Chapter 104
“Delzion! It’s been a while.”
It was a familiar and welco face. I greeted him with a smile.
Delzion quickly shut the door and returned the greeting. “It’s good to see you, Your Highness. What brings you here?”
“I need to discuss sothing with Ardion.”
Delzion hesitated for a mont.
I looked at him and asked carefully, “Is Ardion not here right now?”
“He hasn’t returned from the conference hall yet.”
“When will he be back?”
“He might be a little late. There’s a lot to prepare for the coronation.”
“When is the coronation?”
“In three days.”
“In three days?”
The date was unexpectedly close, and my voice rose on its own.
Delzion nodded. “You didn’t know?”
“I wasn’t sure of the exact date. I didn’t realize it was coming up so soon.”
“I’m guessing Rowell did that on purpose. That’s probably why His Highness went to the conference hall.”
Rowell was truly acting like a madman. The coronation being in just three days made feel even more pressed for ti.
With a hardened expression, I looked at Delzion again. Co to think of it, he had stepped out of Ardion’s office.
Wondering if sothing was going on, I asked, “By the way, what brings you here? Is there sothing else going on?”
“Oh, no. I was just on my way after dropping off sothing I needed to report to His Highness.”
I nodded and stepped aside. I had been blocking his way.
Delzion gave a small bow and glanced back at . “Are you feeling alright?”
“Yes, my mana has stabilized, so nothing’s really bothering now.”
“That’s a relief. His Highness has been very worried about you. He feared sothing might go wrong.”
I simply nodded. If it hadn’t been for Rowell, things wouldn’t have spiraled out of control like this. Clenching my fist, I stepped aside completely.
“Well then, I’ll be going. Take care.” Delzion bowed his head again. He walked down the opposite hallway from the one I had co from.
Once he had completely disappeared, Derol let out a disgruntled squeak. “Master, why do you think Delzion ca here?”
“He said he dropped sothing off to report to Ardion.”
“Still, I have a bad feeling. The way he looked startled when he saw you…”
I ca to a stop. Now that I thought about it, Delzion had looked surprised to see . I turned my head towards Ardion’s office.
“Should we go in? We’re just checking to see what docunt he left behind,” I said.
Derol nodded. “Master, that’s a good idea.”
I imdiately opened the door to Ardion’s office. It opened smoothly. The office hadn’t changed much since the last ti I was here. The books were neatly arranged, without a single one out of place, and the floor was spotless, without even a speck of dust in sight.
I quickly walked over to his desk. There wasn’t anything noteworthy on top, just a few blank sheets of paper.
“There’s nothing.” I waved one of the blank sheets at Derol, who was glancing around.
“Could it be sowhere else? Maybe in the drawers?”
I opened the drawers too. But there was nothing particularly eye-catching. Strangely, even the drawers were fairly empty. There were just so docunts written in another language and a few ink pens.
I closed the drawer and stood up.
“Master, nothing special there either?”
“Nothing. And normally, if it’s sothing to report, it would be left on top of the desk. No reason to stash it in a drawer.”
“Then why did Delzion co here?”
“Sothing must be going on that I don’t know about.”
“Co to think of it, didn’t Ardion say there was a spy here?”
“A spy?”
“Yes. That ti when Serina visited your mansion, he said it was because of the spy.”
A spy? That was sothing I hadn’t considered.
As I remained silent, Derol narrowed his eyes. “Could it be that the spy Ardion ntioned… is Delzion?”
I leaned against the desk. Delzion had helped a lot. A spy? Or… could it be that he did his job so diligently to gain trust, just like a real spy would?
Working that hard, he probably wouldn’t raise suspicion.
“Could Delzion really be the spy?”
“We can’t be sure. But it’s definitely strange that he ca here for no clear reason.”
I looked around the desk again. There was nothing that seed worth taking and no sign that anything had been hastily searched either.
Still, as Derol pointed out, it was suspicious. Judging from the state of the desk, it didn’t look like he had left anything behind to report.
That ant Delzion had lied to .
Suddenly, the office door opened. Startled, I looked up to find Ardion standing there. His face looked tired, but the mont he saw , his expression changed. He seed surprised, yet there was subtle concern in his eyes.
He quickly approached. “Laila, what are you doing here? How’s your body? Are you okay?”
He hurriedly checked over.
I nodded and sat in a nearby chair. “I’m fine now. … Did you ask Delzion to do sothing?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Why? Did he co here?”
I nodded. Ardion sat across from as I studied his face.
When our eyes t, he smiled. “What is it?”
“Why do you think Delzion ca?”
“If it wasn’t for anything special, he probably ca to grab candy.”
“Candy?”
“Sotis Delzion takes candy from my office. He says he needs sothing sweet to get through all the tasks I give him.” Ardion casually pointed to a round bowl on the table. It looked like so candy had indeed gone missing from it.
“But he told he ca to drop off a report…”
Ardion chuckled softly. “He was probably embarrassed to admit he ca just for candy.”
When I blinked silently at him, Ardion’s face stiffened. Concern crept back into his expression. “Laila, are you sure you’re okay? You don’t look well. Is your body really alright?”
He leaned in and examined my face closely. Our eyes t, and after a long pause, he looked away. He bit his lip as if he were holding sothing back and let out a slow breath.
“So, why did you co?” His voice was gentle now, and his expression had softened.
“It’s about Serina.”
Ardion’s brow furrowed.
Looking straight at him, I continued, “I think… it’s ti we let her go.”
He tilted his head slightly, his face sharper than before. “What do you an?”
“I just think it’s the right thing to do. Besides, Serina—”
“Laila, we captured Serina because of the magical drug. If she won’t talk about it, we’ll hold her until she does.”
“But she’ll never talk. I don’t know what she’s thinking, but after speaking with her directly, I’m certain. She won’t say a word about the drug no matter what.”
“That’s because she hasn’t felt real pain yet.” Ardion stood up and walked towards the door.
“Ardion, where are you going?”
“I’m going to get more information about the drug.”
“How?”
“If she won’t talk, there are other ways.”
“You’re not thinking of torturing her, are you?”
“Why not? She tried to kill you.”
I quickly stood up and grabbed his arm. “Are you insane? If you do that again, Serina will—”
“Laila, I don’t understand. What deal did you make with her? She could try to kill you again.”
I sighed. I hadn’t wanted to say this, but I couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “I made the deal under the condition that she wouldn’t kill you.”
“What?”
“Serina originally planned to kill you.”
Ardion’s lips curled into a faint smirk. “That’s all?”
“What do you an that’s all?”
“Laila, there are plenty of people who want dead. Releasing soone just because they promise not to kill ? That’s reckless.”
“But if we let her go now, she won’t co after you.”
“That doesn’t matter. Besides, if Rowell dies, Serina won’t be able to kill . She works under him anyway.”
I couldn’t say anything for a mont. Still, I managed to force out a response. “No… even if Rowell dies, Serina will still co after you.”
Ardion looked genuinely confused.
I scrambled to think of sothing. “She said you hurt her in the past, sothing you don’t rember.”
He let out a short laugh and ran a hand through his hair, his green eyes glinting with a dangerous light.
Faint traces of mana began to swirl around him. I gripped his arm more tightly. Only then did Ardion look at and make the mana vanish completely.
“So, you really plan to release her?”
“She agreed to the condition after we spoke.”
“Laila, Serina could be lying.”
I let go of his arm. “We don’t have a choice. She promised not to kill you in exchange for her freedom, and even if she dies, she won’t reveal anything about the drug. This is the only option we have…”
“Then we should push her to the brink of death and make her talk.”
“Ardion, don’t make repeat myself. Serina will not talk no matter what we do.”
“How can you be so sure? She might talk right before dying.”
“I’ve seen it. Serina isn’t that kind of person.”
The Serina from the original story and the Serina I had spoken with were one and the sa. Hearing my firm response, Ardion fell silent. “So if we release her, then what?”
“I’ll attend the ball hosted by Duchess Heverun.”
Ardion said in a low, restrained voice, “Laila.”
“I know the coronation is only three days away, and the situation isn’t great. But right now, this is the only thod.”
T/N: Gurl… what?
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