Chapter 99
Becoming The Villain’s Family
Vincent laughed briefly âhohoâ.
He was over this because he knew he was the one who would be grabbing the back of his own neck and fell* if he reacted more than this. He opened his mouth with a gentle smile on his face.
âHaha, yes. Sirâs head is good enough to be used as a decoration.â
âIâm flattered.â
Donât get shy. Itâs not a compliment.
Aria sighed and wiped her face, flapping her lips. But in the end, she didnât say anything.
ââ¦â¦ If youâre happy, maybe thatâll be enough?â
If the level of common sense stopped at that level, would it not be that he just didnât want to know? Cloud would just be a happy knight if he had a master to serve while honing his swordsmanship.
Aria also smiled vaguely, but she still punished Vincent by stepping on his foot for his words.
Donât make fun of my knight.
âI just agreed with him because he said his head was a decorationâ¦â
Vincent let out a small groan and was surprised, then put down the documents and said.
âI had a quick look at what Sister-in-law asked for.â
âWhat do you think?â
âI remember all the records about Atlantis that I found in the Angelo Library last time.â
After showing off his memory, he shook his head.
âBut I donât remember reading anything about it. I canât find it anywhere else.â
âI seeâ¦â¦.â
Was it so?
Aria let out a sigh openly, showing her disappointment. She turned her attention back to the news that Cloud brought.
âWhich family is the Lord from exactly?â
âIt is Viscount OâNeill. He said he didnât know anything about the manâs whereabouts, but I donât know if he was pretendingâ¦.â
Cloud trembled with a sense of betrayal. Aria and Vincent stared at him with cold eyes.
âAnyway, Iâve heard that his family was sold to the Underhill Slave.â
âWhat? Already?â
Aria jumped up from her seat.
More because the Underhill Slave trader was a large-scale slave trader operating around the world based on the Kingdom of Bruto. It was quite a troublesome place to touch.
âWhen were they sold?â
âIt was a week ago. Usually, after educating slaves, they are auctioned off in the market, but recently they are all sent to the Kingdom of Bruto.â
âWhy?â
The Kingdom of Bruto was a country bordered by Garcia and the lowest place in between. In order to get there from the Fineta Empire by ship, it would take a long time.
Was there any reason to move slaves from other country to their home country?
âIt would be a waste of time and money and the procedure would be very complicated. If things go wrong, it can lead to problems between countries and cause casualties.â
It was not something they would do at the expense of such loss.
âI heard that the Kingdom of Bruto has been collecting slaves on a large scale recently, but I donât know the details.â
Cloud added, âI was told they would be sent there.â.
Large scale.
âTheyâre going to launch several shipsâ¦â
There would be many slaves.
Aria murmured, lost in her thoughts. She thought that hopefully she could take advantage of this situation.
âEven after hearing that, Sir could not have guessed that it was Viscount OâNeillâs⦠No, donât. Letâs just not talk about it.â
Vincent, who heard all the stories next to him, raised his glasses and said,
âSeeing that slave traders were involved, it seems that he owed a loan to some debt business and the Viscount. He doesnât seem to want to pay the Viscount for the money, as he seems to have worked hard to get the money from conch pearl.â
It was a casual tone.
Aria remembered Ted, who was desperate to protect his family.
Vincent muttered, âA week â¦â and then clicked his tongue and shook his head.
âJust give up. A long time has passed. The man named Ted must have already been killed by Viscount OâNeill.â
âNo. Donât give up.â
âYes? Why?â
âHeâs not dead yet.â
He was a lord of bad taste who did not laugh and did not ignore it even after hearing the absurd story of Atlantisâ treasure. He pretended to give Ted a chance to the end and played with him for fun.
It is very likely that it was still the case today.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
âIs OâNeillâs estate near here?â
âItâs hard to say if itâs close or far, but the shaman is still in the mansion, so we can go right away.â
âThen Iâll be out for a while.â
Aria said lightly as if she was going for a walk to the front and got up from her seat.
âNow, wait a minute. Sister-in-law!â
âGrand Princess, no!â
However, Vincent and Cloud simultaneously grabbed Ariaâs hem. And they forced her to stop as she was about to go straight ahead.
For some reason, at that time, the two of them agreed.
âWhatâs wrong with them?â
Aria said as she brushed off the hands of the two who were interfering with her.
âDonât stop me. Iâll be right back.â
She had the confidence to fix it in the blink of an eye.
Whether it was slave traders or the lord, infiltrating through the song, brainwashing them and extorting them would be the end of it.
But the two men who heard her say it calmly vehemently oppose it.
âAbsolutely not!â
âYes, never.â
And Aria was forcibly taken away.
To Lloyd.
âCome on, repeat after me.â
ââ¦â¦â
âI cherish my body.â
To Lloydâs harsh words, Aria responded with a sullen expression.
âI cherish my body⦠But isnât that what Lloyd is supposed to be saying?â
Then, at her retort, Vincent smirked and clicked his tongue.
âCan Brotherâs monstrous body be compared to Sister-in-lawâs glass body?â
âJust because your body is strong doesnât mean you can roll it around.â
âThen you shouldnât roll the glass body even more, because it will shatter.â
It wasnât that much. But for an instant, she was speechless. When Aria reveals that she is a Siren, she realized that there were three more people who nagged at her just like Carlin.
âNo, not just three people.â
Tristan and Sabina would never have let her go if they knew about it.
âI should just sneak up on it.â
Aria habitually thought so, but in the end she had no choice but to have a warm smile on her lips.
âYes, I will cherish it.â
Shouldnât she be taking care of it from now on?
âHow to live with Valentine.â
Aria was planning to unravel the identity of the curse that Valentine had been carrying. At the same time, she had to find a way to heal her broken body.
âFor that I have been desperately researching Atlantisâ¦â¦.â
If there were any Sirens other than Aria in Atlantis, she wondered if they would be able to heal her time-limited body.
âIâm not sure if the Sirenâs song works for the same Siren.â
Aria had never heard Sophia sing when she was a child. It was only after Sophia died that Aria realized she was a Siren because Sophia hid it so thoroughly from Aria.
So she didnât know exactly.
âMother diedâ¦â¦.â
She has no choice but to meet the same Siren and check it out. She could not go to Atlantis blindly without any information she needed. For that reason, Aria asked Vincent to find out whether her song works with Sirens.
âBut he said he couldnât find any related recordsâ¦â¦.â
Still, the situation was positive. Because the same magicians can communicate with each other, and the same priests with the same divine power can communicate with each other.
Wouldnât it be the same with Sirens? If there were Sirens other than Aria, and the Sirenâs song worked for Ariaâ¦â¦.
âThen I can be with you for the rest of my life.â
With Lloyd.
Until they die of old age.
Aria was thrilled by the fact and wanted to go to Atlantis as soon as possible.
âBut if you use too much force, it will be putting the cart before the horse.â
Lloyd was right. She had to cherish her body.
âThen can I go now?â
âI donât think you listened to me at all.â
âIâm in a hurry right now, soâ¦â
âWhatâs the use of putting people down there?â
Aria shook her head.
This must be done secretly. They shouldnât have anything to do with Valentine.
It would be a public debate, and things might get more complicated if she got someone to step out of the family on a grand scale. Since it was related to slave traders in other countries, there was a high possibility that it would become an international problem.
She didnât know whether the story about Atlantis would leak out. So she had to move in secret.
âOr, just say a word to me. Iâll take care of it.â
Lloyd said quietly.
As if to explain the obvious again. As if he would take care of everything, as soon as her orders were given, just as he did with Count Chateau
Aria looked up at him like that, and said,
âCome with me.â
ââ¦â¦â
Lloyd was still displeased, but he sighed and nodded his head.
âYouâre right. If the Black Falcons in the mansion would be willing to sacrifice their life by Sister-in-lawâs order, why bother doing it alone?â
Because she had a habit of doing it alone? In the beginning, it was hard to change a personâs habit.
Aria scratched her cheek with a puzzled expression and said,
âNotifying the Black Falcons could lead to family problems. I want to move a little secretly.â
âYou and Sister-in-law, you two?â
Vincent had the same unfavorable expression Lloyd had made earlier.
âIâll also ask Sir Cloud if this were to happen. If itâs Sirâ¦â
He would automatically keep it a secretâ¦â¦. Aria swallowed the rest of the words and smiled, folding her eyes softly. Instead, she cited a second reason.
âBesides, he can defeat a hundred people himself.â
âIâm nervous about that decorative headâ¦â
Vincent muttered, genuinely worried about the head, âI will go too.â
âYes?â
Surprised, Cloud replied like a sword.
âYou will only be a burden.â
âWhat? Bu, burden?â
The blue eyes beyond the glasses grew as if they were about to pop out.
Hearing a burden from a burden.
He was so traumatized that he was unable to speak for a while.
*) have you ever seen dramas where one of the characters suddenly grabs the back of their neck and groans in pain and then falls down? If so, then yes, this was what Vincent was talking about!