"Isn't the key the only way to calm down?"
"There is also a way to make a pact."
I wonder what he was thinking, but he was willingly revealing the family secret.
"However, there are limitations to a 'general' covenant."
He stretched out his hand.
"Unless it is a special pact where you share energy more directly with a single opponent."
Were there two covenants?
However, upon hearing those words, something came to mind along with a question.
"Were you perhaps looking for a marriage partner...?"
"Yes. It is because of my energy."
Are you saying you weren't simply trying to stabilize Edgard's inner self and focus your efforts on finding the key?
So, Dofran practically went all out to sabotage his marriage?
It was when I paused, as if all the puzzle pieces were falling into place.
He stretched out his hand.
"So, when you said you would calm my energy a little while ago, I thought it was a marriage proposal, but was it not?"
... What is that...
I, slightly taken aback, opened my mouth involuntarily.
In the original story, there was a reason why he couldn't get married.
I will not let anyone who poses a threat to the family into the family, even if it kills me.
That was his credo.
Contrary to the public image of him as a 'bystander with no interest in the family who only pursues his own interests,' he was a person loyal to the family.
The current appearance is merely a pretense.
It was certainly a hindrance, but to begin with, he was not someone who easily kept people by his side.
Knowing that fact, I opened my mouth.
"Even if I proposed, you wouldn't accept it anyway."
"I would have done so normally, but I have changed my mind."
A faint smile rose on his face. A dangerous smile, one that was by no means made of mere goodwill.
“Let’s do it, get married.”
I opened my eyes wide.
"You will become Edgard's mistress. There could be no more natural and better way than this."
He stretched out his hand.
"As you suggested, I will protect you from your enemies and ultimately eliminate them. In return, your duty is one."
His red eyes fixed straight on me.
"Something that calms my energy."
“What do you mean...?"
It was only natural to help find the key to the covenant, and it sounded like there was something I could directly help with.
Sure enough, Castian's lips curved into a smile.
"Are you going to pretend you don't know now?"
It wasn't that I was pretending not to know; I really didn't know.
I finally clamped my lips shut. It would be best to appear as an ally with good intelligence, but I couldn't pretend to have information I didn't have.
Since he was someone who could see through a lie in an instant, he asked.
"Is there anything else I should do as the lady of the house besides finding the key?"
At those words, Castian raised his eyebrows. Then, he sat on the edge of the chair and looked at her.
"Are you pretending not to know, or..."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Do you really not know?"
I let out a slight sigh, as I had no way of knowing. It seemed as though Castian had read a great deal from that expression alone.
"Ha." He let out a short sigh and said.
"So I didn't receive a proposal; I was the one who proposed."
Then he got up.
In an instant, the man's large, hot shadow fell over me.
" It seems you really don't know, so I'll teach you."
Bam.
On the bed, a man with his arm resting beside my face looked down at me from very close.
"Edgard's mistress makes a covenant in a different way than others."
That might be a sacred vow, like those made by couples of other families, but before that.
"It is a direct pact where energy is exchanged."
He curled the ends of my silver hair with the hand that was not supporting the bed.
When the fingertips touched the corner of the ear, they slid down the neck and spread the heat.
"...!"
He whispered to me, who had forgotten even to breathe.
"It won't be just a sweet offer. I don't know how much you know about the pact, but this is a life-or-death contract."
I stared at those red eyes with my eyes wide open. It was an intense gaze that made one forget even the pain.
He continued.
"From the moment you and I are connected by a pact, you cannot betray me, and I, too, cannot harm you."
It will establish a strong agreement between us even without a written contract.
However, it means that you, too, must risk your life.
He whispered and asked.
"How about it? Is the offer you made to me still valid?"
I let out a small sigh that I had been holding without realizing it.
It was not an easy or comfortable path. After all, he was like a dangerous beast in a different sense than Marquis Eden.
However, stepping back now would only make me an 'outsider who knows Edgard's secret.'
I had already entered too deeply into his territory to back down.
However, that was not the only reason I was trying to nod.
This is the only way to avoid the miserable life that was destined in the original story.
So this was my choice. It was an unexpected method, but one that could sufficiently get what I wanted.
"...Of course.”
As I nodded, Castian smiled.
"Great."
The two people's eyes met at a distance so close that our breaths mingled.
His lips, slowly lowering his head toward me, passed the pastoral area where his breath seemed to touch and reached my ear.
At a distance close enough that even if someone were to put their ear to the door to eavesdrop, they would not be able to hear.
"This is a contract and a covenant. The deadline is until you find the key, find a way to control my energy, and deal with all those who stand against you."
His fingertips touched the back of my hand.
" ...!"
In a situation where I could not move, the man's shadow was too big and dark.
I involuntarily held my breath.
"You don't need to be nervous. You and I."
He gently pressed his forehead against mine.
Then he whispered.
"Because we will become a pair that cannot betray each other now."
With a small whisper, a scarlet pattern appeared on the back of my hand.
It was the hawk emblem symbolizing Edgard.
***
The fact that the Flordel family saw ghosts was famous a few generations ago, but in recent years it has been a fading memory.
However, there was no way a family of Edgard's caliber would have missed that information.
The problem was that even that family would not have known about the possession ability that 'only' Eloise possessed.
However, the events of that day were conveyed to the Talons.
The fact that Eloise escaped from Marquis Eden's carriage and used an inexplicable power in the process.
And even the fact that they decided to marry while promising to exchange what they needed with the head of the household.
However, the true nature and usage of that power were not yet known.
Castian kept the Talons in check to prevent the story from getting out any further.
So, the only thing known to the other servants was that the head of the household had brought someone he had formed a relationship with outside the mansion.
Even those who saw her in pain did not know the circumstances of how it came to be.
They just thought this.
It seems that while he was wandering around outside pretending to have no interest in the family, he had been secretly meeting someone.
Meanwhile, after Castian finished the oath and left the room.
Eloise, who had fallen asleep until she recovered, felt a distinct change.
The treatment, which had seemed like that of an outsider, had already changed noticeably.
For one, a significant number of the mansion's servants stayed by her side.
In particular, the one who introduced herself as the head maid, Marcella, even stuck by her side like a shadow.
Yes.
"I am Talon Ber, temporarily assigned to escort Lady Eloise."
It even has 'Talon' attached.
Knowing what that fact implied, Eloise opened her eyes wide.
"The Talons are those who hold a position equivalent to the Knights in our Edgart."
Marcella said.
She merely said it was a 'position equivalent,' but Eloise knew more details about that group called Talon.
That group, which was given significant attention even in the original work that did not describe Edgard in depth, was where the Duke's closest confidants gathered, serving as both Edgard's informants and members of the Knights.
All of its members are under a pact with the head of the household.
Considering this in conjunction with what Castian said, it means a group of those who have made a 'general covenant'.
However, that covenant also involves sharing the head of the household's energy.
The fact that everyone had made a pledge meant that they were a loyal group.
Naturally, there was no way just anyone would be assigned as a bodyguard.
Castian didn't seem like the type of person to be affectionate just because she was a potential marriage partner.
"Do you have any further questions?"
Moreover, the head maid Marcella was not merely attached; she was incredibly devoted, acting as if she were Eloise's hands and feet.
He must have received orders from Castian to do so.
...Was Duke Edgard such a delicate person?
However, thanks to that, even after recovering, Eloise was served without having to lift a finger.
As Eloise approached the window, Marcella immediately followed her.
"Do you need anything?"
"No, I'm just going to try walking."
Eloise was filled with extraordinary emotion at the mere fact that she had approached the room, and even just the step of participating.
Because here, unlike the Flordel family, she wasn't even confined.
The fact that she had come this far solely through her own strength, without borrowing from others, struck her even more deeply.
The fact that there is no need to worry about getting hurt first, even with such minor movements
It was even more so now that she was in a room, having left behind the surreal situation of escaping from the carriage.
"..."
She looked out the window a little longer, then deliberately walked slowly.
As she did so, she recalled Castian's words she had heard before falling asleep, as if she had fainted.
"The oath craves the blood of those close to me."
"When I am in danger of death, I take the life of the one who holds the deepest feelings for me, no matter what form those feelings take."
He flashed a twisted smile in the meantime
"So, don't get close to me. Unless you want to die."
That's what he said.
Recalling his cold voice, Eloise tightly closed her lips.
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