NOVPUBDeep within the Count’s Mansion’s drawing room.
Night had fallen, and the moonlight seemed exceptionally clear.
Countess Rosalinda sat at one end of the sofa, while Lanci and Talia sat at the other.
Talia’s expression grew somewhat unnatural upon hearing Rosalinda’s words, but her face remained unchanged.
She knew that the unshakable lady of the Demon Race who was Countess Rosalinda’s rival in love was her own sister, Isatia.
"Please, continue."
Lanci, having received professional training, would always remain serious and calm while listening to stories.
The hysterics of a defeated woman, while easily capable of eliciting inadvertent laughter, was only a trivial matter.
"Who knows how old that woman really is, she indeed does not age, but this does not mean she’s truly young."
Countess Rosalinda’s eyes brimmed with tears as she began to pour out her story to them,
"Every time I see her lie down on the couch, resting on Migaya’s legs, she barely does anything but eat and would happily spend all day with her eyes shut, even expecting Migaya to carry her when she walks. My heart feels like it’s being clawed at."
Despite her immense efforts, she still could not measure up to that Demon Race woman by the slightest bit, perplexed that Migaya had so easily been captivated by her.
"..."
Lanci turned his head to look at Talia.
Your sister really is quite remarkable, does Hyperion know about this side of her?
Talia shook her head gently.
Hyperion doesn’t know.
Talia dared not shatter Hyperion’s illusions about her mother.
If Isatia truly were to be brought back, she probably would demand that Hyperion take care of her, and it would be hard to tell who the daughter was.
In some ways, it was a good thing that Isatia had left Hyperion from a young age; otherwise, Hyperion might have had to learn to take care of her mother at a very young age, and Talia could not bear to see the honest Hyperion forced into child labor.
Lanci fell into deep thought.
Although Miss Isatia was also of the Demon Race and might sometimes appear aloof, she did not possess that kind of charm only accrued over the span of eight hundred years; Hyperion might not really prefer her.
Instantly, Lanci felt a chill run down his spine.
Just like this fine wine, the longer it is aged, the more captivating it becomes, and its value increases immeasurably, one can only say that Hyperion has taste.
He thought to himself.
The chill slowly melted away and dissipated.
"I think the issue doesn’t lie with Miss Rosalinda, sometimes it’s just a matter of a slight lack of fate."
Lanci consoled the lady across from him.
"Nevertheless, if it were just Migaya rejecting me, I could accept it, but why can that demon woman gain his favor? In what way do I fall short compared to her? Oh, how discontent this makes me!"
Countess Rosalinda picked up her nearly empty wine glass and tipped it towards her mouth, growing more agitated as she spoke,
"Do you know what’s the most outrageous part? She even needs Migaya to feed her when eating, ugh, it honestly makes me sick, seeing the two of them act so lovey-dovey. I still get goosebumps just thinking about it."
Countess Rosalinda continued her lament to them.
The expressions of Lanci and Talia both froze.
"Can you even imagine such a scene? Do they have no shame as adults?"
"..."
Lanci and Talia were speechless, both subconsciously wanting to move further away from each other.
A moment of silence fell over the drawing room.
"Why have you stopped talking?"
The Countess wiped away her tears, her gaze slowly focusing as she asked.
"Let’s talk about business, shall we?"
Lanci proposed, clearly embarrassed.
"Ahem, right, we got a bit sidetracked, let’s discuss Migaya and his wife another time."
Countess Rosalinda cleared her throat, the flush on her face faded, and she resumed her solemn demeanor.
Regardless, she wanted to pick up her glass and drink a little more, only to confirm that there were barely a few drops left. She then stood up gently, walked over to the wine cabinet, selected a bottle of fine red wine, and bent over.
"Do you drink wine?"
She took two delicate wine glasses from the lower shelf of the cabinet and turned to ask.
"I can."
Talia nodded.
She hardly ever got drunk on low-alcohol drinks, and sometimes it was particularly nice to have a glass at dinner, which was very conducive to sleep.
"I abstain from alcohol, could I have a glass of sparkling water instead?"
Lanci politely declined with a smile.
"Alright, it’s rare to have friends to chat with, so let’s talk and drink together."
She picked up the wine bottle and ordered an attendant to bring a drink for Lanci, and sat down by the sofa again.
As the red wine was slowly poured into the glass, a profound fragrance of wine filled the air, adding a translucent red to the deep of the night.
"I didn’t expect you to be a teetotaler as well, Lanci, just like Master Bolao, who never touches alcohol to stay sober in the lab. Migaya, on the other hand, often tries all sorts of drinks; he has a high resistance to poison."
Countess Rosalinda handed the wine glass to Talia, then said to Lanci.
"I don’t want to get arrested for drunken antics in Floral City Pariel."
Lanci said with a shake of his head and a smile.
"...It’s hard to imagine what you’d look like drunk."
Countess Rosalinda remarked in surprise.
In her view, this junior brother was a very steady type in both demeanor and speech.
"For those who can’t handle their liquor, the biggest charm of alcohol is knowing it intoxicates you, yet sometimes you just can’t resist reaching for it. Yet you can withstand it?"
She raised an eyebrow curiously. 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝒑𝙪𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝙢
It wasn’t just about alcohol, some people were just like it, difficult to say whether they were poison or antidote.
"Clearly, I can."
Lanci confidently replied.
Talia sipped her wine silently.
She was now beginning to see that Lanci really didn’t drink.
According to what Lanci’s father and butler said, Lanci was once deeply indulged in alcohol, but ever since meeting her, he had not touched alcohol again, as if he’d forgotten about it altogether.
"Embarrassing as it is, I made quite the impression when I first came to Floral City."
Lanci then recalled the airship accident and added to Countess Rosalinda.
"I heard about it, you encountered Duke Tiffany’s executioner. There was no help for it, Floral City just implemented new emergency safety regulations today. It’s good that you’re safe and sound."
Countess Rosalinda replied with a sigh of relief.
Recently, the number of cases involving the Curse Demon Clan going berserk had increased exponentially, and the news could no longer be suppressed. The Poseen Kingdom also decided to gradually disclose information, intensifying security controls in Floral City Pariel to investigate the origin of the mysterious cases while causing minimal panic.
Although she was not in the Senate, she learned about the incident involving Floating Castle Number’s airship tonight rather quickly.
What truly surprised Rosalinda was not that Lanci and Tata had an accident.
It was that they managed to leave unscathed from the hands of Duke Tiffany’s executioner.
