It was the first time I had seen a man laugh so loudly. I had somewhat gotten used to his small smiles, but this was different.

Jade, mesmerized by him, scratched her head awkwardly. Her ears turned red.

After laughing for a while, he finally managed to catch his breath and said,

“Ah, that’s funny.”

“What is?”

Axel’s gray eyes, still full of laughter, gazed at her.

“You didn’t want to pair up with someone you’ve never properly talked to?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Why, you ask. As a magician, it’s like finding a lifelong comrade. How can you choose based on conditions alone?”

“I see. So you’re saying that you want the pair between a knight and a magician to be a relationship where they truly rely on and support each other, not just for mutual financial benefit.”

Jade’s cheeks flared up. She was surprised at how quickly he grasped her thoughts, but hearing it from someone else’s mouth was really…!

Axel chuckled.

“We have a rare romantic in this day and age.”

“I’m not a romantic!”

“No? You sound like one to me.”

“No. It’s not that! If it’s not that kind of relationship, why bother pairing up at all? A pair is a very important relationship! It’s not a contract to be made hastily based on conditions alone.”

“By looking at those conditions, you build alliances in terms of wealth and status. Isn’t that the most important thing in today’s world? You know this, so why pretend, romantic?”

“I’m not!”

As Jade’s whole face turned bright red and she huffed, Axel let out a deflating sound and handed her another glass of alcohol.

“I knew it already, but you’re definitely unique.”

Feeling like her throat was burning, Jade gulped down the alcohol.

Romantic, what a truly embarrassing word.

But his words hit the mark.

Jade really wanted such a pair. Even if she couldn’t hope for love, a relationship where they could support each other.

Even if what blossomed between them wasn’t a soft and sweet emotion, she hoped they could lean on each other with firm trust.

Firm trust, a solid back to lean against.

At that moment, as she mulled over her own thoughts, a very familiar face flashed through her mind. Those gray eyes were vivid.

Startled, she tried to think of someone else, but her mind only filled more with Axel.

Axel getting annoyed, Axel frowning, Axel losing his temper, Axel smiling, Axel bursting into laughter.

Jade poured the moon flower alcohol to the brim with trembling hands and guzzled it down.

Meanwhile, her thoughts split in two and began to fight in her head.

Jade Broen, are you crazy? Axel is a friend!

So what? Even friends can form pairs.

No, no. I’m going to pair with a lifelong companion. Like my mom and dad!

Really? Then Axel can be that, can’t he?

What?

She couldn’t stop the strange flow of thoughts that had begun.

Unable to bear it, Jade mercilessly pounded her own head. With the intention of crushing these bad thoughts whispering in her mind.

Startled, Axel quickly grabbed her wrist.

“What are you doing? Are you drunk?”

“No, no, no…”

“You should stop drinking. Let me put this away…”

“That’s not it either!”

Axel, looking at the shouting Jade with bewildered eyes, decided to mercifully change the subject.

“So, what’s that constellation called?”

Jade quickly grasped this generous lifeline.

“What, what, what. Ah, that one! Selvic!”

As Jade spilled out all the information she knew about constellations to regain her composure, Axel observed her side profile made up of delicate lines.

The sparkle in her eyes that looked especially large as she gazed up at the sky, her eyelashes fluttering passionately, her lips rounding and spreading wide as she chattered.

Watching those diverse changes quietly, he found himself smiling again.

This magician truly touched him in every aspect. Whether good or bad.

Anyway, the sky was beautiful and the sweet alcohol was secretly potent, and there was a mountain of difference between a magician’s and a knight’s stamina.

Of course, it wasn’t just due to the difference in stamina; the problem started when Jade, embarrassed by the nickname ‘romantic’, began emptying glass after glass.

As a result, Axel was fine, but Jade had lost half her mind. Thanks to this, Jade completely forgot her initial intention of drinking with him to dig up his past.

“So. I don’t know who it is, but they’re really nasty. Talking like that?”

Rather, as Axel threw out a few topics, Jade spilled her story without any resistance.

Thanks to this, Axel could clearly understand her family circumstances that he had only vaguely known before. It was as messed up as his own situation.

“Yeah, that’s what they said. That I’m an idiot who can’t do anything except fire attribute magic.”

“You punched them in the face, right?”

“No… In the midst of all that, my favorite cousin was relaying everything I said. I thought they were my only friend…”

Hearing her murmur sadly, Axel clicked his tongue.

“Sometimes hating someone is such a tiring thing that you want to stop, but you still want to give it to those bastards who treat you like a fool.”

“That’s right.”

“For, for reasons like that, when I try hard, sometimes I feel dejected. I don’t even know what I’m living for anymore…”

As Jade stumbled over her words, Axel put cheese on a cracker and placed it in her hand.

He could clearly see the future where she would be groaning with a bad stomach tomorrow, so he wanted to alleviate that pain a little.

Of course, she shouldn’t completely pass out if he wanted to hear more of these gloomy stories.

Jade obediently took the cracker and munched on it. Meanwhile, as she poured more alcohol, Axel subtly filled his own glass with water and switched it with hers.

Of course, the drunk didn’t notice.

“It’s… it’s so unfair. So when I finally drive them all away, what’s left?”

“Peace will remain.”

Jade shook her head.

“No. Loneliness remains.”

Axel quietly looked at Jade.

From the first time they met, he had expected her to be a noble. The quality of her clothes, the standard precious metal decorations, the accent she naturally spoke with, all confirmed it.

Accordingly, her untroubled attitude and disregard for others’ rejections made sense. As if she was the center of the world.

However, on the day Jade first faced a monster threat, he was a bit puzzled.

Why didn’t she take someone’s help for granted? Why did she think he wouldn’t save her? Because she was a magician?

Combining the day she struggled in fever and nightmares with today’s story she told as a fairy tale, the full picture finally came into focus. With her family situation like that, she must have had to do everything alone.

Axel found himself speaking without realizing it.

“It might not be as lonely as you think.”

Jade blinked at his calm voice.

“Why?”

“Because you’ll be free. From then on, you can start looking for new people.”

“Is that so… Are you happy now that you’re free?”

As Axel raised his head, her eyes, which seemed black from absorbing the darkness, were staring at him without blinking. They were too clear to be clouded by alcohol.

“Well. I’m not sure. At least I’m not unhappy.”

“What’s that… I want to be happy.”

Axel only slightly stretched his lips at her grumbling voice.

“Here, compared to the outside, you have to live your best life in a different sense. Do you still prefer it here?”

“It’s a life where every action must have value. But sometimes there are days like this, and it’s not bad.”

“Right! The moon flower alcohol turned out well, didn’t it?”

Jade’s eyes sparkled. Axel thought he understood why she liked compliments, so today he decided to just agree.

“Very much so.”

Jade nodded and drank from the swapped glass.

“Oh, how come this alcohol never gets tiring?”

A drunk who couldn’t even notice water.

Axel briefly felt relieved. Whatever thoughts he revealed, she wouldn’t remember anyway.

Despite being fed something to chew on and made to drink water, Jade’s condition didn’t particularly improve. She even got angry later when she realized he had filled her glass with water.

“You must have drunk at least five more glasses than me!”

“Should I have left you to pass out then?”

After that, she looked at all of Axel’s actions with suspicion, so he finally gave up. Only drowsiness could stop a drunk, after all.

Unfortunately, Jade wasn’t feeling sleepy. She chattered on, changing topics as she pleased.

Axel simply responded obediently or regulated her drinking speed. The bottle still wasn’t empty.

“Axel, look at that.”

The night had deepened completely, and except for the sound of their chatter, it was quiet, but the snow piled all around reflected the soft moonlight, still giving a bright feeling to the surroundings. It felt as if only the two of them and the stars existed in this world.

“That’s Savic’s Scale. And below that, the Wailing Bear constellation is clearly visible too.”

Befitting the season of water, Savic’s Scale was positioned smack in the middle of the night sky, and the bear who had tormented people and had its cub taken away by Savic’s judgment was crying in the corner.

Tonight’s sky was like a storybook.

Of course, it was a storybook she disliked.

Jade sniffled and pushed a protruding log into the fire with her toe.

“I don’t like the season of water.”

“I can see why. You said your fire attribute magic is powerful.”

“No. It’s because water attribute magicians are jerks.”

“Why are there so many jerks around you? That’s something you should probably think about.”

Though she was almost consumed by alcohol, it seems she could still understand the implied meaning. Jade glared at him.

“Are you saying I’m the problem?”

“No, well.”

Axel leisurely leaned back in his chair and observed Jade’s huffing face.

Her nose bridge and cheeks were bright red from the cold, and her slightly drooping eye corners were brimming with indignation…

A thought suddenly struck Axel, and he frowned.

“Am I crazy?”

“What? You? You’re always a bit like that.”

Seizing the opportunity to insult him, he looked again at those mischievous lips and was convinced that he had momentarily lost his mind due to the cold.

No, originally people can find things weaker than themselves cute, right?

Compared to him, this magician is very small, catches colds, likes to roll around at home, and gets excited all day over well-cooked eggs, so he could feel that way. She really acts no different from a child.

Thinking like that, he felt at ease again. But Jade still seemed upset.

“It’s not my fault! You’d react the same way if you met the guy I find annoying outside.”

“What does he do?”

“Whenever and wherever we meet, he always rushes over to interfere, and his way of speaking is truly the worst. From his patronizing attitude to his casually dismissive gaze!”

Jade extended her fingers one by one as she cursed the magician she found annoying.

But as he listened, Axel felt something odd and slightly raised one eyebrow.

“Is this a man?”