…”
“You know it better.”
As her expression crumpled, Aloken smiled, a stark contrast to her distress. He seemed ready to applaud and burst into laughter if Fanora were to scream here.
“Or do you believe in Vasago? What would that woman think of you if she found out you had told me your revelation?”
“…”
“If you don’t want to be called a traitor for no reason, just stay still.”
There wasn’t much to say about this. It was she who refused Vasago’s words of help first. She didn’t expect anything from her now.
“As you said, I can’t move in front of the power of the Jalier family. Aren’t you going to put a watch on me regularly from now on?”
“…”
“It’s just time… I’m asking for some time. Please…” Fanora bowed her head, pleading with him for the last time.
Then Aloken replied. “If you say so.”
“!”
“I’ll give you two weeks.”
He tilted his head with a smile. There was confidence as if to say that his guess was right.
“Did you forget? I never went up to the second floor on that day…”
“Fanora, if you’re going to do something big like that, you should have looked around. Even though the area around the terrace is not often visited by people, it’s clearly visible from below because of the light.”
“…”
“But thanks to you, I had a good view. Let’s see, so… did you pick him up and throw him over the railing?”
He said this in a low voice and walked past Fanora to the door. Soon Aloken locked the office door and turned around.
…I certainly looked under the terrace before dealing with Naverius. She never expected to meet her first witness like this.
Fanora rolled her head, clenching her fists invisible. Where on earth did he witness the crime? Did he look up at me? Maybe on the second floor of the next building? Or the royal orchard nearby?
The royal guard stated that there were certainly only two people on the second floor terrace. So there were two places to think about.
What is the reason Aloken is outside the banquet hall…
To make matters worse, Aloken is a man with black hair and often wears dark overcoats. It was even difficult to discern him under the night sky.
But Aloken said he had important business with other nobles that day, so he stayed in the room the whole party.
Aloken looked still at Fanora with a relaxed smile. It was as if he enjoyed her reaction. Fanora remembered it only after seeing her fiancé’s eyes.
“…”
Right. For sure. Before going to be, she thought it was weird once. Aloken told me he had been with his colleagues all along…
That day, several nobles came out smoking cigars in the room that Aloken claimed to have been in throughout the banquet. If he spent time with those smokers, of course, he would smell smoke too. But in reality…
“…”
For a moment, Fanora recounted the summer ball situation.
Aloken, this man…
When the unexpected situation came to reality, her hands didn’t stop shaking.
“Now you realize what you’ve done.”
Aloken sat back on a nearby sofa, watching Fanora’s reaction leisurely. Maybe his hands were bored. He touched the crystal glass on the table for no reason.
“I must say, even though I’m looking like this, I don’t take particular interest in what women do behind. I don’t have the hobby of following them around.”
“…”
“So it was Naverius whom I had attached to tail… But then suddenly, I heard he went up to the second floor, and I thought he might be having a secret meeting with a lady, so I went to take a look and was really surprised by what I saw.”
Tak. Aloken forcefully put down the glass that was rolling in his hand.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Aha, did you decide to come out like that?”
“Isn’t there something wrong with you? If I was on the second floor with Naverius, then I would have already been arrested based on the guards’ testimony.”
“I’ve been questioning about that too. I thought you threw him and ran into the curtain, but I didn’t know how you weren’t caught. Did you, by any chance, bribe the guards?”
How did things turn out like this? Fanora came to her senses belatedly.
“Aloken, are you thinking of driving me into a criminal like this? Who would believe this when there is no proof?”
The evidence was a witness anyway. Since the incident had already passed for a long time, there was no reason to go to jail just because of the duke’s words without physical evidence.
“There is evidence.”
However, the luck that protected Fanora over the past time also ended today.
“Not Naverius’s case.”
Aloken erased his smile and began to speak calmly. “The disease the previous duke suffered from has been actively studied under my support, and everything has been revealed since last year’s end. This means that we also discovered how the fruit called popira worsens the disease.”
“…”
“But it’s really strange. Knowing that fruit shouldn’t be fed to the previous duke, why did you feed the butler with that when he had the same symptoms?”
When he asked that question, the black-haired woman was silent. Aloken raised her eyebrows and pitied her as he looked at her and closed her mouth. Of course, he wasn’t being sincere.
“What did you hate about Ronwe and killed him?”
She didn’t know he’d even investigate this. Fanora looked at the floor, with her complexion turned blue. Then Aloken rose from his seat and approached her again.
“I think you think something complicated in your head. Can I help you? I’ll give you time until the end of the week.”
“…”
“If you don’t bring me Europa or meaningful information about it… I’ll tell the public that you’re a murderer.”
Aloken held Fanora’s shoulder roughly, with her head down. The pain occurred in the shoulder that was caught, but Fanora didn’t even think of frowning.
“You better not assume that you would stay unharmed. I’ve always been curious for a long time whether the owner of the holy relic would die even if they were killed.”
Was everything really a trap for Europa? Did he seduce me to get my holy relic? How could he use his time with me just to make me suffer… She understood in her head that he had betrayed her, but hearing his voice kept reminding her of what Aloken had whispered in the past.
Fanora bit her lip, trying not to escape the reality that he didn’t love her. Then, with her reddened eyes, she suddenly realized. Wait a minute…
As everyone knows, Carl Andras wanted Europa. Aloken speculated that Fanora was related to the holy relic because she was close to Carl. Besides, Aloken had never properly seen her using the power of holy relics.
Since before… why does Aloken only talk about Europa?
So, of course, Aloken thought that if Fanora was involved in the holy relic, it would be Europa.
He…
Which means…
…didn’t know… I’m the owner of Io?
Fanora widened her eyes and clenched her fists quietly. Since she lowered her head, it wasn’t shown what expression she was making.
* * *
Aloken is mistaking the holy relic in my hand.
Aloken wouldn’t have expected this either. It was only her personal grudge to have Io in her hand, which was said could change the face of the kingdom.
“…”
Due to his misunderstanding about the holy relic in her possession, he was letting his guard down. Moreover, they were in a situation where they were alone.
If you know how to handle a sword, so what? You don’t even have a weapon right now. With the power of Io, you’re not a match for me…! How dare you deceive me? Threaten me with my life?! Her anger already reached its peak.
Trembling, Fanora looked at him. “Aloken.”
“Why?”
But the moment he turned to his call, she realized.
“…”
Ironically, she couldn’t kill him. Fanora began to stiffen her expression vainly.
He doesn’t love me. He told me clearly that it was all lies. Retaliation was impossible, except for the fact that this was the mansion of Duke Jalier.
Only a few days ago, his proposal made her heart flutter, and she tried to put down her revenge, which she considered her life goal, just to become his wife. As he said, Fanora swore to make him her first love, but how could she forget everything about him overnight?
“Sob, huhu…”
One emotion called love completely destroyed a person. Fanora couldn’t hurt the man she gave her heart to. That’s happened little by little.
“What part is so sad? Is it the part that if you don’t offer the holy relic, you’ll be killed?”
“…”
“Or that I didn’t love you?”
She couldn’t even lift her hand even though she had the power of a holy relic. Fanora’s self-loathing grew more than her anger at him as time went by.
“Still, you’re my fiancée, and it breaks my heart to see you so miserable.”
“…”
“Alright. If you give me the information about the holy relic, I’ll gladly keep you as my wife. What do you think?”
“…”
“I can be just as sweet as I used to be.”
Obviously, he was lying when he said he would take her as his wife if she gave her the holy relic. Even if she gave the holy relic, the result of being thrown away would be the same. And yet, just a little bit, she thought, ‘If I give him the holy relic, will he treat me like before?’
“…”
She was so stupid, which made her shudder at herself. Fanora eventually lost her words and stood in a daze.
Aloken said this while looking through her. “Fanora Celsius, then think carefully for the next week. How you should behave in order to stay alive.”
“…”
“In the meantime, I don’t want unnecessary trouble with exile or anything else. It’s too bothersome. So, from today on, you’re going to stay in this mansion.”
He opened the locked door and ordered the servant into the hallway. It was an old butler who was closest to him.
“That’s what happened, so keep an eye on Fanora from your side for a week from today.”
“I understand.”
“It’s a good thing that I prepared my wife’s room in advance.”
Fanora was dragged by his hands without even thinking of covering her eyes with traces of tears. Soon, she arrived at the spacious bedroom. It was a room that might have been for their honeymoon.
“Ugh!”
He threw Fanora into the bed in the center of the room and explained it briefly. “There are still a few pieces of furniture missing, but it won’t be uncomfortable.”
“…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell your family. Now that you’re a decent lady who has completed debutante, they won’t be angry that you’re invited to your fiancé’s house.” His light tone was enough to cloud the seriousness of the situation.
Fanora listened to Aloken’s explanation and tried to move her parched lips. “Time… give me a little more.”
“Time?”
“I know what you want. But I can’t get that information in a week.”
Thrown onto the bed, she slowly raised her upper body, her hair, which had been combed finely to meet him, was now disheveled, just like before regressing.
“You don’t know these feelings, but I need time to calm myself down.”
“…”
“Give me more time. I’ll make sure you get what you want…”
Tears formed in Fanora’s eyes. It swayed dangerously as if it would fall at any time.
“Nothing changes even if you drag on time. Do you expect other people’s help now?”
Aloken did not seem to feel a bit of sympathy at the sight of her wretched expression.
“I don’t even have any useful allies around me. I’m being shunned by my family, and my position as the duke’s fiancée is my only value in society.”
“…”
“You know it better.”
As her expression crumpled, Aloken smiled, a stark contrast to her distress. He seemed ready to applaud and burst into laughter if Fanora were to scream here.
“Or do you believe in Vasago? What would that woman think of you if she found out you had told me your revelation?”
“…”
“If you don’t want to be called a traitor for no reason, just stay still.”
There wasn’t much to say about this. It was she who refused Vasago’s words of help first. She didn’t expect anything from her now.
“As you said, I can’t move in front of the power of the Jalier family. Aren’t you going to put a watch on me regularly from now on?”
“…”
“It’s just time… I’m asking for some time. Please…” Fanora bowed her head, pleading with him for the last time.
Then Aloken replied. “If you say so.”
“!”
“I’ll give you two weeks.”
