Latifa looked at him with a suspicious gaze.

“If I really call you by your name, wouldn’t that be disrespectful?”

“Hahaha! That’s a funny joke. Well, others might find it disrespectful! Ahaha!”

Hades burst into laughter, finding something amusing.

‘What’s so funny about it?’

Latifa, who sometimes couldn’t understand his sense of humor, muttered quietly as she watched him laugh heartily, clutching his stomach.

“Hades?”

“……!”

Suddenly, Hades stopped laughing abruptly and stared at Latifa. His black eyebrows twitched, shooting up on one end.

‘Is he still too arrogant?’

Quickly, Latifa added a respectful title, “General.”

This time, with a blink along with his other eyebrow, Hades’ expression seemed even more irritated than before.

‘Not this either?’

Then again.

“……Hades.”

“…….”

“General?”

Upon Latifa’s prompt use of the title again, Hades looked at her strangely, then started laughing again.

“Phew. Puhahaha! Ahahaha! Hahaha!”

“Why are you laughing!”

At Hades’ loud laughter, the desert fox nestled in Latifa’s arms was startled, waking up abruptly and darting away somewhere.

Hades extended his hand, gently stroking Latifa’s silver hair that flowed down, and looked at her with a small smile.

“Just Hades is enough, Latifa. My blue gem. You should hurry and go through the coming-of-age ceremony. Right?”

For some reason regaining his appetite, Hades suddenly turned towards the stadium.

“Now, I’ll put on clothes this time, so count again. Then you can count properly.”

Hades picked up the white amafu top and the remaining clothes he had thrown aside, then grabbed the fallen sword from the ground and resumed his training.

“Ah. It feels disappointing once I put it on.”

Latifa sighed with regret, keeping a close eye on him and diligently counting the number of swings.

Amira Shadi.

She was the youngest daughter of the affluent Shadi Trading House, with three older brothers.

Even the parents treated her like a princess, given her status as the only daughter in the family.

Moreover, she was known for her confident personality, beautiful appearance with long, flowing chestnut hair, and slightly rough temperament.

If one added a little more to the story, people in Grand Bazaar often said that only Hades Caleb Ignite could handle her personality.

“A crazy person should be matched with another crazy person.”

Although women were inherently difficult to handle and one should not even think about taming them, their belief was that like should be matched with like, leading to the idea that dogs should be paired with dogs and sheep with sheep.

However, Amira wasn’t as malicious or wild as Hades.

Just.

Crash!

“I’m sorry, miss! We did our best, so please forgive us!”

On the beautifully crafted tile mosaic floor of Amira’s huge private living room, a gorgeous golden censer had overturned, sending ashes flying.

“If you’re sorry, then what?! Our efforts? The process doesn’t matter! What’s important is the result! If the result looks like this, why should I forgive you?!”

“T-That’s…… Miss, surely you know about General Hades’ exploits, too.”

“That old woman is just a slave from a fallen country! Just a slave prisoner with silver hair like the elderly!”

Crash! Thud! Thud!

Amira threw everything visible around her, including crystal candy bowls with beautiful lattice patterns, perfume bottles with large jewels embedded in the lid, a large book with golden binding, and even a lamp filled with oil.
The maidens lowered their heads sadly, gazing at the lamp oil seeping into the expensive wool tapestry hanging on the wall.

“She is also a Frau of General Hades… revered as the goddess of Caleb.”

At these words, Amira turned her eyes sharply and raised her voice.

“The idea of opening the coming-of-age ceremony to a prisoner is truly vulgar! Reckless! Truly…!”

Amira was in a state of immense anger, making it difficult to continue her words.

“Hades would never have such thoughts! It’s all the cunning scheme of that wicked empire’s woman to deceive him, the innocent!”

Although the maidens widened their eyes at the term ‘innocent him,’ they couldn’t say anything.

“Kyaaaah!”

Finally, Amira screamed, falling to the floor and starting to cry, sprinkling the ashes fallen from the censer on her head.

On her delicate neck, there was a faint mark that wasn’t easily noticeable but was a scar from a wound she received in the past. It was a wound caused when she tried to impose a betrothal with Hades, holding a knife to her throat but got injured in the process.

Since then, she considered the scar, stitched with three needles, an emblem of eternal proof that her future husband had engraved upon her.

Her brothers and parents always told Amira, “Whatever you want, seize it in your hands.” She never doubted the truth of those words.

Indeed, she had lived with everything she wanted in her hands.

Except for one thing.

The crazy dog of the Grand Bazaar, Hades Caleb, whom she wanted desperately.

“Amira, what’s going on!”