“Master?”

Dewey, who was following behind, called out curiously, but Kalos didn’t answer.

All his attention was focused on the shadow he had attached to Irene.

Her bedroom was so thoroughly secured that not even an ant could pass through, so there was no way an enemy could have entered.

Worried that something might have happened to her, he was relieved to find that she had simply fallen asleep.

The source of the dull sound was from a book she had dropped while sleeping.

Kalos let out a small chuckle, amused at his own behavior while feeling relieved.

From the start, it was foolish to attach a shadow to Irene when he was in such a weakened state that he couldn’t even repair the barrier himself and had to ask Hwidor for help.

Perhaps that’s why his left leg still hadn’t returned.

Perhaps.

“…”

As Kalos’s gaze turned to his left leg, Dewey’s followed.

“Master…”

As Dewey’s expression clouded with emotion, Kalos clicked his tongue briefly and turned his head away.

“Fortunately, it seems the territory restoration is progressing smoothly.”

Blatantly changing the subject, Dewey tried to calm himself and replied.

“Yes. As you can see, the territory restoration is going well, but the problem is finding the culprit who released the magical beasts. With the attention of not only the empire but the entire continent focused here, if we don’t find the culprit quickly, strange speculations will run rampant. Of course, there are already plenty of strange rumors circulating.”

“Strange speculations?”

“That the Foyeon incident was a mistake by the Esper family, and they’re trying to create a non-existent culprit to cover it up… Something like that.”

Kalos snorted.

“It seems people have nothing better to do.”

“It can’t be helped. People naturally love to gossip about others.”

Dewey let out a short sigh.

“Before these strange speculations grow like a snowball, we need to catch the culprit quickly and resolve this… It’s a big problem.”

If he didn’t know who the culprit was, Dewey would have urged Kalos to find them quickly, or gone to search himself.

Unfortunately, knowing who it was and realizing it was someone he could never catch or find on his own, Dewey trailed off without saying more.

Silently watching the buildings being rebuilt, Kalos abruptly spoke.

“I’ve already taken care of that part, so there’s no need to worry.”

Dewey’s eyes widened.

“You’ve taken care of it… Don’t tell me you plan to publicly announce that person as the culprit?”

Kalos chuckled and asked in return.

“Do you really think that would be possible?”

“Ah.”

Belatedly realizing how foolish his question was, Dewey scratched his head with an embarrassed smile.

“I apologize. In my surprise, I misspoke.”

“No need to apologize.
It’s understandable.

“More importantly, has there still been no reply from Hwidor?”

“No. When I left the castle, there was no reply. The door hasn’t opened either.”

“Is that so?”

Seeing that Angeleia had returned, it was certain that the other party had received the letter, but it was strange that there was still no reply.

Surely that guy didn’t ignore my letter, did he?
That’s not like him.

“I’ll have to send another one.”

There was a very important issue that needed to be resolved quickly, so he couldn’t just wait for a reply indefinitely.

Kalos hurried his steps, thinking he would send another letter as soon as he returned to the castle.

*

When Kalos returned to Esper Castle after finishing his inspection of the territory, the sky was tinged with red sunset.

“What would you like for dinner?”

“I’ll skip it today.”

If Irene had been awake, he would have eaten with her, but she was still sleeping.

He didn’t particularly feel like eating, and there were more important matters, so Kalos headed straight to his office.

Jessie appeared before him and handed him a letter.

“A reply has come from Hwidor, Master.”

Finally, it’s here. Kalos immediately checked the letter.

I thought he wrote it himself, but it seems a subordinate wrote it.

Kalos read the contents of the letter carefully.

There was a lot written in detail, but the main point was just one thing.

They didn’t know why he had called for him, but they had a lot to do here too, so they asked to send the lord back quickly.

In other words, it meant that guy, Abel, had already departed.

Usually, one would adjust their schedule and send a reply first stating when they would arrive, but judging by the anxious letter from the subordinate, it seems he left abruptly.

“That’s just like him.”

Kalos let out a slight smile and turned to Dewey.

“Abel will be here soon, so make preparations.”

“Yes.”

Dewey, who already knew Abel was coming, answered calmly.

“What?”

Jessie, who knew nothing, asked in surprise.

“Are you saying the Lord of Blue is coming here?”

The underground lords were given nicknames based on their hair color and abilities.

Kalos, with black hair and the ability to control shadows, was called the Black Lord.

Abel, with blue hair and the ability to freely manipulate water, was called the Blue Lord.

“That’s right.”

“Why so suddenly…”

“I called for him.”

Jessie’s eyes widened. It was surprising enough that Abel was coming to the Esper territory in the human world, but it was even more shocking that Kalos had called for him.

Did something happen?

“It’s simply because I have a favor to ask, so there’s no need to worry.”

Kalos spoke as if he had read Jessie’s mind.

“I see.”

Jessie replied that she understood, but couldn’t shake off her worried feelings.

The Kalos she knew wasn’t the type to ask for favors or rely on others.

He usually tried to solve things on his own without receiving help from others as much as possible.

But calling Abel, the lord of another territory, all the way to the human world to ask a favor meant that a big problem had arisen that Kalos couldn’t possibly solve with his own power.

Given the timing of the call, it seemed related to the magical beast riot…

Jessie glanced at Dewey. He seemed to know something, so she decided to ask him discreetly later.

Kalos folded the letter and put it in his pocket, then walked down the corridor.

Jessie, who followed behind him, began her report.

“The young lady called for a doctor around lunchtime. She was worried that something might be wrong with her body because she’s been sleeping a lot more lately. Of course, the doctor found nothing wrong and said that the increased sleep was likely due to weakened vitality, so he would prescribe some medicine.”

Kalos continued walking and ordered Dewey.

“When the doctor brings the medicine, check that there are no problems with it.”

Dewey immediately replied that he would do so.

Jessie’s report continued.

“The young lady seems to want to keep learning magic. She’s been studying books diligently on her own, but magic is difficult to study alone, so she seems to be struggling. Why don’t we assign a magic tutor for the young lady?”

Kalos asked Jessie in return.

“Who are you suggesting as a magic tutor?”

“Hmm.”

Jessie pondered while glancing at Dewey.

Immediately grasping the meaning of that glance, Dewey dismissed the idea.

“I won’t do it. No, I can’t do it. I’m already so busy with my current work that I don’t have time to teach magic to the young lady.”

“Can’t you spare just an hour a day?”

“No.”

As Dewey firmly refused, Jessie pouted but also nodded in understanding.

She knew well how busy he was with his existing duties plus the Foyeon incident.

What should we do then?

As Jessie was pondering, unable to think of a suitable person to teach magic to Irene besides Dewey, her gaze suddenly turned to Kalos.

If there was someone who could be trusted to take care of Irene, it would be…

“How about you teach the young lady yourself, Master?”

She asked Kalos, but the one who answered was Dewey.

“What nonsense are you talking about? How can the Master teach the young lady?”

“Why not? The Master taught the young lady etiquette before, so I think he could teach magic well too.”

“No way. The Master is busy.”

Jessie glared at Dewey with raised eyebrows.

“The Master hasn’t said anything yet, so why are you deciding on your own?”

“Because it’s obviously not possible.”

“That’s why I’m asking why you’re deciding that on your own.”

“When the result is so obvious, there’s no need for the Master to answer.”

Kalos, who had been silently going his own way regardless of the two arguing, stopped.

Dewey and Jessie, who stopped with him, realized that where Kalos was standing was in front of Irene’s bedroom and blinked their eyes wide.

I thought we were going to the office, when did we come here?

Anyway, he must have come to see Irene, so Jessie reported somewhat awkwardly.

“The young lady is sleeping right now.”

“I know.”

Huh? How does he know that?

Ignoring the puzzled Jessie, Kalos opened the door.

His hand on the doorknob was careful, lest he wake Irene.

As Dewey tried to follow Kalos into the bedroom, Jessie grabbed his arm.

“What are you doing so thoughtlessly? Just stay here.”

“What?”

As Dewey looked at her in confusion, Jessie told him again to stay here.

Meanwhile, the bedroom door closed, swallowing Kalos.

“…”

Irene was sleeping stretched out on the sofa.

Kalos approached the sofa, trying to minimize his footsteps, and took in the sight of Irene sleeping peacefully.

He slowly traced her features – the long eyelashes resting on her cheeks, her straight nose, her small and cute lips – before letting out a hollow laugh and running his hand through his hair.

“What am I doing?”

If someone were to ask Kalos why he came here, his answer would be ‘I don’t know.’

When he received the letter from Hwidor and no longer had a reason to go to his office, his feet naturally led him to her bedroom.

It’s not like he had any particular business here.

It was quite absurd that he came here even though he knew through the shadow that she was sleeping.

“…”

The fact that he couldn’t take his eyes off her even in this situation was also incomprehensible.

If this had happened only once, he would have dismissed it as a simple whim, but since it wasn’t, it was even more perplexing.

I should stop wasting time and leave.

Just as Kalos was turning to leave.

“…Your Excellency?”

Irene, who had woken up at some point, called out to him in a low voice.

Caught off guard by the unexpected event, Kalos was momentarily flustered, but quickly turned to face her with a calm demeanor as if nothing had happened.

A strange silence fell between the two.

Grumble—

What broke that silence was none other than Irene’s stomach.

“…”

As her stomach growled loudly, failing to read the situation, Irene’s face turned red in an instant.

On the other hand, Kalos smiled faintly as if he found the situation amusing.

Then, adjusting the snow-white fur that had slipped off her small shoulders, he said,

“Let’s go have dinner.”