The next day, at dawn. As discussed during dinner the previous evening, Trope’s group hurriedly left the Esper domain as soon as the sun rose.

Kalos stood with Jerdin on the western tower of the outer wall, silently watching Trope’s group quickly disappear in the direction opposite to the rising sun, kicking up a hazy dust cloud.

Soon, Trope’s group vanished from sight, but that was by normal human standards.

To the eyes of Kalos, the lord of the underground, Trope’s group was still clearly visible.

He had planned to eliminate them disguised as bandits if they showed any signs of strange behavior or attempting to take a different route, but regrettably, they were faithfully proceeding forward.

Since Irene said she saw that Liam priest’s eyes momentarily turn purple, he thought that guy might have extended his demonic influence to the other priests, but was that a misunderstanding?

Well, even Dewey said he couldn’t find any connection between that guy and this incident…

“You’re letting them go more easily than I expected.”

When Jerdin, standing a step behind, spoke up, Kalos only turned his head to look back at him.

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean? I’m saying it’s surprising that they’re leaving alive and well on their own two feet.”

Jerdin continued, stroking his chin as if reminiscing about the past.

“In the old days, those pigeons wouldn’t have even made it past the gates of Esper domain without getting their necks cut off. And even if they were lucky enough to get in, they would never have been able to leave on their own. But not only are they leaving by themselves, you even lent them carriages.”

When Trope’s group came to Esper domain, one carriage was enough, but for the return journey, they needed an extra carriage to transport Liam’s corpse and the restrained Polo.

While the dead Liam was one thing, there was concern about Polo escaping, so a special prison-like carriage with bars was necessary rather than an ordinary one.

Since such carriages couldn’t be obtained on the market, Trope had no choice but to ask Kalos for help.

Kalos, who was expected to refuse, surprisingly agreed to provide the carriage without hesitation.

“Why did you readily provide carriages to those guys, Master?”

“So they would leave as soon as possible.”

Kalos had immediately provided the carriages because he didn’t want the priests to stay in Esper domain any longer trying to find transportation.

“Then why did you let the priests return safely without killing them?”

“That’s…”

Kalos was about to answer but then narrowed his eyes.

“Why do I have to explain this to you in detail?”

“Come on, you can tell that much to your cute disciple, can’t you?”

“You? Cute?”

Kalos snorted at Jerdin’s joke and turned away. Now that Trope’s group had traveled far enough to be out of sight even for him, the lord of the underground, there was no reason to stay here any longer.

After descending from the western tower, Kalos immediately boarded the carriage waiting at the entrance.

Jerdin naturally followed Kalos into the carriage and sat opposite him.

With a clatter of hooves, the carriage set off.

Kalos, who had been sitting with his arms crossed and eyes closed, suddenly asked:

“The morning newspaper should be out by now, right?”

Jerdin, who had been looking out the window at the scenery, turned to Kalos and replied:

“Yes. I checked before leaving the castle, and they published the article as you instructed. Still, just to be sure, I’ll check again once we get back.”

Kalos nodded with his eyes still closed.

“I’d like to see the published morning paper myself.”

“I’ve already told them to send it via messenger bird. It will still take about two days though, so please wait a little. I’ll deliver it to you as soon as it arrives.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Kalos finally opened his eyes, frowning.

“Don’t tell me you’re planning to stay for two more days instead of returning to the Imperial Palace?”

“Of course. You weren’t planning to send me away right after I rushed here for over ten days, were you?”

When Kalos nodded as if asking why that was even a question, Jerdin exclaimed as if he had been backstabbed by someone he trusted.

“Wow, that’s too much. I know they say hunting dogs are eaten right after the hunt is over, but aren’t you discarding me too quickly?”

“I never discarded you.”

Jerdin was never Kalos’s subordinate or colleague to begin with, just someone he temporarily cooperated with for mutual benefit, so the term ‘discard’ wasn’t appropriate.

“Is it alright for the Crown Prince to be away from the Imperial Palace for so long?”

“Of course. His Majesty the Emperor is still in good health, so I don’t need to attend to state affairs, and it’s currently off-season for social events, so no special parties are being held. I can be away for a while. His Majesty even gave permission as long as I return before the New Year’s Festival.”

“What?”

Kalos asked back in an incredulous tone.

“You’re going to stay here for over two months?”

“Oh my, of course not. Calculating the time to return to the capital and prepare for the New Year’s Festival… hmm, about a month, I guess.”

Two months or one month. While Kalos didn’t dislike Jerdin, having him here was troublesome in many ways.

“Go back as soon as the morning newspaper arrives in two days.”

At this cold declaration, Jerdin pouted.

“It seems you don’t like me being here, Master.”

“It’s not a matter of like or dislike. There’s nothing good about a human staying in Esper Castle for too long.”

“But that woman has been staying for a long time… Ah, right. She’s not an ordinary human.”

Belatedly realizing his mistake, Jerdin scratched his head and glanced at Kalos’s expression.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to be in a bad mood…

“You’ll return in two days.”

…or so he thought, but apparently not.

Jerdin was about to apologize for his slip of the tongue, but Kalos closed his eyes as if he didn’t want to continue the conversation, so he had no choice but to keep quiet.

‘Looks like I’ll have to go back in two days without fail.’

If he insisted on staying longer at the castle, Kalos would dislike it.

Is there no way to stay at Esper Castle a bit longer?

Jerdin inwardly groaned and looked out the window. There, he saw Esper Castle standing majestically under the red sun that had just risen.

*

The physician who examined Irene said it was just indigestion and she would feel better soon after taking medicine, but just in case, he advised her to eat easily digestible foods like soup for about a day.

Faithful to those words, Jessie brought consommé garnished with egg yolk and a bread slightly smaller than a fist for Irene’s breakfast.

It was a somewhat disappointing breakfast, even though it was because she might have trouble digesting.

‘Disappointing?’

When she lived with her parents in the Silas domain, they usually ate worse meals than this, and often couldn’t even eat a proper bowl of consommé.

Yet now she thought this was disappointing. Irene chuckled softly. They say humans are adaptable creatures, and it seems she had already adapted to this luxurious lifestyle after just a few days.

Her body seemed to have adapted as well, as she still felt hungry even after breakfast. It was also because she had vomited everything she ate yesterday.

“You still don’t look well. Is the indigestion not gone yet?”

“No, I’m fine.”

But Irene didn’t ask for more food. It would be lunchtime in just a few hours, and she didn’t want to trouble Jessie.

“Then I’ll go to the library.”

“Ah! I’ll come with you, my lady.”

Since Kalos had sternly ordered Jessie not to take her eyes off Irene, Jessie stopped what she was doing and followed Irene.

Even after arriving at the library, Jessie didn’t leave Irene alone like before, but stayed by her side.

Irene wasn’t uncomfortable with Jessie being there, but she was uncomfortable with the reason why Jessie remained.

It was obvious that Kalos had assigned her to keep watch because of what happened in the hallway yesterday.

Irene thought it was natural for Kalos to be suspicious of her, but she still felt a little hurt.

…Though she didn’t know why she felt hurt.

“Haa.”

Feeling stifled by these inexplicable emotions, Irene sighed deeply and looked up at the bookshelf.

Now that the priests had left, there was no need to continue pretending to be Kalos’s lover, so there was no need to read romance novels about love anymore.

Although romance novels were interesting too, her preference was for books in the essay category. Philosophy was interesting as well.

Since she was in a gloomy mood, she wanted to read a book that suited her taste after a long time. As Irene carefully scanned the bookshelf, her gaze stopped on a basic magic textbook.

Irene recalled when she first met Dewey, he had asked if she could use magic, and earlier Jessie had told her to use magic as if it were natural.

‘Maybe I have some magical talent?’

She remembered reading somewhere that magicians could recognize each other’s talents.

Is that why they thought I could use magic too?

“Hey, Jessie…”

Irene was about to ask Jessie to make sure, but she was dozing off on the sofa.

It’s not urgent, so let’s not wake her up and ask later.

Before that, I should read the magic textbook too…

Thinking it wouldn’t be bad to read a basic magic textbook even if she couldn’t use magic, Irene took out that book.

*

Although she didn’t expect magic to be easy since it was an unfamiliar field of study she had never encountered before, even with a basic textbook, it was more difficult than she had anticipated.

The paper is white, and the letters are black. Someone’s famous quote became vividly real at this moment.

She wasn’t going to become a magician, and it wasn’t even certain if she could use magic, so if the basic magic textbook was this difficult, most people would have given up reading it.

But Irene didn’t give up. Rather, she borrowed the magic book, burning with determination to finish reading it. The room was more comfortable than the library, and Jessie seemed bored staying in the library, so she borrowed the book to return to her room.

“My lady, what is that?”

On the way back to the bedroom, Jessie, who belatedly noticed the book Irene had borrowed, asked.

“This is…”

As Irene was about to answer and ask what she couldn’t earlier, footsteps were heard from the other end of the corridor.

“Well, well, who do we have here? It’s the little lady.”

It was Kalos and Jerdin. Jerdin greeted her cheerfully, even waving his hand, but Irene’s eyes were fixed only on Kalos.

“…”

Kalos also stopped when he spotted Irene. Jerdin, who stopped alongside him, asked Irene:

“Where are you headed? Going to the dining hall for lunch?”

Irene, who only now noticed Jerdin, shook her head.

“No. I’m going to my room.”

“What about lunch?”

“I’ll have it in my room…”

“Let’s eat together.”

Before Irene could finish speaking, Kalos interjected. The attention of everyone in the corridor, including Irene, turned to Kalos.

However, Kalos looked only at Irene as he repeated:

“Let’s have lunch together.”

While Irene had eaten dinner with Kalos many times, this would be the first time having lunch together.

Even though it was just eating together, it felt unfamiliar, perhaps because the time was different.

It was always awkward to sit and eat with Kalos anyway.

“Do you not want to?”

Of course she didn’t want to.

“No, I’ll eat with you.”

But since the other party was the Grand Duke of Esper, Irene couldn’t bring herself to refuse and accepted.

All the while thinking about how much of the digestive medicine prescribed by the physician she had left.