This Three-Year-Old Is A Villainess - Chapter 204
Noarizen felt a chill run down his spine.
“Count Talos?”
Frightened, Noarizen turned his small, lit lighter around, trying to shine it in all directions.
“Don’t you try to trick me. I’ll get mad.”
But no matter how much he spoke, there was no more sound.
Terrified, Noarizen shouted.
“Darling!”
As soon as he called out, a face appeared directly in front of him…
“Agh—!!”
Noarizen dropped the bag he was holding and collapsed to the ground.
Because this face was…!
“F-Father-in-law…”
It was Duke Astra!
At that moment, the lights suddenly turned on.
Noarizen squinted his eyes as hard as he could against the sudden, bright light.
When his eyes adjusted to the light, he cautiously opened them and saw where he was.
There were shelves, but it was a vast place.
‘Th-This place…!’
It was the central courtyard of the Daymond Jurisdiction.
The courtyard was filled with people.
Seeing them, Noarizen’s face turned pale, and his mouth just opened and closed soundlessly.
It was no wonder he was so shocked, because those gathered were all notable figures.
Duke Astra.
Daymond Astra.
Balzac Astra.
Joshua Astra.
And… even Blitzen.
The person peeking out from behind Blitzen was Erylotte.
Erylotte popped up out of nowhere, scrunching her face in a frown and said,
“Darling?”
* * *
I let out a disbelieving laugh.
‘So, those two were in that kind of relationship?’
I had always wondered why he was mingling with someone like Count Talos.
‘It never made sense, no matter how much I thought about it.’
There was no reason for Noarizen to be working with Count Talos.
There were plenty of more powerful families, so why would he choose Talos, who had nothing going for him except a mansion in the capital?
His estate was in the countryside, and the land wasn’t even suitable for farming.
He had no money, but he was greedy, so he oppressed his tenants, leading to countless uprisings every year.
It was a poor family that could barely maintain their mansion in the capital.
‘The mystery started with why Noarizen was interacting with someone like Talos.’
Now I see.
The two were in love, so they were committing bad deeds together!
Noarizen dropped to his knees with a thud on the courtyard floor.
Then, he crawled over to his grandfather.
“F-Father. Father!”
Grandfather’s eyes were colder than ever.
His sharp gaze was so intense it seemed as if a blessing would burst out at any moment.
With a ghostly pale face, Noarizen clasped his hands together and began to plead.
“I-It’s a misunderstanding. There’s been a misunderstanding!”
‘Idiot.’
There was no room for excuses the moment he secretly used a Teleportation blessing stone to enter the Daymond Territory.
On top of that, he was caught red-handed stealing white crystals…
Grandfather spoke in a calm, steady voice.
“You teleported to where the white crystals are stored and put the white crystals into a bag. Up to this point, is there anything I’ve misunderstood?”
With a face as pale as a corpse, Noarizen stammered.
“T-That is…”
He had nothing to say.
Grandfather had laid out the facts, plain and simple.
Now, the issue was how to interpret those facts.
‘So, he’ll try to twist the truth cleverly, won’t he?’
“This is how it happened. I-I needed money to support Blitzen—”
That wretched man.
‘He’s using Blitzen as an excuse after exploiting him so much?’
I interrupted Noarizen before he could finish.
“Darling.”
Thud!
At my words, Noarizen looked like he’d been struck by a boulder.
Gulp.
The only sound that echoed through the courtyard was the sound of Noarizen nervously swallowing.
As a heavy silence lingered, Noarizen spoke up again.
“So, it’s a misunderstanding. Count Talos, he…!”
“Darling.”
Noarizen’s face turned pale.
His shoulders shook violently.
His hands trembled, and he quickly waved them in denial.
“No, no…!”
“Darling.”
I smiled inwardly.
‘He can’t even think of an excuse, worried that his relationship with Count Talos might be exposed?’
Repeating those explosive words several times left Noarizen on the verge of collapse.
I walked out from behind Blitzen, gracefully stepping toward Noarizen.
Then, I opened my eyes wide, putting on an innocent expression, and asked,
“‘Darling’ is a term you use with a lover, right? So why are you calling Count Talos ‘darling’?”
“No, no! It’s just a term between friends…!”
“Then why did you come to steal the white crystals and call out to a friend?”
He focused on the term ‘darling’ and missed the more important point, didn’t he?
Stealing is a grave offense, but it’s not a crime worth dying for.
If he had argued, ‘I did dirty deeds for the sake of my son,’ there might have been those who sympathized.
‘But now Count Talos is completely tied up in this.’
That meant betraying his family.
‘He should’ve completely denied his relationship with Count Talos, this fool.’
However, I provoked him by repeating the word “darling,” and eventually, I managed to get him to admit they were “just” friends, yet were about to do some stealing.
