As a tense atmosphere flowed, Olentia clasped her hands together and gulped down her dry saliva. Being with him, who exuded a suspicious charm, made her tremble more than she had thought.
Seeing her stiff posture, Dimidius walked over to Olentia with heavy steps and stood in front of her.
Dimidius’s steady gaze fell upon her.
“Lady, why have you come to this place?”
He seemed to be asking out of genuine curiosity. His voice was slightly flipped outward.
Olentia lifted her head and tried to meet eyes with him, who was wearing a mask.
“I’m the one who has many questions. Why are you here alone? Do you know how startled I was?”
“Please answer my question first. Have you now realized your own power? Is that why you searched for that flower?”
“What power? You know who I am now, right? The niece of Count Odor. Olentia of the Armeniac Count’s family. Since I’m the niece, I can enter here.”
However, it seemed that wasn’t the answer Dimidius wanted.
He asked again seriously.
“Lady, you found that flower without getting lost even once. Think about the reason you were able to come all the way here at once in the dark forest where it’s difficult to even distinguish left from right.”
“Wait, wait a moment! I have no idea what you’re talking about, Your Highness. What flower?”
At Olentia’s question, Dimidius pointed to the white flower enveloped in a halo of light with one hand. The flower that looked like a sunflower.
Only then did Olentia nod her head as if in understanding, then widened her eyes again.
“Huh? The reason I came all the way here at once? It’s because I followed the white light emitted by the flower. Isn’t it the same for you, Grand Duke?”
With such a bright and luminous light, there was no way to get lost in the forest. Of course, going out from here would not be easy from now on.
After a moment, as if he couldn’t believe Olentia’s words, Dimidius let out a hollow laugh.
“Haha! What nonsense. Where is there light here? Did you see a ghost?”
‘What is that supposed to mean?’
Olentia got chills at once. She wrapped her shoulders with both hands and moistened her dry lips.
“Why are you like that? Is it scary? Look. Light is coming from that sunflower-like flower! A transparent and bright light that’s not sunlight, moonlight, or evening twilight!”
As she spoke while rolling her feet, Dimidius seemed to be at a loss for words and remained silent for a moment. It was a spring night, but it felt like a winter night. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have seen the white light from the Pieta bracelet.
At some point, Dimidius adjusted his mask with one hand and spoke in a serious voice.
“Very well. There’s no reason for the lady to lie.”
Olentia approached the flower again and rubbed her eyes. She stared intently, blinking several times, but the light still existed.
Olentia bit her tongue and shivered slightly as she spoke.
“Why can my eyes see it? Is it your eyes that are wrong? Or is it my eyes that are wrong?”
Then, words that made Olentia even more frightened flowed from Dimidius’s mouth.
“When I received a report about the fantasy grass, I didn’t hear anything about it emitting light. Perhaps the lady’s eyes are special.”
It was the first time she heard that her eyes were special. She often heard that her large, round, and gentle eyes were very charming, though.
‘So you’re saying only my eyes can see that white light right now. That’s absurd.’
As she blinked in disbelief, Dimidius continued.
“Of course, there are few people who know about the fantasy grass right now. It seems to only grow in this forbidden forest. I, too, only recently learned about the efficacy of the fantasy grass.”
In any case, it was strange to keep talking about the fantasy grass.
Olentia alternated her gaze between the fantasy grass, which was still emitting a white light, and Dimidius as she spoke.
“Did you perhaps come out to see this flower without Uncle… no, Count Odor’s knowledge? Outsiders are forbidden here. And then you saw me, who entered the forest and found the fantasy grass instantly?”
Dimidius surprisingly nodded his head readily.
Olentia felt like her complicated mind was gradually clearing up.
‘So the Grand Duke came to Odor Territory because of that flower….’
Then, Dimidius’s sharp voice was heard.
“You can tell the Count at any time that I entered this forest.”
It seemed like he thought she would do that.
Olentia furrowed her brow.
“So what is the fantasy grass? What is it that even Count Odor came?”
There was a moment of silence.
Without answering, Dimidius approached the flower swaying in the wind and knelt on one knee. To Olentia’s eyes, even though he was wearing a mask, his body lines were so beautiful that he was breathtakingly gorgeous, as if a god had descended to earth.
He shouldn’t look this stunning.
After caressing the flower for a long time, Dimidius finally opened his mouth.
“That’s right. I have come to desperately need this flower. I came to negotiate.”
Dimidius briefly recalled the past.
[This is the timeline separator]Knock knock!
The sound of knocking was heard, then the office door opened and aide Killen entered. Killen was a rough-looking man with a scar on the left side of his face.
A subtle light dwelled in his cross-eyes, more severe than others.
“Your Highness the Grand Duke. The rumor circulating in the information guild seems to be true. From what I’ve found out, the fantasy grass is said to be full of divine power when in full bloom.”
Dimidius tapped the desk with his fingers.
“I knew it. It seems like information deliberately leaked by Count Odor’s side. Since they have a flower possessing divine power, are they telling those in need to come negotiate?”
“Isn’t that right? They don’t seem to want the information to completely leak outside. After all, if it leaks outside, the denomination won’t stay still.”
The power of the denomination was mighty in the Bonus Empire. They would try to monopolize the rare flower that exudes divine power. In that case, Count Odor would have his precious flower taken away without even paying a high price.
Count Odor’s side clearly wanted to sell to the private sector rather than the public institution of the denomination for practical gain.
Dimidius raised one corner of his mouth.
“I will willingly buy it.”
Dimidius was half human and half demon. In order to maintain his human body for a long time, he desperately needed divine power, a force opposite to the nature of demons.
So, all kinds of divine tools were abundant around Dimidius.
If he unleashed the power of demons like during the attack 5 years ago, even more divine power would be needed. Someone who could freely manipulate divine power would also be essential.
Hoping that such a thing wouldn’t happen, Dimidius leaned back in his leather chair, holding the documents handed to him by aide Killen.
He said, clicking his tongue.
“Let’s see how they react first?”
Writing a letter on the spot with swift strokes, Dimidius sent the letter to Count Odor’s family.
It would be great if it succeeded at once. Even if it didn’t, it didn’t matter.
Because Dimidius was confident in his negotiation skills.
[This is the timeline separator]But in the end, it was good to come and negotiate like this.
However, things seemed to get a little tangled after meeting Lady Olentia Armeniac.
At first, he found out that she had divine power, but he didn’t approach her because he didn’t need someone who could manipulate divine power right away.
But this time, he unleashed the power of demons for the first time in 5 years to save Olentia. Now, he had to succeed in the negotiation and take the fantasy grass, and he also needed someone who could freely handle divine power.
The best candidate would be Olentia, who was right in front of him.
Dimidius straightened his knees, stood up, and stared intently at Olentia, who claimed that light was coming from the fantasy grass.
She was wearing a thin white dress that slightly revealed her shoulders, as if she wasn’t cold. Moreover, she shone brightly as if she herself was the moon, filled with the moonlight seeping into the forest.
On top of that, her light platinum hair and golden eyes like ripe apricots.
Wasn’t it her that was emitting light, not the fantasy grass?
Dimidius was having a silly thought when he spoke to Olentia.
“Let’s get out of here first. It’s spring, but it’s cold at night, and you came out well dressed like that.”
Then Olentia’s face lit up.
“Oh my! Don’t tell me you’re worried about me?”
She was truly a hopeless woman.
Was she going to nag like this just because he said that?
Thinking that it was truly frustrating, Dimidius turned around and walked through the forest. The woman who was the niece of Count Odor would follow well on her own.
[This is the timeline separator]Dimidius was very quiet, as if contemplating something. He still exuded an overwhelming pressure that was hard to bear. Come to think of it, even the ruffians and knights seemed to have a hard time being by his side, so why was she fine? That was strange too.
Then, after much deliberation, Dimidius carefully opened his mouth.
“I should ask now. Do you still not know that you have divine power? If you saw a white light from the fantasy grass, that must be the resonance of divine power.”
Divine power…
Olentia burst into a chuckle.
“Well. What kind of misunderstanding do you have? Well, my ancestors had divine power. But not me. You know, maybe an ordinary person like me can see the resonance of divine power.”
“Lady, you are from the Apricot Tree family that is said to drive away ghosts.”
“Yes. So what?”
“When I held your hand, I felt it.”
‘What, what did you feel? What the heck?’
__________
“Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
