Chapter 15: Chapter 15

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Chapter 15

Zagnac flashed his purple eyes and turned his upper body to gaze at Azela. He had the same smile as last night… That was the devil’s smile that made fun of her who wanted to die.

“The Count has said that… What do you think, Countess Todd?”

Azela lifted her bowed head and glanced back at Zagnac. It was difficult to figure out what the hell he was up to. Why did he want to do business with her…? It was hard to calculate what the benefit would be to him.

“Humans always weighed the pros and cons. It’s just kind of ‘fun’.”

As she weighed the pros and cons in her head, she suddenly remembered what he had said last night.

“Azela?”

Daniel called Azela, who hadn’t answered in a nervous voice.

Awakened by the voice, she looked up at Daniel. He was wrinkling his face as he looked at her. It was a signal to hurry up and answer.

“…Yes.”

As Azela nodded her head, Zagnac’s frowns drew curves like a half-moon.

“Then, shall we start a business together now?”

Zagnac hummed excitedly.

“What good will it do to him?”

The business plan was simple. He wanted to open the second branch of the boutique shop he was currently running in the Capital to the outskirts. It wasn’t a bad story because it was already famous enough that many ladies waited in line.

However, as it is located on the outskirts, he wanted it to be bigger, more splendid, and grander than the main store in the Capital. Zagnac wanted Azela to take care of it all. Everything from choosing the site to decorating the interior and exterior of the building and choosing the staff to manage it.

During that, Daniel, who was listening to all these stories, argued, ‘What does this have to do with Azela’s past fame?’

“Hoo…”

Exhausted, Azela laid herself down on the bed. She had neither the strength to remove her glamorous makeup nor take her dress off.

Her day today was too tough. As she barely got up from the bed and unzipped the back of her dress, her tight chest felt a little more comfortable. Come to think of it, it was the first time since her marriage that such an important task had been given to her.

She was exhausted.

“Are you still weighing the pros and cons?”

Startled by the familiar voice, Azela pulled the blanket and turned her head. He was sitting on the window sill like yesterday.

“Du, Duke Ferial…”

“No, you are wrong.”

At her call, he raised his index finger and firmly waved it left and right.

“Now it’s Zagnac.”

“Za, Zagnac.”

“Yes.”

When she called him Zagnac’s, he responded in a soft voice as if praising her, curving his eyes pretty in a half-moon shape.

The sky that stretched out behind him was still pitch black today. Suddenly, as she looked at the moon and stars, she had a strange thought. When he appeared, the moon and stars in the sky seemed to disappear.

“…Why are you here?”

Azela shook her head to clear the strange nonsense and asked him. Her shoulders stiffened, and strength entered both of her thighs. Maybe, again…?

“Ah, it seems like you are worried about what happened today.”

Zagnac, who looked at her nervous look with a funny expression, jumped over the window sill and gently entered Azela’s bedroom. He sat in a chair nearby and stared at her with a curious expression.

“But, well, that’s what you’ll be doing.”

“…What?”

“You don’t have to think so deeply about business. It doesn’t matter if it’s ruined, anyway.”

“Didn’t you say it was an important business?”

“Of course, it’s important to the human ‘Duke Ferial,’ though I’m the devil. My world doesn’t end just because some of those businesses go down.”

He uttered playfully, flicking his fingers.

Those words reminded her again that Zagnac was the devil, and Azela asked, swallowing the bitter saliva.

“Then, why did you choose me? It was enough with Daniel.”

“Isn’t that obvious? I thought you would know right away if you were smart.”

“….”

When she didn’t answer, Zagnac deliberately exaggerated his look of astonishment and answered.

“You said you wanted revenge, although… It’s like you don’t know what to do.”

“….”

“Because this will be the first opportunity to find your lost position, and press down on Count Todd’s nose. Of course, it would be better for me to meet you like this, too, and it would also be better for you to have regrets in life.”

“…What?”

“You didn’t think I was going to put my hands down and just vaguely wait, did you? I know how to put in that much effort when it comes to my delicious food.”

“What does that mean?”

“Literally.”

Zagnac, who spoke briefly, got up and spun around in place before speaking in an excited voice.

“Apart from your revenge, I intend to make you feel sorry for your life in the future, in many ways. This business is one of them.”

He then leaned closer to Azela, who was still nervous.

She flinched, pulling the blanket that had been covering her body up to her chin. Despite that, Zagnac didn’t seem to care at all.

“People say that sometimes the motivation to live comes from the sense of accomplishment that they get when they do something.”

“So, that’s why you asked me to do business with you?”

“Yes, that’s it.”

A dress with a zipper in the back was running down her shoulders under the blanket. As if she was naked in front of him, Azela felt strange about that. Obviously, even though she showed him her naked body yesterday, that didn’t mean she didn’t feel ashamed of it.

“Besides, you are my contractor. Most of all, you can trust the ‘Duke Ferial’ side.”

She frowned at Zagnac’s confident voice.

“…All of that was when I was successful in business. But, I don’t have eyes to see now, so I can’t.”

Azela said in a hoarse voice.

After her marriage, she did nothing and lived as Countess Todd, much different from before. She often experienced failure rather than success, and she often chose a safe path rather than a challenge. It was all because of Daniel who had been by her side and said, ‘You can’t do it, you’ll fail’ over the years.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind if you stir it to your heart’s content. Just avoid choosing a site in the middle of the forest. Going up and down the forest is really tiring.”

Despite her serious tone of voice, Zagnac smirked and jokingly spoke like a child.

In front of him, all the problems would turn into little children’s pranks. At this, Azela loosened her stiff expression. Zagnac, who grabbed his chin with one hand, nodded, and then he resumed his words.

“I don’t know anything else, though I will admit that you don’t have eyes to see. Your husband is the worst.”

“…He wasn’t like that from the beginning.”

“Are you still defending him even though you were determined to get revenge? Humans are really weird. I never get tired of watching it over and over again.”

“….”

At his words, Azela bit her lips tightly. He was right. Even though things had gone this far, she was subconsciously defending him, even if she didn’t need to do that anymore.

Realizing that, she clenched her fists tightly.

She had come to realize that in the end, as long as she was not conscious of it and didn’t change, she would always standstill.

“It is said that humans sometimes judge whether good or evil comes first, right?”

“Yes…?”

Glancing at her gloomy expression, Zagnac continued his words with an indifferent expression.

“Actually, it doesn’t matter either way. I told you yesterday. We are not divided—good and evil. We are just grouped together in one word like ‘good and evil.’ It is not divided.”

“….”

Azela frowned at the difficult words she couldn’t understand. It made sense to him that she was not able to grasp the explanation. He was really far from the explanation.

“So is your husband. Despite that his hidden nature was only revealed now, he has always been that kind of person.”

“….!”

“It’s just that such circumstances and conditions have not been met so far. Even before that, if the current circumstances and conditions had been met, he would have acted as he is now.”

Azela gazed at Zagnac with trembling eyes, then slowly nodded her head.

…So he was saying it was not her fault after all. The bad thing was not because of her, it was Daniel.

“From now on, as ‘Duke Ferial,’ there will be more things I would entrust to you.”

“I’m excited.”

Adding his final words, he waved his legs.

It must be to make her feel sorry for the life he mentioned earlier, right? Azela quietly nodded her head.

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