Also, he can’t eat with his clothes all dusty, so Carlos and Irene decided to meet again in the restaurant after 30 minutes.

Returning to his room to get ready for a bath, Carlos undressed and paused as he looked at his semi-transparent left leg and left hand.

“… I forgot.”

He was so surprised by Irene waking up that he had completely forgotten about his current physical condition.
The left leg could be concealed when wearing pants, but the problem was the left hand.

Fortunately, the hand most frequently used was the right one.

“Should I wear gloves?”

It wasn’t considered good manners to wear gloves while eating, but there was no choice.

It should be fine to handle things a bit roughly since it was only a minor injury.

“…”

Carlos silently stared at his transparent left hand for a moment and then reluctantly tucked it into the glove.

After quickly washing up and coming out of the bathroom, Carlos, Jessie, who was waiting, picked up his clothes.

Jessie’s expression was unusually bright, as if everything about the territorial issue and Carlos’s problem had suddenly become much better.

Carlos, who had been in a bit of a crisis these past few days, was puzzled by Jessie’s sudden cheerfulness and asked, “Is something good happening?”

“Of course!”

When Carlos looked at Jessie as if asking, ‘What’s so obvious?’ Jessie replied, and Carlos gazed at him with a somewhat troubled look.

“What is it?”

“Miss woke up!”

Jessie’s mouth went up as high as the sky, as if he didn’t know when to stop.

“In other words, it means that Master can now receive Miss’s help. How can I not be happy about that!”

Now that he mentioned it, he did say something like that.

The violet eyes that gazed further away trembled slightly.

“Right.”

There was a somewhat disturbing tone in Carlos’s voice.

“Really fortunate.”

But lost in joy and relief, Jessie didn’t notice that.

When Irene arrived at the restaurant, Carlos was already there.

Lunch was already prepared.

“Did I come late?”

“No, you came on time.”

Well, that’s a relief…

Irene sat on the chair vacated by the maid and looked across.

It was always Jerdean’s seat, but not only was it empty, but it wasn’t even set.

“Is His Highness not joining us for lunch?”

Jerdean always tried to attend whenever such a gathering took place.

When Irene asked, Carlos, holding a glass, replied.

“He went back.”

“What… Ah, did he return to the palace?”

“Yeah.”

I see. Jerdean went back to the palace.

Well, it had been quite a while since Jerdean came to Esper Territory, so it was time for him to return.

As it happened while Irene was unconscious, she couldn’t properly bid farewell or express her regrets, so she twirled her fork, feeling a bit disappointed.

“Is it regrettable that the Crown Prince isn’t here?”

When Carlos accurately saw through her feelings, Irene smiled awkwardly and nodded.

“Yes. We became somewhat close during magic lessons, so I feel a bit disappointed.”

“There’s no need to be disappointed. You’ll see him again soon.”
“Ah, is His Highness the Crown Prince returning to Esper Territory?”

In response to the innocent question, Carlos smiled, put down his glass with a clink.

“Aren’t you thinking of going to the capital or the royal capital?”

“Me?”

Unless she ran away, Irene thought she would never leave Esper Territory in her lifetime. However, when an unexpected story came up, Irene was surprised and asked in shock.

Carlos looked at her with curious eyes.

“Is that so surprising?”

“No, it’s just…”

As Irene hesitated, her gaze fell on Carlos’s left hand.

While the right hand was without a glove, the left hand had one on. Moreover, Irene thought that it was customary to remove gloves during meals.

Sensing Irene’s gaze, Carlos lowered his left hand slightly and said, “Injured my hand.”

For a moment, worry crept into Irene’s eyes that had been filled with puzzlement.

“Are you okay? How badly are you injured? If you’re wearing a glove to conceal it, isn’t it a severe injury? Shouldn’t you get it treated?”

“Stop.”

Carlos interrupted the barrage of questions, raising his right hand.

“It’s not a severe injury, and I’ve already treated it appropriately, so there’s no need to worry about it.”

Actually, he was planning to treat it from now on.

“So, I was wondering, could you lend me your hand for a moment?”

“Here you go.”

Although it was a somewhat unexpected request, Irene extended her hand without hesitation, trusting that Carlos wouldn’t do anything bad or strange.

“…”

Carlos glanced at Irene’s hand, which still had clear traces of being scratched, then lightly held it.

“Ah…!”

At that moment, her body lost strength, and everything in front of her eyes turned white.

As her unbalanced upper body seemed to sag forward without strength, Carlos hurriedly supported her.

“Are you okay?”

The long eyelashes that drooped down trembled. The unfocused pupils stared blankly into space.

“Hey.”

“…”

“Irene.”

Belatedly regaining her senses, Irene blinked her eyes slowly.

“What just happened?”

“Hah.”

When Irene managed to speak properly, Carlos finally let out a sigh of relief, but he frowned as if something didn’t sit right.

“Something urgent came to mind, so it seems I won’t be able to have lunch together. See you later.”

And with that, he quickly left the restaurant.

Left alone, Irene followed Carlos’s footsteps in bewilderment.

“…”

After leaving the restaurant, Carlos took off his gloves and checked his left hand.

The hand that was blurry until a while ago now had a clear form.

While the left leg was still the same, the left hand had undoubtedly returned to its original state.

“It’s back.”

Dewey, who was following Carlos, rejoiced at seeing his hand.

On the other hand, Carlos, staring intently at his left hand that had returned to its original state, spoke to Dewey.

“I need to send a messenger to Hwido… Fuidor.”