An Extra Who Wants To Escape The Obsessive Male Lead - Chapter 116.2
Chapter 116.2
Rick asked, rubbing his knee.
‘Could that clatter really have been him falling?’
Finally, I had to ask.
“Argenta seems a bit…excitable today.”
Rick shook his head, his movements quicker and lighter than usual.
Now that I thought about it, Vielle and the maids had also moved differently. Startling at nothing, the maid with the pitcher was surprised by its sudden lightness…as if they’d all become suddenly stronger or lighter on their feet.
“Outside, you too, Rick, and the other maids… has something happened?”
At my words, Rick’s face hardened for a fleeting moment before softening again into a bright, almost radiant smile.
“Nothing at all!”
He bowed his head as he spoke, then accidentally nudged the door closed with his elbow.
“Oh dear.”
A mistake he would never normally make. As he quickly grabbed the handle, my eyes widened.
“On your cheek… is that a burn?”
A red, angry mark bloomed near his cheekbone, possibly even blistered.
“Ah, that.”
Rick, uncharacteristically flustered, quickly recovered his cheerful demeanor. And then…
“…I was playing with fire and got a bit distracted.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Really?”
“Yes! I was making a prop and had a little mishap!”
‘…Sir Nirua’s prop?’
I pictured Rick holding a flame to his face and tilted my head. Something felt very wrong. Was this even a remotely believable excuse? However, his face was genuinely bright, practically glowing.
“…Just go back to your duties.”
Since it seemed unlikely I’d get a straight answer from Rick, I dismissed him.
“I apologize for the disturbance, Madam. I’ll warn the others to be more careful.”
He quickly closed the door and disappeared.
I frowned.
* * *
“Whew.”
Rick exhaled, uncharacteristically breathless. Since the night before, a strange energy had been coursing through him. He’d always possessed magic, but now it surged, amplified as if someone had poured oil onto a flickering flame.
This change had swept through all of Argenta the previous night.
‘My magic feels…strange. It’s surging.’
‘You too?’
‘…You too?’
Only the head of Argenta could influence the magic of everyone within its walls. And the head, they’d been told, was spending time with their Madam.
‘Could it be? Could it really be…?!’
Smiles had bloomed on the faces of the Argenta residents. And that night, while their beloved madam slept soundly, a series of minor accidents occurred.
A burn on the cheek from misjudging a flame was commonplace.
A scorched patch of garden here, a singed piece of furniture there. They were simply adjusting to their suddenly amplified magic. Increased strength and agility led to minor mishaps left and right.
‘…What in the world is everyone doing?’
The commotion, both large and small, eventually roused the head from his slumber.
This was what Diello saw, a maid incinerating a tablecloth while trying to extinguish a small flame with her magic; an informant burning himself while showing off his newly empowered, flaming sword; and even Rick, his second-in-command, failing to control a simple flame.
‘….’
Diello, knowing the reason for his lilies transformation, couldn’t have been unaware of the cause. He finally pressed a hand to his forehead.
“It’s because of the lilies.”
“I-It would seem so. Apparently…”
It was common knowledge that a head’s power fully awakened only when all three of his lily petals faded. However, with a lily as potent as Ferro’s, sometimes changes manifest with each fading petal. In addition, this level of change was unprecedented.
Diello pinched the bridge of his nose.
“So everyone knows what happened last night…”
A smooth smile played on his lips at the confirmation of his lily losing a petal, but his expression quickly turned cold.
“She’ll be embarrassed, so pretend you don’t know.”
Diello’s command rang out.
If his wife knew that all of Argenta was aware of the faded petal, aware of their intimate night, she would undoubtedly be mortified.
‘And if that makes her hesitant to spend time with me…’
Rick clearly heard the head’s low murmur.
“If anyone causes the madam stress regarding the lilies…”
Diello let the threat hang in the air, his gaze chilling, before turning and leaving. The remaining Argenta residents shivered.
“….”
Rick’s face paled as he recalled the previous night.
‘Regardless, absolutely nothing happened in Argenta. Nothing at all, I tell you!’
He thought, his lightened steps carrying him swiftly down the hall.
‘Congratulations, you two!’
He grinned, breaking into a run.
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