CHAPTER 35
The moment I heard the news that Duke Allois Gravius had summoned me.
"That son of a bitch did?"
"...Your words are much too harsh."
The curse slipped out before I could even think, ending up flustering Ares.
But I couldn't help it.
Duke Allois was one of the worst ill-fated connections for me, Ceres.
Duke Allois. As one of the Empire's great power holders, her official appearance wasn't until the very latter half of the story.
Before that, she was only mentioned or made brief cameos.
It was a late introduction, but she definitely stamped her presence into the story.
'To bring such a walking disaster into my home. Alios, have you truly lost your mind?!'
While Ceres was dragged away by Sibylius and subjected to biological experiments.
Alios barely managed to track down the location, rescued him, and brought him to her home.
She kept it a secret to prevent others from stealing him and hid him in the family mansion.
But there was no way the true master of the house, the current Duke, wouldn't find out, and she reacted hysterically.
It wasn't an incomprehensible reaction.
Her daughter had gone crazy because of Ceres.
And by secretly bringing him home, they risked incurring the wrath of the Emperor, Viol, who was obsessed with him.
She had every reason to hate him, but she took it too far.
'When I think about the state of the country because of this bitch, I want to kill him with my own hands right now!'
She threatened to kill Ceres.
'Get this whore out of my house right this instant!'
...She even treated him like a whore. It was the first time Ceres had ever suffered such an insult.
While Ceres stayed at her mansion, she cursed at him like this.
She was the person responsible for tormenting him and providing all the angst for the final arc of the story!
So how could I possibly have anything nice to say? Even with Ares right in front of me, I couldn't calm down.
"Why is someone who would hurl curses at a dying patient just because she's in a bad mood, someone with absolutely zero class despite being a Duke, summoning me?"
"...Ceres, it seems I've cursed that woman out in front of you way too much."
Ares wasn't on good terms with the Duke either, but she looked a bit taken aback by my overreaction.
"She said she wanted to invite you to her mansion regarding the matter with Sir Alios."
Ares showed me the letter the Duke sent.
Stripping away the typical aristocratic flowery language, the contents could be summarized like this:
[It's me, you little shit.
Does being the Empire's greatest beauty make you blind? Seducing my daughter to work her like a dog?
Because of you, my daughter has become your servant and fallen out of favor with the Emperor.
So if you have a shred of conscience, shouldn't you at least show your face?
Run over here right now. If you don't, I'll make you regret being born!]
...That was the gist of it. I wasn't just interpreting it badly because I had a grudge.
"That damn woman should manage her own daughter better. How dare she send such a letter to my son!"
Ares couldn't hold back her anger and cursed when she showed it to me, even though she had already read it.
"Ceres, I showed it to you because it was addressed to you, but there's no need to comply."
Ares said, visibly displeased.
"No matter if it's the Gravius Dukedom, she can't just order you around like this."
"But they're a lot more powerful than us, aren't they?"
"It's different now."
Ares drew Black Pain with her right hand and flared her Aura over it, but...
"But doesn't she have the justification here? It's true that Alios caused a scene and went through a lot of trouble because she was hanging around me."

Ares fell silent.
It was a fact that Alios had fought Viol in front of everyone and ended up in a difficult position because of me.
This had caused damage to her entire family, so the justification was indeed with Allois.
"Then are you planning to accept the invitation?"
"I suppose I have to."
If I refused when they had the justification, it would cause a controversy in high society and damage my reputation.
Besides...
"The Duke is someone I've been wanting to meet at least once anyway."
I wanted to see the person who tormented Ceres in the original story with my own eyes and deal her a blow somehow.
Plus, right now, she wasn't someone I couldn't handle.
"Ceres, it might be dangerous. Are you absolutely sure you want to go?"
"It's fine. I have my newly acquired exclusive knights, don't I?"
"...Ah."
Ares opened her mouth as if she hadn't thought of that.
A little later.
"Lord Ceres, did you call for us?"
The Death Knights, having received their orders, all came to see me.
Instead of their usual armor, they were wearing the armor issued to the knights of our territory.
They had become my subordinates, but I couldn't exactly reveal the fact that they were Death Knights.

Fortunately, they all retained their appearances from when they were alive, so we faked their identities by claiming they were newly hired knights meant to escort me.
"I need to go somewhere for a bit. Could you come with me?"
"Of course. If it is a place Lord Ceres is going, we will accompany you even if it is hell itself."
Niobe stepped forward to speak on their behalf.
Because there were eyes watching, I had them call me by my name instead of 'Holy King', and they adapted well.
"However, even if it is hell, we could prepare better if we knew where it was beforehand. If it is not an intrusion, please tell us where we are going."
"The Gravius Dukedom."
"The Gravius Dukedom?"
Seeing Niobe's look that seemed to ask why we were going there, I gave a brief explanation.
I told her that the daughter there liked me too much and caused an incident because of it, so the Duke had summoned me.
"Ah, I see. Well, Lord Ceres is incredibly beautiful, after all."
"There were originally many beauties among the royal family, but you are unrivaled even among them."
"It is a beauty to be proud of, but it will be a problem if it causes disturbances like this."
The Death Knights all seemed to accept it, agreeing that it was completely understandable for someone like me.
"With my status, it shouldn't be a problem to bring about a dozen attendants. I'll be taking all of you, so get ready."
"Understood."
The Death Knights packed their things. I was also about to get ready to leave, but...
"Mother, what are you doing?"
I was dumbfounded to see Ares mingling among us and getting ready to leave as well.
"I'm just worried about you..."
"I'm going with a Sword Master and a dozen Aura Experts right below her level. What is there to worry about?"
I stopped the overly anxious Ares and had her send a message to the Dukedom that we were on our way.

Duke Allois Gravius was a woman who had everything.
She was a wealthy Duke of the Empire, and her personal abilities were outstanding as well.
The looks that earned her praise in high society during her youth remained unchanged even now that she had aged.
Wealth, honor, fortune—the Duke lacked nothing. Her only concern had been an heir, but that had been resolved.
Alios Gravius.
Her one and only daughter didn't just meet her expectations; she far exceeded them.
A refined appearance and a brilliant mind. She always maintained a polite demeanor but also possessed deep cunning.
And surpassing all of this was her talent—reaching the level of a fully-fledged Sword Master by her mid-twenties!
Allois had been immensely proud of this daughter, a monster who transcended mere genius.
"Alios, do you really want to see your mother go crazy?!"
She would have still been proud if only Alios hadn't completely changed after falling for Ceres.
'Is this... is this really my daughter?'
Allois, who had visited Alios's room, was dumbfounded, as if she had seen the unbelievable.
The room was filled with Ceres.
She had custom-ordered a ton of clothes similar to what Ceres wore and hung them on racks.
Dolls presumably modeled after Ceres were piled up like a mountain.
As if that wasn't enough, she was painting a portrait of Ceres.
"Argh, no! I can't capture Ceres's beauty with something as pathetic as this!"
Displeased with her work, she tore it up and started a new painting. She had already done this dozens of times.
'How can a person change this much?'
Originally, her daughter had been a frugal woman, uncharacteristically so for a Duke's heir.
She was the type of person who spent most of her day training in a room equipped with only the bare minimum necessities.
But after falling for Ceres, she had become a completely different person.
'She took the family's heirlooms to offer to that man, and now she's turned her room into this mess!'
She still remembered. When she was told not to come around for a while because he needed to rest at his own estate.
Her daughter, banned from seeing him, acted like she had lost her soul before suddenly starting to make dolls and paint pictures.
That was when she first learned that her daughter was actually good at making dolls and painting.
At least she couldn't make clothes, so she had them custom-ordered.
They were made to look as similar to Ceres's usual attire as possible, which cost an exorbitant amount of money.
She wouldn't listen even when told to stop this nonsense. Allois had come to stop her today too, but was completely ignored.
"Alios, haven't you painted enough? To my eyes, it's already pretty enough."
"No, not at all! Mother, you just don't understand because you've never seen Ceres in person!"
Did she change her class from Sword Master to artist or something?
The Duke was so dumbfounded by her daughter speaking with such terrifying intensity that she gave up on stopping her again today.
At that moment, a servant entered.
"Duke, a message has arrived from the Count's estate. They have accepted the invitation and will be arriving shortly."
"...Summon the vassals."

Allois spoke quietly so as not to be heard by her daughter, who was engrossed in painting, and slipped out of the room.
"From this moment on, we will hold a strategy meeting regarding that damn Ceres Whiperion."
Allois, having gathered her vassals in a quiet place behind her daughter's back, declared with grim resolve.