Chapter 8
Dazhar stepped back from my frozen, statue-like self and flashed a picture-perfect smile.
“Welcome to the Siastor Ducal Estate. Please, have a seat.”
Then he walked gracefully to the sofa and sat down.
“Refined and polite,” huh?
It’s not as if the definition of refinement changed overnight.
‘I sliced your friend from the ankles upward. Where should I start with you? The neck?’
That violent smile, looking down on me like a predator…
There’s no way I could forget that in one day.
Refined? Polite?
Don’t make me laugh.
Realizing that the crazy man I met yesterday—the one who threatened me with a sword—was actually the father of the heroine, Duke Dazhar Siastor, was enough to make my brain shut down.
But I needed to focus.
Remember why you’re here—money! I need money!
I pressed my mouth closed with both hands (at some point it had dropped open in shock), then straightened my back and walked forward.
Meanwhile, Duke Dazhar wore the kind of noble, graceful smile that made you think:
“Ah, truly a high noble among nobles.”
Then he opened his mouth.
“I’ve heard countless praises about Lady Evanroar. However, you apparently have such sophisticated and lofty hobbies that you seem detached from worldly life. I always wondered if I would ever see your rare, noble face in person. It is an honor to finally meet you.”
Translation:
“Oh, you’re the woman obsessed with farming? Hah.”
I grit my teeth.
After seeing him yesterday—waving a sword at me, dangling a newborn in one hand like laundry—this polished greeting made my molars ache.
Anger boiled deep inside me.
But I had to endure.
Patience. Patience…
Yesterday, he was just a random lunatic with no ties to me.
But today?
He held Aksion’s future in his hands.
And he was the heroine Vanilla’s father—my future in-law!
Dear God.
No matter how much I hated it… I needed to build a good relationship with him.
I am water.
Flexible. Adaptable. Able to blend anywhere.
Yes—just like I once wrote on my self-intro application before reincarnation.
With that shameless lie in mind, I forced my lips into a smile.
“Hello, Duke Siastor. It is an honor to meet you for the first time. I’m Cillia Evanroar.”
“First time?”
His refined smile faded as he tilted his head.
His golden eyes clearly said:
“We literally met yesterday. Drop the act.”
“I see. You feel strangely familiar, Lady Evanroar. You resemble my childhood friend.”
“…A friend?”
A weird thing to say. I eyed him warily.
“Yes. She had the exact same platinum hair and blue eyes as you…
A very lovely goldfish.”
“…”
“One day, while the butler was away, she overate—forgot that she had already been fed—and her stomach burst after she ate the food I gave her. Such is a goldfish’s memory, I suppose.”
“Ha… what a tragic story.”
Let me revise my earlier statement:
My self-intro was fiction.
I am not water.
I am fire.
My lips trembled with barely contained rage.
If I stayed silent any longer, I might actually put this duke in a headlock with my farming-trained arms.
I immediately pictured adorable baby Aksion in my head.
He’s your future in-law. In-law. In-law…
Wait—no.
Who says in-laws must get along?
Even if we hate each other to death, true love will still bloom, right?
I can make money some other way. Hah!
I was about to roll up my sleeves and go after him when something he said froze me in place.
“Anyway. I heard Lady Evanroar can solve a problem of mine… Isn’t that right, Elstern?”
Elstern—who had been nibbling cookies in the corner—jumped at being called.
“A-ahem. Y-yes! She said she has a new potential food source.”
“Oh?”
Dazhar’s eyes gleamed with interest as he looked at me.
“So your lofty hobby shines here. I look forward to hearing what you have.”
He was using a false name for Elstern even though he clearly knew who he was.
They must’ve agreed beforehand.
That was fine.
I also pretended not to know Elstern was the Tower Master—it made things easier.
I took a deep breath and spoke.
“Yes. I heard the Siastor Duchy is searching for a new food source.”
I lowered my half-raised sleeves.
“That’s correct.”
“I happened to bring in a plant from the Eastern Continent, and I think it will help.”
“The Eastern Continent…”
The Eastern Continent was separated from us by a vast ocean and—more importantly—multiple magical barriers cast around our continent to block demons.
So travel there was considered impossible.
Of course Dazhar looked shocked.
“I’d heard you graduated from the Imperial Academy as valedictorian many years ago, Lady Evanroar. But even superior intellect couldn’t explain crossing to the Eastern Continent. I’m curious—what sort of miraculous opportunity allowed you to go there?”
In other words:
“Who do you think you are, crossing continents?”
Even Elstern, crumbs stuck to his cheek, looked eager for the explanation.
Then Dazhar blinked and turned toward him.
“Ah, Elstern. Don’t you have business with Vanilla?”
Elstern dropped his cookie.
“Me? I do?”
“Yes. You do.”
“…?”
Elstern blinked, like, did I make an appointment?
He clearly had not.
But when someone like Duke Dazhar says so, what can you do?
“Vanilla is waiting for you.”
Elstern stood up with a helpless face, looking back at me repeatedly like he still desperately wanted to know how I supposedly traveled between continents.
Then he left, and only the two of us remained.
Immediately, a lazy, teasing voice filled the room.
“So, Rattle Girl. Your backing is stronger than I thought.”
“…”
He sprawled on the sofa, legs crossed, looking annoyingly smug.
The expression on his face was the exact same “crazy bastard mode” from yesterday.
I smiled stiffly.
“My backing?”
“Oh? Yesterday you spoke to me casually, and today you’re using formal speech?”
I smiled wider.
“Oh my, me? Speaking casually? Duke, you have such a sense of humor. Someone might misunderstand and think I’m rude—like someone I know.”
“That someone isn’t me, I hope.”
“Of course not. A duke would never behave that way.”
“Hmph.”
Dazhar folded his arms, amused.
“So confident for someone with backing.”
“Backing?”
“Elstern.”
“Ah. You mean the Tower Master?”
“So you knew. I figured as much. You used that innocent guy to get all the way here. And then you come in and lie.”
… Excuse me?
How dare he make the truth sound this shady?
I turned my head sharply and glared.
“A lie? What are you talking about?”
“The Eastern Continent, obviously. Even transcendents can’t cross to that place. If you’re going to lie, make it believable.”
He laughed faintly.
“Lady Evanroar… You’re well known. You nearly ruined your family finances with that eccentric farming hobby. Now you’re desperate, coming to me waving food around, trying to get something out of it.”
He made it sound like I came here to run a scam.
If I exploded now, it would only hurt me.
So I asked calmly:
“Your misunderstandings are impressive. But if I’m supposedly using Elstern, why wait until he left to accuse me? Why not say it in front of him?”
He lifted one corner of his mouth.
“Because it’s funny watching that nosy guy go crazy wondering how you supposedly went to the Eastern Continent.”
“…”
What a terrible personality.
Truly, horrifically bad.
“Your personality is like… a government authentication certificate.”
“A… what?”
I smiled sweetly.
“Very malicious, Duke In-Law.”
