Chapter 365: Already Been Negative Distance, Still Not Close?

As everyone was left speechless, Yuri from the First Knight Order looked directly at Shien.

“You are Viscount Shien Buztout, right?”

Yuri addressed Shien by his title.

“I am.” Shien also looked at him, glancing at the obedient First Knight Order knights and the silent Lim, asking curiously, “And you are?”

“My apologies.” Yuri calmly introduced himself. “I am Yuri Stalim, the Knight Commander of the Stalim Duchy.”

“So, you’re the Knight Commander.” Shien acted surprised, but then said with a smirk, “Then, Duke Stalim is your…?”

“He is my older brother.” Yuri didn’t hide anything and even gave Shien a meaningful look. “Therefore, Lim is my nephew.”

Shien naturally understood what he meant.

He was indicating that he was on Lim’s side.

And since he was on Lim’s side, if Shien opposed Lim, he was opposing him as well.

Of course, on the surface, Lim didn’t act hostile towards Shien.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, Shien.”

Lim finally smiled at Shien.

His smile seemed harmless, as if he had met a close friend, full of warmth.

Clearly, after seeing Shien arrive and during the moment of silence, Lim had adjusted his mindset and suppressed his hostility towards Shien.

“I didn’t expect to see you here either, Master Lim.” Shien returned a big smile. “The last time we met seems to have been when Lucy and I went out to do some business, right?”

The corner of Lim’s mouth twitched slightly.

The reason was simple: Shien had emphasized the words “Lucy” and “business.”

Those who didn’t know the situation might have some wild imaginations, suspecting that Shien and Lucy had gone to do something together.

At least, everyone present felt that way, their expressions turning interesting.

Surely, they knew who Shien was referring to when he mentioned “Lucy,” right?

If they didn’t even know the name of the Kingdom’s treasure, they wouldn’t deserve to be called humans.

Lim’s friendly smile became somewhat strained.

However, he also knew that Shien was deliberately provoking him.

Therefore, Lim suppressed the hostility that almost surged up and smiled at Shien.

“You have a poor memory.” Lim reminded him kindly. “Our last meeting should have been at your ennoblement banquet, right?”

At that time, Lim had indeed been present, and even Barry had attended, but they hadn’t spoken to Shien.

Shien first acted as if he suddenly remembered, then seemed a little embarrassed.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t notice.” Shien said apologetically. “You know, at that time, all the members of the royal family were there, and I was busy entertaining Lucy, so I couldn’t take care of too many people. Please forgive me.” R𝘼𝐍ȰВƐŝ

These words almost caused Lim’s suppressed hostility to erupt, accompanied by raging anger.

Once again, Shien had emphasized the words “Lucy” and “entertain,” making it sound like he had done something special with Lucy, fueling people’s imaginations.

This made Lim want to curse.

It was obvious that Shien was deliberately using Lucy to provoke him, mentioning her name constantly and acting close and intimate with her. No matter how much Lim tried to restrain himself, he couldn’t help but want to explode.

Yuri, standing beside him, saw everything clearly. Seeing that his nephew could no longer maintain his smile and his face had turned extremely ugly, he gave Sona a look.

Sona immediately understood.

“Hey, brat, don’t push your luck!” Sona stepped forward and shouted at Shien, “You’re just a viscount. Don’t address Princess Roselucia so casually. That’s disrespectful to the Princess and the royal family!”

Sona looked displeased with Shien.

But before Shien could speak, Yuri spoke first.

“Don’t say that. Viscount Buztout has a good relationship with Princess Roselucia. With the Princess’s magnanimity, it’s normal for her to allow him to address her casually in private.” Yuri said, then smiled at Shien. “However, Viscount Bezute should also be careful. It’s fine in private, but you can’t be so casual in public, or people will suspect that you’re using the Princess’s name to bully others.”

These words sounded like well-intentioned advice, but they were actually sarcasm.

He was implying that Shien was using Lucy’s name to bully others here.

Unfortunately for him, when it came to sarcasm, Shien had never been afraid of anyone.

“Is that so?” Shien acted as if he had been enlightened, saying with shame, “In that case, I’ll remember to tell the Princess next time. I’ll tell her that the Stalim family doesn’t want me to address her casually, so it’s better to take back her permission for me to address her informally, to call her by her name, and to not worry about status differences. Otherwise, I, a mere viscount, can’t compete with a Duke’s family.”

Shien’s words made the Stalim family members’ expressions change slightly.

If Shien really did that, the Princess’s impression of the Stalim family would plummet.

They were hoping to marry Lucy into their family, thereby allowing the Stalim family to return to the royal capital and re-enter the Kingdom’s center of power, hoping to one day regain the throne and fulfill their centuries-old ambition.

Therefore, they had to try their best to avoid anything that might lower Lucy’s opinion of them.

Although Shien didn’t know about this, he knew that these guys definitely didn’t want to offend Lucy and make a bad impression on her.

So, Shien made up a bunch of nonsense and successfully fooled them.

Lim was the first to speak.

“You’re being too serious. We were just casually mentioning it.”

Lim chuckled awkwardly.

“…Since the Princess has given such instructions, we naturally won’t interfere.”

Yuri also said after a moment of silence.

However, they felt frustrated.

Shien’s behavior, to put it bluntly, was like tattling.

As prominent figures in the Stalim family, Yuri and Lim had to bow their heads to such “tattling.” How could they not feel frustrated?

As for Sona, he felt even more frustrated.

In his eyes, Shien was just someone who was using the Princess’s name to bully others. He couldn’t understand why Yuri and Lim were so wary of this person.

(Just because he has some connection with the Kingdom’s treasure, there will be a day when you cry.)

Sona believed that Shien must have become arrogant because of his relationship with Lucy. But in reality, was it possible for the Kingdom’s treasure to truly be close friends with a viscount?

Absolutely not!

(He must think he can win the beauty’s heart and climb up the social ladder, not knowing that the Kingdom would never marry their most outstanding genius in a thousand years to a low-ranking noble of adventurer origin.)

Sona felt that Shien would eventually fall from grace and had no right to act so arrogantly.

Therefore, Sona was very displeased with Shien and looked down on him. If Yuri hadn’t stopped him, he wouldn’t have minded teaching this guy a lesson.

Shien’s gaze swept over the three of them, as if he could see their frustration. He smiled knowingly, as if adding insult to injury.

“Since you all say so, then forget it. I also want to get closer to Lucy. I can’t let some trivial matter affect our relationship.”

Shien’s cheerful words made Yuri, Lim, and even Sona clench their fists.

If they could, they really wanted to punch that hateful smiling face.

Especially Lim, who felt extremely uncomfortable hearing Shien’s words.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

If he could, he would kill Shien right now.

Get closer?

Affect their relationship?

This was like rubbing salt in Lim’s wounds.

However, now wasn’t the time to act against Shien.

Even if Shien was alone, who knew what that Demon Lord would do if something happened to him here?

Lim could only endure.

Endure!

Lim once again practiced the art of being a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

If Shien knew how Lim was feeling at this moment, he would happily tell him,

“You know, when you pretend to be a pig, you eventually become one. If you keep enduring, you’ll really become a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.”

This poor young master didn’t know that Shien and Lucy were already close enough.

They had already shared a bed, how could they not be close?

They had already been negative distance, how could they not be intimate?

This scheming guy actually thought his family could win Lucy’s hand?

“He must be dreaming.”

Shien couldn’t help but say these words, making everyone stunned.

“I mean, you’re all good people. If there’s a chance in the future, I’ll treat you all to peaches.”

Shien quickly smiled at Lim and the others, but his words made them feel like something was wrong.

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on this.

Capeline, who had been silently observing Shien and his interaction with the Stalim family, finally spoke.

“Why are you stopping us from going in?”

Capeline, as if looking at a rival, stared at Shien and asked aggressively.

“Do you know what’s happening inside?”

Hearing this, Shien’s smile vanished. He no longer had the same attitude he had towards Lim and the others.

This was only natural.

Shien still had some interest in playing with Lim and the others.

But for this somewhat neurotic Imperial Princess, Shien only had one thing to say.

“So what if I know? Why should I tell you?”

Shien said bluntly.

“You…!”

Capeline was furious.