Her gaze didn’t waver from his lips as they met and parted.
“Let’s finish quickly and go home.”
At those words, a smile spread across the man’s face, who had been silently staring at Bianca.
He was a man who always looked at Bianca with a sunny gaze.
But undoubtedly, it wasn’t as dazzling as it is now.
“Yes, let’s go home quickly.”
“Yes.”
Bianca felt that the golden gaze pouring over her was like sunshine.
Step by step.
When she took that step.
Bianca, forgetting the situation, smiled as she heard the sound beneath her feet.
It was the sound of breaking ice that she heard every day in the North.
It was the sound of the white snow falling, a gentle sound.
Step by step.
Following the familiar winter sound, Bianca was no longer afraid of today’s events.
The two were soon granted entry to the Solar Hall.
“Duke Balorc, you will likely guess why I called you here today.”
Without a hint of movement, Jillian stared at the emperor’s words.
A little over two months.
In less than three months, the emperor’s face had brightened significantly.
His complexion was much brighter than the last time he remembered, and the deep wrinkles between his smiling eyes were noticeably lighter.
Had killing Duke Sylas been quite satisfying?
Jillian casually recalled what he would have thought if others had heard him, scrutinizing the man in front of him.
“You are the shield and sword of Termina, aren’t you? The Balorc Dukes have protected this empire from the Ice Wall with their shield and sword for generations. Your merits are highly esteemed. One.”
The emperor stopped speaking in a subtle place and took a long breath.
It seemed like he had considerable worries and concerns, but no one would think that the emperor was genuinely worried about this situation.
Although it was called a hearing, this was exactly like the time just before killing Sylas Balorc.
Invoking him as the centerpiece like a spectacle, surrounding him with nobles, the emperor sought to etch what he was doing into everyone’s memory.
Exactly like now.
Proving that even the mighty Balorc had fallen into the hands of Eclife Termina.
While Jillian observed the emperor’s impassioned actions, he suddenly lightly twisted his hand, brushing against Bianca’s knuckles.
Although only a small part touched, the satisfaction was much greater than that.
Jillian was no longer listening to the emperor’s words.
He released his power into the opening. What he heard was the sound of Bianca’s eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings.
Thump, thump, thump.
A slightly rapid and cute heartbeat.
And the vulgar curses of the nobles, suppressed but audible, were like that day when the sun was scorching.
What had changed was only the name of the person standing here.
Jillian gradually realized that, contrary to his true self, Bianca’s accelerating heartbeat indicated silent anxiety.
It seems that the problem was the location.
“Solar Hall.”
This was where Sylarus Balorc’s blood was spilled.
It seemed that he projected that day onto his current appearance.
Jillian moved the touching back of his hand a bit more boldly.
As the sensation of the soft skin became clearer, Bianca’s expression, which had been gazing steadily without wavering, broke.
‘…!’
In a moment of turning back, what was engraved on Bianca’s face was a cute pout.
Why are you doing this here?
Even without hearing it, a cute reproach echoed in the ears.
Jillian tried not to laugh out loud and, without realizing it, turned his gaze towards the emperor, who was raising his voice with veins popping on his neck.
“This is truly regrettable. The fortress, which has never had a problem since its establishment, is collapsing. I can’t help but think that there might be an issue with the capabilities of Duke Jillian Balorc in this major operation.”
Jillian fixed his eyes on the blue gaze looking at him.
The faintly emerging smile was completely erased, and a familiar chill spread across his face.
“Are you saying that the collapse of the fortress is due to my abilities?”
“No Duke before you has ever caused trouble to the fortress! Not a single Duke before you! How could the fortress collapse because of how you handled the wave? Unless you were recklessly leaping around, being enchanted by the alias of Termina’s dragon…!”
“Have you not experienced it even once?”
The emperor’s shouting, immersed in his own tone, was abruptly cut off.
“What?”
Jillian, looking at the emperor staring at him, repeated his words in a voice without any ups and downs.
“Indeed, I thought you were well aware. You didn’t find it enough with just one palace?”
“Duke Balorc! How dare you! I’ll…!”
Since he probably didn’t expect to bring up that day, the emperor turned beet red and screamed.
“I have already informed Your Majesty. If you think it’s a problem that the fortress collapsed due to my abilities, I am willingly ready to go to prison.”
Grabbing Bianca’s hand by his side, Jillian took a step away, firmly entwining it.
“Destroying one palace is nothing.”
Step by step.
“Don’t forget what Balorc is fighting against.”
Step by step.
With each step, the emperor’s vitality diminished little by little.
“One lady is enough; I’ve told you I won’t be a second time.”
The Solar Hall was engulfed in a deathly silence.
“Unbelievable!”
“If you think it’s unbelievable, just throw me into prison.”
“What?”
The emperor’s jaw dropped.
“I will willingly accept the punishment as Balorc’s master. If the collapse of the fortress is a crime of Balorc, I will gladly go to prison.”
“That, that…!”
He intended to tease him appropriately and send him away.
However, the emperor had a moment of realization.
The opponent was not Sylarus Balorc; it was Jillian Balorc, more ruthless and dangerous than Sylarus Balorc.
The beautifully smiling Duke, who spoke softly like melting, whispered.
“If the collapse of ‘Balorc’s Fortress,’ plundered through the tax investigation, is a crime that must be addressed at the hearing, gladly.”
Ah…
A faint admiration echoed for a moment.
People blinked.
Balorc, who surpassed any wealth, military strength, and authority, had raised seven fortresses by plundering his tax coffers for the empire.
Is it reasonable to hold a hearing just because my house’s wall collapsed?
The nobles’ eyes turned towards the emperor.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
