At the same time. The outer walls of Esper territory.

Kalos made a large circle while touching the castle walls.

Since Esper territory served as a passage connecting the human world and the underground world, a solid barrier was in place to prevent anyone from entering or leaving.

He had hurriedly returned after hearing news that the power of that barrier had weakened.

“It’s certainly weakened.”

While Kalos being away for a long time was partly to blame, the main reason was the continuous attacks from outside trying to break through the barrier.

The culprit was probably…

“That guy.”

It was certainly the same person who had turned an ordinary rabbit into a monster to attack Irene.

Kalos had persistently chased after the culprit to catch them, but the opponent had already disappeared into the underground world.

Knowing that Kalos couldn’t go to the underground world, they had escaped there.

“How annoying.”

If they wanted to fight him, they should challenge him fair and square, but it was quite vexing that they were only playing strange tricks from behind.

In any case, the barrier needed to be repaired as soon as possible. And to deal with those lurking around the territory without knowing their place.

As Kalos closed his eyes tightly, the long shadow stretched out behind him was absorbed into the barrier.

How much time had passed? Kalos, who had been concentrating on repairing the barrier, suddenly opened his eyes when he sensed a presence.

By then, a black curtain had fallen over the sky. The slender moon softly illuminated the world.

“I apologize, Master.”

Jessie came out hesitantly from inside the castle walls.

“I didn’t mean to disturb you…”

“It’s alright.”

As Kalos turned around, the shadow that had been absorbed into the barrier appeared faintly under the moonlight.

The shadow wavered like a living person before disappearing. Hoo. His handsome face exhaled a long breath, full of fatigue.

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s about the young lady.”

As Kalos nodded, Jessie continued.

“While attending to the young lady’s bath, I confirmed the flower branch tattoo you mentioned. There are 7 flower buds in total, of which 3 have bloomed.”

It was exactly as he had seen at the Montreau Inn.

Has nothing changed at all?

Well, it had only been ten days and there hadn’t been any special events, so expecting something to have changed was like having a thief’s mindset.

“And from what I could tell, the young lady seemed to have no knowledge about the tattoo on her back.”

Jessie’s words continued.

“Still, just in case, I plan to enter the young lady’s dream tonight to check.”

Jessie, an underground world resident and one of Kalos’s loyal servants, had the ability to delve into others’ dreams and extract desired information.

Those whose dreams were invaded in this way would suffer terrible nightmares for several days.

“That’s enough. Don’t invade her dreams until I bring it up.”

Irene was already uneasy in an unfamiliar place, and if she had terrible nightmares on top of that, she would become even more anxious.

Moreover, since it didn’t seem like she was lying, Kalos decided not to use Jessie’s ability for the time being.

“There were countless wounds and scars on the young lady’s body.”

At Jessie’s next words, Kalos’s eyebrows, which had been loosely relaxed from fatigue, shot up in an instant.

Jessie, knowing she had done nothing wrong, still felt nervous and swallowed hard.

“Wounds and scars?”

“Yes. It seemed too heavy a topic to ask the young lady directly about what happened, but… in my humble opinion, it looks like she has been abused for a long time.”

Come to think of it, Baron Silas had said that Irene not only set fire to the Silas territory but also killed her parents.

Could it be that Irene had killed her parents and set the fire because she couldn’t endure long-term abuse?

More importantly, why didn’t I notice the scars when I saw her naked body?

Kalos could immediately understand the reason.

He had been so focused on the flower branch tattoo on Irene’s back that nothing else had registered.

“Should I ask her in detail about how she got injured?”

Kalos thought for a moment and then shook his head.

“No, there’s no need for that.”

If she really had been abused, asking about it would be like prodding a painful wound.

There was no need to know, either. It didn’t matter at all what kind of person Irene had been in the past or what she had gone through.

“Treat her wounds so they don’t get worse.”

Still, he didn’t like that she had wounds, so they should be treated.

“Can the scars be removed?”

The scars bothered him as well. Kalos wished for that small body to be free of any wounds. He couldn’t understand why.

“Well… I vaguely remember hearing from a wandering pharmacist that there’s a medicine that can remove scars, but I’m not certain.”

“Look into it. No matter how much it costs, if there’s such a medicine, obtain it.”

“Yes.”

Jessie answered impassively, but inside she was very surprised.

The Kalos she knew wasn’t such a considerate person.

There were many aspects that didn’t add up to think that Irene was a special existence to him.

For instance, what she had first discovered…

“Is there anything else to report?”

At Kalos’s question, Jessie, snapping out of her thoughts, answered immediately.

“No, there isn’t.”

“Then you may go. Report immediately if there’s anything strange or if a flower blooms.”

“Yes.”

Jessie bowed deeply and quietly withdrew.

Kalos raised his arm to repair the barrier again, but frowned when he noticed his hand had become semi-transparent.

Fortunately, it quickly returned to normal, but the appearance of such a sign meant that he didn’t have much time left.

“…They need to all bloom soon.”

So that I can live. Kalos clenched the hand that had been semi-transparent.

*

Irene immediately noticed that there was some secret hidden at the top of the northern tower, but she didn’t pay it any attention.

Whatever it was, it had nothing to do with her. Her only concern was how to safely escape from Kalos.

She had directly experienced that escaping recklessly without any plan had a high chance of failure.

If she were caught escaping this time, there was a high chance she would die, so Irene carefully considered ways to escape.

‘First, I need to plan an escape route.’

Irene wandered around Esper Castle, using excuses like familiarizing herself with the castle’s geography or taking a walk.

Even after wandering for two full days, she hadn’t even explored half of it because it was so vast.

Still, there was one thing she could know for certain.

‘Escaping is impossible.’

The castle walls were so dizzyingly high that even craning her neck, she couldn’t see the top, and knights guarded it so tightly that not even a single bug could crawl in.

Although there were still places she hadn’t seen, the situation there probably wouldn’t be much different.

Well, of course security would be tight in a place where a high noble lord lives.

As Irene sighed, Jessie, who was following a step behind, asked worriedly.

“Would you like to go back in if you’re tired, young lady?”

“No. I’d like to look around a bit more.”

I should still check, just in case. She might unexpectedly find something good.

As Irene was walking along the polished path, she pointed at a large gray building that came into view and asked Jessie.

“What’s that place?”

“It’s the quarters where the valiant knights who have sworn loyalty to the master stay. There’s a training ground across from it too.”

Since there wouldn’t be anything she wanted there, she was about to go somewhere else when Jessie asked.

“It should be time for the knights to be doing sword training. Would you like to watch?”

Irene hadn’t thought anything of it until now, but her ears perked up at Jessie’s words.

“Is it alright to watch? I heard that usually such things are secret and not just anyone can see them…”

“Of course not just anyone can see. But you’re not just anyone, young lady.”

“Then what am I?”

“Why, you’re the master’s precious person.”

When Jessie answered as if asking something so obvious, Irene tilted her head slightly and asked back.

“Why do you think that?”

“Oh, well…”

Unlike her confidence earlier, Jessie now stammered and avoided Irene’s gaze, then suddenly grabbed her hand.

“We should go now if we want to see the sword training. Let’s hurry.”

She was avoiding answering. Irene had expected this, so she let it pass impassively.

That’s not to say she wasn’t bothered. She wanted to know at least one of the reasons why Kalos had brought her here or why he was treating her so well beyond what she deserved, but no one would tell her.

‘Should I ask that man again?’

Now that they had arrived at Esper territory, he might tell her the reason if she asked this time.

The problem was that Kalos hadn’t shown his face at all since arriving at Esper Castle. She was curious about news of the man who had been constantly showing up before but was now nowhere to be seen. She also had things she wanted to ask him.

“Jessie.”

“Yes, young lady?”

“Would it be possible… to meet him?”

Jessie immediately realized that the “him” Irene was referring to was Kalos and turned to look at her with sparkling eyes.

“Do you miss the master?”

“Ah, no!”

Miss Kalos! At such a preposterous suggestion, Irene exclaimed in shock and shook her head vigorously.

“I just have something I want to ask him. That’s right. That’s all it is.”

Irene was being sincere, but unfortunately, to others it looked like she was denying it out of embarrassment.

With her face flushed and flustered, stumbling over her words, it was natural for it to appear that way.

The same was true for Jessie, who said with a fond smile:

“I understand. I’ll let the master know that you want to meet him.”

“If, if he’s busy, there’s no need to tell him.”

“The master is quite busy these days. He was away for ten days to bring you here, so he has a mountain of work to do.”

“What?”

What was this about now?

Until now, Irene had thought that the reason Kalos had come to get her himself was a coincidence.

She had assumed he had stopped by after hearing about her while passing through Silas territory, but if Jessie’s words were true, it meant that Kalos had set out with the purpose of bringing her from the start.

‘That’s impossible.’

There was no way a high noble like Kalos would move personally to bring a mere commoner like Irene.

The timing didn’t add up either. It had been about two weeks since Irene had been accused of being the culprit in the arson and murder case and branded a witch.

It took about twenty days round trip from Esper territory to Silas territory, so it didn’t make sense for Kalos to have moved after hearing news about Irene.

“Was it really about ten days that he was away from the territory?”

“Yes. He was away for exactly 11 days.”

Upon hearing Jessie’s confirmation, Irene became even more confused and was about to ask something else when something moist and slimy licked her cheek lengthwise.