Chapter 35
When I took a couple of steps back, the man—apparently unbothered or embarrassed—casually withdrew his hand and lifted both arms to shoulder height.
“Oh! Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, my mistake.”
The man who had been reading a book in the back rose from his seat and came over.
The two of them stood side by side in front of me.
“You didn’t know we were the ones you were meeting today? You look surprised.”
I watched as the man with the expressionless face, who had approached belatedly, reached behind me to close the door.
“Don’t worry.”
“We treat women gently.”
Creak—thud!
I hadn’t expected a door closing to make me tense up like this.
I shifted my gaze between the two men towering over me, their faces half-shadowed by the light behind them.
The shameless playboy scoundrels of House Jefino.
That infamous label that always followed their names came to mind without warning.
“If we’d known our guest was such a beautiful lady, we would’ve prepared some chocolate.”
“Chocolate is always the right choice. Sweet… and tempting.”
I still didn’t know the exact reason the Empress had given me the opportunity to meet them.
I could only… guess it had something to do with the Emperor.
For now, I should approach this amicably.
If it was information related to the Emperor, that was something I also wanted.
“You’re not going to keep me standing, are you?”
“Ah, of course not. We can’t keep such a lovely guest on her feet.”
I decided to overlook their overly casual way of speaking—for the Empress’s sake, since she had arranged this meeting.
I looked up at the man playfully tucking my loose hair behind my ear.
“I won’t hurt you. I won’t do anything you’d dislike. So don’t worry.”
The man holding my hand gently pulled me forward.
It was so smooth and natural that I hardly realized I was being led along.
My body swayed lightly toward the sofa where he had been lounging just moments ago, almost like a butterfly dancing.
Only after he had seated me did his arm around my waist fall away.
“I’ve heard the rumors, but I didn’t expect Duke Mertiel to be this beautiful.”
Whether it was a joke or not, I let it pass without reaction.
But… which one was Hian, and which was His?
Though they looked identical, their auras were polar opposites.
Same outfit design, yet such different vibes.
White trousers, black shirt, and a black vest lavishly embroidered with silver thread.
One wore his shirt fully buttoned, giving off a restrained air, while the other had his cravat undone and shirt collar open.
“It’s a shame we were too busy to attend the title succession ceremony. Don’t you agree, Hian?”
“If I’d known she was such a beautiful woman, I would’ve attended no matter what.”
Hian, His.
By listening to them, I figured it out—the dignified one was Hian, the constantly grinning and flirtatious one was His.
The man perched on the edge of the desk in front of me placed his hands between his knees, leaned forward to meet my gaze, and smiled.
“If you want anything in particular, I can have it prepared for you. Do you have a request?”
“I’m fine.”
“Really?”
“That’s a pity.”
I had deliberately kept my answers short to give myself time to assess them, but it didn’t seem to bother them at all.
When I stared at them blankly, His leaned in with a sly look.
“This is a secret place where no one else is around. Just us.”
The libertines of high society.
I forced my wandering thoughts back in line and cautiously shifted my gaze.
At the edge of my vision, I spotted a bottle of wine.
“What are you looking at? Ah, do you like to drink?”
His picked up the bottle with one hand and waved it right in front of me.
The clear liquid sloshed like waves inside the frosted glass.
“If you want, you can drink.”
I turned my head away from him.
“But you know…”
Suddenly, he reached toward me.
Moving slowly enough for me to dodge if I wanted, His draped an arm over my shoulder and leaned close.
“If a lady visits this late at night, drinks with me, and tries to seduce me… I won’t be able to resist.”
The arm on my shoulder felt heavy.
The distance between us shrank…
His silver lashes brushed against mine as they fluttered.
That was when I opened my mouth.
“The Emperor.”
Speaking that name was a near-certain gamble.
I watched both men’s jaws tighten visibly.
“Isn’t that what we were here to talk about?”
I smiled in triumph.
“Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Inerua Mertiel, the 18th Duke of House Mertiel.”
I pressed my palm against Hian’s lips before he could speak.
When he stepped back willingly, I tugged him forward and all but tossed him onto the sofa.
“What are your names?”
Sitting with my knee between His’s legs, I placed a hand on his shoulder.
Catching both their eyes, I smiled to pull the mood in my direction.
“Are you not going to tell me?”
“…His Jefino.”
“Hian Jefino.”
When they answered so obediently, I tightened my grip on His’s shoulder and glanced back at Hian.
“I came to buy information from you. What did you come to buy from me?”
Hian hesitated.
“If you ask that while sitting like this, I might just spill everything.”
“That won’t do. I planned to pay for the information I got, but if you tell me for free, that’d be boring.”
Shh.
I pressed a finger to His’s lips to silence his nonsense.
I felt the muscle beneath twitch.
“Tell me why the Empress arranged for me to meet you, and what you planned to do when you met me.”
My hand slipped from his shoulder to gather up the cravat he had undone.
“If you give me a proper answer, I’ll treat your house’s secluded young lady.”
Their pupils narrowed like beasts’—even more sharply than when I had mentioned the Emperor.
“Seems like your sister’s life is in my hands.”
Selena Jefino.
I said the name of the young lady who had been in seclusion for a year.
I pulled His’s cravat into my lap and then drew out the necklace hidden inside my dress.
“This is a holy relic that was kept in the ducal residence.”
When I’d suspected the Empress’s intended meeting partners were these twins, I’d conducted another round of investigation into House Jefino and learned something.
“Your family’s young lady was tainted in the land of monsters.”
Rumors said the Jefino lady had been contaminated by the Winit River.
“You’re going to need this.”
I had the means to heal a body eroded by the polluted river.
“So? Feeling more inclined to talk now?”
For a family built on magic, they should at least have one trump card like this.
When I reached out, Hian stepped closer.
I loosened his cravat too, the one embroidered with the Jefino crest.
“Judging by your expressions, I probably don’t even need to hear your answer.”
✦ ✦ ✦
It took a while before they spoke.
“That… it’s real, right?”
Just in case, I opened the pendant—layered with multiple magical wards.
A wave of sacred energy flowed out.
“It’s… real,” Hian murmured, dazed.
If I left them like this, they’d just get lost in their own little world, so I quickly added,
“If you arrange for me to meet your young lady later, I’ll use this to heal her.”
“…”
“So tell me—why did you want to meet me, what’s your goal, and what do you know?”
They both fell silent again.
But before long, a voice spoke.
“Our goal is the Emperor’s death.”
They said it so calmly, I almost thought I’d misheard.
…What?
I thought I’d only said it in my head, but the word slipped out.
“What?”
“We wanted to meet you in order to achieve that goal.”
Good lord.
It was so absurd that my jaw dropped.
I couldn’t help but shoot back a sharp question at their shocking words.
“The Emperor’s death? Do you even understand what you’re saying?”
“We do. Perfectly. Once you hear the details, you’ll have no choice but to side with us.”
Never in my wildest imagination had I expected this to come out of their mouths.
