I Picked Up a Witch With Amnesia

5. A Conflict Named Desire – 04

“Duke Estelle. It’s been a while. My name is Bianca del Castana, who is in charge of this delegation.”

The moment I entered the drawing room, what I felt was that the entire drawing room smelled of a subtle scent and that a beautiful woman with red hair was welcoming me as if she were the owner of the place. Of course, among the people of the Marquis of Castana, there was only one person who could say ‘It’s been a while’ to me.

‘Bianca del Castana.’

Sunset-colored hair that seemed to be on fire, and red eyes that looked like rubies were inlaid. A beautiful face, as if a first-class engraver put all his heart and soul into modeling. Everywhere I looked, it was the same as the ‘Bianca del Castana’ I remembered. As I tried to stare at that face that hadn’t changed at all from the appearance 10 years later, the imagining that that woman, like me, might have returned to 10 years ago passed through my head.

“…Yes, it’s been a while. Rain, no, Lady Castana.”

Looking at Bianca like that, I almost called her ‘Bianca’ instead of ‘Lady Castana’ without realizing it. It was because I was so used to calling that girl by the name ‘Bianca’.

And the moment I bowed my head toward Bianca as I accepted her greeting, I witnessed it. Bianca, who was staring at me with a proud face, smiled softly, albeit for a very fleeting moment.

“…..”

…Did you know that Bianca could smile like that? I always thought of her as a woman who only knew how to make an innocent smile. I wonder if the Bianca of 10 years ago had a fairly normal personality.

Whether or not she knew what I was thinking, Bianca looked at me and started to open her mouth with a serious expression.

“Duke Estelle. Do you know why the Marquis of Castana sent an envoy including me to the Duke of Estel?”

“Aren’t you here to solve the problem related to the kitelene ore found in the fault zone without any noise?”

“Yes, that’s right. As the Duke knows well, Kittelen Ore was found in the fault zone that can be said to be the boundary between the Marquis of Castana and the Duchy of Estel. It is a situation in which the treasure is found in an ambiguous area, neither morally nor legally, where either of the two families cannot hastily claim ownership of it. Really, it can’t be a troublesome situation.”

After saying that, Bianca let out a deep sigh that seemed exaggerated to anyone.

“Our position is very simple. Since kitelen ore is an indispensable catalyst in the production of artifacts, they want to proceed with negotiations in the direction of recognizing the ownership of the ore even at a loss. It’s just a very simple story. Isn’t that so?”

“…that makes sense. Lady Castana.”

As Bianca said, a very simple story was true. However, it is a story under the premise that the Castana marquis will not use any tricks against us.

“I will make a proposal as I have been entrusted with full authority by the head of the Castana Marquis family. As much as we want to obtain the intact form of kitelene ore, we want to get full control over the entire process, from mining to processing of the ore. In return, I would like to know what the condition is for the Castana marquis to hand over 15% of the net profit they will get from Kittelen ore.”

“…you mean 15%?”

In an instant, Bianca’s remark made me widen my eyes without realizing it. 15%? You’re going to give 15% of the net profit from kittelen ore to the Duke of Estelle? Are you saying that while the Castana marquis mines kitelen ore, processes it into artifacts, and even sells it to all continents, the Duke of Estelle can receive 15% of the net profit just by sitting still?

‘…Am I crazy?’

Does it mean that the heads of the Marquis of Castana and other top heads have all gone crazy?

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My heart started racing when I heard Bianca’s proposal. 15% of the net profit, I don’t know, but it must be an enormous amount that easily surpasses the total revenue of the Duchy of Estel for a year.

…But I couldn’t hastily say ‘I’ll accept the offer’ to Bianca. Conditions were so good. I mean, it was so good.

Also, wasn’t the relationship between the Marquis of Castana and the Duke of Estelle close enough to have such a good deal going back and forth? No matter how much I thought about it, it seemed all too obvious that there was an insidious scheme behind the deal Bianca proposed.

“…umm.”

That’s how I was at the moment when I couldn’t accept Bianca’s proposal hastily and was just groaning.

“…Hmm, do you think 15% is not enough? Well, you might think so.”

Seeing that I couldn’t come up with an answer because my head was so confused, Bianca began to say something incomprehensible.

“Then how about 20% of net profit? At this level, I think it’s an amount that even the Duke of Estelle would be satisfied with.”

“…20%?”

“Yes, I don’t intend to add any conditions to the Duke of Estelle. Oh, apart from that, please keep in mind that I could ask you a few ‘small’ favors…”

But unfortunately, Bianca’s behind-the-scenes words did not reach my ears.

‘Oh My God.’

20% of net profit, I have no intention of adding any conditions. The moment I heard that, I forgave Bianca for everything she did to me. Yes. everything was a double track. The fact that Bianca yearned for me countless times in the future and shuddered with the damn plague must have been an epic foreshadowing for this moment.

I was guessing that this f*cking woman couldn’t be of any help in my life, but I was too hasty to judge. I ended up seeing an illusion as if a ray of dawn was shining on Bianca. I involuntarily opened my mouth and tried to say that I would accept the offer. However-

“…..”

The knights of the Marquis of Castana, who were standing behind Bianca, looked at me with displeased eyes, as if they were dissatisfied with the content of the previous negotiations. Well, I can understand how they feel. The head of the side who gave 20% of the net profit without any conditions was strange, but it would be a very normal reaction to be dissatisfied with Bianca’s decision.

I wanted to pluck out the eyes of those who dared to stare at Duke Estelle with cheeky eyes, but I decided to forgive them with a generous heart. After all, those guys couldn’t do anything except stare at me.

Like the pocket money I earned from a duel with Lucian the other day, and the ‘friend fee’ he gives out in return for staying here, it seems like the goddess of luck has been smiling at me lately. When I look at Bianca, feeling much better, Bianca smiles softly at me.

“Duke Estelle, I am speaking as an extension of the previous story.

“…just the two of you?”

It was quite embarrassing to have a conversation with Bianca alone and with no one else. Of course, I ‘forgave’ Bianca, but that and this weren’t entirely separate things.

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My body still hadn’t forgotten the abuse Bianca had inflicted on me. When I looked at Bianca with a somewhat confused expression, she looked at me with a rather pitiful expression and asked for another request.

“Yes, I think it’s a bit of a burdensome story for other people to share in so many places. Wouldn’t it?”

“…..”

…I hope something doesn’t happen. It’s not anywhere else, it’s our home. She probably wasn’t crazy enough to mess with someone else’s house. maybe.

“You do.”

With that said, I accepted Bianca’s offer. without any thought. naively.

****

I led Bianca to the flower garden located behind the main castle. Since the nature of the Duchy of Estel was an old castle that had been built for hundreds of years, it had a fatal flaw in that the soundproofing was not so good.

Even so, I couldn’t go into a sloppy room that wasn’t even ready for entertainment to share a little secret story, so I chose to go to the flower garden and talk. If it is open in all directions and the surrounding scenery is clearly visible, someone else will not be able to sneak up on us and overhear our conversation easily.

“…beautiful.”

Bianca muttered in a low voice as she looked at the well-organized garden. It was as she said. On one side of the garden, golden waves made of canola flowers were rolling, and on the other side, pure white daffodils and magnolias were showing off their silvery appearance. It was a fantastic sight, as if silk threads of gold and silver were spun and embroidered on the garden itself.

“This garden was created by my mother with great care. She loved flowers.”

It was one of the few hobbies my mother had. He did not instruct the gardener to decorate the garden, but he was the kind of person who liked to pick up a trowel and plant flowers himself, so it was possible to create such a beautiful garden.

“…I see. Mother…”

After hearing my explanation, Bianca suddenly lowered her head solemnly. I don’t know why, but the words I just uttered must have touched some of her dry sensibility.

“Then, Lady Castana, explain what you want to talk about just the two of you…”

It was then. Bianca turned her gaze to me and then gently shook her head.

“There are only two of us now, so please don’t call me by such a formal title. Can’t I just call you Bianca, like before?”

“…As before?”

“Yeah. When we were kids, we called each other by our first names. Don’t you remember?”

I remember. But wasn’t that just a story of an immature childhood? But since Bianca had already rushed in, I couldn’t even extend myself to use an honorific title, so I sighed softly.

“Yes, Bianca. Long time no see. About 10 years?”

“No, to be exact, it’s been 9 years, 3 months and 11 days. We haven’t seen each other since Count Roberta’s wedding day.”

“…how on earth do you remember that?”

I knew that the race of wizards was incredibly smart, but I never imagined that they would carry a clock and calendar in their heads.

“It’s strange that you don’t know. I’ve always remembered.”

Bianca speaks to me in an arrogant tone for some reason.

“…yes, I hope you’re smart.”

I’m stupid, so I don’t remember that.

“So, what was the matter that you wanted to talk to just the two of us?

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My guess was that it would be a sequel to the story of the past, where they teased me with candy coating, saying that they would give me 20% of the net profit. No matter how much I thought about it, it was clear that there was a trap hidden in the conversation we had just shared.

“…Heh, you’re a guy who doesn’t have a mood. You’re too impatient. It’s a bonus that you’re stupid enough to not recognize that men like that aren’t very popular in the world these days.”

Bianca, who sneered at me as she said that, soon hardened her expression into a serious expression.

“Okay. Since you want, I’ll talk about that first. Just before, I said that I would give 20% of the net profit to the Duke of Estelle without any conditions. Strictly speaking, that’s not true.”

“…What?”

“Kain, didn’t you expect it too? Didn’t you have doubts that the conditions presented by us were too good? No matter how stupid you are, I thought you would have that much intelligence.”

“…..”

…Well, of course, I was expecting it as well. In the first place, the relationship between the Duke of Estelle and the Marquis of Castana was not strong enough to allow such a lucrative deal to come and go.

“Then why did you say that in the drawing room just now? How many ears have heard the conversation between us, and now you think that changing the proportions will make sense?”

“Ha, Cain. You still have a bad habit of not listening to people. What I’m talking about is not the ratio. It’s the ‘condition’ side.”

“…Condition?”

What kind of conditions are you going to put on now?

“Then why are you bringing up a story in a place like this where the two of you are alone without talking there?”

“That’s right, I’m asking you personally, not the Duke of Estelle. Also, since it’s a personal matter, I didn’t have the slightest desire to let others know. It’s just a story.”

“…..”

At Bianca’s words, I involuntarily frowned. It seemed certain that the story that would come out of that girl’s mouth was something that would tire me out considerably.

“Don’t be so scared. It’s not such a difficult request.”

Saying that, Bianca gave me a giggling smile.

For me, why is that smile considered only ominous?