Finally, the house came into view.

Axel chuckled briefly when he saw that the path to Ollie’s house was completely cleared of snow. It was a sight of thorough cleaning, beyond what he had partially pushed aside.

She seemed to have lived quite diligently without him. Even if left alone, it would have melted quickly on a good day.

The last thunderous sound of Atilla’s hooves was loud, but there was no response from inside the house. Axel dismounted with a slight feeling of disappointment.

She might not have heard. Jade tended to act as if she had no ears at all when focused on something…

“Good job, Atilla.”

After removing the saddle from Atilla and tossing it under the fence, the horse freely wandered nearby with light steps. There was no worry as it could subdue most beasts with a single kick.

Intending to come out later and give it some sugar, Axel strode across the yard and grasped the doorknob.

Click.

Contrary to expectations, the door didn’t open. Glancing to the side, he saw that the shutters were firmly closed, and there wasn’t the slightest sign of life from inside.

Where did she go?

Axel slightly furrowed his brow.

Having ridden for a long time from the west, it was almost sunset by the time he arrived.

No, to be honest, it wasn’t that dark yet, but he was certain that Jade would surely have returned early. Now that he knew her. Jade didn’t repeat the same mistake twice.

But the door was locked, and there was no one inside. He felt a strange sense of disappointment.

He quietly surveyed the surroundings, but the face he was thinking of didn’t pop out from anywhere.

He began to walk with long strides. On the path that Jade had properly cleared.

Seeing smoke rising from the chimney, it seemed fortunately that Ollie was home. The chickens followed his steps, perhaps wondering if he would feed them more, but he walked faster, coldly.

Axel asked as soon as he opened the door.

“Where’s Jade?”

Ollie, who was sitting at the table fiddling with her hands, looked at him with a bewildered face.

“What’s with opening the door before… Not even greeting?”

“What greeting between people who know each other well. Where is she? It’ll be dark soon, I need to bring her in quickly.”

Ollie made a strange face. It seemed like she was conflicted about whether to laugh or not. Axel didn’t particularly want to understand that expression.

“If you don’t know, I’m leaving.”

Axel said indifferently and was about to turn around. She must be crawling into some tree crevice collecting something…

“Axel.”

He just slightly rolled his eyes without answering. Ollie continued speaking slowly.

“Jade is gone now.”

“What?”

Suddenly, the temperature of his voice dropped sharply.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know, or because you don’t want to understand?”

“Properly—”

“I mean she left the forest with the people who came to get her.”

The man’s lips closed tightly.

“She left in a hurry. They didn’t even give her time to think about anything. The people who came to escort her were in such a fuss because the path was about to change. I feel like I’ve definitely seen their faces before… Those purple eyes… Anyway, if I, who’ve been retired for a long time, remember them, they must be from a fairly useful family.”

Axel listened to the explanation expressionlessly. Ollie continued speaking slowly while cutting out the worm-eaten parts of a fruit.

“The key is on that table over there. She asked me to pass it on.”

At the edge of his slowly turning gaze, he saw the key he had given her.

He had enveloped her small hand, turned it over, and dropped the key onto it. He had personally closed her thin, white fingers around it.

He remembered the temperature he had felt then. A little higher than his own… But now it was meaningless. She had left, and he was alone.

He had returned to his original daily life. That was all.

“I see.”

Axel said calmly, grasping the key and hiding it in his hand. The metal surface felt piercingly cold today. As he was about to turn around, Ollie conveyed the rest of the message.

“She said she’s sorry for leaving without saying goodbye because she was in a hurry, and thank you for teaching her so much until now.”

His ashen eyes turned back and traced near the chair where Jade often sat.

She usually sat there, chattering with Ollie and doing something. She never knew how to keep her hands still…

“She said to tell you that she’ll miss you very, very much.”

‘Axel, where are you going?’

Axel strode to the door and opened it. Behind him, Ollie muttered gruffly.

“Stupid fool.”

He slammed the door shut.

The return journey somehow felt short. It was difficult to be conscious of the mechanical steps.

When he unlocked the door, the fire remaining in the fireplace was calm, almost dying out. It had weakened because Jade, who obsessively managed the intensity of the fire, was gone.

Axel carelessly threw in a few logs and shut himself in the room. He didn’t even light the candles. He didn’t want to examine the house in detail.

He repeated to himself several times.

That someone who was going to leave anyway just left a little earlier. That it was better this way. For her, and for himself.

If they had faced each other and realized something, it would have become more troublesome and difficult.

When daylight broke and he came out to the living room, he encountered traces that Jade hadn’t had time to tidy up.

‘She left in a hurry. They didn’t even give her time to think about anything.’

Axel calmly began to clean up everything.

He pulled out the pot that always hung in the fireplace and threw away the unknown contents. He closed the cabinet where magic potions were stored, and folded the blanket that Jade liked to carelessly drape over things, placing it under the chair.

That’s when he discovered the book lying on the sofa. It was the object over which they had fought, quizzing each other.

When he turned over the upside-down book, he saw the part Jade had folded down. And the small piece of paper placed underneath.

“Axel doesn’t seem to know this part well!”

She must have marked it intending to quiz him later. Axel sat on the sofa and turned the pages of the book one by one.

“Make sure to ask this later.”

Yeah, not bad. You marked all the things you dislike well.

Axel smiled faintly. But the smile soon faded, disappearing without a trace.

He sat still for a long time. The firewood crackled as it burned.

Unlike his self-consolation that it was for the best, a foolish lingering clung to his legs, dragging him down.

It felt like he could understand if he saw her just once. Really, just once.

Leaving the Athanase Forest was truly easy. All it took was the merchant’s guidance, sturdy horses, the knights’ tireless stamina, and money. Recalling how he had struggled to get out in the beginning made him sigh with frustration.

Short syllables popped out between Jade’s lips as she quietly looked around. Almost simultaneously, long-tailed flames swirled explosively around the people.

“Ugh, wh-what’s this!”

“Wow.”

Some were startled and jumped, while others made sounds of pure admiration for her magic.

However, Jade smiled bitterly, recalling the flames that had only burned on someone’s sword.

Yes, we really have left the Athanase Forest.

“Here it is.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Watching the merchant take the cloth pouch handed by Bernard, Jade asked with an indifferent face.

“You, what’s your name?”

“Pardon? Are you talking to me?”

The elderly man blinked his eyes slowly.

“Yes. Do you only deal with all the people in there?”

“What does that matter? Even if that fellow is the head of a merchant group, it’s only a very small one. Are you perhaps still feeling unwell? We’re busy, so let’s move quickly.”

As Rigel waved his hand arbitrarily, the group was about to move, but Jade leaped off her horse.

“Lady Jade, I am very busy. I’ve specially made time to come help you. As you know, I’m in a position of responsibility for an entire family.”

Whether Rigel was still chattering in his seemingly elegant yet obnoxious tone behind her, Jade kept staring at the merchant without blinking an eye.

The merchant then hesitantly gave his name.

“I’m, I’m Gordon. Gordon Murray. I’m in charge of the Murray merchant group…”

“Is that so? I’ll contact you sometime in the name of Broen.”

Gordon was startled and waved his hands with a pale face.

“My merchant group is very small, so we don’t particularly have any business to conduct with a large house like the Broen family…”

“That’s for me to decide.”

Jade smiled brightly, strode over, stood on her tiptoes, and whispered in Gordon’s ear.

“By the way, it would be better to pay well for the goods of the people in there…”

Of course, you should make a profit, but don’t take excessive advantage…

It was a soft voice, but strangely chilling. The flustered Gordon stammered.

“I, I already conduct all business with sufficient faith.”

“Really? That’s good then.”

The woman, quickly returning to a friendly voice, smiled with her eyes crinkled. The corners of her eyes drooped gently, and her cheeks puffed up roundly.

But the merchant found himself wiping the sweat that kept trickling down his forehead due to the chilling feeling emanating from her lovely face.

“I’m just worried, you see. There are laws in the world, but there are too many who try to break them. The world is like that. Because of the bad guys, good people often get misunderstood too.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right. That’s correct. There are indeed many ba-bad guys.”

“No matter how much technology advances, there are things that shouldn’t fail. Our kingdom has created very strict laws, placing importance on the production of basic supplies. Because there have been more than a few merchant groups that acted like fraudsters and failed. But sometimes, many people seem to think that the Athanase Forest isn’t included in the El Sion Kingdom.”

The ledgers always leave records, you know…

Even the barely audible muttering. She was a woman not to be taken lightly, unlike her appearance.

Gordon inwardly shed tears as he recalled the times he had excessively undervalued the goods of the Athanase Forest people. He resolved to rush to the merchant group building immediately to find a way to compensate for this.