Asela pressed her hand against her mouth as if trying to suppress a scream. Naturally, she knew the culprit. But she couldn’t expose them here.

However, Bernard simply smiled politely.

“Thank you for your help. You may go now.”

It might have been a great act of courage for that timid young lady, but it was information of no value.

Standing there with a dazed expression, picking at the back of her hand, Asela slowly looked at Bernard and Mori’s faces. Then she turned and left the room. There was a click as the door closed.

Only after her footsteps had faded into the distance did Mori mutter:

“Lady Asela, of all people. What’s going on? She’s like a doll who can’t do anything out of fear of Felix.”

“Well, it seems she wasn’t a perfect doll after all. Anyway, I’ll make some calls here and there.”

But before they could catch their breath, someone else was pounding on the door again. Usually no one paid them any attention, but today they had many visitors.

“Damn it all. What the hell! Let us work!”

Bernard shouted harshly on purpose.

However, the person who appeared when the door opened was Rigel Hias, the head of the Hias family and a magician recognized by the king.

The young magician who had just begun to show signs of manhood had come to see them.

Rigel Hias looked at the two men with their mouths agape and snapped:

“You look like you’re conspiring, no matter who sees you. How pathetic. To think that such creatures are the subordinates of Jade Broen, who wears the crown of summer.”

His attitude was quite overbearing, a far cry from when he always used honorifics in front of Jade, no matter how unpleasant the content.

“I heard you still haven’t found Jade.”

Bernard crumpled up the paper and shoved it in his pocket, forcing an awkward smile. Of course, his unwashed, dirty face only made him look more fierce.

“We’re doing our best…”

“Don’t make me laugh. There aren’t many magicians who don’t know that the Broen family isn’t properly protecting their heir. In fact, it’s unpleasant that she remains an heir rather than the head of the family. But it’s also a bit much to entrust this important task solely to useless servants like you.”

Mori frowned at the arrogant words, but Bernard, who had spent time with him in the subjugation unit, his eyes flashed.

This magician, despite his tone, had always been favorable towards Jade. Coming here on his own accord, this was an opportunity!

“You’re right. Nobodies like us are inadequate!”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“The head of the Hias family, renowned for your research, how famous you must be in this land. There must be a huge difference in influence compared to insignificant people like us.”

Rigel cleared his throat and nodded.

“You know something.”

Bernard inwardly rejoiced.

Got him! He took the bait!

Or did he come deliberately to be caught? He had doubts, but there was no time to dwell on them.

“As you know, most of the magicians close to Jade are in the subjugation unit, so we have no trustworthy person to ask for help! We couldn’t possibly ask someone to look for traces of magic!”

Mori also realized, albeit roughly, that Rigel was weak to flattery.

“With our lack of connections, we simply…”

But his skill at oiling his tongue wasn’t as good as Bernard’s, and he had to hide his twitching lips that seemed to be having a seizure. Ah, it’s hard to please him.

“Traces of teleportation magic. Well, you need to know where Jade is. You should go see Arnold, who excels in wind attribute magic. She’s not very close to me, but a gift should be enough.”

While Rigel muttered various thoughts, Bernard and Mori exchanged glances and nodded their heads frantically.

From now on, tracing the magical traces would be left to Rigel Hias.

Then all they had to focus on was silencing those within the family who were bringing up talks of Jade’s funeral.

The two men were determined to accomplish this task.

Jade yawned with sleepy eyes.

“Yawn.”

Whether the rooster crowed or not, she was lazily wrapped in five blankets in a room without windows.

“If only I could use magic…”

She could have made her surroundings warm and cozy, becoming even happier. No matter how many blankets she had, it wasn’t the same as the melting, drowsy feeling in front of a fireplace.

She smacked her lips in regret.

At a point when it was almost two months since she had fallen into the forest, Jade was slowly adapting to days where she didn’t have to work hard.

This was a lesson she had learned from the recent ‘One Autumn Night Fever Incident’.

It’s good to focus on this time, but if you try to force yourself to concentrate with excessive effort, you can get sick. And you can get scolded badly by an irritated host who has to nurse you.

Knock knock.

No, maybe she had gotten used to laziness too quickly. It had come to the point where someone else had to wake her up.

“Come out and stir the stew.”

Of course, it was Axel who knocked on the door. After saying that, he made a dubious sound.

“You’re not still sleeping, are you?”

“I’m not sleeping, but… I’m not fully awake…”

Then the door swung open.

Neither Jade nor Axel cared that he opened her door at will. It had already become routine. Thanks to the fact that Axel often woke Jade when she was groaning from the nightmares that still visited occasionally, though less frequently.

Jade squirmed and hid in her blankets, chilled by Axel who had come in covered in the cold air from outside. Ugh, cold.

But the gesture of snatching away the blankets was merciless. Jade sprawled on the floor in an instant, like a bug stripped of its cocoon.

“Get up quickly.”

“That’s so mean…. You used to not let me touch the cooking at all.”

“Even you should be able to stir well enough. No, it’s similar to stirring potions. That should be sufficient.”

“The sun hasn’t even risen properly yet…”

Axel snorted as he watched Jade grumbling and mumbling.

“I’m sorry, but it’s been hours since the rooster crowed.”

“What?”

Come to think of it, the light coming through the cracks in the door was bright.

They say late-learned laziness is scary. She must have dozed off again and again without realizing how much time had passed.

Jade opened her mouth with a dumbfounded face.

“No way…!”

“Come out quickly. Today we’ll use up all the fresh ingredients we have left. We need to tidy up the house a bit too.”

Axel left, leaving the door open. A somewhat tangy scent wafted through the gap, and Jade rose as if entranced.

As he said, it was already bright outside. But the trees, which had already shed most of their leaves exposing bare branches, were swaying violently in the wind.

“The wind is blowing hard.”

Axel glanced outside and slightly furrowed his thick eyebrows.

“What about the horse?”

“I was going to bring it inside, but that rascal had already gone out to play before we even woke up. It’s not likely to be blown away by the wind, but…”

His trailing words held a hint of worry.

But remembering the horse that used to bolt and run whenever they encountered it on the forest path, Jade wasn’t worried at all.

That gallop was certainly extraordinary. It was definitely not an ordinary horse, and it wouldn’t lose even compared to a well-bred warhorse.

No, it wasn’t just about not losing; it was at a level that would outshine other horses. She had even seen it perform the sideways walk, an incredible skill for a horse!

“It’ll… be fine. Anyway, what are you boiling now?”

Where there used to be a low pan, a huge pot was now placed, with white steam rising above it. It was the source of the delicious smell permeating the entire house.

“Well… let’s call it a winter preparation stew.”

Jade tilted her head as if to say ‘What does that mean?’, but Axel handed her the ladle without further explanation.

As she started stirring the large pot, Axel continuously prepared ingredients beside her, tossing them into the pot.

“What’s this? Why are there so many things inside?”

“It’s a preparation stew, as I said.”

Unlike the white stew usually made to warm the body, this was a very rich-looking stew.

“Meat? What’s that red vegetable?”

Axel shook his head at the barrage of questions.

“Just stir it properly.”

“That’s my specialty, so don’t worry about it. So what is that vegetable?”

Using her potion-making skills, the stew was becoming thicker and thicker.

Looking at Axel’s hand movements beside her, the ingredients were truly diverse. Tender meat and fresh unfrozen vegetables. Forest-gathered spices were added generously. In short, it felt like everything in the kitchen had gone into it.

“I see why you call it a preparation stew. But aren’t we going to starve to death after making this?”

“We might. Eat a lot now.”

The rising steam kept whetting her appetite. After pondering for a while, Jade said:

“It’s too fancy to call it a preparation stew. This should rightfully be called a luxury stew.”

Axel chuckled.

“Call it whatever you want. I don’t mind.”

“Eating this luxury stew with bread would be wonderful. But apart from how delicious this looks, it’s a bit of a shame. I worked hard to pick those.”

“These ingredients are hard to store and likely to spoil when it gets cold anyway. It’s better to cook them.”

Stirring was crucial in making a thick stew, but it was also boring and arm-aching repetitive work.

Finally, after yawning five times in a row, Jade had the stirring spoon taken from her.

Axel mixed the deep pot from top to bottom with very simple movements. As always, it was as if there was no resistance from any object at all.

Jade watched intently.

He was wearing a top that exposed his arms, seemingly unbothered by the cold, which clearly showed his muscles splitting along their lines.

So that’s the kind of arm you need to easily wield an axe and throw a sword like a spear.

No, wait. Do you need back muscles too? Axel’s back was also fiercely split, as I recall.

Rubbing her hand over her own back, Jade felt there was truly nothing there. The only thing she could feel was her shoulder blades.

With a tiny bit of hope, Jade rolled up her sleeves and clenched her fist in the same posture as Axel beside her.

But no marks appeared on her arm. Her white forearm just drew an honest straight line. It made her wonder if there were any muscles in there at all.

“Hmm…”

Axel just shook his head as if he knew why she was making such a dejected sound.

“You have no shame.”

“How hard did I work carrying those water containers? Shouldn’t something have developed by now?”

“……”

Seeing his expression that seemed to hold back many rebuttals, Jade grumbled.

“Show-off.”

“I’m not showing off, you might just have a persecution complex.”

Ever since he started calling her by name, that is, since Axel himself blurred the line he had drawn, his reactions had changed significantly.

The man who used to ignore or pass over things with an indifferent face unless something serious happened was gone, and now he almost never let her win an argument.

But she didn’t dislike it. It felt like a mark of intimacy.

Now Jade felt she could claim to anyone. That even if they weren’t extremely close, they had a relationship similar to friends.

Jade smiled, almost imperceptibly.