“Come in.”

I eventually led Diello into the room.

He wouldn’t have come in if I had told him not to. But I didn’t want to bring chaos to Argenta, which was on the verge of war. However, just because I let him into the room didn’t mean that my anger and questions were all resolved.

Click.

Knowing that, Diello, who had opened the door and entered, couldn’t easily approach me. I opened my mouth, keeping my distance from him.

“I heard the story of when Venia came from Rick.”

I spoke in as neutral a tone as possible since I wanted to exclude emotions and only know the truth. However, Diello forgot even to breathe as he listened to my words.

Seeing him like that, I continued speaking.

“But I want to hear from Diello as well. Why did you do that?”

‘…Why did you hide her?’

I looked straight into his blue eyes.

“Tell me everything, without hiding or lying.”

At my words, he nodded.

“…I will. I’ll answer everything honestly from now on, no matter what you ask.”

Only after hearing his answer did I ask.

“I heard that the real Ferro came right after I first went to the Alors Duchy. Why didn’t you tell me that Ferro came?”

Diello opened his mouth cautiously at my words.

“I thought it was dangerous.”

What he was saying was exactly what I knew. Venia had a suspicious water ability and was trying to kill me. That was why he said he was worried that she would contact Duke Alors with her water ability.

“And above all.”

However, his words didn’t end there.

“I wasn’t confident.”

At those words, my gaze went to his eyes involuntarily. His pupils, which were shaking like ripples in a lake, were telling the truth.

“If I had revealed that Ferro had come and you had confronted that woman, I would have had to pretend not to love you.”

His voice was trembling slightly.

“I wasn’t confident in that.”

Confident in pretending not to love you.

“….”

At his words, which seemed to be coming closer, I tried hard to breathe evenly.

‘Don’t be shaken.’

“Every month, you have to go to Duke Alors. I was afraid of that, Krua.”

He continued, looking down at my hand.

“If we had shared our plan with the real Ferro as originally planned, and if she had pretended to cooperate and contacted Duke Alors without us knowing…”

There was too much water in the world to avoid every possibility.

Diello narrowed his brow as he said so.

“I have to send you to the slaughterhouse without knowing anything, so I can’t help it.”

Diello slowly closed his eyes and opened them. Pale blue light shone through his trembling eyelashes.

“I was afraid that something might happen to you.”

This was… the right thing to say.

Venia had considered my life cheap enough to say that she would kill me when she first came, and she seemed to think of me as an eyesore. She wouldn’t have ignored simple ways to kill me.

“And lastly, I had a question.”

Diello uttered.

“What question?”

He smiled wryly at my reply.

“…Ferro is supposed to be our fate, so why is my fate not you but that woman?”

At his voice, which sounded a little cold, I opened my mouth slightly.

“I can’t give my heart to anyone but you.”

I wondered how he could say that… because I couldn’t accept it.

He murmured softly and continued.

“I told you at the meeting. I fell in love with you in the water.”

He took a few steps closer to me, to the most intimate space in the bedroom, near the bed that I had to pass over a little to reach.

“It was true, Krua.”

My eyes widened at his words.

“The day you led the knights to Fourth Zone.”

If it was Fourth Zone, he was talking about when I saved Redias.

“The sea… it was the first time I’d ever seen it so dazzling.”

It was the first time that the scent of the sea, which had felt so harsh, felt sweet, he said.

“I couldn’t take my eyes off you, Krua.”

From that day, until now.

As he said so, I couldn’t turn my head away from Diello either. He was clenching his fists so tightly that he didn’t even realize his fingernails were digging into his flesh.

“From that day on, I became someone who couldn’t awaken no matter who became Ferro. Still, you want safety, you want me to awaken as Ferro.”

Thump.

The sound of his footsteps as he approached echoed loudly in the bedroom.

“I thought I had to find the conditions to become Ferro. So, I thought I had to make you, the only one who could awaken me, become the Ferro.”

I was speechless at his words.

It must have been a difficult plan to accept, even in Argenta—to find out the conditions to become Ferro and make the person you want to be Ferro? I understand why Venia called Diello crazy. However, the people must have known about this ridiculous plan and yet followed Diello.

Why?

The moment the question arose, Diello asked.

“If I had revealed that Ferro had come immediately, what do you think you would have said?”

Well, of course…

“…I would have said, ‘Since the real Ferro has come, it’s time to fulfill the contract’.”

At my words, Diello smiled faintly as if in pain.

“I was afraid of those words.”

He closed his eyes.

“I was afraid that you would order me to love someone else, not you, for my sake.”

He exhaled briefly and continued speaking quickly. His emotions seemed to be pouring out in his rapid breathing.

“I was afraid of his pure kindness and concern for me. I would rather you had become Ferro. That’s why I asked them to find a way.”

His eyes, which were slightly open, were sunk darkly.

They were like deep pools.

“…What if you fail?”

What would happen to Argenta if he failed?

Although I could feel his burning anxiety, I had to ask. After all, the people of Argenta must have thought about it. Although they must have opposed it, Diello wouldn’t have given up on the people of Argenta.

After a moment of silence, his and my eyes met. He slowly opened his mouth.

“Then, I would have given up on Ferro’s awakening.”

“…What?”

The words blurted out unconsciously.

My eyes widened. Regardless, he seemed more composed than I expected, as if he had been thinking about this issue for a long time.

…Give up on his awakening?

He meant the senior members of Argenta accepted that?

“Then Argenta―”

“Those who know about the Ferro plan already know.”

He went on calmly, saying that it would have been communicated through the Redias.

“They didn’t oppose it?”

At my words, Diello smiled faintly.

“Yes.”

“Even though not awakening would compromise Argenta’s power?”

Wasn’t that a matter of survival?

Confused, I even sat up from the bed.

“It’s also because they know that nothing will change even if I take Ferro as my wife, thanks to the fact that the conditions for becoming Ferro were narrowed down early.”

Diello continued smoothly, even as he looked at that day.

“It wouldn’t change anything?”

Was it about whether or not he awakened? Nonetheless, he pointed out something fundamental.

“―That I will never give my heart to anyone but you.”

At those words, my thoughts seemed to stop.

His straight gaze looked at me without wavering.

“That’s why.”

He slowly finished his sentence. He smiled.

“If the Ferro came in, we would only lose our precious hostess.”

He looked at me, who didn’t answer, and let out a muffled laugh.

“Everyone who saw me knew that, so why don’t you know?”

His resentful wife.

His wife, who was so dear to me that he resented her. That was why he couldn’t take his eyes off of her, his wife.

Whenever that low voice rang out, I felt as if I were being held captive by something.

“….”

I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.

His figure approaching me reminded me of a vine that engulfed the ruins—a life that shone brightly alone in the midst of all that was dead, and a powerful gaze like a vine that couldn’t leave the ruins and covered everything with its own form.

And what he wanted to hold onto was…

…Me.

“What were the conditions?”

I exhaled the breath I had been holding unconsciously and blurted out my last question.

At my words, Diello looked at me quietly.

He seemed hesitant. Were the conditions unusual? Since he wanted me to become Ferro, he must have tried to fit the conditions to me.

With that thought in mind, I couldn’t let the conditions go unheard.

“You said you would tell me everything.”

At my words, he let out a short sigh.

“…Yes, I did.”

Then, he opened his mouth after a moment of silence.

“In the case of Argenta, there must have been a time when they were in danger from fire.”

His eyes narrowed.

“That’s the most crucial condition.”

“Then…”

My eyes widened.

So, to become Diello’s Ferro, I had to be at the scene of a fire?

Suddenly, the black-haired child I saw in my dream came to mind. Did that mean I have to be at a burning scene like the house where the child was trapped? He had been trapped in such a place with Venia.

That was when Diello’s words continued smoothly.

“…I didn’t intend to put you in danger from fire.”

Our eyes met again.

“Then?”

When I narrowed my brow at the words that the Ferro had to meet the conditions to become Ferro, Diello paused for a moment and then finally sighed.

“You said to reveal everything.”

Then Diello, who had taken a few more steps closer to me, raised a flame to my fingertips.

Crackle!

As a spark flew near the lightly raised flame and then disappeared, his eyes seemed to darken in the shadows created by the bright light.

It was hot.

Even though there was a distance, the heat seemed to be approaching as if it would burn my body… it was that hot. The flames crackled and danced, casting flickering shadows on the walls of the manor. The air thrummed with a strange energy, a tension that hung heavy in the air.

“If this flame is too hot, if it seems like it might even slightly harm you, then this small flame will be a threat to you.”

His voice was low and serious, his eyes burning with an intensity that mirrored the flames before us.

“If only that were enough to fulfill the condition.”

He persisted, a hint of frustration creeping into his tone.

“I thought… that perhaps you, who live in this manor of flames, might one day become the Ferro.”

His words sparked a curiosity within me.

“If simply being near the fire with you is enough to meet the condition… then surely it wouldn’t be chosen by lottery from among those who were near the fire with you, would it?”

His lips curved into a wry smile.

“You’re right, Krua. A wise wife, indeed.”

He muttered under his breath, then continued, “It’s more likely that priority would be given to those who were in greater and more critical danger.”

“Then…”

I began, my gaze drawn to the flickering flame held in his hand. Suddenly, he extinguished the flame, a dark smile spreading across his face.

“So, I thought…”

He began, his voice husky with desire.

“Since I want you, I want you so badly, I thought…”

His eyes, a piercing blue, held mine captive.

“If the Ferro dies, a new Ferro will be assigned, won’t it?”

His gaze was unwavering, his voice laced with a raw desperation that sent shivers down my spine.

“And I have the confidence to keep trying until you become that Ferro.”

He tilted his head slightly, closing the distance between us until only the railing of the bedroom separated us. In a swift movement, his hand cupped my chin, tilting my face up to meet his.

Our eyes locked, the intensity of his gaze scorching my skin.

“What do you say?”

—