When she asked such a question, Noin’s purple eyes glinted.

There was a familiar glimpse of stunning masculinity and satisfying ferociousness—Dia was impressed by the unfamiliar expression.

“…Although you seem vulnerable, you’re sometimes too patience in a strange aspect. Be sure to report to me before doing strange things.”

“By the way, at today’s ball, I am allowed to drink the Supri in the glass, right?”

A sparkling, effervescent, wine was always prepared as a toast in occasions such as balls.

Although it could be argued Ricardo will definitely poison the fizzy wine. After all, in such a place, people were dictated to drink that particular drink.

Despite so, Dia still asked such a question to Noin, smiling ever so slightly. Noin let out a small groan.

Just like that, there was a mysterious tranquility when she was within his arms. The impression of the outside and the inside was completely different.

When they talked as he hugged her like that, she couldn’t feel any of the hostility of a non-human who would simply throw away pieces that had fulfilled their roles. Nor was Dia arrested by fear. On the contrary, it was as if he was getting warier, unsure of what to do.

Somehow, that distorted innocence made him dear, and Dia decided to tell her honest feelings.

I only have today.

There was something she truly wanted to say, there were things that she wanted, and there were also things that she didn’t want to lose—so it turned out, she possessed such a wonderful thing.

However, Dia was a human being—therefore, she dauntingly couldn’t let go of her revenge.

Therefore, it was absolutely necessary to avoid mourning and getting involved with each other by failing to prepare and confirm.

Dia finally understood that just getting smiled at wasn’t enough.

If it was a drawing, then Dia felt as if it was still full of missing places.

“If it’s only that, then do as you please. But don’t cause any unnecessary commotion.”

“Even though Noin acknowledged that, why do you seem unhappy? Aren’t you excited? After all, I’ve prepared a fun post-death tourism plan!”

“It would be a problem if you don’t actually understand why. But if you do, why do you still speak incessantly?”

But why wouldn’t the words that would get the point across come out…

Dia’s distrust was increased a little. She glanced at the eye of the spirit whom was listening to her talk the entire time.

The Supri inside the glass in tonight’s ball would definitely contain a lethal dose of poison.

She thought he already knew what would it would mean if she drank it.

In other words, Dia would go to the Land of the Dead at the end of the ball.

The Land of the Dead wouldn’t allow foreign visitors to come. Only the King of the Dead could go in and out as he pleased. Therefore, if they were going to have a conversation afterwards, Dia would have to wait until the Day of the Dead, which would be almost a year later.

Even if she was told to stop her revenge now, it would fall to deaf ear. But, if he was going to have a talk with Dia afterwards, if she could, she didn’t want to wait that long, and would rather instead settle it now.

“I am such a timid person, I don’t need anything that doesn’t choose me until after I die… so, if there’s a misunderstanding between us, please tell me so. I want to leave my baggage behind when I go to the Land of the Dead.”

“…I want to reassure you using clear words—you’re a person of Fashitar. I don’t want to trigger the magic of the Spirit of Death that cursed the people of this kingdom by saying words that are supposed to convince you. The genealogy of the dead, whether it through a curse or a blessing, can lead to the end of the other party and the surroundings just through mere involvement.”

“…Does the act of expressing words trigger magic of some kind?”

Even though he was one of the pillars of the night, she was a little surprised that a king like Noin was also bound by the promise of magic.

That was why that ancient magician could have a servant contract with the King of the Night, and Dia could also have a contract with Noin.

In fact, in fairy tales, there are occasions where the protagonist has the cooperation of high-ranking fairies and demons, which was done using a contract. But what they promised made sense, there were no underlying meanings behind them…

Now she knew why the non-humans who had their promises broken got furious, because they were also bound by it. So, it turned out that the creature which she thought was able to do anything had a weakness.

She thought she had to show her sincerity to Noin whom had taught her such information and told him she understood the inconvenience.

“Because magic can be invoked through words. In the first place, your contract with me is for me to see your choice through until the end. The contracts I’ve exchanged with other outsiders who hold interest in this kingdom—they would be more effective if I abandoned the contract I have with the people of this kingdom and left them in a state of impossible recovery.”

“That’s what I was wondering about! What will happen to the contract of Noin and I? It’s true that I’ve survived, and I can argue that there’s still a person of Gillasfi left—despite so, in any case, the people of this kingdom will still kill me—there’s a contract based on that, isn’t there? …Mugu!”

In a quiet voice, Dia muttered, but for some reason, Noin pushed baked sweets that he had took out of nowhere into her mouth.

While chewing the baked sweets, Dia glanced at him—perhaps that spirit thought she was depressed?

“…Noin, I am the one who wished for such revenge, remember? I am someone who wants the people of this kingdom to breach their contract with you, it doesn’t matter what kind of gaze they would use to perceive me—I won’t lament, because in the end, such is the contract. You know that my revenge involves me being killed, right? The fact that I will be used for revenge against humans, well, you may get angry about that, I guess.”

“The only option left for you is to understand that a deal with us is worth it. There will be no spirit who will think that you’re being used. When it comes to demons, they’re twisted, so I myself am unsure how they would take it.”

Then that’s good.

Fumufumu, Dia nodded. She was thankful that her measure didn’t offend Noin.

For Dia, it was a prospect she gave her utmost to realize. But for outsiders, such was only natural to happen—a flow without roughness. Humans would take it differently.

Dia, who was cheered up with the baked sweets, decided to sort out the content of the conversation so far.

“In summary… Witchcraft is something that is exchanged in words, so you can’t talk about the future until I am finished, or at least not something beyond my contract. Also, in negotiations with other people who have interests in this kingdom—it’s acceptable to say that they won’t be able to start something new until the people of this kingdom brutally break their contract?”

“To put it concretely, I don’t want to fall into the pitfall of magical contracts. The quality of the night has a high affinity with death. What I was negotiating with the Spirit of Death is the curse of Fashitar, and with the demon chairman of the trade, the distribution of Colhem. That’s because they have obligations. It’s impermissible to neglect magical procedures and contracts and ditch the ones listed above due to the unstableness of the magical foundation. For example, there’s also the thing about your family.”

“My family…”

It was Dilvier who taught her.

Noin, who spoke straight to the point about the deal surrounding Dia, couldn’t speak the words that were unsuitable to being mentioned.

“The qualities of the night are easy to predict, therefore I will take charge of the explanation from here. I am also a genealogy of the night, but I don’t have enough power to connect to Noin at night.”

“Alright, I will be thanking you in advance.”

“Dia’s family is originally the only clan to be excluded from the curse of the Spirit of the Death, which was laid on the Fashitar. It’s precisely because Lord Noin had negotiated with the people of Gillasfi that the people of Fashitar were allowed to remain permanently on this land.”

“…Is that how it is?”

“Otherwise, I wouldn’t have accepted the negotiation in the first place. No matter how regretful the Colhem producers would be, I am not drunk enough to dabble in the fate of the prey at the receiving end of a harsh temper.”

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***T/N: Most of this chapter, the author strum up the spirit talk, my brain is ready to give up. It’s almost like a textbook of spirit, now, not that I am complaining because these expositions would surely prove to be useful later.

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