Chapter 5. Each Other’s Eyes

After returning from the factory, Delphine quietly stayed in the mansion for a while.

It was to avoid any suspicion and to observe Ioan’s movements for the time being.

Anyway, since she had charged an enormous amount of posum, there was no need to go to headquarters for a while.

And indeed, that day’s life-threatening posum recovery did not seem to have been in vain.

The biggest topic in the capital recently was undoubtedly the Barrier Liberation Movement that suddenly gained momentum.

Ioan spent more and more time away from the mansion as the days went by.

Now, as if it could no longer be hidden, articles about reactionaries in Zone 3 were appearing in newspapers daily.

Mostly negative articles saying they were harming the glory of His Majesty the Emperor and the peace of the empire.

“… You seem to be very busy these days?”

Thus, at the breakfast table with Ioan after a long time.

Delphine, elegantly sipping deeply brewed black tea, casually asked the man sitting across from her.

It had been a while since they had such a conversation, as it was rare to have breakfast with him these days.

“… That’s right.”

The man, showing no signs of fatigue despite his extreme work schedule, elegantly raised his lips into a smile.

“Winter is ending soon, isn’t it? It’s the season when rats run rampant.”

His tone was as calm as if he were actually catching rats.

It seemed that not a drop of blood would come out even if stabbed with a dagger, let alone a needle.

Delphine, who now knew roughly what he was doing outside, couldn’t help but feel chills.

The mask he wore was thicker, colder, and more solid than she had thought.

‘Will I be able to completely remove the mask of such a person?’

Looking at him with wavering eyes, Delphine recalled what happened when she teleported to headquarters from the human factory a few weeks ago.

“Viscount Pryde is a man with inhuman sharp senses.”

Before Lin teleported her back to the mansion, Belly told her.

“For a while, you might be followed, so it would be better for the lady… no, Delphine to stay in the mansion.”

Nodding at the reasonable order, Delphine told them everything about Ioan’s past that she hadn’t been able to say until now.

That Ioan was actually a commoner slave who worked in her mansion.

That as far as she knew, he was sold for a few pennies by his birth mother who worked in a brothel in Zone 3.

… And that they had shared something akin to friendship in their childhood.

When she finished speaking, the expression of Belly, who had heard all her story.

He always had an angelic smile and used a kind tone, but at that time, he seemed like a completely different person.

Like a street gambler, or perhaps a cold-hearted hunter.

After pondering something with his mouth tightly shut for a while, it was only for a moment.

“Lin. Could you leave us for a bit?”

In the room left with just the two of them after dismissing the puzzled Lin.

The statement Belly finally opened his mouth to make was quite shocking.

“… Delphine. From today on, you’ve decided to join our cause, right?”

Towards her nodding with a determined expression, he added with a cold expression.

“My first order is this. … Pryde. Make that man fall in love with you.”

At the unexpected command, Delphine’s eyes shook greatly like a sailboat caught in a storm.

Love?

Belly, who had been quietly looking at her, asked softly.

“Can you do it?”

Can I do it?

Towards her, unable to give an answer easily, he added again.

“As I said before, the biggest enemy of the Barrier Liberation Movement is Pryde, that man.”

“…”

“If we can just capture that man, we can extract a lot of information from him.”

In other words, he was asking her to act as a spy close to the Emperor and Ioan.

Right.

This order made sense too.

As always with the orders Belly gave.

And in her opinion, there was no one more suitable for this role than herself.

After hesitating for a long time, Delphine finally nodded.

“I understand… No, I understand, Belly.”

It was time to stop speaking formally, as they were now comrades sharing the same cause.

Belly smiled slightly at the answer that revealed this resolve.

“Keep this mission secret from others. … Especially Lin.”

Adding the last words, Belly faintly smiled with a hint of guilt.

“Please don’t forget. That all of this is for the greater cause.”

… It had been two weeks since receiving such an order.

Despite staying quietly in the mansion, Ioan had been so busy that this was the first time she had a proper conversation with him.

Make him fall in love with her… How should she do it?

“… You seem to have lost some weight, my lady.”

At that moment, Ioan suddenly said, looking at her listlessly poking at the food on her plate.

“I should tell the maids to pay more attention to the meals.”

Delphine stared at the man sitting in front of her without answering.

He is kind.

He cares for her terribly, and sometimes even sacrifices himself to save her.

But can that really be called love?

… No.

Her heart sank heavily as she questioned herself.

How can an emotion built on lies and hidden behind a mask be love?

The inexplicable devotion and obsession he showed her were too base and corrupt emotions to connect with the noble feeling called love.

Now rotting in the mud, blooming from an outdated childhood.

The question she had asked him on that night with the full moon, “You liked me too, didn’t you?” was fundamentally wrong from the start.

Looking back now, he never even liked her, let alone loved her.

It was just an inferiority complex stemming from a miserable childhood, a longing for something he never had.

And just a twisted self-satisfaction.

… However, even if his feelings were just an obsession, Delphine didn’t really want to do this to him.

For the sake of that beautiful boy who had been her only comfort. For the sake of their once innocent childhood.

‘This isn’t right.’

Delphine recalled Ioan’s face she had seen that day to steady her wavering heart.

His face as he looked at the human carts with an ice-cold gaze.

Let’s bury any guilt deep in our hearts.

As Belly said, for the greater cause.

Now, let’s focus only on making him truly fall in love with me.

“… I’m fine. Rather, you’re the one who looks tired.”

At her words, his hand elegantly tilting the teacup momentarily paused.

This is actually a good opportunity for her, as the man is frantically struggling alone to stop the Barrier Liberation Movement breaking out everywhere.

Delphine slightly smiled at the man and added.

“Hang in there.”

Then, warmth immediately filled the man’s previously cold eyes.

However, as if not wanting to reveal that his heart had melted at her single word, he spoke in a deliberately nonchalant tone.

“My, my lady. It seems you want something from me again.”

Thud.

For a moment, her heart sank.

Delphine maintained her elegant smile and asked back.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You only speak to me this kindly when you want something. Like wanting to go to a concert.”

I see. So he had noticed even then.

However, that much could be overlooked as a normal wife’s aegyo.

Delphine smiled, curving the corners of her eyes filled with emerald green.

“It’s embarrassing when you point it out like that.”

This time, he couldn’t even think of hiding his expression and involuntarily lifted the corners of his mouth.

“… Then, what do you want this time?”

He asked in a slightly choked voice.

Delphine immediately asked back.

“If I tell you, will you grant it?”

“Anything.”

Answering immediately, he added with a serious face.

“I told you, didn’t I? Whatever you desire, I’ll give it to you within three days.”

Right. That’s what he said.

Whispering so sweetly as if he would give her anything, but when she begged so desperately, he didn’t give her a single piece of truth.

That’s why he made her directly face that horrible scene of human hunting.

So I don’t believe you.

‘Make that man fall in love with me?’

Does he even know what love is?

Is he even capable of properly loving someone?

“What I want is…”

What I want isn’t all those jewels, expensive dresses, or the comfortable life in the mansion.

It’s only freedom and a truthful life.

… And for that, I’ll have to take your heart first.

But instead of saying that, Delphine smiled brightly and suggested.

“… To go out.”

“My, I told you that you could do that as much as you want.”

Liar.

While having knight escorts and maids monitor her every move.

Previously, she would have sharply retorted like that.

Then this soft and peaceful atmosphere would instantly evaporate, and that man and herself would growl at each other like beasts baring their teeth.

So instead of responding like that, Delphine slightly lowered her eyelashes and softly murmured.

“… The reason you married me.”

At those somewhat abrupt words, the man’s face showed slight discomfort.