~Chapter 23~
How many times had that face, feigning innocence as if she knew nothing, left him utterly bewildered?
First, with a tear-streaked face, then with clumsy acting hidden behind a mask.
What weapon would she wield this time to toy with him?
*Tap, tap.*
The sound of Ivyn carefully walking into the center of the meeting room, the hem of her dress rustling, cut through the heart of Theodore’s thoughts.
Just as the jade-green hem of her dress seemed to drape an opaque curtain over his vision…
After Ivyn politely finished her greeting, she slowly parted her lips.
“Could I speak with Sir Raitner alone?”
From beneath the stiff brows of the holy knight, his vividly gleaming black eyes flashed sharply toward her.
To boldly demand the host’s order of banishment right after entering enemy territory… it was outrageous.
“Alone.”
Theodore crushed her words at the tip of his tongue.
“…….”
Ivyn was pretending to be calm, but she couldn’t deceive the holy knight’s sharp eyes.
She was trembling.
Just looking at her fist clenched tightly beneath the hem of her dress gave it away.
Watching Ivyn hesitate, seemingly faltering, the holy knight inwardly let out a cold laugh.
*Is even this all an act?* he wondered.
After observing Ivyn for a moment, Theodore finally opened his mouth heavily.
“Fine. We’ll have some time alone.”
A brief, stunned silence fell over the meeting room.
However, as Theodore showed no sign of relenting, soon all the personnel in the room filed out.
Even the old Count, who had been the last to linger, grumbling a few words resembling curses, finally left the meeting room.
*Thud.*
Finally, the door closed, leaving only the two of them inside.
Although they had met several times already, the air flowing between them still seemed to hold an unfamiliar tremor, floating like particles yet to settle.
Theodore gestured with his hand toward the seat where the old Count had been sitting just moments before.
“Sit.”
“Thank you.”
Ivyn carefully approached the chair and sat down as instructed.
And for a while, she sat in silence, enduring Theodore’s cold, wintry gaze.
*‘How much must he hate me.’*
She had expected this to some extent.
Wasn’t this the same Theodore who had already let her slip away twice right before his eyes?
Considering his high pride and self-esteem, it was only natural that he would look at her with such eyes.
*Gulp.*
As Ivyn swallowed a dry mouthful, her throat, long and white like a deer’s, bobbed up and down like a peach pit.
The sight of her sitting there, utterly tense, captured Theodore’s gaze.
*‘Just what are you, Ivyn Kinzello?’*
As he looked at her, his blood boiled hot beneath his cold armor.
What exactly was this emotion?
Fury toward an enemy?
Or perhaps… a sense of tension from the sudden confrontation…?
“Hoo.”
After taking a deep breath while watching the holy knight maintain his silence, Ivyn seemed to have prepared her heart and slowly began to speak.
“I wish to propose a deal to Sir Raitner.”
“……A deal?”
Theodore twisted one eyebrow as if uncomfortable, but Ivyn, having firmly prepared her heart, met his gaze straight on with unwavering eyes.
*‘I mustn’t lose the battle of wills. I practiced for hours with O-Bok running simulations!’*
*(O-Bok’s lines in strong dialect: “Ah, this is so annoying! Just go and say it, it’s fine! Why practice again!” // “With a weak heart like that, how are you supposed to live properly in this harsh world!”)*
Perhaps because O-Bok had played the role of a very rude version of the holy knight so perfectly…
Ivyn was already adapting to the atmosphere.
“I know… that our Kinzello family is being pointed to as the cause of the epidemic. But that’s not true at all. From what I’ve seen, my family was actually working harder than anyone else to solve this problem.”
After finishing her words, Ivyn stuck out her tongue slightly to moisten her dry lower lip.
“…….”
Theodore’s gaze unconsciously drifted to her glossy lower lip.
*What scent would waft from the lips of a demoness?*
*Raspberry?*
*Or perhaps the scent of blood, more fitting for a necromancer?*
As his thoughts reached this point, the image of Ivyn drinking water in the dungeon suddenly surfaced in the man’s mind.
The cold water bottle touching her soft, plush lips, the transparent texture of the water seeping and spreading between them… even the texture of her desperate breaths she was letting out, each detail vividly clear.
*—Yes, that desperation, Ivyn Kinzello.*
What had dripped to the floor then were the drops of water that couldn’t flow into her mouth.
“To solve this unknown epidemic, we must help each other.”
“……Help?”
Snapped out of his reverie by Ivyn’s words, Theodore hurriedly straightened his posture.
*‘Damn, what was I thinking….’*
And he became convinced once again.
The woman before him was undoubtedly a demoness.
That’s why she was brazenly seducing him like this.
Every single one of her actions was clearly based on wicked calculations…
“I’m well aware that members of the Kinzello family cannot enter the outbreak area. Instead, please utilize the undead we command on-site.”
At Ivyn’s words, Theodore’s face hardened stiffly.
He felt his drowsy mind jolt awake again.
“Are you in your right mind, Ivyn Kinzello?”
The man muttered with a tone that found her idea repulsive.
“Even the top researchers from the Holy See on-site haven’t yet identified the exact disease. We are short of people to help the patients and manage the site.”
Ivyn paused for a moment.
It was because she detected a hint of contemplation on Theodore’s face.
*‘Just a little more… the chances of this deal succeeding are high.’*
A slightly greater hope quietly raised its head within her.
Of course, this proposal would displease him.
But if he could set aside his emotions for a moment and think it over calmly, he would soon realize it was a rather practical offer for the current situation.
“The undead are already deceased, so they don’t rot or get sick. What other soldiers could be more useful in an epidemic site than them?”
Theodore’s black eyes turned toward Ivyn’s piercingly blue ones.
He was trying to gauge whether this deal was genuine or a trap to dig a deeper hole for them.
“Let us use the corpses left after the last bandit den attack and the ones at the crematorium. And deploy the extra manpower to focus more on epidemic research.”
Theodore’s eyes took on an even more serious light as he looked at her.
“And then?”
“Find the cause and solution of the epidemic. That would be tantamount to proving our family is not the real cause.”
“What if the investigation ultimately leads back to the Necromancer family?”
“If, by any chance, that happens… I will voluntarily become a prisoner of the Holy See again.”
It was then that a *snap* ignited within the man.
It felt as if someone had struck a flint inside him.
Her final line was making something within Theodore boil hotly.
“You know best… what that means.”
Ivyn nodded.
As she did, her abundant, wavy purple hair cascaded slightly over her shoulders.
A woman who wore lavender flowers in her hair, whose eyes held hydrangeas.
A necromancer seducing a holy knight who had entered a sacred sanctuary.
“…….”
Theodore examined her from head to toe as if analyzing a crime scene.
Wherever his flint-struck eyes landed, he felt a strange scent rising.
What on earth was she thinking?
He couldn’t tell.
*‘I hate demons.’*
Theodore repeated to himself.
*What’s before my eyes is a demoness.*
*A witch trying to seduce me.*
*If I could lock such a dangerous woman behind sturdy iron bars again…*
*Perhaps this isn’t a bad deal.*
*And I’ll watch her.*
*So she can never deceive me and escape again.*
*Until she completely reveals her true self before my eyes.*
*‘I won’t miss this time, Ivyn.’*
Tilting his slightly stiffened neck to the side and then straightening it again, Theodore opened his mouth in a low voice.
“Fine. I accept that proposal.”
***
On the way out after the meeting with Theodore.
The gazes of the Holy See soldiers guarding the front instantly converged on Ivyn. Their murderous aura suggested they might draw their spears and swords and rush to arrest her at any moment.
Then.
Theodore’s low voice sounded from behind as he followed her out.
“The other devils of the Kinzello family you brought are waiting outside. You’d best leave before my mind changes.”
“……Thank you, Sir Raitner.”
“…….”
Ivyn gave a slight bow of her head toward Theodore and hurriedly moved her steps, exiting the camp.
“Wow! Look at that! I told you she’d be okay!”
O-Bok, who spotted Ivyn first among her brothers, spun once in mid-air and shouted in a delighted voice.
“I practiced a ton with this O-Bok guy!” (Note: This retains O-Bok’s dialect/quirky speech pattern from the original, as it’s part of his character.)
“Little squirrel!”
“Are you alright?”
“I was just about to summon an ogre skeleton in one minute!”
As John, Hon, and Don, the triplets, and O-Bok began to make a fuss surrounding Ivyn, she started trying to calm them down.
“See, see? I came out in one piece! Let’s hurry back to where Ron is waiting.”
