“My lady. It’s time to wake up.”

“……”

Waking up to Jessie’s gentle voice and the touch shaking her body, Irene slowly opened her eyes.

Seeing Irene’s bloodshot eyes from not sleeping properly, Jessie let out a small cry.

“Oh my. What’s wrong with your eyes? Is it an eye infection?”

As Jessie fussed about needing to call a doctor immediately, Irene waved her hand.

“It’s not an eye infection, I just couldn’t sleep well. I’ll be fine after resting a bit.”

“How much did you toss and turn for your eyes to get like this?”

“I wonder.”

Irene awkwardly smiled, unable to truthfully speak about what happened in the early hours of the morning.

That smile faded as memories from dawn, momentarily forgotten in her sleepy state, began to resurface vividly.

“…I asked first, you know.”

Flustered yet indignant at the returned question, Irene protested in a small voice.

Then Kalos, with a rare smile, said this:

“Since you asked first, you should answer first.”

What an utterly absurd thing to say.

Though Irene looked at him with an extremely dumbfounded expression, Kalos did not yield.

“Then I’ll expect an answer.”

“……”

Just what kind of answer are you expecting?

Irene wanted to ask, but missed the timing and couldn’t.

She also couldn’t bring herself to speak, afraid that if she did, another strange question might fly her way.

After parting with Kalos like that and returning to her bedroom, Irene tossed and turned again, unable to sleep as she pondered over the answer to the question he had thrown at her.

She needed to find an answer, not only to hear his response.

She also wondered why she didn’t push Kalos away and accepted him.

Why she felt disappointed when he briefly pulled away.

She contemplated these things all night long, finally falling into a deep sleep just as dawn was breaking.

For having done all that, I’m not as tired as I expected.

I usually wake up around 8, so I must have slept for about 3 hours at most.

Irene stretched out fully and checked the time.

The hour hand pointed to 11, and the minute hand to 2.

So, is it 11:10 now?

Wait, 11:10?

“!”

Irene was startled and checked the clock again, but the time hadn’t changed.

“Jessie. What time is it now?”

If that’s the case, the clock must be broken.

“It’s 11:10.”

That wasn’t it either.

As the bewildered Irene just blinked, Jessie smiled as if understanding.

“You seemed to have gone to bed late last night, so I woke you up a bit later today. If I had known your eyes would be this bloodshot, I would have woken you even later.”

“Th-that’s not what’s important right now!”

What about breakfast?

I was supposed to have breakfast with Kalos, what happened to that?

“If you’re worried about breakfast with the master, don’t worry. The master actually told us not to wake you up in the first place.”

“The Duke… said that?”

“Yes. He said you seemed to have gone to bed late, so let you sleep until lunchtime.”

“……”

Irene gripped the blanket tightly, causing many wrinkles to form.

Is it because I’ve heard rumors that he’s a coldblooded man without blood or tears?

Or is it because Kalos’s impression is cold and blunt?

Whenever Kalos was this considerate, it made her feel like she was someone special.

Moreover, after what happened yesterday…

“Oh my, now your face is turning red.”

“Ah.”

At Jessie’s comment, Irene let out a short exclamation and covered her heated cheeks with both hands.

“Are you sure you don’t need me to call a doctor?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Hmm, if you’re not sick then that’s good, but… if you’re pushing yourself because of bringing Yomi into the spirit realm tonight, please don’t. You need to be healthy to perform the spirit summoning ritual.”

Ah, that’s right, today is that day.

No matter how shocking yesterday’s events were, to forget such an important schedule.

Irene felt disappointed in herself and sorry towards Yomi.

She also had slight doubts about whether she could be a good master.

“Don’t tell me you forgot?”

“Ah, no. How could I?”

Struck right on the mark, Irene awkwardly smiled and changed the subject.

“Ah, I’m hungry. Is it possible to have lunch right away?”

Though Jessie looked at Irene somewhat suspiciously, she readily did as she wished.

“Of course. I’ll prepare it right away, so please wait a moment.”

*

“…That concludes the report.”

Having finished today’s report, Dewey closed his notebook and put it in his inner pocket, waiting for Kalos’s orders.

If there were additional orders, he would give them, and if not, he would tell him to leave.

As far as he knew, everything was proceeding smoothly without any problems, so he thought it would probably be the latter.

“Yesterday, a pigeon was spotted in Solas.”

Surprised by the unexpected topic, Dewey reopened his notebook in confusion.

“What do you mean… Did an investigator from the temple secretly enter Esper territory?”

Kalos looked at Dewey with a low chuckle.

“I see Deuce didn’t tell you anything after all.”

“Huh? Ah, well… that’s right.”

Dewey scratched his cheek sheepishly.

“Unless it’s by your order, I don’t have any reason to exchange words with that guy.”

More precisely, Deuce one-sidedly ignored Dewey.

“Then take this opportunity to go ask Deuce what happened yesterday.”

“Pardon?”

Dewey’s eyes widened at the unexpected order.

“No, why… Couldn’t you just tell me yourself, master?”

“I refuse.”

Kalos stood up from his seat and stood in front of the window.

The warm afternoon sunlight shone down on his head like a spotlight.

“You’re blood brothers, and even twins at that. How long are you going to act like strangers? It’s about time you reconciled.”

“…I’ve told you several times, but I want to reconcile. He’s the one who won’t accept it.”

“Then try harder.”

“……”

Dewey’s face darkened at the order that seemed more difficult to carry out than if he had been ordered to go out and die right now.

Kalos sat on the windowsill and added:

“Also, Abel will be staying at Esper Castle for the time being, so keep that in mind.”

“Pardon?”

What is this about now?

Just yesterday, Kalos had said that Abel would be returning today, so prepare for it.

Not only was the sudden change in plans disconcerting, but…

What surprised Dewey even more was that Kalos allowed Abel to stay here despite knowing that pigeons would be coming to Esper territory soon.

“Won’t the Blue Lord and the pigeons possibly clash… Is that alright?”

“It’ll be fine. Abel promised me that he absolutely won’t fight unless the pigeons provoke him first.”

Do you believe that promise…

Dewey swallowed the words he couldn’t bring himself to say.

“And the pigeons won’t be able to enter Esper Castle, so they won’t clash with Abel.”

“The pigeons can stay at any inn or hotel they want within the territory, but shouldn’t you still receive their greetings in the audience chamber?”

“That’s unnecessary. I can’t have pigeons needlessly snooping around my castle just to receive some greetings.”

That’s true. Dewey nodded in agreement.

“But if we only let in the investigation team sent by the imperial family, it could cause talk, so don’t let them into the castle either.”

“Understood.”

Dewey carefully noted Kalos’s orders in his notebook so as not to forget them.

Kalos continued:

“So I’m asking, has there still been no contact from Jerdin or the imperial family?”

“No. We’ve been constantly checking the mail and messenger birds, but there’s been no contact at all. The same goes for the magic image orbs.”

“I see.”

Despite his indifferent response, his eyebrows were slanted.

By now they should have arrived at the imperial palace and finished talking with the emperor, but there’s still no news…

‘Has Jerdin betrayed me?’

Jerdin had said like a habit that he would never betray his master, but Kalos didn’t fully believe those words.

Even Dale, who had been connected by a stronger and thicker trust and friendship, had abandoned Kalos, so there was no way he could trust Jerdin.

Moreover, he was in the midst of a power struggle with the empress, Jerdin’s birth mother, so he trusted him even less.

After all, blood is thicker than water.

If a situation arose where Kalos ended up in conflict with the empress after their power struggle, Jerdin would undoubtedly choose the empress.

“Should we contact the imperial family?”

“No, that’s fine.”

If the empress or the temple found out, it would be troublesome.

“The investigation team sent by the imperial family will be here soon anyway, so let’s wait for now.”

Kalos decided to wait until then, in case Jerdin or the emperor had sent a letter through them.

*

Recently, Irene had been spending half of her daily routine taking care of Yomi, but she couldn’t see Yomi until this evening due to preparations for the spirit summoning ritual.

“Then shouldn’t I be preparing something too?”

Irene hadn’t heard anything specific, but she asked just in case.

Jessie shook her head.

“Dewey and the others will take care of all the preparations, so you just need to go to the ritual site on time, my lady.”

“I see. Then how is the spirit summoning ritual conducted?”

“You’ll find out when you get to the ritual site.”

In other words, it meant she couldn’t be told anything until the ritual began.

Is this why the spirit summoning ritual is shrouded in mystery?

More importantly, the ritual is at 10 PM, but what should I do until then?

After pondering, Irene decided to go to the library after a long time.

The library she visited after several days was exactly the same as before. Nothing had changed.

Since my mind is complicated right now, I want to read something simple and easy, not magic books.

Standing in front of the bookshelf, looking for a book to read, what caught Irene’s eye was a bright red book without a title.

Why doesn’t this book have a title?

Curious, Irene took out the book and opened it.

“!”

Seeing the picture of a man and woman kissing passionately, Irene was startled and hurriedly closed the book.

“……”

Though she had only seen it for a moment, Irene’s face turned redder than a radish.

Wh-what kind of book is this?

No, more importantly, why on earth is such a strange book in the library of Esper Castle?

Could it be that Kalos reads this?

They say men sometimes have… needs.

For a moment, Irene superimposed Kalos onto the man in the picture she had just seen, and tightly closed her eyes, lightly slapping her cheeks.

“Get a grip.”

What are you trying to do with such imaginings?

This is all because I’m holding such an indecent book.

I should quickly put it back.

As she fumbled to put the book back in its place…

“What are you doing here?”

“…!”

Startled by the unfamiliar voice from behind, Irene dropped the book in shock.