Ch.56Stone Golem – 5

When the Duke’s hand crumpled, the atmosphere turned drastically cold, but thanks to the Duke himself giving me a broad smile and patting my back, we managed to avoid the worst-case scenario.

He said I had guts and that kind of spirit was necessary, which made me wonder if both he and Professor Jake had developed muscle brains from building too much muscle.

After praising me thoroughly, the Duke calmly pulled out a potion from his waist and drank it. The fact that he had prepared a potion suggested this was somewhat planned. Though I doubt he had planned for his hand to be shattered.

After drinking the potion, the Duke turned away with dignity, saying he should probably wrap his hand in bandages. The Duchess stood beside him, scolding him thoroughly for acting without consulting her first.

“Thank goodness. It ended well.”

“Ended… well?”

Priscilla was smiling brightly despite the fact that I had just shattered her father’s hand. It seemed to be thanks to the Duke showing such a favorable attitude. I wondered what his reaction would have been if he disliked me.

I didn’t particularly want to think about that.

“I shall escort you. Please follow me.”

After the Duke and Duchess entered the mansion first, an elderly butler approached and guided me to my room. Priscilla couldn’t come along. The reason was that her parents wanted to properly see their daughter’s face.

Priscilla insisted that she could see them at dinner time, but the butler was firm. Eventually, Priscilla had no choice but to follow a maid who approached separately.

“I’ll definitely come back, even if I have to throw a tantrum.”

“…Just go and greet them properly. It’s been a while.”

I frantically tried to dissuade Priscilla, who was dead serious about coming back as quickly as possible, even if it meant lying on the floor and wailing. That wasn’t a joke but 100% genuine.

If their daughter threw herself on the floor crying because she wanted to go see a man? It wouldn’t be her favorability that would plummet, but mine.

“Please rest comfortably. I will come to escort you again at dinner time.”

The butler had maids set up a table full of refreshments before respectfully taking his leave. While I was eating and looking around the room, I heard someone knocking on the door.

Judging by the footsteps and presence, it wasn’t Priscilla. If it were her, she would have opened the door and entered right after knocking, without waiting for permission.

And it wouldn’t be a servant either. If it were a maid or butler, they would have first identified themselves and stated their business after knocking.

‘Who could be visiting me here?’

I gave permission to enter, wondering. The door opened, and a woman with long, straight orange hair and light brown eyes like Priscilla’s entered.

However, she gave a much sharper and more vicious impression than Priscilla. If this woman were a character in a novel, anyone would immediately recognize her as a villain—that kind of impression.

The woman closed the door and gave me an eye-smile.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Gloria Agnes, the eldest daughter of the Agnes Duchy.”

“…Mira Crate.”

The woman who introduced herself as Gloria, Priscilla’s older sister, seemed about to sit down naturally beside me after her introduction.

“Please sit across from me at the table. I’d rather not cause any misunderstandings.”

“My, who are you concerned about? My father? My mother? Or the servants?”

“I think you already know who.”

“How cold of you. If that’s what you want, I’ll oblige.”

Gloria obediently sat on the sofa across from me. Her attitude was more compliant than I expected.

It wasn’t because of her appearance. It was because I didn’t know when Priscilla might return. If she came back early only to find me sitting close to her sister, she would be beyond furious.

And even if Priscilla were to allow it, I had no intention of getting involved with both sisters simultaneously.

“Why did you come here?”

“Can’t I, as the eldest daughter of House Agnes, welcome a guest?”

“I’ve already received plenty of hospitality from the Duke. Don’t you have some other purpose?”

Gloria’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Hehe, that’s right. There are rumors all over the mansion. They say my sister has been inseparably entangled with some man at the academy, as if they’ve become one body. Since she was known as a genius magician even before entering the academy, it’s not strange that I’d be interested. So I came to welcome you as the eldest daughter of House Agnes and to see you with my own eyes. But…”

Slurp. Gloria’s tongue licked her nearby lips. It was a blatantly intentional action. She was clearly either morally corrupt or out of her mind. Or both.

“…You’re much more attractive than I expected.”

“Thank you for the compliment. Now that you’ve seen my face, please leave.”

I cut off her behavior sharply. I didn’t want to get entangled with someone like her. Gloria made a disappointed face.

“There’s still plenty of time until dinner, though?”

“That’s irrelevant. I told you, I don’t want to cause any misunderstandings. Let me add one more thing: it would be better for you not to engage in unnecessary behavior.”

“My, is that a warning?”

“Let’s call it advice. I’m not someone of high enough status to warn a lady of the Agnes Duchy.”

Though I said this, I didn’t have much hope. Anyone could see those were the eyes of someone who would cause trouble.

Sometimes there are people like that. People whose every word and action makes those around them uneasy.

I know because I’ve seen many of them.

“Advice… hehe. I should engrave that deep inside me. You’re interesting. You have quite a sense of humor.”

Gloria narrowed her eyes and smiled while gently stroking her lower abdomen. She really did seem crazy.

“Mira. I’m back… huh?”

Not long after, Priscilla opened the door and appeared. Judging by her face, thankfully she hadn’t thrown a tantrum crying on the floor. Instead, her attire had changed from the academy uniform to an ordinary dress.

It revealed her shoulders slightly but had almost no other exposure.

“…Why is my sister here?”

The light disappeared from her eyes the moment she confirmed her sister’s presence. Her upturned lips returned to their original position, and her hands gripping her dress hem tightened.

“You know how rumors spread throughout the mansion about the man you brought. So I came to see who he was. As the eldest daughter of House Agnes, I’m also here to welcome our guest.”

Gloria calmly withstood that fierce gaze. Priscilla sat down next to me, almost clinging to me, as if to guard against her sister. Strong wariness was evident in her gaze toward her sister.

“You’ve achieved your goal. Now that you’ve seen his face, leave.”

“My. I’ve heard that line before.”

The light brown eyes, identical to Priscilla’s, turned toward me. Come to think of it, I had also asked her to leave after seeing her face.

“Before criticizing me, why don’t you reflect on your own behavior, my dear sister? What’s with that undignified posture? You’re also a member of House Agnes, so you should carry yourself properly.”

“…I’ll handle myself, so don’t worry about it.”

Priscilla, who had flinched momentarily, firmly rejected her. A look of surprise crossed Gloria’s face.

“You’ve grown. You used to follow my words so well in the past. I wonder if meeting a man has changed you?”

It seemed less like following and more like obeying out of fear or some other reason.

Perhaps one of the reasons she stayed cooped up in the dormitory studying instead of going home during holidays or weekends was because of her sister.

“Since both you and my sister have asked me to leave, I’ll do so. I can’t interrupt your intimate time. I’ll see you again at dinner.”

Gloria left the room, giving me an eye-smile until the very end. As soon as the door closed, I checked for any eavesdropping devices or surveillance magic before speaking.

“That woman is a villain, right?”

“Yes. An extremely nasty one at that.”

“She certainly looked the part.”

Honestly, she couldn’t have been anything else with that aura. She seemed so villainous that I almost suspected it might be a subversion of the cliché.

“What was she like in the original story?”

“She sells our duchy to the Succubus Queen. She’s obsessed with beauty. She thought becoming a succubus would allow her to maintain her youth and appearance forever. She’s still like that now. Obsessed with her looks. And she’s terribly vain, so she loves money too. Oh, right. They also said the first thing she looks at when meeting men is their appearance.”

She had the typical personality of a villain. I wondered if she might have at least one redeeming quality, but from what Priscilla said, it didn’t seem like it.

“Hey, Mira.”

“I’m listening.”

“If necessary, you can kill her. My sister.”

The Duke appeared at dinner with his arm fully recovered. He must have drunk a very good potion.

I had to gloss over the details about the mana golem’s core, but the overall atmosphere was very convivial. Except for when Priscilla almost inadvertently treated me as she usually does, nearly causing an impromptu duel.

After dinner ended, I was heading to my room alone, having detached Priscilla who had insisted on sticking by me and sleeping together. If she wanted to visit, she should sneak in later; if we openly entered the bedroom together, what would people think of us?

“My. We meet again here.”

And as soon as I turned the corner, I ran into Gloria. Judging by her position, it seemed like she had been waiting for me.

Gloria was wearing a translucent negligee that clearly revealed her body’s contours. Whether it was because of the darkness around us or something wrong with my eyes, all that was visible through the negligee was fair skin.

There was no outline of what should have been covering her intimate areas visible anywhere.

“Yes, we meet again. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

Since Gloria had been sending me blatant looks during dinner, nearly ruining the atmosphere several times, I tried to pass by casually.

“I’m not finished speaking yet.”

Gloria grabbed my wrist. I could have easily shaken her off with force if I wanted to, but I instinctively stopped.

“Since we’ve met like this, why don’t we have a little chat?”

“I’m not interested.”

“Aww, don’t be like that.”

One step closer, the distance narrowed. Her gaze toward me was extremely blatant. I looked around. There was no one.

“I said I’m not interested.”

“Hmm, really? That’s unfortunate.”

Gloria slightly lowered the shoulder of her negligee. Similarly, there was no sign of straps that should have been supporting the ample hills on her shoulders.

“What are you doing?”

“What am I doing? I’m politely asking you to spare me some time. If not, I’ll scream that you tried to rape me.”

“…And if I accept?”

“Well, I’m not sure… but we could have a deeper conversation. For instance, counting the number of moles on my body.”

Suddenly, Priscilla’s words came to mind. That I could kill Gloria if necessary. She said she would somehow handle the aftermath.

At the time, I refused, saying that even she couldn’t just let the murder of a duchess’s daughter slide, but in truth, there was a way.

A method that wouldn’t kill the other person, but would make them live a life worse than death.

“What do you—keh?!”

An undignified sound escaped from Gloria’s mouth. It was because I had grabbed her throat and lifted her up. Her two suspended legs kicked desperately.

“Let me ask you something.”

Squeeze. I applied more pressure to the hand gripping her throat. Gloria’s face began to turn red. The choking sounds soon changed to gasping.

“Didn’t I advise you not to engage in unnecessary behavior?”