The Villain is Being Suspiciously Kind

Citrina was a bit more flustered. She knew he would appear sometime, but she didn’t imagine they would come face to face today.

“That man, he was Feinmann?”
Feinmann was a bug-like person who lived off of Adilac Antigone, but he never hit her.  That’s because Adilac was part of the gentry.

-Why? Do you know that person, Citrina?
– He’s a person you shouldn’t know.

He was a person she knew but wished she didn’t.
“The restraints have been released.”
“The restraints…”

Citrina slowly handed over the topaz to Feinmann. Feinmann robbed Citrina of the jewel.

“See you soon, miss.”
“…if there’s some reason to see each other.”

She tried to avoid death flags as much as possible.
But it was different from in <Elaina’s Flower Garden>. Feinmann’s student wasn’t someone Citrina could easily reach.
Besides, as always, she had another method. Citrina held out her hand to the boy with a conciliatory smile.
After 12 minutes, they returned to Citrina’s atelier.
Citrina faced the boy in ‘Citrina Oslo Atelier’. She had needed to hire an attendant, so she could bring him on board for a reasonable paycheck.
Besides, Adilac’s expression brightened when she saw him enter earlier.

-Citrina, do you want me to tell you something interesting?
-What is it?
– That guy you picked up is not human.
-If he’s not human, what is he?
-He’s a beast person, a fox beast. Isn’t it fun?
[T.L. Note: Gemma is literally calling him a su-in, which is similar to a demon in Japanese folklore. Or it could be translated to fox person.]
“What?”

Citrina’s eyes grew big. In the original work, there wasn’t a lot of description about beast people.
So she didn’t even know how to treat the boy as an employee. She couldn’t find the connection between the jewelry business and fox people.
But it was still amazing.

-Anyway, that stupid man wouldn’t have known he was a fox beast. But it looks like he is a craftworker just by looking at his magic.
Ignoring Gemma’s chatter, Citrina spoke sweetly to the boy.

“Hi, I’m Citrina. I’m also the owner of this atelier.”
“I, I’m Lita.”
[T.L. Note: This could be translated as Rita or Lita. Since Rita is generally a female name, I’m translating it to Lita.]

Silence.
The atmosphere was quite subtle. Citrina cleared her throat slightly. Rita was looking at her and spoke quietly.
“What should I do now? I’ll do whatever you say. You even lost a diamond because of me.”
Under his large eyes, tears were starting to form as his lips drooped down in a subtle sense of melancholy.
Citrina smirked.
He should know how dangerous it is to promise to do anything you are told.
And there was some irony in his words.
“It’s okay.”
“…Yes?”
“It was just an ordinary gemstone.”
It was a spirit’s trick. It would likely go back to normal in about three days.
But she couldn’t tell him everything about adult business.
Citrina shrugged her shoulders.
“What do you want to do? No, what do you like?”
Citrina suggested to the boy just as she had done when she first met Aaron. The boys mouth opened wide.
“I, I would like…”
But what made him different from Aaron is that Aaron didn’t have anything he liked at that time. Citrina listened to the boy slowly.
“It’s shiny things.”
When the boy calmed down in a little while, it would be a good idea to ask about Feinmann.
Citrina nodded.
As for the boy, Lita, it seemed that Gemma was right that he was a fox. In a world where beast people were rare, fox people were even more rare.
The boy who had lost his memory and had a restraint on one arm, did anything to survive. Because of his beautiful appearance, he also became the secret playmate for aristocratic women. It was coercive and destructive.
The boy was often hurt, so he ran away frequently. Every time he ran away, his life force was cut in half. But it couldn’t be helped.
Then he encountered jewels.
He worked really hard for Feinmann, but he didn’t own a single jewel. But he didn’t intend to run away. He was just happy to look at jewels.
It was Citrina’s friendly voice that disrupted Lita’s reminiscence.

“If it’s shiny…you like jewels, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes!”

Lita was so happy right now it felt as if his heart would explode. Lita’s eyes sparkled endlessly.

“Why don’t you stay at our atelier? There’s a small room here that we’re not using. It’s not much, but I’ll provide food and lodging.”
“… I, can I?”
“That’s right. And you can help Adilac check the gems from time to time. Not without pay of course.”
“I’m a slave…”
“Why are you a slave when you have no restraints?”

After speaking, Citrina smiled brightly. Seeing her smile made Lita’s heart beat faster.

‘So pretty…’

The boy blinked several times. That’s because he was about to cry.
He was strangely nervous and his breathe shook. It was the same as a little while ago, when she saved him. She looked like his savior.

“I’ll pay you once a month. You can spend it however you’d like. Let’s work together for just one year. After a year, you can leave.”
“I’ll work hard.”
“Of course you will, Lita.”

Citrina laughed as she brushed the boy’s hair lightly.
“But rest up today.”
Citrina called out to Adilac, who was strangely quiet.

“Adilac.”
“Ah…I don’t need to advertise for the job! Th, That’s right? Citrina?”

Adilac said to Citrina as she watched the boy as if she was possessed.

“That’s right.”
Citrina spoke indifferently. But Gemma at Citrina’s side saw it differently.

-Citrina, it looks like Adilac likes him.
-How do you know that?
-I know it when I see it. You didn’t notice such an important thing.
– Is it important that Adilac likes Lita?
-It’s a love story, so it’s important.
[T.L. Note: Okay, so how old are Adilac and Lita, writer? Please don’t get weird on me.]

She didn’t know that jewel spirits enjoy love stories.
The most important things to Citrina were survival and self-actualization.
Someday she could find a partner and start a family. However, she couldn’t focus on that at present.

“Ah, Lita.”
Lita raised his head with reddened eyes and answered.

“Yes?”
“What sort of person is Feinmann?”
“I don’t really know except…he sells jewelry at expensive prices and goes around looking for money-making jewelers to hire.”
“I see.”

Citrina Foluin had the protection of the dwarf, the genius craftworker, and a jewel spirit. At this point, she had a set of cards no one else could have.
‘Feinmann will also approach the princess. So I need a new way.’
She absolutely needed an impactful method.

Apparently, the die had already been cast.