/
Chapter 93 – Is That What You Say In Front of the Devil?
After Bella yelled at Marianne, her day was getting more and more tiring.
Why was she so popular like Shuria Cruelle in the novel?
Even before the contest, the ladies kept following her. The ladies were trying to impress the Cruelle family, like what they did to Shuria. They must have noticed the Merken family for several days, and after Bella threatened her with a bear, they flocked around hlike a fish out of waterter.
At first, when she took Pur for a walk, she received a lot of disapproving glances saying it was childish. Now, she couldn’t even go for a walk as they surrounded Pur, giving her praises and saying she was cute.
“I also have a pet dog at home, so it would be nice if I could talk to it.”
“You are truly blessed, Lady.”
Bella hated this attention.
After she became possessed in the novel, whenever people followed her excessively, be it a demon or a human, it only felt uncomfortable for her. Fortunately for her, they didn’t mindlessly stick around her like in the Demon World.
Nonetheless, the unfortunate thing was that she couldn’t just ‘get out of the way’ like the Demon World.
It was fine up to this point though.
“You share the same room with Psilia… Still, that is too much.”
“That’s right. How many ladies like to be with Lady.”
However, she was at a loss for what to do when, implicitly, they insulted Rosanne in front of her.
“It was frustrating because she looked gentle. Aren’t you annoyed just by looking at her?”
Even though so far, she just listened without saying anything, it was uncomfortable to just listen without a word, so Bella tried to speak.
“Ah… hmm…”
“I know. She looks so calm, so I think she’ll take care of everything from behind the scenes.”
Usually, as Bella did not talk, they went on talking among themselves, not even thinking that she’d talk this time.
“Lady Bella, have you ever seen Miss Rosanne go out at night?”
“Ah…”
Recently, there was a rumor that the Prince seemed to be meeting a certain lady every night. Of course, everyone didn’t believe it, thinking it was a rumor that caught the clouds, but Bella knew for sure. It must be the secret love between Kiehl and Rosanne that inevitably occurred in the novel.
“I think it’s Miss Rosanne. I caught a glimpse of the pink hair going down the aisle.”
“Are you still going to stay still, Lady Bella?”
“That—”
“You can’t stand still…!”
‘No, that’s not it…’
She hadn’t said anything yet. Bella resolutely said a word to the ladies in a slightly louder voice.
“Just leave it alone.”
The young ladies were looking forward to the next words.
‘…This is the sweet words.’
For some reason, it seemed like they were expecting Shuria’s role in the novel.
‘Don’t tell me I have to play the villain who harasses Rosanne…’
* * *
It was when the first round of contests was right around the corner.
“Oh my God, isn’t that a Fire Country costume?”
Jenkins asked, pointing at the people in traditional costumes of the country.
“Oh, right!”
Normally, the Empire tended to actively interact with other countries, but there was little interaction with the desert kingdom of Fire Kingdom, which was quite far away.
‘Why is the FIre Kingdom here?’
As Bella stared at the delegation in a puzzled way, even in the novel, Fire Kingdom’s story did not appear.
“Ah, I miss those bronze-skinned youths of Fire Kingdom.”
She also remembered the scenery of the place she had been to a long time ago.
“But people in the Fire Kingdom are generally good-looking.”
“…What?”
“Huh? People from the Fire Kingdom are usually good-looking.”
Since she had never shown any interest before in things like this, Iwer hurriedly grabbed Bella’s shoulder with surprised eyes.
“No way, Miss… Is Fire Kingdom men your ideal type?”
“There it goes again.”
While Iwer grabbed her shoulder and sobbed, Jenkins was closely examining Fire Kingdom’s procession.
“Everyone is watching. Somehow, the ladies didn’t come to Miss’ side today.”
It was as Jenkins said. Many ladies were wandering around watching the mysterious delegation from the Fire Kingdom.
“Looking at it, it looks like they came to sell things.”
“Are they not paying tribute to the Imperial Palace?”
“That is different. Isn’t that too much luggage…?”
“Can they sell it?”
“Usually, that kind of thing is done on the black market. Would you like to take a look as well?”
Shaking off Iwer’s arm, Bella smiled.
“Shall we sell potions over there? It’s illegal in the Empire, but it’s not in the Fire Kingdom.”
“…Miss is great as expected.”
Everyone must be thinking of buying strange things from the Fire Kingdom, but to think of selling them?
“I should make some money and give Kiehl something as a present.”
“Come to think of it, I hardly see him these days.”
Somehow, the last time she talked to Kiehl was at the banquet on the first day of the contest. During the day, there were many eyes to see, so she couldn’t go to look for him.
When Bella sometimes turned into a cat and woke up to visit Kiehl’s room, she found that Rosanne wasn’t there in the middle of the night. She would be enjoying a love affair with Kiehl, so Bella avoided it for fear of disturbing them.
‘…Ah. Again.’
Even though her heart was empty, it felt like being stabbed with a needle.
“…Are you hurt again?”
“Is it obvious?”
Bella coughed a few times and caught her breath.
“Is it because you share the same room as Miss Rosanne?”
At the words, she bit her lip briefly.
“…Why does that matter?”
“You can be affected by the energy of the heavenly being.”
“Why is a mention of a heavenly being coming up here all of a sudden? She’s not even a heavenly being.”
“Looking at Miss and Rosanne, you really look like angel and devil.”
At that, Bella gave Jenkins a smack to the head.
“F*ck you, is that what you say in front of the devil? Do you want to die?”
“Wow… Other ladies should see this. You pretended to be really calm there.”
As his words continued, she kicked Jenkins in the shin as hard as she could.
“You tell me honestly. Don’t you want to live?”
“What did I say? I was telling the truth.”
There was no particular reason why Jenkins kept taunting Bella.
“Ugh, I should send this bastard with Zanbar.”
If he did a little more, perhaps she’d really send him.
* * *
Meanwhile, Kiehl was busy welcoming the delegation from the Fire Kingdom.
He had no foundation when he entered the Imperial Palace at the age of fifteen, no, fourteen. Of course, based on Bella’s notes, he could build a more foundation though he couldn’t compare to Rohan, who had been calling his forces for decades.
So, the method he chose was diplomacy.
“…I don’t know when you prepared this.”
After greetings and a brief meeting, Rohan glanced at the back of the Fire Kingdom’s delegation with a bewildered face as if he had been hit in the back of the head. He thought that Kiehl would not be able to work properly because he was so absorbed in a woman, but he never thought that Kiehl would be this way with the Fire Kingdom, who had no exchanges.
“This is basic.”
While in the Cruelle family, Rinne succeeded in delivering the documents using radio magic.
In that way, Rinne, who was in the Fire Kingdom, was able to share it with a close wizard and lead it to this place without Rohan’s knowledge.
“Then, why is it the Fire Kingdom?”
“Because it is a country with which the Empire has not interacted.”
“Isn’t it too far to go through that? They don’t even interact with the nearby Hella Kingdom.”
“Well, they’ll think about that soon.”
Kielh shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the cactus on the window sill.
‘When do I change it?’
I’ll have secretly changed it.
Kiehl smiled happily, imagining how much Bella would love it when the cactus bloomed.
Just as Jenkins had predicted, Bella could see the Fire Kingdom merchants selling Fire Kingdom goods to the ladies without her knowledge.
“Oh my. Is this illegal?”
“Yes.”
“Write down their names.”
Jenkins glanced at Bella from behind her.
“Isn’t Miss going to buy something, too?”
“Huh. So?”
“There is an unspoken rule to keep these things secret from each other.”
“Aha. I see, write it down.”
“Awful, it’s awful.”
Jenkins clicked his tongue, but she didn’t respond to his words as soon as the ladies were gone and ran to the merchant of the Fire Kingdom.
Bella’s purpose was to sell potions. Even though the only money she had on hand was what the Cruell family sent her, she couldn’t use it because she was sorry though she didn’t feel sorry for taking the blood out of Iwer.
She pretended to pick while talking to the merchant.
“Hmm… What is all this?”
“It is a specialty sold in the Fire Kingdom. It’s hard to see even in the Fire Kingdom.”
Hard to see… The national cactus of the Fire Kingdom, which was said to be a must-have in every house, was also here.
“Even so, ten gold per cactus. It was too much. You sell this for ten silver, right?”
Hearing those words, the merchant stopped Bella so no one would hear.
“Woah, what are you talking about? It is a rare specialty that is hard to have even in Hwaguk.”
‘That’s funny.’
Listening to his words, she glanced around and told Pur to bring the cactus.
“Isn’t this a real specialty?”
Bella took the love potion from her chest and handed it to the merchant.
“What is this?”
“It is a love potion that was once hotly sold in the Empire. You know?”
The merchant’s eyes sparkled immediately. It was an item that was difficult to obtain because the Empire cracked down on it last year.
“Hmmm. How do you know that’s the potion?”
Bella raised the corners of her mouth as the merchant bit the bait.
“Try it once. If you’re interested, go find Bellatrice Cruel.”
“…Really?”
The merchant smiled from ear to ear but soon regained composure.
“If, if it doesn’t work…”
“Just try it.”
She was confident. This potion was good.
Just in time, Pur brought Bella’s cactus and proudly showed it to the merchant.
“And, I bought this for ten silver.”
As if she had won, Bella showed a proud smile and told the merchant before opening her mouth again.
“So, I’ll buy the cactus for 20 silver. How is it?”
The merchant looked at the potion and seemed to be troubled. Was she trying to buy things cheaply by putting something like water in it?
“Miss, do you know what the name of this cactus is?”
“To grant wishes right.”
“…You know. Just take it, too.”
“Really?”
Bella happily lifted the cactus.
“It’s good. I’ll have to bring this to Kiehl.”
Then, the merchant scratched his head as if embarrassed and spoke.
“Isn’t it yours?”
“Yes. I want to give him a present because I have mine.”
“That cactus looks withered.”
“….”
“Look at this, the color is different…”
Even though the merchant was rambling around, her mood was serious, so he blurted out the words.
Bella thought her cactus might already be dead. Still, she was vaguely turning the positive circuit, saying that she would come to the human world and only good things would happen so it could bloom.
Bella frowned as she cradled the withered cactus in her arms.
“If it withers, my wish won’t come true?”
It was pampered.
…Why did it feel like a foreshadowing of an uncertain road ahead?