Chapter 66
Kallion suppressed his anger and suspicion and tried to think rationally.
“The carriage is waiting outside.”
At Layla’s urging, Kallion finally moved his feet, which had felt nailed to the floor.
From some distance away, Juliana quietly watched his retreating back.
Juliana was also aware that the atmosphere in the estate had been unusual these past few days.
But because she was still merely a guest of Baldomer, no one came forward to tell her what was happening in the estate.
Not even her husband, Kallion.
Well, there was no point expecting anything from him in the first place.
If they had no intention of telling her, she could simply remain ignorant.
She didn’t particularly want to concern herself with matters unrelated to Denion anyway.
* * *
“It’s an honor to have Baldomer’s heir come all the way here in person.”
As expected, the person greeting Kallion was Silverstel’s second son, Lloyd.
Kallion had deliberately left even Layla in the carriage before entering, and now he glared at Lloyd as though he wanted to kill him.
This was still Baldomer territory.
It was the temporary residence Silverstel had established in the Baldomer region for the mine bidding.
The journey from Silverstel to Baldomer took a full week, so in a way, it was only natural.
And the man overseeing the mining project as Silverstel’s representative.
Seeing Lloyd sitting before him with a relaxed smile when Kallion wanted nothing more than to tear him apart made his insides boil.
“Are you planning to summon the Dark Spirit?”
Kallion was said to possess the most powerful ability of any Baldomer in history.
Perhaps because of that, even though he wasn’t actively using his power, dark violet energy rippled around him as though resonating with his emotions.
Unlike Kallion, who openly radiated murderous intent, Lloyd remained infuriatingly calm.
But Kallion instinctively knew he wasn’t an easy opponent.
If he used his ability here and Lloyd retaliated, the entire area would be devastated.
This was unquestionably Baldomer territory.
He couldn’t allow Baldomer’s lands and people to be harmed.
Forcing himself to calm down, Kallion sat on the sofa across from Lloyd and glared at him with dark, subdued eyes.
“The bid for the diamond mine. Do you intend to proceed with it?”
Lloyd leisurely crossed his legs.
“The mine auction is entirely open to whoever wishes to participate. I don’t believe Baldomer has the authority to tell us what we can and can’t do.”
“It’s a mine put up for sale by one of Baldomer’s vassal houses. Under normal circumstances, Baldomer intended to reclaim it without difficulty.”
“The problem is that I learned about that plan, I suppose. I merely entered the auction through legitimate means.”
At Lloyd’s voice, so calm that it barely rose or fell, Kallion ground his teeth.
He clenched and unclenched his fist for a long while, enduring the anger, before finally speaking in a tightly suppressed voice.
“That information. Who did you hear it from?”
Lloyd’s icy blue gaze met Kallion’s dark eyes.
Lloyd stared at him with an expressionless face that seemed coated in frost and asked indifferently.
“Who do you think I heard it from?”
Kallion felt as though he had been caught in a spiderweb.
The more he struggled, the tighter it wrapped around his limbs.
“Did you hear it from Juliana…?”
“……”
There was no immediate answer.
Lloyd continued staring at Kallion with an unreadable, expressionless face.
Was it Kallion’s imagination that he sensed strange anger in that gaze?
“Is that what you think?”
Kallion frowned when Lloyd answered his question with another question.
Lloyd looked coldly at him, then suddenly let out a twisted scoff.
And just as quickly, his expression turned icy again as he continued indifferently.
“That’s right. I heard it from Madam.”
Kallion froze as though stunned.
He hadn’t expected the man himself to confess so readily.
He had expected him to evade the question somehow, yet the answer was shockingly honest.
“I don’t know whether it matters who I heard it from, but what you’re thinking is correct.”
Kallion needed to say something, yet his lips wouldn’t move.
All he could do was clench both hands so tightly that the bones stood out.
“Are you certain…?”
The shock was so great that informal speech slipped out before he realized it.
“Ask her yourself.”
At those words, Kallion could no longer help believing it.
Juliana had leaked Baldomer’s information.
He had already suspected as much to some extent, yet strangely, all the strength drained from his body.
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