“I know you’re up to something, Brother. Be honest with me. What exactly did you do at the Grand Temple?”
“Up to something, Damie? As you know, I was just there to assist ‘Father’ with his business.”
As expected, Cesare didn’t waver easily. Instead, he counterattacked by bringing up their father.
“While I was at it, I also subtly discussed your recent behavior with Father. My goodness, Damie. How could you spread your legs for such a scoundrel?”
Cesare added, pretending to be regretful, that their father wasn’t pleased to hear about it. Damie bit her lip.
The fact that her relationship with a man had reached her father’s ears was extremely unpleasant and embarrassing. Damie didn’t want to disappoint her only remaining blood relative, her father. Cesare was undoubtedly trying to exploit that to get under her skin.
‘Well, he succeeded.’
Even as she felt a surge of emotion, Damie thought rationally. Perhaps Cesare was trying to provoke her to distract her from the main issue. So she didn’t fall for the provocation and instead probed him.
“Stop with the nonsense. I know everything. About the ‘thing’ you brought from the temple.”
For a moment, Cesare’s previously confident face hardened.
“The thing? All I brought from the Grand Temple were the transaction ledgers. I can show them to you if you want.”
Cesare quickly regained his poker face and denied it smoothly. However, Damie could tell. His eyes, which were observing her face, were slightly trembling.
‘He’s unsure. He doesn’t know if I really know something or if I’m just bluffing.’
Of course, Damie didn’t know what the ‘thing’ was. But she could pretend to know. Fortunately, she still had more information she had overheard from the storage room.
“Just the ledgers? What are you talking about, Brother?”
Damie smiled as she looked at his face, stained with lies and masks.
“Surely you wouldn’t feed transaction ledgers to my friend, would you? Isn’t that right?”
The expression completely disappeared from Cesare’s face. Damie’s final card was very effective. Even if she didn’t fully understand its power, that fact remained unchanged.
“Leave Cecile alone. And me too.”
Confident of her victory, Damie warned him one last time. Cesare still said nothing. His face, shadowed by the moonlight, was eerily chilling, making Damie feel uneasy.
“If you have nothing more to say, please leave my bedroom.”
“…What if I refuse?”
Cesare finally spoke, wearing a gentle smile as if he were joking.
But behind that smile was a tension that seemed ready to explode at any moment. Instinctively, Damie backed away to distance herself from him. At the same time, she issued her final ultimatum to Cesare.
“Leave now! Or I’ll scream.”
“Scream? Oh dear.”
Before Damie could do anything, his hand struck like lightning, grabbing her neck. His grip seemed capable of snapping her delicate neck in an instant.
Feeling the threat, Damie’s face turned pale. Cesare, looking into her paper-white face in the darkness, smiled with delight. Then he felt her neck and pressed gently on the round larynx, shaped like a peach pit.
Damie gasped as she felt the pressure on her neck. Fortunately, her breathing wasn’t cut off, but she couldn’t make a sound.
“Shh, Damie. Don’t be afraid. I wouldn’t hurt you. I just want to give you… some advice. As your brother, after all.”
Cesare’s voice was chillingly gentle. It was not the kind of voice one would expect from someone gripping another’s neck. This made Damie feel even more that he was dangerous.
“Oh, my dear Damie. I don’t care who you play with. A jewel doesn’t lose its value just because it gets a little dirt on it. You can just brush it off.”
Isn’t that right? Cesare whispered softly, caressing Damie’s neck with his thumb as if in ecstasy. Then he kissed the back of his hand that was holding her neck, as if he wished to kiss Damie directly but dared not.
“But not Acard Valerian. He’s too troublesome. You don’t know what he’s hiding, do you?”
It was a strange insinuation, as if Acard had some ulterior motive for approaching her.
Unable to resist due to her trapped neck, Damie instead glared at him with wide eyes. This was truly absurd.
Originally, Cesare should have been in a subservient position. He was just a tagalong brought in by the stepmother, not related by blood.
Moreover, Damie was managing all the internal affairs of the mansion in place of her absent father. There was no place for Cesare, the intruder, to interfere. At least not within the Count Primula household.
However, Cesare cleverly carved out his own place outside the family. In just a few years, he had drawn in young northern nobles to his side and dominated the social scene. He had also started several small businesses using his connections.
Damie’s father, a businessman, admired his stepson’s efforts. So he bestowed many favors upon Cesare. And now, as you can see, Cesare was repaying those favors with enmity.
‘How can I escape his grasp?’
Damie stared intently at Cesare, desperately racking her brain. Cesare smiled with apparent joy at her gaze. His shy appearance seemed so genuine that it made her feel even more disgusted.
“Listen to me, Damie. You’re also a proud member of the Primula family based in the North, aren’t you? Unlike the South plagued by corruption, our North is thriving under the protection of the Grand Temple. There’s nothing good to come from fooling around with a royal dog like Acard Valerian.”
Cesare’s tone, lecturing her as if he were truly her blood brother, was infuriating. Damie frowned while trying to understand his words.
‘What does this mean? Is the Grand Temple… somehow involved in Cesare’s affairs?’
And it seemed that Acard was probably standing at the opposite end of this. Cesare’s face, daring to give ‘advice’ to Damie, was overflowing with undisguisable obsession. But separate from that, his blue eyes maintained their rationality.
‘This isn’t just out of jealousy towards Acard.’
Damie grew anxious with this vague understanding. She wanted to extract more information from Cesare, but it was impossible with her neck being strangled.
On the other hand, Cesare looked very satisfied after spewing out as much nonsense as he wanted. Caressing Damie’s flushed cheek with his free hand, Cesare whispered affectionately.
“Are you that worried about Cecile Evergreen? Then choose me, Damie. If you become my ally, all problems will be solved.”
Bringing his face close enough that their noses almost touched, Cesare demanded that she choose him. At the same time, his hand gripping Damie’s neck tightened even more. As if making a silent threat.
Damie gritted her teeth. Her larynx, pressed by his strong fingers, hurt, and her breath came in gasps. But she had no intention of succumbing to Cesare’s threats.
So, like a cornered weakling, she desperately devised a small trick.
“…Huh, huh, huk!”
Suddenly, Damie clawed at Cesare’s hand on her neck and gasped pitifully. Her fair face turned red as if about to burst from holding her breath, and blue veins stood out on her neck. She looked just like someone on the verge of suffocation.
“What’s wrong, Damie? Can’t breathe?”
Seeing this, Cesare’s hand reflexively loosened. He mistakenly thought he had applied too much pressure.
‘Now!’
Damie didn’t miss this opportunity and quickly twisted her shoulders. Cesare’s hand, unable to keep up with her momentary struggle, slipped from her neck. Finally free from his grasp, Damie shouted with all her might.
“Help!! Someone please help me!!”
“My Lady!!!”
The sound of servants running from the far end of the corridor could be heard in response to the young lady’s cry. Cesare, having lost his hold on Damie, looked at his empty hand with an unreadable expression.
Damie thought she saw anger flash across his face. But the next moment, surprisingly, Cesare grinned.
“It’s useless to mention my name, Damie. I’m still supposed to be away. So it would be wise to act smartly.”
And don’t spread your legs for that bastard anymore.
Damie frowned as she listened to Cesare’s rapid muttering. Today, he had been spouting incomprehensible words. However, before she could gather her thoughts, Cesare quickly leaped out the window and disappeared.
“My Lady, what happened?”
“Are you alright?!”
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