Chapter 77: Hidden Trap

“I shouldn’t have trusted him.”

Latte bit her lip in frustration as she thought of Viscount Jimilta.

To think everything was planned, from opening the party to making Bliss spill tea to reveal her evil nature.

He had a different purpose from the start. While claiming he was rejected by Bliss and saying she could freely use the people he had planted, he had been interfering from behind all along.

The more she thought about it, the more her anger boiled.

“I won’t back down like this.”

Latte, with cold eyes, added Viscount Jimilta to her list of people to take revenge on and assigned someone to watch him. Thanks to that, she obtained unexpected information. They heard him speaking angrily to his aide after leaving the duke’s residence. He said Duke Blast didn’t trust him and was preparing to attack Caelan.

Caelan was in danger.

“Bliss.”

It was all because of Bliss. If Viscount Jimilta hadn’t had feelings for her, none of this would have happened.

Latte grabbed and threw the nearby vase while thinking of Bliss. The sharp noise seemed to relieve her stifling feelings somewhat, but they soon returned.

“As long as that woman stays by Caelan’s side, this suffocation will never go away.”

A woman who had lived her whole life tormenting others suddenly claimed Caelan, then started treating people around her kindly and became close with Princess Jasmin.

It was often infuriating to watch everyone’s gaze toward her become favorable with those changes.

And on the last day of the gathering. When Bliss told Princess Jasmin to take in a lady-in-waiting, she completely ignored Latte. The feeling of being thoroughly ignored and deemed unworthy of even being a lady-in-waiting – one couldn’t understand without experiencing it.

“You won’t get away with this.”

As Latte muttered, there was a knock at the door, perhaps having heard the vase breaking outside.

“What is it?”

As Latte glared, intending not to let whoever interrupted her time go easily, the door opened and a knight appeared.

Apparently not concerned about the vase, he didn’t even glance at it as he spoke.

“We’ve detected secret movements from House Blast.”

“Perfect. Follow me.”

Having set another trap for their attack, it could now be used at the right time.

“Let’s see if you’ll be safe this time too.”

***

After having the family knight take away the fallen man and cleaning up the surroundings, they were alone again. Finding some composure, Bliss looked at Echo.

【I was born as a dagger originally. However, everyone who received my choice used me for different purposes.】

The blood on Echo’s blade was being absorbed.

【For some, I asked for no price, and for others, I stated my conditions.】

Unable to move due to the voice resonating in her head, Bliss stood still as Caelan approached. He was examining her face, stroking it to see if she was shocked.

【Everyone who heard my conditions wanted to pay the price. However, none of them fulfilled the other condition I never spoke of.】

Caelan’s eyes furrowed. When he stroked Bliss’s head, a strange voice echoed in his mind.

“This…”

“The dagger is speaking.”

Bliss showed him the dagger and held his hand with her other hand, as if telling him not to be surprised. There must be a reason why Echo, who had only spoken to Bliss alone even when she touched Caelan, was now speaking to him too.

【It must be used not to harm someone, but to protect.】

“If you had told us that too, wouldn’t it have been fulfilled sooner?”

【It needs to have desperate sincerity, not just fulfilling conditions. Like how you rushed in despite your reluctance to save Caelan.】

Stabbing someone with a blade wasn’t an easy thing for her. But her desire to protect Caelan made her move.

At Echo’s words, the guilt Bliss had been trying to push aside welled up again. She had hesitated, afraid the person she stabbed might die, but jumped in to save Caelan. What a contradictory feeling.

“Bliss.”

Bliss looked up at the warmth cupping her cheek. Caelan’s gentle gaze. Though it seemed similar to when he first treated her kindly, it was subtly different.

There was no hint of observation in his straight gaze toward her.

‘This is his real worried face.’

Just seeing his eyes made her smile involuntarily.

“The dagger didn’t go all the way in. Without technique, it’s hard to stab deeply. There was just more bleeding than the wound’s depth would suggest, so don’t worry. He won’t die.”

“That’s a relief.”

She had thought she pushed it in completely except for the handle, but apparently not. Finally breathing a sigh of relief, Bliss looked at the dagger with more comfortable eyes.

【Thank you.】

He had said no one had ever fulfilled his conditions until now. At first, Bliss heard the conditions from Echo. She gave up Echo without hesitation upon hearing them, only to find him again later.

Others must have been in similar situations, but they learned techniques even without fulfilling the conditions. That was probably because Echo didn’t believe they would fulfill them either.

“What happens now?”

【I can find my true form.】

“True form?”

Then was he originally human, not a dagger?

As Bliss looked at Echo with curiosity, and Caelan also stared with interest, the last drop of blood on the dagger was absorbed. Then light began flowing from the dagger, quickly becoming too bright to look at. When she turned away from that light, Caelan embraced her.

The intense light felt hot, and suddenly her hand that had been holding Echo felt empty. Though it was still too bright to open her eyes properly, that light was gradually reducing its form. Then suddenly, pop, when the light disappeared, Bliss looked at her empty hand.

And when she raised her head to look around, there was no one besides herself and Caelan. Not knowing what had happened, she just blinked, when Caelan’s laughter was heard.

“Bliss.”

Caelan pointed somewhere with a face full of amusement.

“Over there.”

Bliss looked where he pointed and showed a surprised expression, then after confirming something, showed a questioning face.

“What is this.”

There was an adorable silver fox at their feet.

The fox, wagging its tail and licking its paw, shook its body.

“It’s been so long, I’m not well adjusted yet.”

Amazed that the fox could speak human language, Bliss tugged at Caelan’s clothes.

“The fox is talking.”

“Seems better than a talking dagger…”

When Caelan responded indifferently, Bliss gave up expecting anything from him and bent down. When she carefully picked up the fox, it was lighter than the dagger. Its size, fitting in just two palms, made it seem like a cub. Especially its eyes were red like the blood that had been absorbed into the dagger earlier. Bliss looked at it from various angles while muttering.

“I thought you meant human when you said true form. I never expected a fox.”

“I never said I was human.”

“That’s true. But aren’t you old? Why do you look like a cub?”

“My true body is very large. But I can’t stay that way here, so I just reduced my size.”

It was amazing to keep watching a talking fox. While stroking the fox’s silver body, she belatedly asked.

“Is your name still… Echo?”

“Echo of the Demon King.”

Hard to believe when saying that with such a cute appearance.

As Bliss stroked Echo’s silver body, he closed his eyes in satisfaction. Not a bad trade to lose a dagger and gain a fox. The fox was cute enough to want to hold all day.

She looked at Caelan who had approached beside her at some point. Remembering what had just happened, which she had forgotten because of Echo, she examined him carefully. Seeing there were no major injuries, Bliss’s lips naturally curved into a smile of relief.

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

Many things happened today, but Caelan being unharmed felt most significant.

“Thank you for saving me.”

Caelan grabbed Bliss’s wrist, pulled her close, and kissed her cheek. Her body stiffening in his grasp clearly showed her flustered state.

He had spent all this time just being suspicious of a woman with such honest reactions, unable to accept her as she was. It would be a lie to say that time wasn’t regrettable.

Still, since he knew now, Caelan had no intention of letting go of Bliss’s hand. He could even tell lies without hesitation, like saying the dagger hadn’t gone all the way in, to protect that.

“Cunning human.”

The fox, knowing everything, shook its head at Caelan.

“Now let’s go home and…”

As Bliss was speaking, she looked down at Echo’s sudden movement. And just as she was about to look for Echo who had disappeared from her hand, she was enveloped by something along with an alien noise.

“…”

What just happened? Why am I in Caelan’s arms?

Bliss looked down at what felt damp. Caelan’s clothes were getting wet, and hers were starting to get wet too. It was red.

“Caelan?”

“Let’s go back.”

“…You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine, let’s go back.”

Caelan’s voice being no different from usual made the sense of dissonance even stronger. Bliss looked at Caelan’s face, feeling her heart grow cold.