The Villain is Being Suspiciously Kind

Just as Citrina’s unsettling prediction suggested, Duke Pietro was just around the corner.
A short message saying that the duke would return arrived at the ducal estate. It was Desian, his son, who read the message first. Since Desian was using mind control magic on the duke’s attendants, he knew the duke was slowly traveling from the northern harbor.
Duke Pietro’s party was in the northern Leticia Harbor. They were making their way home by land.
After searching the inside of the crashed ship, surrounded by the bodies of the the duke’s half washed away soldiers, they were able to recover enough merchandise to make up for their losses.
Duke Pietro kept this a secret. It was an act close to embezzlement. This ignored the nobles who had invested money in the duke’s ship.
In other words, Duke Pietro was committing corruption. And while he had committed a lot of corruption so far, he had never been caught.
As he was trying to leave, he could hear some voices of those trying to catch his attention.
“Duke Pietro!”
“Your Excellency!”
The voices were chanting his name.
“I heard that he’s such a nice person…….”
“Shouldn’t we be able to mitigate our loss to a certain degree?”
The lower aristocrats didn’t know the two-facedness that Duke Pietro hid. They were here to see off the duke’s return procession.
Duke Pietro smiled tenderly as he heard them buzzing. He humored them by waving.
“Duke Pietro!”
“Then I’ll be leaving now.”
Duke Pietro climbed aboard the duke’s carriage. Someone called to him from behind.
“Your Excellency the Duke, there are some aristocrats who suffered losses that wish to meet with you…….”
It was Count Molindi, the lord of the Northern Territory that included Leticia Harbor. He tried to carefully suggest that the duke meet with the nobles.
“Me? Can’t you manage it? You take care of it.”
The duke, looking back, smiled generously.
“What, what??”
Count Molindi paused and looked at him with a bewildered face. The duke, who was watching the count carefully, tapped him on the shoulder and smiled.
“I’m busy with work. Bye.”
“Ah, I see. Your Excellency…….”
Count Molindi lowered his head and wiped the sweat off his forehead.
“Well then, I’ll go.”
“We will follow you, Your Excellency.”
Several black robed wizards and numerous soldiers followed the duke. The duke climbed into a carriage with the splendid family crest.
Teleportation wizards could move in an instant, but it wasn’t perfect. Without a grand mage, the threat to life was great.
Duke Pietro quickly settled into the duke’s comfortable carriage. As the carriage set off slowly, he grumbled to himself.
“Hm, these little things… they bother me.”
Duke Pietro smiled meanly as he revealed his innermost thoughts.
“We took all of the precious metals from the boat. It’s going to make a fairly splendid return. By the way, you still haven’t heard from Toloji or the butler yet?”
“Yes, that’s correct, Your Excellency.”
“Well, Toloji said this time he would be able to tame Desian.”
The duke narrowed his eyes. The wizard who was sitting on the other side of the duke, whispered.
“Don’t be so anxious, sir. It was probably nothing.”
“Anxious? Me? Ha, ha, ha. Well, I guess I am.”

Duke Pietro loosened the buttons around his shirt collar. He was out of breath.
As a matter of fact, he had nothing to fear. Around him were several wizards and countless soldiers to guard him.
Duke Pietro didn’t have any enemies high enough to threaten his safety or his life. Therefore, he never had anything to worry about.
That was until now.
The duke’s carriage drove for days and days and finally arrived at the duke’s main mansion.
The duke got out of the carriage and looked at the mansion he had built with a straight posture.
“Your duke has returned.”
He was the head of the family and the duke of this great empire. Everyone was waiting for the duke with their heads down.
“It is my palace that can never be destroyed by a curse.”
His eyes slightly narrowed as he looked at the employees lined up. Something felt strange. Toloji and the butler were not there. He hadn’t been able to contact either of them.…

“Where’s the butler?”
“He’s been at the annex the whole time.”
The servant answered faithfully, but his eyes were strangely empty. Unaware of that fact, the duke laughed. It seemed that the butler’s location was known.
“Then let’s go to the annex.”
The duke grinned. He was in a position where all of the employees were watching, so the duke wore a friendly mask once more.
The duke hummed pleasantly, feeling the whip in his hands. Sooner or later, the duke decided to get rid of the impurities that ruined his life.
‘Toloji must have completely educated him. Next is Aaron, I’ll have to deal with him. I’ll need to deal with the cursed ones, one after another.
I can’t allow myself to be touched. And there’s a witness, I’ll need to dispose of Baron Foluin’s daughter.’
Unfortunately, the duke had put too much faith into the dark wizard Toloji’s magic. And that would be his Achilles’s heel that caused his defeat.
The duke walked on with his soldiers and wizards. He crossed the bridge that led to the ducal annex where the young lords lived.
However, as soon as he crossed the bridge, the duke felt mildly unpleasant. It seemed that the black robed wizard next to him also felt it.
“Sir, be careful. I feel something ominous in the air.”
“It’s my mansion, so how could it be sinister?”
The duke’s eyes glistened while looking at the mansion. The robed wizard wiped sweat from his brow.
“No, the flow of mana is strange. It’s like…like someone has isolated this space…….”
The flow of mana was somewhat odd to the wizard. Despite the wizard’s warning, Duke Pietro walked forward.
A subtle shadow fell in front of the duke who had almost crossed the arched bridge. Even though it was summer, a humid wind began to blow hard
“D, duke..”
The wizard stopped his steps urgently.
It was at that very moment.
“What is it?”
“Young lord Desian……..”

Before the wizard could finish speaking, a black figure appeared in front of them. It was Desian Pietro, his son.
He had a clean but cheerless face with a few wounds on his arms. Except for his expression, which was distinctly different from before.
“What, what the? How did you get out?”
The duke hurriedly took out the whip he had placed at his side. His hand soon gripped the handle of the whip.
“Tell me how you got out!”

Without responding to the duke, Desian whispered some short poetic words. It was so quiet that only the duke heard it, but everyone else was suddenly pushed to the edge of the bridge at a frightening speed.
The already dead Toloji had taught Desian everything, and the student had surpassed his teacher.
The soldiers and wizards that guarded the duke scattered helplessly.
“W, w, what is this?!”
The duke looked at the figures of of wizards and soldiers being pushed around. He began to scream.
“Toloji! Where is Toloji?! Tell me where he is!”
“He can’t hear you anymore.”
Desian said in a bored tone. He hated loud noises that caused a ringing in his ears occasionally.
He wet his dry lips with his tongue.
Now Desian was holding the duke’s life in his hands and the oblivious duke was venting his anger.
“Where is the butler! Did you kill him? Did you kill him with your curse?”
Desian was left alone with the duke in the space on the bridge where all of the noise was strangely blocked. He replied to the duke after his shouting had finished.
“That’s right. He’s dead.”
It was a cold answer.
Desian and Duke Pietro’s gaze met in the air.
“…What, what was that?”
“He’s dead. I, no, the curse you gave birth to killed him.”
The duke’s face paled. At that moment, the tools to protect him had disappeared.
“You, you are the beast I tamed! You are a dog! How dare you bite me?”
“Is that so?”
Desian looked at him with an emotionless face.
“Am I the dog that killed its owner?”
Desian smiled faintly after he finished speaking. The duke was looking at Desian with his eyes bulging open.
“K, kill me? Me?”
It was at that moment. The duke’s fingers began to twist strangely.
“Aack! Aaack! Th, this, -choke-!”
The duke felt pain tearing down from his shoulder.
-thud-
The whip fell from his grasp. The whip that cause Desian agony fell to the floor pathetically.
Desian took the whip with a dry stare.
“What should I do?”
Desian who had struggled in torment and rolled on the ground like a bug, bent over and held the whip above the duke.
“What does this feel like?”
The duke was shaking with his eyes down. Desian sluggishly whipped the duke without much effort.
Oh my god!
After being whipped, the duke curled over and rolled around the bridge. His cowering really looked like a bug.
Desian was standing in front of the man who up until now had constantly gnawed at his self-conscious. However, he felt no sense of revenge.
It was just boring.
“It’s not fun.”
“You, you punk! I’m going to burn the annex to the ground! Ack!”

The last outburst of screams rang out. Desian frowned before he was finished.
Burning down the annex. It wasn’t an offensive word in itself. It wouldn’t matter if he burned it or not, but she was in the annex.
Desian briefly confirmed the presence of those in the annex. Citrina was staying there. The sound was shut off from here, but she still might find out.
Citrina was a special person.
Desian thought about the conversation they had in the garden.

‘She doesn’t like when people are killed.’
But if the duke was kept alive, Citrina and Desian’s world would end.
‘What do I do?’
He was deeply interested in Citrina. His desire and unknown feelings for her kept growing and unraveling step by step.
He was conflicted over two choices.
‘Shall we kill the vermin or cover this up?’

Desian looked at the duke with dry eyes as he suffered from the light whipping.
The duke’s body was already to damaged for mind control magic. Using mind control magic on a weakened body leads to death.
Ending their world killing the vermin who could harm Citrina was right.
Desian swept his lips slowly with his tongue.
He made a clear decision.
“Of course.”

Desian touched the duke’s body. It was nothing like the day he had the pure first contact with her. The unpleasant contact lasted for a few moments.
Desian’s hand slowly began to drain away his life.
“Choke! Gasp, gasp…….”
The duke was tormented the frantic pain of his breath slowly tightening. Desian watched him die slowly.
‘I clearly don’t feel anything.’
He could not feel any emotions towards the duke.
Desian looked at the duke as is he was looking at a worm.
The duke wriggled one last time and drooped. There was no sign of life.
Desian thought, rubbing his ringing ears.
‘The duke is dead. Our world is perfect with this. And for the first time, I protected a person. Citrina.’
He had his first ‘favorite’ person and protected her world- Citrina.
His heart beat fast.
Desian looked at the breathless duke with a joyous face. He didn’t have an ounce of sympathy for the duke.
‘Well… now what should I do?’

Citrina didn’t like killing people.
…he didn’t want to be hated by her.
Desian pondered for a moment. Before long, a sunny smile bloomed on Desian’s languid face. A good idea came to mind.