The abundant strawberry blonde hair, bathed in midsummer sunlight, sways along the curved garden path.

“Nero! Stop bothering Popo! Nero!”

Yuriella chases after Nero, who is running away while kicking the small turtle Popo with his plump paws.

Frost, leaning his arms on the railing of the second-floor study terrace, follows Yuriella’s movements with his eyes as if entranced.

Behind him, Captain Leo continues his report in preparation for the Grand Nobles’ Council meeting to be held in three days. An hour ago, the Grand Duke’s aide had come running in tears, dumping a pile of reports on Leo and fleeing, saying he couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Duke Gauze Yobel has requested an audience. You must meet him to express gratitude for the southern region’s support of our northern region during the last imperial army’s subjugation.”

“The garden is too dangerous.”

Frost mutters, unable to take his eyes off Yuriella.

“She might scrape her knee if she falls. Oh dear. She could even twist her ankle. Since we can’t tie her up, we’ll have to completely redesign the garden.”

“Your Highness. Duke Yobel is a grand noble representing the southern region.”

“It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever wanted to be a mere cat. If I were that cat, Bi would chase after me.”

“Just because they’ve been favorable to the north so far doesn’t guarantee they’ll continue to be in the future.”

“I’m even envious of Popo.”

Frost smiles as he watches Yuriella rescue Popo from Nero’s mischief. But soon he sighs heavily with a clouded expression.

“Even a mere earth spirit gets to be held by my Bi. Bi is particularly soft on small and weak things. I’m a terminally ill patient afflicted by magic poison, but I’m too big and strong. Being big and strong naturally makes one cautious.”

Leo recalls the words the aide had cried out.

[His Highness’s ears are blocked. No matter what I say, he doesn’t listen!]

We’ll know if his ears are really blocked if we check.

“A personal letter from the Emperor has arrived. He requests to have the first dance with Lady Bi at the imperial ball.”

“What! Has that bastard Emperor gone mad?”

Frost finally turns around, raising his voice with a fierce expression. He looks ready to strike Leo instead of the Emperor.

There’s nothing wrong with my lord’s hearing.

“No. Bi’s first dance is mine. The second one too, and the third. All of them until the end. Draft a reply saying that immediately.”

“Lady Bi has already sent such a reply to the imperial palace.”

Leo’s brows furrow as he watches Frost’s lips melt into a puddle.

“Are you that pleased?”

“Exactly how did she refuse? Tell me without omitting a single punctuation mark.”

“She briefly sent: ‘While I appreciate your words, all my dances belong to my partner, so I cannot grant your request. Yuriella Ielheim.'”

“Excellent. It would have been even more excellent if she had omitted the ‘appreciate’ part at the beginning.”

“When would you like to meet Duke Yobel? Even today, we could set a date-.”

“Leo. Even someone like you can date and be loved, why is it so difficult for me?”

As if he had no intention of listening to Leo’s answer in the first place, Frost swiftly turns around and leans his arms on the railing.

Even though only the hem of her bright cyan dress is barely visible behind the garden trees, Frost’s eyes immediately find his wife.

“You were surprised too, weren’t you, Leo? Bi faced off against a mountain-sized thief without even blinking an eye, trying to protect people with her sword. Isn’t that amazing?”

“How should we schedule the meeting with Duke Yobel-”

“She held the hands of war widows and listened to their deep concerns. Have you ever met someone as remarkable as my Bi in your life?”

“You must also meet Duke Greco before the council. He is a grand noble of the western region-”

“That Greco fellow resembles the Archmage too much, it makes me uncomfortable. Doesn’t his hair color look like chocolate gone bad?”

Leo feels his patience reaching its limit.

“Of course they look alike. Duke Greco is the Archmage’s father.”

Frost glances back and snorts coldly.

“Knowing that his son is living as a freeloader in my house and still not taking him back. Looking at that, both father and son are so shameless and cunning that they can’t be trusted. It’s better to keep such people at a distance.”

“That’s why you always said we should keep Greco close.”

Captain Leo narrows his eyes and glares, clearly conveying the message, ‘Why are you saying something different now?’

“Mixing personal matters with emotions. I’m starting to doubt if you’re the same person I knew.”

He also conveys the meaning ‘You’ve changed since getting married.’

“Leo Dominici. Are you saying that my judgment is irrational and swayed by emotions?”

Frost crosses his arms and slowly opens his eyes. His icy blue eyes are cold and stern enough to freeze the surroundings, but.

“Archmage! Come quickly. Hurry!”

The Grand Duchess’s clear voice from the garden melts the frozen air like midsummer chocolate.

The subordinate’s heart, which wanted to grab his superior by the collar and give him a few punches if only he wasn’t such a formidable boss, softens as he sees his lord’s expression darken.

The Archmage approaches Yuriella with Popo and Airy perched on each shoulder.

“Lady Bi. You must be incredibly busy, would it be alright for you to go out with me?”

“A carriage loaded with new dresses is on its way. Rosalinne and the maids will keep me busy trying them all on until it arrives. We need to escape quickly before the carriage gets here.”

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to go with the Grand Duke?”

“The Grand Duke is busy, isn’t he? And we’re going to a cake shop now. The Grand Duke really dislikes sweet things. Oh, do you dislike sweets too, Archmage?”

“No. I like them. Very much.”

Ricarion answers sweetly with a face that looks like he’s eaten about ten slices of cake.

“Thank you, Popo. If you hadn’t kept watch, I would have been buried under a mountain of dresses all day.”

Yuriella gently strokes the small head of Popo sitting on Ricarion’s shoulder.

It was Popo who tipped her off about the dresses the head maid had ambitiously ordered arriving.

‘Well done, Popo.’

Airy winks at Popo with her tiny eyes.

Airy’s misconception that there would be many good men on the island was enough to shatter in just one day. She didn’t know anything because she had been asleep for five hundred years.

The good men suitable for Yuriella were narrowed down to just two. The Grand Duke and the Archmage.

But if the Grand Duke’s magic poison isn’t cured, he’ll only be a source of tears for Yuriella.

Anyway, Yuriella and the Grand Duke are strangers who haven’t even consummated their marriage, and Airy persistently persuaded Popo that it would be the right thing to do as adults to separate them before they become more attached.

In the end, Popo decided to cross the line and help her mistress.

The Grand Duke’s situation was pitiful, but charity begins at home, and even spirits couldn’t help favoring their own child.

“I’ve already checked the escape route.”

Her red eyes, full of vitality, sparkled like those of a child.

Ricarion held his breath for a moment. The image of transparent green eyes sparkling in the bright afternoon sunlight, resembling summer leaves, overlapped with hers.

One summer afternoon when Popo, going through her stormy adolescence, had run away from home.

Ricarion, the genius magician for whom nothing in the world seemed new or interesting anymore, had his attention caught by a girl with fiery red hair.

A girl he missed even when she was right in front of him, and longed for as soon as he turned away.

‘I wonder if this woman knows how many forms I’ve existed in by her side.’

“If we slip out through the back garden path to the rear gate-”

“Lady Bi seems to think ‘Archmage’ is just my title. Although it may not look like it, it’s a name I earned for being the most capable among the empire’s magicians. Where shall I take you, Lady Bi?”

Yuriella answers while picking up Nero, who is scratching at the hem of her dress.

“‘Ti Vedo’! It means ‘I only see you’. When you go there, you really can’t see anything but cake. No wonder it’s called the ‘Holy Land of Cake’.”

Yuriella’s mouth waters as she recalls her favorite shop from when she was Solas.

“I’ll take you there.”

The Archmage, instantly transforming into a youthful page, extends his hand to Yuriella.

[Let’s go! Let’s go to ‘Ti Vedo’!]

Airy excitedly punches the air.

And just as the magic circle created by the Archmage envelops Yuriella and himself, they disappear without a trace.

Only a few scattered flower petals settle on the garden where Yuriella has vanished.

“Damn it.”

As Frost’s long legs climb onto the railing, Leo quickly grabs his lord’s ankle.

“It would look too desperate if you followed in this situation. Even if you conceal your presence, the Archmage or Airy would detect you immediately.”

“I don’t mind being caught, or looking desperate.”

“Pardon?”

“I said earlier that being big and strong is the problem. It would be better if they pitied me.”

“May I say one thing, not as your subordinate, but as a friend of 20 years?”

Frost raises an eyebrow and nods his head askew.

“Go ahead.”

“Hurry up and go after her, you idiot! Where do you have time to answer all my words?”

As Leo slaps his back, Frost leaps off the railing and whistles to summon Mars.

Leo shouts loudly at his friend who only has eyes for his wife:

“Shall I set the appointments with Duke Yobel and Duke Greco as I see fit?”

Frost casually waves his hand as he mounts the horse that comes galloping as if flying.

“To Bi, Mars!”

As the master pulls the reins tight, Mars quickly passes through the main gate and gallops away.

*

Today, as usual, a long line of people waiting to enter stretches in front of ‘Ti Vedo’, the holy land of cake.

Sitting by the window with colorful cakes covering the table to the point where it’s no longer visible, Yuriella boasts to the Archmage with a shrug:

“The owner here is Nikon’s sworn brother. I made a special request yesterday for a reservation.”

“Nikon?”

Yuriella looks around and whispers softly to Ricarion.

“He was my subordinate in the Imperial Knights. We’re supposed to meet here later. I have a few things I ordered, to see and hear and meet face to face.”

“So that’s why you needed me.”

“If a dangerous situation arises, it would be awkward for me to step in, you know. I’m sorry. I used a little trick because I was afraid you might refuse.”

“Why did you think I would refuse?”

“The Magic Tower always maintains neutrality, doesn’t it? Nikon is a wanted criminal with an arrest warrant issued directly by the Emperor. If it’s revealed that the Archmage is involved, it would be troublesome for you.”

“I’m not helping you as the Archmage. I simply want to protect my old friend Sole.”

Yuriella stares at Ricarion with wide eyes.

“How does the Archmage know that name…?”

There were those who called her ‘Sole’, saying her fiery red hair was just like the sun.

The silver-haired grandfather, the freckled boy, the hunter uncle, the kind-hearted aunt… who would appear unexpectedly to comfort her when she was most struggling and lonely.

The Archmage wasn’t among those beloved faces who persistently called her by that name, even when she protested that it was embarrassing.

“I’ve wandered the world for a long time with many faces. I’ve met countless people, but Sole was the only one I could call a friend. The only friend who treated me sincerely, no matter what form I took.”

Ricarion smiles as he watches Yuriella gape at him.

“So you’re the only person who can ask me for anything.”

Yuriella overlaid the faces of her old friends, whom she recalled in moments of exhaustion and loneliness, one by one onto the Archmage’s face.

I see. So that’s how it was.

She had only known him as the grateful person who saved her life twice as repayment for rescuing the runaway Popo.

Yuriella rests her chin on both hands and bursts into clear laughter.

“Do you say that knowing what I’m going to ask?”

Her laughter, the mischief in her red eyes, overlapped with the girl he had loved long ago, making Ricarion’s heart ache.

“I’d prefer if you didn’t ask me to save your life. Twice is enough. A third time might leave nothing of my heart.”

“Hmm. Then, would you like to become sworn siblings with me?”

“Pardon?”

“I’ve been thinking for a while. How nice it would be to have an elder brother like you, Archmage.”

“Elder… brother?”

Watching Ricarion wipe away the slight sweat on his forehead, the spirits lament softly.

[Oh dear, this is…] [Yuriella is such a fool…]

Unaware of the spirits’ burning frustration, Yuriella starts to empty the cake plates on the table one by one. Habitually licking her fingers deliciously as she eats.

After demolishing a strawberry cream cake topped with luscious berries, just as she’s about to scoop up some chocolate mousse with her finger and savor it.

Suddenly, a hand reaches out and grabs Yuriella’s wrist.

Startled, Yuriella looks up with wide eyes, and immediately, sparks fly in her red irises.

‘Justin!’

Although his face was hidden by a deep ash-colored cloak and hood, she couldn’t mistake him. She had been on outings to this ‘Ti Vedo’ with the Emperor in that guise more than once or twice.

“What an unexpected place to see you, Grand Duchess.”

“I greet the Sun of the Empire.”

Yuriella frowns and tries to pull her wrist away as she stands up, but Justin doesn’t let go.

“Your tastes are… peculiar?”

The Emperor’s gaze is fixed on the chocolate mousse on the tip of Yuriella’s finger.

As Yuriella becomes flustered, a familiar voice reaches her ears.

“Do you have any complaints about my wife’s tastes?”

Frost strides over and peels Justin’s hand off Yuriella’s wrist.

Then, completely ignoring the Emperor, he lowers his head and takes Yuriella’s chocolate-covered finger into his mouth, then smiles sweetly.

“Yuriella. As you said, eating it this way makes it sweeter and more delicious.”