Chapter 7

‘He knows even more than I expected.’

She now had one more reason to pull him into this matter. If she could not….

She might have to risk her life and kill him to silence him. Her narrowed eyes darkened with the grim thought. As though he had guessed her thinking, Allen twisted his lips slantwise, but by the time she looked at him again, that peculiar smile had disappeared without a trace.

“Yes, it should be done that way. While you were risking your life and fighting, the people who watched from behind took all the sweet fruit for themselves and only filled their own bellies even more, and you’re fine with that? One of them even drove your family into mortal danger because of pointless vanity.”

“Your effort is admirable, but this conversation is becoming more and more tedious.”

“That’s because of you.”

When she suddenly reproached him, Allen raised one eyebrow.

“Unlike me, you could have refused this marriage well enough. If you had refused, the King wouldn’t have been able to force it through to the end, would he? Why on earth did you accept this marriage? Did you want to bring home a fool instead of Henry and use me to vent your anger?”

At her one-sided accusation, Allen gave a slight shrug.

“It was a whim.”

“Because of that whim, my entire plan was ruined. If only I had another 5 or 6 years, it would have borne fruit…. So you should take responsibility.”

As she stubbornly spoke nonsense, Eveline studied Allen. He seemed inclined to watch and see how far she would go. She still could not easily read what was inside him, but at least he did not look bored.

“You must have heard at least once about the unfortunate things that happened to my mother and me. Even before what happened to me, my siblings, whose faces I had hardly even seen properly, kept dying off. And those children at least had families of Baron rank or higher standing behind them.”

Allen did not signal that he was listening by chiming in or making any sound of agreement, but at least he did not interrupt her. Eveline had not expected an enthusiastic reaction from him anyway, so she went on without minding it.

“My maternal grandfather, who had been a Baronet, died before I was even born, so even though I narrowly survived, I had absolutely nowhere to rely on. My situation truly was like a lamp before the wind. There was not much a child of only 9 years old could do. So I decided. I would not draw anyone’s wariness, and I would not stand out.”

It was the first time she had spoken this much, and her throat was dry. She paused briefly to catch her breath, then continued.

“My greatest goal was to survive, and as you can see, my life has held on until now. But merely being alive means nothing. To those people, it may have been no more than lightly trampling something underfoot, but with that one kick, my life was uprooted completely. They should be trampled in exactly the same way.”

For a moment, Eveline’s gaze turned cold, but when she looked at him, she changed her expression. She gave Allen an affectionate smile.

“If you cooperate with me, Duke, it can be accomplished more easily.”

“I have heard your long and detailed story well enough.”

But that seemed to be all, for Allen showed no particular reaction.

“Are you afraid?”

Eveline deliberately provoked him.

“How did the war hero who spread such fame on the battlefield end up shutting himself away in his territory and letting the years pass so vainly?”

“It seems someone needs to teach you a painful lesson about watching your tongue.”

“Isn’t that why you covered your family’s portraits with cloth and turned away from them, because you know that cutting off the enemy commander’s head alone did not complete your revenge?”

Allen’s eyes burned a vivid blue. That blaze might have spread to her and burned her as well, but like a moth rushing into flame, she instead stepped even closer to him.

Eveline placed a hand on his shoulder and patted it slowly. Though he glared sharply at her, she swallowed down her trembling, rose onto her toes, and narrowed the distance between them even further.

“You still want to remain a son and a brother your family can be proud of, don’t you?”

She whispered in an exceedingly sweet voice. Was this what the song of a siren that lured sailors to their deaths sounded like.

“A life like rusted iron does not suit you. Do not turn your eyes away from your desire. Drive your blade into the enemy’s chest and pull away the dust-covered cloths. When that time comes, you will surely be able to face the portraits properly.”

When Eveline met his eyes, she curved the corners of her eyes.

The two of them moved to the office.

“First, there is something I want to ask.”

Eveline, who had been looking around the office, turned to Allen at the sound of his voice.

“Go ahead.”

“Do you want them to die quietly without knowing who did it to them, or do you want them to know everything before they die?”

Instead of answering hastily, Eveline thought carefully for a moment. As she did, she twirled a strand of hair around her index finger. Allen’s gaze shifted there for a moment.

“Feeding them White Fragrance Herb was the best I could do.”

At last, she opened her mouth.

“Now that I think about it, dying without knowing anything seems far too merciful for them. A peaceful death doesn’t suit them.”

Her eyes shone and she smiled, as though the mere idea pleased her. Allen looked at her with a strange expression.

“I want them to writhe in agony right up to the moment before they die.”

As she said that, the exaggerated smile vanished from Eveline’s face, and a cold light flowed in her eyes.

“They should be given the most painful death, along with the same terrible sense of loss that I felt.”

Though the two said nothing more, they both knew what loss the others would fear most.

“The Queen and Countess Miller know very well, after fighting for so long, that there is no easy way to settle things between them. So right now, the Queen and Countess Miller are holding an unspoken truce. But what they want is the same. Unfortunately, it is not something that can be fairly torn in half and shared.”

“Their coexistence now must be like standing on thin ice.”

Eveline twisted her lips mercilessly and nodded.

“In the end, they have no choice but to fight again. I intend to break that ice and bring the fight sooner.”

“Then first, we must provoke them.”

She found it interesting that even without her explaining in detail, he understood her thoughts from just the opening of the subject. Eveline wanted to test whether he had also immediately grasped her plan. So she looked steadily at him, as though asking him to guess what was in her mind.

Allen calmly accepted that testing gaze and spoke the thought that had come to him.

“You intend to use yourself as the sacrifice.”

Eveline gave him a wink as though to say he was correct. Then she folded her arms, tilted her head to one side, and gave Allen a smile that seemed almost provocative.

“Are you prepared to turn your household upside down?”

“As you wish.”

“Will that really be all right? What if I run wild with unchecked authority?”

To that probing question, Allen answered with a calm face.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“My, how generous.”

“Originally, managing the household was the Duchess’s domain. Whether money or people, if there is anything you need, use it freely.”

Then Allen added one more indifferent remark.

“Though it seems you were already doing that.”

At those words, Eveline thought of the money she had been siphoning off and her eyes shifted.

‘He really knew everything.’

For some reason, it felt as though she had been dancing in the palm of his hand. She realized that he had known about her embezzlement, but Eveline showed no sign of fluster.

“The existing ledgers were a mess, so I’ll have to reorganize them from scratch.”

At that shameless reply, Allen let out a faint sound of air escaping.