Volume 4, Chapter 3-1 – Poaching Talent

Franleya had her arm linked through Stella’s as she led her through the crowd toward a terrace in the corner of the reception hall.

The night breeze lifted their hair, silver-red strands intertwining with pale pink beneath the moonlight and giving off a soft sheen.

Without letting anything show on her face, Stella tried to pull her arm free.

Franleya tightened her hold.

“…”

Stella gave up.

She turned her head and glanced at the girl beside her.

Truth be told, Stella felt a little guilty.

After all, she really had done a few bad things to Franleya.

She had crawled under her bed, used the Eye of the Black Mass to counter her dream, and even placed a compulsory command on her forbidding her from telling anyone about it.

But thinking about it another way, Franleya was also at fault.

Putting aside the fact that Stella had sneaked into Franleya’s room, didn’t Franleya, as the host, bear at least some responsibility?

If Franleya hadn’t insisted on dragging her into some game, would Stella have needed to use the Eye of the Black Mass on her afterward?

She had only been defending herself!

Besides, the main responsibility obviously belonged to Remedios. If Remedios, her dear best friend, hadn’t screwed her over, would Stella ever have run into Franleya just as she was preparing to go to sleep?

‘Mm!’

‘The source of all these sins was Remedios.’

After reasoning things out according to that logic, Stella instantly stopped caring.

Why did she need to be afraid of Franleya? Hadn’t she only crawled under her bed once? Hadn’t she only countered her illusion once? Hadn’t she only given her one compulsory command?

‘Franleya had brought it all on herself!’

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‘Self-defense!’

‘I’m innocent!’

‘What can you possibly do to me!’

“What are you thinking about?” Franleya asked softly. “You suddenly look very confident.”

“Nothing.”

Stella’s expression did not change.

“Really?” Franleya tilted her head and leaned a little closer. “I thought you were worried about whether I’d tell anyone your secret.”

“…”

Before Stella could speak, Franleya casually swirled the wineglass in her hand, then reached for the glass of juice on the small round table on the terrace and took a sip.

“Please, are you really that unconfident in your own abilities?”

She put the glass down and looked at Stella.

“Back then, you broke through my dream as easily as could be, then imposed a commandment on me forbidding me from spreading the word.”

Franleya suddenly smiled.

Like a cat.

“Isn’t that right, ‘her daughter’~?”

Franleya’s voice was very soft, yet there was not the slightest hint of muddiness in it. Even without raising her voice, every word reached Stella’s ears with perfect clarity.

Stella did not speak. Her gaze fell on the glass in Franleya’s hand.

“That was my glass just now.” Stella said bluntly.

Franleya froze for a moment, then silently put the juice back where it had been.

“So what if it was yours?” Franleya tilted her head and asked softly.

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Her movements remained perfectly composed, but her face slowly began to turn red.

“…”

Franleya’s shamelessness left Stella completely speechless.

Clearly, Stella was the one who had held the upper hand in every possible way, so why was Franleya acting as though she had absolutely nothing to fear?

Vivian had said Franleya’s personality was interesting, but Stella thought it was downright awful.

Stella did some simple calculations.

If Franleya’s race were changed to human, she would at least be a hundred-year-old woman.

Why didn’t she have even the slightest bit of the steadiness an elderly person ought to possess?

If Stella herself lived to a hundred, she definitely wouldn’t have the leisure to run around teasing young girls all day.

She would have found somewhere to lie down and bask in the sun ages ago.

“I somehow feel like you were thinking something terribly rude just now.”

Franleya narrowed her eyes slightly.

“Forget it.” She said, taking a sip of red wine. “We’ll have plenty of chances in the future. I won’t tease you today.”

Stella frowned slightly.

“Plenty of chances in the future?” she asked. “What do you mean?”

“Hm?” Franleya cocked her head. “Don’t you know?”

“Know what?”

“Vivian didn’t tell you?”

Stella grew even more confused.

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“Tell me what?”

Franleya froze for two seconds. Her left cheek puffed out, her mouth twisting toward the upper left, then her right cheek puffed out, her mouth twisting toward the upper right.

Then she finally failed to hold back her laughter.

“You seriously don’t know?” She laughed so hard her body trembled. “Something this important, and you seriously don’t know?”

Franleya could not stop laughing.

She was so delighted that her eyes looked exceptionally bright, as though the sun had been born within a lake.

Stella had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Once Franleya had laughed enough, she finally straightened up.

Looking at Stella’s bewildered face, she felt a surge of satisfaction at having successfully pulled off a prank.

Before coming to the banquet, her mother had personally told her that she was going to meet her fiancée. When she heard those three words, she had been stunned for several seconds.

At first, she hadn’t known who her engagement partner was either.

That was also why she had frozen when she realized that the person her mother was introducing her to just now was Stella.

Who could have imagined that the little succubus who had been curled up beneath her bed not long ago, shattered her dream, and even forcibly altered her cognition was actually the marriage partner her mother had arranged for her?

The person she was supposed to marry in the future.

And this little succubus was even the Pale Lord’s daughter.

This was far too interesting.

Even more amusing was that Stella herself apparently had no idea about any of this. She was completely in the dark.

Franleya thought it over.

Part of Vivian’s reason for deliberately hiding it from Stella was probably that she wanted to tease her daughter too, but as a sly old fox, Vivian was likely only treating the marriage alliance as a bargaining chip. The fact that she had not announced it publicly also made it obvious that she had no intention of making Stella take it seriously. Her idiot mother was probably the only one who had taken the whole thing seriously.

“Franleya?” Stella blinked in confusion. “What exactly are you laughing about?”

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Franleya restrained her smile. Although her laughter gradually subsided, the amusement in her eyes probably would not fade anytime soon.

‘Should I tell Stella?’

If she told her, it wouldn’t be fun anymore.

Franleya made up her mind. She wanted to see just how long it would take Stella to find out. Until then, she was going to tease her properly and avenge her previous humiliation.

As for getting married…

Franleya had no such plans.

Even if it was a marriage alliance arranged by her mother, she would not agree so easily.

She was the Young Miss of Belphegor, a higher Nightmare who wielded authority over dreams. How could she possibly just marry someone so casually?

Her plan was to find an opportunity to play with Stella until she got bored, then dust herself off and leave.

‘Of course, if I didn’t get bored…’

‘Whatever. We could talk about that when the time came.’

‘For now, I will just keep playing.’

“Nothing.” She said. “I just think you’re very cute.”

“???”

Translator Note

Cute ><