bookbashuk Chapter 41 Delacroix
Chapter 41 Delacroix
As evening approached, Siegwen, who had been unable to find an opportunity, finally couldn't help but show her anxiety and, at Seulgi's urging, knocked on the office door.
Leosley and Ventara were working, but for some reason they were crammed onto the same desk.
She didn't pay much attention to that, and simply said, "Your Grace, it's time for dinner. Everyone will be leaving soon, and they'd like to ask if they can have dinner with you."
When the Melusin and others come to visit, their meals are usually provided by the chartered canteen in Melo Petersburg. However, because they are worried about being late for their return, they usually start eating earlier than others, thus perfectly avoiding Leosley's mealtime. That's why she needed to ask specifically.
Fearing he would refuse, Siegwen turned to Ventara for help.
Although she didn't know whether Ventara was willing to help or not, after all, they were still competitors, and inviting the Duke to dinner was obviously an attempt to find an opportunity to make friends.
Fortunately, before Ventara could express her opinion, Leosley readily agreed: "Such a small condition is of course no problem. Rather, I'm a little worried that you might not be able to eat with me around."
After all, he was a duke, and the natural difference in status always made people feel somewhat uncomfortable, just like the prisoners felt when they faced him.
However, the Meloshens never seemed to care about this, whether he was a poor child or the current Duke of Meropolis, they always treated him the same.
Leosley couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of these creatures, and took Ventara with him to the chartered canteen.
Higewen was overjoyed and followed, taking the opportunity to observe the enemy's situation.
Strange, why didn't she see Ventara's sticker on the Duke? She thought that after being alone with him for so long, Ventara should have found an opportunity to make her move.
Higewen subconsciously looked at the person standing next to her who was a step behind the Duke.
Ventara simply made a "shh" gesture at her.
Siegwen was stunned for a moment, not understanding what she meant, so she simply ignored her and quietly followed her, taking out a sticker and intending to put one on the corner of the Duke's coat.
But just as she took the sticker out, Leosley turned around and teased, "Let me see what the head nurse is planning to do to my dear coat?"
Higewen immediately put her hands behind her back and shook her head violently, as if burying her head in the sand.
Leosley chuckled. "I don't want to try your new milkshake today."
Hisewen pouted and muttered, "You said it tasted good last time..."
Last time it was just to cause trouble, but most of the time Leosley would rather stay away from her nutritional shakes.
He shrugged, indicating that he was powerless to do anything about it.
The chartered canteen was not far from the Duke's office. After this incident, Siegwen did not have another chance and could only watch longingly as Leosley went to get his food.
Ventara put her things on the table and chairs and was about to go get them when she was immediately entangled by Siegwen.
"Ventara, aren't you worried? The game will end after this meal." Siegfried thought she had gotten nothing like herself, "but I didn't expect the Duke to stay in his office all day today, unlike before when he would come out and give us a chance."
"But you two were together the whole time, so why didn't you succeed? Was it because the Duke was in office and it was more inconvenient for you?" she asked curiously.
Ventara looked at Leosley, who was surrounded by the Melusians who were making a final attempt to get him to join the fight, and chuckled softly, a rare occurrence for her: "No, I succeeded."
"Huh?!" Siegwen's eyes widened. "Where is it? I clearly didn't see it at all!"
During the conversation, Leosley returned.
He placed his and Ventara's dinner on the table and let out a long sigh: "Phew, escaping from the agile Melusens is no easy feat—"
Serge complained, "Even so, Duke, you still escaped unscathed, didn't you?"
Honestly, even with so many beautiful women around, and everyone trying to take advantage of the chaos, no one could even touch a single corner of his clothes.
"No matter what, I'm the administrator of Mero Petersburg. How can I do this without some real skills?" Leosley raised an eyebrow.
He glanced at the Melusens, who had finally settled down to eat, and coughed, "Oh dear, looks like today's game is over?"
Higewen poked at the meat on her plate, muttering, "Even if we didn't stop now and continued, you wouldn't have let any of us put the stickers on, would you? But you were too cautious this time; you didn't let anyone succeed?"
Leosley shrugged. "How could that be? The game was already over. Right, Ventara?"
He looked straight at her with a smile in his eyes.
Ventara: !
The green-eyed girl's mouth was slightly open, as if she didn't understand at all when he had discovered it.
"If you didn't have ulterior motives, you wouldn't be in this state today—"
"Clingy".
The last two words were almost spoken aloud, and the Duke, who seemed to be quite considerate as to not wanting to reveal their relationship to others, simply mouthed what she meant.
But saying that really makes one feel a little wronged.
The man, deeply in love, was very dissatisfied with her usual distant attitude, so he took this opportunity to enjoy her embrace, allowing his honey trap to be fully utilized.
Even heroes can't resist the charms of a beautiful woman, and this is 1000% because the person involved willingly indulges her.
Ventara glanced at him and then personally peeled off the sticker she had put on Leosley's back.
The dozen or so puppy stickers alone are enough to show how many times the two of them had "intimate contact" in the office this afternoon.
Siegwen and Serge didn't catch the ambiguity in Leosley's words. Instead, they felt a sense of pride and were happy for Ventara. They thought that by rounding up, it was a decisive victory for Melusin's side in this great battle, while the Duke's side suffered a crushing defeat!
Especially Siegfried, who, despite saying she wanted to win, seemed even happier than Ventara at this moment, excitedly asking her, "What wish does Ventara want the Duke to grant?"
Leosley, propping his chin on his hand, watched her with great interest.
He probably thought that Ventara was involved in this game with the Melusens because she wanted something, and coincidentally, the Duke had everything she needed, so he could satisfy whatever she asked for.
However, Ventara was simply driven by a wicked sense of humor. Seeing that he seemed completely at ease from beginning to end, even managing to outmaneuver her, she suddenly became curious to see what his expression would be when he realized things were getting out of control.
She squinted and looked at Leosley with ill intent.
The latter suddenly had a bad feeling.
"My wish is the same as the head nurse's: that the Duke will start paying attention to his health from today onwards. How about starting with a nutritional shake every day?"
Higewen's eyes lit up: "Really, Ventara? I never knew you were such a kind person who always cares about everyone!"
Of course not, she's just an ordinary, malicious person who still holds a grudge against Leosley for making her drink the milkshake.
However, Ventara was happy to hear her praise herself, so she did not refute it: "Of course, there are times when I am also very worried about the Duke's health."
Leosley was tormented by the horrific taste of the head nurse's nutritional shakes in his memory, yet he couldn't help but find her smug and adorable. He was almost splitting into two.
But once a promise is made, it's like water spilled; there's no room for him to go back on his word.
Leosley could only accept that he would be spending his days with nutritional shakes from now on.
Hmm, I need to figure out a way to trick Ventara into having a drink with him—
He was full of wicked ideas and began to plot how to successfully deceive people.
On the other side, Ventara sneezed twice and immediately guessed who was thinking about her. When she turned around, she unsurprisingly saw the man's malicious expression.
She defiantly flashed a peace sign.
The gesture, combined with the person's expressionless face, was so comical that Leosley couldn't help but laugh out loud.
*
The pleasant dinner time passed quickly, and Leosley and Ventara escorted the Melousins back to Fontaine, then detoured back to the manor.
As soon as the puppy Hutta heard them return, it ran out to greet them and was immediately hugged and stroked by Wentara.
Leosley sat to the side watching the man and dog play, and couldn't help but sigh, "You really are as nostalgic as ever."
Both his fondness for dogs and his obsession with the name "Shuta" prove this point.
Perhaps Ventara chose to come back to him because of nostalgia.
He wanted to test her attitude, so he asked jokingly, "That's a good habit, otherwise you wouldn't still think of me after more than ten years. You know what? I've tried to look for you these past few years, but to no avail."
It shouldn't just be her.
After becoming a duke, Leosley tried to find all the companions who had been sent away by the Delascos.
The Delascos, Leosley and Ventara's former adoptive parents, are their "parents".
A philanthropist in name only, a human trafficker in reality.
They always explain why their adopted children suddenly disappear by saying that they handed the children over to another family that could provide them with a better life.
In reality, these missing children only went to one of two places—either they were sold elsewhere, or they were disposed of privately after someone sensed something was wrong.
Leosley didn't realize this at first, and like the other children, she was immersed in the beautiful dream called "home" woven by the Delascos.
Until Ventara was sent away without warning.
They had promised each other that if something like this happened, they would tell each other in advance, wish each other well, and say a proper goodbye, but now she has broken her promise.
Filled with rage, Leosley wanted to confront the Delascos to find out where Ventara had been sent, but instead overheard them discussing the sale of a child with a stranger.
His cold words were completely unlike the kind and approachable person Leosley remembered.
Then he killed them.
(End of this chapter)
The author says: Waaaaah, no comments, this is hopeless QwQ
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