Saviel spent an exciting time wiping the gilded iron bars with a towel himself. It was his intention to keep her hidden like a treasure, so that no one but Saviel himself could see her.

He was fantasizing about caging Elysia, singing a song.

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”

The lieutenant had returned emptyhanded. Seeing that, Saviel’s face hardened immediately.

“Elysia?”

“Your, Your Highness.”

The lieutenant was already flat on the floor, trembling.

“She’s gone.”

“What did you say?”

“When I went to the Duke’s mansion, it was in chaos. They say Lady Elysia ran away last night.”

“What do you mean?”

“They are also looking for Lady Elysia in the Duke’s mansion.”

“Run away? Where could that woman go?”

The lieutenant recalled what he heard at the Duke’s mansion.

“If only Your Highness hadn’t sent such an invitation.”

“Exactly. Didn’t the lady faint as soon as she saw it?”

“How upset Lady Elysia must have been to leave home. Such a precious and beautiful lady.”

It seemed like the Duke’s mansion basically blamed Saviel for all this chaos.

But to tell his master that truth could mean his family’s ruin today.

“That, they say it’s because of her lost memory.”

“Lost memory? Why?”

The lieutenant swallowed dryly.

“They say it’s difficult for her to stay in the mansion without her lost memory returning.”

Perhaps that’s true. A young maid who had personally taken care of Elysia said something similar while sobbing, so it wasn’t entirely a lie.

“Find her.”

“Yes?”

“Chase her immediately. She couldn’t have gone far. Search the capital thoroughly.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After the lieutenant left, Saviel, unable to contain his anger, began to smash things in his bedroom.

“Alcohol! Bring me alcohol!”

Saviel drank a lot of strong alcohol, smashed the precious things in the ruined room, and repeated the useless act of destroying the already damaged items.

“Haa. Haa.”

He, who had run wild without beating his anger, fell down, exhausted, and fell asleep as if he had passed out from the alcohol.

Flick.

Late at night, the candle illuminating Saviel’s room was blown out by a sudden gust of wind as if someone had extinguished it.

Swoosh.

The shadows cast by the furniture stretched out as if pulled, and soon a dark figure appeared in the Crown Prince’s bedroom.

The man, wearing a black priest’s robe with a hood pulled down, wore a white mask.

“The time has come, Saviel.”

The man approached Saviel, who was asleep and in chaos.
He waved his hands to and fro over his head, and as if flowers were blooming from the tips of his fingers, something stirred and then flapped its wings as it flew through the air.

It was a small bird. It was so black that it looked as if it was made from peeled off darkness. The bird flew well, flapping and flying as the man gestured to and fro.

Soon, the bird gently landed on Saviel’s forehead, and the man muttered ominously.

“Be faithful to the role engraved in you.”

The man, who was a ‘divine representative’ to the emperor, spoke to the sleeping Saviel as if casting hypnosis.

“Then Elysia Uter will be yours.”

The bird that was perched on Saviel’s forehead looked around and then flew up with a flitter.

“……Elysia.”

Saviel, who had been unaware, was now looking at the ceiling with his eyes open.

“Elysia.”

A small, satisfied laugh leaked out from under the mask that lurked in the shadows, watching him persistently repeat that name.

(This is a time separator.)

Our master has changed.

Elysia thought so. In the past, Elleon wanted to do everything on his own.

So he practiced and practiced, putting forth effort time and again until he could continue, slowly increasing the things he could do ‘alone,’ taking a long time to do so.

Not only that, but he would become so upset if he failed at doing something alone. She would become exhausted trying to cheer him up and console him.

“Wash my hair.”

As a result, the workload had not been very high all this time. Working from morning to late at night, serving Elleon all day, she never felt overburdened. But why had it become like this?

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

In these two days, Elleon began to pester her to do all sorts of things.

“You’ve been doing well on your own so far, haven’t you?”

Although she could do it again if asked, if she refused and told him to do it on his own, his reaction would be terribly awkward.

“I wasn’t doing well. There was always soap left.”

“You rinsed until you couldn’t feel the soap anymore, didn’t you? You even had me check.”

“I was wiping it off with a towel because it wasn’t working.”

In this way, by saying ‘I wasn’t really doing well,’ she would be left without a response and end up helping.

Having seated Elleon in the bathtub, Elysia sighed.

“Sigh.”

Elleon reacted sensitively to the sound and looked sullen.

“Is it too much to ask for something like this?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s not because it’s hard.”

“That’s a relief.”

When Elleon smiled, it was as if a light had been turned on in the spacious bathroom. Seeing Elleon’s smiling face, Elysia felt her mental energy recover.

“Tell me if it’s too hot.”

“Mmm.”

As she gently massaged the soap into his black hair, it wrapped around her fingers.

With his head completely entrusted to her, leaning back in the bathtub and closing his eyes, Elleon’s face was handsome even when seen upside down.

His neck, revealed as he tilted his head back, moved occasionally as he breathed.

Elysia felt a sudden urge to kiss him.

‘Don’t.’

Elysia sternly scolded herself. Hadn’t she asked Elleon to treat her as ‘Lona’? She knew better than anyone why it couldn’t be done.

‘If Mariella finds out, she might drag me away by my hair.’

Although her true self was not Mariella’s daughter, and Mariella knew that fact, it was a bit unfair, but since she was living in Elysia’s body, she couldn’t be free from her status in this world.

She sighed and was about to rinse Elleon’s hair.

“Ouch!”

Maybe some water splashed; Elleon covered his eyes with his hands.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Elysia quickly got into the tub and knelt beside him, wrapping his dripping wet hair in a towel and checking on him.

“Ugh.”

“Does it hurt a lot? It didn’t seem like much water splashed.”

Elleon pulled her into an embrace with the hand that had been covering his eyes.

“Can you stay with me for a moment, Elysia?”