Chapter 17: Dissatisfied Darling

“The flavor isn’t bad at all.”

As Darlian softly murmured to herself, her peripheral vision caught Ailus, who had been hesitating since earlier.

“What is it? You can just say it.”

“…Actually, Miss Finihiya also thinks the cookies are delicious.”

Ailus’s words made Darlian’s slender, willow-like eyebrows lift slightly. “Then why?”

Ailus shook her head faintly, signaling that even she didn’t know.

Seeing this, Darlian popped the half-eaten cookie between her fingers into her mouth, chewing as she pondered this small yet perplexing doubt.

“I see.”

Darlian stood up and headed toward the door.

“Darlian-sama?”

Ailus’s confused voice came from behind.

“It’s too stuffy to stay here. I’ll go out for a walk.”

With her usual slightly cold tone, Darlian replied before opening the door.

Thinking back, the Saintess’s behavior by the lake late at night had been somewhat strange.

Rather than aimlessly wondering what was wrong, she decided it was better to ask directly.

Finihiya’s residence was the adjacent mansion—luxurious but colorless, as if drawn with black ink.

Darlian followed the rosemary-lined path straight there.

“Darlian-sama!”

After giving a slight nod to the Demon Soldiers guarding the mansion, she walked down the gray corridor to the door of the room deep inside.

Knock, knock…

After two light knocks, the door slowly opened.

A face as delicate as a porcelain doll peeked out.

Today, Finihiya wore a little dark dress reminiscent of the night.

The chest featured a strap design, with French lace faintly revealing the snow-white skin beneath, and around her slender neck were several layers of rose-like necklaces.

“Da…Darlian-sama.”

“Good evening, Miss Saintess.”

Her sudden appearance seemed to surprise Finihiya, whose pale face showed an expression of incredulous confusion.

“Good evening.” Finihiya straightened up and gave a polite bow. “Darlian-sama, coming so late—may I ask if there’s something you need?”

“I have a few questions for the Saintess.”

“Darlian-sama, may I ask—”

Noticing Finihiya still blocking the doorway without inviting her in, Darlian’s normally impassive and indifferent expression shifted subtly.

Sigh.

“May I come in and sit for a while?”

“R-right now?”

Seeing the hesitation and unease on Finihiya’s milk-white face, Darlian’s inner suspicion deepened.

Maybe it was just a feeling.

Why did the Saintess seem to guard herself like a thief?

Or…

Was there some unspeakable secret hidden inside?

With this thought, Darlian forced a faint smile to dispel her doubts.

“Yes, Miss Saintess, is there something inconvenient about it?”

***

After hesitating and struggling for a moment, the Saintess stepped aside, giving her room to enter.

The room’s decor matched the mansion’s style—colorless and dull, with a stagnant atmosphere.

After scanning the room, Darlian slowly walked to the grayish-white wooden table.

“Don’t be so nervous…”

Just as Darlian thought to say something to soothe Finihiya’s obvious anxiety, her eyes accidentally caught the food arranged on a tray atop the small table.

She picked up the black bread on the tray.

The texture between her fingers felt like gripping a hard stone.

The surface of this “stone” was covered with many tiny white “fuzz.”

The meat soup next to it didn’t need to be smelled up close; the rancid stench, like that of a sewer, invaded her nostrils from afar.

Darlian’s finely arched brows instantly furrowed deeply.

“Darlian-sama, you want to say someth…”

“What is this?”

Before Finihiya could finish, Darlian cut her off, motioning with her chin for an explanation about the pig’s food on the table.

Though she already suspected the answer, she still wanted to hear it from Finihiya’s own mouth first.

“…Hmm?”

Finihiya didn’t answer but tilted her head in puzzlement.

Perhaps she thought this food was something she had ordered arranged.

Thinking this, Darlian closed her eyes lightly, exhaling a stifled breath from her glossy lips before restraining her emotions and returning to her usual slightly cold expression.

However…

Beneath this familiar calm lay simmering anger.

“Someone!”

Raising her voice slightly, Darlian called out to the hallway outside with a voice full of authority and severity.

“Darlian-sama!”

Two Demon Soldiers hurriedly entered the corridor outside, kneeling on one knee, awaiting orders.

Darlian’s cold gaze fixed on them as her slender middle finger tapped the wooden table, the sound like the sigh of the dead.

“Who is responsible for serving the Saintess?”

“Miss Luna.”

“I see. Bring her here, and also Atena.”

“Yes!”

The soldiers quickly stood and left the room.

Silence returned to the small bedroom as if nothing had happened moments before.

Darlian sat at the wooden table, grabbed the teapot’s handle, and poured tea into a cup.

She took a small sip of the dark tea, still warm, then looked at Finihiya standing across the room.

At this moment, Finihiya lowered her eyebrows, her gaze drifting as she weakly said:

“Darlian-sama, that’s… the cup I drank from.”

“Is that so.” Darlian replied flatly, “I don’t mind such trivial things.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Darlian realized she might have misunderstood, and her brows twisted slightly.

“Miss Saintess, could it be that you have… a cleanliness obsession?”

Noticing Finihiya’s guilty averted gaze, Darlian felt something subtle rise within her.

Just as she was about to change the subject, voices came from outside.

“Darlian-sama! We have brought Miss Luna and Lady Atena.”

At this, Darlian gently put down her tea cup, a trace of displeasure flashing in her eyes before she responded in her usual tone.

“Let them in.”

The door was pushed open once again.

Dressed in maid attire, Luna and Atena, clad in an officer’s uniform, knelt hurriedly on the light brown carpet.