Chapter 261 – 9. Hormia’s Dictator, Countess’s Insidious Task
Rattling rattling
The maid in front of me put the messy dishes in some places and disappeared to avoid the guests. The noisy banquet hall, filled with nobles, famous people of the empire, and rich men of Hormia, were all laughing and chatting and enjoying the moment.
After finishing the investigation with Veron, we stayed at the Count’s mansion for three days, and after visiting Perishia, Undine, and Hormia, Count Haengmi came back sweating profusely and brought the three of us into the banquet hall.
[This is delicious! I like meat, isn’t it juicy?]
“That’s a fish.”
[Somehow that was bad!]
I smiled as I listened to Perishia and Undine’s nonsensical stories, laughing and chatting among themselves and enjoying the banquet.
“Casano! Are you having fun!”
Paang, the count who tapped me on the waist was laughing while shaking his plump chin. However, there was also a change that occurred to the Count due to the aftereffects left by Stelgia.
“Hey, nice to meet you! I am… “
“Keep! Go away, go away!”
A beautiful young lady greeted her single Countess with a curious look, but the Count, frightened at the sight of her beautiful woman, waved her hand and drove her away. I suppressed laughter at the awkward comedy-like situation and asked the count with a clear cough.
“Keuheum, have you met the knights?”
Sonia, Mild, and Hena left the mansion for a while on the Countess’s orders. When they arrived, I remembered how they came to see me, embarrassed by the changed landscape of the mansion. Afterwards, I wanted to hear the current situation because it was Count Haengmil, who had been introduced to the Count and had a separate interview with the three.
“Oh, yes. Except for Sir Sonia, he said he wants to remain in the Count’s family. I’ve heard stories from the fortress, so if such diligent knights give me strength, I’m welcome.”
“Thank you.”
“What do you have to be thankful for? What have you done for me!”
It was not disgusting when Veron looked at him with deep eyes, but he hated it a little when the count looked at him with those eyes. I didn’t show it, I shook my hand and let the Count fly, and the Count, who had been persistently clinging to me and making noise, left noisily, claiming that the Prince was nowhere to be seen.
“Are you here?”
Again, the sound of the shoes stopped and a high-pitched voice pounded in my ears. Which girl from which top? I smiled and turned around, and Sierra and Took bumped into each other.
“Kyaa!”
“Haha.”
Mumbling, Perisha and Undine, who were eating with their plates, looked at the two of us. When I turned my head to something emotionless, the two of them turned their eyes away and made a fuss when they saw the cake being cut in the center of the banquet hall in the distance.
[You have to eat that!]
“Let’s hurry!”
“Did you say hello to the count?”
“Ouch,” Sierra’s slender chin nodded shyly as she clasped Sierra’s finger in her fishnet glove.
“I liked you, no— I almost trusted you? Hearing your name, I won’t listen to you anymore, I’ll put a seal on you, so come see me tomorrow.”
Having laughed out loud at the count’s distribution, I put my hand on Sierra’s cheek, who was also smirking. I could feel the heat of my body from the anticipation of being able to succeed, and the tension of having to fight someone who would oppress me in the future.
“I’ll help you with anything, so just tell me.”
“Hey, you are good at what you do. What is this like trying to help Perisha without asking the village properly?”
Sierra scolded me in a sharp tone as she looked around the banquet hall, where there was now no sign of the countess. Hearing the madam’s scolding, I shrugged her shoulders and lifted her up. Thin fingers squeezed my side.
“It hurts, stop, stop!”
When I screamed out loud because it really hurt, Sierra, who laughed like a cow devil, brushed her fingers away. Eventually, as if thinking of Sierra, who was grinning, Ah! She said to me with an exclamation.
“I have something to talk about business, so I’m going to visit. Where are you staying?”
Tick tock, Sierra left, shaking her chubby ass trapped in her red dress. Even if I told them not to go, there was no one in this spacious banquet hall that would be interested in the mercenary, so I picked up the champagne that was on the table and looked at Undine and Perisha who were quietly sipping and playing.
“Looks like you’re having a good time.”
“Sonia.”
As the pleasant drunkenness wrapped around my body, a haughty voice suddenly sank next to me. I looked back at Sonia’s voice with slightly relaxed eyes, and Sonia, startled, put her hand on my cheek and whispered quietly.
“A few drinks by myself, woo! Smell of alcohol… “
Whoa, as I exhaled with a mischievous smile, Sonia covered her nose and slapped my forearm down at her. Sonia, who was standing next to me, was looking at Perisha, who was jumping in the center of the banquet hall.
“Isn’t it cute? Lady Perisha.”
“Huh? Yeah, that’s right. Like a young lady in her prime, green and full of life… It feels like you are running around a bright flower field even though you are running around the banquet hall.”
With a smirk at the strangely aged expression, Sonia, who lowered my shoulder with a thump, looked at me with her stern face. After kissing her white cheeks, I asked Sonia, who was touching the tips of her reddened ears.
“Can you protect me? It’s not far, and I can see you often, so please keep my share.”
“You really do too much. If you say those words, won’t even the slightest lingering feelings go away?”
Sonia looked back at me as she moved her silver dress, then covered her blue eyes with white eyelids. Touching her moist pink lips with my thumb, I glanced across the quiet banquet hall and kissed her on the mouth.
“Sorry. Nobleman, and I can’t take her eldest daughter with me… But I’m too worried to be left alone. The only thing I can trust is Sonia.”
“I got it, because I understood it without having to explain it over and over again… Trust me. I will protect you.”
After kissing her cheek without makeup, I looked at Sonia with a confident tone while stroking her orange hair. Knock, knocking her own chest, Sonia swung, turned her body around, grabbed my wrist, and headed towards Perisha and Undine.
Afterwards, she asked Sierra, who had returned, where she had gone.
After taking the drunk Sonia and the faintly reddish Sierra to the room, I put the sleeping Perisha and Undine in the room before I could return to my room.
The blue moonlight penetrated the window and filled the room, and the cool night air in the room lingered around the tip of my nose, and pink flower petals landed in front of me.
“Did you enjoy the banquet without me?”
Along with Stelgia’s laughing voice, pink petals rose like bubbles. In an instant, the human-shaped petals began to entwine into one, and Stelgia appeared in front of me along with the wind.
“I was watching everything.”
As my calm voice spread quietly, Stelzia smiled and replied, stroking her robe with her fingertips.
“Did you like my present?”
“Is there a gift from you?”
“Why not? The strongest rope in the empire has been lowered in front of you. Cassano.”
Took. The split robe fell helplessly to the floor. Stelzia, wearing a jet-black dress, approached me flapping her dark cotton cloth as usual.
“There is no limit. If you approach it like this, it’s quiet-“
A fist wrapped in mana pierced Stelgia’s chest, but the soft petals filled my vision. She quickly withdrew her hand, but the pink petals on her arm slowly soaked into me, and Stelzia, who filled the hole, said with a laugh.
“Huh, you’ve been waiting? Rest assured, I really have no intention of touching you anymore. Did he like you? With greedy eyes, those eyes you didn’t even show me, thinking of you… “
Stelgia, who reflected her subtle anger with a licking sound, turned around and started walking slowly toward her window.
“Me? And you don’t need a rope or something. If you kill four years, it will all be over.”
“No, it never ends, right? You felt it at the banquet today. The walls of the empire are wide and tall. Even if you claim your interests with small resources, if you grab any of the honored guests invited to the banquet today and take them to your village… “
Queek, Stelzia playfully cut her throat and continued her story.
“Now the Count will show you his boat and whimper. Because the benefactor who saved him has quite a few coveted treasures… But once he recognizes that he is below him, will he remain calm? A lowly man who illegally obtained slaves for his own self-interest?”
Stelgia, who revealed the Count’s bare face, persuaded me with a maddening voice. He certainly felt it the moment he saw the aristocrats, wealthy people, and various celebrities he had seen at the banquet. I was just a stranger in this world, a miserable stranger who just happened to hold a precious treasure in his hand. That was me.
“That’s right, there’s nothing wrong with what you said. There are too many things I deserve to have, and too many women I deserve to hug. It’s honestly hard to keep that on my own.”
“Okay, so-“
I shouted loudly to cut off the unpleasant voice.
“Yes!!!”
Fluttering, the cotton cloth covering Stelgia’s face fluttered. Witnessing the twisted corners of her mouth and her outright anger, I raised the corners of her mouth and spoke to Stelgia.
“Why am I listening to you? Hit me in the back of the head, drag innocent people out of your petty curiosity!!! Why am I listening to the words of the victim?”
Whoops!
A slender hand consumed by rage tore something apart. Stelgia’s eyes, revealed along with the fluttering black cloth, stared at me.