AWWEWNR Chapter 53

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Edward, who had seen all of Hanaella’s dark spells, gazed at her excitedly. 

 

When he mentioned that he would also like to see Madness and Dark Blade if he had someone to use them on, Hanaella said she would show him when she had a chance. 

 

This made the corners of his lips twitch upward.

 

“So, how do I pay for my next commission?”

 

Hanaella asks, and Edward stares at her. He’d already taken a liking to her, but then he remembered that she’d asked if she could meet Ron, and he thought for a moment.

 

It wasn’t like he had to keep it a secret that he was Ron, but it would be annoying in more ways than one if his clients found out. 

 

He was in it for the money, but the royals were his main clients, and if they found out his true identity, he would have to pick and choose his future clients.

 

Nevertheless, he was tempted to reveal his identity to Hanaella, partly because he was fascinated by the dark arts he had just witnessed.

 

“Lets each share one of our biggest secrets.”

 

“…What…?”

 

Hanaella asked, puzzled by the strange answer to her question about paying the commission.

 

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. For a fee, you will reveal one secret to me, Lady Hanaella. However, it must be the biggest secret you have.”

 

“…!”

 

“Then I, too, will confide my greatest secret to you, my Lady.”

 

‘What are all these ridiculous commissions…?’

 

“Of course, what we say here must never get out. It’s just between you and me.”

 

Hanaella stared at him in disbelief, but when she saw the seriousness in his expression, she understood why he was offering such a commission.

 

Ah… Duke Edward. He has a secret he has nowhere else to confide in, and he wants to confide in me on this occasion, a truth he could never divulge to his friends or his entourage. 

 

So, he wants to confide in me, a stranger. 

 

‘Is he going to tell me that he likes men, or is he going to tell me that he has an incurable illness, as Lady Jane said? Either way, I must comfort him with the most comforting words I can find.’

 

Hanaella nodded, thinking that Edward was making this suggestion because he was desperate to confide his heavy secret to anyone who would listen.

 

“Okay, then I’ll go first.”

 

Thinking that it would be better for Edward to tell her his secret first so that he would feel comfortable confiding in her, whether he was a snitch or into men, Hanaella told him Ariel’s secret.

 

“I can heal people who aren’t Knights with dark magic.”

 

Since he was Ron’s trusted confidant, she felt it was okay to tell him Ariel’s secret. 

 

I had come to think of Ron and Edward as being on the same side, and I had no doubt that if they knew about my secret, they wouldn’t tell anyone else. 

 

The fact that Edward wanted to share his secret with me made me feel like we were already on the same page.

 

“It’s an old family secret.”

 

Edward’s eyes widened at the unexpectedness of her words.

 

“It can only be healed by the union of bodies, and it heals any great wound.”

 

The healing magic has been passed down through the Ariel family for generations, but Hayden’s darkness, which leads the Knights, has suppressed it because it sees no reason to heal the common people. 

 

Hanaella tells him to keep the secret. Edward’s lips curl up in amusement when he suggests that he’s Ron, and unexpectedly learns a great Ariel family secret.

 

“So Ariel had a secret like that, I had no idea.”

 

Indeed, I had no idea.

 

When I started investigating the secrets of the nobility for Norwen, the corruption that had been passed down from one generation to the next was like candy to the next, even for those not under scrutiny. 

 

One day, I was commissioned to investigate corruption in the Cathedral and the Paladins, where I stumbled upon the secret of Ethan Verg Ariel of House Ariel, Hayden’s Darkness.

 

Jaina Sacred Rowander, one of the High Priests of the Cathedral. Ethan had known her for quite some time. 

 

It was clear that it was not just a passing affair, as she and the High Priestess of the Cathedral were still secretly seeing each other to this day.

 

Now that Hanaella had been born to Ariel, there would be no more children of the line, so there was no reason to withhold her existence from his daughter. 

 

However, out of respect for his late wife, Ethan seemed to withhold the story of his lover from those around him and Hanaella.

 

‘Perhaps it’s because she’s a person of the Cathedral.’ 

 

Edward thought back to Ethan’s behavior, and realized that if Tharrott had wanted to marry Hanaella, he would have sided with him and helped him do so. 

 

The union of his daughter with a paladin of the Cathedral would have provided an easy stepping stone for Tharrott to show his love for his beloved High Priestess.

 

“No wonder you don’t know, it’s a family secret that hasn’t been brought to the surface in centuries.”

 

Hanaella said, lifting her teacup and wetting her lips with the tea. Edward steepled his fingers and leaned forward slightly. 

 

Then he turned to Hanaella, who was setting her teacup down.

 

“By the way, what is this healing method?”

 

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Brandz stood in front of the mirror, changing into various slips and checking her reflection. 

 

Her father had sold his fortune and even his family title, and she had been a socialite who had abandoned all self-respect in favor of receiving support from various families. 

 

She had so little self-respect that she felt unattractive no matter what she wore.

 

Although I managed to get a few benefactors thanks to my non-stop tea parties, it wasn’t enough to pay off the debt my father had incurred. 

 

A good marriage would have been nice, but no nobleman was willing to pay the debts of the crumbling Count of Andredel for no reason, and certainly not within the confines of marriage.

 

Brandz was not an exceptionally charming individual, so seducing and marrying a wealthy nobleman would be fraught with difficulties. 

 

But Hanaella’s proposal was quite tempting. It was the same Tharrott, and if asked to spend the night with him, she would readily agree, even if she was offered nothing in return.

 

No longer was she a slave of Rosaryn, and she thought that if she did well, Tharrott, a man of justice and kindness, might be convinced by her one-night stand to help her out in her home. 

 

Or, if she was lucky, to marry him. 

 

Unable to imagine a relationship between Rosaryn and Tharrott, Brandz thought that if she became Tharrott’s wife, Rosaryn would no longer treat her like a maid.

 

‘No, that’s no good either, I need to be so beautiful that when I wake up, Count Tharrott will see me and swoop down on me, and for that I need something sexier and more revealing.’ 

 

Hanaella said I could just pretend I’d slept with him, but I’m not going to miss this chance, I’m really going to have s*x with him.

 

Suddenly, I remembered something I’d heard about at a tea party, about these ‘enchantment candles’ that are so popular with ladies these days. 

 

They were supposed to be scented candles that, when burned, would make you sexually aroused as if you’d taken an elixir.

 

‘Yes, let’s get a mesmerizing candle.’

 

Brandz hurriedly removed the slip she was wearing and changed into a dress.

 

💫

 

After explaining in some detail to Edward, who was showing interest in the healing process, Hanaella told him that it was now his turn.

 

“Now it’s your turn to tell me your secret, Duke Edward.”

 

‘Whether you tell me that you like men or that you don’t stand beneath there, I’m prepared not to be surprised, so go ahead and tell me.’ thought Hanaella. 

 

Hanaella’s eyes sparkled with anticipation. Edward smirked, thinking it was cute.

 

“Sure. I’m…”

 

As he watched her stare at him, a little nervously, he wondered, ‘What would her face look like if I grabbed her tiny little face in the palm of my hand and kissed her all over?’ 

 

I could almost see her sobbing with fear and shame.