The Villain is Being Suspiciously Kind - Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Every plaza in Petrosha Empire was equipped with a video sphere. They served as a type of billboard, changing daily or weekly to advertise a variety of things.
Sometimes, they promoted the emperor’s spectacular exploits, sometimes they were used by noble families to enhance their own prestige, and there were times when the space was used to sell goods.
People would usually pass by the area without taking notice.
But today was different.
A spectacular battle scene was projected over the huge sphere. Everyone was stopped in their tracks as they walked past. People flocked to see the commercial that had been up since dawn.

“Duke Pietro finished off the last remnants of the Dark Tower.”
Said one knight.
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“That’s amazing. What the hell is that?”
Shouted a man wearing a pointed wizard’s hat.

“That bracelet is shining!”
Gasped a little boy with a surprised face.

“People are saying it’s elementism. It was in the morning paper today.”
“Beautiful, mysterious, and even powerful…”
“It looks more holy than the prophetic stone containing God’s prophecy.”

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
Everyone was staring at the image.
Citrina watched as well as the tower crumbled, the pendant around her neck glinting. Gemma whispered quietly.

-That was th, th, that scary guy, right?
-Desian? It seems so.
-Sheesh…you do a lot, but he’s on a whole other level.

Gemma babbled. Citrina felt a little disoriented.
She stopped at a corner of the plaza. The crowd was unusually dense.
So those…mercenaries must be quick-witted people. Sooner or later, the atelier would be plagued with an overwhelming order for enchantments.

At that moment, Princess Iana was leaving the imperial palace. She’d been invited to a county house party by the marquess.
Her carriage crossed the bridge that connected the imperial palace to the islands and drove towards the plaza.

“It’s been a long time since I saw the plaza.”
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It was a nice day. On a day like this, she should be lazing about the imperial palace, rewriting the second draft of <The Spiritist’s Diary>.
Iana was suddenly bothered by everything.

“Ah, it’s stuffy, so please open a window.”

At Princess Iana’s words, the lady-in-waiting quickly opened the carriage window. There were many people outside.
Iana asked indifferently.

“Why are there so many people out there?”
“Ah! Duke Pietro has used elementism to turn to tower into dust.”
“…dust?”

That’s a strong word!
Anyway…
Duke Pietro was the one.
Elementism had reduced the tower to dust!
It was obvious. Duke Pietro showed the power of the spirits to the people for Citrina! It was so romantic! Heroic, too! He was cold to other people but sweet and warm-hearted to his woman.
To no one’s surprise, Princess Iana’s reasoning was flawless once more.

“Oh my gosh, isn’t it too romantic?”
“…It’s romantic?”
“The world is so beautiful.”

Iana smiled and cupped both of her cheeks in her hands. The lady-in-waiting who was close to the princess seriously considered this.
Did the knights academy make people like this? What was so romantic about a tower demolition?

“Wait a minute.”
“What?”
“…are you two dating now?”
“What… who is dating who?”

The princess’s ladies-in-waiting looked at each other, troubled. Maybe she had been reading romance novels for so long that all of her prejudices had disappeared.

“No, I’m talking about the Duke and Citrina.”

‘They’re still not dating yet, are they? Even though it’s so obvious that you’re in love.’

The princess murmured to herself grimly.

“Ah…”

The ladies-in-waiting choked back their words. Princess Iana, who was unable to understand their hearts, fell into a long-awaited trance.

‘Should I spice it up a bit?’

What that too much?
Princess Iana racked her brain as the carriage sped through the plaza.
Behind the royal carriage, Citrina also left the square with a great deal of surprise and trepidation.
So it seemed that things had surely turned in her favor. But this was a little more than she had asked for, no, quite a bit more.
Citrina left the plaza.
Instead of returning to the atelier, she took the path to the duke’s residence.

“What happened?”
“Everything went just as we discussed.”
“That… thank you. Um…but…”

Desian’s answer came too quickly for Citrina’s liking.
‘More than anything, the scale is too big.’
Just as she was about to say that, she realized something all of a sudden. Ah, she had forgotten something.
Desian was a duke.

‘Is this scale nothing to a duke?’

But still, she didn’t like the idea of being dependent on Desian for help. She wasn’t the type to live with a debt floating over her head.
Citrina decided that sooner or later she would explore the mines to bring him back gold.
It was a bit of a stretch, but…it would be in their mutual interests to do so. Otherwise, she would have to think seriously about how she could help him.

“Still, I never thought it would come to that, Del.”
“Don’t feel pressured.”
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Knowing Citrina’s mind, Desian spoke softly.
He’d placed a personal ad in every plaza all around the empire. It was an astronomical amount of money that Citrina couldn’t even imagine.

“The Senate also was a factor in it.”
“…Huh?”
“There was a request to lessen the notoriety of the duke.”

Citrina knew about the infamy of Duke Pietro, though she hadn’t heard all of the rumors yet, as others fled in a panic when he was mentioned.
“I see.”
She was slightly mistaken.
Desian looked at Citrina and lowered his eyes. Dense, long eyelashes shaded his eyes, making him look almost pitiful.

‘When I look at you like this, you look like an angel.’

Citrina slowly ripped out the bud of doubt from her mind.

“Del.”
“Yeah?”
“There were no people in the tower? Weren’t you hurt?”
“I killed them all.”

Desian smiled merrily.
If you think of it that way…it still looks bad.
He spoke of death more easily than anyone else. Citrina rubbed at the goosebumps that had risen on her arms.

“Well, I’m glad to hear that our plans worked out for both of us.”

It was an unfortunate thing, the difference in status. It meant that Citrina couldn’t be sure that she could give as much as she was given.

“Then I have a favor to ask of you.”
“What favor?”
“I have this strange sound ringing in my ears.”
“A strange sound?”
“Yeah. And…”

Trailing off, Desian bit his lip slowly. The tip of his tongue tingled.

“I hear it whenever you’re not around.”

Feigning weakness.
Slowly.
To make her love him.
Desian lifted his eyelashes slowly upward, looking at Citrina.
He smiled as pretty as a picture.

“So stay with me.”
“…”
“Because that’s enough.”

Desian’s large hands gently swept through Citrina’s hair.
Citrina flinched.
It was strange. There had been times before when he’d affectionately ruffled her hair, and she had never thought about it. She had just assumed it was a touch between friends.
But now it was so obvious this was an intimate touch.
Desian removed his hand from her hair and brought it to her cheek. His hand was cold enough to make her wince.

“You have a bit of a fever.”

Desian murmured languidly.
Her heat transferred to his cold hand.
He thought.

‘I was going to wait until your feelings for me gradually developed. I was going to give you a choice. If I didn’t do that, you would run away again. But isn’t this a clear foul to look at me with both cheeks tinted red?’
Desian slowly removed his hands from her cheeks as well. This was because if they touched for much longer, it would be unbearable really.
He knew only one thing- his patience was running thin.
There was only so much time before his patience ran out.

“What are you thinking?”
“Nothing much.”
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Citrina’s everyday question was followed by Desian’s falsely calm response. Hearing his voice, Citrina smiled.
When she looked at him like that, with eyes so full of emotions while saying nothing,
it made him want to know her more.
And it made him want to keep trying again and again.

“I’m not really thinking about anything.”

Citrina cupped her hands around Desian’s ears.

“Now there’s no sound?”

Their gazes met fiercely in the air.

“All I hear is your voice.”
“That…makes me feel good.”

Citrina smiled.
Citrina Foluin liked Desian Pietro.
That was clear to see.
She didn’t know if it was love, but she did know that a crush was slowly blooming in her heart.
For now, pushing for success to precedence over the gentle waves of love.
Citrina blinked.

“For the time being, let’s just put it to the back of our minds. We have enough stuff to work through.”

For now.
And yet.
If he stopped trying at all, he wouldn’t get anywhere.

“Del, I heard Elaina and Genfiros are after me.”
“Yes, it’s dangerous.”
“Do you think they’ll try to take my life?”
“…yes.”

Citrina was lost in thought.
Desian looked down and smiled grimly, deep in thought.
It wasn’t just one person who was after Citrina’s life. The leader of the paladins had labeled elementism as a forbidden art. which meant that Citrina’s safety was slowly getting more and more precarious.
Desian had already noticed a few suspicious faces circling around Citrina, but he didn’t need to tell her everything.
You remain lovely.
I’ll get my hands dirty.
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“So…I have one favor to ask, Rina.”

The emphasis was on the word ‘favor’.
There was a force in his earnest voice. Citrina looked at Desian again.
And what happened next was something she hadn’t predicted.
It was right then.
Desian looked at the pendant around her neck without saying a word. The pendant sparkled, glowing.