As Diello looked at him, Redias’ expression was still.

Yes, she was a fake Ferro.

Redias and numerous vassals were looking forward to his Ferro awakening. He wouldn’t awaken if he stayed with Krua. However, he had already come too far to deny the fact that he wanted Krua.

“…Yes.”

Even as he finally admitted it, he didn’t avoid Redias’ gaze as he did so.

“You told me when I was young.”

Redias tilted his head slightly at the sudden childhood story. Diello continued speaking to him.

“You said that as time goes by after becoming the lord, I’ll lose many things, but I shouldn’t give up the most important thing. You said I’d collapse if I did.”

When Diello became the lord at a young age, he was met with countless mockery that couldn’t be compared to now.

“It seems the fall of Argenta is just around the corner.”

“This lord of Argenta, he couldn’t even stand in front of a fire just a few years ago, right?”

He had to endure the gazes of people from other families mocking him at the funeral.

“My lord.”

The ones who approached him then were Redias and his wife.

Redias became a sturdy shield for his young nephew, who would walk a thorny path, and a harsh teacher who pushed him relentlessly.

It was the same when Diello experienced his first loss on the battlefield. When countless Argenta he cared for and cherished died on the battlefield with the monsters, and he thought that only a future where he would lose his people remained.

When he was about to collapse…

“You must become strong, my lord.”

“If you’re afraid of losing people and are afraid to even think about it, then don’t give them your heart in the first place.”

Redias uttered so. The Diello at that time felt like he was hanging off the edge of a cliff and said in despair.

“Then, nothing will be left in my hands.”

Redias shook his head at those words.

“You will gain and lose many things in the future. That’s undeniable. If you despair every time that happens, you’ll be offering your neck to your enemies. That’s why… find one thing that is most precious to you. One thing that is for yourself, not for the family. As long as you don’t give up that precious thing, you won’t collapse, my lord. And to the lord who sacrificed everything for the family, Argenta will gladly risk their lives to give it to you.”

He said it was for him, not for the family.

Diello, who was reciting his past teachings, opened his mouth.

“She’s precious to me. Teacher.”

It was because he would collapse as if he couldn’t obtain her.

“I absolutely can’t give her up.”

While the plan to create a Ferro was still uncertain, he would definitely succeed. His sunken gaze turned to Redias at the thought.

“I heard that Venia came as a real Ferro.”

Nonetheless, her whereabouts after that were unknown, right?

He didn’t tell Redias about ‘that plan’ that the Intelligence Head Rick was directly commanding, but he probably guessed where the Ferro had disappeared to since he had heard about her. He was sharp-eared and excellent at gathering information.

“I dare not ask where the Ferro went… But do you intend to truly welcome the Madam who isn’t a Ferro?”

“Yes. There will be no harm to Argenta. I’ll do it that way,” Diello said in a calm voice.

He wouldn’t back down.

Perhaps sensing his will, Redias smiled faintly.

“If it were a while ago, I might have objected.”

So, it was different now?

Diello narrowed his eyes as he thought so.

“Please listen to my story, my lord.”

Saying that, Redias looked at him and spoke.

“I tested the Madam.”

“….!”

As his cold gaze turned to his teacher, Redias almost laughed without realizing it. He showed such a murderous reaction, yet how can he say he had been hiding his feelings?

“In this recent carriage supply incident, I dared to test her.”

“…What happened to your manners towards the madam of the house?”

His voice was barely holding onto his rationality.

Yes, that was the correct response for the lord of a family. Even though she was his contract wife, Redias had touched something that Diello had not thought of.

“I dared to do so. However, she was someone who didn’t need to be tested.”

Diello paused.

“She is a perfect Argenta who doesn’t need to be tested. Also…”

Redias paused, looking at the lord before he finished his words.

“A strong Argenta.”

Seeing that he understood what he meant, Redias smiled as he opened his eyes wide.

“However, there were also lords who failed to awaken from their Ferro. As you know, each family will go through a crisis at that time.”

Some failed to find Ferro until they died, and sometimes, there was another who had already given their whole heart elsewhere. The family that welcomed such a lord went through a crisis. This was because internal divisions arose. Sometimes, internal divisions are more fearsome than external enemies.

“However, this time is different.”

He glanced out the window at the storm.

“Unlike in the past, when a crisis occurred because they did not follow the Ferro but the lord, the current Argenta is following the madam.”

He thought of this as an opportunity instead… an opportunity to completely put the enemies off guard and infiltrate.

Diello exhaled shortly at those words.

“It seems you’re telling me to relax and let go.”

“Yes.”

Redias replied confidently.

“Do as you please. The Madam is not someone who would do something that would harm Argenta, and she is not someone who is weak enough to make the lord anxious.”

In any situation, she would move forward confidently and calmly.

Redias gained that conviction from this incident. That was why he could say this.

“Move like a flame.”

“…Like a flame.”

Diello repeated his words.

A flame devoured its opponent without even knowing what it was feeding on. No matter how big it was, it burnt it little by little, and soon, it would become a large fire that devoured its opponent.

Devouring, that was the flame’s instinct.

Once it touched something, it wouldn’t stop until it burned what it wanted to burn. Otherwise, it would go out. That was the nature of a flame.

In short, Redias was telling him to stop enduring.

“…Yes, like a flame.”

Diello nodded slightly.

It felt like his head was clearing up. A sense of clarity remained in his clear head, like a place where a wave had passed. It was the clarity she left behind.

Why was he enduring this?

“…Diello.”

She accepted his kiss in the cabin.

And she was just beyond the thin wall, her face flushed in the mirror.

Someone could break it if they just mustered up the courage. However, he had no intention of breaking that wall. He didn’t want to make an intrusion that would make her even slightly uncomfortable. Instead, he intended to make his lovely wife cross that wall herself.

He was confident he could do it.

‘Krua.’

He wanted to say her name over and over again.

He wondered if she found him lovely.

He couldn’t stand how lovely she was to him, so how did she feel? If he wasn’t lovely to her, why did she look at him with the same gaze he had when he looked at her? And then, if their eyes met, what did it mean when she would quickly avert her gaze?

He wanted to ask her that.

—