Chapter 45

Everyone present simultaneously focused their gaze on Enria following her love confession.

She wondered why everyone heard it, as she had spoken softly enough for only Caldeon to hear, when Tearen raised his wine glass to his lips and spoke.

“It’s a surprising thing that such an angular fellow has a woman who loves him completely.”

“What was that?”

Caldeon, who also heard that remark, immediately raised an eyebrow and glared at Tearen, prompting Roseanne to interject with an awkward smile.

“Enria already confessed. Since you couldn’t beat her to the confession, you should at least give a proper answer to hers.”

At her words, Caldeon turned his gaze to Enria.

Enria met his eyes and smiled awkwardly.

“I thought only Lord Caldeon would hear it…”

“The rest of you, go home now.”

Caldeon said this to everyone in the dining hall, without taking his eyes off Enria.

“What? Already?”

“We’re still in the middle of dinner. And we haven’t even properly seen Hayden walk yet, so if you tell us to leave already…”

“Come back tomorrow.”

Caldeon, who quickly answered Tearen’s remark, took Enria’s hand, kissed the back of it, and asked, “Are you done with your meal?”

“Excuse me? Oh, yes. I’m done, but…”

“Then shall we go up now?”

“Go up? Where…”

Enria, pulled to her feet awkwardly by the force he used on her hand, blinked and looked confused.

Caldeon naturally kissed the top of her head and addressed his spirits.

“You all go back now, too. I’ll show you Hayden walking again tomorrow. And the rest of you, go back as well.”

“Why are you suddenly telling us to leave?”

Roseanne asked Caldeon, dumbfounded, and Rahar nodded in agreement, not understanding either.

Caldeon wrapped his arm around Enria’s waist, looked at Rahar with an expression that said “Isn’t it obvious?” and said, “My woman confessed her love to me. So naturally, I must answer her confession.”

“So, why do you have to break up this situation just to give your answer…”

“My answer is not one that can be given lightly.”

Caldeon lifted one corner of his mouth toward the bewildered Rahar, then embraced Enria and turned.

“I have to answer with my whole body and soul.”

Blizzan, the quickest to understand the meaning of the words, whistled! Only then did the others realize the meaning, either making dumbfounded expressions or shaking their heads.

Caldeon, ignoring them, led Enria, who hadn’t properly understood his words, out of the restaurant, and told Roseanne, who was similarly confused, to call Chavel.

“If we were coming to the bedroom, you should have brought Hayden.”

Enria, who had expected they would go to the office or the lounge where they could be alone, raised her eyebrows at Caldeon for bringing her to the bedroom.

“He’s still having dinner. And sometimes, give me your time entirely.”

He said that Hayden needed to burp after dinner and move around to digest, so he would leave him with Chavel tonight and asked for this time with her.

“Have I ever not given you my time, Lord Caldeon?”

“Hayden was always with us during that time.”

“That’s because…”

She was about to say that Hayden was still young and needed his mother, but Caldeon grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him.

“I know that since he’s still a child, he requires a lot of attention. Hayden is a precious and lovely being to me, whom I will never tire of. But separate from that, I need time to be alone with you.”

Enria’s lips curved into a smile because Caldeon hugged her tightly, spoke as if throwing a tantrum, and rubbed his forehead against her shoulder.

It felt like a big dog nudging her, wagging its tail, asking her to play with him, and she involuntarily smoothed his hair with her hand.

“Me too. Sometimes, I also want to be alone with you, Lord Caldeon.”

At her words, Caldeon raised his head and looked down at Enria with an expression that asked if she was serious, his face full of joy.

Enria raised her hand and cupped his cheek.

Caldeon turned his head, rubbed his lips against her palm, and whispered, “I love you, Enria.”

At that one sentence, Enria’s heart began to pound rapidly.

In fact, it might have been because the decadent sexiness she felt from him, with his eyes half-closed and his lips rubbing against her palm.

In any case, hearing a direct confession of love from him, though she knew it already, truly made her feel like she owned the world, and she wondered if Caldeon had felt the same about her confession.

Enria burrowed deeper into Caldeon’s embrace and said she felt the same way.

Caldeon’s rough breath scattered over her head.

She slowly raised her head to look up at Caldeon, and he gazed back at Enria with a gentleness unlike any other time.

With a surge of emotion, Enria stood on tiptoe, pressed her lips to his, and then pulled away.

That feather-light kiss made Caldeon lose his reason.

Caldeon, who had been frozen like ice with widened eyes for a moment, gripped her cheeks with his large hands and began to kiss her fiercely, just as Enria was about to call his name.

A deeply intense kiss followed.

***

“Count Dalbreon said he would do it.”

Groen, who swiftly entered Pahomel’s room, said in a calm voice.

Pahomel, who had said he needed to think a little more about how to kill Enria and Hayden, told Groen a few days later that Caldeon and Roseanne needed to be away from the Grand Duchy Castle.

He said that if they left the castle, he could personally go and make it look like Enria and the child died without cause, and he had instructed Groen to use Count Dalbreon as a means to get Caldeon and Roseanne to leave the castle.

Groen hesitated, thinking it wouldn’t be easy to draw him in since Caldeon already had leverage over him for distributing the hallucination powder in collaboration with the Magic Tower, but Dalbreon surprisingly agreed to Groen’s suggestion quite readily.

“He said he would do it, did he?”

“Yes. He said he would do it if we gave him four times the money we gave him for the hallucination powder, and I agreed without hesitation.”

The Magic Tower originally didn’t need money, but upon realizing that money was necessary for a rebellion, they began making and selling the hallucination powder.

Because of this, the Magic Tower was able to amass an enormous amount of money in a short time, and with such financial power, they could comfortably afford four times the amount Dalbreon had asked for.

However, since Dalbreon could not be entirely trusted, Pahomel fell into thought over his ready acceptance.

Groen also felt a slight suspicion towards Dalbreon, who readily joined in without hesitation despite having been caught once before, and he understood Pahomel’s concern.

He tapped the desk with his index finger and carefully spoke to Pahomel, who was looking out the window.

“My Lord, I don’t fully trust Count Dalbreon either. He’s likely already been branded a traitor by their faction after being caught with the hallucination powder problem. But wouldn’t that make him intensely desire the money we can offer?”

Since he was already caught, he probably wouldn’t be able to receive help from the Kaznaren family in the future, so Dalbreon might see the amount Groen would pay as a lifeline, he added.

The person who used to be disinterested in money and only pursued power and honor now seemed completely obsessed with money.

At his words, Pahomel turned his head to look at Groen. Groen continued, “Count Dalbreon’s territory is more barren than the North. To protect the residents of that barren land in the future, Count Dalbreon will clearly need an enormous amount of money.”

“…”

“So, I told him that once the plan is successfully completed, in addition to the money we agreed upon, we would give Count Dalbreon the territory he desires when the Magic Tower comes to rule the Empire.”

Groen apologized for making such a deal with Dalbreon on his own, but said that this was also a slight test for Dalbreon.

To make full use of Dalbreon, who was still closer to the opposing side, as his own man, a crucial bait was needed to prevent him from harboring other intentions.

Therefore, he promised Dalbreon a new territory once everything was over and the Magic Tower ruled the Empire.

Of course, if that moment truly came, they planned to give him the North, which wasn’t particularly useful to the Magic Tower.

Since the North felt so disconnected from the Empire and had no close ties with the Magic Tower, it would be fine to give it to Dalbreon as a disposable territory.

Originally, the North was vast and strong because of Caldeon’s black mana; if any other ordinary person were to take charge of it, it would surely become a ruined territory before long.

Having heard the plan up to that point, Pahomel eventually nodded and said to Groen,

“If that is enough to prevent Dalbreon from betraying us, then it is sufficient. It is truly easy for those who have betrayed once to betray twice.”

“Yes. I think so too, Father.”

As Groen nodded, Pahomel rose from his seat and told him,

“Explain the exact plan to him. It must be two days. The Grand Duke and Lady Kaznaren must be kept from returning to the Grand Duchy Castle for two days.”

He said that this was necessary so that he could plant the poison that would kill Enria inside the Grand Duchy Castle using his magic.

When Groen asked what they would do if that also failed and they were caught, Pahomel looked at him.

“Grand Duke Jupiter is not an opponent to be trifled with. So, if he returns, he might immediately find the hidden poison.”

Groen, who knew nothing about the poison Pahomel intended to use, looked at his father with a quite worried expression.

It was understandable, as he had no idea that his father was a black magician who had stolen his original father’s body, nor that he intended to use black magic to plant a poison in the Grand Duchy Castle while Caldeon and Roseanne were away.

Pahomel considered telling Groen that he could use the black magic that even the Magic Tower thought had vanished, but then refrained.

Even though he was his son, if Groen knew he could use black magic, which was forbidden in the Empire, he might become wary of him in various ways.

Black magic was an evil power that both the Empire and the Magic Tower people feared that much.