Ch.54Breaking Off an Engagement Requires Caution (4)

Thinking about it, this seemed to be the first time we’d held hands like this.

We’d held hands for various reasons before, but interlocking our fingers like this was probably a first.

The thought made my cheeks tingle with a strange warmth.

I had done it to tease Irene, but if I ended up being more embarrassed than her, she’d never let me hear the end of it.

Meanwhile, Irene didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding her embarrassment.

Judging by her strawberry-red ear tips, she probably found this situation quite embarrassing.

I wondered why she was acting like this when other people might see her face.

When I gently tugged at our joined hands, Irene looked at me with furrowed brows.

“…W-what is it?”

“What will people think if you’re so embarrassed? They might misunderstand.”

In truth, it wouldn’t matter if they did misunderstand. Who would dare spread strange rumors about the Yuris family?

Even if people noticed, they would only whisper among themselves. We didn’t need to worry about rumors spreading everywhere.

Of course, Irene probably knew this too, but she seemed unusually flustered as she hesitated before hanging her head low.

Her fidgeting fingers grew still, and I smiled slightly as I glanced at her.

Her lower lip protruded unconsciously, as if she had much to say.

She never used to show this side of herself before, but her barriers had definitely lowered at some point.

In other words, unlike before, she was now fun to tease.

I never would have imagined teasing her in the past. How did we end up like this?

However, remembering our purpose for attending this ball, I erased my smile and shifted my gaze.

Of course, we could enjoy the ball with Irene a bit more,

but that could wait until after we accomplished what we came here to do.

Irene seemed to have the same thought, as she carefully touched her reddened face and began looking ahead.

The reason we came to this ball, and the reason we attracted so many gazes—

wasn’t it to capture Count Kasim’s interest?

We needed his technical skills to uncover Roman’s connection to the black mages.

Magic-engineered items, known as “artifacts,” were the only solution to our current deadlock.

When I heard a single person’s footsteps, I raised the corners of my lips and looked in that direction.

The sound was quite heavy for ordinary humans,

like the sound of a knight stomping in armor—a sound only a different race could make.

Unlike humans, this race had a shorter stature but a much larger build and sturdy physique.

Beloved by the earth, they possessed greater dexterity than any other race.

“Welcome, it’s an honor to have such distinguished guests grace us with their presence.”

When his black pupils gleamed, and I realized that the sparkle mixed within was goodwill,

we smiled at each other as if by prior agreement.

#

My image of dwarves was closer to a taciturn race,

interested in creation and smelling quite strongly of sweat.

After all, this was my first time conversing with a different race since Zhanzir, so it was natural to have stereotypes.

Of course, Count Kasim was a nobleman unlike the typical dwarf, but…

Still, I thought this was a bit too much.

“So, what happened next?”

“I believe I cut off the troll’s head right in mid-air. Cleanly severed the neck bone too.”

“Damn it, all those black mages should die. Playing such tricks with trolls!”

Unlike nobles who always try to maintain dignity and hate losing face in public more than death itself,

he growled as he put down his beer mug on the table.

Splash! As beer foam spilled onto the table, Irene’s eyes grew cold.

I worried we might end up fighting before we even got to the main discussion.

One thing was clear: Count Kasim definitely hated black mages.

The dart boards placed around the room had papers with black mage symbols at their centers.

I suspected he threw darts at them whenever he got bored.

He was very friendly toward us.

I thought he might have approached us seeking an opportunity to collaborate with one of the five great houses,

but Count Kasim seemed more interested in me than in Irene.

He had sparkled at the sight of the medal on my chest;

he might have fainted if I had let him touch the sword that had slain black mages.

“…But Count, did you ask to see us just to hear my stories?”

When I asked this, Count Kasim, who had been laughing while listening to my story, looked at Irene and spoke.

“No, not at all. The young mistress of Yuris had another reason for wanting to meet me, didn’t she?”

“…Yes, I’ve been quiet because you were so engrossed in the story.”

“Haha, I apologize for that.”

When Irene responded, Count Kasim chuckled and bowed his head.

When he raised his head and spoke, my eyes narrowed at the sudden change in atmosphere.

“You want to talk about black mages.”

“…Why would you think that?”

Feeling like he had hit the nail on the head, I asked, and he twisted the corner of his mouth and quietly answered while looking at me.

“The person most deeply connected to black mages in the Empire has come to see me. The young mistress of Yuris, who rarely appears at balls, has come all this way. It’s not difficult to infer what that means. My hatred for black mages is already famous throughout the Empire, isn’t it?”

Gulp—

After swallowing a mouthful of beer, he tapped the table with his finger and continued.

“You probably came seeking help to create something related to black mages. But you attracted so much attention because you wanted me to come to you directly, and that’s because you didn’t want someone to know about it.”

“…Ha.”

“And that someone, the person the young mistress of Yuris wants to uncover the truth about—isn’t it Roman of the Sword?”

Since awakening as Evan Fried, I had seen so many things that it wasn’t easy to be surprised by anything,

but I couldn’t help being amazed by his insight.

Most of our conversation after meeting him had been about my exploits, so how did he figure all this out?

Seeing my expression, Count Kasim laughed heartily, then slowly opened his mouth after noticing Irene’s chilled face.

“You don’t need to be so guarded. I’m being this frank because we’ll end up cooperating anyway, won’t we?”

“…I wasn’t glaring. If I offended you, I apologize.”

Seeing Irene apologize, I smiled faintly at her.

In the past, she would have responded with something other than an apology,

but now I could no longer call Irene a villainess. I felt a lump in my throat thinking about the effort I’d put in over the past three years.

“Miss, sometimes apologizing is better than glaring at people.”

“It’s good to try things on your own, but how about accepting help from others? I won’t always be by your side.”

Although Irene had reacted sharply to those words, I could say her current transformation was admirable.

Count Kasim also seemed surprised by Irene’s apology, widening his eyes, which made me smile contentedly.

“…Well, this is quite different from the rumors I’ve heard. You seem like a much more admirable person.”

“She is admirable.”

‘And beautiful too,’ I added silently with my lips, causing Irene to flinch and glare at me when she saw it.

I had only meant to lighten her stiff expression, but her reaction seemed a bit stronger than I expected.

After carefully smoothing her reddened face, Irene sighed and looked at Count Kasim.

“So, are you willing to cooperate with Yuris?”

“I’d like to hear your story first. Why you’re approaching me, and why you suspect Roman.”

“If that’s what you want.”

At Irene’s gesture, one of the maids who had accompanied us handed a book to Count Kasim.

It was the first edition of the founding legend I had seen, along with an old document I hadn’t seen before.

After reading them carefully, Count Kasim raised his head and looked at Irene.

“The eye color of Roman in the illustration is… different from now.”

“Back then, it was red. As you can see in the other document, Roman was originally a relative of Alarr.”

“…Hmm, if this is true, then really…”

“It’s not ‘if’—everything written there is fact. It’s the result of an investigation that began the moment black mages appeared in Yuris.”

I nodded at her words.

If what Sir Chris told me was true, suspicions about Roman began three years ago.

But the evidence gathered during that time was quite weak, which is why we ultimately had to seek help from others.

Count Kasim stroked the book with his thick hands, then stared into space and sighed faintly.

What reflected in his black pupils was regret, remorse, and… anger.

It was burning. In those murky depths like spilled ink,

in those empty pupils, what burned was clearly anger.

Perhaps he had lost family to black mages.

After exhaling a breath filled with barely contained rage, he slowly opened his mouth.

“Very well. An artifact to expose black mages… I believe I can create one. It will take some time, but probably less than a month. Can you wait that long?”

“As long as needed. Yuris can cover all the expenses.”

“In that case… I have no choice but to accept your proposal.”

Count Kasim grinned as he said this, and Irene’s eyes narrowed as she watched him.

Unlike before, there was no chilly aura, which suggested she was somewhat relieved.

A month—not a short period, but certainly much shorter than expected.

What remained now was to keep Roman’s attention away from Yuris.

To prevent them from suspecting Yuris, to prevent them from noticing our intentions and going into hiding.

That would be the most important thing over the next month.

#

While Irene’s expression had been full of discontent when entering the ballroom,

her face looked much more relaxed after leaving Count Kasim’s office.

She must have been pleased that her concerns had been resolved quite well.

By the way, if Roman was truly connected to black mages,

how to deal with him would be another problem.

Could we even gauge the extent of power they had accumulated through 300 years of contact with black mages?

Perhaps we could easily defeat someone like Adel Roman.

His skills… would obviously be pathetic regardless of any black magic mixed in.

But the Roman Duke was a different story.

The person closest to Master level in the current Empire,

rumored to have already reached Master level though he hadn’t revealed it publicly.

The Roman Duke and black magic—it would be incomparable to fighting Zhanzir.

The Crown Prince’s cooperation was absolutely necessary.

With Theo Ladd in the Imperial Knights, I didn’t even want to imagine fighting without their power.

Of course, if I reached Master level… such things wouldn’t be much of a problem.

But for now, I had to worry. There was no way I could reach Master level in just a month.

What I needed right now was enlightenment. I was certain that I needed to face the wall before me,

break through it to advance to the next level.

As I pondered this, I turned my head toward a gaze fixed on me and found Irene there.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

Several thoughts that would surprise Irene came to mind when I heard her question, but I pushed them away and quietly spoke.

“Now that we’ve finished our discussion with Count Kasim, I was wondering what we should do next.”

It was an awkward time to return immediately.

The horses that had galloped without rest for two days needed time to eat feed and rest,

and the coachman would probably not return until tomorrow afternoon.

Since our conversation with Count Kasim hadn’t lasted very long, the ball was still in full swing.

I was wondering if we should return to the ballroom when my thoughts were scattered by a voice near my ear.

“You’re not thinking of returning to the ballroom or something equally pointless, are you?”

“…Was that a pointless thought?”

But nothing else came to mind.

As I tilted my head while looking at Irene, she frowned at my face, then sighed.

As if frustrated, she touched her forehead, stared at me intently, and slowly began approaching me.

“If we go to the ball, those young ladies will squeal at the sight of you again. I can just imagine them fantasizing about that piano performance you gave when I wasn’t there… picturing themselves with you.”

Poke.

As if it had become a habit, Irene poked my chest with her finger.

Somehow her finger had more strength behind it than before,

and there was a slight chill in her eyes as she looked at me. I smiled faintly as I gazed at her.

“Does that bother you?”

“Yes, it does.”

My eyes widened at her unexpectedly firm answer.

I hadn’t expected Irene, who usually evaded direct answers, to respond so decisively.

But my thoughts didn’t continue for long. The finger poking my chest became a palm,

and as she pushed against my chest, I unconsciously stepped backward.

One step, two steps.

The narrowing gap didn’t continue for long.

When my back hit the wall and Irene was close enough for me to feel her breath,

she smiled seductively and moved her crimson lips.

“I absolutely hate it.”

“You’re too close. Um, a little—”

“Evan.”

Since this was the first time Irene had been so forward, I couldn’t gather my scattered thoughts.

The intoxicating rose scent filling the corridor and that sweet voice tickling my ear were enough to shake anyone’s self-control.

But I held back. I suppressed the urge to grab her nape,

and slowly gazed into her eyes.

“…Miss, someone might pass by.”

“Then answer me.”

Tap.

Irene’s hand slowly moved to the brooch I had received from her some time ago.

As her cold touch caressed my chest, I flinched,

and could only stare blankly at her rippling blue pupils.

Finally, those small lips parted.

At her sweet voice, I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“Say you’ll stay with me today.”

I could see Irene’s face with a faint blush rising.

As if gathering her courage, she tightly clenched her small hand.

How could I refuse after seeing that?

If someone rejected such words,

they would either be a person with many women… or perhaps someone with character issues.

Naturally, my answer to her was acceptance.