/
At Damia’s unwavering voice and steadfast countenance, Cesare raised his eyebrows in admiration. But instead withdrawing his feet he moved towards Hemish’s head.
As if threatening to crush her head as he stepped on her face.
“Well, what should I do?”
Cesare muttered indifferently to a singing hum. Damia tried not to be swayed by him, so she spoke in a calm tone:
“Isn’t it me who you want anyway? So, leave General Hemish alone.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
Her words seemed to be counterproductive. It was obvious he was enjoying the situation of Damia trying to persuade him; Cesare’s smile grew even deeper.
In fact, he was delighted in receiving Damia’s attention.
Damia belatedly reminded herself that Cesare was not sane in the first place. He was a madman and trying to convince him with commonsense and logic was foolish.
Realizing her mistake, Damia decided to change her tactic.
“Oh my! Brother… … No, you’re not my brother anymore. You’re truly beyond redemption .”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your pattern is always the same. Can’t you be a little creative?”
Damia caught his attention with a razor sharp accusation. And she began to provoke Cesare by carefully scratching his pride.
“You’ve not only done this to Louise before, but now even General Hemish? Do you have some kind of chronic disease? A disease where you can’t talk unless you take a woman hostage!”
“… … .”
Damia’s onslaught, which recently increased in intensity because of Akkard, was quite bitter. As she subtly surveyed Cesare to see if her words had any effect, his eyes narrowed.
They looked like crocodile-like irises just before biting prey. Even though Damia’s spine shuddered at the sight, she scratched his pride even more fiercely.
“It’s not like you’re going to hurt General Hemish anyway, right? You’re even a teenager, so stop with your childish blackmail and threats.”
“Why? You don’t think I can hurt this woman, Dami?”
Her taunts worked better than expected. Cesare clenched his jaw, and pressed the soles of his shoes against Hemish’s cheeks.
If he put more force on his toes Hemish’s cheekbones would break. But instead of being scared, Damia shook her head and said,
“General Hemish is the general manager of the guild. All the things she carries still need to be delivered.”
So Cesare could not harm Hemish. The only power backing him up was the High Temple who still needed her caravan.
“… … Only one woman dies. Do you think that there will be a problem at the guild?”
Cesare objected, but his voice had already softened.
“She’s not just a woman, she’s the general manager at the guild.”
Damia accepted it right away.
“Of course, if General Hemish dies, the guild will not collapse. But if the person in charge is suddenly lost, will the valuables be transported to the temple in its entirety? I don’t think so.”
In general, one that had to travel from one country to another for several months, or at most, several years for trade. Therefore, most of the workers of the guild had no family or ties.
Now the manager, Hemish, was overseeing them, but what if she died? It was inevitable that there would be plenty of workers who would steal valuables and run away.
In particular, the items brought in were rare items that were transported directly from the Kingdom of Bern. It wasn’t something that could be bought and filled right away just because it was stolen.
There was no way Cesare wouldn’t have known this. Realizing that he could no longer use Hemish as blackmail, without a word he removed his feet from her.
‘I did it!’
Damia, who was half-gambling, was deeply relieved. She didn’t want to see anyone get hurt in front of me again.
At night, when she was troubled, she had nightmares about Louise bleeding from being stabbed by his sword. Of course, not as much as the party directly involved, but it was a significant trauma to Damia as well.
‘If anything happened to General Hemish, I… … .’
She would have suffered from extreme guilt.
But it was still too early to be relieved. Just because Cesare gave up the hostage, didn’t mean he would yield Damia.
“Come here, Dami.”
It was a sweet voice, as if coaxing the eardrum to melt. So it felt even more dreadfully ominous.
“You seem to have something to give me, umm?”
Cesare held out his hand as he said meaningfully. At that moment, Damia’s heart sank.
‘He saw me stealing the black perfume.’
But she could not just hand it over. As if she didn’t know what he was saying, she tilted her head and opened her mouth.
“What do you mean? As long as you’ve been banished, you can’t get anything from the Primula family! You were once a noble, so you know it well.”
Cesare stared intently at Damia, who was babbling as if she didn’t understand. And suddenly he started to laugh.
“Fufu, ahaha! Ha!!”
The sound of laughter, which was close to a giggle at first, gradually grew louder, and then it became a clownish madness. After leaving the family, he didn’t even feel the need to act like a normal person anymore.
Damia stepped back from him with a wary look. Then Cesare gave a bloody warning with a smile.
“No more nonsense. Don’t even think about running away.”
“… … .”
“If you lie one more time or step away from me, Dami. I’ll really stab this woman.”