The Villain is Being Suspiciously Kind

Hours later, inside Duke Pietro’s office.
A small candle flame lit up the heavily-curtained room. Only the twin brothers with similar but different faces were inside. It was Aaron’s bright voice that broke the silence in that closed space.

“I heard earlier that Princess Iana and Citrina became close. They’re already talking about it in high society.”
“It’s a good thing for Rina.”
“But it’s a bit strange. Although spiritists are rare, it’s not the sort of situation where the princess would personally ask for her aid. Does she know that you two are close, brother?”
“She wouldn’t have known.”

Did Princess Iana know about the relationship between Citrina and Desian?
Since she had been at the academy all this time, Iana’s information network was poor.
She was an avid fan of romance novels. A woman with no desire for the throne.

He couldn’t quite recall what her face looked like either. He thought she had a strange expression every time they passed each other by.
“She’s definitely overdoing it.”
Desian said coldly.

“Isn’t it too much? What is she up to?”
Aaron picked up a snack from the table.

“You would know if you saw her. It should have been clear to see.”
“That’s right, we were both at the academy. She read books instead of sparring.”
Aaron tilted his head.

“She was just a princess who quietly read books. She didn’t seem like…a particularly bad person.”
“That remains to be seen.”
Aaron glanced over at his brother.
Desian intended to manipulate the princess’s mind if any harm came to Citrina. He didn’t make exceptions for an imperial princess.
Aaron had a twin’s intuition about how things would play out.

“…does Rina know you’re good at mind control?”
“No way.”

Desian had gone from a boy to a man in the space of four years. He had learned in that time how to cheat and hide things more skillfully.
“Rumors about the Pietro Dukedom are being neutralized.”
Then Citrina might like Aaron better. Even though they were like a family, Citrina always seemed like she was ready to take off.
Without saying it out loud, Aaron blinked and laughed. Desian spoke in a cold tone as he watched him.

“That’s good news to hear.”

In the face of Desian’s impeccable defense, Aaron picked up a cookie from the table and bit into it. The chocolate chips crumbled sweetly in his mouth.
Aaron’s eyes were as innocent as ever, but he had learned a lot of interesting things over the past four years.

“Then see you at the ball! I’ll be late!”

After Aaron left, Desian slowly took care of the duke’s duties. There were not many tasks that needed the duke’s approval.
Desian put down his fountain pen with a blank face.
There was not much to laugh about in this dark place.
At that moment, a messenger bird was heard flying through Desian’s window. It was a very light sound, but he picked it up easily.
He opened the tiny note attached to the messenger bird’s leg.

Lady Phantemang took care of the store owner, Feinmann.

No sooner than he had checked the contents, the note spontaneously burst into flame. Desian gleefully watched the flames burn.
He enjoyed it.
With a slight amount of oil applied, it came to an end rather beautifully.
The Phantemang family would self-destruct as the gentry grew. Everything was elegant and perfect.
Desian coldly laughed. It was fun to see everything fit into place like pieces of a puzzle.
He thought of only one thing, the one and only variable in his life.
Would she…find out about this?
But Desian soon lowered his gaze.
It was better for him to get his hands dirty with blood.

It was the day after the princess’s party, inside Citrina’s atelier.

“Our names were even printed side-by-side in the gossip column. Really… I’m so excited, Citrina!”
Adilac held the gossip pages tightly in her hands.

“…while I’m not in there, it’s amazing!”
Lita’s ears were visibly drooping. Citrina comforted Lita with a pat on the back.

“Anyhow, I’m upset, Citrina! Why didn’t you tell me? It’s a spirit! A spirit! I like it so much! I want to go to a jewel-sprinkling spirit party too!”

-What to do with these two idiots, Citrina
-They’re upset.
-I think my ears are going to bleed because of it!

“First of all, I’m sorry, Adilac,”
Adilac’s eyes filled with tears at Citrina’s apology. Then Lita spoke cautiously to Citrina.

“By the way, master!”
“Yeah?”
“Well, there’s a line of people outside, so what should we do? A few people were snooping around, but the line is awfully long…”
Seriously. There was a line of attendants stretching outside the glass doors. She didn’t know if it was the gossip article or Gemma’s flawless magic that had brought them here.

“Everyone is waiting outside because they want to buy ready-made jewelry……”
“S,seriously?”

It seemed like Adilac hadn’t looked out the window because she was so focused on the gossip article, Citrina and the princess, and the jewel spirit.

“Wow! This is our chance to get rich by selling all of the jewelry on the shelves, Citrina!”
“Adilac-nim is right! Congratulations, master!”

The fox person, Lita, said with a big smile. Just hearing that word made her feel a little bewitched.
Wait a minute, master? It felt like he had been calling her that since a while ago.
Anyway, that wasn’t important right now. Citrina came to her senses.

“No. I won’t sell it.”
“What? Why? We need to sell it as soon as possible! It’s a chance to make a name for ourselves!”
“If we sell it all now, everybody will be satisfied.”
“Isn’t it a good thing if everyone is satisfied?”
“Adilac.”
“Yes?”
Adilac paused in taking the gemstones off the shelves.

“Adilac, you like salmon, right?”
“Yes!”
“Aren’t there times when you can eat salmon until your stomach is full, and times when you can’t eat it because you don’t have any?”
“Yes, so?”
“When is the time that you crave salmon the most?”
“Uhh…when I can’t eat it.”
“That’s right. With that same logic, once you’re satisfied, you won’t look for it anymore.”
“Ohh, is that so?”

Adilac was rarely silent. She seemed to be thinking of something.
What Citrina was doing at present was limited edition marketing.
Buying ready-made jewelry was not for the nobles. It was for the gentry class that yearned for the luxurious consumption of the nobles.
If you sold them a limited edition jewelry item, the price would go up to a premium. Then the value of the brand name and the atelier would go up even more.

“Come to think of it, there were some messenger birds from nobles too.”
There were not many letters, as predicted. The aristocracy was relatively conservative.
It was natural not to ask directly because it was not a part of noble culture.
However, it was satisfactory even if it was only to this extent.

“First of all, the gentry class… we are a high-end atelier that follows dwarf Oslo-nim’s instructions, so we can respond by saying that if there is not enough stock, we won’t sell.”

They were different from the jewelry stores that had been in business in the capital for a long time and attracted regular customers.
However, since it was a spiritist’s shop that had attracted the attention of Princess Iana, they could grow their power bit by bit.
For the time being, Citrina decided to enjoy the scorching popularity.

“I think we’ll only release enough ready-made jewelry to satisfy half of the demand.”

Citrina took out several jewels from the display case. Ruby-embedded rings and platinum thread rings left the shelves one by one.
Adilac looked inside the display stand with curious eyes.

“Well, this should be enough to set the trend.”
“Okay, Citrina.”

Adilac laughed heartily. Citrina smiled at her.

“Master, I’ll explain it to the people outside.”
“Yeah, explain it so they’ll understand, and ask them to come back next time because we don’t have enough supplies.”
“Yes!”

Lita’s big eyes narrowed. Talking was a fox person’s specialty. But Lita had never tried to bewitch anyone with his words until now.

‘But for now…’

The master had saved him, a person who loves jewels. So it was an important task to give these people a proper explanation.
He went outside reluctantly.