* * *

His words startled me.

“…The real Ferro?”

She didn’t seem like a guest. If she were, I would have known. I was the mistress of the house, so there was no way I wouldn’t have known if an outsider had come into Argenta’s mansion while it was preparing for war.

Then, there was only one answer.

…She had been hiding in this mansion since before the war preparations had begun.

“You were hiding the real Ferro?”

My mind was in turmoil, but I didn’t have time to think.

Thud!

While I was momentarily distracted, the real Ferro, Venia, surged her water again. As she turned to me and stretched out her hand, the water rippled with a pungent scent.

Was it a momentary illusion, or did her hand seem to be consumed by a murky blue light?

“….!”

The blue light’s magic power drained from my hand, which I had quickly extended.

Bam!

Suppressing Venia’s magic power required more strength than I had thought. It was as if the power of the source that had flowed out was being concentrated.

“….?”

However, her condition was even stranger.

…Was she really rampaging?

The members of the Alors assassins I had seen in the ocean had looked like that… No, she was similar to them, but she felt subtly different. She was like a withered tree, something hollow and losing its vitality.

“….!”

And what was draining her vitality was something like a white pearl embedded in her hand.

“I should have killed you as soon as you got here!”

Her murderous intent was clearly directed at me. As she surged her magic power again, the water I had pushed down boiled and rippled again.

“What the―”

As soon as I arrived, Venia’s target of attack had changed from Diello to me. It was hard to grasp the situation when I was being attacked right away. Still, one thing was for certain was that the relationship between the real Ferro, Venia, and Diello was seriously bad.

Perhaps even worse than in the original story. And above all, Diello had no intention of accepting her as Ferro.

…If he had intended to accept her as Ferro, he wouldn’t have hidden her from me in the first place and would have married her.

Boom!

I blocked the water that was surging up again.

Even though my whole body trembled from the strong force, when something surged up inside me, a strong force burst out in succession.

Splash!

The water that was surging up at me changed direction and engulfed Venia.

I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t look at Diello. I didn’t know what expression to make when I looked at him.

He had hidden Ferro from me until now.

Although it had collapsed, judging from the inside of the basement, it didn’t seem like she had been here for only a day or two. He had hidden her even though he knew I had been searching for the Ferro for a long time.

“Please stay in Argenta.”

…I thought I knew why he did that.

Nonetheless, he had watched me desperately searching for Ferro and hadn’t told me about her, even though he knew. No, if he had shared with me from the beginning that Ferro had come…

“Please stay, Krua.”

…I would have asked for a divorce.

But even if I didn’t want to do that, why on earth would he hide her when we were on the brink of war…!

“How does Krua Alors have such power!”

Venia shouted in outrage.

She pointed a finger at Diello.

“You’ve been deceived by him too, you know? He’s not weak or gentle at all!”

Her shouts continued, “No wonder even his own parents hated and feared him! They weren’t wrong! They had a monstrous child!”

Venia’s curses echoed through the basement.

Diello didn’t deny it.

For some reason, I felt as if my heart was being squeezed by something. Of course, I couldn’t deny everything she said. If he had really been a pure Lord of Argenta, he wouldn’t have hidden Ferro from me.

However…

“I knew he wasn’t just gentle.”

“What?”

Venia frowned. I said to her.

“And you keep saying I’ve been deceived, but ever since I came here…”

As I spoke, my mind began to sink coldly.

“Rather than being gentle, I hoped he was a cunning person.”

Because then, it would be easier for us to survive.

…I didn’t know how he interpreted my desire to survive, but he hid the Ferro.

Venia’s mouth hung open at my words. She seemed to think that I had always considered Diello to be a gentle person. If I had heard such words when I first came to Argenta, I would have been shaken though not now.

“What nonsense…”

She seemed unable to grasp the situation.

To be precise, she didn’t seem to be in a state to think clearly. The tips of her fingers began to glow with a blue light.

“….!”

What I felt there was the power of the source.

…Could it be that she was rampaging?

Rumble!

The water that had filled the basement surged high into the air, and then it pierced me with a sharp sound.

Splash!

The water I was leading and Venia’s red water collided, creating a loud noise.

“….!”

I thought my power was getting stronger as I confronted Venia. However, was it a little lacking to stop a violent person with it?

Boom!

The water stream containing the strongest power pierced through the water wall I had created and rushed toward me.

Hiss!

To my surprise, Diello’s hand intervened in front of me. Holding fire in his hand, he blocked the incoming water stream and swung his arm.

Splash!

As the evaporating water stream was thrown far away along his hand, the wall rumbled with an ominous sound.

“….!”

At that moment, Diello and I briefly made eye contact. His gaze clearly showed concern for me, and his urgent intervention couldn’t be a lie.

As a result, Venia cursed.

“You were hiding this power? Aha, he took your hand because it was useful?”

It was true that our interests aligned. Still, I wondered if we had fully kept our promise to each other by holding hands.

The moment he hid Ferro from me, that trust was broken.

“It’s not for nothing that Diello Argenta chose you.”

However, there was something to be said about her following words.

Glug!

I distorted the water to make it shapeless and created numerous water arrows around me before I opened my mouth to Venia, whose eyes met mine.

“I’m sorry, but I’m the one who chose him.”

“….!”

Water arrows rushed at Venia, who opened her eyes wide.

“I chose him.”

He didn’t choose me. I chose him as my partner.

The contract marriage was my choice.

Boom!

A sound that was unbelievable to be the sound of a person and water hitting each other echoed through the basement.

And Venia, who hit the wall, staggered and collapsed.

“This—!”

However, it seemed that she had reached the limit of her ability to raise water. Her arms were already scattering, shimmering with a blue light. She didn’t look like a typical person who was rampaging. She seemed to be wielding too much power.

She tried to raise water as her last struggle.

Boom!

But that was it. I could now take control of the water.

The water quickly subsided.

At that moment—

Thud.

—Something like a white pearl that was half-embedded in her hand fell to the floor. It had melted halfway.

“…A power crystal?”

It seemed like a power crystal, yet its shape and the magic I felt were strange.

Hiss…

As the white pearl-like thing fell from Venia’s hand, she rapidly lost her power. Even when she tried to move the water, she could only make small waves.

“Diello, Argenta…!”

Gritting her teeth, she cursed until the end. Venia, who had been pouring out unspeakable curses, soon completely turned into light and disappeared. And the magic that had maintained her form mixed with the water flowing on the floor.

Whoosh…

As I looked at the spot where she had died after sending the water out through the exit, I could see the white pearl-like thing melting.

“….”

A heavy silence flowed. I could see the surviving informants holding their breath.

“…Krua.”

At that moment, Diello’s voice rang out.

“I―”

I deliberately avoided looking at his face, which seemed to be trying to say something, and I reached out and stopped him.

“Wait a minute, Diello.”

A short breath burst out.

With Venia gone, the confusion intensified.

The basement room where she appeared wasn’t a torture chamber. It would have been more frightening if it had been a torture chamber, though it was more confusing to see it as an ordinary room.

What on earth did she do in there? Why on earth did you have to hide Ferro from me? Was that the best way?

At that thought, it was difficult to face him.

It seemed like I would have more complicated and bad thoughts.

“…I think I need some time.”

I lowered the hand that had stopped him. His face came into my sight as if brushing past me, but I closed my eyes with effort.

“…Don’t look at me now, let’s go.”

I turned away from him.

I left the underground annex while watching people coming in to clean up the messed-up basement.

—