Chapter 85

– Angel.

“Stop.”

Yes.

Aria stopped sending her tenth message for the overburdened Lloyd.

He feels comfortable when she calls him a devil, but why does he hate it when she calls him an angel?

– Lloyd said he would be an angel in the first place.

“You are the angel…”

Am I an angel?

“No, nothing.”

Lloyd didn’t want to say something, but hung up in the middle. There are two ways to annoy people, the first is to stop talking…….

“Originally, the ceremonial robes are unified in white. I’m going to the banquet right away, so my clothes look like this.”

In fact, Aria knew it too. It was just because it was fun to see him embarrassed after a long time.

‘There was only one thing the Emperor was good at. To call in Lloyd and see him in a white robe at an imperial event.’

And that was it

It would have been better if the Emperor evaporated and disappeared like this.

Aria thought she would never see it again, so she imprinted the white Lloyd intently into her eyes.

“Gra, Gra, Grand Prince and Grand Princess Valentine enter!”

The servant stuttered heavily.

Even the trumpeter did not blow the trumpet vigorously, but took a vain breath, and the sound broke off. As the two of them entered the banquet hall, the numerous nobles who had gathered there miraculously split in two.

As Lloyd moved without hesitation, the cluttered interior of the social season was swept away.

‘Wow…….’

Looking back, it was like this.

Aria suddenly recalled her past life, and she nodded.

At banquets, salons, and other gatherings, whenever Lloyd appeared, people’s reactions were the same.

They tried not to say a word or even make eye contact in front of him, no matter what they cursed and talked about from behind.

– What were you worried about?

Aria asked not through the mana stone, but through the wedding ring artifact where she could talk to Lloyd alone.

– If this is enough, we don’t even need to go to the Angelo family, right?

– There’s nothing wrong with having something ready.

It’s not like he wouldn’t leave her for a moment. Lloyd replied that way.

Everyone seemed to have no intention of insulting Aria.

Rather, they turned their head unnaturally, fearing that she and them would accidentally make eye contact.

‘When they sent me the invitation, of course, I thought they would flock like dogs.’

She wanted to see them separately and take a closer look, but would it be a different story if she had Grand Prince Valentine next to her?

She also thought it was better not to deal with them back then.

‘I found out that the Valentine’s vassals who stuck on their origins were very brave.’

After all, they have to have that courage to become a vassal of Valentine. Because they can’t have a subject who can’t even make eye contact and tremble at their masters.

And from the opposite end, people who wouldn’t want to even set foot in the devil’s castle.

‘So, the people I met at the castle are the ones who have been filtered out at least once.’

At least those who have the guts to talk to the Valentine’s bloodline. So, were most of them from the Grand Duchy?

Aria nodded her head in acceptance inside.

‘But I can understand that.’

They can’t even bring an escort into the venue.

Of course, they’ll also want to avoid Valentine’s blood relatives that have disaster-level powers. In the eyes of the nobles, it would just look like a living, moving human weapon.

‘It’s like jumping in front of a bomb with bare body to argue with Lloyd.’

A sane person wouldn’t even do anything to stand out, and as expected, they were all sticking to the wall.

‘Actually, if he put his mind to it, he can kill all the nobles here.’

Even so, they would have known no matter how Valentine was, they wouldn’t commit such a crazy thing.

But in the first place, fear was a law that eroded reason and made it useless.

‘But still…….’

Even at this moment when everyone was terrified and avoided, Lloyd became the main pillar of the group. Because there was not a single nobleman who did not cast their gaze on him in this banquet hall now.

Whenever this happened, she thought that fear and envy were surprisingly connected emotions.

“Well. This is pleasant.”

Luther Angelo, the second son of the Angelo family, who followed to protect Aria, also looked very awkward. It seems that he has made his own resolve.

“It is the first time in my life that I have been able to go to a banquet hall like this.”

He was also a target of fear and seemed to be awkward.

It must be the first time that he has been treated like this since he was born as the son of a Duke. If it had been the way it was, the nobles would have been clinging to him.

– Well, then, how about enjoying it since it’s like this? The center of the hall is empty, so dancing with your partner will get you a lot of attention.

Aria tried to have a conversation with her legal brother for the first time. Then Luther was silent and answered in a very bitter voice.

“I wish you had asked if I had a partner first…”

Ah, ah…….

Aria couldn’t keep up with her words.

A heavy silence came, which was worse than before he tried to talk to him.

She picked up a glass of champagne on the table and handed it to Luther as a consolation.

“……thank you.”

Luther took the cup and drank it at once. The drink was bittler.

Lloyd looked at the legal siblings with a puzzled look.

“What if the two of you danced together?”

Then, Luther proposed.

Aria said she blinked, as if she had never thought of dancing.

– I can’t dance.

It was true. She never learned it.

She attended so many banquets, salons and gatherings, but she had never socialized.

Because she was an entertainer of Cortez.

Who would want to see an entertainer in a dress and dancing gracefully?

“You don’t know how to dance?”

Then Lloyd asked. It was as if he had never thought of it that far.

“The etiquette is natural, so of course I learned it…”

Without speaking, he frowned slightly. It was his mistake that he misunderstood and did not ask separately.

“I’ll teach you.”

Lloyd held out his hand.

As if for her to hold it.

“Finally, I have something to teach you other than swordsmanship.”

Was he happy inside?

Lloyd, who rarely expresses a particularly pleasant emotion, painted a faint smile on his lips.

“Because I’m good at everything I do with my body.”

A brilliant chandelier shone brilliantly above his head.

Then, one summer day, on a boat, as the sun scorched, she remembered the promise she had made with the boy.

‘Teach me what Lloyd is good at…….’

Perhaps he still remembered the words that seemed to have passed at that time.

‘He remembered that too.’

Aria couldn’t take her eyes off that look. She was captured helplessly.

It was when she tried to place her own hands over Lloyd’s, as if possessed,

“The Emperor enters!”

The servant ignorantly announced.

Aria frowned.

‘Why, now…….’

Even the nobles, who did not think of falling from the wall, bowed their heads, forgetting their fear for this moment.

And…….

Aria kept her head stiff and she smiled as she saw Lloyd, who seemed uninterested in whoever came in. His interest was fixed on Aria from beginning to end.

It was a complete disregard of the person.

‘You don’t even turn your head.’

The Emperor who entered the banquet hall must be looking at Lloyd’s wide back. It’s so conspicuous, so there’s no way he can’t find it.

Because they even stood in the center of the hall.

‘What’s this?’

Aria laughed bashfully. Lloyd’s tall stature and broad shoulders covered her, so she couldn’t see the Emperor entering.

‘He thought I might be a little scared if I actually saw the Emperor.’

The Emperor was her worst tormentor.

Aria only lived to the age of twenty, perhaps because of the result of the Emperor’s abuse. Even though she was seemingly okay, she was worried inside that she might be left with the trauma of the abuse she had received then.

‘But it really doesn’t matter.’

Far from trembling or shrinking at fear. Lloyd covered everything.

Maybe not right now, but someday she’ll have to pay for her sins. That was the first thought she had.

– Teach me.

But not now.

As Aria said so, she pointed behind his back. Lloyd didn’t like it very much, but he was forced to turn his back.

And he stared at the Emperor with a stern attitude.

“I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve seen Valentine in an official like this. Is this the first time since I ascended the throne?”

Then, suddenly, their eyes met.

The Emperor’s eyes widened as he looked at Aria, then dulled out.

‘The expression he makes when he has a plan.’