“Planning, Damia? As you know, I only assisted ‘Father’ in his business.”

Of course, Cesare was not easily shaken and spoke of her father in a counterattack against her.

“In the meantime, I’ve talked to Father about your recent behavior. Oh my, Dami, how can you spread your legs to such a promiscuous man?”

“…..”

“Father didn’t like it very much,” Cesare added, pretending to be regretful. Damia bit her lips gently.

Her relationship with men, the fact that it entered her father’s ear, was awful and embarrassing. Damia did not want to disappoint her father, who was one of her only remaining blood relatives. Cesare knew that and must have been aiming to try and hurt Damia.

‘Then I succeeded.’

Damia held her head up high even though she wanted to cry. Cesare was trying to rile her up and distract her from the main point. She didn’t fall for provocation and just steadily looked at him.

“Don’t talk nonsense. I know everything. About the ‘things’ Brother brought from the temple.”

For a flicker of a second, Cesare’s relaxed face hardened.

“What do you mean? All I brought from the Temple is the accounting book. I can show it to you if you want.”

Cesare immediately recovered his poker face and spoke casually, but Damie could tell. Cesare’s eyes, glancing at her face, were unsteady.

‘I’m not sure what to say. I don’t know what I’m really talking about.’

Of course, Damia didn’t know what those’ things’ were. She was only pretending to know. Fortunately, she still had more information she had overheard in the locker in her arsenal.

“What do you mean, only ledgers? Brother.”

Damia grinned as she looked at his face stained with lies and masks.

“I don’t think you can feed my friend accounting books, right?”

Cesare’s expression completely disappeared. Damia’s last hand was very effective. Even if she used it, without knowing the power, the fact changed.

“Leave Cecil alone —and me, too.”

Confident of victory, Damia warned him for the last time. Cesare was still silent. His face, shadowed by the moonlight, was strangely creepy, and Damia got an ominous feeling.

“If you have nothing more to say, please leave my bedroom.”

“…and if I don’t want to?”

Finally, Cesare spoke. At a shallow glance, it seemed to be a joke with his gentle smile.

But behind that smile, the tension snapped and broke through. Damia instinctively moved away to get away from him. At the same time, she issued an ultimatum at Cesare.

“Get out! Or I’ll scream.”

“You’re going to scream? Oh dear.”

He grabbed Damia’s neck like a bolt of lightning. The grip would be able to snap her fragile neck in an instant.

Feeling a sense of crisis, blood drained out of Damia’s face. Cesare smiled happily, looking down at her face white as a sheet of paper in the dark. Then he groped Damia’s neck and pressed down on the round vocal cords that looked like peach seeds.

Damia gasped as she felt her throat pressed. Fortunately, she was not being suffocated, but her voice did not come out.

“Shh. Don’t be afraid, Dami. I can’t hurt you. I just want to give you some advice. As your brother, no matter what.”

Cesare’s voice was creepily sweet. It wasn’t the voice of a man holding someone else’s neck. Damia felt an even greater dread of danger when her heart heard it.

“Oh, lovely Damia, I don’t care who you play with. Just because there’s some dirt on the jewelry doesn’t mean it affects the price. If you brush it off and get rid of it, everything is fine.”

Isn’t it? Whispering, Cesare grazed Damia’s neck with his thumb as if he were ecstatic. Then he kissed her on the back of her hand while clenching her neck. Staring into her eyes as if he wanted to kiss Damia directly but wouldn’t dare.

“But not just Akkard Valerian. He’s too annoying. You don’t know what he’s hiding, do you?”

It was a strange nuance. As if Akkard approached her because he had something to do with her.