Chapter 64
The first time Sperom’s twin met Arellin was at a collection meeting.
“Ciel, here is a Young Lady from Halbern.”
“Oh, Halbern?”
The first of the five Duke’s, the first to strike.
As twins who were always on the lookout for new and interesting things to do, it was natural for them to be curious.
Where is Halbern?
A duke surrounded by secrets and mystery!
What would the youngest child of such a family be like? How exciting and interesting would he be?
The twins’ expectations were dashed when they saw the real thing.
“Is that really the Halbern Young Lady?”
Despite their expectations of something unique and abnormal, the “real” Halbern was quiet and demure.
In fact, she was so quiet and unassuming that she was often overlooked and ignored by the other children.
“Are you sure Noel didn’t get it wrong?”
“No, they all stood up to her.”
“That’s normal.”
“Too normal.”
The twins were disappointed.
“It’s boring.”
“Not funny.”
They thought something interesting was going to happen.
After that, the memory of Halbern’s interest quickly faded from the twins’ minds.
It was only when Pession mentioned Arellin that they paid attention again.
The girl Pession was interested in?
A new card to tease the charge.
That was the extent of the twins’ renewed impression of Arellin.
Sperom’s twin hadn’t paid any attention to Arellin until then.
That changed when they happened to see her with Pession.
“Huh?”
Ciel started.
Ciel rubbed her eyes and looked ahead again.
“Huh?”
Ciel’s golden eyes glowed with disbelief.
“What is this…?”
With the fall of the ancient gods and the end of mythology, traces of the old ‘miracles’ and ‘powers’ were found only in ruins and forgotten shrines, but even in the age of magic and men, there were those who resembled the gods.
Such was the <Golden Eye>, which made Sperom one of the Empire’s greatest merchant families and allowed them to control the Empire’s wealth for generations.
Ciel’s Golden Eye is the Eye of Value.
Whether it was a person or an object, he could see the value in it…
“What’s wrong, Ciel?”
Noel reacted to the rare sight of Ciel. Without thinking, he followed Ciel’s gaze and saw Arellin at the end of it.
And then.
“Huh?”
The same scene repeated itself.
Noel’s Golden Eye are the Eye of Danger.
The comprehensive ability to see ‘danger’ was akin to a kind of precognition, and was extremely useful for filtering out dangerous people and avoiding natural disasters.
But…
“Noel, you too?”
“Huh? And Ciel, you too?”
The twins froze in place, dumbfounded by this first-of-its-kind situation.
It was an ‘unusual situation’ they had never encountered before in their lives.
“It’s changed.”
“It’s not the same as when I saw it before.”
[Arellin Sigria Halbern]
[Value: 5]
An unremarkable, unremarkable figure, with nothing special about it. In fact, given Halbern’s reputation, it’s too low.
[Arellin Sigria Halbern]
[Danger: 23]
Similarly, Noel’s Danger rating is low, not even close to being dangerous.
But.
[Arellin Sigria Halbern]
[Value: -]
Changed.
[Arellin Sigria Halbern]
[Danger: ℃₰￡]~
So strange that there can be no mistake, no mistake.
“?”
This is the real reason Sperom’s twin began to properly ‘recognize’ Arellin.
It was the reason why they started clinging to her.
***
Never before had the value or danger of a person changed like this.
Sometimes something transcendent influenced them to change their value or risk, but it always came down to numbers.
So Ciel and Noel couldn’t easily understand the situation.
“This is unheard of…”
Their father, Duke Sperom, who rushed to their aid, had no easy answer.
“It’s just because it’s Halbern,” he said.
He concluded simply.
“Is that all you have to say, Father?”
“Is that all you have to say?”
Despite the twins’ complaints, Duke Sperom’s demeanor remained unchanged.
“You don’t know Halbern.”
The Duke of Sperom’s attitude was even stranger to the twins, who thought that because it was Halbern, anything could happen.
The twins decided to look for the cause among themselves.
“What could it be?” they asked.
“Did Arellin change her personality?”
“That’s all it took for the Golden Eye to react?”
“But we don’t even know what Arellin’s personality was like before she changed.”
“Right? Just because they say she’s changed, we assume she’s changed.”
“Right. Right.”
In any case, this colostrum situation intrigued the twins, and they enjoyed exploring Arellin.
No matter how you touched it, it would react differently. It amused the twins every minute.
“Arellirin has a weakness for flavors!”
“And I think she likes Aaron.”
“Why does she hate us?”
“She doesn’t hate us, but she doesn’t stay away from us.”
“Then she doesn’t hate us either?!”
“There seem to be many problems.”
The twins were too selfish to let someone’s annoyance or dislike kill their energy.
Instead, they’ve come to resent Arellin, who doesn’t give in easily.
“We’re definitely going to be friends!”
“You’ll see, best friend number one is ours.”
Someone to cling to and play with without regard to family or values.
For the twins, who were used to calculations and numbers, this was a strange and new world.
Perhaps that’s why.
They were being unexpectedly generous with their favors.
It’s probably why they’re doing things for someone purely out of the kindness of their hearts, with no intention of flirting with them or trying to make a connection.
“Why do you guys like me?”
The twins, kind of, thought Arellin was cute.
‘It’s nice, but I don’t know what the purpose is, so I’ll give you a suspicious look…’
‘… I’m surprised you’re so wary of him.’
Even if she wants to pretend she doesn’t know, she can’t pretend if they act like this!
“Ciel, I think Arellin really can’t do without us.”
“That’s what I think, too, Noel.”
The twins giggled to themselves.
***
Mehen sighed.
One moment he had to get the twins off of him, the next he had to deal with the bullshit he’d heard earlier.
“Tell His Highness the Duke of Sperom that I don’t need the attention of a man.”
The young money demons of Sperom were not called ‘little demons’ for nothing, and they did not grieve Mehen’s rejection.
Rather, they enjoyed his father’s misfortune.
“Haha. It was my father’s carriage!”
“Father will be sad!”
It was a typical reaction of a child who feeds on the despair and sadness of others.
“Father is seriously like Sir Mehen’s.”
“Sir Mehen, Sir Mehen, you’re too harsh!”
Mehen snorted.
“He doesn’t like me, he likes the shame he sees in me.”
The current Duke of Sperom’s Golden Eye was the Eye of Talent, and nearly every talented person in the Albrecht Empire was directly or indirectly connected to House Sperom.
Only Mehen escaped its clutches.
“Father said Sir Mehen was the best.”
“He said you were the best he’d ever seen.”
The best talent was not in his grasp!
Duke Sperom couldn’t stand it, and he’s been wooing Mehen since he was a minor duke.
“I know I’m the best.”
Mehen, of course, refused. Paper slavery would be the same here as it was there.
Mehen’s eyes, moderately appraising of the twins, found his chick.
“Arell.”
His eyes softened as they locked with Arellin’s, who sat still.
“Mehen-!”
Mehen couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Arellin, who jumped up and ran towards him.
Hugging the tiny body, he felt the stress of the whole day melt away.
How could such a cute little angel have come out of that demonic lord?
“The twins didn’t bother you?”
“No.”
“If the twins do, you can always tell me.”
Arellin chuckled.
“If I tell, Mehen will scold them?”
“Yes.”
Arellin’s smile brightened at the firm answer. A smile entirely different from the one she wore when dealing with the twins.
Sperom’s twin, witnessing all of this up close, was simply dumbfounded by it all.
“Arellin laughed.”
“I’ve never seen Sir Mehen smile like that before.”
“Am I dreaming, Noel, am I dreaming?”
“Ouch, Ciel, it’s not a dream.”
The twins, pinching each other’s cheeks, were dumbfounded to see Arellin laughing beside Mehen once more.
“The twins helped me a lot.”
“Oh, I’m glad to hear that.”
“I don’t think you need to worry.”
Mehen gave her a dubious look at her reassuring answer.
And so it was.
The long-awaited day of the tea party had arrived.
