Chapter 40

“You foolish boy.”

“My lady….”

Heros’s brown eyes trembled pitifully.

If he didn’t have such a strikingly handsome face, this wouldn’t feel so burdensome.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’ll really leave you behind.”

At those words, Heros lowered his trembling eyelashes.

Growling in threat, I pulled harder on the vine wrapped around Heros’s neck to loosen it.

“Damn it, I never thought Father was growing something like this.”

Let me explain why we were doing such a ridiculous thing right now.

The Elemoer Duke’s mansion was vast, with places even I struggled to access while he was alive.

The most notable was his private study for confidential documents.

(I burned it down to erase Etias’s records.)

Next was the family heirloom vault, only accessible to the Duke himself.

(Of course, I sold anything useful to invest in Montela.)

Finally, there was his personal greenhouse, a secret place where not even the gardener or butler was allowed.

I had assumed he simply enjoyed bonsai in private.

Everyone needs their own hobby space, I suppose.

– I’ve never been inside here myself.

It didn’t seem like it contained anything of great value, but just in case, I told Heros to break down the door and check.

The moment he broke it down, vines shot out and pulled Heros inside.

Panicking, I grabbed a fallen pipe and swung it wildly at the vines dragging Heros away, managing to beat them off and free him.

However, even when separated, the vines continued writhing around his body.

“Ugh, not there.”

Heros squirmed and let out a moan as vines wrapped around his thigh.

“Ah….”

‘What is this sudden genre change?!’

The greenhouse was filled with wriggling green plants.

‘Is this… revolutionary… tentacle genre…?’

Memories of certain novels I’d once read flooded my mind, and I shook my head furiously to banish the thoughts.

But calling them plants was generous – they were clearly tentacles!

“My lady, hngh, if it comes to it, please… just run, hngh, without me.”

“Shut up.”

Vines crawling from the ground continued coiling around Heros’s body.

“Hngh, but…”

“Don’t breathe like that.”

“Ugh… my lady.”

“Don’t enjoy it!”

“How… ngh, do I get these off?!”

No matter how many I tore away, more came.

‘Duke Elemoer… don’t tell me….’

Disgusting images threatened to flood my mind again, so I forced myself to focus on freeing Heros.

Soon, vines slipped past his sleeves and brushed against his bare skin.

“Ugh….”

A lewd moan escaped Heros, his cheeks flushed red.

“Get a grip, Heros!”

It was impossible to remove all the approaching tentacles.

‘But… why aren’t they wrapping around me?’

When I tossed aside a bundle of vines, the thought suddenly struck me.

Now that I noticed, the vines never approached Heros’s abdomen where I was sitting.

Even when I reached out to the constantly writhing vines—

‘They avoid me?’

A sudden thought popped into my mind.

‘Wait… are these tentacles gay?’

…….

‘No, maybe… it’s because I’m an Elemoer?’

That made more sense.

Since the owner of these tentacles was the Duke, they probably recognised me as his blood and didn’t attack.

“Ugh, my lady….”

Watching the vines slowly trying to cover Heros entirely, I took a deep breath, then pressed my body down over his in an embrace.

“……!”

I felt Heros’s body flinch violently beneath me as the vines wrapped around him.

“Stay still.”

When I commanded quietly, his ragged breathing grew even harsher.

“Y-yes, ngh.”

‘Ugh, these tentacles feel gross.’

Between Heros and me, the wriggling slowed and changed direction.

Just as I expected, they began withdrawing from Heros’s body.

More precisely, they were avoiding me.

Soon, all the tentacles retreated, and I slowly lifted my head to meet Heros’s gaze.

His face was still flushed, and he was panting heavily.

“…My lady.”

“Are you okay?”

He was a complicated man in many ways, but he was still my butler. I couldn’t let something like tentacles steal his purity.

“…Yes.”

His voice was faint, as if his energy had been completely drained.

Slowly, I stood and pulled him up with me.

“Stay close behind me.”

Then, after leaving the greenhouse, I ordered Heros to reattach the door.

With the opaque greenhouse sealed, we could no longer see the tentacle plants within.

“I’m sorry. I failed to prepare properly. I nearly put you in danger, my lady.”

Though his hair and clothes were dishevelled, his eyes and voice were calm again as he bowed in apology.

“It couldn’t be helped. Father never told you about it either.”

I forcefully erased the disgusting image of Duke Elemoer playing perversely with the plant from my mind.

“But what was that thing anyway?”

“Probably… a Kyria plant. It’s a temperate perennial known to like people and burrow into them.”

“That wasn’t just ‘liking’ them.”

I frowned, recalling Heros moaning wrapped in the vines.

“Still, it’s an extremely rare species. Almost impossible to find. There might not even be three roots in the entire empire.”

“So basically… it’s worth money.”

I never refused money, but even I had no intention of selling something so filthy.

“Also, there’s another legend about Kyria plants. They say if it meets a ‘hero’ worthy of reverence, it absorbs their scent and creates a divine beast.”

“A divine beast?”

Now that was interesting.

“Just an old legend. Ancient hero myths always have divine beasts, don’t they?”

I had seen paintings of giant divine dragon beasts many times.

Though I’d heard legends claiming divine beasts weren’t born from parents, never that they came from plants. It was fascinating.

Surely Duke Elemoer didn’t raise it hoping to become a hero himself.

Glancing at the closed greenhouse door, I ordered Heros.

“Leave it there. Just put up a warning not to enter.”

Someone could end up like Heros if they went in.

“Yes, my lady.”

After washing off the tentacle residue and dirt from her hands and feet, Katrin sat down on the office chair.

In the meantime, Heros had placed the daily reports on her desk.

‘The Marquis of Regallo collapsed from rage sickness. Serves him right.’

It was a slight disappointment that they didn’t also take on the worthless business rights and incur even greater losses, but the massive deposit they had paid was essentially free money for Katrin.

With Philios’s bail draining their funds and debts piling up, their family was practically half-ruined.

‘Philios was expelled from the magistrate office and left penniless. He won’t dare touch illegal drugs again.’

Though it was unfortunate he didn’t rot in prison, with the charge of giving illegal drugs to Etias, he would inevitably be purged after the revolution. His freedom wouldn’t last long.

As Katrin smiled faintly at the Regallo family’s misfortune, she suddenly spoke.

“Heros.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Heros appeared immediately upon being called, now dressed neatly in fresh clothes after changing out of his vine-torn outfit.

“Is the arrest hearing for Fadelmon still pending in parliament?”

“Yes, my lady. There has been no result yet.”

Unlike the Regallo case, this was taking a long time – likely due to political interference.

“Find out who’s obstructing it.”

“Understood.”

Bowing deeply, Heros left Katrin’s office and slowly placed a hand over his chest.

He could feel his heart pounding within.

‘I’m the only one who’s become strange again.’

The image of her amethyst eyes gazing so close under the teasing vines wouldn’t leave his mind.

A faint, rough breath escaped from his lips, and his brown eyes flickered with an aching emotion.

“…My master.”