“Haaah…haaah…” I panted. “You really made me break a sweat this time. I never thought you of all people would get the jump on me.”
Finally freed from my double-noogie maneuver, Ciel clutched both sides of her head, glaring at me even with tears in her eyes. “I didn’t think it would go this way either!”
She hadn’t thought it would go this way? Did she think I’d planned never to marry my fiancée? Well, unfortunately for her, she was wrong about that. “Hmph! I was always going to wed Rosetta. How else would I obtain her peerage? Even if Master hadn’t said anything, I would’ve married her in the next decade…no, century or so.”
Now that I’d finished my noble training, I was really considered a responsible adult. At this point, I was an adult in society’s eyes—regardless of my actual age—so everyone around me constantly pestered me to marry Rosetta and have kids. It was ridiculous that they were still so concerned about things like bloodlines now that people were living out in space, but that was how this society was.
I was one of the winners in this world, and I intended to enjoy my position to the fullest. Ever since this second life of mine began, I’d planned to live for myself and no one else. Marrying Rosetta would be an important part of gaining the freedom to do that. Her title would make my position within the Empire about as close to the top as possible—both in theory and in practice.
Honestly, I myself wanted to get this wedding over with. The problem was that Rosetta’s behavior was completely different from what I’d expected when I got engaged to her in order to steal her peerage.
I was supposed to be forcing her into this marriage because it benefited me politically, so she wouldn’t just be within her rights to bear me a grudge—I’d say that was the only reaction that would make sense. Yet, for some reason, Rosetta called me “Darling” and fawned over me. I’d wanted to strong-arm her into this arrangement, and she’d thrown off all my plans by bending to me all too easily.
Ciel gave me a defiant look, tears still in her eyes. “I won’t let things go your way.”
See? That’s how it’s supposed to be!
Rosetta had caved way too easily, but Ciel was still resisting me. I decided to let her off the hook out of respect for her indomitable spirit. I couldn’t forgive her for using my master as she had; still, she was the daughter of a fellow lord with whom I wanted to maintain good relations. On top of that, she was my friend Kurt’s sister. I couldn’t punish her lightly. If anything, I actually wanted to encourage more defiance from her. Besides, it wasn’t as if she’d done something terrible that I could never recover from or anything. I valued Ciel so much precisely because she was only capable of trivial mischief like this.
“You think you can stop me?” I needled her.
“I’ll bring everyone to their senses and show them that you’re a villain!”
“I’m looking forward to it. I hope you get through to them.”
“D-don’t mock me! I’m going to expose you for what you really are!”
Yes! This is how a conversation between a villain and someone righteous should look!
That said, most people hearing our conversation would have sided with me. After all, Ciel knew the truth, but the people around us trusted me more. Thus, Ciel couldn’t take me down. What had happened this time was a fluke owing to Master Yasushi getting involved.
“Go ahead and keep up your futile resistance. You’ll never—hmm?” My gaze shifted from Ciel to the window, through which I saw distant black smoke. I’d felt a bit of a rumble too; maybe there’d been an explosion or something. “An accident? No, I don’t think so…”
“Huh? Wh-what?” Ciel didn’t even seem to realize that something had happened. This dimwittedness of hers was proof enough that she’d never really threaten me.
I turned my eyes to the floor to summon the hidden operative guarding me. “What happened out there?”
When she saw me ask the floor a question, Ciel first gave me a mocking look. Who are you talking to? her eyes seemed to say. But a black shadow soon appeared beneath me, and someone rose from it.
“Eep!” Ciel let out a cute yelp of surprise, but I ignored her for now.
The masked woman in black who’d emerged from the floor was one of Kukuri’s subordinates—an operative I’d named “Kunai.”
Kunai knelt before me, head bowed. “Thieves have infiltrated the premises, but our organization is taking care of the matter.”
“We were infiltrated…?” I asked, irritated. The members of Kukuri’s organization were skilled, but few in number. I relied on their talents for many purposes, but that didn’t mean I could let them get away with failure. “What’s Kukuri doing?”
“The boss has taken command at the scene.”
“Call him here when he’s done. Letting thieves into my mansion…” I grumbled to myself.
I must’ve let some bloodlust show, because Ciel started shaking like a leaf. Whoops, I thought, reining it in. I was a little worried that, if I scared her too much, she’d stop resisting me.
Ciel put on a brave face, though. “I-if thieves got in, we should evacuate, shouldn’t we?! O-oh, wait—if it’s safest here, maybe we don’t have to.”
Not only did I have my operatives in hiding, but guards were posted outside my office as well, so of course it was safe here. Amused, I watched Ciel put it together. What a little moron. So cute!
Looking back at Kukuri’s operative, I asked, “You’re taking care of all the thieves, right, Kunai?”
She hesitated a moment before responding, instead of replying instantly as usual. That gave me the feeling that there was bad news to report, which just irritated me more.
“I apologize, Master Liam. The thieves got away. At the moment, we’re working with the army to cut off their assumed escape route.”
“Those guys must have been skilled, then.” I was on my guard now, thinking that the thieves must’ve been bad news if they outwitted Kukuri’s men.
Kunai’s response, however, took me by surprise. “W-we haven’t even been able to confirm that, actually.”
“You haven’t confirmed it? Hey, what were they even here for? Did they go for Amagi or Ros—someone?” I’d been worried about Amagi and Rosetta for a moment, but I swallowed the question. “Or were they after valuables?”
“Fortunately, no one was harmed. What they stole was your genetic material, Master Liam.”
“Huh…?” I was relieved to hear that everyone was safe, but momentarily stunned when I heard what they’d taken.
Thieves skilled enough to outmaneuver Kukuri and his men had passed up the chance to come for my head—or my riches—and stolen my genetic material instead? Were they making some statement?
Ciel covered her face with both hands, but her ears were red. “Y-your genetic material? I wonder what they want with that…”
“I’d like to know that myself.”